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
Tuesday, 18 April 2017
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
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.
Saturday, 18 March 2017
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.
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.
Saturday, 18 February 2017
Waldo - Robert A. Heinlein !Spoilers!
The short story "Waldo", follows James Stevens and the circumstances which lead to his meeting with Waldo.
Waldo is a reclusive genius who is contracted to discover why a piece of standard technology continues to fail. In his research he discovers that the source of magic is another dimension. Upon this discovery he repairs the technology, creates access to clean and free energy and heals his body of its genetic muscle weakness.
Upside
The descriptions of technology are very vivid, especially the waldoes and Freehold
The description of the science and the analogies used to describe it are easy to grasp
Downside
The beginning is confusing
For some reason I found it hard to keep the names straight for quite a while
Waldo is a reclusive genius who is contracted to discover why a piece of standard technology continues to fail. In his research he discovers that the source of magic is another dimension. Upon this discovery he repairs the technology, creates access to clean and free energy and heals his body of its genetic muscle weakness.
Upside
The descriptions of technology are very vivid, especially the waldoes and Freehold
The description of the science and the analogies used to describe it are easy to grasp
Downside
The beginning is confusing
For some reason I found it hard to keep the names straight for quite a while
Tuesday, 7 February 2017
Nightfall - Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg
"Nightfall" is based on a popular short story of the same name published in 1941. The novel is broken into three parts: Twilight, Nightfall, Daybreak.
Twilight begins introducing all the main characters separately and their individual discoveries. Slowly the characters begin to meet and share information at the University which leads them to believe that their world of Kalgash with six suns will experience darkness on a global scale. This understanding leads the characters to Nightfall a year later and together for the event that will change the planet's understanding of the world. Never having experienced night the planet had never seen stars. In the darkness people panicked but the appearance of stars brought the population to madness. Daybreak is the experience of the characters as they regain sanity and move about the planet in a new society governed by crazies.
Upside
The premise of a whole planet experiencing night for the first time together and discovering the existence of stars
Sheerin is just an enjoyable character
It is really fascinating Sci-Fi as there isn't any Science that doesn't already exist on Earth
The forward by Asimov and Silverberg explaining that it is an alien planet but the translated to English terms so it would be easier for the reader to understand
Downside
Nightfall section lost momentum when it jumped nearly a year in time
The names are so different it really took me a while to get the characters straight
The reveal about Mondior at the end didn't have as much punch as I am sure it was supposed to just based on the fact I have read other similar reveals recently
Twilight begins introducing all the main characters separately and their individual discoveries. Slowly the characters begin to meet and share information at the University which leads them to believe that their world of Kalgash with six suns will experience darkness on a global scale. This understanding leads the characters to Nightfall a year later and together for the event that will change the planet's understanding of the world. Never having experienced night the planet had never seen stars. In the darkness people panicked but the appearance of stars brought the population to madness. Daybreak is the experience of the characters as they regain sanity and move about the planet in a new society governed by crazies.
Upside
The premise of a whole planet experiencing night for the first time together and discovering the existence of stars
Sheerin is just an enjoyable character
It is really fascinating Sci-Fi as there isn't any Science that doesn't already exist on Earth
The forward by Asimov and Silverberg explaining that it is an alien planet but the translated to English terms so it would be easier for the reader to understand
Downside
Nightfall section lost momentum when it jumped nearly a year in time
The names are so different it really took me a while to get the characters straight
The reveal about Mondior at the end didn't have as much punch as I am sure it was supposed to just based on the fact I have read other similar reveals recently
Monday, 23 January 2017
Moana (2016) !Spoilers!
Moana is Disney's latest animated musical. I suspected it would be over-hyped like Frozen but I really enjoy it.
Much like Frozen, Moana follows a girl on a musical journey with a travelling companion and an animal. Moana, as the daughter of the Cheiftain is meant to be the next village leader. She is not satisfied staying on her island and wants to travel the ocean beyond the reef that protects the island. Her Grandmother encourages her to be different and follow her heart because following her head is frustrating. Moana discovers that her ancestors used to voyage and explore but no longer do because the boats stopped coming back.The darkness that was beyond the reef finally reaches the island. Moana realizes that something needs to change for anything to get better, she decides to find the demi-god Maui to get him to stop the darkness that he started by returning what he stole. Of course this isn't simple and things happen on the way. Even as she lay dying, Moana's Grandmother tells her to go to the ocean and find Maui.
The music is very powerful. Similar to Frozen's "Let it Go", these songs feel like they belong in a Broadway musical; this make sense with Lin-Manuel Miranda writing a few of the songs. After watching the movie I had the music in my head until I bought the soundtrack and was able to listen to it again.
Upside
The short before the movie
The music
The unique locations - the realm of monsters was especially cool looking
Downside
This is yet another Disney movie where a character dies-this time to come back as an encouraging ghost.
The pet pig that was so often in the trailers didn't really have anything to do
Much like Frozen, Moana follows a girl on a musical journey with a travelling companion and an animal. Moana, as the daughter of the Cheiftain is meant to be the next village leader. She is not satisfied staying on her island and wants to travel the ocean beyond the reef that protects the island. Her Grandmother encourages her to be different and follow her heart because following her head is frustrating. Moana discovers that her ancestors used to voyage and explore but no longer do because the boats stopped coming back.The darkness that was beyond the reef finally reaches the island. Moana realizes that something needs to change for anything to get better, she decides to find the demi-god Maui to get him to stop the darkness that he started by returning what he stole. Of course this isn't simple and things happen on the way. Even as she lay dying, Moana's Grandmother tells her to go to the ocean and find Maui.
The music is very powerful. Similar to Frozen's "Let it Go", these songs feel like they belong in a Broadway musical; this make sense with Lin-Manuel Miranda writing a few of the songs. After watching the movie I had the music in my head until I bought the soundtrack and was able to listen to it again.
Upside
The short before the movie
The music
The unique locations - the realm of monsters was especially cool looking
Downside
This is yet another Disney movie where a character dies-this time to come back as an encouraging ghost.
The pet pig that was so often in the trailers didn't really have anything to do
Saturday, 14 January 2017
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
I am admittedly behind the times to only watch and review this film now, but I am not a big fan Wes Anderson and therefore put it off. What a mistake that was.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a fascinating film that must be studied to be properly appreciated. For example, I noticed immediately the first time the frame ratio changed but not that every time period had a unique ratio until looking at it again. Also being set mostly in the 1880s the old style iris effect was used to end some scenes and focus on a single character. The way the camera moved was usually quick to lead you toward what was important rather than focusing on every detail.
The story itself is straight forward but the way it is told is not. The story is in four times; a young lady visiting the memorial of an author and remembering his book; the author explaining how he got the idea for the book; the author listening to someone tell him the story; the story. Each of these time periods are visually distinct with colour palette and frame ratio as well as set and wardrobe that match each period.
Up Side
I enjoyed this movie as a visual experience and a study in editing. I liked the characters and enjoyed the little visual jokes. There are matte paintings, illustration/animation shots to push the style of the whole film.
Down Side
A lot of swearing and implied sex, also a naked women art piece and out right talk about sex. But it is rated R so that is to be expected. Also there is a dismembered head at one point, it is shown briefly and doesn't look too real.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is a fascinating film that must be studied to be properly appreciated. For example, I noticed immediately the first time the frame ratio changed but not that every time period had a unique ratio until looking at it again. Also being set mostly in the 1880s the old style iris effect was used to end some scenes and focus on a single character. The way the camera moved was usually quick to lead you toward what was important rather than focusing on every detail.
The story itself is straight forward but the way it is told is not. The story is in four times; a young lady visiting the memorial of an author and remembering his book; the author explaining how he got the idea for the book; the author listening to someone tell him the story; the story. Each of these time periods are visually distinct with colour palette and frame ratio as well as set and wardrobe that match each period.
Up Side
I enjoyed this movie as a visual experience and a study in editing. I liked the characters and enjoyed the little visual jokes. There are matte paintings, illustration/animation shots to push the style of the whole film.
Down Side
A lot of swearing and implied sex, also a naked women art piece and out right talk about sex. But it is rated R so that is to be expected. Also there is a dismembered head at one point, it is shown briefly and doesn't look too real.
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