Spielberg scores a lot of points with ‘Ready Player One’
Before making “Ready Player One,” Steven Spielberg had directed 30 feature films. There were ticket-selling triumphs (“Jaws”) and box office bombs (“The BFG”). There were somber studies of social issues (“The Color Purple”), haunting historical dramas (“Schindler’s List”), and science fiction flights of fancy (“A.I. Artificial Intelligence”). But it’s been a long time since Spielberg successfully latched on to the little kid inside of him and made a film that’s simply a bunch of fun, I’d say since “1941.”
From its opening salvo of music — Van Halen’s “Jump” — to its last — “You Make My Dreams” by Hall & Oates — “Ready Player One” is a whirlwind celebration of fantasy versus reality and good versus evil, a salute to competitive spirit, youthful idealism, and pop culture. It’s also the ...
