SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY - Sidetracked

Note: Here's where the spoilers begin.

"Let me give you some advice: assume everyone will betray you, and you will never be disappointed."

- Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson), Solo: A Star Wars Story

In the summer of 1977, moviegoers were introduced to two new dynamic movie characters: daredevil adventurer Bo “Bandit” Darville (Burt Reynolds) from Smokey and the Bandit and wisecracking mercenary Han Solo (Harrison Ford) from the original Star Wars. Both of them were devil-may-care showoffs who were seemingly only preoccupied with money but ultimately are revealed to have hearts of gold. In the case of Han Solo, audiences fell in love with Ford’s charismatic performance, which was augmented by his many improvisations as well as uncredited dialogue passes by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. George Lucas’ original dialogue was said to be so esoteric that Ford famously complained, “George, you can type this $#*! but you can’t say it.”

Having been established as a movie star, Ford was reluctant to reprise his role of Han Solo for Return of the Jedi. He had already played characters with more depth like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rick Deckard in Blade Runner and even got an Academy Award nomination as the Amish-protecting city cop John Book from Peter Weir’s Witness. The cliffhanger ending to The Empire Strikes Back left Solo frozen in carbonite and as far as Ford was concerned, he could stay there. “He’s got no mama, he’s got no papa, he’s got no future.” However, Lucas’ thinking prevailed and Ford was defrosted. His clear and utter contempt for the material (“Well, why don’t you use your divine influence and get us out of this?”) is evident but remains entertaining. For decades after Jedi, Ford’s career would continue to rise but he made an effort to steer clear of science-fiction (with few exceptions like Ender’s Game and Cowboys and Aliens).

In 2012, Disney purchased Lucasfilm Ltd. and set into motion production on the long-awaited sequel trilogy. While it was assumed that Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher would be more than willing to join the cast, many felt that Harrison Ford would be the lone holdout. Then, head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy hired J.J. Abrams to direct The Force Awakens; while it is true that she was looking for him to revitalize the franchise the same way he did Star Trek, one might see an ulterior motive. In the early years of Abrams’ career, he wrote a screenplay entitled Regarding Henry, which was made into a movie starring Ford and directed by Mike Nichols. In fact, Abrams was given a cameo role as a pizza boy delivering to Ford’s character in the film. Hiring a familiar face from the past who just so happened to have a major career boost may have turned the tides for Ford’s participation with one major stipulation: Han Solo had to die by the end of the film.

Naturally, with Han Solo being killed by his own son, Disney had to find a way to lighten up the franchise. They began looking into spin-off films that would be released in the intervening years between saga films. One of the first ideas to come up was the origin story of Han Solo, to be written by long-time Star Wars writer Lawrence Kasdan and his son, Jon. To bring their concept to life, Kathleen Kennedy hired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Their body of work was nothing but comedies – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the Jump Street films and The LEGO Movie. Over and over again, they had managed to take ideas that were skeptical at best and ridiculous at worst and turn them into box office gold. It was hoped that by giving them a higher budget than they were used to would allow them to take their abilities to greater heights. Almost immediately, Kennedy and the directors were at odds with each other. Coming from an improvisational background, they would often film scenes with multiple takes, each with a different delivery from the actors so there would be a wealth of options for the editing room. Kennedy was expecting more from them and Kasdan was said to be immensely displeased. Lord and Miller were themselves not used to this amount of pressure from a studio. As talking points began to break down, the end was near. Lucasfilm publicly announced that Lord and Miller were no longer involved with the project and a search for a new director would soon begin.

Enter Ron Howard, the Academy Award-winning director of such beloved films as Splash, Cocoon and A Beautiful Mind as well as less-regarded films like The Grinch, The Dilemma and In the Heart of the Sea. His Lucasfilm bonafides included having starred in George Lucas’ Modesto cruising comedy-drama American Graffiti as well as directing the fantasy adventure Willow. It has also been confirmed that Howard was among the first names on Lucas’ mind to direct The Phantom Menace before infamously taking on the job himself. Kennedy needed a name that was reliable and could work fast to undo the “damage” done to the Kasdans’ script. Howard, having never done an outer-space adventure film before, was intrigued and took the job. Bringing the cast back together for reshoots was no doubt a nerve-racking achievement, but from all accounts Howard had the time of his life and took to the world of Star Wars like a duck to water.

All his life, young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) has dreamed of a life where he can fly amongst the stars and be the captain of his own ship. After being forcibly separated from the love of his life, Qi'ra (Emilia Clarke), Han joins the Imperial infantry looking to become a pilot but is instead placed on the front lines. There, he meets a group of undercover criminals led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and bumps into a Wookiee that becomes a life-long friend Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo). Together, they go on a heist set by a crime lord named Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), who promises death if they fail to live up to his expectations. On the way, the crew finds a famous smuggler named Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover) with just the ship they need, the Millennium Falcon. But as Han soon discovers, everyone has secrets they hide and few can be trusted.

While I think that Solo was much better than Rogue One, I still would have preferred to have seen Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's comedy version to the one audiences got. I would very much still like to hear their side of the story and I am sure due to non-disclosure agreements, they will not be saying much until years from now. Though I am sure they would have added a lot of lowbrow humor to the film, they also would have captured the heart and made the idea wholly worthwhile. In fact, their improvisations might have made the film that much more memorable, ala Harrison Ford's contributions to Star Wars. On the final film, they are credited as executive producers. Currently, they are said to be developing the sci-fi movie Artemis, from the author of The Martian and if that film is any indication, I am sure Lord and Miller will be bringing their creative sense of humor to this new production. All in all, there had to be have been some other way to have settled differences between the directors and Lucasfilm. Maybe assigning them to another project or allowing them the ability to create something all on their own. But now and forever, Solo will have the distinction of having started out with two directors and finishing out with one. Very few memorable movies can say that is a plus.

But to talk about the movie audiences *did* get, Solo is a fine adventure film. It has a lot more fun action set-pieces than the other Disney Star Wars films have, aside from Force Awakens. The big elephant in the room is Alden Ehrenreich and his performance of Han. When he was first announced all I knew him from was the Coen Brothers' Hail, Caesar (a movie that I believe suffered from misleading advertising). While he certainly *can* act, he can not act as Han Solo. I just do not see any of what would eventually become Harrison Ford in his scenes. On the other hand, Donald Glover captured exactly what one expects from Lando Calrissian; "an ol' smoothie". Woody Harrelson does good work as Han's mentor but the fact that he does eventually betray Han is unfortunately totally predictable; though he does bring to mind another character from another Lucasfilm production - the curiously named "Fedora" from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ("You lost today, kid. But it doesn't mean you have to like it.").  Emilia Clarke is, of course, stunning as ever but does not offer much outside of being Han's love interest. Paul Bettany's crime boss is supposed to be ruthless and menacing, but I do not find him to be so. This is a decent cast, but they are just not allowed to take risks or do anything out of the ordinary.

There is a surprise cameo in the film and while I was thinking it was going to be Jabba the Hutt (maybe even a pracical puppet like Yoda from Last Jedi), but it turned out to be Darth Maul from The Phantom Menace. That is pretty cool, but I imagine pretty confusing to people that have not followed Lucasfilm's animated series(es) "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" who find out that Darth Maul did indeed survive his slice in half via Obi-Wan Kenobi and now has robot legs. I appreciate that Ray Park was brought back to reprise his role though he is once again dubbed over. So now the first question to ask is why is Lucasfilm bringing back Darth Maul to live-action? Are they setting up a new trilogy of films where Han will eventually take on Maul before he gets to the Mos Eisley Cantina? Will this lead into the long-rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi movie with Ewan McGregor? Maul is certainly a character that can be added to and I am curious to see what he does next.

Fact 1: No one involved with Rogue One ever said this. This is a parody post.

Fact 2: To quote Perry White from Batman v. Superman, "Other breaking news, water... wet."

The fans who got upset with The Last Jedi will most likely find things to get upset over with Solo, but really, if these movies bug you that much - get over yourselves. Seriously. Go find something else to bide your time with. If you are actually going to boycott something, boycott something that actually matters. This is escapism, pure and simple. I have movies that I hate for certain - Vacation (2015) and Ghostbusters: Answer the Call among them. I can, without resorting to violence or anger, reason out why these movies do not work as movies and why the damage the franchises involve with. These other boycotts are just evil, political manipulations of entertainment. It is disgusting and deplorable and it sickens me to have to write about it. I will not discuss this further, so do not bother commenting about it.

Solo: A Star Wars Story - Ron Howard's version, anyway - is a perfectly serviceable Star Wars movie. It has all the humor and thrills that one expects out of this series, but the parts do not add up to the sum of a full movie. The Lord and Miller version will most likely never see the light of day and if that is the case, so be it. I would certainly hope that Lucasfilm learned from their mistakes and will now consciously work with filmmakers every step of the way so that miscommunication will be a thing of the past. It is essentially a film used for a theme park ride (ala "Star Tours") that got a theatrical release; not bad, but leaves you wanting something with more depth.

SPEED RACER: No Limits

RETRO REVIEW

NOTE: Today is the 10th anniversary of Speed Racer.

"Racing hasn't changed and it never will."

"It doesn't matter if racing never changes. What matters is if we let racing change us. Every one of us has to find a reason to do this. You don't climb into a T-180 to be a driver. You do it because you're driven."

- Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) and Racer X (Matthew Fox), Speed Racer

One of the first examples of anime to ever cross stateside to the US of A was the series "Mach GoGoGo", which was developed by Tatuso Yoshida. Combining the popularity of Elvis Presley with the gadgets of James Bond led to a high-octane hero who, with the help of his family and friends, set out to conquer the world of racing. When it was brought to the States, the series was given to Peter Fernandez to translate the show into English and find American voices for the shows characters. The lead character's name was changed to Speed Racer with Fernandez leading the voice cast. Many in the cast pulled multiple duties in voicing several characters: Fernandez was not just Speed, but also his long-lost older brother Rex Racer in disguise as Racer X; actress Corrine Orr was Speed's mother and younger brother Spritle and Speed's lovely girlfriend Trixie; actor Jack Grimes was Speed's loyal mechanic Sparky and Spritle's monkey companion Chim-Chim and rounding out the cast was Jack Curtis as both Speed's father Pops and local investigator Inspector Detector.

Fernandez was working around the clock, often delivering a complete redub of an episode within four days. The pay was not that great, but Fernandez and the rest of the cast were dedicated. Years later, the show was picked up by MTV alongside other anime shows like "Æon Flux". "Speed Racer" eventually became an indelible part of pop culture - many later cartoons parodied the often fast-paced intense conversations the characters would have (which was a result of the redub needing to get as much information across as quickly as possible with the footage that was given), the popular theme song (that was never credited with the actual musicians, Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass) and of course, the Mach 5 car. 

Naturally, Hollywood could not resist a film adaptation of "Speed Racer", but the road to movie-dom was covered in potholes. Many of Hollywood's top filmmakers today grew up watching the show on TV. Warner Bros. owned the rights to the series and several directors were contacted over the following years: Space Jam's Joe Pytka, Earth Girls are Easy's Julien Temple, My Own Private Idaho's Gus Van Sant (who later went on to the Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting and the reviled remake of Psycho) and A Little Princess' Alfonso Cuarón (who later went on to the Oscar-nominated Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the Oscar-winning Gravity). Several screenwriters were also hired and subsequently fired including J.J. Abrams who wrote a very hard-edged script that included a near sex scene with Speed. Ultimately, by the early 2000s, "Speed Racer" was still just a punch line to be mocked in things like a Geico commercial. 

This is how the Wachowskis appear in the video game "The Matrix: Path of Neo".

Enter the Wachowskis, hot off the mega franchise The Matrix. They re-teamed with Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver to give "Speed Racer" a new lease on life. While seemingly a out-of-left-field choice to tackle a family-friendly project like Speed Racer, the Wachowskis had a motivation for taking on the project - they were looking to make a cubist film. By their own definition, a cubist film would be a "construction of art based on the imagination of perspective". When asked about the film years later, they said, "We knew that adults cannot accept challenges to their conventional aesthetic, the aesthetic that they are bonded to.... if you sort of assault that aesthetic they will really rage in this primitive way. So we thought maybe we can make it for kids because kids are much more open aesthetically than [adults] are." They brought the whole cast and crew to Germany to film in Studio Babelsberg. Rather than actually filming on location, nearly all of the sets were filmed with green-screen and actors driving shells of cars as opposed to actual cars. Doing this guaranteed the Wachowskis full control over the image (their first in high-definition) and would help to invent their vision of a live-action Speed Racer.

In the high-octane world of racing, there is nobody faster than Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch). Having grown up all his life with an uninhibited love of racing, he is supported by his racecar builder father Pops (John Goodman), his loving Mom (Susan Sarandon), his devoted girlfriend Trixie (Christina Ricci) and his younger brother Spritle (Paulie Litt). Speed is continually haunted by the death of his brother Rex (Scott Porter) during an extremely dangerous off-road rally. The Racer family is approached by billionaire E.P. Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam) who wants to sign Speed to his high-profile racing team. After showing the family around Royalton's massive corporation, Mom and Pops are immensely distrustful of him, but say the decision belongs with Speed and if he agrees, they will gladly follow in business. Believing that the spirit of racing belongs with the heart and not the bottom line, Speed politely declines. Royalton immediately reveals his true colors as a greedy megalomaniac and proceeds to tell him that if he will not race with him, he and his family will eventually be destroyed. Determined to prove Royalton wrong, Speed and his family reluctantly team up with the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) and the cunning investigator Inspector Detector (Benno Fürmann). But Royalton will not be taken down easily as he has several of the dirtiest, most destructive racers on his payroll. To defeat them, Speed has to put the pedal to the metal and just go, go, go...

When I first saw the trailers, I was very, very impressed and wanted to know more about the show. I picked up the original series' first season on DVD and enjoyed it very much. When I finally got around to the movie... it did not work for me. (At first.) Among my complaints, I thought Emile Hirsch was way too old to play Speed and Spritle and Chim-Chim interrupted the action far too much than was necessary. One particularly terrible line is "Get that weak-ass shit off my track!" Really? Do we need that in a Speed Racer movie? A momentary use of "Free Bird" is out-of-nowhere. (Does Lynyrd Skynyrd exist in this world? It is clearly not our world.)

But little by little, viewing by viewing, I began to see more positives than negatives. I think that John Goodman and Susan Sarandon are perfectly cast and the screenplay by the Wachowskis gives them good scenes to play around with. There is a wonderful scene where Pops has a talk with Speed near the end of the second act where he tells him he made a mistake letting Rex leave believing that family was not important. 

"I lost him here. I let him think that a stupid motor company meant more to me than he did. You'll never know how much I regret that mistake. It's enough I'll never make it again. Speed, I understand that every child has to leave home. But I want you to know, that door is always open. You can always come back. 'Cause I love you."

Royalton is also a fantastic (metaphorical) mustache-twirling villain. His utter diabolicalness nearly out-Tim Currys Tim Curry. In the scene where he outs himself as a bad guy he has a whole spiel of the "real" racing world and how it is all about money and power. You really feel the foot on the throat of the Racer family through the whole movie because of this guy's scheming. Just because this one family, this one racer, will not play ball with him is enough for him to scorch them from the face of the earth. 

Summer of 2008 seemed prime for a movie like Speed Racer, an all-around fun and entertaining family film with two genius directors. Except there was one movie that came out the week before that has helped to redefine Hollywood blockbusters to this very day: Jon Favreau's Iron Man. Not only was it the first superhero movie of the summer (but Christopher Nolan would soon have the biggest), but it sucked out all the air of May 2008. The movie was also plagued by some of the most pandering-to-kids marketing I think I have ever seen. Trying to hype up Speed Racer by making him seem hip and cool and with it is just the wrong way to go. Sell the car. The car is the coolest thing about the entire concept. You could do a whole teaser trailer about it ala the original T2 teaser trailer with no footage from the actual movie but it is selling you a new Arnold Terminator. The Wachowskis moved on to the utterly brilliant Cloud Atlas as well as the turgid Jupiter Ascending. Hopefully, they will return to better work soon.

Speed Racer is a franchise all-in-one movie. It gets almost every aspect of the original show in one movie without the need for sequels. Not only that, but its visuals are unparalleled even to this day; it is a perfect example of how to make a green-screen film. The psychedelic transitions are mind-bending and very creative. It has been 10 years since its initial release and many lovers of film are much kinder to it today than they were then, often introducing it to their own kids. It proves that the finish line is not the release date. 

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR: All Good Things…

NOTE: As the directors have requested, “Thanos demands your silence.”

“Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses. And get this man a shield!”

- T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Avengers: Infinity War

Who would have ever guessed that a small publishing company called Timely would have led to several of the biggest box-office bonanzas of the 21st century? In their 10 years of existence, Marvel Studios has put out 19 feature films, 5 direct-to-DVD short films, 3 network television series, a few adjacent Netflix series and a revamped theme park attraction with loads more well on the way. The ambitious high-wire crossover nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has kept fans coming back for more and more.

On the creative side of Marvel Studios, there have been a few ups and downs in terms of maintaining consistency. Actors like Terrence Howard and Edward Norton were replaced early on when it was deemed that they were not team players. Directors like Louis Leterrier, Kenneth Branagh and Joe Johnston have rarely been recognized for their contributions to the MCU and have not been a part of the 10th Anniversary celebrations for unknown reasons. Joss Whedon, who came aboard to take on Marvel’s The Avengers, was quickly made Marvel Studios’ golden boy. After being forced to help fix a few movies, start a brand-new TV show and finish a long-awaited sequel, it was clear he was exhausted and simply wanted to go home.

Enter the Russo Brothers. They were primarily known for their background in comedies like You, Me and Dupree and episodes of “Community”. Fans were more than a bit skeptical when they were brought on to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier. However, the brothers delivered a thrilling and engaging film that had great action and solid drama while still maintaining the levity the Marvel Studios films are known for. Naturally, they were brought back for Captain America: Civil War where they had a larger scope with even more characters to play with. They also introduced Black Panther and Spider-Man into the MCU. This too was a massive success for the duo. But producer and Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige had a final stage in mind.

Several of the lead actors’ contracts were coming to an end and newer actors coming in needed their own films to thrive in. With the writers of the Captain America trilogy, Feige plotted out two new Avengers films that would effectively end one half of the MCU and push the other half in a whole other direction. Deciding to film both stories back-to-back, the Russos were up to the task. Not only were they working with nearly every cast member from Civil War but also the space superstars the Guardians of the Galaxy (who had just come off two highly successful films). The films were such large-scale events that, for the first time ever in a Hollywood feature film, IMAX cameras were used to film the entirety of production. With the largest main cast ever assembled for a Marvel Studios film, two proven directors and a multi-million dollar production of two separate films both shot in IMAX, the possibilities were infinite…

After the destruction of Asgard, the refugee ship commanded by Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is intercepted by the forces of intergalactic conqueror Thanos (Josh Brolin). The Hulk, who had been traveling with Thor, is sent back to Earth to warn their heroes as Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo). He crash-lands into the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) who brings in Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). While Bruce’s story seems unbelievable at first, it is not long before Thanos’ forces have arrived at Earth and begin attacking Manhattan. Spider-Man (Tom Holland) joins the fray in protecting Doctor Strange’s Time Stone, but Strange himself is soon captured. Iron Man and Spider-Man follow their enemies’ ship into space. Meanwhile, Thor has landed in amongst the Guardians of the Galaxy, who take off after the remaining Infinity Stones. Back on Earth, the remaining heroes retreat to the homeland of Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Wakanda. They are there to save the life of mortally wounded Vision (Paul Bettany), whose essence is stored in the Mind Stone. Though they are separated by millions of miles of space, the Earth’s mightiest heroes are giving their all to stop a tyrant from ruling the universe. Can they save the day one last time or will their efforts be in vain?

Note: This shot is actually nowhere in the film whatsoever.

To begin with, this film has a breakneck pace but it is welcome because the movie is over two hours long. Audiences have had 10 years to prepare for this and if you are not ready, too bad. It launches you headlong into the adventure not taking any time to reintroduce any of the characters or retell any major events. If one were to ask me what movies to watch beforehand, I would recommend Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok as they are the vital backstory to understanding what goes on in the film. I must admit, I am not usually a fan of movies that run by this fast; but for a long and intense movie like this, the speed is stunning.

As mentioned above, the film boasts a massive cast from all parts of the MCU. One surprise of the film has a long-lost character returning: the Red Skull, last seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. However, this is not Hugo Weaving returning to play the role as he has definitely burned the bridge connecting him to Marvel Studios. Maybe he played the part as a favor to his Wolfman director Joe Johnston. The Red Skull here is played by an impressionist. Regardless, it is gratifying that this particular missing puzzle piece has not gone astray. It is explained that in the climax of First Avenger, Red Skull was beamed away to a distant planet and has lived out of a lifetime keeping watch over the Soul Stone.

The one thing I guarantee everyone will be discussing for a full year until the sequel comes out is the ending in which after Thanos teleports away from Earth, a large amount of the heroes begin disappearing into thin air. The movie ends with the bad guy winning. No hint at how the story will resolve itself. This is Empire Strikes Back territory, not Back to the Future Part II where it ends with a trailer for Part III. But maybe, just maybe… Back to the Future is a clue here. Bear with me: the characters literally fade out of existence in a similar way to how Marty McFly was nearly erased from existence in the first film. Set photos from the next Avengers film feature what appears to be a re-creation of the Battle of New York from the original Avengers film. The two Avengers films were announced as a two-part event, but this was subsequently changed before release. True, Part films have gone out of style since Harry Potter, Twilight and Hunger Games used them to death. So could time travel play a part in getting these heroes back and stopping Thanos? I could conceivably be wrong. It is a comic book world. Anything can happen.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe can never be faulted for its ambitious nature and this is their biggest film since the original Avengers six years ago. In that span of time, other studios have tried and failed to launch their own cinematic universes and paid greatly for their folly. With this film, the House of Ideas has given audiences something they have not yet: a downer ending. But hope has not been extinguished quite yet. As the post-credit scene rolls to a close, it is revealed that Captain Marvel (Academy Award winner Brie Larson) herself is on the way. Marvel is literally coming to save… Marvel.

READY PLAYER ONE: Game On

NOTE: All your SPOILERS are belong to us.

"People come to the OASIS for all the things they can do, but they stay for all the things they can be."

- Wade Watts/Parzival (Tye Sheridan), Ready Player One 

Very few people ruled the 1980s like Steven Spielberg. He directed eight films and through his production company Amblin, executive produced sixteen more - those including Gremlins, The Goonies, Innerspace, Young Sherlock Holmes, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and of course, Back to the Future. He also created the television series "Amazing Stories" which helped give rise to storytellers like Brad Bird. Someone that prolific on popular culture could never be forgotten and thanks to the work of a budding screenwriter-turned-author (and back again), it might have actually been the foundation of one of his most thrilling adventures.

Ernest Cline was a fledgling screenwriter whose most famous work had been the 2009 comedy, Fanboys, starring Kristen Bell and Dan Fogler among others. He was not satisfied as the movie was being distributed by future bankrupt monstrosity the Weinstein Company. Wanting to do a movie-style adventure with complete control over his characters, Cline began writing the book "Ready Player One", an ode to the pop culture of the 1980s as well as a hopeful look forward into a future filled with virtual reality havens of escapism. While the book garnered praise from many in the geek community, others were disquieted. "Ready Player One" has often been railed as sexist, manipulative and pandering. A recurring element is the lead character asking if another character portrayed as a woman is actually a woman. Another controversial part of the book was the amount of listing the lead gives to his knowledge of the 1980s. Cline has offered few if any defense to these allegations. He had been mostly busy working to get "Ready Player One" a proper film adaptation. Many of the great filmmakers around today were offered the film - Peter Jackson, Matthew Vaughn, Edgar Wright and Robert Zemeckis among them - and all turned the film down. On a lark, Cline's agent sent the book to the offices of Steven Spielberg just to see if he would turn it down. Spielberg apparently not only did not turn the book down but could not put the book down.

Having recently fallen into the groove of making socially-relevant historical dramas, Spielberg found the book giving him flashbacks of making films back in the 1980s, the ones that were literal blockbusters with fans lining up around the block. He also saw the story as a potential commentary on the youth of today willingly plugging themselves into their various devices as opposed to spending time outside or with friends and family. Suitably inspired, Spielberg shocked Hollywood by announcing Ready Player One as part of his upcoming filmography which then featured the international thriller Bridge of Spies and cutesy-cuddly family film The BFG. He even attended Comic-Con, of which he has made few appearances at, to promote the film to cheering crowds. "It was the most amazing flashback and flash forward I had ever expierenced," he told Comic-Con. Utilizing the performance capture technology of The Adventures of Tintin and The BFG, Spielberg set out to bring the virtual reality world of the OASIS to life. Because of the lengthy time it took for Industrial Light & Magic to fully render and animate the world of Ready Player One, Spielberg found time to go off and film The Post, following the tumultuous election of Donald Trump. Having scratched the familiar historical drama itch, Spielberg was Ready to have fun with audiences again.

In the not-too-distant future of 2045, young Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) finds himself wishing for a world that no longer exists: the seemingly more fun and upbeat time of America in the 1980s. Fortunately, he has a way to access that in the sprawling digital utopia that is the OASIS, created by multi-billionaire genius James Halliday (Academy Award winner Mark Rylance). In the OASIS, even the most unpopular nobody can go anywhere, do anything, be anything. However, Halliday has been dead for several years but before he died, he left behind a message inviting all users of the OASIS on a hunt for an Easter egg he left behind. The first user to find it will inherit Halliday's vast, vast, VAST fortune (vast) as well as full ownership of the OASIS. In the midst of this is the multinational conglomerate known as IOI, headed by the duplicitous Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), which will do anything - legal or illegal - to win the contest. As the hunt for the Egg rages on, the realms of the real and the virtual hang in the balance. Wade and his friends - through their digital avatars - will go on adventures beyond their wildest "pure" imagination.

Ready Player One is one of the most visually-stimulating, jaw-droppingly awesome and incredible hilarious action-packed thrill rides Spielberg has ever brought to the screen. The OASIS sequences, as previously mentioned filmed in performance capture, are proof that Spielberg has become the de-facto champion of the technology, picking up where Zemeckis and Jackson left off. It has all the prowess that James Cameron imbued into Avatar, but with the crowd-pleasing sensibilities of films like Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark. All the heroic characters - the High 5 - are likable both in their digital avatars as well as in their real-world selves. Mark Rylance and Simon Pegg, who are both fantastic actors and Spielberg alumni, are well-suited in supporting roles. The standout performance comes from the British actress Olivia Cooke as Samantha/Art3mis, utilizing an American accent, and often brings to mind Lea Thompson's giggly Lorraine Baines from Back to the Future. 

In the book, one of the challenges for Parzival is to step into the world of the 1983 film, WarGames. WarGames is a fine film, one I would definitely recommend; but it is clear that the film held no personal connection to Spielberg himself. However, The Shining did; it is well-documented that Stanley Kubrick was very close friends with Spielberg. In the movie, our heroes burst through the doors of a digital cineplex to find a stunning recreation of the Colorado Lounge in the Overlook Hotel. It is almost as if the filmmakers went back in time to Elstree Studios in 1979 England and simply filmed in the empty sets. Hallmarks of The Shining gradually begin to appear: the Grady twins, the blood coming from the elevator (it usually gets off at the second floor) and last, but not least, the infamous Room 237. It is a testament to Spielberg's command of visual effects, the mind-blowing talent of thousands of animators as well as a loving tribute to a masterful director. 

The greatest joys to get out of Ready Player One are the surprise references in the film. It is amazing to think that Freddy Krueger, Duke Nukem, Harley Quinn, the original RoboCop and Chucky of Child's Play are all in a Steven Spielberg film. And that is barely skimming the surface of what can be seen in the film. I saw this movie in IMAX both opening night and the following night and I can only imagine I have correctly identified just under a third of all what goes on in the background of the movie. While I will most definitely advocate you see this film on the biggest screen possible, the day will come when people like me will go frame-by-frame of this movie on an iPad Zapruder-style to see all the identifying characters.  But the one that captured my heart the most was seeing the DeLorean time machine back in action. Seeing it zoom, jump and hover in the film's first challenge was exhilarating. There is also a very sweet nod to Robert Zemeckis in the film as well that is one element I will not spoil.

I am recommending Ready Player One to anybody I know. Regardless of age, gender, whether they are gamers or whether they love movies or not. It is a genuinely heartfelt adventure that will please almost any crowd you put in front of this thing. It celebrates imagination and fun like few movies made today ever could have. The flaws of the book have been dialed down or even removed from the film. Spielberg has often taken books that were mediocre at worst and made them into legendary films like Jaws and Jurassic Park. I imagine time will be just as kind to Ready Player One.