Asteroid City
Came out; 2023
Time; 1 hours 45 minutes
Watched: Peacock
Rated: PG-13 on appeal for brief graphic nudity, smoking and some suggestive material
IMDB Rating; 6.7/10
Caution; Spoiler Alert
Staring.
Jason Schwartzman as Augie Steenbeck
Scarlett Johanson as Midge Campbell
Tom Hanks as Stanley Zak
Jeffrey Wright as General Gibson
Bryan Cranston as Host
Edward Norton as Conrad Earp
Jake Ryan as Woodrow
Grace Edwards as Dinah
Maya Hawke as June
Rupert Friend as Montana
Hope Davis as Sandy Borden
Steve Park as Roger Cho
Liev Schreiber as J.J. Kellogg
Aristou Meehan as Clifford
Ethan Josh Lee as Ricky
Sophia Lilis as Shelly
Steve Carell as Motel Manager
Tilda Swinton as Dr. Hickenlooper
Jeff Goldblum as The Alien
Adrien Brody as Shubert Green
Willem Dafoe as Saltzburg Keitel
Margot Robbie as Actress/Wife
Story Line.
Following a writer on his world-famous fictional play about a grieving father who travels with his tech-obsessed family to small rural Asteroid City to compete in a junior stargazing event, only to have his world view disrupted forever.
Thoughts:
I saw a preview for this during a movie at the theater. It looked very interesting and different. With a star-studded cast who would have thought the movie would have been this bad!
Yes, it had a very funny parts and yes for a split second you see Scarlet Johanson naked, but that's it. This movie is dull, boring and there are several story lines going on at once.
It definitely had its moments, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch this again.
CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert
Set in a retro-futuristic version of the 1950s, a TV host introduces a televised production of (the in-universe fictional) Asteroid City, a play by famed playwright Conrad Earp. In the play, a youth astronomy convention is held in the fictional desert town of Asteroid City. The play's events are depicted in widescreen and stylized color, while the television special is seen in black-and-white Academy ratio.
In the play, war photojournalist Augie Steenbeck arrives early to the Junior Stargazer convention with Woodrow, his intellectual teenage son, and his three younger daughters. When their car breaks down, Augie phones his father-in-law, Stanley, asking his help. Stanley, who dislikes his son-in-law, persuades him to tell the children about their mother's recent death, which Augie had concealed. Augie and Woodrow meet Midge Campbell, a famous but world-weary actress, and her daughter Dinah, who, like Woodrow, will be honored at the convention. Augie and Midge, and Woodrow and Dinah, gradually fall in love throughout the play. The other convention participants arrive: five-star General Grif Gibson, astronomer Dr. Hickenlooper, three additional teenaged honorees (Ricky, Clifford, and Shelly) and their parents (J.J., Roger, and Sandy), a busload of elementary-school children chaperoned by young teacher June Douglas, and a cowboy band led by singer Montana. A local motel provides everyone's accommodations.
Gibson welcomes the attendees at the Asteroid City crater where the teenagers are to receive awards for various inventions. A UFO suddenly appears above the crater; an alien emerges and steals a fragment of the meteorite that created the crater. Augie photographs the alien. The President and General Gibson order the town placed under military quarantine, and everyone is subjected to medical and psychiatric examinations. Meanwhile, a romance blossoms between Montana and June, who assure the students that the alien is likely peaceful. The Stargazer honorees use Dr. Hickenlooper's equipment to attempt to contact the alien. Using a guarded pay phone, Ricky calls his school newspaper to relay the quarantine details and cover-up to the outside world.
The Asteroid City events become national news. A furious General Gibson is about to end the quarantine when the UFO reappears and the alien returns the meteorite fragment. When Gibson reinstates the quarantine, the children, scientists, and parents revolt, using the honorees' inventions to overpower the military.
The play's creation is interspersed between the play. Some time after Conrad Earp started writing, he meets with actor Jones Hall, who performs an audition in Earp's home and is immediately cast. During the same interaction, Earp and Hall kiss, establishing their relationship as lovers. Earp writes the play with help from a local acting school and recruits most cast members from it, including Mercedes Ford, a temperamental yet talented actress who plays Midge.
During the recorded performance of the play, Hall, who plays Augie, confronts the play's director Schubert Green, saying he "still doesn't understand the play", and asks Green if he is "doing him right". Green tells Hall to keep playing Augie the same way despite being uncertain, and that he is doing him right. After that interaction, while taking a smoke break on a balcony, Hall runs into the actress who was cast to play Augie's wife before her only scene was cut. She recites the deleted scene's text to him.
Six months into the play's run, Conrad Earp dies in an automobile accident. In the play's epilogue, Augie and his family are the last to leave Asteroid City after General Gibson lifts the quarantine. Augie's daughters bury their mother's ashes in the desert, Woodrow wins the fellowship funding, and Midge leaves Augie her mailing address. Augie and his family quietly drive away.
No comments:
Post a Comment