Across the Universe
2007 Directed by Julie Taymor
Synopsis
All you need is love.
Musical based on The Beatles songbook and set in the 60s England, America, and Vietnam. The love story of Lucy and Jude is intertwined with the anti-war movement and social protests of the 60s.
Cast
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I'm not a huge fan of musicals, but this is easily my favorite.
I tried picking out my favorite song/sequence, but I couldn't, they're all great and do their part to tell this fantastic story. I will say that I would never have thought that the songs Helter Skelter and Across the Universe could be played with and against each other like they were in the film. It seems like every song was written for these scenes. They flowed the story along perfectly. And I swear watching this movie is like watching a moving painting. Julie Taymor has quite a unique vision and expresses it well here. -
This mess of a musical is an awfully constructed homage to one of the greatest bands of all time. Similarly to the critically acclaimed ABBA musical, Mamma Mia, Across the Universe features the actor's and actresses covers of the classic Beatles' tracks. While most of them are barely bearable, some of the renditions absolutely destroy the emotion and beauty of the original.
One of the film's main fault is that it is incapable of keeping up with the amount of themes it extracts from the songs, such as the 12th Street Riot and the anti-war protests of Vietnam. The Detroit riot of 1967 for example is shown briefly, it's issues neglected and purpose in the film null. For a film…
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Oh dear, I was SO looking forward to this one. I love The Beatles, I love musicals and I have a huge girl boner for Jim Sturgess.
This was a MESSY film. It was just everywhere. As visually exciting as some of the scenes were, none of them had a linking thread. Each scene was also very hit and miss, some sequences were fantastic (the neon bowling dance sequence was wonderful) and some were dreary and misplaced (why depict the Detroit riots in Let It Be when you're never going to mention race issues in the 60's again?) The singing was adequate but nothing phenomenal and Evan Rachel Wood was a forgettable and bland lead.
There were some seriously cringy…
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Not quite what I was hoping. I think the casting may be some of the problem. Taymor definitely has vision, but it kind of free flows here. Still, the music (and choreography) is done extremely well. The story is the other problem, it kind of keeps going; the film seems way too long, gratuitous with some scenes. While enjoyable, if it had been harnessed, this could've been fantastic.
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Love, music, Beatles
The only thing missing here
Is me on some drugs -
I hesitated clicking the "I've seen this film before". Because technically I went to see this film opening weekend in 2007. I was so exited to see it, I love the Beatles and love musicals. I downloaded the soundtrack and was listening to it all the time for weeks before. But I wasn't all that present during the showing having eaten some yummy chocolaty "brownies" for the first time!
The only thing I remembered was the opening number, Bono in a bus, lots of color, my head spinning and drinking my slush and eating Milk Duds! lol
It took me all this time to watch it again because it freaked me out so much. Well I guess I didn't miss…
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only good sequence is the black kid singing and then he is in a coffin. it's good because it's entirely irrelevant to the rest of this fucking bullshit
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Fascinante historia enmarcada en una epoca de cambios generacionales que marcarían la historia hasta nuestros días
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It's not a perfect movie - the 2nd act gets bogged down by one too many psychadelic musical numbers that do not serve the story - but it's very original and beautifully realized by Julie Taymour. Also, the cast of largely unknowns plus the amazing Evan Rachel Wood and some surprise drop-ins by the likes of Joe Cocker, Eddie Izzard, Salma Hayek and Bono make the film a wonderful movie experience.
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A beautiful, messy film. A lot of songs worked wonders, but others were just dreadful.
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close your eyes and i'll kiss u.. λα λα λαα
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Ugh ugh
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Love, music, Beatles
The only thing missing here
Is me on some drugs -
Curioso homenaje a The Beatles. No me gustó, a pesar de ser fan de la banda. Pudo ser mejor, aunque rescata varios puntos que sólo los "beatlemaníacos" pueden entender. Lo mejor, el homenaje a las figuras características de los años 60, tales como Janis Joplin y Jimi Hendrix, buena combinación para esta película. Bien ambientada en la época.
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I'm not a huge fan of musicals, but this is easily my favorite.
I tried picking out my favorite song/sequence, but I couldn't, they're all great and do their part to tell this fantastic story. I will say that I would never have thought that the songs Helter Skelter and Across the Universe could be played with and against each other like they were in the film. It seems like every song was written for these scenes. They flowed the story along perfectly. And I swear watching this movie is like watching a moving painting. Julie Taymor has quite a unique vision and expresses it well here.