Movie Review Twisters

Twisters (2024) 

Directed by Lee Isaac Chung 

Written by Mark L. Smith 

Starring Glenn Powell, Daisy Edgar Jones, Anthony Ramos, Maura Tierney 

Release Date Friday, July 19th, 2024 

Published Friday July 19th, 2024 

“You don’t face your fears, you ride’em.” 

What does that mean? I’m being pedantic, I know, but this line clangs like a basketball on the rim bouncing errantly away from a score. It’s a bum note in a symphonic performance, like an out of tune instrument. How do you ride your fears without facing them? The context of the scene is Glenn Powell’s Tyler Owens explaining to Daisy Edgar Jones’ Kate that he gave up bull-riding to pursue meteorology. He had to face the bull first in order to ride it. You can’t get on a bull backwards. I’m being intentionally thick, I just hate this movie and that line specifically. 

Twisters stars Daisy Edgar Jones as Kate Carter. Kate was a grad student who, with the help of a team, had developed a way that she believed might be able to tame a tornado. Through the use of a super-polymer, she theorizes that you can suck the moisture out of a tornado, essentially strangling the tornado, rendering it less destructive. Her first test of this theory, unfortunately, goes horribly wrong. Three members of her team, including her boyfriend and her closest friend, are killed. Kate leaves the field and takes a desk job with the National Weather Service.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Transformers Rise of the Beasts

Transformers Rise of the Beasts (2023) 

Directed by Stephen Caple Jr. 

Written by Joby Harold, Daniel Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, Jon Hoeber 

Starring Anthony Ramos, Dominque Fishback, Pete Davidson, Peter Cullen 

Release Date June 9th, 2023 

Published June 9th, 2023 

I'm going to make a strange comparison but here, but hear me out: Transformers is basically, The Little Mermaid market tested for boys. That's not to say that either is gender exclusive, rather merely that the market testing will tend to find the chaotic silliness of Transformers has more appeal among young boys than it does among young girls. Young girls meanwhile, prefer the colorful magic and music of The Little Mermaid to the clattering cacophony of chaos that makes up the Transformers franchise. 

It helps both films that the intended audiences for each film have not reached their full intellectual development. I'm of the belief that anyone who has reached mental maturity really doesn't enjoy the Transformers movie but rather, are tolerant of its existence. As long as their are children who delight over the silliness of Robots who turn into cars, there will always be an audience for the Transformers. Whether that is a good or bad thing is wholly subjective. 

Transformers Rise of the Beasts tells the story of creatures called Maximals. They have a key to a portal between universes and their home world is destroyed by a giant planet eating robot that wants the portal key in order to reach other planets to eat. Naturally, the Maximals bring their super dangerous portal key to Earth where, millions of years later, the planet eating robot guy sends his minions to retrieve the portal key and kill anything that gets in their way. 

The portal key is discovered on Earth by a museum intern with big dreams of being an archaeologist. Dominique Fishback plays the wide-eyed and curious intern, Elena, who will prove pivotal to protecting the Earth from the robot invaders. The evil robots have a name of some sort but my brain refused to retain that. Elena will soon be partnered with would be criminal and former good guy soldier, Noah (Anthony Ramos). Noah has somehow become partnered with the Transformers and is searching for the portal key on behalf of Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). 

If you haven't lost interest yet, good for you. I checked out around the time I heard the name 'Maximals.' I understand that some of you may have a nostalgic connection to the robot-animal hybrid. I'm told that the Maximals had their own cartoon show that was popular at one time. That's great, I don't relate to that at all. I played with Transformers as a kid and I think there were  animal Transformers when I was into the toys, but I don't really remember. I stopped caring about Transformers years ago. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media