You know when people say "the book was better than the
movie"? This was the mild anxiety I had when it was announced that
Robert Cline's "Ready Player One" would be a film (ooh, the icon on the official site is a
key!) . I had read the book twice before this was announced: the
first time because it looked interesting, and the second time was to prepare
for MouseAdventure: Ready Player One. Then the announcement came that
Steven Spielberg would direct the movie. Well, that made perfect
sense. His movies are referenced throughout the book, and he would have
the perfect viewpoint. I love Spielberg's work. But still, the
anxiety...would the combination of Spielberg and Cline result in a great work
of art, or not? I read the book a third time.
This Rubik's cube appeared in the lobby of the AMC several weeks before the movie opened. They can be moved horizontally, but they matched up at the time because nobody had messed with them yet.
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| Sorrento |
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| Halliday |
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| Wade |
I saw the first trailer before "Bladerunner
2049", and while the visuals were impressive, I didn't like the way the
story wasn't really presented. Uh oh. Then the second trailer was
released, and I was relieved, and excited for opening day. I attended the
panel at WonderCon and got even more excited! I decided to go to
the Thursday night showing because I was unavailable for Wednesday night.
Cindy and Mox decided to join me and we watched it via the Dolby
Experience. I wore my shirt from
MouseAdventure. So did V, when she saw
it with Bro!
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| I don't know why I have my napkin in the picture. |
- Wow. Those visuals. At first, I was a little bit dizzy because it was so jarring, and the screen was huge, but I got used to it after a few minutes.
- The Stacks were pretty much how I pictured them. The Oasis...I couldn't imagine that, no way. It was incredible. I was so very happy that they were able to get what seemed to be Cline's vision of that virtual world.
- The quests were not the same as in the book. During the panel, screenwriter Zak Penn alluded to one of the quests that was not included in order to keep the action going, and I did miss Joust and Pac-Man. They did throw in a couple of things in the background that alluded to them, though, including one of the IOI employees mentioning Joust. I really would have liked to see that part, though.
- Whoa, the scene in The Overlook. Perfect. I loved that dancing zombies element and now I want to play the game. Cindy couldn't really watch it because that's her nightmare movie, but it really was well done.
- I smiled as I saw Parzival strutting like John Travolta, because of Tye Sheridan's story about working with Spielberg.
- Doritos were on the table at Wade's trailer in the Stacks.
- That's a big egg, yo. I don't know how Halliday couldn't find that thing at first when it was all glowy and big.
- I liked how everyone was portrayed, especially Mark Rylance's Halliday as the awkwardly social genius behind it all.
- "She wanted to go dancing, so we watched a movie."
- "If you all want to reach under your seats, there's nothing there."
- TJ Miller is hilarious as usual as I-R0k. So menacing, yet he thinks he has carpal tunnel of the neck.
- Ben Mendelsohn's Sorrento wasn't just a villain, he was a rude villain. I mean, he never said "please", not with the orb, not with the gun, nothing. Jerk. I mean, even his monogrammed tie is obnoxious, and reminds me of a certain POTUS.
- I do love, though, that Sorrento mentioned the Millennium Falcon.
- "Ninjas don't hug."
- That's a lot of thank yous for all of the pop culture references used! I'm glad that they were all on board with this flick, especially since the director was such an unknown (wink!).
- I love that one of the power ups is the Zemeckis Cube.
- I liked that both the young and old versions of Halliday were wearing Space Invaders shirts.
- So, was Parzival's hair supposed to look like the lead singer from A-ha?
- My favorite Easter Eggs, at least those which I've seen: Speed Racer's Mach 5, the Batmobile, the RUSH poster, and the Mayor Goldie Wilson poster.
- "It's fu*&ing Chucky!"
- I wonder if there were any "War Games" Easter Eggs in this film, since it featured prominently in the novel. I don't remember seeing any.
I really enjoyed the
movie, and was happy that I enjoyed it.
Does that make sense? Rudy
started reading the book upon my recommendation, and he was stunned at how spot
on I was when I said that he would like it.
Since I was willing to see the film again, but in IMAX 3D, I met up with
him the other night to watch it before the IMAX theaters change over to
"Rampage", which opens this weekend.
This time, I wore my DeLorean shirt from the Awesome 80s race.
- Rudy said the spell used for the Orb of Osuvox was from something. Later, I let him know that it was the spell from the film "Excalibur".
- Seeing the film in this format was a great decision! This film was made for IMAX as it was immersive and gorgeously done. The Overlook and the maze segment scared me, though.
- Rudy and I kept pointing at stuff. I don't think anyone could hear him because the volume was so high, but we were both excited throughout the film.
So Spielberg and I can
still be friends. OK, I wish I was his
friend! Thank you, Steven, for the great
flick!
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