Spielberg's READY PLAYER ONE makes a nice return to a past master's older adventure films

If you're worried (as was I) that lack of any interest in video games would keep you from enjoying Steven Spielberg's latest endeavor, READY PLAYER ONE, you can rest (relatively) easy.

Yes, the movie begins with way too much video-gaming in its typical (though, in this case, very-good-for-its-genre) animated form, but once it concentrates more on its "real" characters rather than their so-called "avatars," the film will probably pull you in to its convoluted universe and keep you there.

This is particularly true, should you be one of those film nuts who love seeing and hearing lots of references to other famous films. Spielberg (at right) and his writers -- Zak Penn and Ernest Cline (who adapted their screenplay from Cline's novel) have filled their film chock-full of this, Young kids will enjoy the swift pace and adventure, while adults will be chuckling/ snickering at the many "in" references. (A surprisingly long scene devoted to The Shining proves the most fun of all these.)

The story, set in Ohio a few decades ahead in 2045, involves our dystopian and even more income-unequal society in which most folk prefer to spend their time online in a virtual universe known as Oasis, created by a brilliant but now-deceased fellow named Halliday, played by that amazing actor and Oscar winner Mark Rylance (above), thus continuing this most productive relationship between actor and director (which includes Bridge of Spies and The BFG). Mr. Rylance is wonderful once again, providing the movie with both its strongest character and most of its "heart."

Our hero is a young fellow named Wade (Tye Sheridan, quite grown up since his early appearance in Mud, and now looking like Miles Teller's younger brother), a very good gamer who hopes to win the "prize" embedded in Halliday's Oasis universe, which will makes him rich and powerful beyond measure.

Also hoping to win are a few other good gamers, including our heroine, Samantha (played by Olivia Cooke, above). The fly in the ointment -- more like a giant cockroach -- is Sorrento (the always fun Ben Mendelsohn, below), a former disciple/intern of Halliday who now owns one of the country's largest corporations, and simply wants to add to his arsenal by capturing the prize.

What happens and why fills out this overlong (two hours and 20 minutes) but usually entertaining and exciting adventure, in which Mr. Spielberg returns to some of the themes and concerns of his earlier adventure films. The difference this time centers around so much that has changed in our world over the past 15 to 20 years: the internet and the ability to lose oneself in fantasy and online friends and identities.

As much fun as all this can be (as well as an escape from the pretty crappy reality faced by the great majority of our world today), it is not, finally -- as the filmmakers reminds us rather too heavily at the conclusion -- at all real. Reality is real. And that's it.

In the supporting cast are some fun characters (see above) decently portrayed, once we're allowed to actually meet their real selves, much later in the film. Mr. Sheridan makes a good enough hero, as does Ms Cooke a heroine (though, really, you must view this actress' performance in The Limehouse Golem to see how she can stretch!)

TrustMovies got up from his seat at the finish of Ready Player One, happy and satisfied with the time spent. But I have to say that now, just 24 hours later, the film is already seeming pretty forgettable. Maybe, however, that's because I don't give a hoot about video games or alternate realities.

From Warner Brothers, the movie opened this week in theaters all over the country. To find one (or ten) near you, simply click here then scroll down and click on one of the three options below the words GET TICKETS.

Mateo Gil's REALIVE (Proyecto Lázaro) finally hits theaters just prior to its Digital/VODebut

Made in 2015 and first released in Europe last year, the new film from Spanish filmmaker Mateo Gil (Open Your Eyes, The Sea Inside, The Method, Blackthorn) entitled for America REALIVE (it original monker Proyecto Lázaro had already been used over here as The Lazarus Project) just opened theatrically this past weekend in very limited release and will hit home video tomorrow. Anything by Señor Gil (shown below) -- as writer, director or often both -- is worth checking out, and so it is once again with this better-than-average sci-fi drama.

The subject here is that old sci-fi staple, cryogenics, which has been with us at least since the rumors of Walt Disney on ice, In Gil's hands, the subject becomes not only a tale of body freezing and returning to life-after-death but also a love story (perhaps two of them), as well as a kind of modern-day Frankenstein re-do (without all the snips, scars and stitches). What distinguishes the movie, however, is its insistence of forsaking the usual plot machinations and thriller-film action cliches for a much more quiet, ruminative, philosophical approach.

This is most clearly seen in the voice-over narrative that begins the film and remains in place throughout. The tale is told in a kind of flashback/forward, past/present combination by the story's not-quite hero, a rather self-involved commercial-approaching-fine artist named Marc (the very beautiful and relatively unusual in that he actually looks good bald actor, Tom Hughes, shown above and below), who becomes the first human to have been successfully brought back to life after decades of frozen slumber.

As we learn more about Marc's life and loves, along with his relationship to his on-again/off-again lover, Naomi (Oona Chaplin, below), a character more fully develops.  Eventually we learn much more about why Marc had chosen this particular route and, of course, the intended and unintended results of his decision.

This gives Gil the opportunity to explore, along other subjects, morality, commitment, and the ethics of science -- all of which he does to good effect, simultaneously offering us more and more to question and wonder over. The filmmaker's use of flashback is, as ever, very well-done, and his spare but effective use of futuristic settings, as below, works well, too.

In the supporting cast are France's Charlotte Le Bon as Marc's pretty/sexy post-op caregiver (below), a woman who may have even deeper feelings for our flash-frozen hottie.

Also on view is the primary doctor, shown below, for these proceedings (Barry Ward of Blood Cells) who, of course, has his own agenda plus a trick or two extra up his semi-sleazy sleeve. If the film's ending(s) may seems more typical/obvious than necessary, what has come before should make the movie worth your time. It's generally elegant, beautiful and thought-provoking, and this alone lifts it a notch above the usual sci-fi (and above most of what its distributor, SYFY -- Sharknado, anyone? -- generally offers).

Running 112 minutes, the movie, now playing in a few theaters  -- including the Cinema Village in New York City and the Arena CineLounge in Hollywood -- hits VOD and Digital HD tomorrow, Tuesday, October 3 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Terry Gilliam's back -- with Christoph Waltz & starry supporting cast in THE ZERO THEOREM

The good news new is that Terry Gilliam, fantasist extraordinaire and delightful visualist, is back. And with a movie he was actually able to complete, unlike his try at Don Quixote, which brought us only a documentary about how and why that movie never happened. The pretty-good news is that his new film, titled THE ZERO THEOREM, is much better than Tideland -- his last fully completed movie in the manner in which he intended and which I must admit to being unable to finish (I may try again when I'm older and either wiser or more senile) -- but not as interesting or as much fun as The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Heath Ledger's last and uncompleted movie: Mr Gilliam, whatever flaws he may possess as a man and writer/director, has surely had more than his fair share of bum luck).

In his newest diversion, the filmmaker (shown at right) is giving us another portion to mull over of what he has already given us in Brazil, of which The Zero Theorem will surely remind you (it will also bring to mind everything from Blade Runner and The Fifth Element to a much more recent film, The Congress With Robin Wright.

Yes, this is another futuristic, dystopian sci-fi/fantasy with philosophical/theological over/undertones.

If you, as I, have been impressed with the versatile Austrian actor Christoph Waltz (above), and are always happy to see him tackle something new, this is yet another reason to catch the film. With his shaved head and near-hairless body, Mr. Waltz looks nothing like he has in any other film but is still a pleasure to see and hear. When Gilliam seems to repeat himself or give in to some fairly obvious clichés of the genre he's chosen, watching Waltz provides an immediate antidote.

The story, a full-length MacGuffin of sorts, has to do with the title theorem, proof of which will result in our finally knowing for certain that there is no reason or point to our entire universe (not to mention our tiny lives as part of it). This is rather like the reverse of proving that god exists: an irrelevant exercise, but what the hell.... Waltz plays a supposedly genius-level fellow named Qohen Leth (that first name is pronounced something like "Quinn, though every other character says it differently, one from the next). So, can this theorem be proven? And does it even matter? Probably not. Not, at least, to Gilliam, nor to us.

Surrounding Qohen are a bevy of weird characters (films like this have no other kind) played by talented "name" actors, who bring some needed pizazz to the goings-on. These would include the likes of Matt Damon as Management, the by-now rather generic bad guy; his son Bob (Lucas Hedges, above, center) who may not a bad sort, after all; Mélanie Thierry (two photos above) as the hooker with a heart of gold bought and paid for by management as a sop/hindrance to Qohen; David Thewlis as Qohen's immediate boss; and the ever-wonderful Tilda Swinton as our hero's online therapist (Ms Swinton is the movie's finest delight: we even get to hear her rap a bit.)

If the movie doesn't finally say much or mean much, and though there is nothing really new here, at least Gilliam has a lot of fun with his often striking visuals. As interesting as is Qohen's home -- a converted monastery decked out with a lot of surveillance (this is one of the movie's much-used themes) -- it's the filmmaker's exterior shots that are the most fun. There is one wall, quite funny, that is glimpsed in the background, on which is listed symbolically all the current Don'ts in this society.

So, if The Zero Theorem doesn't scintillate, neither does it bore. From Amplify, the film opened today -- Friday, September 19 -- in a limited run all across the country. In New York City, it's playing at the IFC Center, and in Los Angeles at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas. Click here, then scroll down, to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.