nostalgia

Ready Player One - 3/5

This movie is a fun popcorn flick, but there's no real depth to it. It's pretty, has lots of fun references, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Since it's Universal Studios and Steven Spielberg, they were able to get a staggering number of intellectual property licenses, and it's fun seeing them all interacting like they would if the Oasis were a real place. The plot provides enough reason for there to be car races, dance numbers, and massive battles all in the same movie, but it's about as philosophically deep as National Treasure (that is to say, not very). If you enjoy pop culture from the 1980's until now, it's definitely worth a watch.

Blade Runner 2049 - 2/5

It has great cinematography, but way too much nudity. There's a lot of grit, but with no payoff. You know there's a problem with a movie when you can completely remove the main antagonist without changing the plot. There are several plot points brought up that made me ask, "This is interesting. How is this going to resolve?" The answer was invariably, "It won't".