Somehow, it’s already October! Life has been a little crazy recently, so I haven’t been able to watch as many TV shows or movies as I would like. I normally try to watch a movie at my local theater every Sunday night (thanks, AMC movie pass!) but lately the timing just hasn’t been working out.
I did get a chance to watch Practical Magic 2 with a good friend of mine, and we both really enjoyed it. I actually hadn’t seen the first Practical Magic until earlier this year, when my friend and I had a little watch party so that I could get caught up and we could watch the new movie together.
The original is a fun, cozy film about two sisters (Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman) who are also witches. It’s become a bit of a cult classic, despite the fact it has a rather brutal score of 31% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think this film still resonates, despite the negative reviews, because it focuses on the close bond between the two sisters and their aunts. It also has spooky, autumnal vibes without being too scary.
I’m always a sucker for films about legacy, and I love that Practical Magic 2 features the daughters of Sandra Bullock’s character learning about their own magical powers. While the sequel wasn’t exactly lauded by critics, either, I personally still really liked it!
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I have already written in-depth about my thoughts on the first part of Strange New Worlds season 4, and unfortunately, my opinions haven’t really changed. Which breaks my heart to say, because I loved the first three seasons and I adore these characters. They truly did deserve better.
This season was, overall, packed with far too many gimmick episodes, and the plot seemed to lack much forward momentum (or any kind of focused direction). I actually haven’t even seen the final episode yet, because my Paramount+ subscription expired before I had a chance to watch it, and I just didn’t have the heart to sign up for another month to watch one more episode in a season that really disappointed me. I intend to watch it at some point, of course, but I’ve been missing my Netflix subscription, and the Great British Baking Show was calling.
I hate that I’m feeling so “meh” heading into the show’s fifth and final season, but I’m really, really hoping the showrunners can turn it around and end the story on a high note.
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As a long-time fan of Jane Austen’s work, I’m always a sucker for another film or TV adaptation of one of her novels. Of course, by this point, I have my favorite on-screen versions of her stories, and it can be tough for new adaptations to top those. I love the gorgeous cinematography of the 2005 Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen; the wonderful screenplay and acting from Emma Thompson in the 1995 Sense and Sensibility; and the dynamic between Emma and Mr. Knightley (Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller) in the 2009 miniseries Emma.
There were things I definitely enjoyed about the recent big-screen adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, although I’ll continue to gravitate towards Emma Thompson’s version. I adored the quiet yearning between Daisy Edgar-Jones and George MacKay as Elinor and Edward, and their love story really shone in this version. The movie makes some minor plot changes to Austen’s original story, presumably to make some twists more clear for the audience. I didn’t love those changes or think they were necessary, but I can see the reasoning behind them.
The story’s other main romantic arc, involving Elinor’s younger sister Marianne, was not as strong in this version as the 1995 one. I didn’t quite buy the relationship between this version of Marianne and the ill-fated Mr. Willoughby (Kate Winslet and Greg Wise’s performances absolutely shattered my heart in the 1995 film).
Still, as mentioned before, I’ll never turn down a chance to watch a Jane Austen story onscreen, and I love the fact that her writing is still resonating with audiences today.
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