Movie Review Hocus Pocus 2

Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) 

Directed by Anne Fletcher 

Written by Jen D'Angelo 

Starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sam Richardson

Release Date September 30th, 2022 

Disney Plus Sequel to Hocus Pocus 

The cult of The Sanderson Sisters is far more vast and wide than I ever would have imagined. For me, 1993's Hocus Pocus was a completely forgettable experience. It wasn't that the movie was bad, it merely wasn't for me. Watching it again as I got older I was never very impressed by the over top acting of Midler, Najimi and Parker or the wooden blocks posing as human supporting characters. The story was rather mundane, family friendly Disney stuff that to this day holds no interest for me. 

What shocks me however is the impact the film had on so many women, my age and younger. Something about the high camp aesthetic reached an audience that immediately become loyal and dedicated to the preservation of Hocus Pocus in popular culture. The cult of The Sanderson Sisters has grown over the past 29 years to such a degree that the fans have willed a sequel into existence nearly three decades later. It's a sequel that is just as camp and formulaic as the original but perhaps a little more energetic thanks to a supporting cast that can actually keep up with Midler, Najimi and Parker. 

Returning to Salem at Halloween The Sanderson Sisters are still the talk of the town. The legend of the Sanderson Sisters has become something of a tourist attraction thanks in part to the work of Gilbert (Sam Richardson), who has taken over the former cabin of the Sanderson Sisters and turned it into a magic shop. He also happens to be in possession of Book, the enchanted spell book that made the Sisters into a powerful witches coven. The book is under lock and key but, secretly Gilbert has plans to let the book free. He wants to bring the Sanderson Sisters back, unaware that the legends about them eating children and generally being evil are true. 

His plan is coming to fruition on this Halloween night because a teenager named Becca (Whitney Peak) is about to turn 16 and with her dalliance with magic as part of a trio of witch loving friends including lovable Izzy (Belissa Escobedo) and Cassie (Lilia Buckingham), Gilbert believes she is the key to raising the Sandersons. As a birthday gift, Gilbert gives Becca a black flame candle. What she doesn't know is that this is the same black flame candle, returned to life by Gilbert, that brought the Sanders son sisters back to life nearly 30 years ago. 

The improvements over the original Hocus Pocus are many, as far as I am concerned. It starts with the look of the film. Hocus Pocus 2 is filled with crisp bright colors even as it remains loyal to a classically fall color palette. The costumes pop, the locations are lovely and the detail on the production design demonstrates the higher budget that clearly has been dedicated for this sequel. That budget in part coming from product placement for Walgreens that, though it is immensely tacky, it does get used for several quite good gags and an important plot device. If you're going to do such naked advertising in your movie, at least make it appear necessary. Hocus Pocus 2 does that at least. 

Click here for my full length review of Hocus Pocus 2 at Geeks.Media. 

Movie Review: 27 Dresses

27 Dresses (2008) 

Directed by Anne Fletcher

Written by Aline Brosh McKenna 

Starring Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman, Edward Burns, Judy Greer 

Release Date January 18th, 2008

Published January 17th, 2008

I'm not supposed to like 27 Dresses. It is what has come to be called a 'chick flick'. A derogatory term for a movie made for women only. This limiting mentality has at once a strong shorthand but also speaks to the emotional immaturity of men across this country. Anything a little too feminine and men get uncomfortable. Weddings, babies, women in general, make men uncomfortable and it isn't manly to be uncomfortable.

I have never really understood this mentality even as I am able to diagnose it. I've never had a problem being in touch with my emotions or expressing how I feel to others. Maybe that is why I can so easily enjoy movies like Legally Blonde, Just Like Heaven, My Best Friend's Wedding or Something New, some of my all time favorite movies written off by men as 'chick flicks'.

27 Dresses is indeed another movie written off as a chick flick. It's all, in touch with it's emotions, thoughtful, sweet, smart and sexy. All things that make most men uncomfortable, no babies though.

Jane (Katherine Heigl) has been nursing a mad crush on her boss George (Ed Burns) since she began working for his clothing company two years ago. Now, with a little liquid courageshe is ready to confess her feelings when her little sister Tess (Malin Akerman) walks right up to George and the two fall madly in love. Naturally, Kate is called upon to plan their eventual wedding. You see, Kate is something of an expert. She has presided as bridesmaid and unofficial wedding coordinator at 27 different weddings. In fact, as we meet her, she is attending two weddings in one night, an event witnessed by Kevin (James Marsden), the wedding reporter for the New York Journal.

Smelling a story in this unusual woman, Kevin pursues her and in the process falls for her. Kate is not so quick to even like Kevin let alone fall for him. Where she happens to love weddings, he is cynical and cites how often the ritual fails to translate to lifetime love. Of course, if you think the movie has anything other than true love on it's mind for Kate and Kevin, you clearly don't watch many movies.

To call 27 Dresses predictable is like saying the sun is predictable. This is a romantic comedy folks, not  Scenes From A Marriage. 27 Dresses is about oddball romantic roadblocks between two characters destined to live happily ever after. And, while I have in the past dinged other similar films for their overfamiliar clichés and simpleminded routines, I maintain that those films weren't as interesting in their predictability as 27 Dresses.

27 Dresses offer characters that are easy to accept and enjoy, Director Anne Fletcher may not be skilled at avoiding the typical, but she knows how to cast actresses and actors we want watch in a story that doesn't put one to sleep.

The main reason 27 Dresses is better than other similar films is star Katherine Heigl. This lovely talented young actress has had one exceptional year coming off of the success of Knocked Up last summer and her Emmy win for TV's Grey's Anatomy. She gets 2008 off to a good start with a performance of wondrous romantic angst and good hearted cheer. Her Jane is not some pathetic, pining woman-child but a serious minded woman with good reasons why she has fallen for who she's fallen for, even if she lacks the spine to declare her feelings

Jane is the rare selfless character in a sea of selfish, overbearing characters not just in 27 Dresses but in most modern movies. Just a quick blush of the movies I've seen this weekend from the bank robbers of Mad Money to the monster bait of Cloverfield, we are adrift in selfish, self involved characters whose only concern is for themselves and their well being.

Jane may be a little spineless but it comes from a place of honesty and caring. Though Marsden's Kevin thinks she gets walked on by her friends, the filmmakers portrayal makes it seem more likely that she just loves weddings and wants to give these women the dream that she holds for herself some day. That is nobility if you ask me and a rare characteristic of the modern movie character.

Late in the film, when Jane finally does something truly selfish it is not celebrated as her finally standing up for herself but rather as an out of character, meanspirited moment that she must and does make up for. Again, how rare, a character punished for being selfish. On this message alone I could celebrate 27 Dresses. That it is also charming, sweet and funny is icing on the giant three layer wedding cake.

Movie Review: The Proposal

The Proposal (2009)

Directed by Anne Fletcher 

Written by Peter Chiarrelli 

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, Betty White, 

Release Date June 19th, 2009 

Date Published June 18th, 2009

It's the definition of a hackneyed premise. An immigrant desperate to stay in the country enters into a sham marriage in order to pull a fast one on the government. Good movies, bad movies and trite sitcoms have bounced this premise around for years. Thus, the new comedy The Proposal doesn't exactly excite those looking for some original laughs. Oh how I love to be surprised. Yes, the premise is hackneyed beyond belief, but with talented stars and a smart director, The Proposal turns this cliched premise into a wonderfully fresh and funny comic romance.

Sandra Bullock stars in The Proposal in the role that is traditionally given to a man in movies like this, a high powered New York executive. Bullock is Margaret a publishing magnate who is hated and feared by her subordinates. Ryan Reynolds is Andrew, Margaret's desperately put upon assistant anointed with the ugly tasks of being Margaret's everyday punching bag.

Margaret happens to be Canadian and in the country on a visa. She has put off renewing her visa so often that she has accidentally allowed it to expire and she is about to be deported. That is when she gets an idea, she will just tell her boss's and the American government that she is in love and is marrying Andrew. For his part, Andrew is desperate for a raise and a promotion and this is just the opportunity to get ahead at this company. 

If Andrew agrees to marry Margaret she gets to stay in the country and he gets what he wants, the chance to move up the corporate ladder. It's also quite motivating that if Margaret goes, Andrew is likely to get fired. In order to convince the government they are a real couple they agree to travel to Alaska for a weekend of meeting all of Andrew's relatives including his mother (Mary Steenburgen), father (Craig T. Nelson) and Gammy (Betty White).

If, from the above description, you cannot figure out that the hard hearted exec will be won over by the wacky Alaska clan, then you are just not trying. However, what's great is how she is won over and how well she fights it off... for a little while anyway. Director Anne Fletcher, who charmed her way through the equally formula charmer 27 Dresses last year, deftly works the typical into something unexpected and terrifically funny.

Take for instance Margaret's secret love of rap music or the clever use of the great Betty White not for awkward laughs but honest warm, unexpected belly laughs. A character like White's Gammy would, in a lesser movie, be used to score cheap points with inappropriate humor or oddly sexual asides. There are some iffy jokes sent Gammy's way and batted right back, but White is so winning that things never enter that uncanny valley of ungainly vulgarity.

White is a scene stealer but even she loses a couple scenes to one Oscar Nunez. Best known for his quiet, dignified gay man on TV's The Office, Nunez plays Ramone a ubiquitous presence in the lives of Andrew's family who takes an immediate liking to Margaret and delights in shocking her with his ability to be seemingly everywhere.

As for the leads, Bullock hasn't been this good since While You Were Sleeping yet the characters couldn't be more different. Where Sleeping's heroine was all cuddly insecurity, Margaret is a real ballbuster. Blustery and bossy with a steely manner concealing an honest slightly wounded soul, Bullock's Margaret is the rare romantic heroine whose inner life fuels her outward action.

The care taken to give life to Margaret beyond the plot and the obvious character type is what sets a movie like The Proposal apart from other formula romances that rely on the premise to invent the character. The same could be said of Reynolds' Andrew whose daddy issues and innate good nature fuel his actions toward Margaret and make believable the idea that he could in the course of a plot that unfolds in three days, fall for Margaret in ways that make us want them together.

Even with its trite premise The Proposal is fresh, funny and joyous. Sandra Bullock is the Sandra Bullock she was always supposed to be before bad choices like Miss Congeniality 2 and a couple ugly looking thrillers knocked her off of stardom's path. Ryan Reynolds is only a box office hit away from establishing his star presence. With last year's exceptional Definitely Maybe and now The Proposal his chops are unquestionable.

The Proposal may be the best romantic comedy of the year.