Film: Pacific Rim

Reason for watching it: When I first became aware of Pacific Rim it sounded completely uninteresting to me, I assumed it was just going to be showy designed-for-3D special effects and pointless fight scenes. But then I started reading comments and reviews about it which suggested it had more depth to it, in particular this one, which sites the film at the intersection of Japanese and Western cinematic history. Also rysmiel, whose taste I trust, said positive things about it, and reassured me that I would be perfectly allowed, indeed encouraged, to sympathize with the giant robots.

Circumstances of watching it: With a bit of wrangling, I was able to achieve an actual date with my husband. I had to convince him that Pacific Rim would be worth seeing; like me, he'd assumed it was a trashy summer blockbuster. We're both somewhat stressed and busy at the moment, and maybe going to the cinema wasn't the most productive thing we could've done with a very sparse couple of hours of free time, but I think we kind of needed a break.

Verdict: Pacific Rim is very good at what it does, and about the most successfully thrilling film I've ever seen.

( detailed review )

Anyway, that was a lot of fun. I came out feeling as if I'd just spent the afternoon at a theme park sampling all the thrill rides. So glad I saw this; many thanks rysmiel for helping to persuade me.