Practical Magic (1998) Review – Exploring the Past

TL;DR – While narratively it is a bit all over the place, there is a core to it that still translates in 2026.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that was used to view this film.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

A pentagram drawn on a man's chest in whipped cream from a can.

Practical Magic Review Introduction

Today we are looking at a bit of a blind spot for me. When I think back to the cult classics of 1998, my touchstone was Ever After: A Cinderella Story. But with the Practical Magic sequel upon us, I thought it was time to fix this potential mistake and see if the film can still resonate in 2026.  

So, to set the scene, Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gilly (Nicole Kidman) are sisters from the infamous Owens family. The whole town thinks they are witches; well, that is because they are. They live with their aunts Frances (Stockard Channing) and Jet (Dianne Wiest), and maybe a curse that affects every woman in their family. It is this supposed curse that caused Gilly to run away from the town, and Sally to buck history and fall in love with Michael (Mark Feuerstein). Sally moves back in with the aunts with her daughters Kylie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Antonia (Alexandra Artrip) and gives up magic for good, until one day Gilly calls needing help from her abusive boyfriend Jimmy (Goran Visnjic), and things go very wrong.

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Blacklight – Movie Review

TL;DR – An action film that wastes a lot of its runtime, forgetting it is an action film.     

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this film

Flags at Washington DC

Blacklight Review

As we continue our run to the end of the year, I thought I would continue my catch-up by continuing my look at Liam Neeson’s after yesterday’s Memory. This time around, we have an action film where Liam is an undercover expert caught up in a grand conspiracy

So to set the scene, we open with a politician Sofia Flores (Melanie Jarnson) is giving an empowering speech about bringing politics back to the people and stopping the cooperate interests that are disenfranchising people. Still, later that night, she is run down by an assassin. Meanwhile, in Rural America, Travis Block (Liam Neeson) is extricating a deep undercover operative from a mission gone wrong. He wants to step away from this life and spend more time with his family, but one last mission to extricate Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith) goes pear-shaped, and now he is in the fight of his life.  

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