I had the privilege of seeing the new movie Yesterday over the weekend. The premise is that a struggling singer/songwriter, after a freak power outage is hit by a bus. When he wakes up, he realizes that no one has ever heard of the Beatles. At first he thinks he's gone crazy or hit his head too hard, but little by little he realizes that if no one knows the songs, he needs to get them recorded. Or, well, he sort of gets pushed along into recording them. Since no one has ever heard them before, everyone thinks he wrote them. From here the story sort of takes off running. Jack is thrust into the spotlight, the entire time bearing the weight of knowing that they aren't his songs and starting to lose the life that he loved before his newfound fame. The Beatles are one of my favorite bands. They always have been. The movie Across the Universe is a great adaption of their music into a musical. It was wonderful to hear them performed differently throughout the movie. Jack's version of Help Me is raucous and loud and damn near punk, as was Back in the USSR. The movie is full of laughs and excellent dialogue. Since the director Danny Boyle is probably known more for Trainspotting, seeing him do something as light as Yesterday is a nice change of pace. It's the perfect vehicle for his direction. He does large scenes just as well as he does the small and intimate ones. I was impressed by the comedic timing in the movie. There was one big twist at the end. I was pleasantly surprised to have been among those who literally gasped. If you like spoilers, I'll reference you here: https://ew.com/movies/2019/06/29/danny-boyle-beatles-twist-yesterday/ Kate McKinnon plays the record exec with demented glee. There was one part of the movie when she's doing her big eyed creepy stare while Jack is on the phone having a really serious moment…and I laughed out loud. I was the only one. But it just further proves to me that she's incapable of not being funny. I loved this movie and it's swiftly climbing up my "all time" chart. Oh…and Ed Sheeran is in it. He's part of a very funny catalyst that gets Jack's career going, but he's not the focus. If the crowded theater is any indication, I'm not the only one who enjoyed this movie. I hope that more people get to see it and enjoy it as much as I did.
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