MOVIE REVIEW

‘Twisters’ is the Old-School Summer Blockbuster We Need

Maybe Hollywood is finally redeeming itself

Shari Lopatin
2 min readJul 22, 2024

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Photo by Greg Johnson on Unsplash

I grew up in the age of big movies like Jurassic Park, Ghost … and yes, the original Twister.

Back then, I’d do anything to get into an opening weekend for a big summer Blockbuster.

Case in point: during the summer of 1996, I stood outside in the Phoenix, Arizona heat of 100+ degrees for an hour with my best friend and her family to buy tickets at the Harkins Shea 14 movie theatre for Roland Emmerich’s now-classic Independence Day.

I was 14 years old.

Today, I’d never do anything like that, and not merely because I’m in my 40s and overheat more easily. At the risk of sounding like an old geezer, they just don’t make ’em like they used to.

Which is why when I went to see Twisters on its opening weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself both thrilled and giddy like my teenage self again.

Produced by Steven Spielberg, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, and written by Mark L. Smith, Twisters pays a fantastic tribute to the original “Twister” starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.

And no, I don’t mean by filling the movie with Easter eggs or nostalgia. The new…

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Shari Lopatin

I’m all about big ideas and good stories. Writing about life, culture, & social issues. Occasional amateur movie reviewer. No AI here! www.sharilopatin.com