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Across the Universe, a review by goodguy

Across the Universe (2007) Directed by: Julie Taymor Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess DVD: R1-US 2-Disc-SE Sony (2008)

I'm not a Beatles fan. For me, great bands from the '60s are Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead and the like. That's a good thing though, because I can take the cover versions in the movie at face value and don't have to cringe at the "sacrilege" of the sometimes heavily changed renditions. In fact, many of them are far more interesting than the originals.

Still, I wouldn't have bothered with a Beatles musical if it weren't for Julie Taymor. She is one of the most imaginative directors both in movies and on stage. Her look at the '60s through more than 30 Beatles songs should be an interesting ride.

To be honest, the first half hour is a bit of drag. It isn't really bad, but very conventional and rather cliched in its simultaneous depiction of Liverpool working class guy and American rich girl. The only exception during this is the introduction of the Prudence character and her take on "I wanna hold your hand". Visually still not out of the ordinary, but great interpretation.

After half an hour, the movie slowly becomes more inventive in its visual storytelling. I suppose it makes kinda sense, as it matches the character arcs. But even later on it seems that for each strikingly original scene (the dancing suits, the Uncle Sam poster, the statue of liberty, the hospital, etc.) one has to suffer through so-so parts that are well-crafted, but not much more.

I realize that I'm a bit harsh here. Overall, the movie works and it is enjoyable. It is probably the most mainstream thing Taymor has done so far. And since it is inspired by some pop songs and not by Shakespeare (Titus) or a Mexican painter (Frida), one cannot really blame her for that.

The movie ends with a rooftop concert. Rather fittingly, because such a concert was the last public Beatles performance. I had to look up this fact on Wikipedia though, because I knew only the rooftop concert by Jefferson Airplane (one year earlier and filmed by Godard). As I said, I'm not a Beatles fan.


(From Across the Universe on June 11th, 2008)

Frightworld, a review by Jimmy

Title : Frightworld (2007)

Overview
Frightworld, a horror themed amusement park that has been shut down for decades, is about to be re-opened. To celebrate, the new owner, his girlfriend and their friends throw a party on the park grounds. The party gets a little bit out of hand and blood gets shed.

My Impression
This one is surely an exhausting watching experience, so much that I had to take a couple of break from it to catch my breath... The movie throw everything in your face with an editing completely weird, a very unenlightened set, an audio hard to hear by moment because of the echo, gory effect coming out of nowhere in a flash and a lot of metal music top level. Those factors themselve don't make a bad film, but more something like a grueling experimental horror film...

The acting quality is variable, but Andrew Roth who play the park owner and Kamillia Kova (love her sexy british accent) are certainly one head above the rest of the cast.

Not good or bad, but certainly different...

Rating :


P.S : Kathy; Frightworld is a real hunted house in Buffalo, so you can go there for some fun... lucky you

(From Jimmy's 2009 Horror Marathon on October 3rd, 2009)

Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews, a review by Tom

VOY 7.24 Endgame
Writer: Kenneth Biller (Screenwriter), Robert Doherty (Screenwriter), Rick Berman (Original Material By), Kenneth Biller (Original Material By), Brannon Braga (Original Material By)
Director: Allan Kroeker
Cast: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ (Tuvok), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine), Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), Dwight Schultz (Barclay), Richard Herd (Admiral Paris), Vaughn Armstrong (Korath), Manu Intiraymi (Icheb), Lisa Locicero (Miral Paris), Miguel Perez (Physician), Grant Garrison (Cadet), Alice Krige (Borg Queen), Amy Lindsay (Lana), Matthew James Williamson (Klingon), Joey Sakata (Engineering N.D.), Richard Sarstedt (Star Fleet Admiral), Iris Bahr (Female Cadet), Ashley Sierra Hughes (Sabrina), Majel Barrett (Compute Voice (voice))

Voyager gets home with the help from a future Janeway. It is a nice enough final episode for Voyager. Nice to see a possible future, where Voyager did take another 16 years to get home.
What I missing is some kind of coda, where we see what happens to the crew, now that they are back home. We get some idea through some dialog, but I think it could have easily filled up half a season to explore this topic. For example, what happens to the doctor? How will he come to be recognized as a person?
I think to show the alternate future was in some way a good idea to give some hints about their future lives (at least for the ones who did make it home in that timeline).

P/T moments:
The birth of their daughter for once. Then you also see them still happily married in the alternate future. Also Tom refusing Harry's idea for a dangerous mission to explore the possibility to get home on the grounds, that it's too dangerous for him as a husband and father-to-be and that he is already home, is a nice touch.
This concludes the P/T marathon.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Star Trek Reviews on October 3rd, 2009)