Asteroid City – HD Blu-Ray Review

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Universal Studios | 2023

PG13 | 1hr 44mins | Comedy | Romance

HD | 1080P | DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1

Aspect Ratios: 2.39:1, 1.37:1

Staring: Jason Schwartzman | Scarlett Johansson | Tom Hanks | Jeffrey Wright | Tilda Swinton | Bryan Cranston

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Ratings & Reviews

Please see here for my comments on reviewing movies.

My ratings are simple being marked out of a maximum of 5+. My reviews are biased towards the technical production aspects of the film with brief comments about the story line. Extras, sorry, that’s just not my ‘bag’.

So what did the 4K HDR10 video look like? Quite good, and the 7.1 soundtrack? Just good.

Entertainment: 4+

Video: 4+

Audio: 4

The HDR10 image rather than jumping onto your screen delicately walks there! There are two parts to this image, the colorful 2.39:1 Asteroid City and the 1.79:1 black and white background narrative and stage story.

Detail is excellent throughout; notably a little sharper whenever the film flips to the black and white stage play but still excellent when the story plays out in the white-hot desert sunlight. While not razor sharp at all times, edges are often crisp, supported by clean fine texturing throughout. From the trains, cars, buildings and stone walls to the wallpaper and painted wood(s), all reveal good detail and definition. Human facial pores, wrinkles, eyelashes, hair strands and features are all accurately rendered with few undue exaggerations. CGI and special effects integration are generally good, having realistic textures and blending nicely with the real action.

Contrast balance was quite good throughout. From the brilliant uncompressed whites of desert daylight exterior shots to the deep blacks of the monochrome scenes. Even so, overall the colored images show a slightly washed out appearance, while the black and white portions of the film maintain an improved contrast ratio having a good greyscale, bright whites, deep blacks and an excellent shadow gradience, all free of any banding or other issues.

Color fidelity is good throughout with slightly subdued primaries and secondary’s, but all having good color depth and density, while hues are bold and vibrant without being too “cartoonish”. From the dusty orange and brown desert vistas, the turquoise-tinted hues, blue skies, splashes of pinks, light oranges, yellows and a few greens, to the often overheated and sun struck faces. All seemingly meeting Andersons’ expectations. Skin tones are occasionally a little on the warm side, with facial complexions looking generally quite natural throughout.

This video looks very good on all fronts, creating an enjoyable HDR10 image.

Asteroid City provides a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track that creates a reasonable surround soundfield with a few good directional effects, smooth panning and is quite dynamic supporting a respectable bottom end.

This is not an action movie, it is largely dialogue driven with most action emanating from the front speakers. The overall sound presentation is moderately dynamic, with average sub involvement and surround action that tends to be limited to; an occasional stage echo, a little room reverb, some lite wind, the trains passing by to the car chases down the main strip. Front movement includes; actors moving around, the sound of the road-runners dancing feet and the car chase gun shots that provide some impact.

Sub action is sparse, mainly being attributed to the atomic bomb explosions which were deep and solid and the racing cars. Front stage imaging is generally good following the action as it moves on and off-screen. Dialogue is always very clear and well detailed with solid front-center imaging and prioritization, providing good clarity and detail.

Surprisingly the music track is fairly quiet, a little sparse at times and not very engaging. It is a compilation of 25 songs; 17 country and western, 2 original songs by Jarvis Cocker and 6 original songs by Alexandre Desplat. When present it generally hits a good balance between the dialogue and any effects providing a very lite spill into the surrounds and good integration within the soundstage.

The audio track compliments the video quite well, but it lacks impact and excitement.

Asteroid City is a fictional story set in an American desert town in the mid 1950’s. It follows a writers journey about a grieving father and his tech-obsessed children who visit a small rural Asteroid City to attend a junior star gazing event and display of cutting edge inventions. During the event an alien spacecraft appears and its inhabitant steals the craters space rock artifact. Now the military are forced to act and the town is quarantined until more information about the visitation can be determined. As the adults and children’s tempers rise, sadness creeps in, romance blossoms, mysteries are unlocked and the children challenge each other with their skills and thoughts of the Aliens visit.