Ready Player One is the movie you should pretend to take your kids to see.

Don’t you just love those movies that turn out to be so much more than you expected, and just a complete surprise?

That’s what Ready Player One is – on steroids. It is literally the coolest movie I’ve ever seen.

I’m torn between telling you ALL about the movie, and trying to be chill so that you’re as blown away as I was when you watch it. But I’m a professional, so I’ll just give you a little taste of what’s to come so that when you see it, I haven’t given anything major away.

Based on the novel by Earnest Cline, the scene is Columbus, Ohio in 2045. Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is an 18-year-old without parents, a job, or a future who lives in a block of stacked shipping containers. His salvation is a virtual reality game that he plays with millions of other people in similarly hopeless situations.

In the game, called ‘The Oasis’, Wade becomes Parzival, his super-cool avatar.

A competition begins between the players to find an “egg” – the ultimate prize – left by the game’s late creator James Halliday (Mark Rylance).

Gaming is the basic premise of the movie, but you don’t have to be into that world to understand everything, because the entire movie is really just a huge metaphor for the meaning of life.

#Deep.

Going by the plot, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a sci-fi flick, only for millennials – but you’re wrong.

Well, technically, you’re right – but Ready Player One is so much more than that.

If you were a teen in the 90s, this movie is the goddamn anthem of your youth. Because it’s directed by the man who made the biggest movies of your youth; Steven Spielberg.

Every pop culture moment of your coming of age is featured. If you thought last year’s re-make of the I.T. was a trip down memory lane, RPO is a freaking ride in a DeLorean.

Which means, of course, there’s a DeLorean in the movie…

I loved #ReadyPlayerOne I came into the movie fully expecting a dumb action film (fun but forgettable) but honestly, from a filmmaker, an actor, and a nerd standpoint, it was splendid! Bonus: every time @AH_Michael and I wanted them to do the thing, THEY DID THE THING! ????

— Lindsay Jones (@IAmLindsayJones) April 6, 2018

I couldn’t list all the iconic references used in the movie even if I wanted to; reviewers have identified more than 100 pop culture references from films, TV shows, music, toys, and, of course, video games.

The film is undoubtedly a homage to Spielberg’s own extensive body of work, so if you’ve been into anything from Raiders of the Lost Ark, to Jurassic Park, to The Post, you’re going to have a good time.

One of the best surprises of the movie was…

Ok, fine. Fine. I won’t tell you.

I’ll just say this: Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick were mates. *cough: overlook hotel.*

You heard me.

The Shape of Water is a mind-bending movie that you really need to see.

The other total trip is the music chosen as the soundtrack to the film. It will make you so nostalgic for your youth that your heart will break a little, and you might also tear up a little, as did some other woman in the cinema who most definitely wasn’t me…

In case you were wondering, yes, the film, in true 2018-style, has a female-led resistance and a female-led rebellion and it stars our very own, very smooth, Ben Mendelsohn.

So these school holidays, earn some parenting credits and pretend to take your (older than ten) kids to see “a movie for them”.

Then sit back and enjoy blast after blast from your past.

Ready Player One is rated M, and is playing in cinemas now.