Pacific Rim

[Inkyblott]

Just saw this yesterday and I loved it. The story is pretty standard but serviceable and the effects are top notch. It hit all the right beats with the added benefit of Idris Elba and Burn Gorman. And the female characters don't spend all their time getting rescued. The only downside for me is that it's only available in Imax 3D and standard where I live. I'd love to see it in Imax because giant robots but I'm not a big fan of 3D.

[darlingnikki]

Oh, thank you! Someone else loved it too!

I am a screeching, squealing del Toro fangirl, and he didn't disappoint! He's not only a b-movie fanboy, he's also a keen film nerd, and his eye for detail is something I drool over every time I see one of his movies.

This one, though? I know he hates CGI, but he took it and made it beautiful!

[ElleCee]

I really enjoyed this one, lots of fun and some great action. Looked amazing in IMAX 3D.

[lea1977]

Seeing it this weekend, heard only good things about it. Can't believe that Grown Ups 2 beat it at the weekend box office.

[Mugsy]

I think maybe people are tiring of end-of-the-world movies, as well as superhero movies. This one kind of melds both. The target market of fanboys only has so much money and time to spend on movies each weekend.

If movie makers were smart, they'd make more movies for a true target market - women over 30. They love to go to movies, alone or with a date/spouse or with friends, they have money and time for it, and the few smart movies that actually target that market have done very well. And Hollywood is always so damn surprised. Wake up, idiots.

[Karrit]

Jul 15, 2013 17:58:18 GMT -4 Mugsy said:

If movie makers were smart, they'd make more movies for a true target market - women over 30. They love to go to movies, alone or with a date/spouse or with friends, they have money and time for it, and the few smart movies that actually target that market have done very well. And Hollywood is always so damn surprised. Wake up, idiots.

This so much. Especially since women's movies don't need expensive special effects, CGI or even big name stars to be a hit. If I was a movie maker, I would spend money on good scripts and decent actors/actresses and not movie stars. Take for instance "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." It was made for $5 million. It grossed almost $370 million. "Bridesmaids" was made for $32 million and made almost $290 million. Most producers would chop off a testicle for that kind of return on investment. Why wouldn't you use that as your model for movie making?

[Mugsy]

Even movies with big stars are fine with me - Mamma Mia with Meryl Streep did very well, The Heat has Sandra Bullock and Hollywood's number one "it girl" Melissa McCarthy. What a successful movie needs is a good story, told well. I don't care if it's loaded with explosions and CGI or is of two people yammering away in a café for two hours - if it's a good story, told well, it's a good movie.

Topic - the reviews for this were good, so I'm surprised it didn't open better. But again, maybe it's just explosion fatigue.

[Inkyblott]

Aww, now I kind of feel like I'm a bad woman. I love explosions and craziness plus I'm a big old nerd. I like a good story, too, which is why Michael Bay is usually a no-go for me. I just have zero interest in romance and drama. But I do think a lot of movies, even a lot of the ones that should be good fun just lack a certain energy or creativity.

[Mugsy]

You're not a bad woman for liking explosions and stuff like that; I do too. I have a sick love of Armageddon-ish movies, including, yes, Armageddon. I love watching 2012, Independence Day and all those other meteor/volcano/disaster movies that have been prevalent the past decade or so.

My point was that movie studios throw millions and millions towards production and publicity of these so-called guy movies, and release a dozen of these big budget blockbusters every year (and then they scratch their heads when they don't all break box office records), then they'll maybe make one good woman-oriented movie a year - and are bewildered when it's a hit.

[Deleted]

I loved this too, and I'm a women over 30. I really liked that the leads didn't do the cliched make out session at the end, they just had a nice hug. I'm a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's work so that's why I saw it. I loved that he didn't feel the need to pander to what women supposedly want by throwing in an extraneous romance.