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Asteroid City (2023)

 


Asteroid City is a play within a movie about a grieving father and the random people he comes across while being in Asteroid City.

Written and directed by Wes Anderson, who I've grown to appreciate more in my later years. I thought his first movies were pretentious until someone showed me the meticulousness of his films. It is very prevalent throughout the film that every detail was intentional and the pacing of the film is something to be dissected.

Jason Schwartzman plays a different character than I expected him to play after watching the trailer. He was very grounded and the humor was situational rather than wordplay like in his previous Anderson showings like Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom.

Scarlett Johansson plays up her acting abilities to play a 1950s actress who has to deal with the climate of the era. She is flawed and knows it, and uses it to her advantage. She hasn't been this good since Lost in Translation.

Maya Hawke is in this film. You might know her from Stranger Things as Robin. She's great in the film and makes me totally forget she's just acting. Perhaps it's because of who her parents are. I look forward to seeing her in the upcoming movie called The Kill Room.

There is so much to unpack with this film it's hard for me to give it a grade. I saw it on Thursday but left some time to gestate in my head where it would lie. I think it's a better film than The Super Mario Bros. Movie for obvious reasons, but I think I enjoyed it less. I'm still going to place it above it though because of how great the film is. Result: A.

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