![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() But he’s very much a figure in the same driven, single-minded vein as Henry Thomas in “E.T. The young man at its center is an obsessed gamer named Wade Watts who goes by the moniker Parzival in the massive virtual reality everyone inhabits in the movie’s dystopian future. “Ready Player One” may have sprung from someone else’s brain originally, but it’s a Spielbergian hero’s journey at its core, complete with lens flares early and often. This is, after all, the decade he helped define, asserting himself as one of our greatest and most influential filmmakers. Spielberg would seem to be the ideal director for such a thorough (and overlong) trip down memory lane. This is a movie that has a literal Easter egg-and it is indeed a “movie,” not a film, as Spielberg himself pointed out earlier this month during its South by Southwest premiere. There’s no way to catch it all in one sitting. Rex from “ Jurassic Park” as well as King Kong. So much of what constitutes the humor in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ernest Cline’s best-selling novel is along the lines of: “Here’s a thing you know from your youth.” And: “Here’s another thing.” And: “Here’s an obscure thing that only an elite few of you will get, which will make you feel super-smart.”Ĭhucky from the “Child’s Play” movies shares the screen with The Iron Giant and the DeLorean from “ Back to the Future.” A thrilling auto race through the virtual streets of New York finds the characters daring to outrun the T. You may be able to answer “yes” to all three of these questions (as I was), and yet still not be able to register much more than a chuckle of recognition in response to the vast majority of voluminous pop-culture references scattered throughout “Ready Player One.” The action is breathless and non-stop, both in the virtual reality and the reality reality, but wallowing in ‘80s nostalgia is only so much fun for so long-even if you’re a child of the era (as I am)-and it only really works when it serves to further the narrative. Do you know the name of the high school the characters attended in John Hughes’ movies? Did you play “Pitfall!” on the Atari 2600 when you were a kid? And are you aware of what lurks behind the door of Room 237? ![]()
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