It is one week before Ernest Cline‘s Ready Player One makes it onto the big screen and I couldn’t be more excited. Reviews have begun to trickle in.

Saw @readyplayerone last night & been thinking about it all day. It’s pretty magical moviemaking – Spielberg reminding us all that he created the blueprint for breathtaking blockbusters. He remains the master: his Kubrick sequence is dazzling. @erniecline, you’ve made a classic!

— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) March 21, 2018

You know how when you anticipate something time seems to slow down? Like when you are driving to a new location, say an amusement park, and it seems like the drive will never end — but when you drive home it seems like it took half the time? Next week is going to be one of those weeks.

If you haven’t read the book, READ IT — now. It is such a trip. The basic premise and setting is that virtual reality gaming has hit its stride and one Zuckerberg-esque man has created the ultimate virtual open world universe called the OASIS filled with planets the user can travel to that not only contain your favorite games, but schools, social scenes, and even the realistic recreations of some of the most famous and not so famous fantasy worlds like the various planets of Star Wars or even middle earth from the Lord of the Rings (personally I would probably make Westeros my first stop).

The set up is that when this billionaire creator of the Oasis dies, he leaves behind clues to an easter egg and announces to the world that the first one to find it will inherit his empire.

One of the major appeals of this book is its relentless pop-culture references, mostly from the eighties. It takes place in 2049 as America is crumbling and people are longing for a time when life was a bit more enjoyable. It is also the decade where this billionaire programmer spent his childhood, so becoming an expert on the pop culture from the era is essential to cracking the code he left behind.

I don’t know how all of the material in the book will translate to film, but if there is anyone that was born to do it — it is Spielberg.

You can be sure we will be sharing our take on this movie as soon as we see it. Stay tuned…

Matt