Actors: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke,
Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance
Rating: 10 out of 10, The movie was
fabulous and should be required viewing for any self-styled pop culture geek.
Guilty. Those references are almost non-stop and it becomes a game to pick up
on the most subtle of these.. It’s Spielberg so there’s a very earnest hero
pitted against the forces of corporate evil. In the not too distant future
society has descended into a bit of self-indulgent morass as people can escape
their difficult real world circumstances in the VR world of the Oasis where
they can be anything or anybody. The hero is on a quest with his gang of
buddies (which Spielberg always does well) to find the hidden clues that will
turn the Oasis corporation over to them. He’s pitted against that evil
corporation which can field a literal army of players in the Oasis to combat
our plucky heroes. This was just plain fun as 70s and 80s pop culture have
achieved a form of religion in this future world and played to the hilt. One of
the key scenes has the players transported literally into the original Shining
movie with hilarious results. I can’t recommend this highly enough and unless
you’re overly self-important it’s a very fun ride. Annal-Nathrak, indeed.
MVP: Rylance lends so much heart into the deified
inventor of the oasis
