Across the Universe (DVD)

Across the Universe is a musical based on the songs of The Beatles. Despite fairly mixed acclaim, it was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. The film is difficult to summarise because it's so scattershot - it introduces numerous characters from songs of The Beatles, such as Jude, and although it doesn't always hits its targets, it is a fun and impressively rendered look at the middle/late 1960s. Where this film succeeds most is with its sheer visual wonder - it has numerous stunning sequences, with objects transforming into other objects, and the screen becoming filled with numerous CGI constructions. Under different direction, the film ...  Read the complete review

I heard about this movie before it was released and being a massive fan of the beatles catalogue I was intrigued, It passed me by at the movies but I recently rented it on DVD and sat down with my wife to watch it on a saturday evening. The very first couple of minutes of the movie showed some serious promise, it begins with Jude ( Jim Sturgess ) sitting on a beach lamenting and singing "Girl" ( By the way, for anyone who doesn't know all the music from this movie is from the Beatles catalogue so I won't mention that after every song ) the way its shot and Sturgess' delivery of the song really got my hopes up for the rest of the ...  Read the complete review

If it was not for one fortunate trip to the cinema I would have never have discovered this beautiful film. Two friends and I watched on absolutely gobsmacked by how powerful the trailer was visually and musically. After the silence of our captured imaginations, there were immediate choruses of 'We must go see that!' But did the film live up to its trailer? *~Lack of Plot?~* 'Across the Universe' is a musical set in the sixties and based on a collection of much-loved Beatles songs. It follows the story of a working-class Liverpudlian guy who decides to jump ship and meet his American father for the first time. When he arrives in America the ...  Read the complete review

Recommended and forced upon me by a friend, I am incredibly grateful now that I didn't have to spend my own money on this movie. Set in the 1960s, it follows young Jude as he leaves his native Liverpool with the marines, jumping ship in America to find his father, encountering new friend Max and promptly falling for his sister, whose boyfriend is away with the army in Vietnam. What follows is a rather confusing journey with our star-crossed lovers through anti-war protests with random people singing and getting high. The movie blurb makes it all sound very dramatic and gripping, however as I huddled on my sofa watching this movie with a thunderstorm raging ...  Read the complete review

Take a whole bunch of songs by The Beatles. And then make a film around them using the songs & character names. Doesn't sound like much of an idea for a film does it? But somehow they managed to sell it. When I saw posters and adverts for this film I had the feeling it was an animated feature, not live action. How wrong I was. It hasn't got any actors or actresses I know much about so I can't really talk about how this compares to previous movies they've been in. There are a couple of basic plots of a boy called Jude who goes to America to find his father who'd been a GI stationed in England during the war. There's also a plot about a guy who gets drafted ...  Read the complete review