Ready Player One

Sat through this dull, predictable, kids movie and was even bored by the 70s and 80s references. Which is a shame given that was the time of my youth. Take the scene at the disco, they are dancing to New Order's Blue Monday (1982] and they say 'let's go old school' and start dancing to Saturday Night Fever (1977). How lazy is that, 5 years doesn't make one tune old school and the other not. Not considering this is supposed to be set in the Future.

Lazy assed effort, boring boring boring, Steven I am so dissapointed with this.

There seem to be two camps as far as Ready Player One is concerned, those who have read the books (Who tend to dislike the movie) and those who haven't (Who tend to like the movie). I'm in the latter group and am very thankful for this.

When the trailer came out I was unimpressed and didn't get onboard with the hype at all, yes I was impressed with all the pop culture references and characters but I figured it would be all flash and no substance.

Thankfully I couldn't have been anymore wrong, Read Player One has plenty of substance, emotion and charm and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Set in a near dystopian world where people use a virtual reality world called the Oasis to escape their lives it tells the story of one player and his efforts participating in a competition that with decide the fate of the entire universe (Oasis).

The plot if fantastic and very well handled, the movie looks like a billion dollars, the cast did a decent enough job and the pop culture references though thick and fast didn't overwhelm the movie like I feared they would.

From Overwatchs Tracer, Streetfighters Chun-Li & Ryu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Iron Giant, Chucky, Freddy Kreuger, Mortal Kombats Goro, Gundam, Mech-Godzilla, King Kong, and countless more I being a big ol'nerd really appreciated this. Combined with the incredible mostly 80's soundtrack it's a sight to behold.

The movie wrapped up nicely and went in directions I didn't expect, I'm suitably impressed and would love to see more.

If it's very different than the book I understand peoples anger, for me however this was fantastic.

The Good:

Looks amazing

Solid plot and delivery

Pop culture references are charming

The Bad:

Honestly nothing springs to mind

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I'm still not impressed with Gundam

People CAN swear in Spielberg movies

Old Simon Pegg looks like a tall hobbit

Artemis is the offspring of an elf and a porcupine

Keys hidden in a VR game world unlock the fortune of the inventor of the OASIS and control over it, so a group of kids must stop a shady Corporation getting the prize.

Like ET crossed with Willy Wonka, Ready Player One is Spielberg back to classic Spielberg - the kids are fighting off the big bad business boss while trying to win the grand prize of a tech giant's fortune and control of the OASIS, a virtual reality world used by most of the planet's population to escape the horrors of their everyday lives. The tech giant in question is the socially awkward but big dreaming James Halliday expertly played by Mark Rylance in a Brian May wig (originally Spielberg wanted Gene Wilder to play the role before his untimely death in 2016) who lived pop culture references and so made all the challenges (all different to the ones in the 2011 book by Ernest Cline) based around his obsession with 1970s & 80s pop culture.

Characters including the Iron Giant, Harley Quinn, MechaGozilla, Chucky, Lara Croft and King Kong all make an appearance alongside references from games like Overwatch, Pitfall, Mortal Kombat, Joust, Street Fighter II, Bioshock, Battle Toads and Mass Effect and more than enough film nods like Back to the Future, Alien, Saturday Night Fever, Robocop, Monty Python & the Holy Grail, Jurassic Park, Beetlejuice, Terminator 2, Mad Max and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The amazing thing is that the constant search for these on-screen glimpses doesn't distract at all from the story and, in typical Spielberg fashion, the action and narrative are married perfectly with one never overshadowing the other.

There are a vast number of audience-made lists out there on forums documenting as many references as they can and there always seems to be one they've missed. It never ends. From the big ones (like an entire sequence set in a particular film which was completely missing from the trailer, so you'll get no spoilers here) to the little ones (like a briefly-mentioned artefact that turns time back by 60 seconds called the Zemeckis Cube, so named after the Back to the Future director), they flash by for you to either catch and enjoy or miss and never know that that was Freddy Krueger being punched in the balls by Duke Nukem.

Best Quote: "I mean ... it's nothing less than a war for control of the future."

Pretty good movie visually and even though the changes from the book are obvious but they don't spoil it. They are changes that have to be made so it translates well on to screen.

The comedy in the film is charming and not over the top. It fits in well with the film.

The visuals are awesome. There are so many Easter eggs and references from pop culture it's unbelievable that they managed to add so many. It'll take a long time to spot them all.

Overall I'd say this film is definitely worth a watch.

My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library and found it thoroughly enjoyable, even though we are grandparents and far removed from the virtual reality, gaming crowd.

This is a Spielberg movie, and even though this story is unique it has many of the movie-making elements he used in such movies as "E.T.", "Raiders", "Jurassic Park", "A.I." and more recently "The BFG". Imaginative cinematography, interesting action, and a really killer of a sound track. That alone makes it a worthwhile viewing.

There is also a good story going on. It is Columbus, Ohio in 2045, it is somewhat dystopian and many have turned to a virtual reality existence in something called Oasis. It is a form of escape, it allows one to avoid dealing with real world issues.

Upon the death of the creator and owner of Oasis it is announced that the winner of a contest, finding obscure clues in Oasis, would be given Oasis and complete control of it. So the story becomes a contest between a few dedicated gamers and a big corporation using its resources to win the contest.

The key gamer is Texas native Tye Sheridan as 18-yr-old Wade, who in virtual reality goes by Parzival. He is helped by British actress Olivia Cooke as Samantha who goes by Art3mis. His intention are honorable, he realizes that people need to get back to reality, to connect with each other rather than gravitate towards virtual reality.

The movie is really well made, and even though it is long at 2+ hours it never wore out its welcome.