Ready Player One (12A) ***
Dir: Steven Spielberg
With: Tye Sheridan, Ben Mendelsohn
Runtime: 140 minutes
IT’S back to the future, and to Pac-Man, and The Shining, and just about every other sweet spot for 1980s nostalgics as Steven Spielberg brings Ernest Cline’s mega-selling novel to the screen. Tye Sheridan plays the shy geek in the real world of Ohio, 2045, who is transformed into cool dude Parzival as soon as he dons a virtual reality headset and enters the fantasy world of Oasis. His mission, along with every other player: find the secret keys hidden by one of the game’s creators (Mark Rylance). Self-indulgent and far too long, but plenty of retro fun here for pop culture geeks, with Spielberg casting off the recent seriousness of The Post to become what he does best: be a big kid again.
Journeyman (15) ***
Dir: Paddy Considine
With: Paddy Considine, Jodie Whittaker
Runtime: 92 minutes
PADDY Considine writes, directs, and takes the lead role in this tale of an ageing boxer, Matty Burton, taking on the defence of his middleweight boxing title. Everything is routine about the build up to the big fight – the training, the trash talk – but Matty, now a father as well as a husband, is about to have his life transformed by injury. A surprisingly conventional second feature from the director of Tyrannosaur, and wholly predictable as a result, but heartfelt performances from Considine and Jodie Whittaker as his wife raise it a notch or two above the routine. We’ll definitely be seeing Considine in the director’s chair again.
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