Twisters

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sasha Lane, Daryl McCormack, Kiernan Shipka, Nik Dodani, David Corenswet, Tunde Adebimpe, Katy O' Brian
Running Time: 122 min.
Rating: PG-13

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)  

As a follow-up to 1996's hit disaster film Twister, Lee Isaac Chung's Twisters far exceeds reasonable expectations, proving sometimes it's worth waiting for legacy sequels we didn't know we needed. A skilled director, the right cast and a tightly woven, surprisingly intelligent script results in the kind of summer blockbuster experience that's recently fallen by the wayside. Beyond just sharing a writer and star, it compares favorably to Top Gun: Maverick by taking everything that worked in the original and building on it.  

The question going in would be how they'd approach a second installment nearly thirty years after cows flying across our screens seemed like a huge deal. Considering the lengths we've come, you can't help but wonder whether disaster films like this even carry the same cultural currency they did decades ago. Storms that felt like once in a lifetime occurrences are now commonplace as the media inundates us with images of weather-related destruction on a daily basis. 

You may also wonder why fictitious scientists and meteorologists would waste their time physically chasing storms when modern tracking technology has advanced so far beyond anything depicted in the original. But the best thing about Twisters is how it accounts for this, crafting an entirely new plot around that very idea.

It's been five years since Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) led her crew into an EF5 tornado, attempting to use the Dorothy V doppler to reduce the storm's intensity and secure future research funding. Instead, the tornado took the lives of friends and team members Addy (Kiernan Shipka), Praveen (Nik Dodani) and her boyfriend Jeb (Daryl McCormack). Still wracked with guilt, Kate works in New York's NOAA office, where she's contacted by her team's other remaining survivor, Javi (Anthony Ramos). After some initial resistance, she accepts her former friend's single week offer to join his mobile Storm Par team as they test a revolutionary new tornado scanning radar. 

Kate returns home to tornado alley in Oklahoma where she and Javi's team encounter popular YouTube storm chaser and self-professed "Tornado Wrangler" Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) and his crew consisting of videographer Boone (Brandon Perea), drone operator Lily (Sasha Lane), scientist Dexter (Tunde Adebimpe) and mechanic Dani (Katy O'Brien). Also tagging along is petrified British journalist Ben (Harry Haden-Paton), who's doing a profile on Tyler. As the two squads clash for access during a dangerous tornado outbreak, Kate and Tyler feud, allegiances get tested and they all risk their lives battling the unpredictable force of these natural disasters.

Those certain this would open with a childhood flashback echoing the original will be relieved to discover Mark L. Smith's script takes a more immediately impactful route for the prologue. It isn't often characters you assume will carry the rest of the movie are killed off within the first fifteen minutes, but the tactic does create a sense of urgency that propels the plot forward, its ramifications not lost on either the viewers or protagonist. 

Out of that comes a solid setup, wherein Kate must overcome her trauma to finish the job she started five years earlier but has given up finishing. Javi's pitch for her to join him is a good one since his new technology seems focused on preventing future catastrophes, offering Kate another chance to make the positive difference she originally intended. But while they clearly need her expertise, a stark contrast is drawn between the corporate funded Storm Par and Tyler's ragtag gang of misfits seeking social media views. Neither side represents what Kate initially assumes, leading to some compelling developments that test everyone's character.

British actress Daisy Edgar-Jones has been popping up everywhere of late, but she's an unexpected natural as Kate, entertainingly trading dry, sarcastic jabs with Powell while still fulfilling every other requirement asked of her in the action scenes and beyond. When the narrative undergoes a major shift midway through, it turns into the Glen Powell show, as he flexes his considerable charisma as the type of rogue, cocky cowboy that would have been played by Matthew McConaughey in the 90's. And he pulls it off just as smoothly, especially when Tyler's personality and motivations evolve, taking the story where it needs to go. 

Of Powell's recent breakthroughs, Hit Man may still be his best, but this one stands as the biggest example of why his movie star presence has earned all those Tom Cruise comparisons. As for the rest of the crowded cast, they more than hold up their ends, including Maura Tierney as Kate's estranged mom and future Superman David Corenswet as Javi's less than accommodating business partner. 

It wouldn't even be accurate to say this has a romantic sub-plot since it's so restrained and subtly handled you may not notice it's there. Chung knows what really needs emphasis in the final stretch, which of course features the tornado to end all tornadoes. The teams scramble to save lives while Kate struggles to implement her updated innovation, leading to a really impressive last act.

If the original was all about spectacle, this definitely doesn't lack that with much improved visual effects, along with an acknowledgement of the permanent mark these tornadoes leave on rural residents who survive them. It won't be mistaken for a Weather Channel documentary anytime soon, but considering how this issue was barely addressed in the first film, there's just enough of it here to raise the stakes. 

It's clear everyone involved with Twisters worked to avoid the traps that typically plague event sequels, and despite the usual groans from skeptics when an acclaimed indie filmmaker supposedly "sells out," it doesn't apply to Minari director Chung, who's made a worthy successor. Remaining true to the original's spirit, the whole concept gets a refresh that feels comfortably familiar, earning its place under the Amblin Entertainment banner by invoking Spielberg's 80's and 90's adventure output.      

Hit Man

Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Gralen Bryant Banks, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman
Running Time: 115 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

Hit Man finds director Richard Linklater again in top form, transforming a potentially clever premise into one of his most rewarding efforts in years. But even more importantly, its smart script provides an ideal acting showcase for Glen Powell, who we've already suspected has all the talent and charisma to emerge as a major movie star. That it hasn't happened yet is somewhat perplexing, but this brings him another step closer, further confirming his underappreciated range as an actor.

After building strong word of mouth on the festival circuit, Netflix's decision to sit on this film for a year caused understandable skepticism. But it's Linklater we're talking about, who somehow always manages to subvert expectations when adapting quirky, esoteric material. Similar to his 2011 crime comedy caper Bernie, it's loosely based on a Texas Monthly magazine article by Skip Hollandsworth. Except he aims higher this time, making for an even more fulfilling experience.    

Gary Johnson (Powell) is an ordinary, mild mannered psychology professor at the University of New Orleans who moonlights assisting police with undercover sting operations. But when sleazy cop Jasper (Austin Amelio) is suspended from the force, Gary's chosen to temporarily fill his position as a fake hitman, obtaining confessions and payments from suspects. Tailoring unique personas to each suspect, he quickly impresses co-workers Claudette (Retta) and Phil (Sanjay Rao) with both his acting and eventual conviction rate. 

When Gary adopts the cool, slick guise of "Ron" to extract a confession from a woman named Madison (Adria Arjona), he finds himself instantly attracted to her. She wants her abusive husband killed but their meeting seems more like a date, with him advising that she keep the money and start a new life. Criticized for letting a potential conviction slip through his fingers, Gary/Ron later begins secretly seeing Madison, raising the ire of her volatile ex. But as Gary attempts to conceal his actual identity from Madison and this relationship from police, an even larger problem emerges that will put his true feelings for her to the test.  

What's so clever about this script is how it constantly keeps us off balance, lulling us into thinking the plot will play out exactly how it usually does in a movie like this. Gary will become romantically entangled with Madison and her ex becomes a factor, but that's where the predictability ends. Linklater lays out his thesis in the opening minutes, with an awkward, bespeckled Gary dryly lecturing his disengaged psychology class about how people hide their true selves, instead projecting the persona of who society expects them to be. 

The question of whether anyone can really change lays the story's foundation, with Gary's ex-wife Alicia (Molly Bernard) very skeptical he has the capacity. But this new undercover police gig brings something out of the self-professed science geek and avid bird watcher he didn't even know existed. And after meeting Madison, the line between Gary and the more confident Ron becomes blurrier, eventually evaporating. 

The most memorable sequence is a montage of him at work, sliding in and out different disguises, personas and accents, resembling everyone from Tilda Swinton to Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. There's a particular restaurant scene where we watch him in action from start to finish and it's sort of a revelation seeing how desperate suspects assume this total stranger will risk everything and commit murder for a bag of cash. But as Gary narrates in a sparse, effective voiceover, their minds are made up long before they call him. He just gives them that last little push.  

While discovering his psychology background provides the perfect tool for reading hapless, unsuspecting sting targets, he encounters one who breaks all convention. And the more Madison gets to know Ron the harder it becomes for him to tell her he's Gary, and even convince himself of the same. The enjoyment is in how Powell plays both sides, subtly revealing glimpses of each persona residing in the other. But reconciling both will prove to be his character's biggest challenge.  

Without giving away too much, the actual danger comes in the potential exposure of this relationship, but it's loads of fun watching the back and forth between a pair who practically ignite the screen with their chemistry. As strong as Powell is in a deceptively difficult role, the delightfully funny and expressive Arjona equals him, bringing a playful energy to the proceedings we don't often see in this genre. If he's a star on the cusp, she's one in the making, and their scenes together are a big reason why so much of this clicks. Austin Amelio also impresses as this slimy cop Jasper, who's either much dumber or smarter than he looks. 

A lesser film would ratchet up the violence and sight gags to grab our attention, creating an obvious predicament where our lead becomes an overnight action hero. But this operates on a more sophisticated level, with intelligently written characters engaging in an unpredictable chess game full of twists and turns. And much of that success can be traced to star and co-writer Powell, who gives multiple performances as a likable, seemingly milquetoast protagonist dragged into an increasingly dark, noirish situation. Arriving at a point where almost anything can happen, Hit Man explores the lengths some go to not only hide their identity from others, but themselves.               

Anyone But You

Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Alexandra Shipp, GaTa, Hadley Robinson, Michelle Hurd, Dermot Mulroney, Darren Barnet, Bryan Brown, Rachel Griffiths, Charlee Fraser, Joe Davidson
Running Time: 103 min.
Rating: R

★★½ (out of ★★★★)  

The most surprising detail about the romantic comedy Anyone But You is that it features two ascending talents who happen to have a lot of on screen chemistry. The premise isn't terrible either, especially when the focus remains on them rather than an overstuffed cast of exes, in-laws, siblings, spouses and parents. But even its likable leads can't seem to stop this from losing its way, as a promising concept becomes increasingly familiar. Director and co-writer Will Gluck does a decent enough job hiding it, but there's just no escaping the fact this mostly hinges on single piece of information we know that the main characters don't. At some point you realize this will eventually settle into the rhythms of a more traditional rom-com, despite taking a more circuitous route to get there.

What we're left with is a mixed bag that should increase everyone's appreciation of its leads, both of whom do their best to elevate the material. And while one seems more at home in this genre than the other, the mind still races at all the possibilities of them re-teaming, hopefully in a project better than this. The film's unexpected commercial success can largely be attributed to their perseverance amidst a smattering of gags from the supporting players that rarely connect. It's a strain most felt in the latter section, as multiple complications work to delay what should be a fairly simple, satisfying payoff.

While frantically attempting to obtain a key to the coffee shop restroom, Boston University law student Bea (Sydney Sweeney) meets finance broker Ben (Glen Powell) and they immediately hit it off. After spending the rest of the day together, she stays over at his apartment that night, but a misunderstanding unfolds when she abruptly leaves the next morning. They don't see each other again until months later when Bea's sister Halle (Hadley Robinson) begins dating Ben's best friend Pete's (GaTa) sister Claudia (Alexandra Shipp). 

At each other's throats over the disastrous ending of that date, Bea and Ben must temporarily put their differences aside for Halle and Claudia's destination wedding in Sydney, Australia. But tensions further escalate when their exes, Jonathan (Darren Barnett) and Margaret (Charlee Fraser) arrive, prompting Bea and Ben to hide their mutual disdain and pose as a couple. It's game on, at least until they come to the realization they may not be over each other after all.

After an awkward but promising start, a relatively straightforward narrative is hijacked by an overabundance of characters and obstacles, losing trust in its two leads to do what they mostly excel at the whole way through. In fact, you argue they actually improve together as this progresses while everything and everyone surrounding them distracts from that, undermining the film's central purpose. 

Bea is initially depicted as a total disaster, and while the setup works, it relies on goofy physical comedy that puts Sweeney in a tough spot since she fares better when playing a sly, sarcastic schemer in her scenes opposite Powell. Displaying great comedic timing and a charismatic presence that recalls a younger Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, Powell's upside is such that this role can at least be referenced down the line for launching him into future stardom. That both capably glide through some of the more problematic sections on their interplay alone is no small feat considering you need a detailed chart to track the other characters, which also include Bea's helicopter parents (Dermot Mulroney and Rachel Griffiths) and Margaret's oafish surfer boyfriend (Joe Davidson). 

Supposedly, this is loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing, albeit very loosely. We know only one thing matters, but Gluck sure does jump through hoops to delay arriving at that destination. Some jokes, like ones involving Titanic and the use of a ubiquitous pop song are cutely clever, even if others flop hard. Still, there's something to be said for him sticking the landing with one of those showy, impossibly romantic endings that lesser filmmakers always manage to botch. Anyone But You may be slightly better than its generic title suggests, but too much of what comes before is iffier, holding this back from completely besting expectations.    

Everybody Wants Some!!

Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Glen Powell, Wyatt Russell, Temple Baker, J. Quinton Johnson, Will Brittain, Juston Street, Dora Madison Burge
Running Time: 116 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

Richard Linklater has this gift of being able to extract meaning from what on the surface should seem like nothingness. It appears as if he's more interested in watching people hang out than plot, conflict or any kind of narrative structure we'd normally associate with crowd-pleasing movies like the one he's made. Even its jarringly punctuated title, Everybody Wants Some!!, doesn't seem to mean anything aside from the obvious Van Halen shout-out, or at least means as less as its previous working title, That's What I'm Talking About. It would be all too easy to write this off as a self-indulgent nostalgia trip for its director, who chose as a follow-up to his recently Best Picture-nominated Boyhood, a movie centering around a bunch of 80's college jocks looking to get as drunk, laid and stoned as possible in the last days before classes start. And yet, it's still strangely wonderful.

This has been Linklater's specialty, dating all the way back to 1993's Dazed and Confused, to which this will be most closely compared, and for good reason, since he's labeled this its "spiritual sequel." That's a good way to put it as the tie that binds both (besides their period settings and autobiographical angle) is that laid-back, fly-on-the-wall quality of watching authentic characters hang out, only to realize by the end how much you've grown to care about them. It's the opposite of self-indulgent, as it never really asks you think or feel anything and the beats of its bare bones story hardly register as it's unfolding. You just watch and listen, losing yourself in it.

Working also as the perfect follow-up to the experimentally significant Boyhood, it picks up at the same life stage, only with entirely new characters and set in a different era. Carrying with it the same sense of almost improvisational spontaneity that's become Linklater's calling card, you rarely feel your strings being pulled.  And of course, the soundtrack rocks. If there are certain filmmakers who need to spread their wings and branch out in different directions, he's definitely not among them. Not when he does this so well.

The year is 1980 and college freshman Jake (Blake Jenner) has arrived at the off-campus house he'll be sharing with the other players on the Southeast Texas State University baseball team. A star pitcher in high school, he's now suddenly the small fish in a much larger pond, a reserved, quiet guy surrounded by teammates from different walks of life, each with wildly distinctive personalities. There's team captain McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin), the best player and seemingly the only one with legitimate major league potential; Jake's roommate, Billy "Beuter" Autry (Will Brittain), a farmboy with a girlfriend back home; Scheming, intellectual pick-up artist, Finnegan (Glen Powell), who's often the ringleader of a group that also includes fellow party animals Roper (Ryan Guzman), Dale (J. Quinton Johnson) Plummer (Temple Baker) and Brumley (Tanner Kalina). There are also two tranfer students with completely unhinged pro-level pitcher, Jay (Juston Street) and bearded, stoned philosopher Willoughby (Wyatt Russell).

Upon their arrival, the coach promptly lays down two rules: No alcohol in the house and no women upstairs. Within 12 hours, both are broken and whatever superficial differences these teammates have evaporate in their united quest to attain both, finding them party hopping in search of the wildest time. What Jake finds instead is Beverly (Zoey Deutch), a quirky theater student with whom he connects on a level that's far different than what his new friends are experiencing. As he comes out of his shell and the guys take him in as one of their own, there's still that looming issue of classes beginning in a matter of days, and while they might be too stoned, drunk or hung over to notice it right now, the rest of their lives are about to start.

Considering this is a movie about a college baseball team, there's only one extended sequence late that takes place on the field. It's worth noting that section works really well because so much quality time is spent with all these personalities beforehand. We're either at the house, in the car prowling for girls or at a nightclub or party from the minute we're introduced to the team. It's one of those movies that will have detractors complaining that "nothing happens" throughout its running time. To an extent, they'd be right since so little occurs in terms of actual action, at least as we're accustomed to seeing it in a coming-of-age comedic drama like this. But it's also a movie where everything happens since Linklater has the ability to capture what's it's like just hanging around, and in talking about seemingly innocuous things, revealing more than any manufactured conflict would. Much of that can be attributed to the casting, with a group of little known actors who so believably slide into the skin of these early 80's jocks that leave little doubt that we're watching or listening to anyone other than the authentic article.

As the protagonist, Jake (serviceably played by Jenner) might be the least compelling character, if only because he's our entranceway into a world where everything seems to be happening around and to him, dragged along for the ride, but quickly adapting. The movie really belongs to Glen Powell as Finnegan who steals every scene in a way reminiscent of Matthew McConaughey's big breakout in Dazed and Confused. He's goofy when necessary, but the smartest and most cunning of the bunch, frequently infusing the story with a surprisingly amount of pathos. It's when he's on screen (which is nearly the entire running length) and eventually when Zoey Deutch enters the picture as Jake's love interest, Beverly, that the movie feels most alive and real. The scenes between them carry a realistic Before Sunrise-like vibe that not only takes the film to an entirely different and welcome place thematically, but to a new setting as well, with the jocks finding themselves at an artsy costume party thrown by the theater students. This entire sequence, and it's results, represent the movie's high-water mark, both visually and in terms of its meaning for the characters.

Whether it's that party, or a punk concert earlier, there's this idea so perfectly captured by Linklater that the social barriers present in high school now cease to exist in this four-year universe where everyone can indiscriminately go from party to party adapting to a different crowd and taking on new identities. And despite the script being a semi-personalized account of his own college experiences and undoubtedly conjuring up memories for those with similar ones, he manages to show this without relying exclusively on nostalgia. Sure, the period details such as the costuming, production design and music are spot-on, but it's just there because we are, rarely drawing attention to itself or stopping for conversations that unnecessarily remind us the era we're in.

In the midst of all this, it also manages to be genuinely funny, and not in the frat boy, toilet humor kind of way the trailers falsely implied. Many of the gags and one-liners are smart, playing off the characters' personality quirks and absurdity of various situations, which is becoming increasingly hard to do well in an R-rated comedy. At nearly two hours, there's a strong argument to be made certain scenes needed tightening and trimming, but that's almost always the case of late. At least here we're given extra time with people worth spending it with. And it would all probably play even better upon a rewatch, as there's a hypnotizing quality about this that practically invites it. Something about it is hard to shake, suggesting a lengthy shelf life for both the film and careers of its stars.

It's tempting to say Linklater's recent work invites comparisons to Cameron Crowe due to the increasingly autobiographical nature of his output, but that's not entirely accurate since he's never been as transparent a filmmaker. This will turn some people off, while others appreciate his dedication to showing instead of telling, wearing us down to the point that we're forced to admit he's on to something with these characters, some of whom may or may not strike a chord of recollection in our own lives. And it's because of his almost maddeningly laid-back approach that the ending feels so right, revealing an unexpected depth that further justifies the film's existence. It's only when considering a key character's name and the phrase written in class in the final scene, that we realize how true the tagline is that they "came for a good time, not a long time."