Asteroid City (2023) - Enjoy Anderson's crisp star parade desert adventure from the comfort of a theater seat

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Post-card-like, pleasant, warm-colored poster high-lighting the long star cast for Wes Anderson's Asteroid City

In a tiny desert town in Arizona that's centered around its asteroid crater sight, an astronomical star-gazing event attracts a father of four and his off-spring, among other people, when an unforeseen occurrence forces them to share a week there together. Also, a story about the creation of this desert-plot, which is the material of a New York play.

 

Asteroid City is written by Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom (2012)) and Texan master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/directer Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket (1996)), whose 11th feature it is.

For the veteran Anderson-lover, the film is like a vintage serving of the singular American's style, universe and sensibilities, a delicious return to a peculiar world that most will be very pleased to spend some time in any day of the week. This time Anderson and Coppola's story is probably their most convoluted of plots to date due to its meta-textual layer: Edward Norton (Fight Club (1999)) is the playwright and Adrien Brody (The Pianist (2002)) the restless director of the desert-set play in the film's B/W framing story, with Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad (2008-13)) an amusing narrator. It is curious and has its strange attraction, but the main attraction, the spry, crisply colorful play reality in itself, that is the real dish in Asteroid City.

And a succulent one it is: Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore (1998)) is the recently widowed father grappling with his new role and relaying it to his children and father-in-law Tom Hanks (Philadelphia (1993)), also amusing. His role is in no way up to what is normally to be expected from a Hanks performance, but then Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)) gets even slighter bones to pick, and ditto for Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse (2019)) and Margot Robbie (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)). It is somehow alright, since Anderson pics are like visits to a strange and privileged playhouse, where the creator's favorite friends usually are found, and many are they indeed.

As before, the focus is often on the adolescent formative age teenagers, but here also on the themes of the surrounding universe; space and the awareness of intelligent life elsewhere. The stylish panache, both in terms of production design, costumes, hair and Robert Yeoman's (Spy (2015)) striking images, are crowned in this film by Scarlett Johansson's (Lost in Translation (2003)) lovely performance as a 1950s movie star, (the clear referential connection is to Marilyn Monroe, and Johansson's brown hair color here is likely chosen for the connect not to be overly clear) , who also gets stuck in Asteroid City.

The emotions and depth don't reach the heights of Anderson's best films here, but Asteroid City is still a magical visit and very worth the prize of admission.

 

Related posts: 

Wes Anderson: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Top 10: The best adventure films reviewed by Film Excess to date
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - A very very good dream 
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - A 1960s island youth romance present 

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - Anderson's technically, visually admirable but a bit tiring animation 
The Darjeeling Limited (2007) - Anderson beautifies but still wins with India-journey favorite  

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 25 mil. $

Box office: 29.4 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[Asteroid City premiered 23 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 105 minutes. Shooting took place from August - October 2021 in Arizona and in Madrid, Spain. The film opened #10 to an 853k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it still plays. It has yet to open in several big markets that are set for August and September. It lost the Palme D'Or to Anatomy of a Fall. Anderson returns with The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023). Schwartzman has returned in a TV-series and a voice performance and is set to return with a physical theatrical performance in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023); Johansson has 6 upcoming films. Asteroid City is certified fresh at 73 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Asteroid City? 

The Hitcher (1986) - Hauer is the Bad Stranger in hard-pumped debut

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A suspicious, dark figure hitchhikes on this highly ominous poster for Robert Harmon's The Hitcher

A young man driving his car through the desert towards San Diego decides to pick up a hitchhiker, against his mother's advice. - He really should have listened to his mother!

The Hitcher is written by Eric Red (Blue Steel (1990)) and directed by debuting Robert Harmon (Highwaymen (2004)).

Rutger Hauer (Il Futuro (2013)) is intense as the barbarian title character, who chases the young man around for the rest of the film. The photography (by John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road (2015))) is cool and stylish, and the action elements and car stunts are well-made, so that one hangs onto this entertaining car horror, even though it stretches its plot elements beyond credibility sometimes.

Watch a 3-minute scene of Hauer's villainous mastery in the film here

Cost: 6-7.9 mil. $ (different accounts)

Box office: 5.8 mil. $ (North America alone)

= Uncertain but likely a big flop (projected return of 1.26-1.66 times the cost)

[The Hitcher premiered 17 January (Victoria, Texas) and runs 97 minutes. Shooting took place from February - April 1985 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #8 to a 2.1 mil. $ first weekend in 794 theaters in North America, where it grossed 5.8 mil. $. It was released in many other markets, but the gross details are regrettably not available. If figuring on a 10 mil. $ final gross, the film would rank as a big flop with a cost return of 1.26-1.66, depending on the budget size. Roger Ebert gave the film a 0/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. A 2002 sequel and a 2007 same-titled remake followed. Harmon returned with Eyes of an Angel (1991). Hauer returned in Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986). The Hitcher is fresh at 62 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Hitcher?

The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984) - Craven's embarrassing train wreck sequel

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A multi-colored, über-cool poster for Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes Part II

 

A kind of motorcycle gang of young, braindead lunatics end up in the middle of the desert, in which two equally motorcycle-enthusiastic killer mutants are awaiting...

 

The Hills Have Eyes Part II is written and directed by great Ohioan filmmaker Wes Craven (The Last House on the Left (1972)) as a sequel to his The Hills Have Eyes (1977).

Does the plot above sound silly to you? Then you are correct. It is in a way impressive, how Craven here, - directly prior to his big breakthrough A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), - has collected such a comparatively untalented lot around him for this his second desert horror. (Though the film was apparently also marred by lack of funds.)

In The Hills Have Eyes Part II the young die, but their deaths are sometimes out there. Even so the film remains somewhat entertaining in a train wreck sort-of-way.

 

Related posts:

Wes Craven: 2011 in films - according to Film Excess
Scream 4 (2011) - Craven & Williams serve an irresistible slasher treat 

My Soul to Take (2010) - Craven returns with a subpar teen slasher

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) or, Your Kids and the Bastard Son of 100 Maniacs! (co-writer)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) or, Don't Fall Asleep!  

Watch the first 3 minutes of the film from a VHS recording here

 

Cost: Estimated 700k $

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[The Hills Have Eyes Part II premiered at Mystfest in June (Italy) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place from March - May 1983 in California, including in Los Angeles. The studio halted production due to budgetary fear. But once A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) was released to huge success, the studio convinced Craven to scrap together The Hills Have Eyes Part II from the footage shot. In order to boost the running time, sequences from The Hills Have Eyes were used. Details about the film's gross are regrettably not readily available online. Craven since disowned the film. The The Hills Have Eyes films were remade with the same title in 2006 and 2007. Craven returned with Chiller (1985, TV movie), The Magical World of Disney (1986, TV-series) and theatrically with Deadly Friend (1986). 10k+ Rotten Tomatoes users have given The Hills Have Eyes Part II a 2.2/5 average rating.]

What do you think of The Hills Have Eyes Part II?