Why Is It So Good? – Twister (1996)

WARNING: SPOILERS

After over 91,000 people voted, the International Movie Database gave Twister 6.1 stars out of 10. Do I agree with this rating? Yes and no. Twister is a favorite in our family. We’ve watched it so many times that we could quote entire scenes word for word and never get sick of it. But why is it so good? 

Jo and Bill are a couple on the brink of divorce, but if nothing else they have one thing in common, a passion to find out how tornadoes work. Their passion eventually brings themselves back together. Passion, that’s what life is about. That alone makes this movie worth seeing. Crazy characters like Dusty keeps the energy of the movie flowing. I mean, what’s not to like about an in-your-face, out-going, touchy-feely tornado chaser? Each character, even minor ones have their own personality. Jo is the fearless leader; Bill is the extreme; Dusty is, well, Dusty; Rabbit is good and Rabbit is wise; Jonas is in love with himself, etc. The characters are developed in such a way that it makes them hard to forget.

Small details and integration really grab at me; for example. At the beginning of the movie, we see a scene where a young girl loses her father to a tornado. We later learn that this girl is Jo Harding, who is now chasing tornados to help create an advanced warning system. Later when a tornado struck a town, Jo saw a family that looked similar to her own family when she was young. Another detail is when Jo and Bill got the idea on how to make Dorothy fly from looking at Aunt Meg’s famous metal sculptures. Speaking of Dorothy, I thought the few hints of The Wizard of Oz was appropriate and helped the audience relate to the story.

Witty remarks throughout the whole movie made it very quotable and fun to watch. The argument between Jo and Bill never gets old because it is so ridiculous, so marriage like, but oh so funny. Every single time the characters spoke they expanded on not only the story, but they revealed a little more of themselves. I am always reading in my screenwriting books that each scene and every dialogue needs to expand not only the story, but the character, and I feel that Twister accomplished that very well.

Visually wise Twister had a lot of moving camera angles which I found interesting.

Speaking of visuals…

Visually? This movie was extremely interesting; lots of tornados and metal sculptures to look at. But some things weren’t quite right. For example you could tell what moving tree was CGI and what was real, you could see the blurriness of the background for the sky and… did I see the reflection of the production truck on Bill’s car? I couldn’t quite tell. The continuity was a bit off in places, like when the tricycle smashed through the wind shield, there was never a hole left. The windshield got smashed numerous times but in some shots it was smashed and in other shots it was not. So that helped dampen the believability of the movie.

Could Jo and Bill really hold onto that pipe while they were in the center of the twister? Probably not, but what I can tell you is that that was one of the coolest shots which made that movie for me. I mean, have YOU ever seen the center of a tornado? I certainly haven’t and that was pretty darn cool if you ask me.

These are just a few of my thoughts about this movie, I’m sure I missed a great deal of points. If you’d like to help me out and pitch in your opinions feel free to comment below! Don’t worry; I won’t be mad if you don’t like Twister as much as I do. ;)

Why Is It So Good? - Introduction

We all see many movies; some good, some bad and some in between. But what makes a movie good? Why are some so successful and others not so much? Is it the quality, marketing, actors, scenery, budget, lack of vision…? It’s hard to pinpoint the exact answer to this question because not every movie is the same, and sometimes it’s a mixture of reasons. But what about this, what makes a movie good for YOU? Different people have different opinions. For example, one of my favorite movies of all time is Twister but others argue that it is a terrible movie. Why are our opinions so different?

The purpose of my new blog series “Why Is It So Good?” is to explain my personal reasons for liking/disliking a movie that I have seen. These are not typical movie reviews. Yes some of my opinions will be based on my emotions and may even be biased. However, emotions are a big part of movie making; the story should tug at your heart. This blog series will help me formulate reasons I like and dislike movies so that I can learn what to do and what not to do. Please feel free to agree/disagree or chime in your own ideas in the comments below. I appreciate the feedback.

            Let’s get rolling shall we?

            First up, Twister…

D.R. - Day 2

Day 2 continued:

It was lunch time and I couldn’t help but feel bad. Yesterday evening after our meal Peggy, our Missions trip leader, had said that we just ate more in that meal than what people normally get in a day. I instantly became saddened; she tossed that comment out there as if it was just another statistic. She said we should be thankful…

                I felt terrible, why did we get special treatment? Aren’t WE supposed to serve THEM, the people living here? Not the other way around. It almost felt like a working vacation to me, I loved the people, the warm weather, the beautiful land… I never went hungry and the food was amazing. I wished that the people weren’t so concerned about pleasing us Americano’s, our purpose was to be a help not a burden. But they never made us feel like a burden, they were always so happy that we were there. I wanted to help the ladies in the kitchen wash all of our dishes, but we were only told to take our dishes to them and that’s it. I did not help them because I did not know Spanish nor did I want to offend them. Plus Peggy always had something to say after each meal so I couldn’t leave. I was sad, but I couldn’t wait to see what God had in mind for me; I did not realize how soon He would show me.

                My Grandfather (Pappy) went on this trip with me. We did not see a lot of each other but I tried to remember to tell him if I was going somewhere. Honestly I wasn’t very good at letting him know, I got so wrapped up in the moment. After lunch I pumiced more and used the glove my Pap gave me. He was right when he told me that the Pumice stone would eat at my hand, I got a tiny scratch. I was thankful for him and for the gloves.

                Around 3 o’clock a handful of us gathered in what I call the “mess hall” (where we ate) and got ready to go to a small batay called Esperanza. While we were waiting my Pastor (Pastor Robert) pulled me aside and asked me if I understood how praying for healing works and if I was comfortable with it. We were preparing to go to Esperanza to pray for people, and most likely some would be sick and he wanted to make sure I understood what we were getting into.

“I’m not really comfortable with praying for healing to be honest. I mean, I know it goes according God’s plan and it works and I’m not against it, I just don’t feel comfortable.” I answered.

                He understood and told me that praying, especially praying for healing, starts with God, He tells you what to pray for and you choose whether to listen to Him or not. If He wants you to pray for healing then pray for healing without a doubt that He will answer your prayers. I felt better after this conversation and felt more comfortable going into Esperanza. 

D.R. - Day 1

Day 1

Before my trip to the Dominican, I was nervous. I didn’t know a lot of people and I was concerned that I wouldn’t know where I was supposed to be. But after being around the people for a while I wasn’t concerned anymore. God had a lot in mind for us and I had no idea what it was.

        The first thing I saw when I exited the Santo Domingo airport was a man shinning shoes. I wanted to take a picture but I didn’t want to offend anyone. My first thought was “Mom would think this is so cool!”
       
        That night I had a great night’s sleep. Unfortunately I was one of the few who did. I loved hearing the rooster’s crow, dogs barking and people talking. Hearing all of that is like hearing a person’s heart beat, it’s the proof that they are alive. It excites me to know that people are living all around me. This is very hard to explain but I’m a city girl, I used to live in a big city so I was pretty used to hearing things at night.

Day 2

        We woke up at seven to the sweet aroma of eggs. And the first thing I saw out our window was a beautiful sunrise; the picture I took doesn’t do it justice.

       
        Our mission in the D.R. was to help finish a church building and to pumice and paint a school. I automatically went to help pumice and paint; there was no doubt in my mind that that is where I was supposed to be. Pumicing is basically using pumice stones (or a steel brush or a scraper) to scrape off the pealing paint from the walls. Myself and a bunch of other people pumiced pretty much all morning. This job seems insignificant and way too much work than it’s worth at first. But if we don’t pumice, the new paint will peel off of the walls, defeating the purpose of repainting.
        While I was pumicing, a little girl came up to me and said “hola”. I said “hola” back and was thrilled that she came up to me! She then tugged lightly on my colorful plaid shorts and said “Bonita”. I said “no espanol” and she left. I felt so bad, I could not understand Spanish! And there was no one around me to translate. I later found out that “bonita” meant “pretty”. Maybe learning Spanish isn’t such a bad idea…

As I was pumicing I watched the people walk by. I saw Esther, the Pastors wife, walk by and decided to introduce myself. After I did, she asked if I had met her daughter, Tonia yet.  I had not. She said that she would send Tonia to come find me, “she is a good worker and knows some English.” I was so happy to hear this.

                After a few minutes Tonia came. We introduced ourselves to each other and I taught her how to pumice. We chatted for a while and worked together. I told her she didn’t have to work, but she wanted to anyway. It was a special moment for me, almost as if I had redeemed myself from not being able to understand the last girl I tried speaking too.

I'm Back

Hello! Wow it's been a while. Well I wanted to let you know that I am back and ready to write.

I just recently got back from a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. On the trip I kept a journal that I just finished writing. It was a lot of work writing down everything that happened! A handful of people have asked me to tell them all about my experience, but I decided that I am going to basically rewrite parts of my journal as blog posts so that I can share my experience with anyone who wants to hear about it.