Inkheart, 2008

There is a soft-spot in my heart for Brendan Fraser. Despite the fact that he almost always stars in B movies. Inkheart is no exception. Fraser stars as Mo 'Silvertongue' Folchart, a man who has the ability to "read" characters out of books and into real life.



Based on the book by Cornelia Funke, this film had enormous potential but the extreme over-acting (directed by Iain Softley) and annoying script (really, you really think the characters would talk that way? really?) by David Lindsay-Abaire, made this film almost painful to watch.

Oh, also why do all the characters have English accents except for Fraser? I guess on the upside, at least he wasn't trying to use one...

Melody's Stars: *


Rating System:
*****=Worth Buying
****=Worth Seeing in Theaters
***=Worth Renting
**=Worth Watching on TV
*=Worth Watching if also cleaning house or doing paperwork
0=Total waste of time
Fail=So bad it doesn't even make the rating system

Body of Lies, 2008

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as CIA agent Roger Ferris working in the middle east. While he runs operations on the ground everyday, his boss (Russell Crowe) tells him what to do from the comfort of Washington D.C. Ferris struggles to follow orders while also doing what he thinks is best.



Interesting but sometimes hard to follow plot. An out-of-place love story is thrown in when Ferris falls for a local nurse (Golshifteh Farahani).

Enjoyable acting, decent soundtrack, lots of explosions, and a painfully graphic torture scene.

Directed by Ridley Scott.
Written by William Monahan based on the novel by David Ignatius.

Melody's Stars: **


Rating System:
*****=Worth Buying
****=Worth Seeing in Theaters
***=Worth Renting
**=Worth Watching on TV
*=Worth Watching if also cleaning house or doing paperwork
0=Total waste of time
Fail=So bad it doesn't even make the rating system

Taken, 2008

When the daughter of former a spy, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), wants to go traveling around Europe with her best friend, he reluctantly agrees. His ex-wife thinks that he is being an over-protective Dad, until the two girls (played by Maggie Grace and Katie Cassidy) are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves.



A story about a father's love for his daughter, Mills quickly flies to Europe where he has to use his skills and old work connections to try and rescue his daughter and friend before all tracks are gone.

While Taken is a well-produced, compelling story I really wish that I did not watch this movie because it has some pretty horrible scenes in it and I left with nightmares.

Directed by Pierre Morel.

Melody's Stars: ***


Rating System:
*****=Worth Buying
****=Worth Seeing in Theaters
***=Worth Renting
**=Worth Watching on TV
*=Worth Watching if also cleaning house or doing paperwork
0=Total waste of time
Fail=So bad it doesn't even make the rating system

Quantum of Solace, 2008

Believe it or not, this is the first James Bond movie that I have ever viewed. From what I'm told, it is typical Bond: lots of fighting, objectifying women, and Bond doing whatever it takes to capture his guy. I'm also told that the older Bond movies had a lot of cool invented gadgets that he would use. This film could have used a few of those.



I cannot compare this to other Bond movies, so I compare it to other Action/Adventure spy movies that I've seen.

Directed by Marc Forster, the movie stars Daniel Craig as 'James Bond,' Judi Dench as 'M,' and Olga Kurylenko as 'Camille.'

Melody's Stars: **


Rating System:
*****=Worth Buying
****=Worth Seeing in Theaters
***=Worth Renting
**=Worth Watching on TV
*=Worth Watching if also cleaning house or doing paperwork
0=Total waste of time
Fail=So bad it doesn't even make the rating system

City of Ember, 2008

I'm not quite sure why, but I really liked this film. For an action/adventure family film it is not too cheesy and the young stars (Saoirse Ronan as Lina Mayfleet and Harry Treadaway as Doon Harrow) are quite likable. Bill Murray often gets on my nerves, but I even enjoyed his performance as Mayor Cole.




There are a number of intense scenes (including a very hungry mole rat) so I would not recommend this movie for most children under 10.
Directed by Gil Kenan the movie also features Tim Robbins and Liz Smith.

Melody's Stars: ****


Rating System:
*****=Worth Buying
****=Worth Seeing in Theaters
***=Worth Renting
**=Worth Watching on TV
*=Worth Watching if also cleaning house or doing paperwork
0=Total waste of time
Fail=So bad it doesn't even make the rating system

Iron Man, 2008

Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark, an eccentric millionaire inventor who decides to fight the "bad guys" in the body armor he invents. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his assistant, Pepper Potts, the low-self-esteem nerdy assistant who lets down her hair, takes off her glasses and becomes a sex symbol. It isn't hard to notice that the only female characters in this movie are either sex symbols or victims. A good portion of the movie is spent showing Stark working on his inventions or driving his cars. Some cool CGI stuff.



If you are a comic book fan, you probably already saw the movie twice. But for everyone else, you can probably find a better use of 126 minutes.
Directed by Jon Favreau.


Melody's Stars: 0


Rating System:
*****=Worth Buying
****=Worth Seeing in Theaters
***=Worth Renting
**=Worth Watching on TV
*=Worth Watching if also cleaning house or doing paperwork
0=Total waste of time
Fail=So bad it doesn't even make the rating system

The Day After Tomorrow, 2004

When the Vice President (Kenneth Welsh) refuses to listen to scientist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid), the USA is unprepared for a huge global disaster courtesy of Mother Nature.

If you can get past things like cell phones still working when half of New York is underwater, huge ships sailing past the New York Library, and why if scientist Dad is smart enough to tell his son (Jake Gyllenhaal) to stay indoors from the cold he thinks he will survive a snow-shoe trek from D.C. to Manhattan, this movie isn't half-bad. It does contain a typical-Hollywood cringe-worthy ending though.




Wanting to be sure that no one confused him with the bad guy VP who wasn't friends with the scientist, former VP Al Gore produced a movie based on this film two years later. I guess Gore didn't realize that The Day After Tomorrow is a fictional film?




Melody's Stars: ***


Rating System:
*****=Worth Buying
****=Worth Seeing in Theaters
***=Worth Renting
**=Worth Watching on TV
*=Worth Watching if also cleaning house or doing paperwork
0=Total waste of time
Fail=So bad it doesn't even make the rating system

Jumper, 2008

This movie is so unremarkable that I know someone who accidentaly ended up watching it twice--I guess the first viewing must have "jumped" from his memory. If you are a Hayden Christensen fan who enjoys the paranormal then perhaps this is the movie for you. Otherwise it is probably not worth your time.



Staring Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson. Directed by Doug Liman.

Melody's Stars: 0


Rating System:
*****=Worth Buying
****=Worth Seeing in Theaters
***=Worth Renting
**=Worth Watching on TV
*=Worth Watching if also cleaning house or doing paperwork
0=Total waste of time
Fail=So bad it doesn't even make the rating system