Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Ready Player One (2018)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 03-31-2018, 08:21 PM:

CINEMA: Regal Warren East, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 14, SEAT: G15
PRESENTATION: Regal Roller Coaster vision in Warren GRAND Auditorium with slope seating and a big ol' balcony
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: There's like 30 people here snd the fucking seat kicker just HAS to sit RIGHT BEHIND ME
RATING: Three stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: Reality sucks. Wackiness ensues.

An eccentric software developer leaves his estate, including controlling interest in his company, to whoever can extract the keys in a VR video game. Our heroes are trying to figure out the clues and get the keys before everyone else, which includes a big huge company staffing massive amounts of people tasked with figuring this out (I was unclear on if this was the eccentric's company or a competitor)

I sort of found myself thinking of this as a Tron-Lego Movie mashup. The pace is pretty frantic throughout and we are absolutely firebombed with pop culture references and "easter eggs". So much so that I was disappointed when the lawyers showed up and they weren't played by the original Breakfast Club cast. (There are Breakfast Club references though.)

Those into this will probably see it multiple times just to try and catch more of the little things they didn't catch the first time around.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 04-04-2018, 02:58 AM:

CINEMA: AMC Downtown Burbank 16, evening show
SCREEN 14 - Dolby Cinema at AMC, flat (not 3D), row E near center, recliner seating, which I personally dislike (if I wanted to recline and nap, I'd stay home)
TICKET PRICE: $23.50
PARKING: Free, thankfully
MOVIE RATING: B+
PRESENTATION RATING: A+

We've been wanting to check out Dolby Cinema for some time, and tonight it worked for us. The first thing you see after walking through the video wall hallway and into the theater are 48 column speakers and 4 ceiling-mounted sub enclosures all lit up in red. Through the transparent drivers.

This room is nearly perfect, with zero ambient light on the screen during the feature, making the lack of masking relatively imperceptible. The bass was something special as I've never experienced such crisp bass transients in a room that size. Eat your heart out, Imax! The dual laser projection did not disappoint. This is the technology that's good enough for me to not miss film. The live action segments were clearly shot with film, owing to presence of grain, but the VR portions were extremely clean and clear, granting a sterile purity to the VR and a grittiness to "real life" that somehow seemed appropriate.

This is literally one of the most perfect cinematic presentations I've ever experienced. A noisy air handler was really the only fault we could find. Noovie is annoying on full screen; they should really cut it down in size for both the sake of the main show and for nausea prevention. But we arrived late enough to miss all but the last moments.

Is it worth the exorbitant price? It certainly gives me pause. I have to really, really want to see a movie to go to that much trouble and expense. So let's just say it won't be frequent. But considering all the bum rap AMC gets (and probably deserves), it's interesting that they really can get a premiere screen like this to be so good.

The movie? As profound as a bon-bon, but definitely a fun ride.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 04-04-2018, 11:03 AM:

My kids are older now, so I'm posing this question theoretically.

For any of you with younger kids, or concerned for stronger content, would you agree with me that "Ready Player One" firmly deserves its PG-13 rating and, depending on your outlook on life, is NOT a kids' movie? I mean, Spielberg has never been one to avoid profanity, and that is certainly only PG-level here, with the exception of the one obligatory F-word. However,I'm talking more about the kicks-to-the-head (albeit bloodless violence), which, at a higher quantity, earned The Matrix an "R." Or how about the emulation of horror scenes from "The Shining" (including discreet nudity and the blood flood from the elevator); or the sensuality of Art3mis' slinky-dress avatar and the scene of Parzival's suit crotch lighting up from an intimate virtual caress?

I know we have wildly differing worldviews here, but surely I'm not the only one wondering if the marketing of this movie may draw more 10-year-olds to it than is healthy. Or if there is ratings creep going on, not that the MPAA has ever been consistently helpful.

Or, because of the gamification and sexualization of everything, is our culture gone?

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 04-05-2018, 12:54 AM:

If someone takes a 10-year-old to a PG-13 movie, they deserve what they get. It doesn't deserve an R because (I would assume), the film is perfectly appropriate for 15 and 16 year olds and if it was rated an R, they couldn't see it without their parents. I remember that when "Woodstock" was rated R, there were protests because kids who were at the festival couldn't see the film.

I wouldn't take my 9-year-old grandson to most PG-13 movies. Although he's a tough kid physically and he doesn't have a problem when he reads stories that are intense, he's very sensitive when it comes to media. When he saw "The Last Jedi", there were apparently trailers that made him very upset.

But when I was a kid, I saw everything (although movies were a lot tamer back then). I remember my mother telling me she'd punish me if I went to see Psycho, but I went anyway. I remember seeing some film bio about Freud. Almost nothing bothered me. The only films that scared me even a little bit were "The Tingler" and Mario Bava's "Black Sunday", but most of the horror/fantasy films shown in the early 60's I found to be pretty lame.

But having said that, I do think the ratings board gives more leeway to mainstream directors like Spielberg and Ron Howard. I remember being surprised that Parenthood was rated just a PG-13 when it had references to oral sex. But I guess considering what has come out of Trump's mouth, it would be no big deal today,

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 04-05-2018, 08:08 AM:

I thought Ready Player One felt like it was made for ten-year-olds. The whole thing was so juvenile.

I did not take my ten-year-old because she wasn't interested, but I would have had no problem with her seeing any of the violent or "sexual" content.

It was all bland, mild, and cartoonish. Compare it to Raiders of the Lost Ark (PG): Sapito impaled on spikes in the Peruvian temple, the beefy mechanic pureed by the flying wing's propeller, or Toht's melting face. Was Art3mis' dress any slinkier than the dress Belloq gave to Marion? Was the "nudity" in the Overlook any more suggestive than Belloq watching Marion change in the mirror? RPO showed more skin (though nothing you can't see at the beach), but the scene in Raiders was far more adult, because of the power dynamics and Belloq's salacious intent. (I saw Raiders at ten, and my ten-year-old daughter saw it a year or two ago.)

However, I would have been very upset if my ten-year-old had been there because of the gag that spoiled the dinner scene in Alien, which she hasn't seen yet. Parenting is quite challenging in today's spoiler-filled world and I have occasionally been tempted to show my children movies before I thought they were ready out of fear that they might be spoiled by some pop-culture reference somewhere.

Posted by Todd Cornwall (Member # 2205) on 04-05-2018, 09:01 PM:

Tron did it better. I feel like this movie was nothing but a rip off...so very disappointed.

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 04-07-2018, 07:01 PM:

Even though it seemed it was made for 10 year olds at times they sure threw in a TON of old references that all those 10 year olds wouldn't understand.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-07-2018, 11:17 PM:

Cinema: AMC Patriot 13, Lawton, OK
Screen: #7, IMAX Digital, Seats K15 & K16
Format: Dual 2K Projection 3D, 5.1 audio
Presentation Problems: Coulda been a bit louder
Movie Rating: 3 stars out of 4

I thought Ready Player One was a fun movie to watch, but it didn't leave me wanting to see it again for the story and performances. It would be fun to watch it again on Blu-ray just to pause or move through scenes frame by frame to catch all the visual pop culture references scattered throughout the movie.

Spielberg has geared a lot of movies he directed or produced at kids or teens. While this movie is friendly to minors (for the most part) the huge tide of pop cultural references are very much tailored to viewers in the Generation-X crowd and even younger Baby Boomers. People my age would recognize the near subliminal placement of objects like a Colonial Viper fighter from Battlestar Galactica and a Pod from 2001 next to each other in a large hangar, in the distance and out of focus. That adds to the fun of this movie. Few in Generation Y would notice those details. How many people in Generation Y have seen The Shining?

I liked the couple references made to the Robotron: 2084 coin-op video game. That was my favorite coin-op game back then. It was pretty cool to see a working Robotron: 2084 arcade game in the background at the end of the movie.

Some of the 80's theme music choices on the soundtrack were decent, but they felt sort of like a greatest hits of the 80's thing. As much as they geared the movie to 40-somethings and 50-somethings they could have been more creative with the 80's music selection.

Parts of this story, or rather the real and virtual worlds created to support it, are a bit shaky. Throughout much of the movie I was left thinking this "IOI" company pretty much ran everything in that future-dystopia society. But some actual cops show up at the end despite various criminal acts that happen at different places in the movie. I guess they were in a different virtual world eating donuts.

The "stacks," all those trailer houses built on top of each other like a mezzo scale tinker toy set, would be real fun to see go up against the average severe thunderstorm or tornado.

quote: Bill Brandenstein
We've been wanting to check out Dolby Cinema for some time, and tonight it worked for us. The first thing you see after walking through the video wall hallway and into the theater are 48 column speakers and 4 ceiling-mounted sub enclosures all lit up in red. Through the transparent drivers.

Very few of the "Dolby Cinema @ AMC" screens have the video wall in the entry way like the first Dolby Cinema installations in Europe. None have the stealth fighter looking stuff on the ceiling either. Not that it's a big problem. All the red LED lighting and black decor in the auditoriums is a hold-over from the AMC Prime concept.

One thing that does bug me is apparently none of the Dolby Cinema @ AMC screens ever show any movies in 3D, despite how much better two Christie 6P laser-based projectors could play 3D content than a single projector system or two xenon-based projectors. All shows are just 2D. Does anyone know why?

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 04-14-2018, 05:34 PM:

When I spoke to a Dolby Rep after a Dolby Atmos screening of Brave in around 2015 I believe , we talked about the upcoming Dolby Cinema layout that was coming. I spoke of being excited for 3d in such a format and he said, and I quote, "those involved with the design of Dolby Cinema DESPISE 3D and don't get your hopes up." I didin't think much of it then. Maybe he was serious. I then filled out a questionaire about my reaction to Dolby Atmos.

Take it for whatever that could mean. Gossip? Could be.

Maybe its an issue with the way dual laser projectors calibrate between one another. Im not sure.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-15-2018, 07:41 PM:

I will note that about half of AMC’s “Titanic” HDR shows in their Dolby auditoriums were 3D. I was about halfway through accidentally buying a ticket to one before realizing the show was 3D.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 04-16-2018, 11:14 AM:

Some other thoughts on Ready Player One: did anyone feel like they had seen some of this movie before in Scott Pilgrim Saves the World? One specific similarity was virtual characters exploding into coins when killed.

The movie's douchey villain, Sorrento (played by Ben Mendelsohn) had an equally douchey avatar. At first glance the avatar looks like a twisted version of Superman, complete with the spit curl on his forehead. I think he seems more inspired by Bernie Wrightson's Captain Sternn comic book character seen in publications like Heavy Metal (including the 1980's animated movie).

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 04-16-2018, 11:51 AM:

I thought the villain's appearance was modelled on the guy from the Sin City movies. [Confused]

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-16-2018, 03:50 PM:

quote:
Some other thoughts on Ready Player One: did anyone feel like they had seen some of this movie before in Scott Pilgrim Saves the World? One specific similarity was virtual characters exploding into coins when killed.

Oh hell I wish I'd thought of that.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 04-16-2018, 06:55 PM:

Read the book. It is a thousand times better.

As a Rush (the band) fan, I was disappointed in a major plot change from the book to the movie (the location of the Crystal Key).

I made sure to read the book before I saw the film and was disappointed by the film.

The book was not a rip off of anything, but the way the film was made I could see someone comparing it to Tron (I am a huge fan of all that is Tron).

So, in closing, READ THE BOOK.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 04-17-2018, 08:06 AM:

quote: Dennis Benjamin
Read the book. It is a thousand times better.

No. Books are stupid.

From what I've heard, most fans of the book think the movie is actually better and fixes things they didn't like in the book. This includes my niece, who is wise and agile.

Posted by Peter Castle (Member # 1997) on 04-18-2018, 01:07 AM:

I think the attitude of readers of the book to the movie will depend on their age. If they lived through the period of the nostalgia (in the book, 70s and 80s) then they'll love the book over the movie. But in making the movie more acceptable to a video game generation compared to a D&D generation, they've over-simplified the plot. I still enjoyed the movie - just not as good as the book, so you can see what generation I fall into.

Posted by Aron Toplitsky (Member # 6950) on 04-18-2018, 08:29 PM:

I just thought I'd share my two most recent Dolby Cinema experiences and one of those was for Ready Player One. Both of these theaters have very recent Dolby Cinema conversions.

Last week I saw A Quiet Place at the AMC South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach CA, then two days later I saw Ready Player One at AMC Rolling Hills in Torrance CA. Note, these theaters are only 6 miles away from each other and both about a half hour from me.

The AMC Galleria screen was pathetic but the sound was fantastic! It was too small of a screen for a fairly large theater. It wouldn't have been as bad if the screen were larger or common height. Why bother converting an auditorium like this? One would think Dolby has better standards?

On the other hand, AMC Rolling hills Dolby Cinema kicked ass! Not only was it a large screen, but it was common height and the lighting/projection was about as perfect as it gets. And the sound...WOW! I've been to several Dolby Cinema screens in the LA area and this one might be one of the most impressive.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 04-19-2018, 05:53 PM:

Aron, have you been to the D.C. screen at AMC 16, Burbank? Just curious what you thought of it if you have.

Posted by Aron Toplitsky (Member # 6950) on 04-20-2018, 12:55 AM:

Hi Bill,

No I have not but I read your review. I'm glad it's a good one. Burbank is just a bit too out of the way for me. If I'm ever up there I will certainly check it out. Every D.C. I've been to usually has some minor issue, weather it be light reflection onto the screen or bass vibrating something in the room. If I can recall correctly, the AMC Rolling Hills in Torrance are using the dark blue lights for their speakers and floors. I prefer it over the red. I find the red lights to be more distracting during the feature.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-22-2018, 09:43 PM:

This movie was about what I expected, which was about 4 hours of endless "battle" type scenes wrapped around the fairly bare bones of a story.

The plot set-up at the start was great, and made me excited for the story. The car chase right after that was awesome and got things off to a great start too, but almost immediately after that, the movie descended into an endless rapid-fire recitation of "rules" and "goals" and "options" and gamer-type "stuff" that was impossible to keep up with, maybe unless you're a gamer (which I am not). The dialogue is spoken so fast at times that I was getting a headache trying to keep up.

The graphics and the sound were impressive, as expected, and I did enjoy a lot of the pop culture references. Other than that, it reminded me of a noisy Disney ride in that there's so much going on, so fast, you have to see it multiple times to see everything.

I am also up-to-here with the current fad of characters being able to "put on" whatever their "suit" is, or unpack their "weapons," by just touching the top of their head or pressing a button and then the whole suit, car, or whatever just endlessly unfolds from nowhere with a bunch of clicks, whirs and beeps. This movie takes that to another level with the "gear" being kept in little tiny containers that a character can just "call up" by swiping the air and making a "locker" containing all their "stuff" appear in the air in front of them. (I realize that in this movie, all this is supposed to be in the virtual game universe, but the same kind of thing happens in many superhero movies, with Iron Man and Spider-Man being the worst offenders.)

I guess it wasn't geared for my taste. It was a fun ride, but I have already forgotten most of what I saw.

2 out of 5 stars from me.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 04-25-2018, 12:19 AM:

Watching scenes from my office tonight, I was reminded of two other things in this movie that irritated me:

1. The use of "clear" computer screens, which if they existed in real life would be endlessly annoying. Moviemakers - stop doing stuff just because you can.

2. Characters being long dead, but still able to communicate with living people. This bothered me in "Superman II" and it still bothers me today.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 04-25-2018, 07:18 AM:

I wasn't too impressed by it, either. The ending was obvious by the end of the second reel. The story progression was pretty dull and derivative, too.

Visually, it was an interesting film, though it didn't really take advantage of the 70mm format. I am not a 3D fan, but would be curious to see what the 3D version looks like.

I didn't hate it, but I did feel that it could have been tighted considerably without losing anything. I have not read the book, and cannot comment on how the film compares.