she loves (and hates) you

man, it's taking me 3 days to write this review. ugh. and i still don't want to. i'm not sure why. across the universe was acceptable. i wasn't amazed with anything really, other than mr. jim sturgess' face and voice. swoon. i'm a sucker for those english men.

i'm really not a huge beatles fan. so i was doubly disappointed when some of their songs i actually know and like weren't in the movie. m informed me that the movie really focuses on the latter part of their career, but whatever, i don't believe your typical movie go-er is going to realize or care about that. i was also hoping for a "radical new take on beatles songs" but was presented with "yeah... anyone could have come up with these" versions. don't get me wrong, the singing was very good but i just wasn't too impressed with the arrangements.

songs aside... i loved the 3 lead males! jim sturgess, joe anderson and martin luther. acting and singing were both fabulous and convincing. their characters were deep and real, and i felt sympathy for each of them at at least one point in the movie.

males aside... i really really really didn't like evan rachel wood, or her character. lucy was a naive, vapid little brat. (very similar to wood's character in thirteen, although she was actually convincing there) she has a good voice but that's really the only positive thing i have to say about her and her character.

the rest of the movie (scenery, special effects) was either forgettable or impressive. i really enjoyed the "strawberry fields" bit, but hated "being for the benefit of mr. kite"

there is rarely a movie in which i find myself both loving and hating it in equal parts... across the universe is one of these.

grade:b