Tornadoes coming to the big screen

They say that things happen in threes. Right? Have you heard that?

The human brain tends to find patterns and meaning in events, even when they may be coincidental. This psychological tendency, combined with confirmation bias, can reinforce the belief that things happen in threes. People tend to remember instances that confirm the pattern and overlook those that don’t, reinforcing the superstition.

Spot on, man. That is exactly it. If I tell myself things happen in threes after having experienced three scary things, well then I’m golden. You know?

Three Tornadoes

So, having witnessed three tornados in relatively close proximity in my lifetime means I’m done, right? No more tornados for me? And that’s in Delaware; I mean, what are the odds!?

Some people decide to learn a lot about the things they are most afraid about. My brother was bitten by a black snake before. They aren’t venomous, and he was fine, but YIKES. After that, he checked out every book about snakes at the Newark Public Library. He also bought all the snake books at our Scholastic Book Fairs in school. Thus, I have quite a fascination with storms, especially the intense ones that can lead to tornados and hurricanes.

I obsess over the radar on my phone app, zooming in on the colors. So when I see storms brewing, going from green to yellow, orange, red and then pink, well, I know what that can mean. It usually means a tornado warning. The red usually means flood warnings because the rain is going to be coming down super heavy. The radar colors also correspond to changes in visibility. As precipitation intensity increases from yellow to orange to red, visibility can decrease significantly, making it harder to see distant objects. So, don’t be foolish and go out driving in it.

Tornadoes on the big screen

Being fascinated by storms means I also own basically every movie featuring storms. Obviously, they are fictional, but they fuel the fear and excitement I feel over weather phenomena. Yes, I love the movie Twister. I’m excited about the new Twisters movie hitting theaters this coming weekend. Sadly, all the emails I receive to get advanced screening options do not include any locations near me for this one, so I’ll be waiting to watch. Ugh.

The reviews for Twisters have been positive so far. I thought the original trailer was a little hokie, but hokie doesn’t mean bad. I happen to love kitschy, hokie, super predictable books and movies. Yeah, I am one of those people. With a movie like Twisters, I am sure we can all imagine how it will go. That doesn’t mean it won’t be absolutely worth the watch. I still watch the original Twister movie multiple times a year.

The cast of Twisters includes Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, and Sasha Lane. Some sweet names in that list. The script was written by Mark Smith and he went to great lengths to make the script feel real and accurate. He talked to many storm experts, tornado experts, and storm chasers and even rode around with some.

According to the wiki page, the film had an estimated budget of $200 million. Filming was to take place at Prairie Surf Studios for 40 days and in metro Oklahoma City for 50 days. Some of it felt before the strike and some after, so we’ll see how it all pans out. IN THEATERS JULY 19, 2024.

Other tornado movies

Supercell

Yesterday, my son Finn and I watched Supercell. It’s not bad. It’s not the best either, it takes a long time to come around. When you’re watching movies with a teenager, you can’t allow for any lull. Supercell has a few lulls. Anne Heche is in the movie and they did not do her justice at all. Skeet Ulrich got more face time and you now he’s hit or miss. Easy on the eyes, but meh acting. Sorry Skeet fans, I just needed more!

Into the Storm

One of the tornado movies I watched recently, Into the Storm, had quite a bit of found footage in it from the monster tornadoes that happened in Joplin. Some people don’t like found footage movies, but I think it’s incredible. I mean you have a fictional movie about a tornado, but then you can obviously see that security cameras from schools or stores are showing real destruction.

Some of the movie was based upon the tornado that hit Joplin on May 22, 2011. Scenes at the end were from Joplin. Some of the news footage & radar images shown on the screens behind Allison in the storm chaser van were actual news reports/footage from the EF5 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013.

Geostorm

Another storm movie that I watched with Finn. This was his pick, and I have to say the premise of this one totally freaked me out. The whole idea that satellites in space are protecting our planet from storms is wild. I mean the environment is so crappy, our atmosphere continues to break down. Does that mean that storms are going to continue to be more and more violent without “protection?”

NASA and the government are creating satellites to surround the planet, controlling the global climate and preventing natural disasters. I mean our government listens to science and expert agencies so well, right? What could go wrong?

In short, bring on the tornadoes

Are any of you planning to go see Twisters for the opening weekend? You’ll have to let me know what you think. But no spoilers!

Let’s give this post some music, shall we?

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