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.