Movie Media: Across the Universe - Poster, Trailer

Every once in awhile a trailer comes around that gets me excited for the movie beyond reason. Many times I am set up for a fall as the film cannot possibly live up to my expectations, while others will live up. Still other trailers promise a good movie, but do not prepare me for utter greatness, much like what happened with Children of Men. Now we are faced with Across the Universe, featuring a trailer that blindsided me the first time I saw it, and has me so eagerly anticipating its release. I know the trailer has been around for some time, but it has not lost any of its effectiveness the more times that I see it.

It promises music, character, an anti-war sentiment that would not be out of place today, all blended with a dose of weirdness. This strikes me as a movie that will be wildly creative and different from anything that has been out this year. Yes, I realize I am setting high standards, but that is how much I love the trailer. It highlights a big difference between the youth of the 1960s and the youth of today. In the 60s there was movement there was an outcry against injustice, rallies against the war in Vietnam, there was a different way of mounting protests and demonstrations. Today it seems like there is more apathy in regards to acting out and demonstrating, I am as guilty as anyone, perhaps even moreso. Still, there is a vast difference in the way things are dealt with. Across the Universe puts a punctuation point on it, and looks to deliver an amazing film. I only hope it can live up to what is in my head.

Julie Taymor (Frida) directs this film, starring Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood, Joe Anderson, and Dana Fuchs. It is the story of a dockworker from Liverpool who comes to America in search of his father, falls in love with an American girl whose brother gets drafted, and then becoming involved in the peace movement. I cannot wait. It is scheduled for a September 28, 2007 release.