Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
05-26-15, 09:52 AM
#201
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Good not great... It started out terrifically but fizzled and I wanted to love it. There's a great movie in the story but a mediocre screenwriter could only get a good movie out of it.
05-26-15, 03:18 PM
#202
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
via Geektyrant...
If you saw Tomorrowland this past weekend, you'll probably remember some discussion about a group called Plus Ultra, which consisted of Thomas Edison, Jules Verne, Nikola Tesla, and Gustave Eiffel. In the film's alternate history, these creative giants put their heads together and became the founders of Tomorrowland, a utopian land in which scientists were free to experiment without boundaries in an effort to innovate and inspire.
Director Brad Bird, who won two Oscars for Best Animated Film while working at Pixar, reteamed with the company on Tomorrowland, originally envisioning an animated sequence that would provide some backstory about the creation of Plus Ultra at the beginning of the film when Frank goes under the It's A Small World ride. The scene, which contains voice work by Maurice LaMarche, was cut from the final release, but now it's available to watch online, so you can check it out below:
<iframe width="660" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w-USh0Womb4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Director Brad Bird, who won two Oscars for Best Animated Film while working at Pixar, reteamed with the company on Tomorrowland, originally envisioning an animated sequence that would provide some backstory about the creation of Plus Ultra at the beginning of the film when Frank goes under the It's A Small World ride. The scene, which contains voice work by Maurice LaMarche, was cut from the final release, but now it's available to watch online, so you can check it out below:
<iframe width="660" height="415" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w-USh0Womb4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
05-26-15, 03:24 PM
#203
DVD Talk Legend
Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Yeah I agree that it definitely started out a lot better than it ended. The first hour or so was a ton of fun if you ask me but the second half wasn't quite as good. Honestly I found some aspects of the story a bit confusing and think I'd have a hard time really explaining it. You almost have to watch it to grasp it fully. I did overall still enjoy it but I agree that it could have been a lot better. I still think that the runtime could have been cut down a bit too.
05-26-15, 04:35 PM
#205
Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
A few thoughts after viewing that scene you posted (and thank you!):
1) The basic premise outlined here reminds me a great deal of the 1936 sci-fi classic, THINGS TO COME, based on a story by H.G. Wells (who was left out of that quartet of geniuses, for some reason--he could have been around for that meeting in 1899). In fact, THINGS TO COME could easily have been called TOMORROWLAND. If you haven't seen THINGS TO COME, I highly recommend it. It was available in high-contrast public domain tapes for years, but Criterion recently released it in Blu-ray. (I have the Blu-ray but haven't watched it yet.)
2) I would love to see a whole animated film done in the style of that scene. That's the way Disney used to animate his science specials done for the old Disneyland TV series. Have you guys ever seen "Mars and Beyond"? It's got some of the best science fiction animation outside of Japanese anime. In any event, I might be more eager to see TOMORROWLAND if it had been animated.
3) When I first saw the trailer for TOMORROWLAND, I immediately thought of "Toward the Terra," a classic science fiction manga (by Japan's first woman sci-fi manga creator), which was made into an anime feature in 1980 and an anime TV series in 2007. Of course, I'll have to see TOMORROWLAND to see if there's any connection between the two. Probably not.
1) The basic premise outlined here reminds me a great deal of the 1936 sci-fi classic, THINGS TO COME, based on a story by H.G. Wells (who was left out of that quartet of geniuses, for some reason--he could have been around for that meeting in 1899). In fact, THINGS TO COME could easily have been called TOMORROWLAND. If you haven't seen THINGS TO COME, I highly recommend it. It was available in high-contrast public domain tapes for years, but Criterion recently released it in Blu-ray. (I have the Blu-ray but haven't watched it yet.)
2) I would love to see a whole animated film done in the style of that scene. That's the way Disney used to animate his science specials done for the old Disneyland TV series. Have you guys ever seen "Mars and Beyond"? It's got some of the best science fiction animation outside of Japanese anime. In any event, I might be more eager to see TOMORROWLAND if it had been animated.
3) When I first saw the trailer for TOMORROWLAND, I immediately thought of "Toward the Terra," a classic science fiction manga (by Japan's first woman sci-fi manga creator), which was made into an anime feature in 1980 and an anime TV series in 2007. Of course, I'll have to see TOMORROWLAND to see if there's any connection between the two. Probably not.
05-26-15, 04:44 PM
#206
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Yeah. The animation is a neat nod to Disney. Among other things. I loved seeing those old clips of Disney on the Disney Channel. They'd play them and I thought they were very interesting.
05-26-15, 07:13 PM
#208
Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Here's a typical image from, I think, "Man in Space":
05-26-15, 11:04 PM
#209
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Wow - the last hour of this movie was insufferable... so boring, heavy handed and just a green screen fest. Yawn.
05-28-15, 02:51 AM
#210
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
I honestly enjoyed it, it was a simple and whimsical plot, sure, but it's supposed to be a kid-orientated movie. Message got across I suppose. I liked it though. Made me happy for some reason.
05-28-15, 07:28 AM
#211
Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
It was an average movie. I can see what Brad Bird was trying to go for, but it felt it veered off course somewhere. Lots of nice effects, but the plot itself was lacking and the execution was way off. Strange as Bird usually does a good job.
05-28-15, 09:40 AM
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
A few thoughts after viewing that scene you posted (and thank you!):
1) The basic premise outlined here reminds me a great deal of the 1936 sci-fi classic, THINGS TO COME, based on a story by H.G. Wells (who was left out of that quartet of geniuses, for some reason--he could have been around for that meeting in 1899). In fact, THINGS TO COME could easily have been called TOMORROWLAND. If you haven't seen THINGS TO COME, I highly recommend it. It was available in high-contrast public domain tapes for years, but Criterion recently released it in Blu-ray. (I have the Blu-ray but haven't watched it yet.)
2) I would love to see a whole animated film done in the style of that scene. That's the way Disney used to animate his science specials done for the old Disneyland TV series. Have you guys ever seen "Mars and Beyond"? It's got some of the best science fiction animation outside of Japanese anime. In any event, I might be more eager to see TOMORROWLAND if it had been animated.
3) When I first saw the trailer for TOMORROWLAND, I immediately thought of "Toward the Terra," a classic science fiction manga (by Japan's first woman sci-fi manga creator), which was made into an anime feature in 1980 and an anime TV series in 2007. Of course, I'll have to see TOMORROWLAND to see if there's any connection between the two. Probably not.
1) The basic premise outlined here reminds me a great deal of the 1936 sci-fi classic, THINGS TO COME, based on a story by H.G. Wells (who was left out of that quartet of geniuses, for some reason--he could have been around for that meeting in 1899). In fact, THINGS TO COME could easily have been called TOMORROWLAND. If you haven't seen THINGS TO COME, I highly recommend it. It was available in high-contrast public domain tapes for years, but Criterion recently released it in Blu-ray. (I have the Blu-ray but haven't watched it yet.)
2) I would love to see a whole animated film done in the style of that scene. That's the way Disney used to animate his science specials done for the old Disneyland TV series. Have you guys ever seen "Mars and Beyond"? It's got some of the best science fiction animation outside of Japanese anime. In any event, I might be more eager to see TOMORROWLAND if it had been animated.
3) When I first saw the trailer for TOMORROWLAND, I immediately thought of "Toward the Terra," a classic science fiction manga (by Japan's first woman sci-fi manga creator), which was made into an anime feature in 1980 and an anime TV series in 2007. Of course, I'll have to see TOMORROWLAND to see if there's any connection between the two. Probably not.
Last edited by Mabuse; 05-28-15 at 12:13 PM.
06-01-15, 11:41 PM
#213
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Either I missed it completely or just got confused, but what was the item Frank invented that got him exiled from the Tomorrowland?
06-02-15, 07:23 AM
#214
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When you consider how precise and slick Bird's previous films were, this kind of feels disappointingly frenetic and ramshackle. The script and pacing are all over the place. It's fairly violent for a PG-rated Disney film too. Sadly, Bird's first misfire.
06-02-15, 09:21 AM
#215
06-02-15, 10:53 AM
#216
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Oh, I had thought the little 100 ton bomb entrapment. But then, he didn't invented the atomic bomb that led to the annihilation of the world. Oppenheimer invented the atomic bomb. It's just confusing, if Frank had invented this terrible device to see the future, then why do Tommorrowland still use it? Shouldn't they have destroy the device when they exiled Frank? It's pretty messed up to exile the inventor and then kept his invention and use it regularly.
06-02-15, 11:02 AM
#217
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Oh, I had thought the little 100 ton bomb entrapment. But then, he didn't invented the atomic bomb that led to the annihilation of the world. Oppenheimer invented the atomic bomb. It's just confusing, if Frank had invented this terrible device to see the future, then why do Tommorrowland still use it? Shouldn't they have destroy the device when they exiled Frank? It's pretty messed up to exile the inventor and then kept his invention and use it regularly.
Spoiler:
Pretty much to keep Tomorrowland in check.
06-02-15, 11:11 AM
#218
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
He invented a machine that could see forward and backward in time. When they looked forward they saw that in 40-something years the Earth was going to be destroyed with 100% certainty. This knowledge stifled their innovation and made them cancel their plan to "go public". When the girl shows up at Clooney's house the certainty drops to 99.94% or something like that because of her, I don't know, optimism or something. Basically they gave up because they thought the Earth was doomed.
06-02-15, 12:39 PM
#219
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. The people of Tomorrowland saw this one potential future and believed it to be inescapable. They then became obsessed with monitoring its progress. But at some point,
Spoiler:
07-21-15, 01:34 PM
#220
Challenge Guru & Comic Nerd
Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Saw this and Avengers: Age of Ultron at the local cheap theater yesterday. Didn't read the whole thread, but as others have said, it started off really well but dragged at the end. My wife and I were ready for it to end about halfway through. Still glad I saw it I guess.
Disappointed that the cheap theaters raised their prices since last time I went though. Last year was able to get a ticket, popcorn, and a drink for under $10. Now it's closer to $20.
Disappointed that the cheap theaters raised their prices since last time I went though. Last year was able to get a ticket, popcorn, and a drink for under $10. Now it's closer to $20.
08-15-15, 07:15 AM
#221
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
3/5 maybe not what everyone was expecting, but still good movie well worth a watch. more for older teens or adults that are young at heart.
08-15-15, 03:09 PM
#222
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
As the thread creator and a big Brad Bird fan, I still have yet to see this. Looks like that secretive marketing campaign backfired spectacularly.
08-15-15, 04:09 PM
#223
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Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
I still want to see this. Kind of regret I didn't. Seems like I would have greatly enjoyed a good part of this, flawed or not.
10-15-15, 10:00 AM
#224
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
Brought the blu-ray yesterday along with Aladdin. I thought it was good not great. Not a big fan of George Clooney but I thought he did okay. Would have loved to see more scene of Casey when she first landed on Tomorrowland. I gave it a 3 out 5. Loved the easter egg in scene when
.
Spoiler:
10-15-15, 11:05 AM
#225
DVD Talk Hero
Re: Tomorrowland (2015, Bird) S: Clooney, Robertson, Laurie
The first 3/4s of the movie were really good for the most part -- if a bit tonally off. The "motives" part, the final quarter, made very little sense and it eventually just went full Lindelof.