The raucous, pop culture-filled counterpoint to the Oscar bait of The Post, Ready Player One sees Steven Spielberg at perhaps the height of his nerdy, juvenile wish fulfillment. And we’re talking about a guy who’s had kids befriend dinosaurs and an alien. X-Men: Apocalypse‘s Tye Sheridan stars as a poor teen who escapes into a near-future’s massively multiplayer VR game—Oasis, where knowledge of dated film, tv, and video game references pay off in ways it certainly never has on Tinder. When the creator of this virtual world (sudden Spielberg regular Mark Rylance) dies, he leaves behind a final challenge for his players to discover a literal easter egg; acquiring it grants the winner a massive cash prize and total control of Oasis. Outside of a version of ID4 where the aliens are defeated with Simpsons quotes, there basically couldn’t be a film pandering harder to today’s 30-something dork demographic. It hits theaters March 30.
