First and foremost, thank you to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures for allowing me to review the Ready Player One Blu-Ray Combo Pack!
Ready Player One is directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the book by Ernest Cline.
People head to the OASIS in Ready Player One to “deal” with whatever is going on in their everyday real lives. Parzival does so so he can make it through living with his aunt and her boyfriend. He lost his parents when he was very young. Everyone that enters the OASIS is trying to solve the three Halliday challenges left behind, by creator of the OASIS, which will give the person who completes the three challenges ownership of the OASIS itself along with a windfall of money. Of course, there has to be someone who wants to control things and also just happens to have worked under Halliday and Ogden Morrow, Nolan Sorrento, who works for Innovative Online Industries (IOI). He believes he has the most knowledge in everything Halliday as well as having the 6-ers, those with some knowledge of Halliday and have six-digit numbers as opposed to names. Sorrento also has T.J. Miller’s I-R0k working for him in the OASIS.
The three Halliday challenges:
Car Race
The Dance
Understanding It’s Not About Beating The Game
The first thing that I notice when watching movies, is the visuals. I design graphics/websites along with the love for movies, TV shows and video games. Ready Player One has some of the BEST visuals that have come out this year and maybe for quite a while. The specific scene that comes to mind during the movie, looks like a bit of AR (Augmented Reality), is the scene where Sorrento invites Parzival into his office to talk about a job offer in case he were to solve the three challenges and find the three separate keys. It’s also important to the plot of the movie, because that’s where Parzival sees Sorrento’s password for his VR chair. The scene stands out because it is both a practical and CGI combination. The total CGI shots, which include the first challenge race is magnificent! That is where the DeLorean, classic Batmobile and Big Foot Monster Truck show up, along with Art3mis and her motorcycle from Akira trying to get passed King Kong to complete the first challenge.
Another great nod to how things work in the world today, the OASIS is really social as is social media. You can be of any race, size, sex and still not be looked at as different in the simulation. Parzival, Art3mis, Aech, Sho and Daito all know each other because of their interaction while in the simulation.
There are SO MANY Easter Eggs that are included in Ready Player One. So far, here is a list of what’s been found and I’m sure there will be more found that aren’t listed, that’s the beauty of having the 4K Ultra HD/3D Blu-Ray/Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital copy, so you can pause and see all of the goodies:
Movies/TV Shows:
Back To The Future’s DeLorean, Gizmo from The Gremlins, The Shining has an entire scene dedicated to it, The Iron Giant, Terminator 2: Judgement Day’s death by melting homage, Mad Max’s vehicle, Akira’s motorcycle driven by Art3mis, Chucky from Child’s Play, Cocktail’s neon sign, “Save Ferris” from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Fast Time At Ridgement High and Animal House mentioned during Sorrento and Parzival’s talk, The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai’s suit is what is chosen by Parzival for his date with Art3mis, Goro from Mortal Kombat is Art3mis’s undercover suit, along with the Alien coming out of her chest, the Thundercats logo belt buckle, He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe lunchbox, Mechagodzilla, Firefly transport spaceship, A-Team’s Van, the DeLorean has Knight Rider’s KITT light
Music:
Jump – Van Halen
You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates
One Way Or Another – Blondie
Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Tears For Fears
I Wanna Be Your Love – Prince
Just My Imagination – The Temptations
Stand On It – Bruce Springsteen
Can’t Hide Love – Earth, Wind & Fire
Blue Monday – New Order
Stayin’ Alive – The Bee Gees
Pure Imagination – Ghostwriter Music f/ Merethe Soltvedt
Also included visually in the movie: Rush 2112 poster, Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles and a-Ha’s Take On Me referenced as favorite song and video, Michael Jackson’s Thriller video suit when Parzival is trying to decide what to wear for his “date” with Art3mis, Prince’s Purple Rain suit in the same sequence,
Video Games:
Joust, Duke Nukem, Captain Planet And The Planeteers, Sagat, Blanka and Chun-Li from Street Fighter, Tomb Raider, Akira, Atari joystick, Overwatch, Battletoads, Halo soldiers, Borderlands, Dungeons & Dragons, Donkey Kong Jr., Space Invaders, Metroid poster, Golden Eye with Oddjob being mentioned as the favorite player of Halliday’s, Adventure, Pitfall, Centpede, The Legend Of Zelda
Honestly, I’m glad my son is the age he is now (he’s 12). One of the important things to me is making memories with he and his brother and sister. He’s a gamer I’m a movie junkie. So by default, he doesn’t have a choice but to watch movies with me. Sometimes he likes it, sometimes he doesn’t. All I can say is he LOVED Ready Player One, enough to where he bugged me to take him a second and third time while it was in theaters and since receiving the Blu-Ray Combo pack on Wednesday, we’ve seen it EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT! This also includes watching every special feature included on the Blu-Ray! So this is something that I think he will never forget!
Come for the nostalgia and Easter Eggs, stay for the visuals!
READY PLAYER ONE Rating: A
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READY PLAYER ONE Home Release Info:
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment along with Amblin Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures home release info (4K Ultra HD/Blu-Ray 3D/Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital HD) for READY PLAYER ONE!
“Ready Player One” stars Tye Sheridan (“X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Mud”), Olivia Cooke (“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” TV’s “Bates Motel”) and Ben Mendelsohn (“Rogue One – A Star Wars Story,” TV’s “Bloodline”). The ensemble cast also includes Lena Waithe (TV’s “Master of None”), T.J. Miller (“Deadpool,” TV’s “Silicon Valley”), Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki, Hannah John-Kamen (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”), Simon Pegg (the “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible” movies) and Oscar® winner Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies,” “Dunkirk”).
Three-time Oscar® winner Spielberg* directed the film from a screenplay by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. It is based on the novel by Cline, which has now spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers List, recently climbing to the No. 1 spot, as well as reaching No. 1 on Amazon’s Most Read Fiction chart. “Ready Player One” was produced by Donald De Line, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Dan Farah. Adam Somner, Daniel Lupi, Chris deFaria and Bruce Berman served as executive producers.
Cast:
Hannah John-Kamen, T.J. Miller, Ben Mendelsohn, Tye Sheridan, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, Olivia Cooke, Lena Waithe, Kae Alexander, Ralph Ineson, Julia Nickson, Letitia Wright, Armani Jackson, Kiera Bell, Jacob Bertrand
Synopsis:
In the year 2045, the real world is a harsh place. The only time Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) truly feels alive is when he escapes to the OASIS, an immersive virtual universe where most of humanity spend their days. In the OASIS, you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone—the only limits are your own imagination. The OASIS was created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance), who left his immense fortune and total control of the OASIS to the winner of a three-part contest he designed to find a worthy heir. When Wade conquers the first challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends—known as the High Five—are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and danger to save the OASIS and their world.
Trailer:
“Ready Player One”4K Ultra HD 3D Blu-ray and Blu-ray Combo Pack contains the following special features:
- Game Changer: Cracking the Code
- Effects for a Brave New World
- Level Up: Sound for the Future
- High Score: Endgame
- Ernie & Tye’s Excellent Adventure
- The ’80’s: You’re The Inspiration
“Ready Player One” Standard Definition DVD contains the following special features:
- The ’80’s: You’re The Inspiration
