Movies

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Ready Player One the Movie!

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Okay, okay. Let’s all settle down, now! It’s time to talk about the RPO movie.

If you’ve been following my blog for more than a few hours, you probably already know that I’m a pretty obsessive massive RPO fan. I’ve read it multiple times, and listened to the audiobook a few times. Easily one of my faves, if not THE fav (who can choose, though?)

First, I have to say that they changed a lot. Too much, in my opinion. I’m not one to get stuck on small details, either. Small changes, here and there, to adhere to the shortened timeline are okay. Big changes don’t sit nearly as well with me, and there were some pretty big ones in the movie.

That being said, there were still a lot of things about this movie that I liked, and even some things that I absolutely LOVED! 

The visuals are absolutely stunning. The world(s) inside the Oasis were great. Some were even better looking on screen than they were in my head. And the Stacks! Holy crap. Did they build a perfect replica of the Stacks? I say no. I say they cast some kind of magic spell on a copy of RPO (probably a hardcover) and the set rose directly out of the pages. They looked SO great!

Pop Culture references were still EVERYWHERE! Music, movies, games, characters. There were so many that there’s no way I caught them all. My wife and I were listing ones that we saw and kept saying, “Really? I didn’t see that! Cool!”

So. Should you go see Ready Player One if you love the book? Yes. If you love the world created in this book, you need to see this movie. Because even though the plot has had some pretty big alterations, this movie still takes place in the Ready Player One world.

It’ll help if you go into it thinking it’s more of a retelling than a direct adaptation. But seriously. Go see it.

Fun fact about this post: You don’t need a fun fact for this post. It’s all about RPO and movies. How can it get any more fun than that?
MoviesReviews

The Big (and Fantastic) Sick

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Okay, okay, okay, listen. I’m not adverse to stepping outside of the book-realm once in a while if something comes along that’s really worth talking about. And this past weekend, I watched a movie worth talking about: The Big Sick.

The Big Sick tells a story of an interracial couple, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon, finding each other in Chicago. Despite the difference in their backgrounds, they attempt to make it work. However, the strain their families put on the relationship (mostly from Kumail’s family) causes things to go south.

This may seem like I’m throwing out a lot of spoilers, but I promise I’m not. I haven’t said anything you wouldn’t see in the trailer.

At this point in the movie, we expect this couple to reconcile despite their differences. Instead, Emily suffers a medical complication and ends up in the hospital in a medically induced coma. *TWIST* This is how Kumail meets Emily’s parents, and in their own way, they become a family of sorts.

What really struck me about this movie, and what made me want to talk about it here, is how much it felt like a book. I actually had to do a google search in the middle of the movie because I was convinced it was based on a novel (it’s not!)

The things this movie was able to do is just incredible. It was a cycle rotating through making you care and root for our main characters, making you laugh, and then cutting your heart to pieces. Rinse and repeat. All of this happens in a persistent of sea of delicious awkwardness.

Remember when I said I had to google to see if it was based on a book? Turns out, Kumail Nanjiani isn’t just the character’s name. It’s the actor’s as well. And this movie is loosely based on the events surrounding him and his real-life wife, Emily Gordon (though Emily is played by an actress where Kumail plays himself.)

 

Kumail and the real-life Emily

 

You didn’t need to read any of this to convince you to see this movie, though. All you need to watch the trailer below. Watch it, then go watch the full movie. It’s delightful.

Fun fact about this post: I never use the word ‘delightful.’

Movies

Thoughts on the Ready Player One trailer

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Ready Player One is one of my favourite books of all time, and at the most recent comic con, the first official trailer dropped. If you haven’t seen it already, or you want to see it again, watch below:

Okay, okay, okay. Let’s all settle down a little. It’s very exciting, but those of us who are super fans have a lot of questions and concerns. I’m attempting to remain cautiously optimistic, and I consider myself to be more forgiving than the average bear, but even I have some questions.

Like who’s this guy?

He’s shown a few different times in the trailer, as though he’s some prominent character, but I can’t think of who. Obviously, it’s an avatar or character within the Oasis, but which one? All the main characters’ avatars are described as being fairly close to their physical appearance (except for Aech.)

But negativity is so easy. Let’s talk about what looks AWESOME!

The visuals are amazing! 

The Stacks look exactly as imagined, and as pictured on one of the print versions of the book cover. The scenes within the Oasis have that “almost too perfect” look that video games have sometimes. To be fair, that’s the one aspect that I didn’t have any doubt in. Speilberg has always been unmatched in the creating visuals.

 

 

THE IRON GIANT! How incredible does that look?! I believe that’s Parzival standing at his feet, and I’m just guessing that the dude with the swords is either Daito or Shoto, but that’s just a guess. It could be another pop culture character like Ninja Gaiden. And that leads me to wonder what other pop culture icons might pop up in the movie. Obviously, because of legal restrictions, the movie probably won’t have as many as the book, but anything owned by Warner Bros. or Speilberg should be fair game. So that means most DC superheroes, Looney Tunes, PeeWee Herman, Mad Max, Caddyshack, Freddy Krueger, and a certain time-travelling car.

As I said, I’m not going to move forward in blind faith, but I’m very hopeful and very excited for this movie.

How about you?

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Kong: Skull Island Spoiler-Free Review

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Kong: Skull Island movie posterKong is a legend. One that promises spectacular doses of fantasy and excitement; and this latest incarnation does not disappoint. In fact, it’s the best one yet.

For those who haven’t seen it, not to worry. This will be a spoiler-free review of Kong: Skull Island.

With something that’s been around for so long, it’s gotta be tough to do something that stays within the near 100-year mythos and yet is still original enough to keep us all guessing. This movie did both.

It keeps the stuff we need to see without falling into cliches and scenes that we feel like we’ve seen many times before. We want to see Kong swat helicopters out of the air like toys. We want to see him pound his chest and give a guttural roar. But we can do without the scene where Kong creepily watches a human woman bathing or getting dressed.

John C. Reilly in Kong: Skull IslandThe cast was wonderful. And even though nerds like me felt like we were watching Loki work together with Nick Fury, those stigmas quickly fade into great performances given by all. Special shout out to John C. Reilly who always seems to surprise me. Not only did he own some of the funniest moments in the movie, but also some of the most dramatic, and he delivered on both.

Where this movie really shines is in its villains. The best villains in the cinematic history (as well as television, books, comics, etc, etc) are the heroes of their own story. Normally, we just don’t get to see the villain’s point of view because we’re too busy hanging out with the ‘hero.’

Kong: Skull Island will show you a villain, and then show you why that villain is actually a hero, over and over again. By the end of the movie you’ll realize the truth about the real villain of this story: from the right perspective, everyone is a villain.

Don’t take my word for it. Check out the trailer.

And if you haven’t seen this movie yet, make sure you sit through the credits. Just in case there’s something to see afterward. Trust me.