Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

First published in 1932 "Brave New World" depicts the realities of a future utopian society. The story is set in London and follows upper-caste members of society as they deal with societal expectations. They are conditioned to be comfortably numb to life's troubles and when they feel too much they can take a pill for that. It is a dark look at what a society loses when individuality is removed "Everyone belongs to everyone else".

Upside
The debate between a Leader and an Uncivilized person about art and God near the end of the book
Most of the reactions to the unknown are grounded in reality

Downside
It starts very technical which can be hard to follow
I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this

Wonder Woman (2017)

Wonder Woman shows the origin story of Diana Prince who was introduced in Batman V Superman. With only a slight tie in to the present, the film takes place during WW1. This is the perfect origin film, it has story and character development but is pushed along by a strong plot.

The young actress playing Diana as a child captures your attention whenever on screen. Chris Pine is great at bringing humanity to a superhero film. Most characters are introduced through comedy, which makes even the minor characters memorable.

Upside
Beautifully shot - fight scenes are dynamic throughout
The acting
Space for plot within character exploration

Downside
I figured out a major twist before it was revealed
Watching the credits anticipating an end credit scene that never came (Marvel has trained us too well)
It is very long 2+ hours - they do use the time well though

The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien

"The Silmarillion" is the mythology behind "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". It follows the time of the elves and the time before. The creation of Middle-earth and how it came to be the way it is in the time of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. It follows various important characters and their families as they live in Middle-earth.

Upside
Details on stories only referred to in Tolkien's other works
A better understanding of Elves and their cultures
Getting to know the land of Middle-earth and why places are named the way they are
Explanation of alliances based on families

Downside
Personally when characters have multiple names because of language translations I can get confused
Hobbits are barely mentioned
The creation of tree Ents is mentioned but I wanted to know more

The Circle (2017) !Spoilers!

For less major spoilers skip to last paragraph.


The Circle follows Mae as she starts work at the new tech company The Circle. She learns that "Sharing is Caring" means everything. The weekend optional activities on The Circle campus become necessary and she soon stops going home at all. As she becomes more integrated into the company community she loses touch with her friends, including the one who got her the interview. When things at home take a turn Mae turns to solitude of a night kayak trip. She is capsized and rescued by connection through The Circle. As a result of this rescue she is convinced that when people are watching she is her best person. Mae then decides to go transparent and live stream herself 24/7. This further sharing of information pushes even her family away. As a test of a new program The Circle attempts to find an old friend that Mae had pushed away. This results in an accident that causes his death. Mae returns home and unconnected, as she reconnects with those she pushed away she decides that The Circle needs to change and that she can do it. She returns to the campus and her transparency. She finds a way to change the way the company is run and because she is transparent with millions of watchers her ideas are heard and implemented quickly.

The Circle is a scarily relevant film about privacy, secrets and safety. The Circle started with having one account using your real name, so there aren't different passwords and security for everything you do online. In the film they liken it to needing a different vehicle for every errand you do online and now just needing one. All interaction is filtered through smiles and frowns and participation meters. It becomes cult-like in the fanaticism of those inside, to the point of suggesting mandatory signup so voting can be done through The Circle platform.

Upside
Very relevant and thought provoking - this could be reality just months into the future
To me it felt similar to "1984" though the plot is quite different

Downside
The ending felt wrong - I think the end would come across better in a book than it did in the film

Aliens in the Attic (2009)

Aliens in the Attic is a family summer movie. It centers around a group of cousins on the first day of vacation. They find some aliens that are trying to invade the world from their lake house. The cousins work together and save the planet without telling the adults what is going on. The oldest girl is busy with her boyfriend for much of the film but once she finds out what is going on is quickly on board. The youngest is understandably scared of the aliens but also befriends one of them. The friendly alien then helps the cousins stop the invasion.

Upside
quoteable
very cool anti-gravity fight
the why don't they call for help conundrum is solved smoothly

Downside
The main character had bad grades on purpose because he was trying to be cool, he uses math once in a fight and now wants to be smart again - the lesson is super obvious
characters often state the obvious
the twins are basically one character and don't even have names for most of the movie

Total Recall

This is part of a paper I wrote focussing on visual effects.

Both “Total Recall” movies are full of visual effects. They both use a lot of holograms. Holograms are part of the world of the original 1990 movie. They look old and grainy compared with the world which is how you can tell they are fake. The tennis hologram is very 2D when Quaid walks through it. Later in the story there are better holograms that are known as holograms because they have no shadow. All these holograms have no logical source. Holograms allow Quaid and Melina to win a fight in the reactor by using them as distractions. The holograms generated by the watch are opaque and look real which is why they work as distractions.

 In the 2012 remake holograms are interactive rather than only mimicking movement. They are 3D and have an obvious source. The hologram at the piano has to render before playing and is semi-transparent. Holograms are also used in advertising. There is at least one sign in the Asian part of the city that Quaid walks through before it re-renders behind him. Holograms are also used instead of screens. The holograms in Rekall are interactive to touch and display information. Other uses are in the info backpack after the small cameras were launched in Rekall to display all the camera views. They are used again to display Quaid’s memories for others to see and decode. Whenever there is hologram technology that is supposed to look futuristic it is blue. The only hologram that looks real in this movie is the technology that disguises Quaid as an old Asian man at security.

Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins is a series of books, a Disney film and a stage musical.

The series of children's books by P.L. Travers consists of 8 books written 1934-1988. Mary Poppins is a magical nanny who takes the Banks children on adventures.

Upside
There are 8 of them
If you know the movie, there is still plenty of new adventures in the books

Downside
They are darker than the Disney film, Mary Poppins' magic isn't so whimsical
There are 5 Banks children by the end of the series, including twins, which can make remembering characters difficult-especially if you are used to Jane and Michael from the film

The Disney film Mary Poppins was released in 1964 and received 13 Academy award nominations. The film is based most on the first book of the Mary Poppins series. It is a musical with songs written by the Sherman brothers.

Upside
Bert-the books have a few minor characters instead
The music!
dancing animated penguins - a new system of filming with a yellow background (like greenscreen) allowed this to work

Downside
Accents - Bert's accent is listed as one of film's all time worst (because it changes throughout the film)
Random magic - the moment on the roof when Bert gets swung out off the edge has always bothered me because he isn't magical so it doesn't make sense that it would happen that way

The stage musical is based more directly on the series of books than the film. It includes dancing with statues in the park which happens in the books but not the film. As a musical it uses some of the songs from the film but also changes them. Verses are changed to be more accessible to the stage story. Listen to the difference between Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in film and stage(at 3 minutes).

Upside
Live entertainment
Mary Poppins actually flies! (at least in the production I saw)
The clean up song was so cool to watch with the props in the kitchen tidying themselves up
Miss Andrews, Mr Banks' childhood nanny is a great antagonist

Downside
Different music
More characters

Mary Poppins is one of my favorite films so I also recommend Saving Mr. Banks. Although not entirely accurate, Saving Mr. Banks is a biopic about P.L. Travers during the making of the film.