PIC of the Week – Avengers: Infinity War/Ready Player One
Article series by Ray Schillaci (guest columnist this week – Paul Preston)
Hello all, your faithful PIC of the Week article chief Ray Schillaci is unavailable, so, for the first time in this article series’ history, I’m filling in! And what a great week to do so. As you may or may not know, the PIC of the Week is the new Blu-Ray release that we most highly recommend. Not the newest film streaming, but the newest Blu-Ray, ‘cause we’re suckers for top-of-the-line output and disc bonuses. Ray has a 4K TV, so he’s often reviewing the most hi-tech versions of 4K Ultra HD discs. It’s not-to-be-missed reading for every week you’re looking for something to watch at home. And this week, there was but one gargantuan release worth crowing about – Marvel’s glorious, exciting, unparalleled, intricate, thrilling Avengers: Infinity War.
I’m gonna go on about the awesomeness of The Avengers, but since I haven’t seen that Blu-Ray, and since I don’t do this often, I’m also going to chime in on a release from three weeks ago as well that I have seen on Blu-Ray, Ready Player One.
First up, Earth’s mightiest heroes. Every other movie seems to have gotten out of the way of this juggernaut home video release. The only other content that wasn’t a TV compilation that got a decent-sized release was Bad Samaritan with David Tennant. I would hope there would be extras for that film that detail how Legion M, a self-described fan-owned entertainment company, was involved. Interesting, but god bless ‘em, I’d watch Tony, Cap and the gang take on Thanos another twenty times before watching most other 2018 films a first time.
Writers Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and directors Joe & Anthony Russo (the Captain America movies team) continue to amaze with their ability to bring a huge amount of characters together in a movie and give them all ample weight, ample screen time and clever dialogue. In case you’ve been on Jotunheim and aren’t aware of this story, The Avengers is the coming together of ten years and eighteen movies worth of Marvel superheroes as now the likes of Iron Man, Thor, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Captain America, Spider-Man and more take on the ultimate Marvel baddie, Thanos. Thanos is looking to capture all the Infinity Stones to control the universe (by eliminating about half of it).
Infinity War solves a number of so-called problems that have faced the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Some critics have been critical of the lack of mortal consequences in these adventures, i.e. – DEATH. Well, lost time is made up for here. Also, bloggers and noisy people have taken issue with Marvel’s lack of great villains, and Thanos, and the excellent mo-cap and voice performance by Josh Brolin, bring the MCU it’s best villain yet.
The Russo brothers litter their story with iconic imagery and real superhero moments with action scenes never seen before. To repeat, that’s nineteen films into this movie world and the filmmakers are STILL designing fight sequences and sprawling action that you haven’t seen before. But perhaps the most impressive thing Marvel keeps doing is juggling great reviews along with their blockbuster status. This reviewer concurs, Infinity War is a phenom.
One Blu-Ray I did get to see was Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One. Over the more recent years of his career, I’ve felt Spielberg’s adult-themed films have hit the mark more than his wide-audience blockbusters. I’ll take The Post, Lincoln and Bridge of Spies over The BFG, The Adventures of Tintin and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Ready Player One, however, sees a fine return for Spielberg to grand entertainment, with wild imagination, real suspense and plenty of surprises.
Ready Player One shows a future where a cyber world (The Oasis) is far more exciting than the real world. The Willy Wonka-esque creator of The Oasis dies and leaves behind an Easter Egg in his program, causing a worldwide race to retrieve the eggs, the winners receiving the keys to The Oasis itself. The leads (Tye Sheridan and Olivia Cooke) could have better chemistry, but the overall storyline and exhilaration of the race makes this an exciting watch.
The creator of The Oasis, James Halliday, played by Mark Rylance, is a child of the ‘80s & ‘90s, so his computer world is full of references to his childhood era, and that makes for an extra layer of fun when watching this movie. The Iron Giant, Rubik’s Cube, The Shining, Back to the Future, Akira, War of the Worlds, Chucky and more are just a small, small portion of the characters and mentions in Ready Player One, but since there’s a lot of throwback in this movie, it’s only right that the film should come with something that’s sadly become a throwback – Disc extras! Here’s what you get with the Ready Player One Blu-Ray:
• The ‘80s: You’re the Inspiration – A good primer for viewers to familiarize themselves with all the references Ernest Cline put in his book, and why they were important to him. For those viewers my age, it’s a fun, six-minute jump around memory lane and for younger viewers it will only deepen the understanding of the decade’s influence on the film.
• Game Changer: Cracking the Code – This is a FULL-ON documentary making-of that’s one hour and full of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. It’s very thorough and excellent! Covers motion capture, costuming, sets and pretty much every facet of making the film including working with Stanley Kubrick’s family to represent The Shining in the most effective way.
• Effects for a Brave New World – One aspect of the Ready Player One filmmaking that gets a thin treatment in the Game Changer doc is a look at the ground-breaking visual effects, which are so complex, they needed their own 25-min. doc! From concept art to practical and CGI effects, it’s all covered. Between this and Game Changer, there are a ton of interesting facts to learn about the productions. One that sticks out is how impressive the actors’ performances are when you learn that they shot all the sequences in The Oasis first! So, the actors had to build relationships and establish characters all in a white mocap room with ping pong balls on their face. It’s also impressive to see Spielberg, a filmmaker who, no doubt, has seen it all, dive into virtual reality with all the nerdery of Halliday himself. He actually used VR to direct sequences IN the virtual world. You’ll have to see the footage to get fully what that means, but it’s a head trip.
• Level Up: Sound for the Future – An eight-minute short about the film’s sound design. It’s fascinating to meet the team who made effective sound work in an all-virtual world, but this doc is best just to get eight minutes with seven-time Oscar winner Gary Rydstrom!
• High Score: Endgame – One name missing from the credits full of Spielberg regulars is John Williams. Due to scheduling issues, Spielberg went with the next-best legend, Alan Silvestri. This doc dives into how the composer works with the production and Silvestri comes off as both accomplished and humble (watching Cline geek out when he meets him is fun).
• Ernie & Tye’s Excellent Adventure – The loosest and goofiest of the extras features author Ernest Cline and star Tye Sheridan reminiscing on making the movie and quizzing each other on ‘80s trivia. Biggest news here is Cline’s hint at a sequel.
I watched a Blu-Ray, I fear that 4K might be too much for the effects, making the virtual world look to crisp. That ‘motion smoothing’ look with be frustrating for two hours. The soundtrack is badass (again, Rydstrom) as is the music, so fire up the Dolby Atmos for this one.
One of Rydstrom’s best lines in the Level Up short is his description of Spielberg’s direction for the sound design – FUN. That word stretches throughout Ready Player One and if you buckle up and prepare for some old-school Spielberg thrills, you’ll have a good time.
Average price across the internet (Walmart, Best Buy, Target & more) – $24.99
