Moviefone Editorial

Tag: brad-bird

  • George Clooney Takes Flight in the New Trailer for Disney’s ‘Tomorrowland’ (VIDEO)

    Disney’s “Tomorrowland,” directed by super genius filmmaker Brad Bird and starring undeniably handsome bloke George Clooney, has been one of the more tantalizing propositions of movies this year. This is a movie that, for years, has been cloaked in mystery, and even as the release date (May 22nd) rapidly approaches, the filmmakers and marketing gurus have been extremely shy about showing off anything from the potential blockbuster. We saw a nifty sequence at New York Comic Con last fall, with an enigmatic trailer premiering around the same time, and a Super Bowl spot that hinted at slightly more footage. Now a full-length trailer has launched (literally) and it hasn’t just lived up to expectations of what the movie would actually look like, it has exceeded them.

    Things, however, are still pretty mysterious. The trailer starts with Clooney saying that, “With every second that ticks by, the future is running out.” We then get more of the “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”-style imagery of Britt Robertson touching a Tomorrowland pin and being whisked away to a futuristic city encircled by golden fields. She hunts down Clooney and demands that he take her to this dreamworld she’s seen. “Did something happen there? Something bad?” she asks. Cue Hugh Laurie turning around.

    That’s followed by footage from New York Comic Con (with Clooney’s house getting ransacked by villainous robots), glimpses of the futuristic city, including flying cars and fighting robots and Laurie turning to Robertson and saying, gravely, “He thinks you can fix the future.”

    The trailer ends with one of the more arresting images of the entire clip, as Clooney and Robertson board an ancient spaceship secreted away inside the Eiffel Tower and blast off towards Tomorrowland. (Tomorrowland’s founders, a group of inventors, scientists and intellectuals called Plus Ultra, first met at the Eiffel Tower.) What the trailer double-underlines is that there’s a real philosophical message at the heart of “Tomorrowland;” this isn’t going to be an empty thrill ride, it’s going to be an exploration of the entire world’s most utopian urges. It’s also going to totally kick ass.

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  • Yes, That’s Space Mountain in the New Poster for ‘Tomorrowland’

    tomorrowland posterIt’s no secret that around here, we’re very excited about “Tomorrowland,” Brad Bird‘s new action adventure outing starring George Clooney and loosely based around the land of the same name that can be explored in Disney parks worldwide. What the literal connection between the movie and the “land” remained vague; mostly the connection is spiritual. This is, after all, about that utopian promise that Walt Disney and similar futurists envisioned for the human race. But this new poster, released ahead of a brand new trailer (set to debut on Monday), makes that connection more concrete.

    If you look at the poster and look directly to the left of the small, overall-wearing character on the left (initially we thought that this was Raffey Cassidy’s young robot character Athena, but it appears to be a child version of Clooney’s Frank Welker, played by Thomas Robinson) amidst the glittering skyline is a distinct and memorable building… Yes, that’s Space Mountain.

    Space Mountain, of course, is one of the most iconic attractions at the Disney theme parks. It originally opened in 1975 at Florida’s Magic Kingdom and in 1977 at California’s Disneyland. (It has subsequently opened at Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland; Shanghai Disneyland is set to include a Space Mountain-ish attraction themed to the world of “Tron.”) It’s a dark, high-speed coaster that sends you hurdling through the cosmos. Of course. I last rode the ride at the end of January in Florida. And it was just as magical as the first time I rode it as a young tot.

    Now how does the ride fit into “Tomorrowland?” That remains to be seen…

    “Tomorrowland” opens on May 22nd.tomorrowland poster%Slideshow-265006%