Across The Universe

[Sir.Mouse]

this may be a little late in the game but here is my take on the film.
a "light" review taken from my blog...

I saw this year’s most incredible film so far. From the director Julie Taymor, the visionary that brought us “Frieda”, “Titus”, And the stage production of the “lion King”, is the wonderful Across the Universe. The script is based on an original story created by Taymor, and writing team Dick Clement and La Frenais, which incorporates over 30 Beatles tunes.

The story starts in the early 1960s with a young dock worker named Jude (Jim Sturgess) who arrives to America after moving from Liverpool, England in search of the American G.I. father (Robert Clohessy) he has never known. While in America he befriends Max (Joe Anderson) a rebellious young man from a privileged background and his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood). Lucy joins them in New York and a romantic relationship between her and Jude ensues. Unfortunately, Max is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, which prompts Lucy to become involved in a radical anti-war movement leading to the end of her relationship with Jude. In the end Jude is deported after an arrest but travels back to win back Lucy.

Under the rebirth of the Movie musical Across the Universe stands tall. Every moment is full of lush tapestries of color and visually arresting images. Especially powerful, the Uncle Sam "I want you", the musical numbers are engaging but the in-between moments left me a bit antsy. The movie is flawed in the fact that the film is divided between the real and surreal.

Among the films being offered in theaters now I would choose “Across the Universe” over the brash comedies such as “game plan” or “Good Luck Chuck” any time. Across the universe is enriching and lovely and far superior to every thing that is available now. SEE THIS FILM!

[Nancywitt]

Just saw the film today and have to put my two cents in. I loved it! Gave it 4 out of 5. I was hooked the moment Jude sings Girl right up to the end where Lucy is on top of the building. There are parts I did not care for and there were a lot of drugs, but that was the times so I guess you have to show it. I'm not a prude or anything I was just hoping for more of the early Beatles instead of the late Beatles. But I really enjoyed it, glad I went to see it and recommend it to anyone who wants to see a good film.

[DarthDucky]

Across the Universe, the new movie musical by Julie Taymor which features the music of The Beatles, is the Spruce Goose of Musicals. It was built with nothing but the most grandiose of ideals but only briefly took flight.

Wait for DVD

Which is out today

[RonNYC]

^^ That quote from FB pretty much sums up my own thoughts about the movie.

Convoluted story and characters that only occasionally take flight.

Noble failure, though.

[Xharryb]

Interestingly, the scenes others are calling the best, were my least favorites. The over the top visuals of the Bono and Eddie Izzard scenes (though I'm a fan of both men) were just too much for me. I did enjoy most of the rest of the film though. I think it could have been tightened up a bit. The pacing seemed to be off at times.

PG-13... not very much language, but for some reason, there is quite a bit of nudity. Don't get me wrong, its not a porno, but it just surprised me for being a PG-13 rated movie.

I just watched it last night, and there was deffinitely NOT "quite a bit of nudity". A quick glimpse of a breast in one scene, and the underwater scene where there were naked, but in positions that kept all the naughty bits concealed. That was it. Concidering the nature of the story and the era it was set in, they kept the nudity very tame in my opinion.

[sir clinksalot]

We just got this from Netflix, we'll probably watch it Friday or something since the kids will be gone.

[Tui]

So so so overrated.

It was almost as if everyone involved was trying way too hard.

I mean it was watchable, but that was about it.

[FrumiousBoojum]

Watched it *finally* last night on Blu-Ray. They did quite a lovely job of putting that disc together.

It is a VERY episodic film. But so were Beatles movies, like Yellow Submarine and Magical Mystery Tour. Those movies were basically just the songs with stuff thrown in between to bring them together. So it mimicked the Beatles movies decently in that aspect.

However, the surrealism and reality was way too unbalanced. I get that it was delving farther into the psychedelic as the movie progressed... but it was still unbalanced even then.

But, hey. The Beatles were known for the same kind of randomness in films at times, too.

It's not going to be in my personal top 10 of musicals, but it is one I'll be rewatching. It was enjoyable enough. And it's fun to try to pick out all of the Beatles references found throughout the film.

As far as the unclothed peoples goes -- it was tame for the period, true. But it was still more than the normal PG-13 timeline. xharryb -- think you might've missed a lot of it if you don't think there was a lot. There were all those girls in the white paint, the girl in the syringe, the physical... etc. And they definitely showed a little more info (even with the white paint covering the bits) than what you'd normally see out of that rating.