Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is an excellent film that should get anyone who reads science fiction (or watches it) interested in the series. The scale of the setting is epic and the use of classical music (real masterpieces ala Mahler, Mozart, Beethoven, etc, etc) gives it an integrity that I find lacking in a lot of anime with cute pop songs and even cuter characters.There's nothing cute about this one; the series centers around a war and depicts it graphically. If you look real closely, you might pick up on some ideology and social commentary while you're at it.