Across the Universe (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Across the Universe recreates the turbulent anti-war 60s with as much of the nudity and as many of the drugs as could be gotten away with in a PG-13 movie. Amazingly, it also manages to stitch together a credible story from the lyrics of disparate Beatles songs sung by the cast. The new versions are sometimes inspired. All in all it's pretty darn good, and the ongoing war in Iraq only adds resonance. As Roger Ebert beautifully puts it in his review, the movie "fires its songs like flowers at the way we live now." 4 stars out of 5. DVD