The Beatles Sing Along Movie: Across The Universe
I went to watch this movie today.
It was superb! A must-see! Before seeing this film, i quite like the beatles' music. Now I'm a beatles devotee! And I love musicals!!
Excerpt from The Star:
"Inspired entirely by Beatles songs, with characters whose names include Lucy, Jude and Jo-Jo, Julie Taymor's sprawling musical is visually imaginative and often quite bold, as you would expect from the director of the Frida Kahlo biopic "Frida'' and "The Lion King'' on Broadway.
The actors, who do all their own singing, are certainly up to the challenge, including Evan Rachel Wood (besides Marilyn Manson, who knew she could sing?) and especially charismatic newcomer Jim Sturgess, who resembles a young Paul and whose character hails from Liverpool.
While many of the arrangements are inventive (a lovesick cheerleader's rendition of "I Want to Hold Your Hand,'' with football players crashing into each other in slow motion all around her, has an unexpected poignancy), other performances are far too literal.
"Strawberry Fields'' springs from Jude's mind as he's gazing at a bowl of strawberries. Seriously.
It's an intriguing experiment, though, especially compared with more straightforward recent movie musicals like "The Phantom of the Opera'' and "The Producers,'' but the conceit wears out its welcome after about an hour."
From christianitytoday.com
"For a movie about war, protest, sexual revolution, drugs and rock and roll, Across the Universe is oddly naïve. Gritty elements are used for theatrical effect and then glossed over rather glibly. Drug use, for example, facilitates swirling, colorful scenes of psychedelia, and then seems to leave everyone involved perfectly functional and ready for work the next morning. Sadie's strongly implied alcoholism gives her a bluesy edge, but doesn't appear to interfere in any way with her career or love life. The film cuts from Jude and Lucy's first kiss to Max's bemused discovery of them in bed together the next morning—the characters (and the film itself) are utterly blasé about what might be considered a momentous event in the previously virginal Lucy's life. Prudence's lesbianism is used for surprise and sometimes humor, and then her story is dropped. And while the darkest elements of the film (Max's conscription to a controversial war, as well as Lucy's involvement in a protest movement that eventually turns on itself) seem to be building toward some sort of commentary or insight, eventually they just fizzle out into rather conventional (and simplistic) romantic resolve."
I just can't wait to see it again on DVD.
It was superb! A must-see! Before seeing this film, i quite like the beatles' music. Now I'm a beatles devotee! And I love musicals!!
Excerpt from The Star:
"Inspired entirely by Beatles songs, with characters whose names include Lucy, Jude and Jo-Jo, Julie Taymor's sprawling musical is visually imaginative and often quite bold, as you would expect from the director of the Frida Kahlo biopic "Frida'' and "The Lion King'' on Broadway.
The actors, who do all their own singing, are certainly up to the challenge, including Evan Rachel Wood (besides Marilyn Manson, who knew she could sing?) and especially charismatic newcomer Jim Sturgess, who resembles a young Paul and whose character hails from Liverpool.
While many of the arrangements are inventive (a lovesick cheerleader's rendition of "I Want to Hold Your Hand,'' with football players crashing into each other in slow motion all around her, has an unexpected poignancy), other performances are far too literal.
"Strawberry Fields'' springs from Jude's mind as he's gazing at a bowl of strawberries. Seriously.
It's an intriguing experiment, though, especially compared with more straightforward recent movie musicals like "The Phantom of the Opera'' and "The Producers,'' but the conceit wears out its welcome after about an hour."
From christianitytoday.com
"For a movie about war, protest, sexual revolution, drugs and rock and roll, Across the Universe is oddly naïve. Gritty elements are used for theatrical effect and then glossed over rather glibly. Drug use, for example, facilitates swirling, colorful scenes of psychedelia, and then seems to leave everyone involved perfectly functional and ready for work the next morning. Sadie's strongly implied alcoholism gives her a bluesy edge, but doesn't appear to interfere in any way with her career or love life. The film cuts from Jude and Lucy's first kiss to Max's bemused discovery of them in bed together the next morning—the characters (and the film itself) are utterly blasé about what might be considered a momentous event in the previously virginal Lucy's life. Prudence's lesbianism is used for surprise and sometimes humor, and then her story is dropped. And while the darkest elements of the film (Max's conscription to a controversial war, as well as Lucy's involvement in a protest movement that eventually turns on itself) seem to be building toward some sort of commentary or insight, eventually they just fizzle out into rather conventional (and simplistic) romantic resolve."
I just can't wait to see it again on DVD.
posted by Kyle-Sily with an L at
7:41 AM
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