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Ready Player One (2018)

BetterButter

By BetterButter
in Movies

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BetterButter

BetterButter

Quote

When the creator of an MMO called the Oasis dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all Oasis users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune. Wade Watts finds the first clue and starts a race for the Egg.

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GaT

GaT

This is totally not the kind of thing I'm usually interested in, but for some reason I read the book & really liked it. Now I'm very excited to see the movie.

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benteen

benteen

This is Hollywood.  Neither Wade nor Art3miss were going to be pudgy.

I read the book last year and really enjoyed it.  The trailer was very good and I'm really looking forward to the movie.  The Stacks were really brought to life just as they appeared on the RP1 cover and I really liked that.

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Robert Lynch

Robert Lynch

Quote

When the creator of the virtuality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune. Wade Wyatt finds the first clue and starts the race for the Egg.

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Bruinsfan

Bruinsfan

On 7/26/2017 at 1:27 AM, revbfc said:

They certainly got my attention.  The only nitpick I can't let go of is Wade does look too fit.  At least make him pudgier in the beginning.  

Isn't he having to climb 20 stories of scaffolding to and from his home? That'll burn some calories off.

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Glory

Glory

On 7/26/2017 at 1:27 AM, revbfc said:

They certainly got my attention.  The only nitpick I can't let go of is Wade does look too fit.  At least make him pudgier in the beginning.  

I'm not sure if book stuff needs to be spoilered, so just in case:

Spoiler

I was pretty bummed in the new trailer when we saw what (I presume) is Art3mis running away from Og's birthday party and her avatar was super tall and slim. They made a point in the books about how she was a full-figured avatar so that was disappointing. 

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NumberCruncher

NumberCruncher

(edited)
2 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

Nice to have Depeche Mode's World In My Eyes playing. Makes me want to get the soundtrack now.

I thought the same thing!  I would love it to be included in the soundtrack (which isn't usually the case with trailer music).  All I know is that the story being a giant homage to all things 80s, this movie better have a kick-ass soundtrack.

Edited by NumberCruncher
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morakot

morakot

I loved the book but my first thought for the trailer was: Why do the game environments have to be so dark and gloomy?  I'm not a traditional gamer but it seemed to me that the book's version of the game worlds were sunnier and cleaner than reality. In particular, I'm thinking of their school environment, which seemed filmed through a blue filter and looked as if it was shot on a cloudy, grey day. The game worlds seemed a bit too similar to the apocalyptic reality. 

And yes, I thought Wade was remarkably fit and trim climbing down in the beginning. 

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Silver Raven

Silver Raven

On 12/11/2017 at 7:26 PM, Robert Lynch said:

Rush, Van Halen, and Depeche Mode..seems like Spielberg is trying to cash in on the 80s nostalgia train that the Duffer brothers did with Stranger Things. If that's the case, I'm in.

The book came out a long time before Stranger Things did.  The movie's sound track is living up to the book.

On 7/26/2017 at 5:23 AM, benteen said:

Neither Wade nor Art3miss were going to be pudgy.

Nor have a big birthmark on her face.

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Robert Lynch

Robert Lynch

2 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

The book came out a long time before Stranger Things did.  The movie's sound track is living up to the book.

Nor have a big birthmark on her face.

I know. I know. I just think it's awesome to hear 80s music once in a while, so I am excited.

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Frost

Frost

The trailer for this movie intrigued me so I got the book.  And now I'm scared.  How on earth are they going to streamline / simplify this enough for a movie?  A well funded miniseries would have been awesome!  I'm thinking they're going to spend more time in the stacks then the book does.  There's a lot of Wade's skill building and intricacies of the OASIS that probably don't count as cinematic and will be dropped.  Plus there wouldn't be enough time!  I'm just hoping they don't just keep all the action pieces and forget about the Basement and other virtual bonding moments.  I especially hope they don't miss out on the juxtaposition of virtual bonding and real life.  The book's morality tale was a bit heavy handed but it certainly resonated with me.  I know far too many teenagers who would absolutely spend 100% of their time in the OASIS if they could!   

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Silver Raven

Silver Raven

2 hours ago, Frost said:

The trailer for this movie intrigued me so I got the book.  And now I'm scared.  How on earth are they going to streamline / simplify this enough for a movie?  A well funded miniseries would have been awesome!  I'm thinking they're going to spend more time in the stacks then the book does.  There's a lot of Wade's skill building and intricacies of the OASIS that probably don't count as cinematic and will be dropped.  Plus there wouldn't be enough time!  I'm just hoping they don't just keep all the action pieces and forget about the Basement and other virtual bonding moments.  I especially hope they don't miss out on the juxtaposition of virtual bonding and real life.  The book's morality tale was a bit heavy handed but it certainly resonated with me.  I know far too many teenagers who would absolutely spend 100% of their time in the OASIS if they could!   

I really wonder how much of Aitch we're going to see, both in the interpersonal moments and in the scenes of Aitch driving Ward in person.

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GaT

GaT

45 minutes ago, BetterButter said:

Rebellion? It's been a while since I read the book, but what rebellion? Aren't they fighting to get to the prize? Have they changed the plot?

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Glory

Glory

On 2/15/2018 at 3:09 PM, GaT said:

Rebellion? It's been a while since I read the book, but what rebellion? Aren't they fighting to get to the prize? Have they changed the plot?

Against the Sixers. And Globorama Corporation taking control of the Oasis. 

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Frost

Frost

I'm rereading the book.  How are they going to deal with copyright issues?  Cap'n Crunch, WarGames, Pac Man, Zork, Dungeons & Dragons, Rush album covers, etc etc etc.  It would crush me if they tried to use generic versions of any of these things.  Their reality as talismans of the 1980's are a key component of the book!  But man, what a legal and costly nightmare to get permission to use every one of these things in this movie.

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charmed1

charmed1

(edited)

I read this book roughly two years ago. I don’t think I liked it enough to actually go to a theater and watch the movie version (saw the trailer during Black Panther). Maybe by the time it comes on television, I’ll watch it.

Edited by charmed1
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benteen

benteen

2 hours ago, Frost said:

I'm rereading the book.  How are they going to deal with copyright issues?  Cap'n Crunch, WarGames, Pac Man, Zork, Dungeons & Dragons, Rush album covers, etc etc etc.  It would crush me if they tried to use generic versions of any of these things.  Their reality as talismans of the 1980's are a key component of the book!  But man, what a legal and costly nightmare to get permission to use every one of these things in this movie.

I imagine they'll just use what they have on hand.  I'm absolutely positive the WarGames sequence won't be in there and I don't even know how that would translate onscreen.

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Silver Raven

Silver Raven

5 hours ago, Frost said:

I'm rereading the book.  How are they going to deal with copyright issues?  Cap'n Crunch, WarGames, Pac Man, Zork, Dungeons & Dragons, Rush album covers, etc etc etc.  It would crush me if they tried to use generic versions of any of these things.  Their reality as talismans of the 1980's are a key component of the book!  But man, what a legal and costly nightmare to get permission to use every one of these things in this movie.

I'm sure Stephen Spielberg has sufficient clout to get what he needs.

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benteen

benteen

(edited)

79% at Rotten Tomatoes last time I checked.

I saw the movie last night.  It wasn't a bad film but I was disappointed by it. 

The cast was very good though (particularly Mark Rylance) and there were definitely some fun moments (the second task).  As a fan of the book, I can admit that one of the problems for me with the book was that so much time is spent in the Oasis that the stakes don't feel as high.  I will say that Spielberg did a better job with the stakes of this film but I thought he undercut key dramatic moments from the book as well as Wade's development.  The character arcs or lack thereof is definitely a problem.  I also thought the movie wasn't as funny as it should have been.

And of course, what a "shock" that the actors cast in this movie weren't fat or unattractive like they were in the books...

Edited by benteen
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JessePinkman

JessePinkman

I saw this last night as well and the movie was basically this gif on repeat.

XS5LK.gif

Every seen a movie? Or played a video game? Consumed even a second of pop culture between 1978 and 1992? Then this is the movie for you!!!

I didn't hate but I don't get why it was a movie. Or a narrative. It barely had the bones to be a paragraph.

We're at the point where Steven Spielberg is, with this, essentially directing a video game. And that makes me sad.

Olivia Cooke gave a fantastic performance (was this motion capture?) and I liked that Artemis drove a lot of the final act, I was worried it would be ALL about rescuing her but they helped her escape and then she did more on her own to bring down IOI.

Halladay was super creepy, especially that final scene with him and the young version of him going into that room together. Catch a predator vibes.

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ApathyMonger

ApathyMonger

I was not a fan of Ready Player One.

There's a few very good sequences, and the effects are impressive, but I found it hard to care about any of it.

The main character is fairly unlikable, and all the characters are very thinly sketched. The only one who feels vaguely like a real person is Ben Mendelsohn as the villain, and even he comes across as a cartoon bad guy half the time.

The plot is pretty thin, and I found it difficult to suspend my disbelief about it. They say that the game has been going on for five years, and nobody has even beaten the first quest, a race.

Spoiler

It turns out the key is you need to reverse, something that nobody has ever tried in the thousands of times the race has occurred. IRL, someone would have tried this and won within an hour of the game going live.

I've never cared about Easter Eggs and references, so whenever someone brought up some 80s trivia, or some piece of culture showed up fleetingly, I mostly just rolled my eyes. There's a conversation about John Hughes movies that feels especially awful. They do seem to have toned it down a bit from the book, which is good.

I didn't laugh at any of the jokes in the movie, though I did laugh at the line

Spoiler

"You killed my mom's sister!," delivered sincerely (and the only time he cares about his murdered family even a little).

There's an attempt to shoehorn in a message about real life is what matters, but it's undermined by how not caring about real life is what allows the main character to achieve everything he does in the movie. If he had been focused on real life, the villains would have won.

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DrSpaceman

DrSpaceman

I saw the movie today and enjoyed it.  I have never read the book.  I actually didn't think they relied too heavily on the 80s nostalgia for the script.  There certainly was plenty of it, but they didn't use it as a prop for the movie. 

The movie kept me interested, thought it was exciting.

Not sure about the book but the whole thing struck me as basically being like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, except centered around video games and VR. 

The movie isn't winning any Emmy's but still an enjoyable film, even if it does run a bit long. 

I would sum it up this way :  I have seen both this movie and A Wrinkle in TIme recently, another film adaptation of a classic book.   I enjoyed this one more. 

Only one in the cast I didn't like was Lena Waithe, just because I don't think she can act in general.  Surprised she even got this role.  Not a fan of hers on Master of None either.  She can write, but she can't act, in my opinion. 

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thuganomics85

thuganomics85

Having not read the book (still unsure if I will: I feel like half of the internet thinks is the best, while the other half thinks it is pandering trash), I thought it was entertaining enough, even if the characters were pretty shallow and, admittedly, its main goal seem to be "Hey, look at that pop culture icon!  Remember him/her/it!"  It also had the same issue I tend to have with any futuristic show or film in that it always feels like pop culture just died at a certain point in the world.  Like no films, songs, or games happen after 2018, and 2019-2045 was just pure nostalgia, when it comes to entertainment.

Acting wise, Tye Sheridan was fine, if forgettable as Wade.  Vastly preferred Samantha, and I'm glad that Olivia Cooke seems to be having a solid post-Bates Motel career (she was excellent in Thoroughbreds earlier this year.)  Ben Mendelsohn was back to being sinister and evil after his brief "good" turn in Darkest Hour, but he was fun as always.  Glad to see Hannah John-Kamen as his henchwoman, and I hope she continues to go onto bigger things as well (crossing my fingers that she won't be wasted in Ant-Man and the Wasp.)  Everyone else was good, although I honestly wasn't a fan of Mark Rylance here.  I like his more subtle work, but there were times were I felt like I could see him "acting", if that makes any sense.  Just not as natural compared to his previous work.

I laughed at the big "twist" over Ogden being the The Curator, since it was obvious (to me, at least), that Simon Pegg was voicing the latter.

The action was entertaining and fun enough to watch, and the film was at least good to look at.  The Shining scene was the best though.

While it might not be as "great" as his award-nominated films like The Post and War Horse, I actually vastly prefer this Steven Spielberg to that version.  He at least seems to be having fun here, as opposed to him getting into overtly-sappy or "This is an important issue, dammit!" territory.

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methodwriter85

methodwriter85

(edited)
On 3/29/2018 at 8:26 AM, benteen said:

And of course, what a "shock" that the actors cast in this movie weren't fat or unattractive like they were in the books...

But they made Olivia Cooke wear burgundy make-up all around her eye! That made her look hideous, right? So glad Wade was able to see beyond that.

Tye Sheridan did sport acne so good on them for that realism? I did really like the outfits they put him in. A touch of an 80's vibe and also a classic vibe, which made sense for the character. And I liked that Olivia's character had this whole 90's grunge vibe to her.

49 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

It also had the same issue I tend to have with any futuristic show or film in that it always feels like pop culture just died at a certain point in the world.  Like no films, songs, or games happen after 2018, and 2019-2045 was just pure nostalgia, when it comes to entertainment.

To be fair to them, the world basically ended in 2027-2028. And the biggest media entertainment in the world is based on a guy who loved the 1980's. We're not really seeing much beyond the Game so it makes sense that we're not going to see any new stuff. And if there is new stuff being made, it's probably going to be underground.

I feel like the reason the budget was so high is because of all the copyrights they had to clear. Geez. I went to a 10 p.m. showing tonight and it was like half-full so I don't know how well that bodes for the movie. It will probably do very well overseas, though.

Edited by methodwriter85
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Silver Raven

Silver Raven

(edited)

I have to shake my head at all of the people complaining about the overload of pop culture references when in fact, I was complaining, as a lover of the book, at the paucity of references.  Also a lot of weird changes from the book, and I wonder why they did them.

Buried in the middle of the credits was "Consultant ... Masi Oka" I wonder what that was about.

Also, "Tom Sawyer" was heavily played in the trailers and wasn't in the movie.

Edited by Silver Raven
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Frost

Frost

I was disappointed that all the challenges were changed! Cline was both an Exec Producer and co-writer so he must be OK with it, but I was bummed out.  I thought the challenges were dumbed down.  I knew they would change up a lot, but I kind of wish I hadn't read the book.  Maybe I would have enjoyed it more.  It was really cleaned up, I thought.  The stacks didn't seem that bad.  The killing of the stack residents wasn't horrifying.  They didn't kill off a major character.  Wade living in the Oasis because of the sheer desperation of his real life didn't come through.  It just seemed like a game, not a life and death fight.

A couple of things I did like.  The Halliday journal and the Curator was a good way to take advantage of the visual medium of a film.  I also like the casting of Halliday.  I thought he did a great job of being weird and endearing at the same time.  A big change from the book I did like was Samantha being the 'inside man' at IOI.  I thought Wade's mission into IOI was the worst part of the book so I was happy with the movie sharing the 'glory' among the cast members.

I thought the movie was fine as a spectacle, but I heart and soul of it was missing for me.

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Stenbeck

Stenbeck

I haven't read the book, so I enjoyed the film. I'm sure the more I think about it, plot holes will become evident.

I didn't completely understand IOI's chokehold on the players and how they became indebted to them...and how they could get away with holding their debtors in forced labor.

The visual effects were great, good cast chemistry and I especially liked the second challenge. 

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