Across the Universe

[jbrown84]

Across the Universe is a musical using all Beatles songs about a dock worker from Liverpool who comes to America looking for his father and gets caught up in the anti-war movement.



SOME MINOR SPOILERS



I'll go ahead and say that, as my #2 most anticipted movie of the year (after Sunshine), Across the Universe was a little bit of a letdown, BUT I still loved it. I just didn't find it to be as phenomenal as I hoped it would be and thought it would be based on the trailer.

The story was a little underwhelming, with some vague plot points and some slight contrivances used to build some of the songs into the plot.

However the visuals are absolutely stunning. Taymor has crafted some really amazing imagery with this film, such as the scene with the soldiers carrying the statue of liberty through the jungle. Despite a pretty simplistic story, she succeeds in drawing the viewer in and making a very entertaining film that also has a little bit to say about life and love.

Another nitpick was that I felt like the conflict between activism and art wasn't played out well enough in the end, but overall I really enjoyed it. There's some great arrangements of the songs (particularly Let It Be) and the acting and singing from a group of mostly unknowns is impressive. Great breakout role for James Sturgess.



8/10 or A-

[TaurusNYC]

This is one of the most interesting and beautiful movies I have seen in years. At times I found it a little heavy-handed and maudlin, but after I silenced my jaded inner critic and went with the flow, I was enormously entertained. I thought it was a wonderful homage to the 1960s. I highly recommend seeing this film.