Game over man... Game over.

Rating: 8/10 (28 January 2019)

Ready Player One: 8 out of 10: Based on the best selling novel Ready Player One tells the tale of a poor kid in future Cleveland who tries to beat an online game to win a great prize.
I really wanted to hate this movie. Damn you, Spielberg. In essence, this is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with a heavy dose of The Lego Movie and Wreck it, Ralph. It is almost all CGI with endless pop culture references, particularly about the eighties. Ugh, seriously how did Spielberg pull this off. It should have been an unbearable cringefest.
On to the questions.
Why do I hate the eighties so much? I don't but good lord it has been done to death. The eighties were a great time and had some really good entertainment. Much of that entertainment was about how the fifties were a great time mind you (Happy Days, Back to the Future). I understand how nostalgia works and you can set your watch by it. Spielberg surprisingly puts in more than just the eighties references that are in the book. This keeps it from being a stale oh I remember this geek fest. He also just lets the screen speak for itself so we don't get that obnoxious hey look at this, don't you remember this, camera work so many films of this type seem to revel in.
What was your favorite pop-culture cameo? I am not saying. Cause its a spoiler. But man my heart grew three times its normal size. I do need to call my cardiologist now that I think about it.
What was your favorite story twist? I like the fact that the bad guy's big plan is to take over this virtual space and put in pop-up ads and microtransactions. I mean who can hate a movie where the bad guy is basically Electronic Arts or Activision or Comcast.
So good social commentary then? There is the same vibe as Sorry to Bother You had in this film. A decent subplot about debt slavery to companies. Though the actual pictures certainly are different otherwise.
The film also makes a very sly commentary on how it is necessary to change an original work to make it work on a film. Considering the changes that were made to the book I have to believe that was deliberate meta-commentary.
Sounds like you had at least a few nitpicks no? Okay while the film was good about not focusing too much on cameos it did spend way to much time explaining certain plot points and trivia. To use an easy no spoiler example the main character decides to dress his avatar as Buckaroo Banzai for a date. Just dress him that way so it gives people in the audience the thrill to recognize the outfit instead of mentioning it in voice over and have every character seem to dwell on it.
The ugly plain girl with the sexy avatar who doesn't want the hero to see her in real life cause he would be repulsed is played by Olivia Cooke. You know the lead in that Vanity Fair miniseries your wife was watching. Yeah, they give her a birthmark or something but seriously? I can think of another cast member that honestly would have been a better match for our hero. But Hollywood has to Hollywood.
Speaking of the film seems to make clear that this online place is the cause of many of the world's problems and for all its good intentions it is bad for society and the people in the same. I like to believe that the movie still shares this opinion at the end which makes the actual plot developments quite curious.
Are you surprised you enjoyed yourself? I shouldn't be. I liked Wreck it Ralph and both Lego movies. I had a hard time getting into Stranger Things but I will give it another try someday. Heck some of the aged remakes, reboots have been okay for example the new Blade Runner and um Friday the 13th maybe..? Okay, that is a work in progress. Point is I am not against nostalgia in practice as much as I seem to be in theory. When they start making films about the old days and it is your youth one quickly realizes I am not the young protagonist who gets the girl I am the old guy who dies after wasting his life playing games and watching movies.