By Madi Monahan and Alex Davis

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo courtesy of Google.com

Fan of Harry Potter? Like Glee? Well, what if we told you you could get the best of both worlds? A Very Potter Musical is a Harry Potter-based internet phenomenon which was produced by Starkid Productions (a theater production company now based in Chicago) starring Glee-sensation Darren Criss as The Boy Who Lived. First performed at the University of Michigan in April 2009, the filmed musical was uploaded onto Youtube in June of that year. Since it came online in 2009, it has received raving reviews by fans of the series, and it has surprised those who aren’t, awarding over 110 million views.

This hilarious parody mixes original songs with plots from the books without giving anything away or ruining it for the hardcore addicts. In the opening number, “Get Back to Hogwarts”, Criss is revealed under a single spotlight, presumably in the cupboard under the stairs, and shares with the audience the trials and tribulations of being a boy wizard in the muggle world and his longing for his home away from home, Hogwarts.  Alongside Harry are his trusted best friends, Ron Weasley (played by Joey Richter), who comically always has food with him, and the frumpy, know-it-all Hermione Granger (Bonnie Gruesen), who is always the first to put a damper on the boys’ crazy ideas.

When they finally arrive at their beloved school, they are approached by possibly the funniest character in the whole sha-bang: Draco Malfoy. Played by a girl, Lauren Lopez brings slithering skills and a whole new perspective to the character. With quick wit and an obsession with Pigfarts, (the Mars equivalent of Hogwarts) there is never a dull moment with Lopez onscreen. Add in a couple of bromances between Voldemort (Joe Walker) and Quirrel (Brian Rosenthal), with a very touching duet, “Different As Can Be”, and Dumbledore (Dylan Saunders) and Snape (Joe Moses) with an obsession with a “boss Zefron poster” and you’ve got a marvelous way to entertain yourself for a night.

This crowd-pleasing play has inspired a sequel with a threequel in the works. You can find these musicals along with a few others produced by Starkid on Youtube under their account name, StarkidPotter. Although three hours long, it is definitely worth your time.

By Tori Kock

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo Courtesy of What Is the Trend

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to head to a close movie theatre to see Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol. Tom Cruise returns as IMF Agent Ethan Hunt in the fourth installment in the Mission: Impossible series, and the series keeps getting more thrilling!

When a fellow IMF agent is killed while fulfilling an assignment code-named “Colbalt”, Hunt is extracted from a Moscow prison to lead his team to infiltrate a secret Moscow Kremlin archives files identifying Colbalt. During the mission, someone alerts the Russians to Hunt’s team and a bomb destroys the Kremlin. Ethan’s plan soon falls apart when the Russians have called the attack an undeclared act of war, and the U.S. president initiates “Ghost Protocol”, which disavows the entire IMF team. Hunt and his team are blamed for the attack, and they must find their own way to escape from custody so that they can track down Colbalt.

Misson: Impossible–Ghost Protocol premiered on December 16, 2011, and received positive reviews. The film is considered the best-reviewed entry of the series on the site Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a positive review by saying the film “is a terrific thriller with action sequences that function as a kind of action poetry.” Along with positive reviews, Ghost Protocol has made a worldwide total of $506,747,000 so far! It ranks as the second highest-grossing film in the Mission: Impossible series.

This movie has proved that it’s worth the money to attend. It’s a great film that thrills all audiences! So go buy a ticket and watch Tom Cruise master his role in Mission: Impossible–Ghost Protocol!

By Harley Bauman

Trojan Tribune Staff

Photo courtesy of rottentomatoes.com

Adam Sandler comes back with a hysterical hit, Jack and Jill. He plays himself (Jack), along with the role of his annoying twin sister (Jill). Jack is a commercial producer, who is married with two children.

Every year Jack’s wife makes him invite his twin sister to Thanksgiving. As you can imagine, things do not bode well. Jill keeps extending her stay at Jack’s house, which Jack is obviously not too thrilled about. Jill says she’s going to stay through Hanukkah and then until their birthday. When Jack messes things up and hurts his sister’s feelings, he feels obligated to invite Jill on his family’s New Year’s cruise. Jack notices that all Jill needs to be happy and to go back home to the Bronx is to find her a man. Jack wants celebrity Al Pacino to be in one of his commercials, but when Pacino falls in love with Jill, Jack comes up with a master plan.

Jack and Jill is a very funny movie. It doesn’t really have a storyline, and it is kind of pointless. However, there are many hilarious moments, but it wouldn’t be a good movie for a first date since many parts in this movie would make a first date awkward. Senior Jessie Hauff states, “It had some funny parts, but personally I don’t think it was worth seeing.” Many others thought the movie was terrible and was hastily assembled. This movie would appeal more to young children because Sandler is playing more of a fart-joke man-child.