wonderful, lyrical, practical magic

I saw the movie Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman quite a few years ago. It's one of those movies that I wanted to be better than it was — it seemed to have so much potential, but it just didn't work, even with the wonderful Aidan Quinn as Bullock's love interest.

I have been in the mood lately, Halloween coming up I guess, to read some witch-related books, so even though I didn't love the movie I had heard good things about the book by Alice Hoffman, so I thought I'd give it a try. I am so glad I did. The book is, from start to finish, a delight. Hoffman tells the story of Sally and Gillian Owens, two orphan sisters that are raised by their eccentric aunts in a wonderfully creaky old family home in Massachusetts. Their aunts, and the girls, too, are looked on with suspicion and fear by their neighbors — but that doesn't stop the townswomen from showing up at their kitchen door night after night in search of a charm or something that the old ladies can brew up to help their love lives. All through their childhood Sally and Gillian eavesdrop on these goings-on with fascination, while also realizing that this might not be the best atmosphere to grow up with a healthy view of romantic relationships ...

Hoffman's prose is lyrical, and the girls, their aunts, and all the other characters are wonderfully depicted. I really didn't want it to end. The good news is that Hoffmann recently published a "prequel," The Rules of Magic, centered around the aunts in their youth. Looking forward to reading that next. She also has a book written about the mother of painter Camille Pissarro, who was the mentor of the French Impressionists — The Marriage of Opposites. That sounds great, too.

big little lies

I just finished watching the HBO series Big Little Lies and, I'm sure, like many others, didn't want it to end. The slow, almost hypnotic pace of the direction by Jean-Marc Vallée in producer and writer David E. Kelley's adaptation of Liane Moriarty's book eased viewers into the complicated lives of the mothers of first graders in an affluent suburb of Monterey, California.

I quickly scooped up the book and was not disappointed by its southern Australian setting. The characters are the same: the charismatic, rapid-fire and funny Maddie, the outwardly serene but haunted Celeste, the tortured young mom Jane. These three women and their children and the men in their lives are all tangled together in a web of lies, both big and small. The story begins with a crime scene and the reader must shuffle through a series of entertaining, and at times, disturbing unreliable narrators until the truth is finally revealed.

Jane, Maddie, and Celeste share a high-end kaffee klatsch

Moriarty perfectly captures the Mommy Wars that some people indulge in these days and invites the reader inside the heads of the three main female characters. We see the men in their lives through theirs and other's eyes, but a little like the classic film The Women, the emphasis is squarely on the ladies. Themes of abuse, to children and adults, runs throughout. The setting may be beach/bucolic, but the passions run deep. Big Little Lies is a great read and I'd be willing to check out more by this author. There are rumors of a second series of the HBO show, too.

moulin rouge

I introduced the kid to Moulin Rouge and she loved it. She was already a big Ewan McGregor fan (chip off the old block, of course) and was also happy to see Nicole Kidman in a part more appealing than "the mean lady from Paddington." Almost 11 is such an interesting age.

Nicole Kidman singing "Come What May" in the Moulin Rouge finale HD/HQ with lyrics from Storage Space on Vimeo.

ewan mcgregor and jack the giant slayer

Ewan McGregor is not the star of Jack the Giant Slayer, but he is what I remember most about the movie. It was actually kind of a schizophrenic viewing experience. The live action, with the charming McGregor, the always fun-to-watch Ian McShane as the king, the dastardly evil king's advisor Roderick, played by Stanley Tucci, and Jack, played by the all-grown-up and handsome Nicholas Hoult (can you believe this is the same kid from About A Boy?), are undeniably the best parts of the movie.

The CGI giants that Jack and his pals are up against, however, are unremittingly ugly, unpleasant, and un-involving to watch. So much hard work for such a poor return. I would have much preferred to see Bill Nighy, who plays the main giant, General Fallon, as himself, blown up with the aid of computers to a giant size, than what we were given — his horribly animated counterpart. It's hard to believe that director Bryan Singer, who has ably balanced live action and special effects/animation in the three previous X-Men movies (X-Men, X2, X-Men First Class) would let such miserable-looking giants get past the drawing board stage.

Fee, fi, fo, fum — Yuk, yukky, yukkier, and yukkiest

But back to Ewan McGregor. As the king's top knight, Elmont, McGregor has a blast, whether twirling his waxed moustache or being captured and rolled up in a giant's pastry. As I watched him in Jack the Giant Slayer I realized that McGregor truly has the best shit-eating grin in movies. His larger-than-life enthusiasm, which he carries from role to role, is just infectious.

I'm no fan of the more recent Star Wars flicks, but McGregor's young Obi Wan Kenobi was easily the least embarrassing performance of the trilogy. I prefer watching McGregor in the more enjoyable, but incredibly cheesy science-fiction flick The Island, where he and Scarlett Johansson discover that their perfect world may not really be that wonderful after all — they are clones whose owners want them to exist solely for use as "spare parts." Whether playing a junkie in Trainspotting or a smarmy suitor in Emma, McGregor is always irresistible. His 500-watt smile and winning performance in Moulin Rouge, whether he is speaking or singing, steals the movie away from his co-star Nicole Kidman. All of the other actors, sets and trappings in the over-the-top production just can't compare.

I dare you to name an actor with a better smile

McGregor can dial down his grin when necessary. In Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream he plays Colin Farrell's smarter (?) brother, trying desperately to change his circumstances for the better, even if the way out of his current situation includes murder. In Roman Polanski's excellent Ghost Writer he is a more diffident sort — quiet, lurking around the edges of the movie until he realizes that the book he is ghost writing may not only put him in the spotlight, but in actual danger.

One of Hollywood's most hardworking actors, McGregor is in many movies that are worth checking out: The Impossible, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Beginners, Miss Potter, Big Fish, Young Adam, Down with Love, Little Voice, Velvet Goldmine. Is his latest, Jack the Giant Slayer, worth checking out? If you can focus on the actors and are not too put off by the video-game-reject-looking giants, it can be a fun diversion. And Ewan McGregor's grin helps a lot.

Smiles all around — Ewan McGregor, Eleanor Tomlinson, and Nicholas Hoult bid adieu to some pesky giants