Going "Into the Storm"

I went to see "Into the Storm"
over the weekend.

This is what I looked like:

Armed with a Mountain Dew and giant tub of popcorn...

giddy with the sense of freedom that going out in public without
a bunch of tiny hooligans gives me.  Hooraaay!!!

Plus I was going to see 

you-know-who.

I know, Richard... I was excited too!

First of all, I just have to say that

Principals/Vice-Principals normally look like this:

But then they throw THIS at us!?

Send me back to high school

if this guy is in charge!

I wasn't intending to fangirl at all.

(I mean, HELLO, I am completely over my obsessive ways, remember!?)

Then Richard appeared on screen 

and I was like this:

Stop it, Richard!

I just wasn't prepared for BROODING.

Not romantic Mr. Thornton brooding, mind you...

more like "There's destruction everywhere and I don't

know where my son is and I told my other kid he can't

carry a knife around but he did anyway, though it has

turned out pretty handy" kind of brood.

Okay, enough of the gushing!

It's time to have a real discussion about very important,

very serious "Into the Storm" matters.  Such as...

Did anyone else notice the actor triangle?

Just thought I'd point it out.

This brief moment reminded me of Lucas North.

(That could be rubble from a bomb rather than a tornado.)

Hey- what if Lucas faked his own death, moved to
the States and adopted another identity!?

I felt anxiety every time a tornado came and the characters stopped

to stare in awe of the view. I wanted to shout "Fly you fools!!!" like Gandalf.

Side story:  Growing up, my family would make the 2-3 day drive to visit my Grandma in Illinois for a few weeks each summer.  While watching this movie I was reminded of the time we were quickly leaving Six Flags in Chicago because of a tornado warning. The sky had turned dark in a matter of minutes and crowds of people were exiting the amusement park on the brink of panic. My sweet Grandmother stopped in the middle of the chaos to bend over and pick up a penny she saw in the parking lot. A penny!  She was like, "La, la la... what's the big deal?" and we were ready to pee our pants! I guess some Mid-Westerners are hardcore and used to this kind of stuff, but I'm from the West and a wuss at the thought of twisters. I loved visiting Grandma, but each summer I was convinced a tornado would come along and sweep me up in her little pink house, just like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz."  To this day, when I see a random penny on the ground, I have to stop and pick it up in honor of Grandma and it makes me smile to think of her. :)

Moments like these had me on the edge of my seat!

I liked Allison, played by Sarah Wayne Callies.

Matt Walsh as Pete really annoyed me...
but that's the intention, so he did his job well.

 I think we all know
someone like these fellows, don't we?

The entire cast was wonderful.

However...

 Hear me out, Richard, everyone 

is entitled to their own opinion, ya know.

Although I enjoyed the movie, it left me a bit unsatisfied,
wanting to know MORE about each character.

The "found footage" style of filming didn't give a very personal, 

in-depth look at Gary and his two sons and what they've been through. Or why
Allison is a single mother.  Or what really drives Pete to be an obsessive storm-chaser.

They just sort of grazed the surface where that was concerned and

went for the nail-biting action instead.  (One of the exceptions

being Donnie-films-his-goodbye scene.)

Having said that, I'd like to watch "Into the Storm" again

and WOULD recommend it to others.

The moral of the story is...

we should all invest in one of these, just in case!

And we should all have this guy around,

on the off-chance we need CPR.

Always be prepared, right? ;)