Is Asteroid City Wes Anderson's Best Film? - First Thoughts
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- What do you think about Wes Anderson's latest existential movie? Let me know in the comments below!
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Movies shown
Asteroid City
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The French Dispatch
The Royal Tenenbaums
On the Waterfront
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Music by
sweet release
The alien was probably the funniest yet creepiest design I’ve ever seen.
It felt like it was in the theater with us. I hated it
Did the alien break the 4th wall?
@@JohnnyCatFitz not any more than the rest of the movie lol
I thought it was kind of adorable
Great review, but you missed a major subtext. _Asteroid City_ shows the stages of life through three groups of characters, four if you count Tupperware Mom. The self assured children exude confidence in every action. The teens begin discovering more complex social dynamics. The adults have moved in to playing a role. Don't question too deeply or you'll miss your cue.
There is much more going on in this movie than I expected.
My impression is that he's achieved the peak of his themes and manierisms. I can only presume his next film will be a turn into another direction.
Cool review but I was not ready for the Tom Selleck stache.
Looks good btw
I felt like Tom Hanks was playing the role that Bill Murray would've played. Thank you for the rant on all the terrible Wes Anderson parodies and AI thingies that are annoyingly reductive -- they seem to suggest Wes Anderson is a simple mechanical filter that can be applied to anything and disregard how meticulous he is with all of his compositions and deeper meaning. ASTEROID CITY is a gorgeous piece of work though I'm not sure it all comes together for me in the end, which is why I've been reading up reactions and watching videos like this. I enjoyed the journey but at the end was trying to figure out what it was all about. "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep" seemed to be a big key, and I guess I could cook up something about the interplay between the the action of the play, the tv documentary about the play, and the behind-the-scenes of the making of the play... but it didn't immediately fall into place for me in the end (the way other Anderson films have). Though, as said, I enjoyed the journey.
Absolutely beautifully put! Your experience almost mirrors my own.
No, I think Bill Murray was going to play the Steve Carrel role.
@@miguelrosado6348that is correct
Didn't Augie wake up only to find everyone had packed up and left as soon as the quarantine lifted?
I am in the minority on this one. I am a massive Wes Anderson fan and was unbelievably hyped for this film. I felt like it was going to harken back to his Grand Budapest days in both style and fun, quirky plot.
But this movie really didn't do it for me. The plot was essentially nowhere to be found and it felt like Wes lost himself while filming, relying on artistic style more than literally anything else. Don't get me wrong, the style is why many of us go to see his films and in that case, it was great. But he came close to expressing an existential dilemma but transitioned from story to story way too quickly for an audience member to hold on to the plot.
Yes, this film was about him and was very meta about his awareness to his style, and again, I loved the artistry of this film. But when I go see a Wes Anderson film I want to see a fun plot that matches the fun interactions between his insecure adult characters and confident young characters. This movie fell flat, in my opinion, for the general audience, only appealing to film-heads that dig deep for meaning and love Wes for his name and nothing else.
I loved the film because I of it’s layered approach. I felt like he scratched the surface of what he achieved here with Grand Budapest Hotel, and further explored the concept with French Dispatch, but those were still more conventional Wes Anderson films.
While all of the trademarks are present in the new film, it felt like he was creating a love letter to the postwar screenwriters and actors coming out of the Strasberg, Meisner, and Adler schools of acting. The meta narrative elements appealed to me because he was having fun with the form while still remaining on brand.
Having Cranston appear in a Rod Steiger-like performance, the homages to Tennessee Williams and Elia Kazan were not things I was expecting when I saw how whimsical the trailer was.
The nesting story within a story, but this time interspersing the behind the scenes of how the story came to be gave the film a richness I responded to positively.
And I loved how assured the film was in its use of stillness. You hear traces of music faintly playing in the distance, but not being the driving force of so many of his scenes (which he’s done excellently in his past films). It was a welcomed change of pace, a sign that he’s still growing as a filmmaker and not just phoning it in with another quirky, deadpan, symmetrically composed creation that seems to be the only thing people think of when they reference his movies. I also feel that the movie will get better with each viewing. It sort of reminds me of when Bob Fosse referenced 81/2 for his quasi-autobiographical film. Instead of delivering a traditional narrative about a hard living, morally dubious creative icon, he infused the story with surrealistic elements that paid homage to another movie centering around the creative rut. And he added elements of a televised musical number that ended up treating the material with the kind of irreverence that has been welcomed by viewers who never saw the film during its theatrical run. It could have been a more conventional “and then this happened” type of narrative but by taking chances, the film has become a celebrated work of art. I think Anderson is at a point in his career where the knives are out for him and he’s showing that he still has more ideas left in the chamber. I was glad this wasn’t just another “typical Wes Anderson movie for the instagrammers and tik tokers”.
This movie melted my brain in the best way possible. His brain is truly magical. The layers upon layers were so intriguing. I can’t wait to see this again and again to pick a part all the nuance and allusions.
My girlfriend and I watched Astroid City in a "gold class" cinema (luxury chairs, food and wine brought in intermittently) and had the entire place to ourselves. I literally cried a little bit, it was a great film and the best movie experience I've ever had as a whole. Wes Anderson's best piece of film/art so far in my opinion, it felt like The life Aquatic pushed as far as it could go.
"Sometimes I sometimes still think I still hear her here." Why was this burned into my memory... It lives with me now
its meta AF and definitely top 3 of his films, need to watch it again but its arguably his best work, its also not jason swartzman who stars but like all wes Anderson films. the director is the main star
As a long-time admirer of Wes Anderson, I am quite disappointed to say that this movie was completely dull and boring. The stellar cast did not even come close to living up to its true potential. This movie tries to be clever by introducing several layers to the story, but all that these layers end up doing is make the movie more tedious and annoying to get through. I thought the story & characters in the play itself were okay -- however, the story about the story was totally unnecessary. All those scenes with Adrien Brody and Edward Norton seemed utterly yawn inducing and super confusing. Overall, I wish I could have watched a different movie and not been so excited about this absolute train-wreck of a film.
Jason Schwartzman really is rather quietly brilliant. (Bored to Death is one of my favorite shows ever, hope y'all have seen it).
Great show with one of the worst endings ever.
@@stefanstenroos6344 True about the ending unfortunately
Shopgirl is a top 20 movie for me because of him.
Bored to Death is the most apt title I've yet encountered. The show was incredibly dull.
Kino Escobar
more like Kino Pascal
John “Kino” Holmes.
Hey brother! I featured you in my latest video where I rewrote Asteroid City to give it more of a story line and character arc. Would love for you to check it out and see what you think of my changes to Wes' story! I totally agree with you that Rushmore is the best Wes film!! Have a happy day 😁
Fantastic review! Thanks so much for your insights! 👍🙏🏻
Looking kino
Looking corner
Classic Wes and I bet it wins Oscars
the oscars actually ignores wes alot so i doubt it this film already has the best cinematography of this year but the oscars probably will give a oscars to someone else
Not enough minorities is common narrative I hear from Wes Anderson haters, which is just absurd.
@@jonasseorum5471 It's a fair criticism for almost any director. Wes Anderson hasn't had one film that has more than 2 minorities in the cast and should definitely try to include less White people.
@@ripHikuno one cares
I hope so, too. If "Everything, Everywhere, All At Once" can win then the door is wide open. He's due for his time in the spotlight.
I felt that the exploration of themes didn’t go very deep here. I was very interested in the setups for each character but felt we didn’t actually get to explore them and their development very much.
Same. Any number of these side characters/stories could have been a main two-hour film of its own. It was almost as if Wes was purposefully teasing the audience.
It’s like if he made The Grand Budapest hotel now he would cut 30 minutes of the movie out to have an inconsequential side story with the girl from the beginning pointing out how Gustave and Zero are fictional characters. So dumb.
Easily my favorite film of his ever
I'm excited for this one. I was lukewarm on the Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch so I'm hoping this film resonates with me more. From your description, I think I'll enjoy it.
Also, so jealous you got to see Close Encounters on the big screen. I'd love to see the communication scene on the big screen.
I saw it at Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn tonight and i thought it was a ton of fun and keeps interesting themes. Hes definitely self aware about his style and i think just likes to have fun with the setting and theme he is going for. Hes definitely experimenting a bit with story lines and the length was perfect and flew by. Ill check it out again soon.
Hearing more about this movie, I’m more convinced that most of Andersons movies are really just productions of Max Fischer. Wes made some wonderful movies early on but I can’t get into the majority of his stuff and I think I figured out why. The movies feel like Max productions inside of Rushmore. Those were great as little bits of a movie, but don’t work as a whole movie.
Not his best works, but still an overall entertaining and well made film.
I agree that the story and thematic elements of the film weren’t as strong as previous films. Definitely a more artistic consistency being set in only two separate settings (Astroid city & theater play) compared to French dispatch, which not only changed settings, but medias to correspond to each story being told. Definitely one of Wes Anderson biggest star cast, though not all were given prominent scenes.
I still need time to digested and also rewatch the film to give my final impressions, but if you’re a Wes Anderson fan your still enjoy the experience.
A film with a gimmicky second strand treating the main story as just a theatre play and spoiling it with jumpouts into irrelevant actor angst moments, is nobody's best. It could be done to practically any film, and would have the same drag down spellbreaking effect.
Like any film, it would be better as just the main story and without that. I can only think of the notorious ending to Monty Python and the Holy Grail for comparison for a film smashing up its own story concept.
This feels more like a movie explained than a first thoughts. The whole movie is blown here. Thank God I watched it blind before looking anything like this up.
I find my appreciation of any Wes Anderson film grows with each watch
asteroid city is easily the movie I'm most excited for. Wes Anderson is easily one of few mainstream directors that has a unique style and voice in hollywood.
the one problem i niticed was that the term "braniac" wasnt used in the mid fifties when the movie is set, it comes from the Superman villain Braniac who debuted in 1959, and wasnt used popularly until thee seventies
Just watched it. Entertaining, but not 'deep' in any way. And the whole 'breaking the 4th wall' , play-within a story-within a drama thing is well-worn. Shakespeare himself did it! and at it's extremes in Von Trier's Dogville, it's just bloody annoying! It's enjoyable, amusing, touching even, let's leave it at that.
It's an absolutley horrible film. Anderson films = empty Tupperware.
I wouldn't say that 'Asteroid City' is about "grief, the space age, actor's studio, religion, and the films from that era." Just because he 'riffs' briefly on all those topics (they serve as a source of witty dialog) does not mean that he's really making points about any of them. The very fact that he tosses all those topics into one pot really suggests something more like 'name-dropping,' in much the same way that the title-credits feature an endless list of currently popular actors. A 'shotgun' approach that suggests complexity, but really just represents an opaque clutter.
Good review. I thought it was an absolutely beautiful, incredibly confusing snoozefest & too many characters to care about any of them... I love a lot of Wes Anderson movies, but it felt like a parody of Wes Anderson esque film mechanisms & I couldn't wait for it to be over.
Thanks for the video, especially… touting the big screen… and I love Wes Anderson… SO imaginative… visually, and in the story telling …
meh. just cuz the ai art may be reductionist doesn't mean it's not true. symmetrical, centered, level, bg walls perpendicular to camera axis, usually with a single focal length prime lens... that's the man's style and the ai examples would stand out as anderson-ish even if they weren't identified as such.
I loved with how being self aware of the fact that it’s all a play, I felt myself wondering how much of what was being said was the characters going off book in the story with the occasional mishap that makes the situation they’re in just feel like something wasn’t how god, or the writer of the play intended. I also walked away from it feeling as though there was some sort of moral to be said about the whole thing with it all being a play, but I couldn’t quite make it make sense in my head as one be all end all answer for myself!
It is definitely in his top 5, but I do not know if it is his best. Still pretty good though, especially when dealing with an ensemble piece. Better than The French Dispatch.
Far too much emotion. There simply wasn’t enough people staring at each other, and not saying a thing. What else is fine cinema all about… People trying to pretend to be an emotional. 00 I hope each one of them gets tens of millions of dollars for standing there and fucking staring.
Liked the movie. Also liked The Grand Budapest and the French Dispatch. Not a fan of the others. The alien bitt got a big rise from the audience and I enjoyed it. Loved the framing and color. Lot's of dialogue in this one. I was pleasantly surprised Wes was able to keep my interest up with just, for the most part, the script. About 3/4 the way through there was a lull but Wes picked it up and got things going again. Plenty of introspection for the unwell out there and lots of beautiful, interesting and funny stuff for the rest of us. Two thumbs up.
I'm clearly not getting it, thought this was only marginally better than French Dispatch
Great review! , I just watched it in my countries avant premiere and I had a blast , its a very chill but very very personal wes anderson film , for me , the music score just knocked it out of the park .
Damn I really thought they were in Asteroid City, should've watched the movie first
Great point that it's a small movie with a big cast. You can often tell when the money is going to attract the big names instead of into things like set pieces or locations. Because of the state of the film industry today being what it is, except in the case of Tom Cruise one star isn't enough to sell a movie to the public anymore, that's why you see so many ensemble casts. It *would* be dope to see Wes Anderson tackle a more character focused film again, like Mr. Fox.
From what I understand, they all take SAG scale for an Anderson film. They just want to be in these films and take a vacation wherever they shoot.
I just love Wes Anderson's films. I'm a huge fan.
Bill Murray was in rushmore fyi, probably my favorite bill murray role ever.
I had a great time, it's a beautiful movie, and I laughed a lot. I do wish I understood what he was trying to say with it better, however.
I saw asteroid city at the cannes film festival, i didn't get to see the premiere but went the next morning at 8. I was pretty tiered and a bit hungover so take what it say with a grain of salt. I love Wes Anderson films, or more accurately I really enjoy them. This one wasn't any different. But I just couldn't get the feeling out that it was out of place at the festival, I saw some spectacular films in competition not to mention the even more innovative shorts. Asteroid city just felt like another Wes film, which isn't bad, as I said I liked it, but fell short compared to the others. Ps don't watch meta heavy films when u are hangover :)...
I'll watch it again soon so maybe I'll change my mind.
Also I much prefer plot heavy films with his style ... maybe leave the melancholic slow burners to wim wenders, perfect days was so incredibly good :)
Great review! Darjeeling Limited is by far my favorite Wes film. I watched Asteroid City last night and I really agree with the assessment about the trilogy of framing. I really want to watch this again before assessing what I think about the movie as I didn’t anticipate that style being used.
I watched last night, it was okay. Definitely not on my top ten, what I can say that I loved was the camera positioning, panning, and color schemes. I recently heard of Wes Anderson and purchased the early viewing and lunchbox... I wouldn't call it a romantic film, but a light comedy drama, slice-of-life-ish. It's a cute film but nothing past that. #IMO
Literally just saw your tweet saying you were going to review the movie hoped on RUclips and it’s the first video!
I thought "The Royal Tenenbaums" title might be a play on "The Magnificent Ambersons".
I love "The Grand Budapest Hotel". On TCM I keep seeing old movies that I realize are alluded to in GBH. Also I was in Soviet Russia in the 70s and that era in the film looks exactly like that.
Not even close to his best. I was disappointed.
It's nice to finally see someone who read the movie as him examining his own style. That seemed to go over everybody else's head.
My impression after seeing this is that it was made explicitly to make film nerds feel clever for noticing "what he did there" (the first of these being Wes himself). An exercise for the viewer to find the deeper meaning (if there is one!), because there doesn't seem to be anything on the surface. A film in which nothing happens with such subtlety and nuance that it will no doubt require numerous viewings to fully unpack for future video essays.
Not even close to his best film. At least imo
Yeah I think I want to see it again to better digest it. Since its anti-plot structure and absurdist nature is a lot to take in. I did like it but there was a part of me that was also annoyed with it. Though I liked that the film was self aware with the main character leaving the stage to ask the director what the play is all about lol. And the director is just sleeping through it as if he doesn't even really know.
I feel like the entire framing device and actual story of the film being hidden in trailers was an intentional marketing decision after test screenings. It is by far the worst part of the movie and there was people audibly groaning every time it cut to black and white in my theater and I was right there with them. It completely kills the momentum of the film people actually wanted to see but Wes just can’t help himself. Same problem French Dispatch had.
As of right now it feels like his worst to me but hopefully this video will change my mind but man as a wes stan it seems like with the french dispatch and now this hes completely lost the plot
when i watch this movie, i saw shooting and chasing in the early part, and suddenly i saw it again and my wife said to me “ let’s go, movie already ends” i replied “ how?”
Oh please, make Jeff Goldblum an alien character...
And it would be so interesting to see Wes go back to a cast the size of The Royal Tenenbaums !!
The pastelation of it all!
I hated this movie lol
I really wanted to like this film, but by the end of it, I had to accept that it left me unsatisfied.
8:13 Wasn't Bill Murray in The French Dispatch?
yeah but he's not in asteroid city
It was enjoyable
Steve Carell's character was original to be Bills
Wife dying is a metaphor for the guy killing himself with the car in the real world. The whole Alien thing is a vehicle for examining the suicide/death for the cast who are the literal cast in Asteroid city. Auggie is his actor trying to understand the play, the aliens coming and going, and his love killing himself yet forcing him to play this character. The last scene with Margot Robbie is the key for not only the actors release and acceptance but his characters.
Source?
I never liked Wes Anderson movies until this one. I don’t know if it was the subject matter but I thought it really worked and I enjoyed it.
In response to your question, no it is amongst his worst, I nodded off for a moment it was so boring. It is supposed to be a stage play but it comes off as a cerebral exercise for the beautiful people. It is neither funny, interesting or endearing, so in a word trash. Beginning to think that Budapest Hotel and Moonrise Kingdom were outliers. This makes three dumpster fires in a row (Isle of Dogs and French Dispatch). So many other film makers would kill for the cast and he wasted them.
0:31 the train in the desert and turquoise sky reminds me the art of Jean Giraud aka Moebius.
No Bill Murray? Had to rewind to 1:15 as I thought the dude on the left was Bill... nope that's Tom Hanks
KC looking like Season 7 Michael Ginsberg with that stache
This movie is really Wes Anderson's love letter to modern blockbusters and the men who invented them. In 1955 Spielberg was 8, Lucas was 11, and Cameron was 1. The kids that sang about aliens would one day work at ILM.
I don’t get the scene where Bryan Cranston’s character came into asteroid city and said “I’m not supposed to be here” randomly like what’s that about
It's the usual Wes Anderson load of tosh of a script and very arch acting. But it looks nice and there are some good still images.
Way to pretentious. It felt like what Wes Anderson imitating a Wes Anderson movie would look like. The whole subplot of the "actors" playing their roles was too much. Life Aquatic was his highmark imo.
For me it was very weak and meaningless movie. But then again - everybody has a different taste .
At this point, Asteroid City is one of my favorites from Wes Anderson. One of his least accessible though.
Especially after several viewings. The layered dialog and themes of understanding/not understanding come out in ways that went unnoticed the first viewing.
Just when I thought the French Dispatch was the most Wes Andersony movie possible, he goes and makes Asteroid City.
I found it a bit too “Wes Anderson “ as trying too hard, Tom hanks was a big no, just didn’t believe him,felt labored, but still a good movie 👍👍 a
Spoilers:
Did the alien scare the shit out of anyone else?
I had PTSD to cartoons that scared me as a kid.
Is it too difficult to understand that the Asteroid city doesn’t exist? It’s a “what if” reality.
Lydia Tar, that's it. Wes Anderson feels like Lydia Tar, fake.
Excellent analysis of a wonderful movie. Thanks.
So, it's more worthless than the Barbie movie. Check. Thanks.
This film gave off the same "hang out" feel that reminded me of Bottle Rocket. Some of the visuals too. Open plains with a loose plot in the storytelling
I would watch this movie if they if they would edit out Tom Hanks or digitally change him into something else.
Its totally weird that this movie came out right when all this alien stuff has been happening in the news.
You probably know this but there was a short created with Murray and Schwartzman for this movie. Supposedly it was the absolute last thing they filmed before tearing everything down and leaving town. Murry plays an aerospace industrialist in this short but he was originally supposed to play the role that Steve Carrell got if I remember correctly.
This felt like that time family guy parody Wes Andersons movies but in the best way
Train at the beginning & end was right out of Bad Day at Black Rock.
I thought Rushmore was the first lead role for Jason in Wes Anderson movie
No - it is vague and perfunctory. Riveting to look at but that is not enough.
is it as bright as the trailers make it when you see it in the theatre? looks like it would hurt my eyes tbh
Honestly, this was my concern and it didn’t feel as intense or bright or disorienting. Which was a welcomed surprise.
Asteroid City was the worst movie not just of the year but the decade !
I found this movie super boring
Save your money , unless your doing mushrooms or acid.
Some people get these type of movies and some don't 😮
after all, anyone who has watched the movie... is there really the controversial frontal nudity scene in the PG movie? and was it justifiable that antes was the highest rating?
Yes there was. For whom was it controversial, though?
If this is his best film he needs a new career. It’s the most horrible movie I have ever seen.
No, it is his most twee movie. My thinking anyway.
Bill Murray is in Rushmore, dude.