Some better subs for Rebuild of Eva popped up on Sunday, so I finally managed to watch the first movie- and I have to say, I was impressed.
The first third of the movie was basically just improved visuals though the Berserker Sequence was a littttttle different. But after that, things started getting changed up, until it was blatantly obvious when the '6th' angel showed up.
That had to be one of the coolest battles I have seen in a while. The way the angel shapeshifted through various forms for attacking and defending itself was quite cool, as was just all the firepower that was thrown at it- rather than just a sniping match like before, it was an all out war. I was immensely pleased at how they turned one of the less interesting battles into one of my favorites, by far now.
As for what's next, and various other theories as to why some of the things have changed- I won't say here, but peoples are free to IM me to chat for hours and hours about Rebuild of Evangelion or Eva in general. It's my favorite anime for a reason.