I Saw An Alien

Thoughts on Wes Anderson's new movie Asteroid City.

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Follow your melon:

[SpareMango]

It's very courageous of you to come out and open up about getting probed, Anthony.

[armandosmith]

These ongoing movie reviews are definitely getting Fantano purists shook

[nicklarsenjazz]

I loved The French Dispatch, but I know a lot of people didn’t. I think it has to with how dense the film is and how quickly information moves, and it definitely requires multiple viewings for everything to sink in.

Asteroid City feels almost like a sister film in a way, obviously expanding on many of the stylistic elements introduced in French Dispatch. But where that movie was focused on writers, Asteroid City is all about the actors. There’s higher emotion and more things left up to interpretation, sort of how an actor embodies a roll by the way in which they interpret it. Think of how many people are trying too hard to make sense of “you can’t wake up if you don’t go to sleep” after watching.

It’s very much self-reflective for Wes. I thought it was amazing and can’t wait to see it again and catch more that I missed the first time.

[yashsolanki]

So, this is a weekly movie review channel.

[ericfellner]

I think "You can't wake up if you don't fall asleep" is to say that you can't understand what a piece of art is about unless you give yourself over to it; if you don't dream, so to speak.

[georgenapper]

SPOILER WARNING: The Schwartzman character is more confused because he has a personal relationship to the author (the kiss establishing this), who has died, mirroring the grief of the character he's playing in the play. Every inconsistency in the writing is an inconsistency of his lost lover. That's just my interpretation, and it's not even the end-all, be-all of this film, which I think is about a myriad of different themes and ideas.

[skywardsword]

I've really been loving these film reviews keep it up

[georgevargas]

I honestly thought it was a brilliant Covid-19 Allegory.
Ranging from the third problem of the broken vehicle part that violently breaks(being a novel issue the mechanic has never seen)

The use of distance and seperation of Jo Hansen and photographer, starting at the diner and even in the house windows, symbolizing connection through forced separation.

Giant Quarantine sign after alien encounter. The rioting after lockdown was reengaged when the alien retuened the meteorite. The pandemic references went on and on .

And I think you right about the meta commentary towards the audience and traditional hollywood. The burden being put on directors and writers to come up with a story with easy interpretations and feel-good certainity is inherently congruent of the post-covid world of uncertainty we live in. I think the reoccuring atomic bomb explosions and the alien encounter in the film make that point very clear. Its an existential angst for the role of the film maker and and his little world he has created.

This is his best film he has made.

[AXXXXA]

I love The French Dispatch so much. It gets better with every rewatch. Everything about it. The score. Writing. Acting. Everything. I think it’s severely underrated.

Saw Asteroid for the 2nd time tonight. On 2nd viewing, the story and meta becomes way easier to understand, but there not as much there as french. Its much simpler while being so layered if that makes sense. I was initially slightly disappointed on 1st watch. Some of his best visuals and some amazing scenes, but just lacked emotion and connection for me. And thats ok. On 2nd viewing I enjoyed it more for what it is. I had super high expectations coming from TFD. Once you know what it is and what to expect, its much more enjoyable. The green scene, maya against the sky, tilda, the alien song. Incredible moments. Freight Train gives me goosebumps.
But the Asteroid score wasnt that memorable ultimately. It felt like TFD b-sides. I wish it got a full fledged signature score from Alexandre Desplat.
And i wish it was longer. I want more of that world. I want more fleshed out side characters.
But i’ll take it as it is, a twilight zone episode.

Excited for his next film that starts shooting soon. Father daughter movie with Benicio.

More wes being wes please. Forever.

Glad were getitng movie reviews.
Keep them coming.

[mattjazzfan]

I absolutely love that Anthony is doing these reviews of movies by directors with extremely specific styles

[daniellavaladez]

Who else thinks Anthony should start a movie-reviewing channel?

[blahblahblah]

Real shit, your analytical, detailed approach to reviews translates really well to movie reviews! I would totally watch any future review of movies I'm interested in!

[pedroacosta]

Omg this is the second time you review a movie right after I watch it. It happened with spiderverse too. I don't even watch movies that often stop melon you're scaring me

[maynardwayward]

He's one of those directors who does good work that's a bad influence on other filmmakers. A cottage industry of Wes Anderson-like indie films cropped up in the 2000s, not dissimilar to the wave of crime films that emerged after Pulp Fiction, and most range from cringe to forgettable.

[Cash]

Thank you so much for talking about this movie, I saw it twice over the weekend, I think it’s one of the best movies of the year so far. the only other Wes Anderson movie I’ve seen is Isle of Dogs, but that was also a great movie

[호준이-pp]

Wes Anderson type society is where people are having loose relationships with each other. They consider others different but they have respect towards others. Augie have this awkward relationship with his father-in-law and it got even worse after the tragic loss of his wife(Margot Robbie). The framework scene of Augie and Stanley(Tom hanks)both on the telephone is incredible. They are as if shown to talk face to face while they are not. It is so close yet so far. Midge and Augie have this strong attraction towards each other but they always talk window to window(which is also very close but kinda far). The asteroid city reflects the outer space. when someone dies, we say “they traveled to one of the stars in the sky” to our dearest children. Three siblings insist that their mom be buried in the asteroid city which refers to “the star”. An alien taking the asteroid away from the asteroid city and coming back with the asteroid is pretty similar to how Augie’s family finally decides to bury his wife in the asteroid city. Towards the end of the film, despite still hating on each other, Augie and Stanley agree on living together. They still have this subtle distance but Things are not like the past.
The film has a lot of historic and artistic references from the past and Wes Anderson art style delivers nostalgia vibes. The complex frame narrative supports his storytelling much further.

[epca]

I'm loving these movie talks, keep doing these please

[edkruse]

Time for a Karsten Runquist vs Fantano boxing match. Clash of the critics.

[PauLtus_B]

I'm always happy to see someone actually discuss camera movement at all.
I did pick up on the 90 degree pans as well. Quick pans are not new to Wes Anderson movies but they're usually use to introduce a new element entering the scene (to then cut back and forth) while here the camera seems to pan around to establish space a lot more, but the 90 degree pans going from perfect composition to perfect composition still gives these parts a strange sense of disconnect.

[therealbwells]

One of the scenes that made me laugh just from it's out of nowhere absurdity is the kid's song about the alien and everybody just starting to dance immediately after