Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist is a decent date movie. However, it has more of an appeal to a young-adult viewer audience.  Directed by Peter Sollet, this movie was more of a “should have rented it” film.

Nick (Michael Cera) is completely in love with his ex-girlfriend Tris (Alexis Dzinena) and continuously makes her cds to let her know how much she still means to him. Tris, the typical total un-caring brat, throws his cds in the garbage. Enter Norah (Kat Dennings). Norah, who goes to the same school as Tris, picks up the thrown away cds and keeps them. She has never met Nick until the night of the “Where’s Fluffy?” concert. Nick and Norah end up meeting because Norah is so sick of Tris giving her a hard time of being without a boy that she quickly finds the one person she thinks is cute (Nick) and asks him to be her boyfriend for five seconds. They spend the rest of the evening chasing around clues to find the hidden “Where’s Fluffy?” concert.

It’s a sweet movie with a bit of an edge to it. This movie kind of made me realize that high school films are not as fun as they used to be when I was actually in high school. However, this really doesn’t take away from the film itself. Michael Cera, as per-usual, does an ideal job of portraying the nerdy, yet totally adorable guy. Kat Dennings also gives an outstanding performance.

One thing this move did for me was it made me miss high school. I probably would have hung out with Nick and Norah and Nick’s band friends. I felt a bit nostalgic after watching this movie, but in a good way.

If you like Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, you would also like the movie Juno (Juno was probably my favorite movie to come out of 2007. It stars Ellen Page as well as Michael Cera).

The soundtrack is as follows:

1. “Speed of Sound” by Chris Bell
2. “Lover” by Devendra Banhart
3. “Screw the Man” by The Jerk Offs
4. “Middle Management” by Bishop Allen
5. “Ottoman” by Vampire Weekend
6. “Riot Radio” by The Dead 60s
7. “Fever” by Takka Takka
8. “Xavia” by The Submarines
9. “Negative” by Project Jenny, Project Jan
10. “After Hours” by We Are Scientists
11. “Trust Your Stomach” by Marching Band
12. “Our Swords” by Band of Horses
13. “Silvery Sleds” by Army Navy
14. “Baby You’re My Light” by Richard Hawley
15. “Very Loud” by Shout Out Louds
16. “How to Say Goodbye” by Paul Tiernan
17. “Last Words” by The Real Tuesday Weld
18. “Nick & Norah’s Theme” by Mark Mothersbaugh
19. “Electro-Socket Blues” by Rogue Wave

Vampire Weekend is featured on this soundtrack with the song “Ottoman.” My favorite Vampire Weekend song is M79, which you can listen to here:

Cloverfield

Cloverfield, written by Drew Goddard, directed by Matt Reeves and produced by J.J. Abrams, is not a movie that will make you jump out of your seat in horror, but it is definitely a movie that will scare you.

It is a classic Godzilla-type movie with the plot including a monster coming from the ocean and wreaking havoc on New York City. This movie has a unique twist in that it is made to appear as though it was filmed entirely on a little camcorder. The movie does not have your typical big name stars, but the acting in it is quite well done.

The movie is seen through the telescope vision of Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) and his three friends trying to find his love interest, Beth McIntyre (Odette Yustman), on the opposite side of NYC in the midst of all of the chaos.

For me the most entertaining part of the movie was the person holding the camera/ the narrator of the film, Hud, Rob’s best friend, played by comedian T. J. Miller. It added a much needed comedic relief to the movie.  He is told to tape the surprise going away party for Rob and to get people to say goodbye. Needless to say, he ends up taping the events that unfold throughout the night.

A side part of this movie that I thought was VERY well done was how realistic the movie looked (not necessarily the monster, but how real the footage of the actors looks with the camcorder). It starts with the beginning of the tape of Rob and Beth on their day trip to Coney Island. The party tapes over almost all of this, but it has great continuity throughout the film. They rewind the tape to see what the monster looked like, and during the time they are rewinding you see more of their trip. The film also ends with this footage. (If you look very closely at the ending footage you can see something fall into the ocean, which I think is supposed to be the monster)

The main aspect of the film that I did not like was the lack of explanation the audience received about the monster itself. What was most frustrating to me was that if you watch the special features you can totally see where the directors are coming from and what they wanted to accomplish with the monster. However, that information really needed to be in the film. There is also a total lack of an explanation as to why one of the friends was killed.

The trailer gives a pretty good overview of the film. It makes it look way more scary then it actually is.

This is a movie that is fun to watch with a bunch of friends. I will give fair warning and say that I really did not care for the ending, but you should watch it and let me know what you think!

I should also say that those who have a weak stomach should not watch this film. It is very shaky (because of the camcorder effect mentioned earlier) and I have known people to get sick from watching it.