Spielberg remains to this day one of the most misunderstood film-makers of his generation. He has been labeled both a peddler of popcorn and a saccharine manipulator (Those who say the latter have clearly forgotten Alex Kitner erupting in a geyser of blood in Jaws, exploding Nazi heads, the horrors of the Holocaust in Schindler and the river of corpses in War of the Worlds).

There are two Spielbergs. There's the man who makes somber, academy award winning dramas (Empire of the Sun, Saving Private Ryan, Munich, War Horse, Lincoln etc). Then's there's the 10 year old playing in the sand box (The Indy films, Hook, Jurassic Park, Tintin etc). What I enjoy most about the 'Berg, is how he can zigzag between disparate genres. But after a stretch of SF films (A.I, Minority Report and War of the Worlds), I was looking forward to a return to the free wheeling fun with Crystal Skull. It turned out to be an uncharacteristic dud that despite the boffo box office, proved to be deeply unpopular with fans of the series.

This made me cautious about Ready Player One. Had Spielberg lost his touch? I was wrong. This may be one of the most visually amazing and effortlessly fun films I've seen in a long time. I have not read Ernest Cline's novel, so fans of the popular novel may have issues, but I rarely read the books before seeing the film.

The cast are great. Tye Sheridan are Olivia Cooke are the standouts. Mark Rylance and Simon Pegg are fun in supporting roles. Alan Silvestri's robust score is one of his most memorable. I miss John Williams, but it's still a great score. Longtime 'Berg collaborator Janusz Kaminski's cinematography is beautiful. And it's the only film where you'll see a DeLorean chasing a T-Rex on the big screen. That image alone is worth the ticket price. He never went away, but it's nice to see him back playing in the sand box.

Ready Player One is quite possibly the biggest "nerd's nerd film". What I mean by that is that sure the film can be appreciated by the general public, but there's no question that the large part of the population that goes to see it won't be able to truly appreciate the ins and outs of this Easter egg filled movie. Dozens and probably even closer to hundreds of hidden gems fill this Sci-fi feature helmed by one of the all-time greatest directors, Steven Spielberg. If there's ever a film you wish you could pause, zoom-in, and rewind while in the theater, it's Ready Player One.

There is of course, the disappointing element of the film you have to get over, which is that a good chunk of the film (maybe 75%) is in CGI. Once you get passed the fact that the characters you're supposed to grapple onto, and the environments they inhabit, are entirely fake, then there's not much stopping you from having a blast. I thought the performances by Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, and Ben Mendelsohn were all very good, and in Cooke's case, great. The effects and cinematography were about as good as you're going to get without going over budget. And the script was above average.

However, the real journey you go to the theater for is the mystery, easter eggs, and the surprises. Boy were there a ton of them here. There's one particular scene, which was somehow not spoiled by any marketing or journalist, that is one of the coolest film sequences I have seen in quite some time. And Spielberg really does a nice job of appealing to the older generations as well as the newer generations. What a ride this film was.

8.8/10

A pretty dull movie that has an un-engaging mystery at it's core, done by people who obviously never played a videogame in their life.

Everything here is window dressing beginning with the 10. 000 cameos of franchise characters, the half-baked love story, an ending that resembles E. T., or the useless references of movies like The Shining (which has nothing to do with videogames but who cares).

Another thing that really stood out is when the love interest says she's ugly in real life and of course they cast a beautiful actress in the role and give her an oversized mole. It's the typical milquetoast approach of Hollywood movies.

If there ever is a coloumn about "Spielberg's worst movies", this and Bridge of spies are definitely in it.