Is anybody out there….
What do Joe Cocker, Bono, Eddie Izzard and Salma Hayek have in common? They all make appearances in the recently released to DVD movie Across the Universe. To put it a little more accurately, they all make rather trippy appearances in Across the Universe. If you have not yet heard of the movie, go now and check out the trailer.If you’ve heard of it, and thought you might like it – go rent it (or come on over - I got it as a gift from my valentine – and we can watch it together). If you saw the preview and were horrified, then stop reading now. Go away, and don’t speak to me ever again. The same goes if you did see it and didn’t like it. Goodbye.
For the rest of you who are still here – O M G. It is now vying with Hedwig for my #1 favorite musical movie. Yes you heard that right – it’s that good (and not even one drag queen to speak of in the whole film…I don’t think – I should watch it again to be sure.) I didn’t even know Eddie was in it when I saw it. It was like a super special bonus. The plot is a predictable love story. Nothing special there. The main characters are rather naïve – but loveable. Oh yea – since we’ve lost Heath Ledger, I’ve had to replace him with a new cutie heartthrob with an accent – enter Jim Sturgess as Jude. All the main characters names are from Beatles songs. The entire movie is driven by the Beatles work. I love the new twists they’ve put on the old classics. While watching it, and then again while going through the special features on disc 2 (I <3 u Phlome) I kept wanting to call my mom. I mean she lived through this stuff – and she’s a fan of the early Beatles stuff not sure about the latter. I know she’d enjoy the movie. Ok, so I’m rambling, my apologies, but I mean it’s just hard to get all my thoughts organized without revealing the movie. I guess there’s really nothing to reveal, no funky twists in the plot, just an amazingly entertaining movie. Many reviews have referred to it as great ear and eye candy. I agree wholeheartedly.
During a few scenes my thought went something like this (re: the cameos):
Hey, is that Joe Cocker. That was so Joe Cocker.
Wait a minute, was that Joe Coker too?
Hey –t hat was Joe Cocker again!
Is that Bono? No, that can’t be Bono.
Is that EDDIE? Oh that has got to be Eddie. EDDIE!!!!!
Heh heh – Salma Hayek as a nurse.
Wait a minute…so is that, and that, hey, they’re all Salma Hayek!
Then there’s this revelation: “Hey the actors are actually singing!”
Turns out it’s true, they actually filmed the movie while the actors sang live.
Of course I love Eddie performing “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” It’s just oh so very Eddie. Unmistakable – I had to go look up the lyrics, he adlibbed a bit – it was good. But I think my favorite number was “I want you (She’s so heavy).” It’s very avant-garde. I have to confess, I’m rather ignorant of much of the Beatles discography. I have no idea what “I want you” was originally supposed to be about. Reading the lyrics I still find no insight. But what they do with it in the movie…it just seems like it was written for it.
Also turning “I wanna hold your hand” into a sad ballad was quite insightful. If you saw Mama Mia, you may get a bit of a déjà vu feeling about the way the songs are performed. Mama Mia took Abba’s music, and created a play around it, using much of the music in settings the songs didn’t initially seem to be intended for, but it worked.
If you’re a die hard, “no one can do the Beatles like the Beatles” fan you’re gonna have to get over yourself for a bit to really enjoy the movie. The movie gives the songs new meaning, and the performers perform many of them very differently than you’ve likely ever heard before.
Ok – I’ll stop now. I’m working on trying to post more. My next most will be about the obsession that Across the Universe temporarily replaced: SPORE