Wes Anderson has been a director that has confounded me over the last couple of decades. Some of his movies I liked very much, others (Ok, the French Dispatch) made me ill. I watched about 10 minutes of this movie and then shut it off as it very much felt like a repeat of Dispatch. I took a break for a few days and then came back to it. During that watch, I think I began to “get” Anderson. It seems as though one might be best served not treating his movies as….well, movies. I found that I had a much better time with this movie when I looked at it as something totally different than a movie. At first I derided Anderson for making worlds instead of movies, but maybe that is his genius. I love movies because of the journey that they can take me on in 2 hours – why should this be any different?
Beyond that, I am not sure how much I should be reading into the movie. On the surface it all seems so simple and colorful, but I found myself thinking of other personal themes towards the end of the movie. And isn’t that also what art is supposed to be about? I remember reading that R.E.M. wouldn’t post the lyrics to their songs because they wanted the listener to find their own lyrics and meanings. Maybe the same kind of logic can be applied to Anderson’s movies. And who knows, maybe I’ll give French Dispatch another look.
IHATEBadMovies.com reviews Asteroid City
Movie title: Asteroid City
Movie description: In an American desert town circa 1955, the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
Date published: 2023-07-27
Director(s): Wes Anderson
Actor(s): Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, Grace Edwards, Aristou Meehan, Sophia Lillis, Ethan Josh Lee, Ella Faris, Gracie Faris, Willan Faris, Deanna Dunagan, Vandi Clark, Pedro Placer, Iván López, Aaron Ziobrowski, Celia Bermejo, Zoe Bernard, Brayden Frasure, Preston Mota, Kyleigh Fuller, Henry Rhoades, Jack Eyman, Willa Skye, Annalise Mackulin, Calhoun Metcalf, Seu Jorge, Jarvis Cocker, Pere Mallén, Jean-Yves Lozac'h, Damien Bonnard, Ramón Ródenas, Wendy Nottingham, Bob Balaban, Fisher Stevens, Mike Maggart, Elvira Arce, Nicolas Avinée, Mohamed Belhadjine, Katy Heffernan-Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Hong Chau, Paul Kynman, Sam Marra, Rita Wilson, Ara Hollyday, Kenneth Bate, Christian Bate, Margot Robbie, Sandy Hamilton, Roberto Moreno de Matias, Francisco Serrano, Francisco Javier Gomez, Jacinto Domingo Torija, Alvaro Olivas Marques, Dominique Fouassier, Pablo Amoros, Yann Tremblay, Sébastien Fouassier, Carlos Arimón, Antonio Graziano, Nuria Gigorro, Raquel Jiménez Martinez, Jorge Francisco Mena Garcia, Ana Isabel Comendador Martínez, Carlos Saez, Karine Niederman, Jesús Olivas Santos, Jose Luis Figueroa, Pascale Coppola, Matilda Clarke, Milagros Ahijon, Paula Domingo, Crístian García Jiménez, Junior Harris, Robert Tattam, Eusebio Mateo Diaz, Stéphane Bak, Tom Hudson, Rodolphe Pauly, Aimee Mullins, Valérie Sadoun, Erica Dorn, Julia Kruger, Anisse Elias, Rebecca Cornford, Avery Looser, Guy Trevellyan, Truman Hanks, Honor Northridge, Eliel Ford, Caris Yeoman, Yann Pozzoli, Sonia Gascón, Mariam Huélamo, Timothy Cordukes, Carmen Méndez, Ainhoa Aldanondo, Marta Rubio, Marcos Pereiro, Susana Hornos, Alicia San Lorenzo, Palmira Ferrer, Jose Antonio Turiégano Carrasco, Pilar Ramírez Escalona, Virginia Romano Álvarez, Milagros Reyeros Ruiz, Jonatan Buitrago Díaz, Ricardo Mohedas Tiñana, Carlos Arroyo, Ismael González Carrasco, Celedonio Guijarro Cano, Juan Abad Molina, Patricia Colin, Elena Uriz, Jose Segovia Ortiz, Enrique Ruiz Granado, Juan Carlos Iglesias Gómez, Oscar Minguez Garcia-Patron, Guillermo García, David Navarro Romero, Javier Gigorro de las Peñas, Alejandro García Aparicio, Diego Maldonado Davila, David Rodríguez Moreno, Mario Perez Lomas, Alejandro Urbina Escalona, David Verdejo Escribano, Adrián Corpa Fernández, Jesús Jiménez Caler, Francisco Corrales Rubio, Sergio Martinez Martinez, Félix Israel Pinilla de la Guia, Jay Lau, Mario Turiégano Delgado, Pedro Padilla Perez, Randall Poster, Matthew Frasure, Chris Faris, Erika Godwin, Sara Greisberg, Manuela Martinez Zafra
Genre: Comedy, Drama
My Review
Wes Anderson has been a director that has confounded me over the last couple of decades. Some of his movies I liked very much, others (Ok, the French Dispatch) made me ill. I watched about 10 minutes of this movie and then shut it off as it very much felt like a repeat of Dispatch. I took a break for a few days and then came back to it. During that watch, I think I began to “get” Anderson. It seems as though one might be best served not treating his movies as….well, movies. I found that I had a much better time with this movie when I looked at it as something totally different than a movie. At first I derided Anderson for making worlds instead of movies, but maybe that is his genius. I love movies because of the journey that they can take me on in 2 hours – why should this be any different?
Beyond that, I am not sure how much I should be reading into the movie. On the surface it all seems so simple and colorful, but I found myself thinking of other personal themes towards the end of the movie. And isn’t that also what art is supposed to be about? I remember reading that R.E.M. wouldn’t post the lyrics to their songs because they wanted the listener to find their own lyrics and meanings. Maybe the same kind of logic can be applied to Anderson’s movies. And who knows, maybe I’ll give French Dispatch another look.
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My Review - 7/10
7/10