Coyote Ugly & The Craft

Coyote Ugly is a long time personal faveourite and I've been looking forward to watching this one since we started the project. I knew John hadn't watched and it and was fairly confident that he would once he got in to it. I guess we'll have to wait until he gets around to his reviews to find out for sure but I'm fairly sure he enjoyed it in the end.

Coyote Ugly is one of my long time fave movies. It's musical, it's fun and romantic - the girly tri-fecta.

Violet Sanford leaves her life as a waitress in New Jersey to move to New York to make her dreams of becoming a songwriter come true. But it doesn't go according to plan and she has to find a job to help pay the bills. She gets a job at the Coyote Ugly bar which is run by a take-no-prisoners woman and her bar dancing bartenders. Violet starts to come out of her shell on the bar while she trys to get her music heard by anyone who will listen. Mike O'Donnell accidently hears her demo and is smitten. But can she have both worlds and the man too?!

Piper Perabo is a relative unknown actress, but she does a lot of movies that I love. She does a great "small town girl moves to the big city" character in this movie, really holding her own against bigger name stars - Tyra Banks, Maria Bello, Melanie Lynskey and John Goodman. And, she can sing! While Leann Rimes is featured as the singer that eventually sings her songs, Piper can hold her own with the singing for most of the movie. Australian actor Adam Garcia is one hottie that we should see more of. He too can sing and dance (although I now that from another movie, not this one). He's a great match for Piper Perabo as they have great chemistry together.

I enjoy the singing, the dancing and the high pace of the bar. I wonder if deep down I'd like to have enough guts to get up on a bar and dance in front of that many drunk men - probably not, but I wish I did. The bar scenes are offset by the romantic interludes and all are balanced well.

This is another one of those movies that I find hard to explain why it's so good - it just is. I like movies that make me smile, laugh, sing along and don't disappoint in the end. You should watch it - go on, you know you want to!!

The Craft is not a movie that you'd normally find in my collection. When it was released at the movies it had an R16 rating and my girlfriends and I were 15. Tracy was 16 so we sent her to buy the tickets but they wouldn't sell them to her without seeing everyone's ID's. I don't remember what we ended up seeing, but I clearly remember trying to come up with ways to get us all in. Funny to think that was almost 14 years ago now.

I bet you're just dying to know what the story is all about. . . Sarah is new in town and without friends. Everyone tells her to avoid the three outcasts, but Sarah finds herself drawn to them. They are into witchcraft, spells and all things supernatural, and Sarah is a natural. Together they make up a coven of powerful witches, inflicting revenge on thier peers and making life better for themselves. That is until they go to far and Sarah will do anything to get away from the girls.

Robin Tunney stars as Sarah alongside Neve Campbell (of Party of Five fame), Fairuza Balk and Rachel True (yep, I don't know anything else she's done either). You may recognise Christine Taylor as the snooty cheerleader, Breckin Meyer and the gorgeous Skeet Ulrich.

. . . . excuse me for a moment, I just read on the http://www.imdb.com/ that they've made 'Scream 4' and I'm a little bit taken back . . . . anyway. . . .

The Craft appeals to me because magic, sorcery and the supernatural appeals to me. I'm fascinated by movies that involve magic and witchcraft. I'm a big fan of the TV series 'Charmed' too. In the movie the main characters play with spells and various supernatural phenomenon. I'm ok with it all until the snakes and spiders appear at the end of the movie - I don't do well with snakes and spiders. Euw.

Fairuza Balk freaks me out a little. I'm not sure if she's just a very good actress or if she's actually a bit scary looking. Perhaps it's both. Either way, she does a great job coming across as a terrifying and seriously disturbed teenager messing with things way beyond her realm of her understanding. Teenagers! Sheesh!

The movies has dated - 14yrs to be exact, but what movie doesn't right?! The underlying themes of teenagers being on the oust and just wanting to fit in are still fitting with todays world. That will never change. I just hope that most teenagers don't also try to summon the creator of all magic at the same time.

Should you watch it?! Hmmm, very good question. For me it reminds me of my teenage years (because it's from that time, not because I used to practice the dark arts) and it's magical. For you, it could fall flat. I don't think you'll be missing anything if you choose not to. If you do, just take it for what it is - a movie aimed a teens.

Reviews to come: Crimson Rivers, The Cup, Curious George and the first D - The Da Vinci Code.
Next up for viewing - The Dark City and The Dark Crystle.