Ready for Ready Player One

I saw Steven Spielberg’s take on Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One the other day, and following that I have seen a lot of complaints about it being different from the book. I’ve often said that directors and writers need to change details for movie adaptations because otherwise, it’s predictable and not surprising or exciting for anyone who’s read the source material. Ready Player One ESPECIALLY can’t be a direct translation of the book because it would just be too boring.

No, I’m not calling the book boring; the book and the story are wonderfully awesome, even if I doubt that Wade could have accomplished reading, playing, watching, and listening to everything he claims he has.

What I am getting at is that in the book, there is a lot of game playing. I want you to think about the competition for the first key in the movie, then think about watching a true-to-the-book rendition of the first key. Perhaps this clip from The Big Bang Theory will help you visualize;

So, with that addressed, here is my opinion of Ready Player One:

It was pretty gosh darn good.

I felt the acting in the beginning ‘reality’ scenes were a little cringey and eye-roll worthy, but it suited the scene and I was probably just not in the right mood for it. I also felt that the development of the relationship was very rushed… in fact, a lot of the movie seemed rushed. 

While the movie kept the aspect of the riddles, it didn’t feel like there was much of a mystery behind them. I get the feeling that the entire movie takes place across the span of a few days, maybe? While the book takes significantly longer. The clues and the riddles are more complicated in the book and aren’t solved with a few minutes of contemplation.

I think almost every problem I have with the movie can be summed up in 2 words; Time Restraints. I hate those words, but they are what leads me to think that books shouldn’t be made into movies… no, they should be made into high budget Television series on the scale of Game of Thrones and the upcoming Lord of the Rings series.

That’s just my opinion, and as the great Levar Burton always said; Don’t take my word for it. Go see the movie, go read the book (or listen to Wil Wheaton read it on audible), and form an opinion on your own. I enjoyed the movie, I really did, it’s only the second movie I’ve ever gone to see more than once in theater.

That is all, carry on my wayward readers.

That’s Kinda Freakish

I was sick recently and spent 2 days in bed. In my stationary wanderings I discovered, Pilgrim style, a show on Hulu called Freakish. Being a fan of Zombie and Apocalypse films, I put the show on and… Accidentally blew through the entire available 2 seasons in the 2 days I was sick.

Freakish

I was sick recently and spent 2 days in bed. In my stationary wanderings I discovered a show on Hulu called Freakish. Being a fan of Zombie and Apocalypse films I put the show on and… Accidentally blew through the entire available 2 seasons in the 2 days I was sick.

Cloverfield Paradox’ Paradoxes

(This isn’t intended to be a review of the movie; it’s just a few observations and questions I had after watching it)

I just watched The Cloverfield Paradox and… I have questions…

First off, I’m going to say that I enjoyed the movie. I found it entertaining: but I’m easily entertained. I don’t go into films expecting to be disappointed like some critics seems to, I go in there looking for a fun story.

Cloverfield Paradox

(SPOILER WARNING! I will be sharing some observations about the movie, “The Cloverfield Paradox.”)

(This isn’t intended to be a review of the movie; it’s just a few observations and questions I had after watching it)

I just watched The Cloverfield Paradox and… I have questions…

First off, I’m going to say that I enjoyed the movie. I found it entertaining: but I’m easily entertained. I don’t go into films expecting to be disappointed like some critics seems to, I go in there looking for a fun story; and this one was fun.

Also, it should be noted that although I try to avoid spoilers in general, there will be spoilers in this. I’ll be as vague as I can though.

With that said, I will restate my purpose here: I have questions.

1. The Arm: How was the arm sentient, and how did it have access to information that the original owner was not privy to?
2. The worms: If the worms were teleported INTO the crew member, then why didn’t they just die instantly? Why did it take so long before they exploded out of them?
3. The Sick Crew member: Along with #2, why did that crew member have issues with their eye, and NOT with their stomach or abdominal area where they were pumped full of goodies?
4. The Husband: What was his purpose? His side story could have been removed without taking anything away from the story.
5. The Airlock: Who opened it? Why didn’t they talk about it opening itself?

The Arm
One of the crew members loses an arm while preparing the station for an upcoming event. Not long afterwards, the arm is discovered crawling around. They discuss the arm briefly and find that the original owner is not in control of the arm, in any way. This raises the question, then, of ‘who controls the arm?’

It is mentioned at a point in the film that they have merged with another dimension and replaced their counterparts… So is it possible that the arm is being controlled by the original crew member of that dimension? Or is the arm just sentient in its own right? Perhaps the universe/paradox itself is using the arm to guide the crew?

That last possibility would explain the next question about the arm: how did it know where the important piece of equipment that would resolve almost everything just happened to be? The original owner of the arm didn’t know, and I would assume the alternate dimension version of them also didn’t know… But the arm knew, as if by telepathy. It read the mind of the universe and told everyone else.

Magic!

Regardless of how the arm knew, another questions arises from the fact that it knew, and could communicate its knowledge. Why didn’t the crew seek any further information from the arm? The arm tells them exactly where they need to look for the missing equipment, then the crew runs off and never comes back to the all knowing, all seeing arm to ask any questions of it. In fact, they don’t even really discuss the arm again. It has a brief appearance later, and that’s it.

The Worms
After the big event that causes all the chaos, a member of the crew vomits worms. They don’t do this immediately, no: they wait quite a while into the film to do so. So, what were all the worms doing in that time? Presumably, they appeared inside the crew member at the time of the event, when everything went whacky, but they showed no signs of illness until much later… Until someone noticed the worms were gone. If they were full of worms they should have been showing signs of illness or discomfort immediately… Right?

The Sick Crew Member
The same individual with the worms seemed to have a lot of other issues. Their eye went crazy on them, dodging about in every direction, and their skin seemed oddly elastic. For a few seconds, they seemed to be hearing voices and even spoke to them. There is no offer of explanation as to who they spoke to or heard. Were they talking to the worms? Their eye maybe? Could this be explained again with two individuals trying to occupy the same space?

And what was with the eye? They were pumped full of worms and other things and they only problem he has with that is an itchy eye that turns sideways?

The only thing I can think is maybe the two bodies of the different dimensions merged into one and were having difficulties with body control and voices? The voice could have been the other them? I don’t know…

Besides all that, how were they not aware of the very large foreign object suddenly inside them? An object of that size would have had weight, and been pushing organs all around. It would have very likely been a noticeable bulge in their side. So how did they, or any other member of the crew, not notice?

The Husband
While everyone is in space doing stuff, the story occasionally flips back to a crew member’s husband back on Earth. His story is short, simple, goes no where, and adds nothing to the rest of the story. He doesn’t fend off monsters, fight a gang, make any amazing revelations, or travel across the country to save anyone. He literally picks a kid up off the street and hides in a bunker.

His entire story arc could have been a sentence at the end of the movie where someone adds in “He’s safe. He found a bunker.” His whole story feels like filler.

The Airlock
Who opened the airlock and why isn’t this a bigger issue? If they all know no one opened it and it just opened on its own, then shouldn’t they be freaking out that their airlocks are opening themselves? They’re in space… That is a VERY BIG problem! I would imagine that would be a bigger discussion.

The Discussion
Speaking of which, I’m adding another point: they never stopped to discuss anything. No one ever had a freak out moment of “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON” or ever try to explain anything. They commented once, in passing, ‘the paradox is real’ or something along those lines.

It seems to me that there should have bee a moment where they all sat down, had some coffee, and someone explained what was going on.

Someone should have said “we traveled to another dimension and the universe is creating anomalies, trying to get rid of us to correct for our existence.”

Or something… Anything, really.

Long Story Short
(too late)
I liked the movie! It was fun, but some parts didn’t make a lot of sense… Like why 3 people HAD to go to the ring when 2 of them did literally nothing while there. Or why they would design the emergency release to only be activated from inside the thing being released? Seems like a big design flaw to me.

No! No more flaws! I liked the movie! I enjoyed it, and it kept a good pace so I was never bored and my mind never wandered off anywhere else.

I understand the whole movie was an explanation for how the original Cloverfield movie came to be, but I feel it could have easily been completely unrelated. I understand it was originally titled “The God Particle” and I think that would have made a lot more sense; Unconnected from the franchise, and a thing all its own.
As I stated at the beginning, this wasn’t intended to be a review… Just a few personal questions and observations, all of which are open for discussion! Please, feel free to open a dialogue by commenting. I would love to hear other opinions, ideas, observations, and questions regarding The Cloverfield Paradox.