Spider-Verse and Asteroid City - Two Spectacular Movies

After nearly an 8-month hiatus, I went back to the cinemas, not once, but twice. In fact, I haven't watched a movie in months before last week. The reason for the hiatus is that I was burnt out watching movies every day. After a point, they devolved into background noise, to keep out the silence. I wasn't paying attention, going through the motions, a routine for the sake of routine.  To break out of the rut, I cultivated the habit of reading and have since been enjoying Discworld novels to my heart's content.

If I had to give an explanation for me returning, I could find various reasons, ranging from the weather being just right to me being frustrated and angry at people. But the biggest two are - Spider-Man and Wes Anderson.

I am going to write down my thoughts about Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Asteroid City. This is not a review. I have not studied film making academically nor have worked on making a movie. The following is just my appreciation and thoughts on both these movies.

Different kinda Spectacles

These are two excellent, visually stunning movies which are quite different from each other. In fact, they are opposites in many regards. One is an animated spectacle with break neck pacing, while the other is a live action painting in motion that slows down at every chance, to let you take all in. I would also argue Spider-Verse was made for the masses, while Asteroid City was just Wes Anderson making a movie which pleases him.

Spider-Verse is focused and asks, "What makes Spider-Man, Spider-Man?" (or Spider-Woman... Spider-living beings). Without going into spoilers, it also asks the viewers why we love Spider-Man. At the heart of it, this is what makes the movie work.

In that regard, Spider-Verse is easy to digest, assimilate and appreciate, while Asteroid City is not. Asteroid City is a deconstruction of how a story comes together. It also deals with how people deal with grief and how that makes us human. I could be, and probably I am grasping at straws here. I say that because I am not sure what Asteroid City was about.

Asteroid City, is layered by design, asking its viewers to ponder on the message being conveyed long after the movie is done. How layered is it? I was watching a movie about a television show about the making of a play called Asteroid City. Of course, I was a little lost. And if you watch the movie, you would understand it is by design.

Many will find it hard to love Asteroid City, some even will go as far as to argue it as being pretentious. But it is certainly not for everyone.

Asteroid City is not even the best of what Wes has given us. I have more love for some of his other movies, simply because they had an emotional gravitas that this movie lacks. Even with all these flaws, Asteroid City is still an excellent movie. And I am sure I would love it more once I get my hands on the Blu-ray.

Conclusion

Having said all that, AC is still a wonderful time. Everything I love about Wes's movies are here. It is a technical marvel with the heart and sincerity only Anderson can provide. And Spider-Verse too is a technical marvel in animation. It is outstanding in all other aspects as well. And like Asteroid City, it doesn't just aim to razzle-dazzle its audiences, but also makes an effort to tell an engaging story along with it. Whether it lands or not, I will have to wait for the sequel.  

Post Script

Hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to leave them below or reach out to me. If you like this, feel free to subscribe, it is free. Right now, I am reading Night Watch and playing Final Fantasy XVI, and loving both. My next post will probably have to do with one of those.