Whether you "wanna revolution," need to cheer up your friend Jude, or hope to find out if you're a walrus, Across the Universe has enough Beatles songs to make a cover band envious. While director Julie Taymor's latest film has been met with comparisons to Moulin Rouge, the only similarity is the use of preexisting song material and the simple fact that both films are musicals. Across the Universe is a musical film based entirely on the music of the Beatles-and as the Beatles would agree, it's all about love. And if love songs are the undoing of this world, then the message of Across the Universe will undo all across every city, border, and, of course, the universe.

Across the Universe brings the spectacle of the stage to a tormented ‘60s that doesn't know how to cope with war and civil unrest. What better way to reflect this inner and external turmoil than to highlight the ‘60s ambiguous need for love. Despite differing views about politics, social change, sexual confusion, and mind expansion, "all you need is love." We might not know how to change the world, but we know we need love, and until we can truly vocalize the specifics of that love, we'll keep speaking in broad terms.

Almost a year ago, I saw a preview of the powerful film, TRADE. It is based upon a New York Times investigation by Peter Landsman, about the horrors of sex trafficking entitled "The Girls Next Door". An avalanche of controversy followed, questioning the veracity of Landesman's reporting. Amidst all the claims of journalistic license or excess, the victims of the sex trade were tragically lost. Evidently, we'd rather argue about how many sex slaves their might be than get involved in stemming the tide.

The cinematic version of Landesman's article, TRADE, arrived at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival with a fair amount of anticipation. Written by acclaimed Motorcycle Diaries scribe, Jose Rivera, directed by young German filmmaker, Marco Kreuzpaintner and starring Kevin Kline, TRADE looked to be an early contender for serious, important film of the year. TRADE's distribution company, LIONSGATE, rode an equally small, independent film like CRASH from the Toronto Film Festival to an Academy Award for Best Picture. Would lightning strike twice for Lionsgate?

I am always suprised when I meet a music lover who has not heard of the band TRAVIS. Coldplay is really well known now around the US, but many people still know very little about the band Chris Martin credits as the ones who "invented my band and lots of others." If you haven't listened to TRAVIS much, check out The Boy With No Name. It's a great place to start, or get reacquainted. Their myspace page will give you a free listen to four of their tracks, but a personal favorite of mine is 'Closer.' After living with this song for a while it has me asking some questions.

Can bad news actually be good news? Can things falling apart lead to things being whole?