Review: 'Ready Player One'.

Yesterday me and my friend managed to find time to watch Steven Spielberg's movie 'Ready Player One'. We managed to watch the sci-fi film after checking that it had gotten solid reviews from both the critics and the general audience. 

After all, since 73% of the movie critics and 78% of the viewers (on Rottentomatoes.com) had given this film a fresh rating, that was good enough for us. There was a high enough chance that the movie would be worth watching and worth our time. 

In any case, having now seen 'Ready Player One', I have to say that the film managed to be somewhat better than I had expected it to be. It exceeded my expectations, which weren't honestly that high for me in the beginning.

So when it comes to the film, 'Ready Player One' is a science fiction movie that is about virtual reality. It's about people escaping reality after their living conditions on earth have gotten considerably worse over the last couple of decades.

In the film, as our protagonist, we have a young guy called Wade (Tye Sheridan), who spends most of his time in virtual reality. By using his special glasses, he's able to enter this another world where there are almost no limits on who you can be and what you can do.

When it comes to the plot of the movie, the catalyst of the film happens when the developer of the virtual reality (Mark Rylance) passes away. In his will, he's giving his company to the person who solves the puzzles that are hidden inside his virtual 'Oasis'.

Not surprisingly, this incident and revelation launches a massive hunt for his incredible inheritance. Individuals and corporations with their massive resources all over the country start searching for clues that could give them the keys to the ownership of the company.

So when it comes to things that I liked about this film, one of the best things about 'Ready Player One' is that it looks really good. There's no question that a lot of effort went into making sure that the movie would look as good as possible.

By that I mean that from start to finish, everything in the film looks amazing visually. The real world and the virtual reality world 'Oasis' both look so mesmerising and wonderful that it's hard to take your eyes off the movie screen.

This wonderful look of the movie becomes especially obvious during the film's numerous action scenes. There are so many crazy action scenes that you just can't help but to wonder how much time it took to make everything work.

At the same time, even though there are a lot of good things that can be said about 'Ready Player One', that doesn't mean that everything in the movie works. Especially when it comes to the film's screenplay, the story leaves a lot to be desired.

At least in my opinion, one of the biggest problems with the story is that it's too episodic. The film's plot device - where the players have to find three different keys in order to inherit the company - in my view, feels rather forced and unnatural.

When it comes to those many 'celebrated' popular culture references in the film, I wasn't particularly impressed by them either. Even though it was cool to see some of those popular creatures in the virtual reality, it started to reek of 'fanboy' service rather quickly.

It also has to be said that the movie suffers from not having a clear message. It doesn't take a stand against the dangers of virtual reality, even though the whole movie is about the excesses of escaping reality and the dangers of the system.

After all, when the end result of the film is that the protagonist - after inheriting the company - decides to only limit the use of his 'Oasis' for others, that did not sit well with me. That was just a massive cop out that severely diluted the film's message.

Still, in the end, just because the movie had a lot of these problems in its story, that doesn't mean that I wasn't able to enjoy watching it. I'm not saying that you shouldn't watch it or that the film's story wouldn't keep you entertained.

After all, even though there were quite a few issues with the film's screenplay, that doesn't mean that these problems were too serious. Clearly the positive aspects were able to outweigh the negative aspects, when you put all things together.

In that sense, even though 'Ready Player One' could have been a better movie, it was still a watchable one. It was a watchable movie and kept me entertained, even though its screenplay could have been better and more organic in certain places.

Review: 'Molly's Game'.

Earlier this week me and my friend managed to find time to watch a movie called 'Molly's Game'. We watched this biographical film about Molly Bloom, an ex-athlete, who ran underground high stakes poker games for celebrities and businessmen in the early 2000's. 

The reason that we decided to watch this film - that is written and directed by Aaron Sorkin - is that we couldn't find any other movie that looked interesting. This was the only one that had gotten reviews that were good enough and that had a solid premise.

In any case, having now seen 'Molly's Game', it has to be said that I have mostly positive things to say about it. Even though there are certain problems with the film that shouldn't be overlooked, these problems in my opinion don't hurt it too much.

So when it comes to the good aspects of the movie, there's no doubt that the gambling scenes in it are entertaining. The movie is at its best when Molly - played wonderfully by Jessica Chastain - organizes and runs these underground high stakes events.

By that I mean that when her unlikely new career path - from a waitress to a gambling hostess starts to emerge (after giving up on her sports career due to a serious injury), that's when the story really starts to pick up speed.

In these enthralling scenes, we have A-list movie stars, famous athletes and businessmen (names changed for the sake of privacy) gambling and taking big risks. The movie shows these celebrated human beings in less than flattering light - to say the least.

During this phase of the movie, it was really fascinating to try to figure out who these characters were in real life. I couldn't help but to feel satisfaction when I was able to pinpoint who the characters' real life counterparts were (Tobey Maguire, Jamie Gold etc.).

In these parts, the movie works not only because of the gambling stuff, but also because the main protagonist starts to get in trouble. Molly gets in legal trouble because of her endeavours and also because the Russian mafia starts to go after her. 

The movie also works in these scenes, because in these scenes it knows what it's about. The story doesn't humanize Molly too much or make her - as a businesswoman - seem like she's a good person or that we should empathize with her too much.

That's why it's unfortunate that once we get to those scenes where we're supposed to feel for the character (excluding her getting beaten up) the story feels a bit forced. The scenes don't fit in with the rest of the movie and feel somewhat out of place.

Especially when it comes to the ice-rink scene where she - out of nowhere - runs into her father and has a touchy-feely talk with him, the scene doesn't make enough sense. I just couldn't find it to be believable or consistent with the rest of the movie.

In that sense, when I think about the movie as a whole, it's clear that 'Molly's Game' - even though a fairly good movie - is not a perfect film. It's clear that there are certain moments in the film where the story and the characters don't work that well together.

After all, even though some of these emotional scenes were perhaps necessary for the story to work, they don't fit in as well as they should. The movie's main protagonist isn't as likable and relatable as the writer probably thought she was.

In that sense, if you're thinking about giving 'Molly's Game' a chance as a movie, there's nothing wrong with you if you don't end up liking it that much. You might not like it, because certain moments in the film aren't that plausible storywise.

After all, even though most of the things in the movie are superb and even riveting, especially the scenes where Molly gets humanized aren't that great. They go against the film's ruthless nature and seem pretty inauthentic and misplaced.

At the same time, in case you do end up liking the movie, like me, there's nothing wrong with that either. There's nothing wrong with thinking that the problems in the film weren't that important and that they didn't prevent one from enjoying it.

After all, at least in my case, I found the movie - despite its flaws to be well made. Despite its flaws, I found that 'Molly's Game' as a whole kept me entertained and the good things in it clearly managed to outweigh the bad things in the film.

Updates on my book writing project.

A couple of months ago I wrote about my writing project, in which I would adapt my movie screenplay into a book. I wrote about how I would do the writing myself and that I wouldn't give the project for anyone else to do.

After all, since I wrote the original screenplay, there was no reason why I wouldn't be able to write the book version too. It was clear that I should try to write it myself - even though I didn't have any previous experience in writing novels.

So when it comes to how things have progressed lately, it can be said  that I have managed to get things done here. Even though I haven't finished the book yet, I've been busy with it and should be able to finish it in the next couple of months or so.

The biggest reason that I'm relatively confident that I'll get the job done is because I managed to write the rough draft already. I wrote a draft (in Finnish), which is a lot like the original film screenplay version that I wrote last year.

By that I mean that all the characters and all the events that are in the movie version are also in the novel version. I didn't have to cut any of the storylines or the plot points that were in the original version of the screenplay.

What this basically means is that in order to be able to write a solid book, I 'more or less' only have to follow the road map (the draft) and make sure that I keep the reader involved in the story. That's all that it takes to write a solid book - at least in theory.

Still, just because I can rely on a story that is well written and that makes sense, that doesn't mean that I have been able to make everything work right way. I'm not saying that I haven't had any setbacks during the adaptation process.

On the contrary, the minute I started the second phase of the project - making the draft look like an actual book - it became apparent that I would face obstacles here. There were obvious challenges that I hadn't thought about before.

For example, in the book version, I needed to create a narrative (third person) that would mimic the original version's friendly tone. I would have to make sure that the characters were genuinely likable,  because otherwise the story just wouldn't be worth following.

The other really big challenge in the book version has had to do with the pacing of the story. It has been a lot more difficult to give the story a solid pace, so that the scenes could have a relaxed feel and that the pacing wouldn't feel rushed.

Especially considering that there are so many transitions - characters moving from one place to another - time lapses etc. - it hasn't been easy to figure things out. It has been a lot more challenging to give the story a solid flow than I had expected.

Still, when I think about this project as a whole, just because I have had these challenges, that doesn't mean that I'm screwed. I'm not thinking that I'm not good enough and that I should give someone else the chance to finish the book.

After all, when it comes to projects like these, I tend to be really persistent and won't give up easily. Instead of giving up, I'm willing to try almost every possible solution in order to make sure that the story works and feels natural.

In that sense, even though I still have things to do here, I'll keep going. I'll keep going and will make sure that no matter what happens, I won't give up just because I might sometimes have bad days or just because I don't always get things done.

After all, as long as I'll keep writing on a consistent basis, eventually I'll be able to finish the book. I'll be able to finish the book and will have the chance to do something else that I might find to be interesting and that might be worth my time.