Practical Magic

Practical Magic

Village Roadshow Pictures etc.

October 16, 1998

Fantasy, Dramedy, Romance

DVD
C+

I kept rooting for this to be better than it is, because there are definitely elements I like: witchcraft, the setting of a small New England coastal town, the (mostly) all-female family, and the cast.  But it just didn't have, well, the magic it needed, in either the adaptation of Alice Hoffman's novel or in the direction by Griffin Dunne.

The Mule

The Mule

Warner Bros. etc.

December 14, 2018

Crime Drama

DVD
D+

Clint Eastwood stars and directs, so you knew I wasn't going to go for it, but I sort of liked the details of like the party in the backyard and at the hotel.  So set design and costumes maybe?

Footloose (1984)

Footloose

Paramount

February 17, 1984

Drama, Musical

DVD
C-

I saw this at the time and maybe once or twice since then.  As the title song played over the cute "foot" credits today, I sort of remembered the lyrics.  But once it got into the story of the two "rebels," I remembered not particularly caring about Ren, and actively disliking Ariel.  (The supporting cast is better of course.)  Anyway, there's not enough nostalgia to carry me through more than a quarter hour.  Herbert Ross directed.

Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands
20th Century Fox
December 7, 1990
Fantasy
DVD
C

An Avon Lady finds more than she bargained for.  I think I watched this once before, a quarter century ago, but it didn't really draw me in this time, although the look of it was of course (this being Burton) interesting.

Cookie

Cookie
Warner Bros.
August 23, 1989
Crime Comedy
DVD
C+

Co-written by Nora Ephron and directed by Susan Seidelman, this is more oddball comedy than screwball comedy, in that it's one of those "mob Family & family" movies of that era (mid- to late '80s), but it hasn't quite worked out the plot or the plotting.  It has a whole bunch of still recognizable faces, some of which it forgets about.  (Um, goodbye Ricki Lake, it was nice glimpsing you.)  But I found it mildly entertaining for what it was, and Lloyd acquits herself well with the New York accent and the morphing wardrobe.