In this recent wave of lackluster sequels to films from the late ’90s and early 2000s—The Devil Wears Prada 2, Freakier Friday, and Zootopia 2, to name a few—I really wasn’t expecting much from Practical Magic 2. But I was pleasantly surprised. The storyline is creative, the cast changes work, and, most importantly, the film still captures the magic of the original.

Based on the novel by Alice Hoffman and directed by Susanne Bier, the story picks up several years later with the Owens sisters, Sally and Gillian, played once again by Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. After the death of her second husband from the Owens family witchcraft curse, Sally decides to give up her magical powers. She even erases her young daughters’ memories of witchcraft, hoping to protect them from the family’s troubled history. Gillian, meanwhile, is still her sultry, wild and free self. She respects her sister’s decision, but worries Sally isn’t being true to who she really is.

Sally’s daughters are now grown. Antonia, played by Maisie Williams, is completing her nursing degree, while Kylie, played by Joey King, is a college student experiencing first love with her boyfriend Gideon, played by Xolo Maridueña. And, of course, the great aunts are back. Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing return as Jet and Franny, although their roles are more limited this time around. They’re older now and nearing the end of their lives.

Once Kylie and Gideon fall in love, the family curse rears its ugly head again. There’s even a deathwatch beetle sending ominous warning clicks. An old magic book discovered by Jet reveals how the curse can be lifted. Kylie eventually discovers the truth—that the entire family are witches—and heads to England to save Gideon and break the curse.

Sally and Gillian follow, and along the way they meet Professor Ian Wright, played by Lee Pace, a magic expert who becomes very attracted to Sally. But, just like in the original, the road to victory is complicated and never easy.

Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman slip effortlessly back into their roles as the Owens sisters. It feels as though they never left. Joey King and Maisie Williams are also terrific as the next generation of Owens women, and Wiest and Channing are wonderful as the

The plot can be a little twisty and difficult to follow at times, but the pacing works well. There’s plenty of fun and levity, including, of course, a little Lime in the Coconut moment. The magic itself feels natural rather than overdone, and the soundtrack is enticing. And really, who can resist Landslide by Stevie Nicks?

For me, the message of Practical Magic 2 is to never be afraid to love, to embrace who you are—the good and the bad—and to trust that even when life gets difficult, somehow things can work out. And maybe most importantly, don’t take life too seriously. Enjoy the

Midnight Margaritas, anyone?

For the KSQD Film Gang: Molly Sullivan.

Don’t Say Good Luck, from director Julia Hart, delivers a tender and emotional coming-of-age story centering a teenager grappling with typical high school woes and her mother’s illness. This film weaves the various challenges she faces with a delicate hand, making the audience laugh and cry from scene to scene.

Sunny Sandler, who plays the protagonist Sophie Birenbaum, showcases a powerful performance full of longing and grief. Melanie Lynskey plays her mother, Elizabeth, who faces a life-threatening illness but continues to support her family despite it.

The film starts on the morning of Sophie’s audition for the school musical, Waitress. We see a typical morning for the Birenbaums: Elizabeth goes to wake up Sophie’s younger twin brothers, who are then wrangled and prepped for school by their dad, Ted, played by Max Greenfield. Sophie is nervous for her audition, but she manages to perform an emotional rendition of one of the musical’s songs, unexpectedly earning her the lead role of Jenna.

The film manages to capture the buzz of nerves and excitement that surrounds high school theater, showing the teens warming up and listening in anticipation to their theater teacher, Ms. Parker, played by Stephanie Beatriz. Ms. Parker acts as a confidante and cheerleader for Sophie, who often doubts her ability to play such a deeply emotional role.

There is an attempt at drawing parallels between the musical and the plot of the film itself. Waitress involves the main character getting pregnant, and Ms. Parker encourages Sophie to get in touch with her character by asking her mom about when she was pregnant with Sophie. It makes for a heart-wrenching dynamic between the two of them, especially knowing the time they have together is short.

Elizabeth doesn’t let her diagnosis stop her from planning future family trips and supporting her daughter with the musical. There is a funny yet touching scene in which Sophie and her mom go to the mall so that they can practice speaking in a Southern accent after Sophie complains that her accent will never be good enough as everyone else’s in the play.

The film spends time establishing the close relationship between Sophie and her mother. This film does not lean into melodrama, but rather, moments of joy and sorrow and given equal weight backed by incredible performances from the cast. There are a few montages scored by some of the songs from Waitress, allowing a peek into Sophie’s time spent rehearsing for the musical contrasted with the struggle of her parents trying to keep everything together.

On top of the news of her mother, Sophie deals with run-of-the-mill teenage obstacles, like her best friend growing distant and crushing on her co-star. This film does not shy away from emotional moments but does not dwell in them either. There is a clear balance between humor and drama that was remarkably achieved by the script.

I can’t praise Sunny Sandler enough for her work in this role, and I’m genuinely looking forward to what she does in the future. This film drives forward with a pleasant, familiar pace that reminds the audience that despite it all, life goes on. Messy, complicated, and joyous; life goes on.

For KSQD’s Film Gang: Isa Cortez.

Was America Wired for Authoritarianism from the Start?

Be Bold America!

September 4, 2026 @ 5:00pm (PT)

Since Donald Trump ascended to the presidency, Americans are increasingly concerned about authoritarianism and creeping fascism. Their fears are justified, but according to eminent sociologist and prolific author, Dr. Charles Derber, argues that America was wired for authoritarianism long before the emergence of Trump. In his book, Wired for Authoritarianism: American Oligarchies and How to Re-Wired America for the People, he shows how American institutions have been rigged to serve the elite at the expense of the people.

Elites have long wired US institutions to benefit them at the expense of everyone else. Dr. Derber traces their influence over the Constitution, the courts, and even the culture from the beginning. The rich white men who drafted the Constitution wired it with multiple checks on democracy. 

Dr. Derber argues that US history is best understood as a series of corporate regimes. The first occurred after the Civil War when the Robber Barons ushered in the Gilded Age; the second emerged with the rise of global neo-liberal American capitalism beginning with the 1980s Reagan revolution; and the third and current one is driven by Silicon Valley oligarchs and their behemoth companies, such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Alphabet, and Tesla. The latest regime has given us the world’s first trillionaire in Elon Musk.

For American democracy to flourish we must build three new systems: a public goods economy and a democratic workplace, a social democracy that builds community and democratic values in schools, families and civil society, and a politics wired for constitutional democracy and the common good.

Coyote vs. Acme, directed by David Green and written by Sammy Burch, offers a modern twist on the Looney Tunes classic cartoon series. This family-friendly movie will appeal to kids for the anticipated chase and slapstick scenes. For adults, it is the “little guy” taking on a large corporation for faulty products that gives the film timely appeal.

The film opens in 1992, foreshadowing an evil Acme plot. Acme Corporation scientist Dr. Lorre leaks a message to an unknown contact before being captured and imprisoned inside an Acme portable hole. More on that later.

The animated film follows the antics of Wile E. Coyote and his plight to capture the pesky Road Runner. He orders his usual supplies from Acme—explosives, traps, tacks, and contraptions—that will hopefully thwart the Road Runner’s haunting “beep, beep.”

Predictably, Coyote’s plans backfire, leaving him injured and with a bruised ego. It so happens that Coyote sees an ad from the law firm Avery, Jones & Maltese, a personal injury law firm in Albuquerque specializing in cartoon violence cases involving Acme products.

Will Forte portrays senior partner Kevin Avery, who defends Coyote. When Coyote refuses to take a settlement and opts to go to trial, Buddy Crane, embraced and expertly played by John Cena, is Acme’s slick attorney. Cena and Forte are perfectly cast as two misfit attorneys taking on a historic case of Looney Tunes madness. Wile E. Coyote also gains our empathy as a character who never gets any respect and has spent a lifetime in torment.

Back to Dr. Lorre, who recognized that Acme products, whether tested on humans or animated characters, would drive them insane. He was silenced, but another “whistleblower” does take center stage in the film. You will have to watch the movie to find out who it is—but he is iconic.

The trial antics are entertaining, with a mix of actors and animation throughout the scenes. The plot twist is clever and a fresh take on characters generations have grown up with. The film appeals to all age groups and is a fun end-of-summer romp.

No need to worry about Coyote and Road Runner in the future. They are back doing what they do best. Beep, beep!

For KSQDs Film Gang: Susan Lovegren

with

on Sustainability Now! Sunday, September 13th, 2026, from 5-6 PM

Local food systems are of great importance to the Monterey Bay Region and, indeed, to California, and there is a growing number of small farms across the state supplying these systems.  Join Ronnie Lipschutz for a conversation with Josefina Lara Chavez, Executive Director of RegenerationLA, the Latine Alliance in Agroecology and the Food System, which has just launched Rancho Coyote Viejo in south San Benito County. The Rancho is a 25-acre pilot land access farm for beginning farmers practicing regenerative and organic agriculture, along with a demonstration farm to support RegenerationLA’s educational and technical assistance activities.  The farm is an experimental collaboration with Paicines Ranch, south of Hollister, California, which owns the property. Regeneration LA seeks to strengthens networks of Latine farmers, food workers, and agricultural professionals through education and capacity building to create a robust food and farming system.

Dr. Linda Adamson has been the Superintendent in the Pacific Grove Unified School District for the past 3 years. Previously she worked as a teacher, principal and Assistant Superintendent in the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District in Southern California. She also spent time in South Africa as an educator. Dr. PK Diffenbaugh has been the Superintendent in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District for the past 12 years. Previously he worked as a teacher in Oakland, a principal in Sacramento and then a director in the Garden Grove Unified School District in Southern California.  Both school districts marched in the Monterey Peninsula Pride parade in June and discussed why this was important for their students and staff and how they support LGBTQ+ students in their school districts.

Just released, Tony is a 2026 American biographical film about Anthony Bourdain’s early years working in Provincetown, Massachusetts, stories from which were featured in his 2000 memoir, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. The film is directed by Matt Johnson and distributed by A24 Studios.

If you are expecting the film to be about Anthony Bourdain as most people know him from CNN’s No Reservations and Parts Unknown—spinning yarns and imbibing—you may be disappointed. But if you are open to going along for the ride and seeing what informs and shapes a young man trying to figure out who he is, then settle in.

Tony, played by Dominic Sessa, best known from The Holdovers, captures Bourdain as a struggling writer—a somewhat undisciplined and rudderless young man. His conventional, albeit quirky, intellectual mom instilled in him a lust for language and travel, which became his mainstay.

The story begins with Tony full of hope that he will win a writing scholarship at Vassar. When that falls apart, he lies to his family and his love interest, Nancy, played by Emilia Jones, telling them everything has gone according to plan. Tony, showing signs of despair, moves to Provincetown under the pretense that he is there for the summer to pursue his writing and receive mentoring for a novel.

Once in Provincetown, all hell breaks loose with drunken nights, bar fights, and Tony’s awkwardness around people. After Tony is thrown out of a bar, the proprietor, portrayed by Antonio Banderas, rescues the young thug from himself. How? By putting him to work in his restaurant washing dishes in exchange for sleeping on his hammock.

Tony goes through his paces with the hardened kitchen staff, including Sal, played by Leo Woodall, who steals the show as a rough-and-tumble, bad-influence friend to Tony. Tony eventually softens Nancy with his unique charm, but the relationship does not fully develop. They are two young people, each trying to find themselves while pondering big questions.

Banderas also warms to Tony and genuinely becomes a father figure and mentor. Yet Tony continues to disappoint those closest to him. Some people are not meant to be tamed, and he proved to be one of them.

I enjoyed how the director balanced Tony as both likable and unlikable. He was probably always a complex person who lived his life until the light went out.

If you are a fan of Kitchen Confidential, or Anthony Bourdain in general, Tony is worth seeing. It gives us a glimpse into an earlier chapter of a life the public did not know as well—what informed him, shaped him, and ultimately led him to become the beloved storyteller he was.

For KSQD’s Film Gang: Susan Lovegren

Ajay Shenoy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at UCSC, a faculty affiliate of the Center for Effective Global Action, and a member of the steering committee of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. His research has two main branches: macroeconomic development – understanding what innovations can help low-income economies increase their productivity, and political economy – documenting how power is won and exercised within political systems. He has published in the leading economics journals. He is also one of the first to develop and teach large online courses at UCSC. We discuss his research as well as how the rise of AI is affecting teaching and learning experiences, especially for online courses.

John Candy: I Like Me is now streaming on Amazon Prime. This documentary takes us on a trip down memory lane, giving us the chance to enjoy clips from some of Candy’s classics: Splash, Uncle Buck, Stripes, Spaceballs, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Home Alone, National Lampoon’s Vacation and Second City TV.

Directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds, the film includes intimate memories from iconic comedy writers, performers, directors, and family members. And, of course, there’s the sweet vulnerability of Candy himself, captured through interviews and home videos.

The melancholy tone of the piece is an interesting juxtaposition to someone who gave us so many belly laughs, although it’s not an uncommon theme in the world of comedic geniuses. While Candy was close to his wife and children, he never fully recovered from losing his father to a heart attack when he was just five years old.

Candy had an incredible work ethic, along with natural talent. He grew up outside Toronto and came of age alongside the other Second City players. Think Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, and Catherine O’Hara. Under the creative direction of producer Andrew Alexander, Candy earned his “stripes”—no pun intended. It was through this training that he learned improvisation, timing, creative storytelling, and character development.

Candy’s hard work paid off, and he was soon discovered by the likes of Steven Spielberg, Ivan Reitman, and John Hughes. He developed a close friendship with Hughes and starred in nine of his films, most notably Uncle Buck, which Hughes wrote specifically for him.

Candy’s Canadian roots were apparent in his “niceness” and his love of sports, especially football. He was even co-owner of the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts—a nod to his own shortened football career.

Candy was easily the butt of jokes because of his “large frame” and did his best not to show his hurt. But past interviews captured the heartbreak on Candy’s face when he was asked about his weight. Candy was independent and didn’t think of himself as a “type,” but rather as a creative person with a strong point of view about the characters he played.

I believe that if he had lived beyond 1994, we would have experienced more dramatic roles from him. While Planes, Trains and Automobiles was a comedy, Candy’s performance was bittersweet and evoked the emotions of loneliness that we may all feel at one point or another in our lives.

I always enjoy films about real people whose lives take twists and turns and somehow come out the other end. Albeit all too early for John Candy, his talent, kindness, and legendary career will live on in the films he gave us.

For KSQD’s Film Gang: Susan Lovegren.

Episode 94: What does it mean to navigate adulthood as an autistic person in a world that isn’t always designed with neurodivergent people in mind?

In this remixed and re-edited episode, we revisit an important conversation about autistic adulthood—challenging outdated stereotypes and exploring the real-life experiences, strengths, and challenges of people with autism as they navigate relationships, work, identity, and support.

We’re joined by psychotherapists, self-advocates, and autism experts Lou Ursa and Jasmeen Miah, who share professional insight and personal perspective. Together, we explore how greater understanding of neurodiversity can broaden the way we think about difference, disability, belonging, and what it means to live authentically.

This remix also features a new In Your Voice story from Paul Bondonno, an autistic adult who shares his experience facing challenges in the workplace. Paul talks about how he eventually resolved those difficulties—and reflects on why he wishes he had reached out for help sooner.

Paul, Lou, and Jasmeen remind us that there is no single experience of autistic adulthood—and that listening to autistic people is an important place to start.

Broadcasts: 9/6/26 & 9/14/26

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Books & Reading

What I Mean When I Say I’m Autistic: Unpuzzling Life on the Autism Spectrum by Annie Kotowicz – Written by an autistic author this book provides a good look into what being autistic is like. While this book is written to help explain this to non-autistic people, it can helpful and validating for autistic individuals as well.

There is no epidemic of autism. It’s an epidemic of need by John Elder Robison and Dena Gassner. STAT / March 23, 2023 – An article published on the STAT: reporting from the frontiers of medicine and health website. 

Awareness, Acceptance, and Beyond: Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy with Autistic Clients – Blog post by Lou Ursa. This blog was initially written for a Sacramento-based therapist directory in April 2022 for Autism Acceptance Month. This version has minor edits and updates.

Websites and Organizations

Neurobeautiful: Inside the Mind of an Autistic Woman – The website of the author Annie Kotowicz with blog posts and a link to her book What I Mean when I say I’m Autistic: Unpuzzling Life on the Autism Spectrum.

Neuroqueer: The writings of Dr. Nick Walker – The website of a psychologist on Neuroqueer Theory with essays, videos, comics, and more.

Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN) – A non-profit, disability-rights organization run by and for autistic people. Their work focuses on policy and legal advocacy, providing educational resources related to autism and providing tools and support for autistic self-advocates.

JAN (Job Accommodation Network) – A website that can help individuals and employers explore and understand accommodation ideas for employment.

Media

Hannah Gadsby’s special Douglas – Netflix comedy special in which they discuss their autism diagnosis. Trailer on Youtube.

Counseling Support

More Information

Neurodiversity Affirming Language Guide – A guide from Neurodiverse Connection to help people use language that respects and affirms neurodivergent identities. It explains key terms, offers alternatives to outdated or pathologizing language, and describes why these language choices matter.

Contact Guests

*Lou Ursa LMFT (they/them)

*Indicates a Monterey Bay Area resource