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It's no surprise that Julie Taymor's eye-popping musical Across the Universe was one of the most exciting releases of 2007. Taymor, known for her groundbreaking puppet designs used in Broadway's The Lion King and for the gorgeous, haunting biopic Frida, put a thoroughly modern spin on the psychedelic 60's. In Across the Universe, the lives of young idealists collide, all set against a score of repurposed, re-recorded Beatles hits. The lives of the movie's main characters pick up steam as the 1960's grow more turbulent. A young English ship builder, a pair of preppy rebels, their bohemian soul-singer landlady and a blues guitarist from Detroit all meet up in an acid-drenched version of New York's East Village neighborhood, where they fall in love, get involved in politics and get swept up in the a wild countercultural pastiche, all while spontaneously breaking into song. The Beatles numbers used in Across the Universe are treated with respect and Taymor and Co. have no qualms about letting the songs guide the storyline. The cast themselves provide the vocals, with real-life aspiring singer Dana Fuchs turning in one of the strongest performances as a character who seems to be cross between Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. As the boyishly handsome Liam, Jim Sturgess gives a surprisingly smoldering performance that will earn him leading-man rolls for years to come. Half the fun of Across the Universe is picking all of the Beatles references out of the neon chaos; for example, all of the characters are named after Beatles songs (Lucy, Jude, Maxwell, Prudence, etc.) and many of them casually drop lyrical allusions to other songs. Julie Taymor enlisted some surprising cameos for Across the Universe, including U2's Bono as Dr. Robert (interpreted here as a Ken Keesey character), comedian Eddie Izzard as Mr. Kite (Timothy Leary), Frida alum Selma Hayek as a sadistic Vietnam nurse and 60's legend Joe Cocker in several small rolls (a pimp, a bum and a hippie.) Fans of visually dazzling musicals were not disappointed in Across the Universe, and the mind-blowing visual feast is sure to be a midnite madness cult hit for generations.

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