Fellmans Movie Reviews

Red = Spoilers

I watched the new Wes Anderson movie, “Asteroid City”, today. Wes Anderson has made some great movies in the past, such as “Rushmore”, “The Royal Tenebaums”, and “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. His movies have a tendency to be weird and they often have a composite cast of well-known characters that include Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman. But they’re always well written and they’re always worth watching.  

What’s it about? Asteroid City is a comedy about a play being written by the playwright who’s writing the play while the play is going on around him. It’s hellaciously confusing in the way that it’s written because the characters that are used for the scenes in the movie are also used for the scenes in the play too. And Bryan Cranston, who is the narrator of the entire event, moves back and forth between each scenario going from color to grayscale, making you wonder just which situation he’s in right now? 

What’s good? But, despite the confusion, it’s incredibly entertaining with the deadpan delivery of all the actors, and the cadence that it gives to the lines as everyone goes through their scripts. It’s funny when you hear the narrator at the beginning talk like that. But as each successive person begins to talk like that as well, it becomes this running joke with no end in sight. I find that funny. 

What’s bad? I could see somebody besides Scarlett Johansen for that role. I’m not sure who. I don’t particularly have anybody in mind. I just don’t think she did a great job. She wasn’t bad, per se. It’s just nothing to write home about… 

The acting? The acting is good for what it’s supposed to be. There are literally very few scenes that involve more than talking, so, it’s not exactly an action-oriented film. But all the talking that gets done is well-done by everyone involved… 

The effects? The effects are good. What few effects there are to be seen. There’s a CGI alien halfway through, and the other effects are mostly practical. But aside from that, there’s not that many effects to be had.  

A play within a play. Asteroid City is a fictional town being written about by a man writing a play while the play is being narrated while he is writing it. It’s confusing to watch, but entertaining to see. And while it might be hard to follow at first, the nuances and easter eggs you can catch are worth watching as you go on as movies like this usually do.  

A star-studded cast. It’s a star-studded ensemble cast with huge names. They don’t all have big parts, though. Margot Robbie is in the movie for all of five minutes. You could call Jeff Goldblum’s role a cameo for as short of a screen time as he had. But, nonetheless, the names abound in this movie.  

I’m inundated with Margot Robbie. I, Ironically enough, watched three different movies with Margot Robbie in them, not by choice, three days in a row, without even realizing she was in them. I watched Babylon the first day, and then the new Barbie movie, and then this the third day. And then, when I started writing the reviews for the movies, I was like, “Margot Robbie is in this, too?! She’s everywhere!” 

It ended. It ended on kind of a “Meh…” note. Like, “Okay, the movie’s over. Here’s the credits…” Nothing spectacular happened. But I think, with a movie like this, it would be sort of counterintuitive to have something big and surprising happen. It kind of goes against what the whole movie was about. So, to have it end the way that it did really makes sense when you think about it.  

So, yeah. Go and see Asteroid City. It’s weird, they talk kinda fast, and they dress kinda funny. But it’s a good movie and I think you’ll enjoy it. And as always, keep on watching, with a smile on your face…