Film reviews

Practical Magic 2 Review

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A sequel twenty-eight years later in which the magic goes up a couple of notches. There is more meaning and seriousness related to the powers and curses. Also, the lives of witches expand. Normalcy enters their lives, but there is still a curse. Directed By Susanne Bier, Practical Magic 2 is here. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are back as Sally and Gillian Owens. Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing are back as Jet and Franny. The lives of the witches do not change much. There are still morals, ethics, and respectful matters. However, it does not stop karma from happening and the exhilarating level of honor lingers in Practical Magic 2.

The twist in Practical Magic 2 is that now Sally is a mom. Her daughters are Kylie and Antonia (Joey King and Maisie Williams). Sally tries to protect her daughters from magical spells.  However, Kylie is in love with a boy named Gideon, played by Xolo Mariduena. Gideon suffers an injury that could impact his life. This is Kylie’s first love and she realizes she is cursed like her mother and aunt were. Someone she loves is facing death and she is under an inevitable spell. Therefore, Kylie goes to London to solve the mystery of the spells. 

It is not long before Sally and Gillian open their doors to the witch world again. They follow Kylie to London and hope their powers can help make a difference. They find the assistance of another mentor of magic named Ian Wright, played by Lee Pace. Soon more magic comes along, and there may be a chance for Kylie to save the man she loves. However, given all the  disagreements related to the sisterhood dynamic—the shield keeps appearing and the performances of Bullock and Kidman take over the central conflict. While this works, it sometimes felt like it dominated the writing. The film still has scenes where there are enchanting themes but then there are times where the themes cross into sad territory.

The film has momentary flaws, again involving magic. Despite the nonsense, it is still an enjoyable sequel that is slightly better than the first film. More modern subject matter was woven into Practical Magic 2. Not too much, but enough to be worthy including spells cast in many different directions. Bullock, Kidman, and King are the witches representing three modes of awesomeness. They spice everything up and play up the sisterhood vibe until it boils with magic seeking good. The curse may come and go, but that does not stop elements of positivity from shining in  Practical Magic 2. The film has a faithful context of wonder yet the writing could have been improved. In the end, there are layers of happiness to be found in Practical Magic 2. Two-and-a-half out of four stars.

Film reviews

Road to Everywhere Review

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The film is aimed at a cab driver with many struggles. There is the sense that life was normal, and then scenarios went south. The realism of changes over time lingers with meaning. Road to Everywhere is a challenging and engaging journey. Directed by Michael Shoob, I found a level of deepness with Road to Everywhere. That is because I always feel that films aimed at car rides or road trips create moments of characterizations to evolve. Many do “evolve” with purpose in Road to Everywhere. Moments of the past have cinematography of color, and the present is black-and-white—the tonal elements in the cinematography tune in audiences with real-time on a parallel level of spellbinding grandeur.

 

The film’s main character is Jason Schuyler, and he is played by Whip Hubley. He is a cab driver with lots of struggles. He is divorced, has a strange relationship with his son, his son’s wife, and his life continues to have deficits. He spends countless nights driving people to locations just to help him get over and keep up with his financial burdens. The biggest one though is that he is trying to help his ex-wife with medical bills after a car accident. His ex-wife is Rachel, and she is played by Diane DiLascio. 

 

The film continuously focuses on the angels of stress—it does well at capturing the emotions of Hubley’s performance. He plays the role as a disgruntled individual so well, and audiences will connect to his role as a human being. I felt that way with Road to Everywhere. Jason’s life begins to see a light when he meets Jake. Jake is played by Robert Mirabal. Jake is a shady casino dealer and gambler. Jake asks Jason to drive him to Navajo Nation in Arizona. The drive is from Los Angeles to Arizona. Jake wants to reconnect with his family. Jake also wants to see his grandson participate in Rodeo. This is a drive where both adults will share a journey of hard emotions and tolerance. They will share the essence of struggles. 

 

Road to Everywhere creates the mode where being on the road is the open book for many topics. Jake begins to go into detail about his marriage problems with Jason, and Jason begins to open up as well. At the same time though, they share frustrations along the way. Jason presents most “frustration” because he is the driver pulling all his weight. The writing of the film is top-notch in displaying how hard tolerance can truly be. Especially for a cab driver doing a drive at this length. The deserts create the tones of solitude—there is lots of ground to cover with so many lands of emptiness in the rough journey. 

 

Road to Everywhere is deep and heartfelt. Dark with turmoil but fully presents realism. I adore the usage of the lighting—the past and present context helps change gears in this film where the writing may have a bipolar approach. At moments too emotional, but also still a solid work-of-art. Three-and-a-half out of four stars.

Film reviews

Buddy Review

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My mind was racing during this movie primarily because I felt like I was watching a children’s PBS TV series. The opening felt like Sesame Street, but much cheesier. In all sincerity, Buddy is unbearable. Trying to lure in nightmares? The theme and approach failed to execute. Lots of laughs, but only because the terror is so bad. While attempting to be scary, it was one of the worst movie experiences I’ve had in a long time. 

The plot of the film is a kid’s TV show focused on a character named Buddy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key). He seemed a bit like an evil Big Bird, the lovable character from Sesame Street. Buddy, however,  is a dinosaur pal presented as a friendly icon in a 1999 TV series. He tries to inspire songs on topics such as cleaning up and dancing. He attempts to present positivity with kids. However, when kids decline, things go wrong. Buddy begins to do awful things to the children in the show. Soon all of this becomes a vivid nightmare that I struggled to sit through.

The whole film is silly and ridiculous. Buddy features a mom, Grace, played by Cristin Milioti. Her husband is Ben, played by Topher Grace. The mom begins to have dreams about Buddy that turn into nightmares. She feels like her home is surrounded by terror. She hires a psychic, but that does not seem to help. Then, she gets sucked into the TV and is in Buddy’s world. Grace is on a mission to save the children from Buddy. 

Buddy is so poorly written. It is almost like Winnie the Poohwanted to cover adult themes but got tired of writing. The context  is bad and the characters are too. Cartoon elements are thrown in  to qualify for an R rating, and it simply does not work. The blend of a kids-oriented setting with  adult-like subject matter does not hold up. Adding boisterous, rainbow elements made things even worse.. I could barely stand it.

Some viewers may embrace this form of terror, but I did not. A few slapstick scenes made me laugh, but the majority of the film wasn’t even thought-provoking. There were too many buffoons teleporting into a cartoon universe which then vacillates between good and evil. Overall, it evolves into awful moments that wasted my time and energy. But for the idea of the film, I give it one out of four stars.

 

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