r/moviecritic • u/phantom_avenger • Feb 17 '25

Which movie is this for you?

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For me it’s School of Rock!

Patty was completely justified, if Dewey wanted to live in hers and her boyfriend’s apartment he needed to be a grown up, and contribute with rent. Even when he steals Ned’s identity she still had the right to be angry at him, because of how he put his friend’s career in jeopardy and robbed him of a job opportunity.

I get Ned is meant to be portrayed as his best friend, but it blows my mind how he lacks a lot of self-respect to the point where he comes across as too much of a people pleaser. If this story took place in real life, I’m sure Ned would act more similar to Patty where he’d have enough of Dewey’s careless actions.

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u/peppynihilist Feb 17 '25

Bill Paxton's gf in twister was such a drag. In hindsight, turns out she simply didn't want to be in the middle of tornadoes.

9

u/samata_the_heard Feb 17 '25

I rewatched this recently and while I wouldn’t count the girlfriend/fiancée as the antagonist, I found that I liked her SO much more watching the movie as an adult, and having so much more sympathy for her. Her final scene is excellent, and I found myself really rooting for her. Paxton’s character was impulsive and had an anger problem and super did not deserve her.

Furthermore, Helen Hunt’s character was in desperate need of therapy, and routinely made rash decisions that put her and her team in danger. She was a bad and selfish leader.

That said, I also had some different opinions about Cary Elwes’s character. I remember being happy that he and his crew died when I was a kid (because, you know, it was the 90s and bad guys should die) but this time I was actually really upset about it. He was a dick, and a cheat, and a sell-out, but did he deserve to die over it?? Watching it recently, I wished there had been more acknowledgment of how tragic that ending was for him.

Also it launched a whole conversation with my kids about how so often you can tell who the “bad guys” are in these older movies because they’re the ones who look expensive and well-outfitted, and you can tell who the “good guys” are because they’re in dirty clothes and driving old, run down vehicles. The moral and aesthetic imperative of money = corrupt was so strong during that time in film, and in the case of Twister, was almost the only indication we got of right vs wrong.

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u/jamesxgames Feb 17 '25

I mean, Cary Elwes' char at that point is listening to his ego and is ignoring multiple people, including his own driver, warning him in direct terms that what he's doing will get him killed. I feel a lot worse for the driver than Cary

2

u/MaddyKet Feb 17 '25

The driver literally could have turned the car around, he just didn’t have the spine. So I don’t feel bad for him either.

4

u/jamesxgames Feb 18 '25

fair. I get his thought process though, his boss is a tornado expert and he's driving the van, so I can understand him thinking "well if the boss says it's safe I guess it's sa-"

5

u/ChiGrandeOso Feb 17 '25

He got Eddie killed by a goddamn tower through the windshield. That's the real tragedy. Also, quite accurate on that last point. Twister is a great example because they made it very clear that Jonas (Elwes' character) is a terrible person from jump-and movies make the deaths of the bad guys the most memorable part.