Feeling FANTASTIC.

After the waste of a day that was yesterday, things could only improve. I admit, this wasn't one of the weekends I was looking forward to. On Monday, we found out that the fire department we normally play for would not be attending tonight's parade. It was slightly disappointing, but I was somewhat looking forward to having a weekend off. My dad meanwhile made some phone calls to see if any of the other bands we play for could use us. One of the bands was already fully booked, but another could use only one of us. I didn't want to take a gig from my father, and I certainly didn't want him driving alone at night, so I told him to just say I'd made plans for today and he wasn't able to drive in the dark. He called the band leader up and made up some unnecessarily convoluted explanation of my plans, telling him he thought I was going to a Christening/BBQ for the child of a Hindu co-worker. I can't make that stuff up, but give me 45 more years and some clogged arteries and I bet I'll be able to. As it turned out, the story was unnecessary since someone else had dropped out and they did need two musicians. Additionally, they needed two musicians for a Sunday job as well.

My dad actually DOES have plans tomorrow, a christening for his friend's granddaughter. I was slightly annoyed to hear the words, “I can't make it but my son isn't doing anything.” After he hung up the phone, he was a little annoyed that I didn't appreciate the “favor” he had done, and said I should call the guy if I didn't want to do the job. Reason prevailed as the logic that there are MANY hours in a day resurfaced, logic that I often bury. Some weekends I'll just sit around doing nothing until it's time to go to work. I really wanted to see a matinee of Fantastic Four on Sunday morning when I knew the stadium theater would be the least packed. I wasn't so sure that a Saturday morning wouldn't be worse, but since I didn't have to leave for tonight's job until 4 PM, and tomorrow's job was much earlier in the day, it was this morning or never. Next weekend I'm working Friday night, all day Saturday, and a few hours on Sunday. It had to be today.

Yesterday's sloth resulted in difficulty going to sleep for the night. I have no idea what time I finally did achieve slumber, but I managed to get up at 9, and get to the theater by 11. There was a bit of a line and though the paper promised a show at 11:10, the board in the ticket window said something quite different. I cursed myself for not paying a little extra for the security of Fandango, and hoped that the board was wrong. Not only was it wrong, but there were a solid twenty minutes of trailers before the film started. There were some great trailers, too, which I would expect before any film that fits my target geek demographic. I'm disappointed that I've yet to see Serenity on the big screen, but things like Transporter 2 and The Legend of Zorro were more than adequate compensation.

As for the film itself, it's the type of comic book movie that I know I'll be in the minority with for enjoying. It met all my expectations, even exceeding them in some places. The disappointments I had(Doom) didn't detract from the film for me as much as I suspect they will for my friends. As for the general public, while some comic book adaptations reach more people than just comic geeks, I think being an FF fan is a prerequisite to enjoying this movie. Where people might identify with the X-men coping with being outsiders, the FF for the most part deal with the opposite problem. Four people are suddenly celebrities after gaining superhuman abilities, and they each must deal with it in his or her own way. Some, like Chris Evans' Human Torch, embrace the powers and the stardom. But Michael Chiklis stands out as Ben Grimm, the Thing, bringing the pain of the comic book character to life. If anything in the film surpassed my expectations, it was his performance and, to some degree, appearance. He does look more rocky and less foamy than he did in the trailers, though he doesn't seem that much larger than his teammates as his comic counterpart does. There are some moments with Grimm that brought tears to my eyes. Other moments between he and the Torch were hilarious, and they really captured the dynamic between those two characters well. And there are more than a few sacrifices and hero moments that left big goofy geek grins on my face, though I suspect some of the other moviegoers may have had more blank expressions. At one point in the film I nearly shouted out “YEAH!!” but suppressed it when I saw no one else was reacting the same way.

In short, they took some licenses but ultimately got the characters RIGHT, which is important. The movie is for the most part an origin story, and while an excellent origin story, may suffer for lack of action. The first time they use their powers is one of the best scenes ever, and I found myself wishing the trailers hadn't shown as much as they had. The final battle of the film is good too, but way too short for my tastes. Now that the characters are all established though, the stage is set for a superior sequel, should they choose to make one.

What of my parade? The film was shorter than I expected, so I definitely got home in plenty of time. After a flash rainstorm that left as quickly as it arrived, the sun cleared up and we made it. I'm tired and I have to get up early tomorrow for the other job, but I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. I feel like I actually DID something with my day, and that's just fantastic.