I've Got a Golden Ticket

I drove straight to the decent movie theatre closest to our house once I left work. That's in Hendersonville. I got my ticket for the midnight showing of Watchmen, and I will be seeing the film alone. Your Sis is again suffering through an ick, and, even if she were hale and hearty, she ain't staying up that late. She will see it with me on Sunday. As the ticket saleswoman warned me, it's a long movie; couple that with the drive home, and I won't be getting back until about 4 a.m. Friday. Work should be interesting, as will be our planned attendance at a Celtic concert that night. Our hero will be caffeinated.

The few advance reviews I've seen from comic professionals and regular folk alike suggest it's an interesting misfire. I don't expect to be transported in an adaptation that matches the heights of, say, Lord of the Rings. I don't think the director is good enough to manage that, frankly. But he is so savvy of effects and camera trickery that I think it will be a kinetic experience. There is a danger of injecting too much action for the sake of winning over mainstream audiences. For instance, the ads feature a shot of the heroine Silk Spectre crashing through the ceiling of a burning building. In the comic, that scene only sees her escort people out through a window and into the flying owlship of her partner. Watchmen isn't an action story. The few fight scenes last maybe one page each. If there's too much punchy-kicky, fans of the comic might break out into laughter. Not that the film relies on their money to be a success.

I'm no longer geeking over this, midnight excursion to the contrary. Rather, I'm terrified of being online all day Friday and seeing some ruinous spoilers plastered onscreen by a merry prankster. I'm saving myself from rage. I haven't seen a midnight show since the first X-Men movie, and that led me to write the first printed local review of the film in the Upstate. I had a scoop.

Picture of the Day
This is from an undated fashion shoot for mom clothes. At least they picked a clean comic store.