The movie Asteroid City

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Have to ask.. if anyone has perhaps yet seen this. Something about this movie looks to me like it will be a sub-par "yawn" in an attempt to invoke charming weirdness like Little Miss Sunshine with Steve Carell; it seems to be set in a desert town in it says "1955" . I wonder the initial impression of some of our more West Coast members.

There are some old cars in the trailer too....


Just wondering.. initial impressions, if anyone has seen this, what do others think of the set, scenery, overly pastel colors like one of my parakeets. This movie seems very "off" and I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is about. What are your impressions?

 

[97K15004WD]

Wow, what a cast !

Looks interesting - will have to see the movie now to better comment. Loved the trailer though!

 

[Pablo]

Instantly knew Wes Anderson. Looks good

 

[andrewg]

Looks too weird and artsy for my taste.

 

[vavavroom]

Wes Anderson still gets me into a theater. Asteroid City will be released on June 23rd.

 

[SaberOne]

Looks very similar to The French Dispatch with identical format.

 

[y_p_w]

The trailer sometimes pops up as an ad before some of the YouTube vids that I see.

The visuals looked really bizarre, but when I heard the dialogue the first thing I thought was "Wes Anderson". I haven't really seen that many of his movies, but the first was The Life Aquatic and then I saw The Darjeeling Limited. Even with the stylized background, it's easy enough to recognize that it's his filmmaking style.

 

[vavavroom]

The trailer sometimes pops up as an ad before some of the YouTube vids that I see.

The visuals looked really bizarre, but when I heard the dialogue the first thing I thought was "Wes Anderson". I haven't really seen that many of his movies, but the first was The Life Aquatic and then I saw The Darjeeling Limited. Even with the stylized background, it's easy enough to recognize that it's his filmmaking style.

This style is called formalism.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

So... what is it about?

 

[97prizm]

Have to ask.. if anyone has perhaps yet seen this. Something about this movie looks to me like it will be a sub-par "yawn" in an attempt to invoke charming weirdness like Little Miss Sunshine with Steve Carell; it seems to be set in a desert town in it says "1955" . I wonder the initial impression of some of our more West Coast members.

There are some old cars in the trailer too....


Just wondering.. initial impressions, if anyone has seen this, what do others think of the set, scenery, overly pastel colors like one of my parakeets. This movie seems very "off" and I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is about. What are your impressions?

The off seems to come from the pastel "technicolor " film vibes. I could see this being like Fight Club, or The big lebowski which tanked really hard in theaters but now have a huge cult following.

 

[vavavroom]

So... what is it about?

The movie is about a stage production of a play called Asteroid City. In the play a diverse group of people come together in a tiny desert town situated near a nuclear test site. The town has nothing going for it other than occasional mushroom clouds in the distance and a nearby impact crater and an "asteroid." All residents and travellers get quarantined after they witness an alien first removing and then returning the asteroid.

The movie alternates between black and white scenes in 1:1.3 format that give exposition about how the play came to be and give background information about the director and actors in the play and color scenes that are shot in 1:2.39 and show the play as experienced by the actors acting their roles. It's a depiction that is absurdist and dreamike. The question of meaning of the story and meaning in general as a philosophical concept is brought up by the characters as well as by the actors and no conclusive answer is provided. The director of the play is shown as hands off during the play and he just wants the story to play out without going into meaning.

The movie has actors playing actors who act in a play that is postmodern, nihilistic, and metamodern. If you did not enjoy Anderson's other movies you will likely not like this one. I enjoyed this movie very much.

 

[FishFry]

For the record - the colors of the trailer are all over the place.
In cinema it looks more like this:

Warm highlights and Technicolor 3-strip look - yes, absolutely, but nothing like in the trailer.

 

[vavavroom]

One of the more digestible reviews.

 

[y_p_w]

It's available for anyone who has Peacock Premium or higher. I'm just watching the start and it's definitely weird looking.

 

[y_p_w]

Have to ask.. if anyone has perhaps yet seen this. Something about this movie looks to me like it will be a sub-par "yawn" in an attempt to invoke charming weirdness like Little Miss Sunshine with Steve Carell; it seems to be set in a desert town in it says "1955" . I wonder the initial impression of some of our more West Coast members.

There are some old cars in the trailer too....


Just wondering.. initial impressions, if anyone has seen this, what do others think of the set, scenery, overly pastel colors like one of my parakeets. This movie seems very "off" and I cannot for the life of me figure out what it is about. What are your impressions.

It was weird. Very disjointed and there was basically no plot, but rather a series of different scenes set in one of two places. They mixed black and white scenes set in the real world about a theater production of Asteroid City and those washed out color scenes of the fictional account. I won’t give away too much, but there’s one scene where one character from the theater ends up in a color scene.

 

[Pablo]

Watched Asteroid City last night.

It's like the usually effortless Wes Anderson tried too hard or something. It was just OK. Almost like a physics/light/electron experiment where the mere observation alters the results. Hardly above just being entertained. Not the usual for this Anderson fan, IMHO, and I can see why an non fan wouldn't like it.

 

[y_p_w]

Watched Asteroid City last night.

It's like the usually effortless Wes Anderson tried too hard or something. It was just OK. Almost like a physics/light/electron experiment where the mere observation alters the results. Hardly above just being entertained. Not the usual for this Anderson fan, IMHO, and I can see why an non fan wouldn't like it.

I watched the whole thing through when I found out that it was on Peacock. But it's been OK for repeated viewings - maybe just a scene at a time for being absolutely surreal. It kind of works that way when the plot would otherwise just get in the way.