Ready Player One

Please Note: I’ve never read the book so I can’t really comment on how the movie compares to it. From what I’ve heard though there are a number of changes. 

Plot:

It’s the year 2045. The only time Wade Watts  (Tye Sheridan) feels truly alive is when he escapes to the OASIS- a virtual universe. When its creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance) dies he leaves an Easter egg which will give whoever finds it complete control and his entire fortune. Wade eventually finds the first clue and it changes his life forever. 

Pros:

•Nostalgia galore!! This was fun to watch and I’ll admit I geeked out with every little Easter egg I saw. There were so many! 

•Great visuals. I especially love the design of all the avatars. 

•Mark Rylance was probably my favorite performance. He’s really not in it all that much but I found his character very fascinating and kind of tragic as well. 

•By far the better of the two Spielberg movies I’ve seen recently. 

•Really enjoyed the soundtrack. It was cool to hear a lot of the songs I grew up listening to. 

Cons:

•Most of the characters were pretty thin. I wasn’t expecting them to be super deep or anything but a little more development would’ve been nice. 

•Dragged a bit in spots. I was never bored but at times you could feel the length (the movie is about 2 hours and 20 minutes). 

•Some of the dialogue was a little cringeworthy. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

Pacific Rim: Uprising

WARNING: A few slight spoilers but nothing major. 

Plot:

Jake Pentecost (John Boyega) reunites with his adopted sister Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) to lead a new generation of Jaegar pilots. 

Pros:

•There were a couple of cool action scenes I’ll give it that. I do think it was a huge mistake to have the majority of them take place during the day. It just looked weird. 

•John Boyega bless his heart. He really tried, had some charm, and honestly did the best he could given the material he had to work with. 

•Charlie Day looked like he had a blast. 

Cons:

•Souless. That’s the best way to describe this movie. I loved the first one despite its issues. It was fun and had a lot of heart. This movie had none of that. They didn’t even fucking try. 

•Guillermo del Toro really cared about the material. This director (his directorial debut actually) didn’t. 

•Does that thing that I hate with sequels where they go, “Hey, let’s introduce a child/sibling that was never ever mentioned in the first movie and put them in this.”

•Ending was so abrupt and anticlimactic. 

•No great rousing speech. I like John Boyega but he’s no Idris Elba. 

•No Charlie Hunnam. Not even a picture or a mention... nothing!! 

•If you love the first movie as much as I do please do yourself a favor and avoid this. I’m going to do my best to pretend this doesn’t exist. 

•I could vent for hours about this but I just didn’t not have the energy right now. Sorry for the short review. 

My Rating: 4.5/10

Molly’s Game

Plot:

Based on the true story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), an Olympic class skier who ran the worlds most exclusive high stakes poker game and soon became a target of the FBI. 

Pros:

•Aaron Sorkin has a once again proven he is a master at writing, specifically dialogue. One of the best in the business in my opinion. This time around he’s also the director and considering this is his directorial debut I think he does a fantastic job. 

•Jessica Chastain gives a strong performance as Molly. I’ve always been a huge fan of hers. 

•My man Idris Elba does a great job as well playing Molly’s lawyer. 

•I’ll be honest, I could care less about poker. But somehow this movie managed to make it interesting. 

•It was weird seeing Michael Cera play a role like this. He does asshole very well. I have a pretty good idea what actor he’s playing (in the movie he’s only referred to as Player X). 

•Nice musical score by Daniel Pemberton. 

•Kevin Costner isn’t in the movie all that much but I enjoyed his scenes, one in particular at the end. Very heartwarming. 

Cons:

•The voice over was overkill and unnecessary. This has always been a pet peeve of mine. 

•Would’ve liked to have learned more about certain characters. 

My Rating: 8.5/10