"You can always find me in the Drift."So I realize that I'm officially WAY late to the party at this point, but I really had my heart set on doing something different for my Pacific Rim entry. I spent a solid week live-tweeting other giant monster movies in the run up to the film's release and I'd been long planning to seeing it along with my resident "Kaiju guru" Bart Devon*, who's been one of my best friends since high school and also officiated my wedding. I really wanted the two of us to record a sort of podcast/conversation, but I quickly ran into a few scheduling snafus. First of all, the movie hit theaters only a few days before I left for Mexico, and then right after I got back Bart went totally off the grid while he took the bar exam. But we finally got a chance to sit down a few nights ago and, having each seen the film twice now, we had a freewheeling chat about what I think is indisputably the best movie of the summer.
Pacific Rim begs to be seem in a theater on the largest screen possible, but at this point your viewing options are pretty limited. I can't figure out why the movie didn't seem to catch on with audiences; it got massacred on it's opening weekend by the putrid Grown Ups 2, so thanks for nothing America! Fortunately the film's been killing it overseas, so we just might get a sequel after all. We'll see. I saw it once in IMAX and once as my inaugural trip to the new Showcase SuperLux theater in Chestnut Hill, and I'd just like to point out how impressed I was by that theater and its staff. Tickets are expensive (I think we paid about $20 a person) but every seat is a super comfortable leather recliner and there's meal service at your seat, with $5 of food or drink included in the price of your ticket. What's more the staff was extremely friendly and accommodating, going above and beyond to make sure that we were totally satisfied with our viewing experience. Usher Lucy even brought us into the theater so we could check out the remaining seats before we bought our tickets. It's a level of service you rarely see anymore and I never mind paying more for what amounts to a truly premium experience. For those of you in L.A., it reminded me a lot of the Arclight - you even get to choose your own seats in advance!
I don't want to rehash our conversation here, but suffice it to say we both enjoyed the living shit out of Pacific Rim, even while recognizing that the film has a couple of weak points. But, much like J.J. Abrams' original Star Trek reboot, the movie is so absurdly fun that you're willing to overlook the flaws. (Sadly, the same cannot be said about Star Trek Into Darkness.) It should also be noted that this conversation was recorded immediately after we'd finished watching The Man With The Iron Fists while drinking a bunch of whiskey, so we were more than a bit punchy and perhaps a little rambling. (The conversation kicks off with a meandering breakdown of this year's big summer movies, but we do make our way back on topic before long.) The occasional clinking noise you hear in the background is from the ice cubes in my drink.
But let me know if you enjoy this because I'd like to do one or two more of these audio chats and, if I get really ambitious, maybe even a video chat as well.
Click here for streaming version if you want to listen right now or right click here to save a downloadable mp3 if you want to take it on the go. (If you're having trouble listening through Tumblr, you can stream from the second link too.)
Enjoy.
PS - The music running under our conversation is Ramin Djawadi's score for the film, which we didn't get a chance to talk about but which kicks unholy amounts of ass.
*In the podcast I refer to him as my "giant monster sherpa." I wish I had been clever enough in the moment to come up with Kaiju guru, but at least I get to do it in print.
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Title: Pacific Rim
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Max Martini, Rob Kazinsky, Ron Perlman, Clifton Collins Junior, Burn Gorman
Year Of Release: 2013
Viewing Method: Theatrical - IMAX 3D, Reading + Showcase SuperLux, Chestnut Hill
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