USA Today article

[Austin Jones]

From the article Bryan posted, Director Steven Quale says this "With filmmaking we can do justice to show how beautiful, deadly and spectacular these tornadoes can be. My goal was to make it as real as possible. We do an impressive job."... I find this hard to believe, just the trailer alone was about as unrealistic as it can get.

I spent my entire childhood obsessed with severe weather and believing that someday I could be one of the few who challenge one of the last remaining scientific frontiers. Dreaming about long drives into the middle of nowhere in search for that secret key to tornado formation. I'm finally old enough to take part in enjoying the chase and the storms, and hopefully someday, after finishing college, the chance to do some real useful research. Now that I'm finally taking part, Its sad to watch our passion slowly (sometimes rapidly) becoming a media sensationalized storm of bad science, risky behavior, and lack of respect for others. Let me say first, I have no problem with a high number of chasers, actually I would prefer lower numbers, but anyone who wants to safely chase should have that right. Second, This movie scares me as it will probably just provide a nice warm inflow to the storm that could be far more dangerous to us than any real storm.

As for Bobs Article at the start of this thread, I cant say much more than him ,

It's not particularly interesting, not the slightest enlightening, but at least it's benign.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

"Storm follows multiple subjects who are brought together in small-town Oklahoma on a day when the area earns its "Tornado Alley'' nickname. Callies plays a meteorologist gathering data from close-up tornado observation who has teamed up with a storm chaser (Matt Walsh) intent on getting the ultimate shot — with the help of a new tornado-proof armored vehicle named Titus."

Bryan

Sounds like an original storyline and may offer a unique perspective that many of us have not seen. Maybe someday it will be adapted by a cable network and turned into a reality series.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I had a contract writer hired by Warner Bros. promotion chase with me a few weeks ago. Really nice guy. There are going to be "tie-ins" with the movie and storm chasing. I am not involved with the movie in any way (ATM) other than a feature story about "real" chasing and the movie. Not sure how the story is going to go over, but the writer was made well aware of the "grey" research claims for profit making and the other shenanigans that are casting a negative light on chasing and many of us.

I have no doubt this movie will unleash a new generation of chasers, but hopefully some will be inspired to become meteorologists and (real) researchers.

W.

 

[JamesCaruso]

I think any hand-wringing about this new movie is premature. It looks like we are all fearing another "Twister"-like influx of new chasers. However, the environment is much different today.

When "Twister" came out, there was simply not as much of an awareness about storm chasing as there is today, so the movie had a big impact in terms of making many people aware of chasing for the first time.

Now, there is already so much awareness of storm chasing, with "Twister" being followed by the Discovery Channel series, The Weather Channel's "Tornado Hunt," and generally increased media activity resulting from the TIVs/Dominators, the VORTEX project, more media outlets reporting live from the field with their own chase teams, last year's El Reno tragedy, and even more severe weather awareness in general with the recent large scale tornado events with relatively high death tolls in recent years (e.g., Alabama in 2011, Moore in 2013, etc.).

I see it analogous to a business; when the business is relatively new and has little revenue, it is easy to get high growth. But once the business is mature, the revenue is already large, and the market is saturated, the growth that can be achieved naturally decreases.


MODS: Perhaps the title of this topic can be changed to reflect both the USA Today article and the new movie?

Jim

 

[Joshua Nall]

I think any hand-wringing about this new movie is premature. It looks like we are all fearing another "Twister"-like influx of new chasers. However, the environment is much different today.

When "Twister" came out, there was simply not as much of an awareness about storm chasing as there is today, so the movie had a big impact in terms of making many people aware of chasing for the first time.

Now, there is already so much awareness of storm chasing, with "Twister" being followed by the Discovery Channel series, The Weather Channel's "Tornado Hunt," and generally increased media activity resulting from the TIVs/Dominators, the VORTEX project, more media outlets reporting live from the field with their own chase teams, last year's El Reno tragedy, and even more severe weather awareness in general with the recent large scale tornado events with relatively high death tolls in recent years (e.g., Alabama in 2011, Moore in 2013, etc.).

I see it analogous to a business; when the business is relatively new and has little revenue, it is easy to get high growth. But once the business is mature, the revenue is already large, and the market is saturated, the growth that can be achieved naturally decreases.

^This is about what I think of it also.

I see about 1 movie every year and this may have to be it. I'd like to watch Twister again also. And I haven't seen Sharknado. Guess I could make a day of it.