Across the Universe (Julie Taymor, 2007): USA
Reviewed by William Conlin. Viewed on Blu-Ray.
One of my favorite film genres in musicals. I love the classic Broadway adaptations of the 1960’s and the dark musicals of the 2000’s but every once in a while I see a musical that I enjoy so much I can’t even place it in the same category as any other musical I know. For me, one of those films is Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe.
Using over 30 of The Beatles most famous songs, Across the Universe is a beautiful fantasy about youth and their struggles in the 1960’s. When a young Englishman named Jude (Jim Sturgess) comes to America in search of his father he befriends a college dropout (Joe Anderson) and falls in love with his sister Lucy (Evan Rachel-Wood). They all move to New York and meet a group of musicians and artists only to have their happiness crushed by a war half way around the world and the domestic problems it creates back at home.
I have absolutely nothing to criticize about this film. In my mind, it’s perfect just the way it is.
Big Fan (Robert D. Siegel, 2009): USA
Reviewed by Richard Feilden. Viewed as part of the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival.
Big Fan’s Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt) gets the ‘never meet your heroes’ trope hammered home when a misunderstanding turns a chance encounter with his idol into a trip to the hospital. The film certainly isn’t as tumultuous a fall from grace for writer/director Robert D. Siegel (the screenwriter behind last year’s critical smash The Wrestler) as it is for his protagonist, but it suffers from its misjudged attempts to inject comedic moments into a harsh reality, as well as a second act which just seems to be waiting for the third to arrive.
Paul’s life is going nowhere, and he doesn’t seem to care, as long as his team is winning. He is a thirty-five year old man who spends his nights working as a garage attendant. While cooped up in his tiny booth, he lovingly prepares the spontaneous phone rants which he unleashes on a sports talk-radio show. There, under the cover of anonymity and his bed-sheets, he does battle with his nemesis, Philadelphia Phil (Michael Rapaport). The airwaves sizzle
