Asteroid City | 2023 Movies RANKED - Episode 28

Follow along as RANKED reviews a new movie release every week of 2023, slowly compiling the best films of the year into our sacred hierarchical list.
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Previous Episode 2023 RANKED List:
1. Beau Is Afraid
2. Infinity Pool
3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
4. John Wick: Chapter 4
5. Tetris
6. Air
7. Creed III
8. The Flash
9. Fast X
10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
11. Shazam! Fury of the Gods
12. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
13. M3GAN
14. missing
15. The Machine
16. Scream VI
17. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
18. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
19. Renfield
20. Evil Dead Rise
21. The Pope’s Exorcist
22. Magic Mike’s Last Dance
23. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
24. Knock at the Cabin
25. Plane
26. Cocaine Bear
27. Knights of the Zodiac

Asteroid City may in fact be Wes Anderson’s most Wes Anderson film yet, not just because every character has his trademarked idiosyncrasies and awkwardness while his camera behaves like another quirky character in the story, but specifically because it is a movie about a hyper-realized stage play (titled “Asteroid City”) which is what most of his movies have been up to this point, only this time he’s admitting it outright by building it into a play/meta-play story structure. This also makes it his most self-indulgent film because not only is it dripping in his style, but ultimately the movie is about himself, represented by the writer and the director of the play.

Several times in the film a character literally exits the play to go ask him what the meaning of the play is, and he says he has no idea. He just writes things and then they happen. I guess this is one of those “life is about the journey not the destination” types of movies. Meh. It’s certainly an enjoyable film so if you REALLY need a grand purpose to it all, Asteroid City exists to serve as an excuse for Wes to once again get all of his favorite actors together to have a good time and deliver humor as dry as the desert they’re all trapped in, so I guess just accept it and try to enjoy the ride.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, because all of the aforementioned meta-stuff that specifically makes the movie about Mr. Anderson is precisely what weighs it down, making it, and I hate to say it, an undercooked story. I would have much preferred Mr. Anderson leave himself, and the meta play stuff, out of it and focus the story solely on the events of Asteroid City itself.

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