Ready Player One

"Steven Spielberg, master of 1980s pop culture, helms Ernest Cline’s rollicking sci-fi adventure tale, in which young heroes take on big corporation IOI inside the virtual universe of The Oasis, seeking three keys. These lead to the ultimate prize, an Easter egg granting ownership of late trillionaire James Halliday’s (Mark Rylance) magic kingdom in which everything’s a reference. The plot is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Halliday is Willy Wonka, and then there’s the huge array of nods to 1980s pop culture. It’s so meta it’s basically South Park’s taco, within a taco, inside a taco."

"It’s rare for Steven Spielberg to make a film so quintessentially of the times. The veteran filmmaker almost always casts his eye back, if not in historical setting (i.e. The Post, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Empire of the Sun, The Colour Purple, Lincoln, Amistad, War Horse, Bridge of Spies and Munich) than in aesthetic sensibility. His middle of the road, picture book style rarely signals an overt influence from the zeitgeist; Spielberg’s films are hermetically sealed."

"It’s an accomplished and intermittently hypnotic movie. Yet you may feel like you’re occupied more than you are invested."

"Spielberg gets his game face on with spectacular results. One extended scene - no spoilers! - is as fun as cinema gets."

"You're left with the overriding sensation of a master playing someone else's greatest hits."

"Its vision of a world fixated on cultural nursery food has a spiky topicality and an occasionally piercing satirical bite."

"Others may want to unplug from the paint-by-number characters and shallow plot."

"Spielberg looks at legacy in virtual tribute to himself."

"A film that's as superficial and hollow as one of the season's chocolate treats, but looks as shiny and welcoming."

"It runs too long and drags a bunch in its final third, but make no mistake: This is Spielberg’s biggest crowdpleaser in years, a CGI ride that wields the technology with an eye for payoff."

"A rollicking adventure through worlds both bleak and fantastic..."

"This may be the worst film of Spielberg’s career…"

"Spielberg balances sugar-rush nostalgia with an involving story to create a pure, uncynical, cinematic ride that recaptures the magic of his early films."