Reviews
What Dreams May Come (1998)
It's A Wonderful Film
This is surely one of the best films to come out of Hollywood in a long, long time. Not only does it have a stellar cast, magnificent performances, & incredible visual effects, it actually has such old fashioned elements as: A PLOT! DIALOGUE! CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Imagine that.
It's obviously heavily influenced by Dante, but has something to offer everyone of every religious/spiritual persuasion. Mainly because it's about truly believable people, & real emotions.
I admit it, I cried. Go see it. And go see it again.
The Craft (1996)
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
This was a film that had the chance to use the information on Wicca provided by a member of the Covenant of the Goddess (a national Wiccan organisation) to accurately portray Wiccan beliefs.
What we got was a film where the rituals were close enough to real, the philosophy was nearly there, but the substance ran away. Whilst we got the opportunity to see that "what goes around comes around", & that misusing magic inevitably leads to tears before bedtime, the opportunity to give dispel some of the myths (perhaps by giving the shopkeeper something relatively intelligent to say) was wasted.
However, there was a great deal of comedy, some smart & hip writing, & quite luscious performances. Good brain candy, & good fun, but if you're looking for information on The Craft, go elsewhere.
To Save a Child (1991)
Not impressed.
Yet another film about a woman saving her child from evil "witches". It's incredible that such blatant disregard for the members of perfectly respectable & legal minority religions should be shown, but the so-called "witches" in this film are of the Hollywood schlock-fest type. Credibility is stretched so far that it rips in this film, & the explicit linking of Pagan religions, including Voudun & Withcraft, with "black magic" & dangerous, violent behaviour is only part of the reason why. A pretty good cast & gorgeous settings are wasted.