Practical Magic / The Witches of Eastwick (Double Feature) [Blu-ray]

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: DVD

In Practical Magic, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are sisters hexed by a centuries-old curse…and coping with a possible love match (Aidan Quinn) for one, a zombie (Goran Visnjic) for the other and a need to resume the age-old witchcraft taught by two doting aunts (Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest). Meanwhile, three more modern-day witches (Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer) yearn for Mr. Right in a New England town. Is the arrival of wealthy, irresistible Daryl van Horne (Jack Nicholson) a coincidence – or their unconscious sorcery at work? From John Updike’s bestseller, The Witches of Eastwick is a star-bright otherworldly delight.
Actor Griffin Dunne improves a bit on his first film as a director, Addicted to Love, with this drama-comedy about a family of witches. Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock play spell-casting sisters of different temperaments: the former is a high-living, free-spirited sort, while Bullock's character is a homebody who can't get around a family curse that kills the men in their lives. A widowed single mom, Bullock gets into a jam with an abusive Bulgarian (Goran Visnjic) and is helped out by her sibling, but the result brings a good-looking, warm, inquisitive cop (Aidan Quinn) into their lives. The film has a variety of tonal changes--cute, scary, glum--that Dunne can't always effectively juggle. But the female-centric, celebratory nature of the film (the fantasies, the sharing, the witchy bonds) is infectious, and supporting roles by Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing as Kidman and Bullock's magical aunts are a lot of fun. --Tom Keogh