Magic, Stars, Oysters, Passion, Pain and a Brand New Day

PRACTICAL MAGIC| Warner Bros | Director Susanna Bier| Writers Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett, Kelly Marcel

I didn’t rewatch “Practical Magic” before seeing “Practical Magic 2”. Nope. I watched it for the first time! I know. How had I never seen it?
I’ve loved witches since “Bewitched”. I can watch “Charmed” episodes over and over, and “The Witches of Eastwick” is a hoot. So you’d think “Practical Magic” would have been right up my alley. But despite its cult following, I have to say… I didn’t think it was very good. The pacing, beats and tones were all over the place. It felt disjointed, and by the end I was basically thinking, “Well, that didn’t break the curse.” And I was right!

Fortunately, I like the sequel better. The Owens women are still living in that impossibly charming seaside town, in that impossibly enchanting house. Sally (Sandra Bullock) is now twice a widow, while Gilly (Nicole Kidman) is still hot and still single. Sally’s daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams), would technically be old enough that we should probably be following their daughters’ love lives by now, but let’s not get into the mathematics of aging Hollywood actresses. Suffice it to say, Kylie is in college and Antonia is a medical intern.

The writers seem to have taken a little more care with the story. The plot hangs together better, maybe a bit long, but the tonal shifts aren’t quite as jarring. Perhaps some of the sisterly moments between Sally and Gilly feel a little forced. These moments are more organic in the original, hence why I think it’s beloved by so many.

Neither of Sally’s daughters knows anything about magic. Sally’s decree has kept the family secret intact, despite the girls maintaining close relationships with their aunt and great-aunts, played once again by Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest. It’s Kylie’s turn to fall in love only for the curse to rear its ugly head again. Having no choice but to fill the girls in on their history as Owens witches – Kylie takes off like a bat out of hell to England to find a way to break the curse, not understanding that she’s courting dark magic, she’s not prepared to fight.

And then there’s Lee Pace. Ridiculously sexy as Sally’s British love interest, but I kinda thought she and Gilly should both be attracted to him, throw in a little sisterly rivalry. Not enough to hijack the plot, just a beat or two.

In the end, I’m not in love with either the original or the sequel, but I’m always for witches, romance, sisterhood, close family and a house I would happily move into tomorrow.

Rating: 3 outta 5

THE DOG STARS| 20th Century Studios | Director Ridley Scott |
Writer Mark L. Smith

There’s seemingly no end to the number of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic movies in the world. Storytellers are forever imagining our demise – or what limited survival might look like once civilization collapses and the remaining humans are left to fend for themselves.

Personally, I’d love to see one where the survivors have learned from our previous mistakes and decide to build a world of harmony, peace, joy and justice.

Ridley Scott’s THE DOG STARS drops us into 2035, after a deadly flu has decimated the population and left much of the world sick, dangerous and decidedly uncivilized. Jacob Elordi plays Hig, a former mechanic who lost his wife and unborn child. His comforts now being his beloved dog, Jasper, and a battered single-engine Cessna.

Hig is quiet, soulful and introspective – qualities Elordi seems to possess naturally. He’s still mourning the life he lost. He often returns to his old home, the one he shared with his wife, just to sit and remember, clasping one hand in the other. It’s a small gesture that tells us more about his grief than a monologue ever could.

We don’t know how Hig came to partner up with an older, cantankerous, made for hard living type like Bangley (Josh Brolin) he’s a perpetually suspicious ex-Marine, heavily armed; but they have a trust of each other -even if they don’t always see eye to eye on their methods and rules for protecting their property from marauding strangers or just strangers, as Bangley doesn’t believe in waiting to see if they’re friendly. Can’t really blame him as most humans still walking the earth seemed to have turned feral and wild.

The two have created an uneasy but effective Odd Couple arrangement: Bangley stays behind to protect their homestead while Hig takes the Cessna out scouting, gathering supplies and checking on a nearby Mennonite community that includes a bunch of children. Only Hig doesn’t seem to want to stay here either. He has a needs to believe there is more out there. A mix of curiosity, hope and restlessness.

The first half of the movie is deliberately slow, immersing us in the bleakness, danger and monotonous routine of survival. Scott leans into loneliness, vigilance, grief and the exhausting business of staying alive.

Hig’s search leads him to an isolated canyon home occupied by Pops (Guy Pearce) and his daughter Cima (Margaret Qualley), and the movie shifts gears enough to become more interesting. Pearce is once again a chameleon, almost unrecognizable as the weathered, suspicious Pops. Qualley, who so often plays louder, quirkier characters, is wonderfully dialed down as Cima – quietly strong, intuitive and compassionate. Cima represents something Hig has been missing: genuine human connection and the possibility of a future rather than simply survival.

And then … things get kinda nutty. The film takes a turn into territory that is more surreal, violent and unexpected. I’m wondering whether Peter Heller’s original novel goes there too. Or was this idea from screenwriter Mark L. Smith?

Visually, Scott is working in his element. The Colorado landscape was actually filmed in Italy, with the Dolomites standing in for the Rocky Mountains. The isolation gives the movie a haunting beauty. The aerial photography is particularly spectacular.

And Harry Gregson-Williams’ score deserves a shout-out. It moves between quiet solitude and outright menace, giving the film’s breathtaking landscapes an underlying sense of danger.

What ultimately makes “The Dog Stars” worth the journey is that beneath all the guns, disease, scavenging and marauders, this is really a movie about “whether humanity can remain human after the structures of civilization disappear.” A theme not unlike “The Odyssey”.

Rating: 3.5 outta 5

TONY | A24 | Writer/Director Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson serves up the summer that shaped Anthony Bourdain. There are some performances where you immediately know you’re watching a future star. That was certainly the case with Dominic Sessa in “The Holdovers”. While I wasn’t nearly as enamored with that film as many critics were, it was impossible not to recognize Sessa’s natural talent. I assumed we’d be seeing more of him in the years ahead, but he’s exceeded my expectations in this role as a young Anthony Bourdain, delivering what will undoubtedly be one of the year’s most memorable performances.

Directed by Matt Johnson (“BlackBerry”), TONY wisely avoids the standard biopic formula. Instead of racing through Anthony Bourdain’s entire life, the film zeros in on a single transformative summer in 1975 Provincetown, Massachusetts, when a 19-year-old Bourdain stumbled into the chaotic world of restaurant kitchens and unknowingly found the path that would define the rest of his life.

The result is less a biography and more a coming-of-age story. A few years ago, George Clooney directed “The Tender Bar”, based on the memoir of journalist J.R. Moehringer. While that film certainly had good intentions, it never quite managed to capture the emotional resonance, humor, or life lessons it was reaching for. “Tony” succeeds where “The Tender Bar” struggled. It captures a specific moment in time and uses it to tell a universal story about identity, ambition, friendship, first love, and discovering who you want to become.

Johnson’s script, co-written with Todd Bartels and Lou Howe, understands that the most interesting version of Anthony Bourdain isn’t the celebrity chef, bestselling author, or globe-trotting television personality. It’s the insecure young man still trying on different versions of himself. Throughout the film, Tony bounces between aspirations of being a writer, intellectual, rebel, romantic, and artist while desperately trying to convince everyone – including himself – that he has life figured out.

Sessa captures that uncertainty beautifully. Rather than impersonating the Bourdain we came to know through “Kitchen Confidential” and “Parts Unknown”, he gives us a young man still in the process of becoming. It’s a nuanced, charismatic performance filled with vulnerability, swagger, and curiosity.

The supporting cast is equally strong. Antonio Banderas brings warmth and gravitas as Chef, the seafood cook who becomes Tony’s mentor and introduces him to the discipline and craftsmanship of professional cooking. Emilia Jones shines as Nancy, the crush Tony constantly wants to impress. And Leo Woodall as Sal, that friend that’s both fascinating and frightening.

What makes “Tony” particularly effective is how alive Provincetown feels. Johnson and cinematographer Michael Bauman create a sun-soaked, slightly scruffy world filled with bustling kitchens, late-night conversations, beach parties, and youthful possibility. The film has the texture of a memory – warm, messy, funny, and occasionally heartbreaking.

For longtime fans of Anthony Bourdain, there are plenty of moments that hint at the man he would eventually become. Yet the film never feels trapped by the weight of his legacy or the tragedy that would later define public discussions about him. Johnson’s focus remains on showing us a young man at a crossroads, discovering the passions and relationships that would shape his future.

Awards season is still months away, but “Tony” should remain firmly in the conversation.

Rating: 4 outta 5

THE INVITE | A24 | Director Olivia Wilde
Writer Will McCormack, Rashida Jones

I went on vacation a day or two after seeing this movie and since then keep telling myself I’m going to write the review. I don’t write reviews for every movie I see, but I do the ones I love; and I absolutely left the theater completely besotted with this gem! The cast: Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton play off each other in ways that should be studied in acting classes. Wilde has once again proven she’s a super talented director. Say what you will about “Don’t Worry Darling” and the controversy at the time, it was still an excellently directed film. She said she paid homage to “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” with this film, one of my favorites among other dialogue/relationships heavy films.

I would really need to watch THE INVITE. again to do my review justice, so I haven’t written one – but I do like this one by Maxwell Rabb for Harper’s Bazaar… “The Invite, directed by Wilde and written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, based on the 2020 Spanish film Sentimental (written and directed by Cesc Gay, who originally and unsurprisingly wrote this as a stage play)…
Every corner of the house is suffocated by the building tension. Pina and Hawk clearly goad the unfulfilled sexual desire in Joe and Angela as they tour the house. The house itself is full of triggers: a piano Joe refuses to play (because he sees himself as a failure), a record featuring a love song Joe wrote for Angela (Hawk tries to play it, and Joe snaps), and the unrenovated, unpainted bedroom, clearly a space existing as an afterthought” READ MORE
Rating: 5 outta 5

THE ODYSSEY| Universal Pictures|
Writer/Director Christopher Nolan

Three years ago, I listened to a Greek mythology podcast that devoted several weeks to reading Homer’s “The Odyssey” in its entirety. Once I started, I felt obligated to see it through. I desperately needed those despicable suitors to get what was coming to them. But getting there? Whew. It was a slog.

I found much of the epic dense, repetitive, and filled with so many names and characters that keeping track of who was who became its own heroic journey. The podcast host absolutely adored Odysseus and spoke of him with near-reverence. I never quite understood the fascination. Truthfully, I still don’t. No shade to Matt Damon, who is suited to the role, or to Odysseus himself, but I’ve never found the character particularly compelling.

What I found compelling was Christopher Nolan‘s film.

As usual, Nolan delivers a cinematic experience that reminds audiences why his movies are considered events. Rather than getting bogged down in the repetitive structure that can make the source material feel intimidating, he’s crafted a lean, focused screenplay that transforms Odysseus’s long voyage home into something vibrant, visual, and relentlessly engaging. The adventures feel dangerous and mythic, yet the storytelling remains clear and accessible.

What impressed me most is that Nolan isn’t primarily interested in politics, kingdoms, or military strategy. Instead, “The Odyssey” becomes a meditation on the human condition and the erosion of shared values after a devastating war. The film repeatedly examines how decency, honor, hospitality, and basic codes of conduct begin to crumble when societies lose faith in the institutions and traditions that once held them together.

It’s impossible not to see parallels to our current moment. The story reflects what happens when laws and norms that were never fully codified—those gentleman’s agreements and accepted standards meant to protect the common good—are disregarded or trampled upon. Nolan wisely lets those themes emerge organically rather than hammering the audience with them.

Despite a cavalcade of recognizable actors, the casting never feels distracting. Somehow, Nolan manages to assemble an all-star ensemble while still transporting us completely to the ancient world.

At 173 minutes, I expected to feel the strain somewhere around the third act. Yet that lull never arrives. Ironically, while “The Odyssey” is famously a lengthy tale, Nolan’s adaptation feels remarkably lean. Every scene serves the larger journey, propelling the story forward.

I recently heard Matt Damon discussing the production on Amy Poehler‘s Good Hang podcast, and learning about the practical effects only deepened my appreciation. The filmmakers reportedly constructed an eight-foot Cyclops puppet and staged sequences inside an actual cave. That commitment to practical craftsmanship shows. And the witches’ (Samantha Morton) tactile brand of magic made me squirm in my seat.

Visually, the film is stunning. Nolan and his team create imagery that feels both ancient and immediate, capturing the wonder, terror, and unpredictability of a world where gods may intervene at any moment. The scale is epic, but the emotional stakes remain deeply human.

The only Nolan film I still haven’t seen is “Dunkirk” because I’ve never had much patience for World War II battle movies. Then again, I was equally convinced I didn’t care for “The Odyssey”, and Nolan just turned one of my least favorite literary experiences into one of my favorite films of the year.

Maybe it’s finally time to give *Dunkirk* a chance.

Rating: 5 outta 5

SPIDER-MAN: A BRAND NEW DAY| Marvel| Director Destin Daniel Cretton |
Writers Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers

The Tom Holland era of Spider-Man continues its remarkable streak with “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”, proving once again that this corner of the MCU simply doesn’t miss.

While Jon Watts successfully guided the first three films, director Destin Daniel Cretton steps into the franchise with confidence. His Spidey senses are clearly on point, delivering a film that feels both familiar and refreshingly mature. Cretton understands that Peter Parker has grown up, and this latest chapter isn’t just about bigger villains or splashier action sequences—it’s about the emotional cost of being everyone’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

One of the film’s greatest accomplishments is how effectively it conveys Peter’s loneliness following the events of “No Way Home”. Determined not to endanger the lives of his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and the love of his life MJ (Zendaya), Peter watches from a distance as they spend four years at MIT, catching glimpses of their lives through social media posts and stolen moments. Holland has always excelled at playing Peter’s vulnerability, but here he gives one of his most emotionally resonant performances, capturing the ache of loving people enough to let them go.

The screenplay also balances multiple story threads without ever feeling overloaded. Along with Peter’s isolation, the film begins weaving mutant connections into the Spider-Man corner of the MCU, providing exciting crossover opportunities without overshadowing the central narrative. Even more interesting is the way Peter’s evolving spider physiology becomes part of the story. As he matures, his spider DNA appears to be changing as well, creating new challenges that feel like a clever extension of the character’s coming-of-age journey.

Visually, “Brand New Day” may feature some of the best web-slinging sequences ever put on screen. The special effects team has achieved a level of realism and fluidity that makes every swing through New York feel exhilarating. Whether Peter is soaring solo or carrying MJ through the city skyline, there’s a weight, speed, and crispness to the imagery that elevates the action. Equally important, the film doesn’t shy away from showing the physical consequences of being Spider-Man. Peter is constantly bruised, battered, and exhausted whenever the mask comes off, reminding audiences that heroism leaves scars.

Jon Bernthal‘s arrival as Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, is another major highlight. As someone who isn’t deeply familiar with the comic-book version of the character, I can only judge what’s on screen, and Bernthal absolutely sells it. His gritty presence provides a sharp contrast to Holland’s earnest optimism, creating a dynamic that works surprisingly well.

Florence Pugh also drops in for a welcome cameo as Yelena Belova. Interestingly, characters now seem to refer to her as Black Widow, a development that left me slightly conflicted. Natasha Romanoff’s legacy feels so iconic that part of me wishes the title had been retired, much like certain legendary sports jerseys. Yelena deserves a mantle that honors her sister while still allowing her to establish an identity entirely her own.

Meanwhile, Liza Colón-Zayas makes an excellent addition to the MCU as Detective Jean DeWolff. With Peter intentionally isolating himself from the people he loves, the story needs someone in his corner, and DeWolff fills that role beautifully. Their partnership gives the film an emotional anchor while also grounding some of its larger superhero elements.

And because apparently the universe refuses to let him rest, poor Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) once again finds himself pulled back into Hulk-related chaos just when normalcy seemed within reach.

Perhaps I’m supposed to be more critical. Maybe I’m supposed to nitpick continuity issues or scrutinize every creative choice. But the truth is, I’ve had a fantastic time at the movies this summer. Between “The Invite”, “The Odyssey”, “Tony”, and now “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”, theaters have been delivering exactly what moviegoing should provide: excitement, emotion, spectacle, and genuine entertainment. Rating: 4.5 Outta 5