Asteroid City
★★★☆☆
2023 | Dir. by Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson’s latest film is a unique, meta critique of the genre. As per his usual films, Anderson has a flavorful and rich sense of composition and color, and he makes the famously drab deserts landscapes feel rich and scenic. The narrative device that the story is told through a play is convoluted. In its text, the play Asteroid City is about a boy coming of age after a supernatural encounter - and the interaction between families in quarantine. Asteroid City is definitely a piece of its time, with the commentary of the state of film and acting itself as well as the plot revolving around a quarantine show how Anderson reacts to the current events of the world, such as the COVID outbreak or the actor/ writers guild strikes. But too many layers of convoluted, I think the central core of Anderson's message is missing, in what feels like a film that he made only for himself to understand. Or maybe I just didn’t get it.
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
★★★★☆
2010 | Dir. by Edgar Wright
Scott Pilgrim is a slept-on cult classic. While this movie bombed the box office, it has a lot of charm. The editing is witty and quickly paced and keeps the viewer on their toes with its little intricate details. The world of Scott Pilgrim toes this line between comic and reality into a semi-modern fantasy wor;d that has very little rules. The stylization - with how sound effects will appear in reality and screens will split like comic panels, goes to show how unique this film is. It is by no means perfect and also a product of its time, with some of the humor and representation being dated. But a lot of the issues people have with the characters or theming I often find to be misinterpretations of the source material, not faults of the material itself. I’d consider a watch if you haven't seen it; it is a go-to comfort movie, and it has some very quotable lines.
Howl’s Moving Castle
★★★★★
2004 | Hayao Miyazaki
Howl’s Moving Castle is perhaps the greatest love story of all time. The hand painted backgrounds are spectacular; every single Ghibli film is an incredibly unique, meticulous, and beautiful painting. Howl and Sophie serve as my all-time favorite Ghibli couple in how they manage to have such great chemistry. I don’t normally love the soulmates trope, but the fact that the pairing chooses to love each other and are entwined by fate to find each other over and over again is so incredibly heartwarming. The world itself and its magic is so vibrant and colorful, even in the harsh wartime realities of the second half. Not to mention, how badly I want to live in a quaint European town and have a beautiful wizard man seduce me. Or maybe I would want to be the flamboyant wizard man and live in a great eclectic moving house and cast magic spells. But who’s to say.