Review Wednesday

****SPOILERS!!!*****

I was finally able to watch Twisters (2024). [Don't ask me how], and I wanted to post some thoughts.

I was really excited when they announced Twisters, because the original Twister (1996) is ranked in my top 10 favorite movies. It might even be in my top 5. I had planned on trying to get in to theaters to see it in either IMAX or in those 4DX theaters that have wind and stuff. But apparently those options are only available for like a week, and then the movie stays playing on regular screens. So I missed out on that and honestly...

I'm glad I did.

Oooooh hot take. Apparently this movie was really well received. I'm probably
just too old. But here is my perspective. I am 40 years old, so yes, I grew up watching the original Twister. And as much as I'm not "all up on the lingo" (lolz, I love saying it like that. Makes me feel even older), I do keep up with tech and watch youtube almost exclusively. So I'm not even complaining that this movie jumped on the "youtube celebrities do shit to get views" trend, I completely understand that. Yes, they pulled Twister and brought it up to date in 2024. It annoyed me slightly, but it wasn't the end of the world.

What I was really hoping for was a few callbacks to the original movie. Jurassic World, for example (The first movie was great, the rest... not so much). I realize that it's a slightly different context; after all, Jurassic World is pulling from Jurassic Park's ideas directly, and making a sequel in a sense, and Twisters is not that. But the amount of references and callbacks to Jurassic Park was outstanding. The nostalgia it threw at me was so cool. And I loved it so much for that. It makes me wonder if they even cared that the movie Twister even existed. That movie was so disconnected from the original film that it makes me think they tried to name it Twister and realized that name was already taken so they just added an 's'.

[I just read an article that it turns out yes, they cared; some people who worked on this version had also worked on the original. But like, it just doesn't feel like it, I guess.]

There were a few things I thought might have been callbacks - obviously at the beginning they used the Dorothy sensors. But then they abandoned that and completely forgot about them. It seems as though the whole plot of using the 3 radar sensors was a "better" idea that using Dorothy? I don't know why, but okay. (In addition, forcing one of the sensors to sit in the direct path in addition to it needing to be close, was really dumb. Obviously it wouldn't last long and it would have been sucked up almost immediately. I hope those "prototypes" that he "Borrowed"???? from the military were cheap!) 

The red truck that Tyler owned seemed to be a callback to the original red truck. They used the reporter as the same kind of cabbagehead (I don't know if this is a Star Trek only term or not but it basically means the dumb person who asks the questions so that the audience is in the know about plot devices) as Bill Paxton's soon-to-be therapist wife. I wouldn't say that's a callback but it actually would have been nicer to get more out of                                                                     him in the movie.

They had Kate wear basically the same outfit as Jo, I definitely noticed that. They used the same ideas with the youtubers as they did with the original, by having someone driving an RV (for absolutely no reason because it wasn't for research, they were just there to throw fireworks into tornadoes to get views) and giving people nicknames. They even did the whole "vehicle gets cut off by them driving
in from nowhere and almost running them off the road" bit, which actually happened twice (once was fine, thanks). They did copy the lines "I'm glad you're back!" "I'm not back!" from the first movie only they meant it this time lol.

They did the whole "water pipes go really far into the ground so it's a good place to hang onto" piece, but Twister did it better because they had something to tie themselves to. Just holding onto pipes would do very little, especially because they can be slippery. Plus, what kind of pool has exposed pipes? And also destroying the movie screen with the tornado, but like, why would the movie still be playing? In the original, it was pitch black outside, and the tornado was a complete surprise. No one even knew it was there until it ripped the screen. But at this point, the tornado sirens were blaring and people were hiding - the movie  should have been shut off. AND WHY DOES NO WHERE HAVE A BASEMENT??? You're in Tornado Alley ffs!!

Also, how does Tyler keep finding Kate? At the motel and at her own freaking  house??? CREEPER!! And that special truck can dig into the ground to two feet? Two freaking feet? Like, especially if the soil is loose enough to dig, it won't do shit in the middle of a spinning vortex. Not to mention it shouldn't have been driveable a day or two after the ending incident where he ended up at the airport. Nice try! But anyway, the point wasn't to nitpick the movie to death. I'm trying to rate it on its own merits because they obviously didn't want it to relate to Twister too much. It's not like Twister didn't have plot holes and such. It wasn't a perfect film. But it was better than this.

If you want Kate to have trauma from losing all of her friends to a tornado at the beginning of the movie, (which she has every right to. But also show that she didn't get therapy from it, I guess), then actually show that. Don't have her freak out 1 time and then be perfectly fine afterwards. Jo lost her father to an EF5 tornado when she was like, 6. And it still traumatized her; and you could tell. But Kate seemed to get over it pretty quick.

          I know the asshole in the white shirt is not Cary Elwes and I know it can't be but why isn't it??

Twisters is also glamorizing youtubers, to almost a scary degree. This movie makes it seem like being a youtuber is nothing but easy, and it's fun to drive into a tornado and shoot fireworks into it. Like, what? I really hope no one young and stupid enough watches this movie and decides to make that their career. They seem to think it's all fun and games until they get trapped in one. Granted, they use their youtuber revenue to give back to torn up communities, so that's nice. The whole movie felt kind of... hollow. We're made to believe that Kate is suffering so badly from her traumatic experience that she moved away from home and refuses to answer her mother's phone calls. Yet gets back into the swing of things really quick (movies should really learn to normalize characters going to therapy). We get no real details as to who Javi was really working for. It's one 3 second google search and then a confrontation. 

On the plus side, we're not made to suffer through a love triangle so that great. We don't even get the big kiss at the end, which is another trope I don't mind skipping. The action is good and it doesn't slow down for long, which is something that Twister had issues with. But pacing in a movie about tornadoes is probably pretty hard. You don't want it to be constant or else it'll feel more like an apocalypse movie, but you also don't want too much downtime or it gets boring. Unfortunately that means the characters suffer a bit when you don't take time out for them.

So in the end, the movie was... fine. It's hard not to compare it to Twister, and I am disappointed there were no flying cows. That would have been the best callback ever. It's a decent update to a almost 30 year old movie, but it definitely can't replace it.

Intuitive Eating

Nutrition drives me insane. There are a lot of things about nutrition that are counter-intuitive, that change constantly, and that different people think differently of. 

Intuitive Eating is one of those things. It was brought up to me while talking to a psychologist regarding my obsessive need to eat even when I'm not hungry after forcefully having to quit Ozempic. Let me outline the 10 basics of "Intuitive Eating":

1. Reject the Diet Mentality

Stop dieting. As they say, it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change.

2. Honor your Hunger

Don't wait to eat until you're starving; then you tend to go overboard.

3. Make Peace with Food

Don't deny particular foods. They can cause uncontrollable cravings and then binge episodes, which makes you feel guilty.

4. Challenge the Food Police

Stop the cycle of being "good" for consuming minimal calories or "bad" for eating a piece of chocolate cake. 

5. Discover the Satisfaction Factor

This is like Mindful Eating. Discover the satisfaction of eating.

6. Feel your Fullness

Observe the signs that show you are comfortably full. 

7. Cope with Emotions with Kindness

Don't let your emotions trigger eating, basically. 

8. Respect your Body

Don't be overly critical about your body and compare yourself to everyone else

9. Movement - Feel the Difference

Just get active and feel the difference. Don't focus on burning calories, just focus on moving.

10. Honor your Health - Gentle Nutrition

You don't have to eat perfectly be be/feel healthy

If you want to read the full definitions, the website is found here

To start off, #9 resonates with me since I loathe exercise, and this feels like a more reasonable goal. But I take issue with #3 and #4. Basically, as the psychologist described it, is that you don't deny yourself any food, because if you do it can cause resentment, or uncontrollable cravings for it, and if the food in question tends to be available to consume at any time, then you won't constantly reach for it and overeat it (???).

I'm sorry, I call bullshit on that. And the reason I say so is because sugar is an addictive substance. It's been shown in studies to cause dopamine spikes just like drugs, and can give you feel good feelings so you'll want more. And I can prove this on a personal level because when I was on hCG, and then later on Whole30, (which cuts out all sugar) I had no cravings for it whatsoever. I could pass up that piece of chocolate cake, or if I did eat something, it tasted WAY too sweet and actually made me want to stop consuming it.

So fine, maybe have that bag of chips you so crave, or whatever (I honestly don't know what people crave beyond sugary goods), but constantly having something sugary in your pantry at the ready at all times? That's just a recipe for disaster in my opinion. There is nothing in those sugary goods that your body needs nutritionally. So there is literally no reason to have them/consume them. 

My issue with trying to find reasonable accommodations with intuitive eating is straight up calories in vs calories out. I've heard both camps on this - I was following up with a dietitian that believed all calories were not the same, and it made a difference. I mean, of course it does - eating healthy calories is better than eating unhealthy calories. But in the end, if your body only burns 2k calories a day, and you consume 2.5k, then you will gain weight regardless of where those calories came from. And that's where I am stuck at.

Look, I made the "lifestyle change" years ago. It's called healthy swapping. I don't deny myself any carbs (although I should probably limit them more to be perfectly honest. Carbs are too easy to just grab and eat), I just swap for healthier options. That Egg McMuffin I make at home? Whole wheat english muffin, and canadian bacon instead of sausage or regular bacon. I could even go as far as all egg whites, (The egg white mcmuffin they used to have at McDonalds was bomb and I wish they'd bring it back) but I learned a long time ago that cutting out fat is also a recipe for disaster. Fat is satiating. Yeah, it adds a ton of calories but it also tastes good and it helps keep you full. So I'm all about that whole egg. Want pasta? Use chcikpea. It's got fiber and protein. Add some ground turkey instead of beef. Use tomato sauce instead of alfredo. The pizza I like to eat is the Mediterranean one from Dominos. Thin crust with all veggies and no meat.

For snacks, I try my best to grab things like apples, oranges, kiwis, grapes. When I'm at home sometimes I'll have cottage cheese with some jam, or carrots with homemade ranch dressing using greek yogurt for added protein (and because it doesn't have any sugar in it when you make it yourself. Like, why. Why does ranch dressing have sugar and corn syrup in it???)

But even with all these healthy substitutions, I still eat more than I burn. Calories in vs calories out. So what I'm trying to figure out is how to stop the urge to eat when I'm not hungry. Sometimes I'll eat when I'm not hungry, and not even feel full when I'm done. I'm like in this in-between space all the time; it's kind of weird. My body has lost its ability to send me signals. I can probably blame Ozempic for this; I mean I gained 15 lbs in less than 8 weeks once I stopped, but I figured my body would figure it out and some point and it still hasn't. So I don't know what to do about it.

I know all the tricks, okay? I drink water, broth, tea, even Olipop [which has prebiotic fiber]. I chew gum and suck on mints. I'll even take glucomannan pills (Konjac root) to help make me full, but I'm eating when not hungry, so that doesn't help much. Is it boredom? Probably. There's not a ton I can do about it at work. There are busy times and not busy times. Even the administrative work I do when I'm not busy doesn't keep me distracted enough. At home it's much worse. My activities/hobbies are all introverted inside by myself hobbies like paint by number or diamond painting, which isn't distracting enough either. It's just tough. I just... want to eat. Does anybody have any suggestions for me? Thanks in advance!

Movie Flashback Time! Tremors

I thought about trying to shoehorn this post into a 'Review Wednesday' (which is a title only), or a 'Underrated Movies' but I didn't feel like trying to make it fit into either of those categories. Besides, I really don't think Tremors was an "underrated movie"; it just has a lot of meaning to me personally, so I figured I'd write about it, kind of in a review format.

Tremors is considered a horror flick, but it's pretty corny for horror, especially considering the movies coming out today. It's one of the very few horror movies that I would even watch, and that's probably only because I was 7 years old when I saw it for the first time on TV.

It's one of those movies where you look at the cast and are like Kevin Bacon? Must be good. Then scroll past a couple no-names, and then you see Michael Gross and you have to blink a few times. Seeing him in the cast not long after finishing Family Ties was kind of hilarious. And then you see Reba McIntyre and you just wonder how this movie even got made.

The premise is already outrageous when you think about it. I mean, maybe most horror movies are. Have you seen Blood and Honey? Yeah, anyway... 

The movie has some really good build up which is always essential. The cast is fairly diverse in their range with the smart people (the geologist/seismologist student), the dumb people (generally the ones who get eaten), and the obligatory 17-year old smart ass. I would 100% be the seismologist, as without her, everyone would have been too dumb to stay alive.

The movie didn't have a ton of laugh out loud humor, nor any famous one-liners. But it stuck out in my mind all these years because for a while after seeing this movie when I was 7, I was scared of the sand and would only walk on the crab grass. My parents probably thought I was doing some kind of hopscotch routine, but little did they know I was traumatized for a bit.

Admittedly, 7 is a little young to be watching a movie like that, but take solace in the fact that it was edited for TV so the swearwords were bleeped out (more on that in a bit) and some of the more horrifying scenes were cut out completely. 

The scene that scared me the most as a young child isn't even a big deal in the grand scheme of the movie but I was really affected by it - to the point where I would close my eyes even into adulthood - every time I rewatched it. I'm talking about near the beginning of the movie where the Doctor and his wife are building their trailer in the desert and the generator suddenly stops working because the "Graboids" (no, I can't call them that, sorry) - Tremors sucked it under, and he went to go check it out. His death was slow as the wife tried to grab him when he was being slowly sucked down.

In contrast, when Walter got grabbed right in the middle of his store with
everyone around, and was being swung wildly while people screamed around him, wasn't even that big of a deal. And I think the reason, for me anyway, was because that was a scene that was cut out of the TV version, and I'd never seen it until I was an adult.

And I swear, the scene with the Doctor's wife in the car being sucked into the ground was the most unbelievable part of the entire movie because A. She had no car keys so how was the radio playing and the headlights on? and B. Like, what kind of sand can you even walk on that a creature can suck a car into?

But that scene where Michael Gross (Doomsday prepper!) and Reba McIntyre shoot the shit out of a Tremor that broke into their basement was bad ass and lovingly unexpected for the Family Ties father.

In regards to the swearing, I have a funny story to tell. So, growing up watching cable, bleeping was everywhere. I was so used to it that it didn't even bother me most of the time (I don't even watch cable TV anymore - is bleeping still a thing?), and there was a particular scene after Val and Earl kill their first Tremor and check it out, and Val says "I found the ass end!", and in my little 7-year old mind, I must have thought that "ass end" wasn't a swear word because it hadn't been bleeped. When my parents and I were moving to our acreage when I was in the 4th grade, and we were watching our mobile home trying to make it around a tight bend with a telephone pole in the way, and I said "They're having trouble with the ass-end" - yeah. I got yelled at. Worth it though.

[As I type those words into Google Search and prepare to quickly close my screen at the potential results, I find these gems:

and my faith in humanity is restored.]

All in all, it's a fun movie and if you haven't seen it, I would recommend it (maybe not highly, but I digress), maybe with a few shots of alcohol for an even better time.