Why is "ready player one" getting such polarization? (horror, actor)

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by redguard57

He directed Lincoln which won Best Actor for 2012 & was nominated for Best Picture, Bridge of Spies which won Best Actor for 2015, and The Post which was didn't win but was nominated for Best Picture and Best Actress for 2017.

I recently saw Lincoln. It was good. Not great. A tad too pretentious and self-aware for its own good.

I liked Bridge of Spies a lot. Great movie.

Haven't seen The Post. It looked like obvious Oscar Bait to me. I may watch it some day when it's on DVD.

[Texas Ag 93]

Originally Posted by mkwensky

I just finished the book and I'm disappointed that the book removed 90% of the pop culture stuff. I can understand why this was done but I personally would prefer a 75 million dollar movie made by a real geek like Del Toro or Whedon.

Per the bold above, do you mean you're disappointed that the movie removes most of the pop culture references that were so prevalent in the book? If so, like you, I'm not surprised. Movies are still made to appeal primarily to a younger demographic, and the book seem to appeal most to Gen X'ers with all the 1980s references.

We didn't read the book, we listened to it on audio just a couple of weeks ago, and in a fitting homage to the 80s, it was narrated by Wil Wheaton.

[mkwensky]

Originally Posted by Texas Ag 93

Per the bold above, do you mean you're disappointed that the movie removes most of the pop culture references that were so prevalent in the book? If so, like you, I'm not surprised. Movies are still made to appeal primarily to a younger demographic, and the book seem to appeal most to Gen X'ers with all the 1980s references.

We didn't read the book, we listened to it on audio just a couple of weeks ago, and in a fitting homage to the 80s, it was narrated by Wil Wheaton.

You're right. I meant the movie. I want a movie that has Zork and Ultraman, not something that looks like another Hunger Games YA dystopian clone which is what I get from the trailer.

I get that a scavenger hunt is not as fun to watch as a race but they should try and keep as much of the problem solving aspect of the book as possible.

[Girl]

I saw "RPO" last night with my kids. I consider the book to be one of my top 10 favorite books of all time. I adore the book. Have read it multiple times. LOVE LOVE LOVE the book.

**DON'T WORRY - NON-SPOILERY STUFF BELOW**

I thought the movie was pretty good. I went in knowing that there was NO WAY it would be the same as the book - there's just no feasible way that they could do all of the things the book contained. The budget for the movie would have made it impossible to bankroll, even if the book is very popular and they knew fans would go to see it.

As such, I was okay with the changes (and there were a lot (as in, 90% of the movie is not like the book) between the book and movie. Given the fact that the author of the book was the screenwriter of the movie, I knew he signed off on the various changes and that enabled me to just sit back and enjoy the movie for what it was, without comparing it to the book. Basically, this movie is loosely inspired by the book, given the differences between the two.

Despite this, I only had two problems - one with an actor, and one with the music. The guy that played Wade Watts was very boring. His avatar stuff was fine, but the real world human stuff he was just very one-note and uninteresting to watch. Everyone else was fine - I enjoyed the folks who played Art3mis, Aech, Daito and Shoto (who is just called "Sho" in the movie - not sure why?). The bad guy (Sorrento) was played by a guy that kept reminded me of videos I've seen of David Miscavige (tyrannical leader of Scientology), so it was easy to believe he was a bad guy.

Special effects were good (we saw it in 3D and it was pretty seamless and well done without being one of those "let's shoot a firearrow at the camera so people in the audience jump out of the way" movies), but I had an issue with the music. Spielberg paid homage to various movie themes during the movie - notably, Back to the Future. While that was fun, there were a couple times that the music "reacted" to a couple actions in the movie and had the wrong feel for me. IMO, it was an attempt to say, "Hey look, the music is letting you know this is funny," instead of just letting the audience determine whether it was funny or not. Fortunately, it only happened a couple times during the movie, but it was still annoying and took me out of the movie for a minute each time.

[Vegabern]

If it makes you feel any better, I just watched the trailer and I'll give it a meh.

I don't understand the infatuation with dystopian futures. Add that in with cheesy explosions and a good guy vs. The Man situation and I'm out.

[oeccscclhjhn]

I liked it. It was good.
.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Just saw it tonight. As a RUSH geek, I was a little disappointed. Was looking forward to the 2112/Discovery key. Instead all we got was a lousy t shirt (and poster).

[BornintheSprings]

Saw it yesterday it was much better than I expected.

[cyphorx]

Originally Posted by Vegabern

If it makes you feel any better, I just watched the trailer and I'll give it a meh.

I don't understand the infatuation with dystopian futures. Add that in with cheesy explosions and a good guy vs. The Man situation and I'm out.

"The man" is the ultimate bad guy. standard oil, Monsanto,Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Enron, worldcom, Pfizer, Microsoft the list goes on. and a movie set in a utopian future would be kinda boring.

Even though a dystopian world would be a utopian world for a select few.

[nightlysparrow]

Saw it and hated it.
Tye Sheridan in the lead has zero onscreen charisma, even his avatar self was boring. I found myself looking at the other characters in any scene he was in. And no sparks with the girl lead either, who was much more interesting as her avatar than when she took off her digital mask.

Since the acting was so poor, all the money for the film was obviously spent on CGI, but most of it goes by so fast you have no time to savor the scenery, buildings, etc., so it's a fast-paced blur most of the time.

Worst of all is Spielberg trying to be witty with references (some way too obvious) to ET, Back To The Future, Raiders Of The Lost Ark/Indiana Jones, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Yeah, the directors of those movies are his buddies or himself or both, but really, done too clumsily.