As my third Netflix selection, I opted for the equally maligned and revered Beatles-soundtracked musical movie, Across The Universe. I will succintly say that I loved this movie. The creativity involved in building a believable plot around characters that the viewer cares about, while incorporating 33 Beatles songs where the unchanged lyrics actually drive the plot and make sense in context, is astounding. But I don't want to be the one to convince you to see this movie. I'm going to leave that to the real experts....take it away bipolarmoviereviews:
Ladies and Gentlemen...the defense rests.
1 comment:
To my fellow Weightstaffer:
I have little doubt that Simon Cowell (the only man in Hollywood who has any integrity these days) would proclaim it "corny."
I will not see this movie. Call me a Beatles snob, close-minded, or just plain stubborn, I don't care (sticks and stones, remember that one?). Did you ever see Peter Frampton and The Bee Gees in "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Movie?" Well I have. George Burns singing "Fixing a Hole" within the first 12 minutes of the film was enough to make me puke. History repeats itself.
According to Rottentomatoes.com -- THE internet authority on movie reviews -- the film weighed in at a paltry 50% -- a statistical failure as judged by the nation's top critics. This ranking is on par with "Josie and the Pussycats" and "X-Men: The Last Stand." I'm not exaggerating. Ann Tornaday, "top critic" from the Washington Post, sums it up best:
"Here's a no-fail equation: Take one Julie Taymor (the creative genius behind Broadway's "The Lion King," the visionary director of "Frida" and "Titus"), add the music of the Beatles and come up with: something great, right?
Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Oh, how very wrong. 'Across the Universe,' in which Taymor shoehorns, contorts and otherwise bullies some of the Fab Four's greatest hits into a vapid Hollywood musical, is the kind of project that must have looked great on paper. Which is where it should have stayed, the more conveniently to be scrunched into a ball and unceremoniously placed into the circular file."
Her words of caution alone were enough for me to stay FAR FAR AWAY!
I always respect your opinions, but we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
DS, Weightstaff
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