Twister

Rating:
Summary: Let's not play Twister!
Review: Like others, I was horrified to witness the convoluted, "spiraling out of control" spectacle of Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton dribbling on and on about their silly relationship. Far more deadly than any tornado I've seen. Not to mention that I had forgotten just how bad Phillip Seymour Hoffman could be. By the way, is this now the standard criterion for cheeseball Hollywood flicks - the resident staple disheveled wacko techno nerd? Personally, I don't need this character unless he's pulled off with aplomb (like the brilliant Steve Buscemi (sp?))

The major problem with movies like this (that are action or disaster packed) is that one would like to be pulling for the humans and wanting them to survive, instead of pulling for the disaster to sweep them all away. Yes, the special effects were sometimes fun...

One could blame it all on the bad script writing - which is surely justified - but Paxton is such a goofball that he probably would have flucked up a solid script.

I give it three stars for the visuals and sound when the actors were not speaking.

Rating:
Summary: Rippin' Good Time
Review: This was one of the first DVDs on the market and it was done very well. The special effects are great (the kind where they are so good that you do not realize that they are special effects). The sound is very good. The movie itself is very good. The actors are excellent and help move the plot along at a good clip. Although somewhat predictable, it seems more true-to-life than many films. I have bought several hundred DVDs and sold many, but this is one that I plan to keep.

Rating:
Summary: Fun to Watch Again
Review: The first few times I saw this movie I thought the story wasn't very good and the last minute escapes (actors running on their feet while a fence is flying apart feet behind them, and seeing the center of so many tornados in a few days) were unbelievable. I still feel this way, but due to my daughter's interest in this movie we have seen it several times. This movie seems to be more fun to watch each time I view it, and Helen Hunt is an extraordinary actress.
Tornadoes are fascinating, and there are no other movies that cover them like this one. All the tornadoes are computer graphics, and the scenes are extremely well done.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Weather Makes A Great Movie!
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I lost my VHS tape edition, and as soon as I saw the DVD edition at Blockbuster, I had to get it. I love this movie. The special effects are really mindblowing. No matter how many times I have watched it, it still keeps me on the edge of my seat. You'll find yourself watching this movie over and over just like I do all the time! It's a great addition to any DVD collection. The interactive menus are really cool. I love the making of Twister feature that shows how they brought the monstrous tornados to life. It's pretty freaky but luckily I don't live in Kansas or anywhere near it. You should really get this DVD, it's so awesome. It's the best weather related movie out there! You won't regret getting this. I reccomend it to anyone, you'll love it! Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: A Fun Movie Even With One Twister Too Many!
Review: Twister is one of those goofy fun movies filled with colorful characters that you wish you could hang out with. The special effects are mesmerising but the one element that makes the film work is its well-developed characters. Helen Hunt's JoAnne Thornton-Harding and Bill Paxton's William 'Bill' Harding take up most of the spotlight but its Philip Seymour Hoffman's Dustin 'Dusty' Davis, Lois Smith's Aunt Meg Greene, and Jami Gertz's Dr. Melissa Reeves who have the best lines. All of these performers bring a natural grace to their roles and each time I watch their performances, I feel like I'm being reunited with old friends. I wish all my dinner table conversations were as fun as that one at Aunt Meg's. Kudos to director Jan DeBont who does a wondeful job following up his previous film Speed (1994) and to composer Mark Mancina who writes the best musical score of his career. I would have preferred seeing the movie end one twister before it did but that's a small nitpick with an otherwise entertaining movie. Twister is a film you can watch again and again.

Rating:
Summary: Disaster films can't get any better than this!
Review: I remember seeing this film in the theater when it first came out, and I was totally blown away. Twister ranks among the best of the disaster films that I have ever seen. Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt turn in stellar performances as Jo and Bill, an estranged couple who are in the process of a divorce when they are suddenly thrown back together in pursuit of the most violent series of tornadoes to hit mid-America in 50 years. In working together both are forced to confront some of their own inner demons, especially the ones that drove them apart in the first place.

Of course, no movie is any good without a strong supporting cast, and Twister has that in spades. From Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dusty on down to Lois Smith as Jo's Aunt Meg, these actors do a heck of a lot more than serve as backdrop to Jo and Bill. They help to enhance the story, each in their own way.

What I liked best about Twister was the fact that I found it to be a very intellectual film, much like The Day After. Although to some it may seem to be mostly a Jo and Bill story on the surface, I found myself doing a lot of "what if" thinking in regards to any disaster, natural OR manmade, after seeing it. I couldn't help but ask myself just how I'd react in the face of oncoming disaster, what steps I'd take to avoid getting myself or others hurt or killed, things like that. This, I believe, is a key ingredient in any successful disaster film--the ability to make you think about how'd you react under the very same circumstances.

All in all, I consider Twister to be among the most superior disaster films ever made. Loaded with awesome acting, superb special effects, and a great story, this is a film that is definitely worth owning!

Rating:
Summary: I want the Director's Cut.
Review: This was a good movie. Intriguing storyline, impressive cast, believable (and likable) characters, plenty of excitement, and even a subplot of romance. Admittedly, not all of the "very bad weather" that earned it the PG-13 rating was completely realistic...but what can you expect? CGI animation was still very new at the time.

However, there's one problem: The movie was edited for length. Most of what was deemed nonessential was still another entire subplot--one involving the rival storm-chaser team (led by Cary Elwes, playing an antagonist who's not quite evil enough to be called a villain) and revealing their actual agenda.

But the editors didn't entirely succeed at what they attempted to do--that is, cut out the entire rival storm-chaser team apart from Elwes and Zach Grenier.

Which is why there are a few scenes that involve Abraham Benrubi (the only other actor from Elwes's team whose name I can recall right off the bat) looming imposingly behind Elwes, or some other fresh-faced thirtysomething smirking in the background. Their characters have names, and are listed fairly early in the end credits...but they seem to be little more than walk-ons. If a Director's Cut of this movie is ever released, I want it.

Rating:
Summary: A reality for everyday people, but one hell of a ride.
Review: In everyday Hollywood the Tornado is only a fancy but good effect but in Oklahoma in 1999 it was a reality as in 3 years later in November when a recorded unheard of 70 twisters had
touched down in a midwestern town my point is that Twister is
a film that should have been exactly what it was and no less
due to respect of reality to the real people who have been
through the real twisters that could tell you what an F-5
looks feels and sounds like.Everyday occurances like this
Hollwood could not resist and they had a huge summer hit.

Jo at the beginning of the film just a little girl
her family is terrorized when her home is hit by an F-5
a tornado that can be in excess of 250 to 314 miles an
hour she tragically loses her father in the monster.
Now we come to present day in the film Bill Thornton who
is played by (Bill Paxton) and Dr.Melissa Reeves(Jami Gertz)
who are engaged are visiting a much older Jo(Helen Hunt)
to finalize there divorce.But little does Bill know that
he will coming on for a much further trip then just divorce
papers when he sees his old crew and the new satillite that
Jo has improved on that was his vision TOTO(Totable Tornado
Observatory)which he affectionately calls Dorthy.

Having spats along the way with his fiance povides humor
but when the leechey Jonas Miller(Carey Elwes)thwarts there
misson and come up with the same idea as Bill a showdown is
looming as Bill tells Jo that weither Dorthy flies or not
he will leave in two days,this puts Twister into action ,
trying to beat Jonas to the punch and to get close enough to
the Tornadoes to release there cargo,they make a pit stop
at Aunt Megs (Loius Smith),where Twister get's a little bit
of an emotional storyline that Jo may still have feelings
for Bill Thornton,but after this scene Twister picks up and
pretty much gets right to the point,in one scene that is the
scariest of Twister at a drive in a Tornado looms as the
tension builds as the F-4 rips right through the drive in
and the town of Wetchitaw where Aunt Meg is the team hurrys
to save her life and when they do only to find that an F-5
is on the way,they must do anything and everything they can
to get there cargo in the monster of a twister so they can
save lives.

Jan De Bont's tense and taught thriller is not without
it's humor Dusty(Phillip Seymour Hoffman)is the comic relief
in this film and provides laughs, the story between Bill Thornton
and Jo is romantic but is just not what the doctor orderd in a
film that has a title like Twister which is the real star with
incredible special effects from Industrial Light and Magic we
can now see what happens from outside and inside a twister but
the sustained F-5 at the films climax is incredible as it ,
destroys houses levels buildings , throws tractors and an oil
tanker and gives our charachters a run for there money.

Twister has a worth while commentary from Jan De Bont

and is produced by Michel Chriton it has two documentarys
and is featured in DTS 5.1. that well if you don't know
what a tornado sounds like this is the closest your going
to get in fact the sound is so clear that it's the second
best iv'e heard next to Saving Private Ryan hey this may
not be an Award winning film but it's one that is worth
adding to your collection.

Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful & Entertaining, but....
Review: Ok, I'll tell you that this is a movie that's full of suspense and terrifying special effects of giant tornados wreaking mass havoc through middle America. That right there is pretty entertaining, and is about all you should expect from this movie - but you'll notice I gave it 4 stars.

I'm a *huge* tornado buff; I'm fascinated with and utterly terrified of them, so the special effects were enough to keep me gripping the theatre armrests the first time I saw it, and the couch the next several times. The plot...well, it's a love story/good v. evil/scientific competition/buddy movie...sort of. Phillip Seymour Hoffman probably has the most interesting role in the film, and pulls it off exceptionally well, The rest of the characters are largely forgettable, with lines of dialogue that, by and large, range from the bland to the outright annoying. Still, there are some genuinely funny moments, and a line here or there that made me laugh out loud.

Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton are two storm chasers in the midst of a divorce. They have gone their separate scientific ways, after almost completing a special set of instruments that will gather large amounts of data from inside the tornado itself. The movie is the story of how they get the instrument to work, their relationship as it develops again throughout the course of their travails, their sidekicks, and the "bad" scientist (Cary Elwes) trying to beat them to the punch with the device. The supporting cast are all able actors, and do a fine job with what's given to them.

The thing that really, *REALLY* bugs me, though, is the horrible science! This is, after all, a movie *about* *tornadoes* - it seems that they could have easily done a bit more research and gotten the majority of the details right. Ah well, c'est la vie, c'est la guerre.

The effects, though, are fantastic! ILM has once again worked their particular brand of wizardry, and for most of the time, the twisters look absolutely genuine. Fabulous. The suspense and the effects pretty much make the lack of plot and horrible science forgiveable, and we're left at the end with the satisfaction that comes from having sat through a horrifying vicarious experience.

Good stuff, overall.

The DVD extras aren't exceptional, but there's a good bit about "the making of," and some commentary tracks.

Rating:
Summary: Spin this "Twister"
Review: Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill (Bill Paxton) are fed up and want a divorce. But wait, there's Dorothy. The machine that contains many sensors that can measure how a tornado is formed. There's a catch, you'd have to be insane to drive up to the tornado to release the machine to be sucked up. The two join forces along with the rest of the team and Bill's new fiancee (played by Jami Gertz). Stuff gets ravaged, cows fly and cars blow up. Yes. You need to see the 500 pound cow run at the beginning of the movie to the bomb shelter. It's hilarious. See Jo's father fly away to evaporation! Jonas (Cary Elwes) is a corporate sponsored storm chaser and he gets what he deserves because he's a sonofa. Does anybody really like "The Shining," tornados don't. Pure havoc in a movie. A good disaster film.