As I was browsing through the movie section at the library, (yeah libraries!) I stumbled across Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. I had heard some great things about it, and I am a fan of Michael Cera, so I felt obliged to watch it.

From the moment the first scene started, I was in love with it. A mutual love for music brings two strangers together. They spend the night running through the city in search of a missing best friend and underground band. Encounters with exes they can’t get over, shared secrets, and some laughs result in an unforgetable ending.

ALSO, this movie is based off of the novel by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. (Which is really, really good.)

I definitely recommend watching this movie. And reading the book!

       The hills are alllliiiiiivvveee~~…wait, HOLY THE HILLS ARE ALIVE!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! Just kidding, but seriously, The Sound of Music is so amazing its like the hills are actually alive and it…is…awesome!

       The movie The Sound of Music is an amazing, romantic and suspenseful work of art. The story begins with a camera pan of the alps that zooms in on Maria (Julie Andrews) whom is belting out the hills are alive with such power it just about knocks your socks off. Plot then ensues. Maria is a nun that just can’t seem to get anything right, she’s always gallivanting through the mountains and late for mass. She is eventually sent to become a nanny to the Von Trapp family and romance, family warm and fuzzies and drama begin. 

        Moving on to the characters, Maria (Julie Andrews) is a wonderfully fleshed out character. She is caring, loving, charming although she acts very much like in a teenager in the way that she doesn’t have enough discipline. Never at any point in the movie does the viewer stop and wonder about her motives because of the amazing performance by Julie Andrews. Georg Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) is the love interest to Maria and the father to the seven children that Maria is supposed to care for. The final main character is Baroness Elsa Schraeder (Eleanor Parker). She is the perfect foil to Maria because she is ultra sophisticated and highly mannered and upper-class. She is the conflicting love interest to Georg. The supporting characters of the nuns and the Von Trapp family do their job very well, they are dense enough to make the audience care about them but they don’t distract from the main points.

        The plot is an old time romance that also has an underlying plot of the Nazi regime encroaching on Austria and thus the Von Trapp family. The plot has enough romance that it tugs at the heart strings and action to make the heart race.

        Onto miscellaneous other items, like the soundtrack. (because one cannot review The Sound of Music without mentioning the soundtrack). The music is beautifully done and only adds to the breadth and depth of the story. Never once does the singing ever feel misplaced.

        So my final recommendations for The Sound of Music? If you haven’t seen it, go out, get the movie and watch it. Because if you don’t random hills will come alive (haha). 

-Gothie

                                               X-Men: First Class

Acting:
I thought the actors and actresses chosen for this production made sense, and fit to their part well.  I think that James McAvoy (Charles Xavier) and Michael Fassbender (Magneto) did a very good job as leading male roles, and had wonderful dialogue at times.  The appearance of Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw was intriguing and I enjoyed it.  The supporting roles, though sometimes flat in the personality department, made a well-rounded cast of mutants for the movie.

Plot:
The story follows the two male characters, Xavier and Eric.  Eric finding out he has powers through a terrifying experience while in Nazi Germany at the hands of a cruel scientist, who convinces the boy the key to his powers is pain and anger.  Xavier developing his thesis in college in order to better understand the genes and science involved with mutations of he human body.  
They are brought together by the need to form group under the CIA.  They gather together mutants from different walks of life in order to face the dangers that Shaw has put them in, everything from putting nuclear weapons in Turkey, to the Cuban Missile Crisis.  We learn the origins of Xavier’s paralyzing injury, and how the two males eventually become enemies.

Step aside, Scott Summers and Jean Grey!  The romance wasn’t a primary part of the movie particularly, but the bonds that characters like Mystique and Hank McCoy (Beast) had was endearing.

Positives:
Good plotline.  Acting was very good, and wonderful computer imagery and animation.  The characters were believable, and well-rounded.

Negatives:
The supporting characters could be a little flat personality-wise.  There is the fact that it’s part of a franchise that may just be doing this to milk out as much money as possible.  There is also some debates over conclusive plots relating to the comic series eleven years ago.

Overview:
I would recommend going to see it.  Whether you have been a hardcore fan, or just wanting to go for some cool action scenes, it won’t disappoint in either respect.  I have always loved a good comic-book movie, so count me won over.