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TWISTER – Mark Mancina
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The summer of 1996 contained some of the best and most crowd-pleasing blockbuster movies of the entire decade, and the one that kick-started the trend was Twister. Directed by Jan de Bont and written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, it stars Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as Jo Harding and her estranged husband Bill, both meteorologists and tornado researchers, who reunite during a massive storm outbreak in Oklahoma. Along with a ragtag team of eccentric storm chasers – played by character actors such as Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Jeremy Davies, and Oscar-nominated director Todd Field – and with Bill’s entirely unprepared new fiancée Melissa (Jami Gertz) along for the ride, they race to deploy “Dorothy,” an experimental device designed to collect data from inside a tornado, while facing competition from a rival group of storm chasers led by the smarmy Jonas (Cary Elwes). As increasingly powerful tornadoes form, Jo and Bill must confront both the dangers of the storms and the unresolved tensions in their relationship. Read more…
SPEED – Mark Mancina
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
Pop quiz, hotshot. There’s a bomb on a bus. What do you do? What do you do?
One of the landmark action movies of the 1990s, and one of my favorite action movies of all time, Speed is a hyper-kinetic thrill ride film directed by Jan de Bont, starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and Dennis Hopper. Reeves plays Jack Traven, a young and resourceful LAPD SWAT officer, who thwarts a bomb threat in an elevator orchestrated by the vengeful ex-bomb squad member Howard Payne (Hopper). Infuriated by Jack’s interference, Payne then rigs a city bus with a bomb that will detonate if the bus drops below 50 miles per hour. Jack boards the bus and teams up with Annie Porter (Bullock), a passenger who takes over driving after the normal bus driver is injured; together, Jack and Annie must work together to keep the speed above the critical limit by any means possible, while figuring out a way to save the passengers and thwart Payne’s plans. Read more…
SHOOTER – Mark Mancina
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
A tense thriller from director Antoine Fuqua, Shooter stars Mark Wahlberg as former Special Ops sniper Bob Swagger, who is called out of his self-imposed retirement by his former boss (Danny Glover), who tells him they have learned of a plot to assassinate the President of the United States. With a mission to track down the suspects before they can carry out their plan, Swagger heads to Washington DC; however, before long, Swagger finds himself wrongfully accused of plotting to kill the President himself. On the run, and unsure of who to trust, Swagger must flush out the real suspects in order to clear his name. By all accounts it’s a return to form for the director of Training Day and Tears of the Sun, following the critical mess of King Arthur, and features a strong lead performance by Wahlberg alongside notable support from the likes of Glover, Elisa Koteas, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Rade Serbedzija and Ned Beatty. Read more…
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