Pompeii
To its credit, Pompeii made me want to hug all of my loved ones and hold them close. Of course it also made me want to see my enemies die in a fire, so the net morality boost for me is probably pretty slim.
There's really not much to tell here. I had fun. It seemed like Vesuvius took its sweet time delivering, but the rest of the action and yes, actual plot, in the film was engrossing enough that by the time the mountain belched smoke and fire my first thought was "but they haven't gotten to..." which I suppose is the point. Vesuvius pretty much guaranteed that lots of people wouldn't get to. For whatever value of "to" you prefer, really. I didn't plan to care about any of the characters, but by the end I actually did.
Clearly, I am weak.
The depiction of the eruption was gripping. Sure, there were moments where the upheaval was very Hollywood ("of course the ground splits open RIGHT THERE...") but there were also plenty of moments where I was completely sold, absolutely convinced that this is how it would have gone down.
Do I recommend it? Well... if you're like me, sometimes you'll walk into a movie theater by yourself just so you can spend $20 for some alone time with popcorn, low lights, and destruction. By that standard, I doubt very many of you are like me. But for those of you who are, seeing Pompeii in 3D at midnight is an UNAMBIGUOUSLY DECADENT LIFE CHOICE. Also, it comes in at #3 for me this year.
I usually don't offer spoilers, but I will risk that in this case. See, the film has Carrie-Ann Moss, Jared Harris, and Kiefer Sutherland in it, so there was this one scene where I realized I was watching Trinity tell Moriarty to kill Jack Bauer. WORTH THE ADMISSION PRICE RIGHT THERE. If you are like me.