Strangely Satisfying

A little less than two weeks ago, my Opa passed away.  The last two weeks have been nothing but a rush, as I rushed to clear my schedule so I could attend to the funeral, rushing off to the funeral and all family events pertaining to, and then rushing to get caught back up once I returned to work.  Today, I finally had a day to myself.  Finally, a few hours to relax and unwind. 

Of course, I was going to go see a movie.

I headed into the city, but I didn't have much on my checklist of places to see.  I did decide, though, to swing by Toys R Us.  I hadn't been by Toys R Us in a while to scan for collectable action figures.  Ever since I finally got my holy grail of Star Wars figures back at Christmas time, I've felt strangely satisfied with my action figure collection and haven't really been desiring anything new.  But still, for old times sake, I figured I'd swing by. 

As I've already mentioned, when it comes to Star Wars figures, I've been a sucker for the retro packaging figures.  Well, those figures are becoming tougher to come by as they've run their course and they're starting to phase them out for the newer lines.  I saw a few in the Toys R Us discount bin and started perusing them.  I didn't have much hope for anything outside of the typical pegwarmers, when I did spot this fella. 

The Star Wars Blu-Rays gave us some never-before-seen deleted scenes from the trilogy, so of course these deleted scenes became fodder for new action figures.  One of the more famous deleted scenes comes from the start of Return of the Jedi, where we see Luke Skywalker hiding out in a hut on Tatooine, building his new lightsaber.  Once I saw that "Deleted Scene Blu-Ray Figure" sticker on the bubble, I knew I had found a rarity.  And marked down to $8, how could a guy say no?

I got to West Edmonton Mall at around 12:30.  My original plan to see Man of Steel was to catch the 3:15 show, because it's not in 3D, and therefore a little bit cheaper.  Normally, the prospect of hanging out in West Edmonton Mall for three hours would be a good afternoon, but today, the prospect of sitting around the mall for that long just seemed...stupid.  So I thought, "Fuck it, I'll pay the extra $3, and see it in 3D at 1PM."  It wasn't so bad, though.  I got in to the theatre early enough that I was able to choose the exact dead centre of the theatre for the film, which they've always told me is optimal seating for 3D films. 

So then.  Man of Steel.  Our 21st Century Superman.  I loved it.  Finally, we've got a Superman who's allowed to kick ass on a Superman-scale.  There are some fantastic, amazing, fight scenes in this film.  I loved our new version of Krypton.  I love that they finally got rid of the crystal Krypton and tried something new.  Henry Cavill makes a pretty good Superman.  He's got the great commanding voice.  Amy Adams is a great Lois Lane, doing actual investigative reporting into finding out the identity of this alien. 

"Alien" for me would be way to sum up this film.  This is an alien invasion movie.  Certain scenes just sparked memories of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  They really play up the mystery of life in the universe and how Superman comes to represent that. 

Great villain.  General Zod is a nice threat.  He truly represents Superman's power unchecked.  I like the formula that Christopher Nolan created with his Batman films and that others are trying to emulate:  save the best-known arch-enemy for the sequel, so you can focus on the pure origin story. 

Some problems, though.  There's one line that Superman never crosses, and when they show him crossing it, my jaw dropped.  And you suck, person in the theatre who laughed at that moment.  Superman never does that, and seeing him do it was horrific. 

But I enjoyed it.  I thought it was good.  It was how the world would probably react if a being like Superman actually showed up. 

And sadly, there was no post-credits scene with Christian Bale as Batman revealing that Superman isn't the only superhero in the world and maybe they should form some kind of league. 

After the film, there wasn't much left to do.  Did the requisite walk-through of HMV.  Didn't buy anything, but still left strangely satisfied.  There's not much in the DVD world that I want right now...well, except for the odd franchise boxed set that's still priced out of my budget.  Did a walk-through of Target, but they don't have those fabled Target-exclusive watermelon-flavoured Oreos yet.  Did a walk-through of the T&T Asian Supermarket, but the lines at the checkout were so ridiculously long that I decided not to treat myself to a bottle of my favourite Japanese soft drink.

On the way out of the city, I figured I hadn't hit Quiznos for a while, so I settled on them for supper.  I ordered my sub, and began dancing to the song playing on the radio, as I do from time to time, and the clerk said, "Wow.  You must be in a good mood."  And you know what?  I was.  I needed this day.  Summer's here, which is always unbelievably busy in radio as every weekend you're live on location from some festival.  And with the family stuff, I haven't had any time to myself.

But today was the day.  Days off are about to become few and far between, so each one that comes along must be savoured.