IT’S JUST A BUNCH OF HOCUS POCUS. During Halloween, a teenager (Omri Katz) in Salem, Massachusetts resurrects by accident three wicked witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy) who have been dead for 300 years… At the time of its premiere, neither critics nor audiences cared much for this fantasy/horror comedy, but it has … Continue reading Hocus Pocus
SOMETIMES FIRST LOVE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE… American Maggie Falk (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her teenage daughter Summer (Rosie Day) arrive in Rome on vacation, but Summer is determined to escape back to the U.S. and save her no-good boyfriend from jail. The Swedish director’s first English-language movie is a romantic comedy that typically looks … Continue reading All Roads Lead to Rome
Boston finance executive Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker) is juggling her work and life at home with a husband and two kids; things become even more stressful when she takes charge of a new project involving a Manhattan executive (Pierce Brosnan). This Americanization of a British novel pretends to have witty things to say about … Continue reading I Don’t Know How She Does It
THE ONE NIGHT ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Garry Marshall followed up his ensemble piece Valentine’s Day (2010) with a similar film, made to entertain young and old as we contemplate the (romantic?) possibilities of a new year. The cast is full of stars, but focus tends to lie on younger, popular talent. What everybody has in common though … Continue reading New Year’s Eve
CARRIE ON. Two years after the wedding, Carrie and Big (Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Noth) have fallen into a rut; when Samantha (Kim Cattrall) brings her three best friends along for a paid PR trip to Abu Dhabi, the marriage faces a greater challenge. Fans of the TV show and the first movie will be … Continue reading Sex and the City 2
WE’RE NOT IN MANHATTAN ANYMORE. Affluent New Yorkers Paul and Meryl Morgan (Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker) are considering divorce, but after witnessing a murder they have to hide together in rural Wyoming as part of a witness relocation program. The third movie Marc Lawrence made with Grant has a lazy fish-out-of-water story that no … Continue reading Did You Hear About the Morgans?
GET CARRIED AWAY. Four years after the show was canceled, the cast got back together for the much-hyped movie to tie up a few loose ends. Carrie and Big decide to get married, Steve betrays Miranda, Samantha is bored and Charlotte’s body surprises her big time. As these crises and joys are experienced over a … Continue reading Sex and the City
TO LEAVE THE NEST, SOME MEN JUST NEED A LITTLE PUSH. Interventionist Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) is hired by a 35-year-old slacker’s (Matthew McConaughey) parents to make him fall in love with her and move out of their home. One of those romantic comedies that want to be a little different but ends up inventing … Continue reading Failure to Launch
FEEL THE LOVE. The Stone family is reunited for Christmas in Connecticut; son Everett (Dermot Mulroney) brings his new girlfriend (Sarah Jessica Parker) who becomes anything but a hit. Director Thomas Bezucha’s second film is reminiscent of many other Christmas movies, but it manages to overcome its predictability and turn into a funny, genuine and quite … Continue reading The Family Stone
HIGH SCHOOL IS DIFFICULT… FOR A 47-YEAR-OLD EX-CON JUNKIE CRACK WHORE. 47-year-old ex-con Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris) promises her comatose dad (Dan Hedaya) to go back to high school. That’s the plot and fans of the original TV show (which ran from 1999-2000) will recognize it. One has to wonder why they didn’t try to … Continue reading Strangers With Candy
DON’T GET MAD. GET EVERYTHING. Elise, Annie and Brenda (Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Bette Midler) were best friends in college; after reuniting many years later, they find they’re all divorced and decide to exact revenge on their exes. The 1980s had Fonda, Parton and Tomlin getting even in Nine to Five; the 1990s equivalent is less entertaining. … Continue reading The First Wives Club
MOVIES WERE HIS PASSION. WOMEN WERE HIS INSPIRATION. SWEATERS WERE HIS WEAKNESS. Perhaps the eccentric and gifted Tim Burton felt there was a connection between himself and Edward D. Wood, Jr. – two visionaries with a taste for the truly odd. This is essentially what a Wood picture would look like had the director been … Continue reading Ed Wood
I wasn’t much of a fan when this show first began. Of course, every woman I knew at that time (I was 22) watched the show religiously while every other guy I knew avoided it like the plague. Well, I have finally watched it from start to finish and obviously the girls turned out to … Continue reading Sex and the City: Liberated in the Big Apple
