READY PLAYER ONE : Tuesday 3rd April 2018.

'READY PLAYER ONE' which I saw earlier this week at my local multiplex is the eagerly awaited, keenly anticipated and much hyped latest offering from Producer and Director Steven Spielberg. Based on the bestselling and highly regarded 2011 Sci-Fi book of the same name by Ernest Cline, this film was released in the US last week too, cost a cool US$175M to make, has so far recovered US$239M and has garnered generally positive Press. Full of pop culture references to the '80's, '90's and early 2000's including several nods to earlier Spielberg works, as well as cutting edge CGI, this film will be a feast for the visual senses and overload for all the movie and video game geeks out there. Cline is reported to be working on a sequel to the novel, but it remains to be seen if this will translate to a follow up film, or if Spielberg would even Direct.

Set in 2045 with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse due to overpopulation, climate change, pollution and corruption, the main centres of population have become slum like cities with make shift homes being stacked upon each other forming huge towers reaching skywards. Known as 'Stacks' it is here we find Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) living in the burgeoning city of Columbus, Ohio, with his aunt and her not so pleasant boyfriend, having lost both his parents in his younger years.

To escape the desolation of their meagre existence, the people have found solace in the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), an expansive globally interconnected virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance) where those users can engage in work, entertainment, relaxation and education from the comfort of their own homes, and the vast majority of the population do. When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune and ownership of OASIS to the first person to find a digital Easter Egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. Three challenges confront the game contestants before reaching the elusive Easter Egg, open to anyone playing in the OASIS, and those specifically entering the game challenge are known as 'Gunters' (egg hunters). Wade has modified on an old beat up panel van buried amidst a car wreckers yard that houses his game gear, where he escapes to play in the OASIS.

In the OASIS Wade assumes a different identity and a game name for his avatar, Parzival. He is good friends with fellow gamer, virtual mechanic and Gunter Aech (aka Helen Harris, played by Lena Waithe) who is male inside the game, but female out of it. Their first challenge is a road race (Parzival's car of choice is a DeLorean - a nod to 'Back to the Future') over an ever changing city scape which no one has ever completed with death defying obstacles which involves contending with a rampaging T-Rex and King Kong amongst other things. Here he meets for the first time fellow Gunter Art3mis (aka Samantha Cook, played by Olivia Cooke), and before reaching the finish line and getting eaten by a marauding King Kong is saved from being 'zeroed out' by Parzival, which would reset the avatar's character progression. From this point on the two form a close bond.

After numerous attempts to reach the finish line over repeated occasions and always with the same outcome, Parzival visits the OASIS virtual library in which is recorded in audio and visual every single aspect of Halliday's life, in the hope of finding a clue to winning the first challenge. Parzival learns that Halliday felt remorse and regret over parting company with his early business partner Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg) over a personal matter involving a girl, who would later become Morrow's wife. Halliday makes a statement about travelling backwards, really fast, which suggests an answer to Parzival about the start of the race. At the next race, the vehicles are all assembled on a starting line, and as the off is given all cars accelerate forward, leaving Parzival's car standing. He shifts into reverse and heads at break neck speed towards a solid wall, which then opens up to reveal a virtual road under the race cars speeding above, only free of all the challenging obstacles. He crosses the finish line and is greeted by Halliday's avatar Anorak, the first of three keys and a clue to the next challenge. His friends Aech, Art3mis, and their friends Daito (aka Toshiba Yoshiaki, played by Win Morisiaki) and Sho (aka Akihide Karatsu, played by Philip Zhao) all cross the finish line, and are the first five names to appear on the leader board, becoming known collectively as 'The High Five'.

With the leaderboard now occupied for the first time in more than five years, the CEO of IOI (Innovative Online Industries) Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) who over the years has amassed a army of debt laden players known as Sixers (because of their six digit ID numbers) suddenly becomes more acutely interested in the game, wanting to reach the Easter Egg for his own ill gotten gains and to win full control over OASIS before them pesky kids do. Eager to learn their real life identities so that they can be eliminated in the real world, Sorrento engages virtual Bounty Hunter, magical artefacts and arms dealer i-R0K (T.J.Miller) to hunt down Parzival.

i-R0K overhears Parzival revealing his real name to Art3mis in a virtual nightclub, which in turn leads Sorrento to him with an invitation for untold riches if he surrenders his quest and leads him to the Easter Egg. Needless to say Parzival refuses Sorrento's invitation. In return Sorrento sends his Head of Operations F'Nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen) to track down Wade and kill him in The Stacks. But Wade isn't there, and instead wipes out the stacked tower where his Aunt and her boyfriend live killing them, and others in the process.

Wade is rescued by associates of Art3mis in the real world and taken to a hideout in Columbus, not far from The Stacks. Here he learns of Art3mis real world identity, Samantha Cook. Together they ponder over the second clue and revisit the OASIS virtual library, there learning that Halliday had once dated Karen 'Kira' Underwood (Perdita Weeks) who later went onto become Morrow's wife and the reason for their business split. Parzival wins a bet with The Curator of the virtual library - a 25c coin, about any lasting memories of Kira, which Parzival is then given access to, revealing the entrance to the second quest. That quest takes The High Five team to a old movie theatre and a screening of 'The Shining' and inside the Overlook Hotel (beautifully and faithfully recreated) where Art3mis wins the second key and the clue to the third challenge. The other four bring up the rear and each secure a key, so solidifying their places on the leaderboard. The third challenge it is revealed leads them to Anorak's Castle, located on Planet Doom.

Zandor and the IOI henchmen discover the Gunter's hideaway and kidnap Samantha with Wade making a narrow escape, being rescued by Helen, Toshiro and Akihide. Back in the OASIS, Parzival learns that Sorrento and i-R0k have encircled Castle Anorak in an impenetrable force field dome that prevents access to complete the quest. This is maintained by IOI and a large team of Sixers including an imprisoned Samantha who is forced to comply against her will. Parzival transmits a message to all OASIS gamers that their help is needed on Planet Doom to bring down the force field, thwart Sorrento and claim the ultimate prize. The gamers rise up and lend their support to Parzival arriving en masse on Planet Doom. Headed up by Aech, Daito and Sho on Doom together with The Iron Giant engineered by Aech, back in the real world Samantha is able to make her escape, create a distraction and rejoin the other four in the OASIS where she is able to bring down the force field by reciting the magic spell that initiated it.

Inside Castle Anorak, Parzival finds himself in The Atari Room staring down at a long line of Sixers all playing different Atari 2600 games trying to determine which was Halliday's favourite and therefore where the last key is hidden. But Sixer after Sixer fails, all being zeroed out. Back in IOI an operative determines that 'Adventure' must be the game that was Halliday's favourite, so up steps another hopeful Sixer to the game console. He successfully negotiates the maze going the distance but ultimately is zeroed out too.

Parzival steps up to the game console but is intercepted by Sorrento's avatar. The pair fight, with Parzival gaining the upper hand as Sorrento activates 'The Cataclyst' device which zeroes out each and every single player on Planet Doom including himself and i-R0k. However, Parzival lives, granted an 'extra life' on the reverse of the 25c coin given to him by The Curator at the virtual library. He continues with the Adventure game and successfully completes it by locating its own Easter Egg hidden within the game. At this point Halliday's avatar Anorak appears and hands down the third and final key to Parzival, which he uses to unlock a gate, with the other two keys, into a huge room adorned with riches and a giant Easter Egg sat atop a throne like structure.

Therein Anorak presents Parzival with a contract to sign, but in seeing the contract he recognises that it is the same as presented to Ogden Morrow upon his termination, and so refuses to sign. The avatar of Anorak turns into a projection of the adult Halliday with his young childhood self too in the bedroom where he spent his childhood years, playing the latest computer games and learning his craft. Halliday reveals that this was the final test, centering around his greatest regret in life. He also gives Parzival the chance to wipe out the OASIS completely and erase everything it stands for, by simply pressing a Big Red Button, but Parzival declines that invitation. Instead, Halliday hands over a golden glowing Easter Egg and assigns his personal fortune of half a trillion dollars over to Wade. At that the adult Halliday and his younger self turn and leave the room by the door.

Sorrento and Zandor are arrested having given chase to The High Five all the way to The Stacks in a last ditch attempt to thwart Parzival's success in the OASIS. Wade announces that he will co-control the future of OASIS with his other four friends, and offers a now much older Morrow a consultancy to help them run the company which he gladly accepts on a salary of 25c - revealing that his avatar was The Curator within the virtual library.

This is a good fun film which I enjoyed . . . a lot! It is chock full of '80's and '90's cultural references that are touchstones for anyone from that era. Drawing movie and gaming fandom inspiration from the past to shape the future malaise which it does with style and technical wizardry, but with little regard for the future dystopian world of 2045 and the cultural problems facing the here and now. Visually this is a stunning film with graphics and effects that are mind blowing, artfully rendered and with a painstaking attention to detail (the Overlook Hotel sequence especially), and so too of the avatars of The High Five also. Look out for nods to John Carpenter's 'Christine', 'The A-Team', 'The Iron Giant', 'The Shining', the Batmobile from the '60's 'Batman' television series, 'King Kong', 'Jurassic Park', 'Back to the Future', Freddy Kruger, Betelgeuse, Chucky to name but a few, and a thumping soundtrack straight from that time too. The effects are at times overwhelming however, as you concentrate to keep apace of the action, the cultural references, and the characters from the past, and whilst this is a movie about a globally interconnected virtual reality environment, a little more time and effort concentrating on the human element of The High Five characters in the real world rather that their avatars may not have gone amiss. Nonetheless, Spielberg has added another rollercoaster action adventure spectacle to his filmography that only serves to demonstrate his mastery over the craft which he was instrumental in defining. Catch it on the big screen . . . you'll be pleased you did.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 29th March 2018.

Being an avid reader and long time subscriber (since the inaugural issue in January 2001) of the Empire Australia movie magazine, I have naturally, by default almost, followed the annual Empire Awards. Now in its 23rd year, this annual British awards ceremony recognises achievement in the British and worldwide film industry. The awards, first presented in 1996, are presented by the British film magazine 'Empire', with the winners voted by the readers of the magazine. Just when you thought that the movie awards season had ended with the 90th Academy Awards earlier this month, so pops along another honouring the best in movie entertainment from 2017. The ceremony this year occurred on 18th March at London's Roundhouse Theatre.

The winners and grinners for this years 23rd Empire Awards were :-

* Best Film : 'Star Wars : The Last Jedi'
* Best British Film : 'God's Own Country'
* Best Comedy Film : 'The Death of Stalin'
* Best Horror Film : 'Get Out'
* Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film : 'Wonder Woman'
* Best Thriller Film : 'Kingsmen : The Golden Circle'
* Best Documentary Film : 'I Am Not Your Negro'
* Best Animated Film : 'Coco'
* Best Director : Rian Johnson for 'Star Wars : The Last Jedi'
* Best Screenplay : Jordan Peele for 'Get Out'
* Best Actor : Hugh Jackman for 'Logan'
* Best Actress : Daisy Ridley for 'Star Wars : The Last Jedi'
* Best Male Newcomer : Josh O'Connor for 'God's Own Country'
* Best Female Newcomer : Dafne Keen for 'Logan'
* Best Visual FX : 'Star Wars : The Last Jedi'
* Best Production Design : 'Baby Driver'
* Best Soundtrack : 'Baby Driver'

* The Empire Honorary Icon Award : Mark Hamill
* The Empire Honorary Legend of our Lifetime Award : Steven Spielberg.

This week we have eight new cinematic offerings coming to your local Odeon with a VR Sci-Fi film set in the near future that sees one young hopeful venture into a virtual world to play a game where the stakes are high and the potential rewards higher still. We then go to another Sci-Fi offering that sees a young teenager venture to another world in search of her lost father aided by three astral travellers. This is followed up by a satirical historical telling of the death of a Russian political leader back in the early '50's and the hangers on that jockey for position immediately afterwards. We then come to down to Earth with a present day comedy of three teenage girls Hell bent on popping their cherries on Prom night, and the actions of their parents in preventing them from doing so. Next up is a coming of age story about a high school lad's journey in coming out with the pressure of family, school peer group, a blackmailer and the secret identity of his online crush. Following up this is the Biblical telling of one of Christ's Apostles as told within Prison while he awaits his execution by the Emperor Nero. And finally we wrap up the week with two animated features - the first a stop motion tale of a Stone Age man having to settle a land dispute over a game of recently invented football, and then a mash up of Shakespeare and Doyle as a renowned super sleuth goes in search of garden gnome thieves.

Just in time for the Easter long weekend, whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the eight latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are here cordially invited to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead, and best wishes to all readers of Odeon Online, for a happy, safe and relaxing Easter long weekend.

'READY PLAYER ONE' (Rated M) - and here we have the eagerly awaited, keenly anticipated and much hyped latest offering from Producer and Director Steven Spielberg. Based on the bestselling and highly regarded 2011 Sci-Fi book of the same name by Ernest Cline, this film is released in the US this week too, cost a cool US$175M to make and has so far garnered generally positive Press. Full of pop culture references to the '80's, '90's and early 2000's including several nods to earlier Spielberg works, as well as cutting edge CGI, this film will be a feast for the visual senses and overload for all the movie geeks out there.

Set in 2045 with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse due to overpopulation, climate change, pollution and corruption, the main centres of population have become slum like cities with make shift homes being stacked upon each other forming huge towers reaching skywards. To escape the desolation of their meagre existence, the people have found solace in the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance) where those users can engage in work, entertainment, relaxation and education. When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune and ownership of OASIS to the first person to find a digital Easter Egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest some five years after Halliday's death, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger with several allies to complete the game first, before Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), the unscrupulous CEO of a competitor company, can beat him to it. Also starring Olivia Cooke, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg and Lena Waithe.

'A WRINKLE IN TIME' (Rated PG) - and so this much hyped Disney production as Directed by Ava DuVernay and based on the children's science fantasy novel of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle in 1962, was first made into an American/Canadian Co-Produced made for television film in 2003. Now armed with a US$100M budget (making DuVernay the first coloured woman to Direct a live action film with a nine figure budget number) and with an ensemble cast the premise here is that thirteen year old Meg Murry (Storm Reid) and her little five year old brother, Charles Wallace Murry (Deric McCabe), have been without their scientist father, Dr. Alexander Murry (Chris Pine), for five years, ever since he discovered a new planet and was teleported to that other world using a tesseract device that he was working on too. Joined by Meg's classmate Calvin O'Keefe (Levi Miller) and guided by the three mysterious astral travellers known as Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling) and Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), the children brave a perilous journey to a planet that houses all the evil in the universe, which is also where their father ended up, Also starring Michael Pena, David Oyelowo, Zach Galifianakis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, the film has so far taken US$88M since its US release on 9th March, and has received mixed or average Reviews.

'THE DEATH OF STALIN' (Rated MA15+) - here we have a highly acclaimed political satire Directed by the Scottish satirist, Writer, Producer and Director Armando Iannucci based on the French graphic novel 'La mort de Staline' by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin. Starring an ensemble cast, the film was shown at TIFF back in early September last year, went on release in the UK in late October and the US just a few weeks ago in early March. The story simply put centres around the former Soviet Union and the struggles that ensue immediately following the death of dictator Joseph Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin) back in 1953, as various political hopefuls jockey for position to take his place. Also starring Steve Buscemi as Nikita Khrushchev, Rupert Friend as Vasily Stalin, Andrea Riseborough as Svetlana Stalin, Simon Russell Beale as Lavrentiy Beria, Michael Palin as Vyacheslav Molotov, Jeffrey Tambor as Georgy Malenkov, Jason Isaacs as Georgy Zhukov with Olga Kurylenko, Paul Whitehouse and Paddy Considine. The film has been banned in Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan . . . . can't think why!

'BLOCKERS' (Rated MA15+) - this American comedy offering is Directed by Kay Cannon in her feature film Directorial debut, having Written the three 'Pitch Perfect' films so far and the Fox and Netflix television series 'New Girl' and 'Girlboss' respectively. Co-Produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg amongst a few others, the film surrounds three high school senior girls Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) and Sam (Gideon Adlan) who make a pact to lose their virginity on the night of their High School Prom. Meanwhile, Lisa (Leslie Mann) mother of Julie, Mitchell (John Cena) father of Kayla, and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) father of Sam are three overprotective parents who are none to pleased to say the least when they find out about their daughters' plans. They soon join forces for a wild and chaotic quest to stop the girls from sealing the deal to their boyfriends Austin, Connor and Chad (Graham Phillips, Miles Robbins and Jimmy Bellinger respectively) no matter what the cost. The film goes on general release in the US on April 6th. And FYI, the films title references the term 'Cock Blocking' being a slang term for an action, intentional or not, that serves to prevent someone from having sex. A 'cockblock' or 'cockblocker' is a person who engages in such obstruction or intervention, and the term was first coined back in 1972.

'LOVE, SIMON' (Rated M) - here is a first! This American romantic comedy coming of age drama film is Directed by Greg Berlanti, was released in the US mid-March, cost US$17M to make, has so far grossed US$25M and is the first film by a major studio to focus on a gay teenage romance. Based on the 2015 young adult novel 'Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda' by Becky Albertalli this film surrounds Simon Spier (Nick Robinson), a closeted gay seventeen year old in high school in Atlanta, Georgia who is forced to walk a fine line between his friends, his family (mother Emily played by Jennifer Garner, father Jack as played by Josh Duhamel and sister Nora played by Talitha Bateman), and a blackmailer classmate threatening to out him to the entire school, while at the same time trying to discover the identity of the anonymous classmate whom he has fallen in love with online. Resolving all of these issues satisfactorily proves terrifyingly daunting, hilariously funny and life changing all at the same time. The film has received generally favourable Reviews from Critics.

'PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST' (Rated M) - last week we had the story of 'Mary Magdalene' released in cinemas across the land, and this week we have another dramatic Biblical retelling, this time of Saint Paul, as Written and Directed by Andrew Hyatt. This film tells the story of Paul (James Faulkner) formerly Saul (Yorgos Karamihos), who in his younger days persecuted Christians relentlessly. He then sees the light and converts to Christianity, and is eventually imprisoned by Emperor Nero in Mamertine Prison in Rome because he is seen as a threat to the Roman Empire. He is sentenced to death, and must wait out his time chained in one of Nero's darkest and bleakest prisons. Whilst there Paul forms a close relationship with his jailer Mauritius (Oliver Martinez) and Luke (Jim Caviezel) the evangelist and his caretaker who over time records his Gospel, and what will lay the foundations for the Church as we know it. With time counting down on to the day of his execution, Paul ponders whether God will forgive him his sins. Also starring Joanne Whalley and John Lynch.

'EARLY MAN' (Rated PG) - here we have another stop-motion animated feature from those clever guys at Aardman Animation out of Bristol, England. This time Director, Co-Producer and Co-Writer of the story Nick Park, whose previous credits include the 'Wallace & Gromit' and 'Creature Comforts' short films as well as the full length stop motion animated features of 'Chicken Run' and 'Wallace & Gromit : The Curse of the Were-Rabbit', here brings us a story of primitive Stone Age tribal dwellers and in particular one plucky cave man named Dug (voiced by Eddie Redmayne), his sidekick and pet boar Hognob (Nick Park) and the rest of their tribe who face a grave threat to their simple existence. Lord Nooth (Tom Hiddleston) plans to take over their land and transform it into a giant mine, forcing Dug and his clan to dig for precious metals. Not ready to go down without a fight, Dug and Hognob must unite their people in an epic quest to defeat a mighty enemy and the dawn of the Bronze Age in a head to head toe to toe game of association football. Also starring the voice talents of Timothy Spall, Maisie Williams, Miriam Margolyes, Rob Brydon and Richard Ayoade, the film was released in the UK in late January, cost US$50M to make and has so far grossed US$43M, and has been generally well received by Critics.

'SHERLOCK GNOMES' (Rated G) - this computer animated comedy film is Directed by John Stevenson and is the follow up to 2011's 'Gnomeo and Juliet' which took US$194M at the global Box Office off the back of its US$36M production budget. Released in the US this week also, the film gets its UK release in early May and is based on this classic literary masterworks 'Romeo & Juliet' by William Shakespeare and 'Sherlock Holmes' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle . . . . if you hadn't worked that out already! Here Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) hire super sleuth detective Sherlock Gnomes (Johnny Depp) and his trusty assistant Gnome Watson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to help investigate the mysterious and baffling case of the disappearing garden gnomes. Also starring the voice talents of Mary J. Blige, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson and Ozzy Osbourne. The film cost US$59M and has so far recovered US$16M.

With eight new release films out in time for the Easter holiday this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online, and meanwhile, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-