The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
Directed by George Miller
Three single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted, at a cost, when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.
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What critics compared The Witches of Eastwick to
Although the film isn't a landmark combination of unique elements (viewers will find themselves reminded of both The Witches of Eastwick and The Firm), it has a lot of energy and the rather long 145-minute running time passes quickly.
In a performance reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's in "The Witches of Eastwick," Pacino is nothing short of enthralling, using to magnanimous effect the loud-mouthed hamminess that has become his post-Oscar trademark.
Not to say he’s in the same class as the Mad Max and The Witches of Eastwick Oscar winner, but as imitators go, the guy has done his homework.
More often, Nicholson recalls the Devil in The Witches of Eastwick, alternating velvet swagger, super-avuncular glee, and eye-narrowing menace.
Even Jack Nicholson appears defanged when you compare him with his craziest work in films like The Shining, or mediocre comedies that he's appeared in, such as The Witches of Eastwick.
It's fun to see Sandler sputter, simmer and explode while Nicholson remains eerily calm and composed, speaking in the same diabolically mellow tone of voice he used so effectively when he was wooing Shirley MacLaine in "Terms of Endearment" and seducing Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer in "The Witches of Eastwick."
Jack Nicholson puts a wicked-looking spin on Buddy that reminds of his horny little devil in "The Witches of Eastwick" and Jack Torrance in "The Shining."
He may have already played the devil once, in The Witches of Eastwick, but now that he's a few years older, he looks even more impish and demonic as the puppet-master pulling Sandler's strings.
From his blazingly pissed-off general in A Few Good Men to the psycho in The Shining and the devil himself in The Witches of Eastwick, Nicholson's anger is beautiful and terrible to watch, partly because it's rarely righteous.
Meanwhile, Susan Sarandon gets to wear an outrageous costume and spout over-the-top dialogue - something she hasn't gotten a chance to do since The Witches of Eastwick.
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It would be another quarter of a century, however, before witches would again receive the Hollywood glamor treatment, and this time it came in the form of Michelle Pfeiffer, Susan Sarandon and Cher in the 1987 adaption of John Updike's "The Witches of Eastwick."
Somewhere between the two falls 1987's The Witches of Eastwick, which, working from a John Updike novel, crafts a film about witches that deals with the male ego in that intensely introspective Updike way.
Alas, the Jack she's channeling is the one who created vainglorious creatures like the devil in "The Witches of Eastwick" (1987) and the Joker in "Batman" (1989).
In some ways, this plot recalls Miller's “The Witches of Eastwick,” with its consideration of women and motherhood.
Director George Miller, now 70, returns to the franchise he left behind 30 years ago — in the interim he's done such wildly different films as "The Witches of Eastwick," "Babe: Pig in the City" and "Happy Feet" — and proves he's lost none of the visual flair and imagination that drove those original films.
From there Mr. Miller went on to create an eclectic batch of films like The Witches of Eastwick, Lorenzo’s Oil, Babe, and its wildly creative sequel.
Babe is handily one of the best films of the 1990s and The Witches of Eastwick was a successful follow-up to the previously final film of the Mad Max franchise, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
And Miller went on to direct a varied assortment of flicks including "The Witches of Eastwick," "Lorenzo's Oil," "Babe: Pig in the City" and the two recent "Happy Feet" movies.
“Beyond Thunderdome” (1985) was arena rock by comparison, but Mr. Miller — whose résumé also includes “The Witches of Eastwick,” “Babe: Pig in the City” and both “Happy Feet” cartoon-penguin movies — has always stayed true to his scrappy, pragmatic roots.
It was the basis of The Witches of Eastwick, Death Becomes Her, and The First Wives Club.
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The score by composer John Williams ("Saving Private Ryan," "The Witches of Eastwick") - while occasionally a bit loud and/or heavy-handed in driving home the emotional quality of certain scenes - is also moderately enjoyable.
While a fabulous director who's found great critical and financial success with live-action endeavors ("The Road Warrior," "The Witches of Eastwick," "Lorenzo's Oil"), Miller's family entertainment offerings (including the catastrophic "Babe: Pig in the City") have been woefully mismanaged, chasing toxic whimsy with a crooked smile.
He veered into black comedy with The Witches of Eastwick (1987) -- though Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) had its share of dark comedy as well -- and then a dark, unflinching medical drama, Lorenzo's Oil (1992).
Again it's George Miller who co-wrote, co-produced, and directed the film, Mr. Miller the same fellow who gave us things as varied as "Babe," "Babe: Pig in the City," "The Witches of Eastwick," and all of the "Mad Max" movies.