Favorite Musical Moment in a Magical Movie

 'Eye of newt and toe of frog, 

wool of bat and tongue of dog.

 Cragged salt like a sailor's stubble! 

Flip the switch and let the cauldron bubble!'

The Aunts, Jet & Francis

I usually love movies about Witches, but I have to admit, I wasn't a huge fan of 1998's Practical Magic.  I mean I liked the cast, Nichole Kidman and Sandra Bullock were good, and I loved Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing as the aunts. I especially loved their home, it's 'witchy' feel and the surround in location.  

I just didn't find the script that compelling, or the characters particularly well drawn and created, especially Kidman's Gillian.  Yeah, I know the character was a big part of the story, yet at the same time for me, she could have been almost completely removed, and the best parts of the film would have still been in place.

To be fair, I've heard the book by Alice Hoffman was much better, and I can see that.  Books usually are, especially when the story spans over many decades.  Huge chunks of story seemed to have been breezed over in the movie, that I wonder if were covered more fully in the novel. I'll really have to pick it up one of these days and read for myself.

The Aunts

One scene that I did love, and I mean LOVE, was the introduction of Mark Feuerstein as Michael.  It's rare that such a short scene, one that I know many really love, stands out in a mediocre movie.  The scene occurs near the beginning of the film, the place for me, that most of the best parts of the movie took place. 

It's funny, I also wasn't a huge fan of Faith Hill's 'This Kiss' before seeing the film, but it was such a perfect blend of song and scenes that it really worked.   I have to give it to actor turned director Griffin Dunn for how the scene was put together.

You also have to give a nod to Sandra and Mark, who really nailed the assignment.  I don't think actor Mark Feuerstein ever looked hotter than he did in his black t-shirt and his baseball hat worn backwards.  Of course, I think had to go on the hunt for more hot pictures of Feuerstein.  Although he's shied from on-screen nudity, he has had a lot of shirtless scenes, and one very small crack at a little more.  Check out some the results of my dive into the actors on-screen skin resume on FH HERE: