Fantastic Four: a Marvelous movie

Today,my sister and I went to see The Fantastic Four,which despite many negative reviews,was a damn fine popcorn movie.As far as origin stories go,this one was well made and right to the point. Some of the best scenes were with Michael Chiklas as Ben Grimm,aka the Thing-one was truly touching as Ben's fiancee silently rejects him by placing her engagement ring on the ground(what a bitch) and as she walks away,Ben tries to pick it up but can't grip the ring with his stony fingers. Also enjoyed it when he punched Johnny Storm thru Reed Richards and knocked him into a billboard(Johnny Storm was a total horndog jerk but,of course,does the right thing when called to action).

Jessica Alba did a nice job as Sue Storm-I don't know why people pick on her so much. Granted,the woman's not Meryl Streep but I've seen her in Sin City and now in this movie and she can give a decent performance unlike a certain Oscar winning actress in a reject Roger Corman Black Scorpion outfit who does a lousy impersonation of Eartha Kitt's growl.

Julian McMahon was perfect as Doctor Doom-the man's cornering the market on bad guys ,what with Nip/Tuck and Charmed. I wouldn't mind if they cast him as the Joker for the next Batman movie. Speaking of which,most of the negative reviews complain that this movie isn't like Batman or Spiderman,therefore it sucks. Not every superhero movie is up to those standards,not to mention that there's less brooding and angst in the Fantastic Four set-up(except for Ben Grimm's plight but he does hook up with a better woman and kicks ass to boot),so the tone's gonna be different. Is it as good as Batman Begins? No. Is it as bad as Catwoman? Hell to the no,as Mrs. Bobby Brown would say(that show is so beyond disturbing). FF is worth seeing if you just want to go on a mental vacation or take the kids to a non-animated film.

Also saw the trailer for the new King Kong movie-while I like the fact that Peter Jackson's doing it as a period piece(updating it was a major flaw of the '70's remake),I'm not sure that I will want to see this in December. The original King Kong was shown on Channel 9 every Thanksgiving when I was a kid and we watched it faithfully(Son of Kong and Mighty Joe Young played after it). It was one of my father's favorite movies and I'm sure that I'm not the only one who feels sentimental towards the old school version and has no need for another one. Still,it may get folks not familar with the first movie to check it out and that's always a good thing.