Comics And...Other Imaginary Tales: Fantastic Four (4): First Steps

Previously on Comics And...Other Imaginary Tales:

"It's going to be hard for Fantastic Four (4): First Steps to compete. Not only does it need to be entertaining, I really hope it makes me feel something."

Apologies for my absence dear reader, my family went on a shortened summer vacation to Wyoming and Kansas, visiting relatives all along the way. We had to drive 2000 miles over 2.5 days to get to a wedding reception, which took us along I-80 across four states (out of the eleven we traversed). Day two had us going from Peru, IL to Kimball, NE, with nary a chance to see the new Fantastic Four movie on it's official July 25th opening day, or at least so I thought...

Sidney Fox Theatre 2025 July 25

I kept checking for possibilities when I wasn't driving. Not only would we need to find a town with a decent theatre, but we'd have to arrive there near showtime. Kearney, NE, (pronounced carny) where we had first seen Ant-Man ten years prior was quickly ruled out, since it was over 3.5 hours away from Kimball. And while Kimball has a theatre, it's a second run venue with limited showtimes. North Platte, still too far away. And I'm not sure Ogallala's theatre even came up in my search, and if it had the timing would have been off. And then I found the Sidney Fox Theatre in (wait for it) Sidney, Nebraska (world headquarters of Cabela's). It was less than 40 minutes from our hotel and had a showtime of 7:00pm. A quick check of the perpetually four to six minutes fast clock on the dash, dashed my hopes. We wouldn't arrive until 7:30. But then I remembered to check the current time in Sidney. YES! By then we'd have traveled into Mountain time, meaning our 7:30 arrival would actually be 6:30. Plenty of time to get seats early (I wondered if there would be a line around the block), and for the rest of the fam to get something to eat. A win-win for everyone and an answer to prayer*.

*I'm not being facetious either. The previous day's travel ended poorly starting in Indiana from bad traffic, bad storms, and bad food (stale Chipotle chips in South Bend), which leads to bad attitudes (sometimes mine). Having missed the opportunity to meet up with a friend when we stopped briefly at the Brandywine Falls in Ohio, I really wanted three things to happen on day two: have a better travel day, see my cousin in Omaha (on his birthday), and watch Fantastic 4: First Steps, Lord willing. So I prayed for them. Thankfully, all three happened, which was a huge blessing from God, not mere wish fulfillment.

The Fox Theatre is a delightful venue and a true throw-back to the bygone days of slightly sloped floors and non-reclining seats. I found the theatre to be bright and clean, the staff friendly and amenable, and the drink case to be stocked with Cheerwine. Inside the movie posters were surrounded by dressing room lights (I was unable to get a picture because I didn't bring my phone in since I wasn't sure I'd know how to turn it off - me being new to such things). The picture quality and sound was exceptional and better than I would have expected and tickets were the bargain price of $10! And I was the first to arrive, no line at all.

Now, I wouldn't be writing about this experience if I thought the movie was terrible (okay, I definitely would). But I LOVED it! And I plan to elaborate more on that in a future post. And you can't just blame the perfect timing, venue, and months of Fantastic Four reading preparation (see previous posts), or the fact that the theatre promised to mail me one of the movie posters (and gave me a Superman poster to take with me), because I've seen the movie two more times since then! Once in Kansas with my Aunt at the Leavenworth Landing, and then this past week in IMAX with my son and daughter-in-law. If you get the chance (and it might be too late now), IMAX is the best format to watch the film in -- so immersive. IMAX also gives you a special F4 version of their opening countdown, which was simply incredible.