| Across the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Julie Taymor
Actors: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson (vi), Dana Fuchs, Martin Luther (ii)
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.94
Buy Used: $5.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  419 reviews
Sales Rank: 190
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Thai (Subtitled), Portuguese (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 133
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.7
MPN: COLD19462D
UPC: 043396194625
EAN: 0043396194625
ASIN: B000ZLFALI
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: February 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Previously Viewed rental product. 100% GUARANTEED! May have stickers on case or disc. Fast shipping! Book, Video, Video Game & Music titles all in one location! Discover Your Entertainment at goHastings.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/23/2008 Run time: 133 minutes Rating: Pg13
Amazon.com
Set in America during the Vietnam War, Across the Universe is a powerful love story set against a backdrop of political and social unrest: it's a story of soul-searching, self-doubt, and individual powerlessness cleverly conveyed through a multitude of Beatles songs. Like young adults all across America during the 1960's, Jude (Jim Sturgess), Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), Max (Joe Anderson), Sadie (Dana Fuchs), Prudence (T.V. Carpio), and JoJo (Martin Luther) are in turmoil over the war; questioning their individual roles in the war effort and struggling to find a way to hold true to their beliefs while making a difference in the world. While love proves a powerful uniting force, its limitations become clear as relationships are strained and broken over individual perceptions of responsibility to cause and country. A fairly bizarre juxtaposition of extremely stylized, almost hallucinogenic scenes of swirling colors and reflections, highly choreographed dance segments, seemingly commonplace character interaction, and emotionally packed close-up footage of characters lost in contemplative song, this film imparts a good sense of the confusion and passion of the time and is at once powerful, invigorating, and disturbing. The film runs a bit long at 2-hours 11-minutes and several segments drag noticeably thanks to some incredibly slow song tempos. Warning: this production may change how you think about a favorite Beatles song forever. --Tami Horiuchi Beyond Across the Universe 
On Blu-ray | 
The Deluxe Soundtrack | 
Beatles audio CD | Stills from Across the Universe (click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 414 more reviews...
 Great Movie November 22, 2008
I've been a fan of the Beatles since birth so I was a little skeptical at how they were going to change the songs and do a musical. But it turned out way better than expected. Great song versions including "I wanna hold your hand" and "While my guitar gently weeps". Liked the story. Shot and directed beautifully.
 More painful than the Beatle's break-up. November 17, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The common link I find to all of the negative reviews of this horrible film is that the people who hate the film are huge Beatles fans. Also, all of us went to see this movie WANTING to love it. And like many of the other reviewers, I left the movie thirty minutes into the film. As soon as that dude began singing into the camera, I knew someone had brewed up and concocted a disaster. THE MOVIE HAS NO PLOT. All the filmmaker did was tape together one song after another, hoping that a plot would emerge somehow from the order in which they were connected. Also, the renderings of the songs are toothless. What horrifies me most, however, is the large number of rabid fans who are turning this movie into their cult classic, claiming to revere this band called the Beatles they'd previously never encountered. Having all of these idiots running around "loving" the Beatles based on this film is an embarrassment to Beatles fans and the Beatles. I am not religious, but I now finally understand why Christians are prone to such anger over other "Christian" groups who espouse beliefs that have no relation to Jesus' teachings. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible movie.
Pretentious, Contrived, And Excremental November 14, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
This pretentious nonsense preaches socially conscious lessons straight from the hippy manifesto as an excuse to stitch together hallucinogenic music videos featuring a variety of performers singing Beatles songs. The songs vary in quality dramatically, with the very worst being "Let It Be", "Come Together", and "I Want You" (as an Army recruiting musical), although given the breadth of material it's hard to single out a true low point.
There is lots of very plastic dialogue about revolution, etc. (e.g. "We need to radicalize!"), which would be easier to take seriously if the characters weren't named Jude, Prudence, Lucy, Jojo, and other obvious starting points for musical numbers. While the film is ostensibly a love story, it it's really more an excuse to revisit the radicalism of the 1960's, with spoiled self-important whiny brats providing self-indulgent and brainless commentary on world events, with Vietnam at the obvious forefront.
Several things should be obvious takeaways from this cinematic Hindenburg: Bono shouldn't act, Joe Cocker should never be backed by a choir, and Julie Taymor should never, ever be allowed to make another movie. Ever.
This would be the last movie I would recommend to my worst enemy.
I was there, and I can remember it all. November 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Julie Taymor has done a remarkable job of capturing the essence of the 60's; the color is right, the sequence of events is right, the escalation of emotions is right and the music is right. I was 23 in 1967 and lived on the lower East Side of New York City where most of the scenes in the film takes place. It all happened the way Taymor describes from the street people, to the draft, to the Bread and Puppet Theatre marching down Fifth Avenue. So if you want to experience or relive that moment in time or explain to your children why that moment made such a difference watch this movie.
All we are saying is don't give crap a chance... November 7, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This film is utterly painful. The dialogue is abysmal, the plot non-existent, the "hallucinatory" special effects sequences laughable, and the Beatles songs are crudely shoehorned in whether they fit or not, complete with some of the worst choreography I've ever seen in a film. I've liked Julie Taymor's other films, but she scraped the bottom of the barrel on this one. As far as recreating a vision of the late 60s, this film makes HAIR look like CITIZEN KANE in comparison. If you want to see a brilliant film that uses classic popular music as its core, check out Todd Haynes' I'M NOT THERE, but avoid this piece of crap at all costs...
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