Ready Player One (2018) (1 Viewer)

[Tino]

I thought it was a terrific book. Well worth reading. Should make a great Spielberg film.

 

[TravisR]

I want to read the book but at this point, I think I'd rather be surprised by the movie and then go back & read the book.

 

[SamT]

See an exclusive first look at Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One

 

[Bryan^H]

I thought it was a terrific book. Well worth reading. Should make a great Spielberg film.

I'm glad you liked it. My friend who loaned me his copy told me it was the best book he ever read. I was ashamed to tell him I thought it was really bad when I returned it to him.
Especially after his enthusiasm when he told me about it.

The story, characters, and soooo many winks, quotes, and nods to the 80's(I love 80's, but after about the second chapter I was sick to death of the references) really made me hate the book.
As far as the movie goes I don't know how its going to resonate with audiences. Really how? If you are well versed in 80's pop culture(and a bit of 70's too) no problem. but the tween crowd of today won't know what the hell they are looking at/hearing. From the movie "Heathers", to "MechaGodzilla" I think they will most likely be completely ignorant of what they are seeing, and hearing. The story may work for the them but a lot of the dialogue, and visuals will fly over the top of their heads--if it is indeed faithful to the book.

 

[Bryan^H]

I say this as a child of the 1980s who was very intrigued by the descriptions I've read.


I'm 60 pages into the book, and if it doesn't improve quickly, I'm a-gonna wait for the movie. It's 10% story, 90% exposition and random '80s pop-culture references. The writing is juvenile; YA-level at best.


I'm reminded of my sister's description of Fifty Shades of Gray: "If you told me a third-grader wrote this, I would say that that third-grader was a lousy writer." It's not *that* bad, though -- it's more like the product of a mediocre sixth-grader.


Around 50 pages in, a character (named "I-r0k") appears and literally starts quizzing the narrator about '80s trivia. It took a major force of will to not give up at that point. I thought the book would weave '80s references into the story in a cool way, but no such luck. It's like the novel version of that crappy Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire."

Exactly. I strongly agree with you. I really hated the book

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I really enjoyed the book at the time that I read it. I think I read it all in one night, two at the most, I found it to be a quick read. It kept me hooked while I was reading it, but didn't really resonate over the long term. It's not something I've thought about much since then, and I haven't read the author's next novel. And I'm weirdly ambivalent about seeing it turned into a movie.

 

[Vic Pardo]

Unfamiliar with the book. Not a gamer and never terribly enamored of '80s American pop culture, esp. when I was living through it. However, Bryan H's reference to MechaGodzilla intrigues me. How does that figure in it?

 

[Bryan^H]

However, Bryan H's reference to MechaGodzilla intrigues me. How does that figure in it?

It really doesn't. Just another random shout out in the book(I believe it was one of the bad guys VR game robo mech) to everything that was cool in the 70's, and 80's. Ultraman was also mentioned in the book.
I know this book has its fans, and those that really like it, love it.
I found it to be complete drek.
That being said, Spielberg's filmed version of Jaws was about 95% better than the Peter Benchley's novel.

 

[Bryan^H]

I really enjoyed the book at the time that I read it. I think I read it all in one night, two at the most, I found it to be a quick read.

It was a quick read for me too, but I was speeding through it to get it over with, as I told my friend I was going to read it. I felt obliged to finish it, otherwise I would have checked out after the second chapter.

I think you can tell a lot about the author of this book just by his writing style. The smug, winks to its intended audience(those that really love 80's pop culture) will eat it up. Well, I do love the 80's, and I despised it.

There is a big difference between Stephen King mentioning a truck driver listening to a song by 'The Ramones' on his radio in one of his novels, and Ernest Cline devoting a page built around the funeral sequence from the movie "Heathers",(what if someone reading it never saw "Heathers"? what image would the reader have in their head?) or a paragraph or more on why the main character really likes the show "Family Ties". To me it is lazy writing. A good way to fill pages with pop culture references. He might as well put product placement in there too to fill a few paragraphs on why one character prefers Coke to Pepsi.

 

[Tino]

So I guess it didn't work for you Bryan.

Well I loved it. For pretty much all the reasons you despised it.

I thought it was vastly entertaining and endlessly clever. Smart and well written and a total blast. Totally.

 

[Tino]

And I suggest people make up
Their own minds of course. You can probably download a few chapters for free to see if it's your type of story.

Obviously Spielberg loved it enough to dedicate years to its development and production. I trust his judgement as he has rarely made a mis step.

 

[Bryan^H]

And I suggest people make up
Their own minds of course. You can probably download a few chapters for free to see if it's your type of story.

I agree

Obviously Spielberg loved it enough to dedicate years to its development and production. I trust his judgement as he has rarely made a mis step.

I do not agree with this. While I generally think most of Spielberg's films from the pat 15, or 20 years are decent, I haven't loved any of them. "Saving Private Ryan" was the last movie of his I really loved. I wouldn't say he has been churning out bad movies for a couple decades, but none of them to me are very memorable.

 

[Tino]

I agree

I do not agree with this. While I generally think most of Spielberg's films from the pat 15, or 20 years are decent, I haven't loved any of them. "Saving Private Ryan" was the last movie of his I really loved. I wouldn't say he has been churning out bad movies for a couple decades, but none of them to me are very memorable.

I was just stating my opinion that Spielberg has rarely made a mis step. I don't expect anyone to agree.

Since SPR, I liked to loved all of his films except Crystal Skull which was OK and BFG which I haven't seen.

 

[Tino]

Spielberg's films since SPR

AI
Minority Report
Catch Me If You Can
The Terminal
War Of The Worlds
Munich
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
War Horse
The Adventures Of Tin Tin
Lincoln
Bridge Of Spies
The BFG

 

[Bryan^H]

Spielberg's films since SPR

AI
Minority Report
Catch Me If You Can
The Terminal
War Of The Worlds
Munich
Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull
War Horse
The Adventures Of Tin Tin
Lincoln
Bridge Of Spies
The BFG

Films I would considering watching a second time from that list- 'War Horse".

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I thought that Munich, Lincoln, and Bridge of Spies were fantastic. Haven't seen War Horse or Tintin or BFG.

Normally, I can understand differing tastes, but IMO this book is so objectively bad (an odd way to put it, I guess, but FWIW I am a professional writer) that I am truly baffled that people like it so much. I suspect that the filmmakers will change things up significantly in order to create a functioning movie out of it.

Trying to make a movie out of the endless list of references would be impossible. Unless maybe they did it as an extended Family Guy episode.

 

[Tino]

My friend is a professional screenwriter and he loved it. I don't think being a professional writer makes an opinion any more valid, no offense Aaron.

 

[Bryan^H]

Trying to make a movie out of the endless list of references would be impossible. Unless maybe they did it as an extended Family Guy episode.

Not to mention the references wouldn't register with a large percentage of the audience. My guess is that Spielberg tones them way down, and changes the book structure, just like he did with 'Jaws'.

 

[TravisR]

I thought that Munich, Lincoln, and Bridge of Spies were fantastic. Haven't seen War Horse or Tintin or BFG.

As far as I'm concerned, all Spielberg movies are worth watching but The Adventures Of Tintin is a ton of fun and one of Spielberg's best from the second half of his career. It's like an animated Indiana Jones movie.

 

[Vic Pardo]

Not at all nostalgic for the '80s, nor was I a fan of '80s pop culture, at least in America (Japan and Hong Kong are another story).

The only Spielberg films I've liked since SCHINDLER'S LIST are INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL and LINCOLN.