Across The Valley
I saw Across The Universe last night. I can honestly say that it was just as enjoyable as it was confusing. I swear, no one actually directed the movie, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t very creative. We drove out to Scottsdale to see it at the Cine Capri. Which I’m sorry to saw was in it self was a letdown. The more theaters I goto the more I realize how spoiled I am by the Egyptian. The Cine Capri was a popular theatre in Phoenix, as a matter of fact it was host to many hollywood premiers, but it was torn down a few years back and replaced by multiple “Cine Capris” (which is French for $.50 more profit per ticket) at different theaters, Phoenix now has two of them. I figured it was a huge theater, with a balcony and cool architecture. Nope, it was just a bigger theater with stadium seating and ugly gold curtains. So I drove to north Scottsdale and payed extra for nothing, but I still don’t regret seeing the movie.
Across The Universe was fun to watch, but it’s first and fatal flaw is that it’s too long. 90 minutes people, unless you’re David Lean it’s all you get! The music however is amazing, all the Beatles covers are well done and while the visuals do at times get too weird (the Eddy Izzard scene is un-watchable). The majority of the musical scenes are a lot of fun and that is why everyone should go see it. Don’t expect much from the plot, and don’t be surprised when characters just randomly disappear and appear. There is one in particular that shouldn’t have been in the movie in the first place, but just randomly pops in and out of scenes throughout the movie. It’s a directoral nightmare, but like I said, if you at least sort of like the Beatles you should go check it out.
I’m hard at work on my demo reel (you know that thing I’ve been working on for months now) I think I finally have a grasp on how to do this. I basically started over two weeks ago after watching a bunch of other people’s reels. I’m doing a sort of montage now, and while I don’t really like the concept of it, it supposedly helps you get a job. So I’m jumping on the bandwagon and hoping for the best. I get to show my resume to a bunch of potential employers at a job fair next thursday. So while I have to get the stupid thing done in the next few days I’m excited about showing it off. Even if my current boss might be there… it could get a bit weird… oh well.
On wednesday Wes Anderson released a short film onto iTunes. It’s called Hotel Chevalier and it’s excellent. It gives a bit of background to one of the characters in his upcoming film The Darjeeling Limited. It’s short and doesn’t have much of a plot but it’s full of Anderson’s usual charm. It’s free, only on iTunes and also rated R for a reason.
David
September 30th, 2007 22:49
formattings a little fucked up on facebook
October 1st, 2007 01:32
yea it decides it doesn't want to show ', instead it uses the hex code for them
October 6th, 2007 14:07
I wasn’t sure whether or not to go out of my way to see across the universe either, so thanks for saving me the trouble. If you’ve been watching Comedy Central this weekend at all you’ve seen the commercials for the Darjeeling Limited at least 100x. (you know I have).
Anyways I made a short blog post today, and will be doing so religiously (probably daily) for the next few weeks about ‘the navy so far’.
hope all is cool
November 30th, 2007 19:50
uhmm yeah. you are WRONG
this movie was amazing and it was not a directoral nightmare. it was artistically done well, your just too blind to see it. Julie Taymor did a great job directing this movie. i will admit the plot was a little iffy, but other than that the music and cinemetography was amazing.
February 10th, 2008 15:52
id have to agree with ’sure’ that the artisic value of this film is pretty amazing and that the plot is NOT lacking anything! at a glance it would seem that the diologue is only there to move from song to song, but the songs are so frequent because they are about the characters in the film, so a standard diologue isnt needed in place of the songs, which are amazing by the way (except that thing with ‘mr.kite’ it was too weird for me.) and some of the songs take new meaning in the film too, like ‘i want you’ which is used to describe max getting drafted, and the line ’shes so heavy’ was brilliantly tied with future soldiers dragging the statue of liberty across vietnam. dont even get me started on the ’strawberry feilds’ scene! it was, in short, a visual and political masterpeice. i cant make you search for the meaning in this movie, but i CAN say you should because youre missing out.
February 19th, 2008 10:37
I will agree the asian girl was a little random at times but I believe the reason shes in there is to show how bad people were struggling with being gay at the time even if they didnt go enough into that to really make it stick out. I didnt really like the beetles much before the movie. Some of their songs yes. I know thats blasphemous to some people but I just wasnt real into them. But I loved the songs in the movie and thought it was done amazingly.
March 5th, 2008 10:09
I haven’t yet seen the movie and have bene totally determined to watch it very soon-I live in the UK by the way, and only heard of it by an American friend of mine-and after reading this, I still want to watch it. I have seen the songs on youtube(cheating, I know) and I can say from those small clips that the film does look rather amazing.
March 6th, 2008 10:35
Across the Universe was probably the most creative movie I have ever seen. I’m prettymuch obsessed.
The reason why some people don’t like it is because they haven’t touched bases with their taste in art.
The people who liked this movie are obviously more artistic and more creative. they spend their lives happier enriched with art. :DDD
March 14th, 2008 13:25
Across the Universe is one of my favorite movies. Julie Taymor is an amazing director. The cast was amazing too. The plot of the movie was well and the entire movie in general was outstanding.
April 8th, 2008 17:17
I absolutly loved Across the Universe. Im obsessed too. it has great artistic and political meaninng.I agree with Julia You have to possess a more artistic and creative touch to really understand it. the entire movie made sense to me
April 15th, 2008 23:12
I thought that Across the Universe was one of the most spectacular movies of our time. Yes, the characters do appear and disappear at spontaneous intervals, but when you think about the lyrics of the Beatles’ songs you realise that the plot is in fact twisted around them.
There is also a plot! Sure its slow moving and not direct, but its all about getting the girl and making your way in the world.
Also, I agree that some of the scenes are hard to watch but i also believe that Julie Taymor did a fantastic job about portraying the world as seen through drug filled eyes.
Perhaps it is an artistic view that is needed, i also understood the movie and was not confused… at all.
April 21st, 2008 17:11
I really love this movie, but I agree that the visual in “Being For the Benifit of Mr. Kite” is confusing and too much.
Prudence is the only character that I think pops in and out, and the sixties was the beginning of the whole Free Love movement thing, and the other characters acceptance of her helps show who they are. Also she’s an amazing singer.
Also, the visuals are often symbolic. Like, in “Across the Universe” when it has the Vietnamese women on the river and wearing the masks. That’s about how the American soldiers slaughtered the women after they were forced to put bombs in their gift baskets.
And the crazy visual in “I am the Walrus” was because they were all on acid. Sorry, but that’s a no-brainer.
I thought it was an amazing movie, and that it was very artistically put together. I also loved all the little ways they slipped in Beatles things. Obviously, Jude from “Hey, Jude.” Lucy from “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” But less obviously, the Cavern Club, where the Beatles played before they made it big, or how they were laying in a group of 9 during “Becuase” referring to “Revolution 9.”
May 14th, 2008 21:20
[...] - como dizendo para ela “sair do armário”, ou seja, assumir o lesbianismo. Fora isso ela só serve para aparecer e desaparecer aleatóriamente no filme e nada [...]
May 15th, 2008 19:25
Yes, I’m a big fan of this, and even tho I didn’t really notice it before, some of the characters don’t really have much of a meaning in the whole film, but I’m glad they’re there.
Also, I actually sorta wish that it wasn’t a film about romance only for the reason that thats the only type of film people from this generation(my generation) are made to watch now a days. I’d like to see a good movie with nothing to do with love at all, maybe sex, but not exactly a romantic thing, cause really, all that is just getting Way to predictable(Obviously, he/she will the get the guy/girl).
But then thinking about that some more, it would pretty difficult to make a movie involving the Beatles songs and not have it be about love. Cause that was what it was all about man, peace love drugs, the 60’s/70’s was such a trippy time.
Also, I loved the Mr. Kite part, I guess you really do have to be a stoner of some kind to really be able to connect or love that part, haha.
June 3rd, 2008 13:06
i totally agree with the people about the needing to be creative thing.
if you didn’t understand the movie, which was AMAZING, then you’re probably not that creative and artistic.
i loved how the movie portrayed what was going on for the normal young people during the vietnam war. it wasn’t all about just what the soldiers and important people had to deal with.
Across the Universe is one of my ultimate favorite musical movies, along with the lion king ;) lol
**yeah, Prudence was a little odd. but im glad she was in the movie. she added some humor in bc Max liked her
June 4th, 2008 20:07
Most people thought that the “Being for the benefit of Mr.Kite” or the “I am the Walrus” parts were too much, or hard to watch, but I disagree over 100% I think those were two of the best parts of the movie, they are so unique and bold.
I’m a total A.T.U fanatic, and think every part of the movie, wether it be the directing, plot, cast, music, or whatever had a special porpous in making the film what it has come to be.
Also I believe the whole movie is a timeless classic, and it beautifully portays the history of the 60s and 70s.
This is a movie that all generations can enjoy and embrace, whether you were the parents of kids growing up during that time, or the kids themselves, or even if you’re part of the recent inviromentalist (rather hippie-ish) generation- movement. Its a great movie for all people, teenagers and up.
atu rocks and will never die. peace.. C:
June 18th, 2008 15:59
yes, i’d really have to say you are really reallt wrong. Maybe from a person who isnt very creative and likes the status quo of a ‘movie’ this movie was worth mentioing how ugly the gold curtains were. I need to tell everyone that this movie is’nt a waist of time!! Even my friend, who I thought would absolutly HATE this movie really liked it. The directing, Music, Acting everthing about it was Fantastic!
June 23rd, 2008 20:00
Okay you are obviously a moron because this was one of the most incredible movies that this generation of film has ever produced the music was beyond amazing, all of the actors were incredible and the directing was stylistic and beautiful and I do not know what your problem is with Prudence “randomly”showing up everywhere, dont you have friends who go out on their own on occasion? jesus christ! you guys are probably from some stupid small town where you were all the most popular and just everything revolved around you. Honestly I dont know why you bothered to write this your opinion is not significant in the real world asshole!
June 24th, 2008 01:32
I’m going to jump back in here now.
You see, my opinion of this movie is based on the fact that I actually know how a movie is put together. Argue with me on plot or how the movie made you feel, but don’t pretend to know anything about directing.
June 30th, 2008 21:23
how the fuck was that movie confusing? it was beautiful, every bit of it. did you even pay attention to it at all?
August 13th, 2008 22:54
david for all you know some of the comments posted on the directing could actually be from DIRECTORS, who would obviously know a thing or two about directing. so watch yourself :) mmmk
August 16th, 2008 14:14
oh man, i love random internet hate. damn your opinion dave! how dare you disagree with the emotionally charged masses!
plus in response to “yep” i do find it awesome how you claim that many could be directors, yet all but one are too cowardly to identify themselves with more than a first name and a heated rebuttle with misguided hostility. Calling someone a moron for their criticism of something you favor is ridiculous. Not a single person in this thread has rebuted his claims with more than personal opinion, which is all David was trying to express in the first place.
I personally liked the movie quite a bit, but I wasn’t watching it from a technical point of view either. And with that i’ll bow out and let the angry mob continue haha.
August 31st, 2008 18:19
Some people use the right side of their brain, some the left. And that is how you will see this movie and will be the deciding factor in whether you like it or not. The plot was absolutely perfect, even if you stated otherwise in a little article. You need to understand, the beatles came out (well, were at their height) in the 1960’s. It’s also an era of drugs such as shrooms, acid, etc. Therefore, they are doing a great job with storyline of the 1960’s, and the trippy scenes are there for a REASON, not just because they decided to make it weird. It’s all about background, and before you go critiquing such a brilliant film, probably one of the best and most clever of our time, you should do some research.
September 8th, 2008 12:15
david,
the only reason you were dissapointed with this film is because you obviously aren’t creative and open-minded enough to appreciate it. if not for the visual aspect alone being superb, the film connects in so many ways to the time it is set in, the beatles songs, and to itself. read up on bob dylan, important figures of the decade, and educate yourself on the beatles before criticizing such a deeply connected piece of art.
October 22nd, 2008 22:36
i understand its been a while since anybody has commented but being creative has nothing to do with liking this movie… i personally didnt really feel much towards it. the songs are good but it seems like they put some beatles songs on a fishbowl and fished for them whatever came out was made into a movie…. bits of dialogue were put on there to just fill in. in all, its just not well made, i completely agree.
December 22nd, 2008 17:12
I beleive this movie was extrordinary. I dont think the scene with “I am the Walrus” was too confusing, it displays what truley went on in the 60’s and 70’s. Do not over analyze it just becuase you have seen “other movies” and you know more about directing. An open mind should always be kept when your watching new movies. I haven’t heard any negative feedback about this movie except for in this blog. So that leaves it up to the viewer to choose whether or not the movie is worth it.
January 5th, 2009 12:40
you obviously know nothing about the beatles or the time they lived in. the movie was directed very well to suit the things that were going on in the world at this time. The plot is actually amazing and acurate. as far as the eddie izzard scene its pretty crazy because times were changing and the beatles were introduced to something called LSD, which is strange in itself. nothing portrays the emotions of the beatles and followers better than this movie(other than the music itself). So before you go knocking the plot or intentions of the movie, you should probably brush up on your history and beatles symbolism. I wish you could have understood all the symbolism in the movie- there is so much. Everything really from prudence (who you said was irrelevent) to carrying liberty on your back at the expense of the destruction of countries. I think this movie was a great tribute to the beatles and their beliefs.