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Ready Player One (2018)

njvc

njvc

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Steven Spielberg will be directing the adaptation of the amazing Ready Player One, due out in 2017 unless pushed back due to Ep8 coming out in December.

For those who have not read it, this story is the ultimate love letter to 1980's games, tv shows, movies and toys.

It's set in the near future, where the real world is in decline but the virtual world, The Oasis, is a visually spectacular open world where anything is possible. The story is a classic quest/adventure tale with a propulsive narrative and very healthy dose of 80's pop culture references throughout.

This has the potential to be an incredible return to blockbuster adventure films for Spielberg, but needs a lot of different rights holders to come to the party. For example, our hero flies around The Oasis in...
A DeLorean time machine, an X-Wing and a Firefly vessel
For those who've read it, what do you want to see from this film and what will help make it great?

And thanks to   [MENTION=8664]L8wrtr[/MENTION] for putting me onto this incredible book!
 
I'm excited about the part with the Death Star plans.
 
Watched this today. Some random thoughts (some vaguely spoilerish bits but if you've seen the trailers, not so much)...

It's not without flaws but it's such a shiny bauble of fun filled with interesting visual ideas that they didn't bother me too much. As big-budget CGI-fest films go, this is one of the best looking I've ever seen. Hats off to Spielberg and Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński for maintaining a consistently high standard on the visuals, properly lit and graded.

Spielberg is probably the only Director that could technically pull this off and the only guy who could command the IP rights but he was still maybe the wrong person for this story. He pulled off the joyful feel of the "Oasis" as you'd expect but he shied away from making the real world too horrible/gritty and copped out of some of the darker satirical potential. Somebody like Terry Gilliam would have been the perfect choice to exploit this story but no studio would ever let him near a project like this.

Predictably Mark Rylance was the standout as a kind, lovable and awkward soul. Lena Waithe stood out too but for the wrong reasons, delivering some truly terrible "driving acting" (and she does all the driving). It was quite distracting.

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Some of the pop-culture references were off e.g. referencing the PT (not the OT) was not cool and a cameo from the Michael Bay Ninja Turtles rather than the 90s animatronic ones. The Shining sequence was a total delight an I loved how it did that Wizard of Oz shot but instead of B&W to colour it went more grainy and 70s. I felt sure it was going for a Willy Wonka reference at the end (given the trailer music) but didn't. I had lots of "Er, hang on, I'm not sure that part of the premise makes sense?" moments but the movie always whipped off into a new more exciting direction before I had the chance to think too hard. So overall, not perfect but unmissable all the same.
 
as i left the theater i heard 2 general trains of comments:

"I hated everything. The book was so awesome and they changed everything from the book"

or

"I love it. The book was so awesome and the movie was totally different but still awesome"

Soooooooo, in my measured opinion as long as you are willing to accept that movies are different than books, then this is a pretty fun movie.
 
And here I was all excited thinking that njvc was back... :dodgy:
 
I saw this last night and thought it was a lot of fun. For reference, I am not familiar with the source material, nor am I generally a fan of giant FX blockbuster movies.  But I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. As TM2YC said, only Spielberg could have pulled this off. It left me feeling warm and fuzzy inside at the end.

Although I probably won't revisit this film often, you could keep watching this movie over and over again to spot all the hidden pop-culture references. Just ask Rick:

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That Half in the Bag was great. What I love about those guys, is even when they hate something, they pretty fair and very funny.

Most of their points were spot on. In the end, I didn't hate the movie like they did. It was a fun 2-hours that I don't regret spending on the film.
 
^ It was a good idea to get Rich in for the gamer angle. It's a shame Mr.Plinkett murdered the two guys that ran the console repair shop, they could have reviewed this.

Oliver and Richard's review is pretty much my thoughts, flawed but good fun:


Recorded at the "Centre for Computing History". I must make a trip there, it looks great.

informative-captions.jpg
 
I watched the film yesterday and think it was a good film.  Yes, it was flawed, and it felt definitely quite long in its third act, but I had fun.  I think it must’ve been a really hard film to direct: setting up such a vast, surreal and digital world for a vast audience while having some real stuff at stake… even though I found it difficult to believe that our heroes couldn’t make it for just a second.  Also, I liked Olivia Cooke a lot!  Her character and Sho were probably my favourite characters.
 
I watched the film yesterday and think it was a good film.  Yes, it was flawed, and it felt definitely quite long in its third act, but I had fun.  I think it must’ve been a really hard film to direct: setting up such a vast, surreal and digital world for a vast audience while having some real stuff at stake… even though I found it difficult to believe that our heroes couldn’t make it for just a second.  Also, I liked Olivia Cooke a lot!  Her character and Sho were probably my favourite characters.  One of my favourite easter eggs, was, on the other hand, how Alan Silvestri incorporated references to his “Back to the Future” score.  I 
Overall, I enjoyed the movie a lot.  An 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 would be probably right.
 
I really liked it.

TM2YC said:
Some of the pop-culture references were off e.g. referencing the PT (not the OT) was not cool
Click to expand...

Which reference was this, I think I missed it
 
You damded lucky so-and-so's!  :mad:

I find the trailer better than blade runner 2049, it came with it on the dvd.
 
Masirimso17 said:
I really liked it.

TM2YC said:
Some of the pop-culture references were off e.g. referencing the PT (not the OT) was not cool
Click to expand...

Which reference was this, I think I missed it
Click to expand...

After the first key win, when the Delorean is in the park, the big Wizard Avatar says something like "Congratulations young Padawan". :sick: Something like "Impressive, most impressive" or "Your skills are now complete" would have been more my analogue speed.
 
TM2YC said:
After the first key win, when the Delorean is in the park, the big Wizard Avatar says something like "Congratulations young Padawan". :sick: Something like "Impressive, most impressive" or "Your skills are now complete" would have been more my analogue speed.
Click to expand...

Oh that. Well I don’t think it’s that bad, but then again I like the PT minus AotC and you hated that the name Darth Sidious was even mentioned in The Last Jedi, so I understand :)
 
Watched it today even though i wasn't too keen on the trailer (cinema pass). Couldn't wait for it to end, really just not my thing.
 
Saw this at the AMC Kabuki in San Francisco's Japantown, which is pretty much the perfect venue for it. I didn't particularly want to, but a buddy of mine suggested we do a movie, and alternatives were few. Foreign Correspondent was playing... in Palo Alto, womp-womp. I was especially wary of the VR glorification angle, as I think VR is a whole bunch of nothing going nowhere, and indeed the movie probably should have been financed by Facebook/Oculus Rift, Google Whatsit and Sony's etc., in that it does indeed do for the medium what Top Gun did for the US Navy. *crotchety voice* Back in my day, you see, we thought a virtual life-suck such as The Matrix was a bad thing! */voice* At no point, therefore, did I particularly care about The Oasis or its future.

That said, Spielberg is an entertainment professional, and the whole premise, imagery, and details were bonkers enough to keep me not only interested but even invested, despite my indifference to the core concept, which is no small feat. And Ben Mendelsohn is always a pleasure to watch, and I kept wondering if the girl with the world's sexiest birthmark was related to Helena Bonham Carter (answer: no, though they are both English). So I'll be generous, I guess, and give it a B. Movie Bob pretty much nails it, IMO:

 
On-Demand had this available for One Dollar last night, so my wife and I decided to check it out.

Context note:  Neither of us have read the book.

My wife gave it 4 out of 10 for the movie, 10 out of 10 for the soundtrack LOL. :p

I generously give it 6 out of 10, mostly for the Shining sequence (though I understand this replaced the Blade Runner subplot from the book???) and seeing the Iron Giant battle Mecha-Godzilla. :D

I was surprised how at how uninvested I felt through out this movie.  I am almost 50, a worshipper of most of the pop culture referenced in this flick, and figured this movie would be be my absolute jam....

...but ... and maybe I am totally over thinking this... but I could not accept the basic premise as a positive one and therefore, did not feel supportive of our heroes quest.

I mean, at it's core, is this not about maintaining an addicted society?

We all have sucky moments in life and love to escape to fantasy for a while before returning to the Real World.  That is normal and relatable.

But this takes it to whole another level.  This is the difference between taking an occasional pain pill for a backache and shooting up on heroin every day.  

This appears to be a society that has totally given up on the real life, given up on trying to make things or themselves better in the real world.   People are walking down the street in VR suits and Helmets!!!!   And our heroes big epic quest is to keep this fantasy world going?

Yes, there is some ham fisted after school lesson at the end that Real Life is more important which feels completely unearned, which leads our heroes to decide to turn off the OASIS for a TWO WHOLE DAYS every week.... really? :dodgy:

I think the premise could have worked if Spielberg had spent some time actually showing us and explaining to us the cruelty/harshness of the world of 2045 America, and trying to give some justifiable reason why people have just given up.  Or treated the material as a dark comedy satirizing our need for escapism.  But this key element is fundamentally underdeveloped to the detriment of the narrative.  I don't even know what our hero Wade does in the real world... is he a student?  Does he have a job?  I am not even clear how old he is suppose to be?

Also, there is not any real risk to our heroes.  It is not like if they die in the OASIS they die in real life.  They just reboot their Avatar and off they go again.   So the stakes never truly feel real.

While I agree with many that Spielberg is probably the only person in Hollywood powerful enough to get this film made, I am not certain he was the best director for the project.   As he seemed unable or unwilling to recapture his own classic 80's film style, thus as an love letter to that time period it does not truly work.   And the movie is not satirical enough to make the basic premise believable or worth rooting for....

For me, it was a movie where the parts are better than the whole.   A fun idea that needed better execution. :blush:
 
bionicbob said:
On-Demand had this available for One Dollar last night, so my wife and I decided to check it out.

Context note:  Neither of us have read the book.

My wife gave it 4 out of 10 for the movie, 10 out of 10 for the soundtrack LOL. :p

I generously give it 6 out of 10, mostly for the Shining sequence (though I understand this replaced the Blade Runner subplot from the book???) and seeing the Iron Giant battle Mecha-Godzilla. :D

I was surprised how at how uninvested I felt through out this movie.  I am almost 50, a worshipper of most of the pop culture referenced in this flick, and figured this movie would be be my absolute jam....

...but ... and maybe I am totally over thinking this... but I could not accept the basic premise as a positive one and therefore, did not feel supportive of our heroes quest.

I mean, at it's core, is this not about maintaining an addicted society?

We all have sucky moments in life and love to escape to fantasy for a while before returning to the Real World.  That is normal and relatable.

But this takes it to whole another level.  This is the difference between taking an occasional pain pill for a backache and shooting up on heroin every day.  

This appears to be a society that has totally given up on the real life, given up on trying to make things or themselves better in the real world.   People are walking down the street in VR suits and Helmets!!!!   And our heroes big epic quest is to keep this fantasy world going?

Yes, there is some ham fisted after school lesson at the end that Real Life is more important which feels completely unearned, which leads our heroes to decide to turn off the OASIS for a TWO WHOLE DAYS every week.... really? :dodgy:

I think the premise could have worked if Spielberg had spent some time actually showing us and explaining to us the cruelty/harshness of the world of 2045 America, and trying to give some justifiable reason why people have just given up.  Or treated the material as a dark comedy satirizing our need for escapism.  But this key element is fundamentally underdeveloped to the detriment of the narrative.  I don't even know what our hero Wade does in the real world... is he a student?  Does he have a job?  I am not even clear how old he is suppose to be?

Also, there is not any real risk to our heroes.  It is not like if they die in the OASIS they die in real life.  They just reboot their Avatar and off they go again.   So the stakes never truly feel real.

While I agree with many that Spielberg is probably the only person in Hollywood powerful enough to get this film made, I am not certain he was the best director for the project.   As he seemed unable or unwilling to recapture his own classic 80's film style, thus as an love letter to that time period it does not truly work.   And the movie is not satirical enough to make the basic premise believable or worth rooting for....

For me, it was a movie where the parts are better than the whole.   A fun idea that needed better execution. :blush:
Click to expand...

The RLM review touched on the movie not really feeling like Spielberg, they said it's the CGI. With the film being only like 5% live action footage, Spielberg made only 5% of the decisions. They were speculating but it sounds about right to me.
 
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