Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 35

rSMM urdcr showed family's fcccdc for what it was 3d kri Lincoln Journal Star Friday, May 10, 1996 UNL storm chaser praises film Beatrice tornado brings home reality of story line 5 Wolgamott XT" it PHOTSoljRTESOf KEN DEeT" Dewey said after attending a Wednesday night screening of the film in which he thought he might appear as an extra. Immediately after that screening, Dewey and his wife, Oma, who often accompanies him as he studies twisters, rushed back to Lincoln to catch up on Wednesday night's storms "any minute I thought I was going to relive the movie," he said. The twisters that ripped through Beatrice brought into clear focus the central point of the film about storm chasers who study tornadoes. "The redeeming value is the little sermonette that's repeated two or three times in the movie: that we're doing this because we don't understand how tornadoes work," Dewey said. "Just as (Wednesday) night in Beatrice, unexpected 1 tornadoes developed this is exactly the theme of the movie.

We do this to understand the unpredictability of tornadoes and to try to provide more timely warnings in the future." Dewey, however, didn't get to see himself in the frantically-paced picture. "It was too peaceful, I understand why it got cut out," Dewey said of the street scene filmed last summer in tiny Wakita, which didn't make the final cut. But the tornado-chasing geography professor says he still thoroughly enjoyed the movie and found it believable enough to be gripping, even if it isn't entirely More on STORM, Page 2D BY KENT WOLGAMOTT Lincoln Journal Star Ken Dewey got left on the cutting room floor. But the University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor of climatology and meteorology still has high praise for "Twister," the tornado-' driven thriller that threatens to whip up a box-office frenzy and lay waste to its early summer action-film competitors. "If somebody is looking for a movie with a lot of plot, character development and a really involved storyline, this isn't your movie.

If you're looking for a movie to learn about tornadoes, this is not your movie. If you're looking for nonstop action and have a fascination with tornadoes, this is your movie," Zoo owner blue over the blues A UNL's Ken Dewey checks out the bus used in "Twister." Dewey was an extra in one of the scenes shot in Wakita, Okla. Film reaps the thrill of the whirlwind 73 Movie review i3 1 inilfni I If lo ll Twister Stars: Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Jami Gertz Director: Jan De Bont Rating: PG-13 Now showing: Lincoln, East Park The Reel Story: This cinematic thrill ride into the heart of a series of tornadoes, from the director of "Speed" and the producers of "Jurassic Park," follows two teams of storm chasers who try to catch and monitor the spinning winds. BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT Lincoln Journal Star "Twister" is a pulse-pounding thrill ride into the heart of a tornado.

This captivating kickoff to the summer movie season ventures into a half-dozen twisters as it follows a pair of rival teams of storm-chasing scientists who try to get in front of the violent storms and put instrument packages in their paths. That competition is one part of the relatively routine plot that holds "Twister" together. But like "Jurassic Park." the film it most resembles technically, the action and computer-generated effects are the grabbers, not the story line. Thanks to "Speed" director Jan De Bont, "Twister" is a more involving ride than was the digitized dinosaur smash. As the scientists sprint from the spinning storms, as cows fly through the air and boards hurtle across the screen, De Bont proves he's the contemporary master of the breathless.

One set of scientists is led by Jo Harding (Helen Hunt), who, as a little girl, saw her father swept away by a huge tornado. Now she heads up a rag-tag team of university storm chasers trying to catch the wind that killed her dad. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband, meteorologist Bill Harding (Bill Paxton), and his fiancee, Melissa 4 r- v. yr a- S)r, Ov'- v'- Jami Gertz), find the team on the Oklahoma plains just in time for a big storm. Like an old horse, Bill is ready to jump back in the race and hits the road with the storm team.

Then a caravan of vans approaches a corporate-sponsored research team headed by arrogant Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes), who has stolen the Hardings' idea for getting the research equipment inside the storm. meteorology class and covered the twisters that hit Grand Island in 1980, 1 thought the movie seemed relatively accurate in both jargon and technique. And the computerized cyclones looked real. Undoubtedly, the movie storm chasers are greater daredevils than their real-life counterparts. And real storm trackers aren't likely to catch up with a half-dozen tornadoes in a single day.

But the twisters are the real stars. They not only rip across fields and farmsteads, but tear through a drive-in theater and a small town. The post-tornado damage took me back to Grand Island, and the erratic ferocity of the storms is captured exquisitely. "Twister" is rated PG-13 for "intense depiction of very bad weather." While that explanation from the ratings board causes a laugh, it also explains the picture's appeal. There's no human violence no guns, no brutal fights and almost no profanity.

Instead, it is a science story that looks at the courage of ordinary people facing real danger. For those of us in tornado country, "Twister" is a cinematic account of life every spring. For the rest of the world, it's probably a hard-to-believe shocker. But we know better. Bill can't resist the rivalry and, The blues has Zoo Bar owner Larry Boehmer singing the blues.

Actually, it's the declining audience for touring blues acts that worries Boehmer. After all, he built his internationally-known, award-winning downtown Lincoln club with those artists and blues remains the music closest to Boehmer's heart. Boehmer reports, however, that audiences have been on the slim side of late for artists such as Chris Cain and Little Charlie and the Nightcats. Monday night, The James Harman Band from Southern California, Zoo favorites for more than a decade, drew a respectable Crowd, but the bar was far from packed. i The decline in blues audiences can be attributed, at least in part, to the aging of the core group of blues fans who discovered the music in the 70s they're now in their 40s and don't go out much at night.

The decline doesn't mean the Zoo will close. But it does mean Boehmer will have to book other styles of music reggae, roots rock and, worst of all, horrid Grateful Dead-style jam bands to keep the doors open. Lincoln has lots of folks who claim to be blues fans. It's time for them to support the music they say they love or watch it disappear from the local scene. There's a good opportunity to do just that this weekend when Mike Morgan and the Crawl, Black Top recording artists from Dallas, roll into the Zoo for a CD release party for their new, fifth disc.

Morgan covers the ground from Texas shuffles to Memphis soul with New Orleans and Latin rhythms thrown in for good measure. The band's drummer, Marc Wilson, is a former Lincoln blues stalwart and as good as they come on the shuffle. Mercy Rule in Boston i- Lincoln punk trio Mercy Rule Spent the last week in Boston Recording demos with producer Lou Giordano for MCA Records. Mercy Rule had planned to record with Giordano last year vhen the band was still on Relativity Records. Giordano, however, postponed the recording dates to work with Paul IVesterberg on his just-released gem "Eventually." Before the Mercy Rule sessions could take place, Relativity dropped the Rule and the rest of jits alternative rock roster, Giordano still wanted to work with Mercy Rule and used his connections with MCA to arrange lor the demo recording.

Once the demos are complete, MCA will decide whether it wants to sign Mercy Rule, which was named one of the top new bands in America in 1994 by Rolling Stone magazine. Peek at summer flicks Want to get an early look at the summer movies? i Douglas Theater Co. is presenting its third Sneak-A-Peek program Saturday morning. Trailers for summer pictures 'from "Mission Impossible" to Rock" and "The Cable Guy" will be screened beginning at 10:45 a.m. at the Stuart Theater.

Audience members will be asked la record their reactions to the Reviews while enjoying free popcorn and soft drinks. -Adding to the fun this year is a seven-minute compilation of clips Irom famous movies, produced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the movie industry group that brings you the I saw this short a couple of weeks ago and it is a treat. I'll guarantee you can't identify every one of the movies that race by In this quickly edited, surprisingly wide-ranging survey of American film. Admission to Sneak-A-Peek is Iree. There also will be drawing jot Items shirts, txw and the like provided to C-aglas folks by the movie Companies.

back in the truck with Jo, finds that their attraction has not entirely disappeared. The rest of the story conjured up by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin is pretty easy to predict. 17 But Melissa, a relatively sane therapist, provides needed contrast to the storm-chasing crazies. The romance between Bill and Jo brings an element of tension, and Miller and his team become the "bad" guys in a world where there's no real evil. The fun is in watching the WARNEH BROS UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS INC.

scientists work. As one who took a Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt run for their lives in the thrill-packed "Twister." 4MST3000' translates well to big screen BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT Lincoln Journal Star Movie review y-1 -fed Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie Stars: Trace Beaulieu, Michael J. Nelson, Jim Mallon Director: Jim Mallon Rating: PG Now showing: Douglas The Reel Story: Cable TV cult program in which a pair of robots and their human pal make fun of old sci-fi pictures hits the big screen with surprisingly hilarious effects as "This Island Earth" a true stinker gets the wisecracking treatment. Imagine you're trapped on a space station and an evil scientist, out to destroy your brain, forces you to watch horrible films from the '50s and '60s.

Your choice: Bow to the torture or rebel by making major fun of the movies. For Mike Nelson, the human captive on the Satellite of Love, and his robot companions Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot and Gypsy, the choice is both obvious and hilarious. That's the set-up for "Mystery Science Theater 3000," the cult hit on cable's Comedy Central now making its move to the big screen. "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie" has bigger sets than the TV show and its jokes are paced so the laughs in the theater don't drown out the next funny line.

But it retains the irreverent spirit and wisecracking humor that make the tube version a treat And watching the picture on a big screen is surprisingly fun, creating a kind of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" feel. The stinker on the big screen being filleted by Mike, Crow and Servo is "This Island Earth," a 1955 sci-fi gem released by Universal Pictures. "It was controversial because some people still consider it a good film. Our response Is go back and interview. "He's trapped in a transport tube and says, 'Run, Ruth, That's about it.

There are these aliens with foreheads about a foot high and no one seems to know they're different than anyone else on the planet. "Then they throw in this bug-eyed More on MYSTERY, Page 4D watch it again," said Trace Beaulieu, who plays the evil Dr. Forrester, provides the voice of Crow and is one of the "MST3000" team of writers. Beaulieu was in Omaha this week to promote the new movie. "You've got a scient 1st hero who doesn't do anything heroic," he said in the GRAMERCY PICTURES Trace Beaulieu is the diabolical Dr.

Forrester..