Another day, another write-up for a trailer for a movie you’ve never heard of from a writer who’s been waiting for this moment for months.

James Gray may not be a name you’re really aware of, and that’s fine, he wasn’t a recognizable name for me until recently.  But today, we’re going to change that. In 1994, he made his debut feature Little Odessa, and in 2000 he directed and co-wrote The Yards (with Matt Reeves, remember that name for a second).

The first film of his I saw was We Own The Night, this was before I truly got into cinema on anything more than pure surface entertainment level. I thought it was a good film but didn’t think twice about it at the time. Or until I realized who directed it. In 2016, I saw The Lost City of Z, and the film blew my mind. I’ve become obsessed with it over the past few years. Recently, TIFF held a retrospective for Gray and I got the chance to see The Immigrant, and it just made me want to watch all of his work. Lost City also included the one-two punch of showcasing how much Robert Pattinson can get lost in a role – in a good way. Between that and Good Time, it’s very clear why Reeves (who’s directing The Batman) chose him for the role. Which, by the way, the underSCENE very much can get behind.

This brings us to the new trailer for Ad Astra. A sci-fi movie starring Brad Pitt, Liv Tyler, and Tommy Lee Jones. Let’s watch.

 

By the 21st second, I was already hooked. It feels like the adventure – but personal as well – that I’ve become accustomed to being delivered by Gray. At the same time, it’s got a beautiful sense of scale attached to it.

What says you, does this intrigue you as it does to me?