Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, 2008

Watching this film, I realized that I may have outgrown teen movies. Also the teens in movies are always doing stuff that no regular high school student would actually do. Like wandering around NYC at 4AM trying to track down a band, getting into a stranger's van to change clothes, allowing your (drunk) best friend to leave in said van with three strangers, fishing a phone and some gum out of a toilet; the list goes on.



Michael Cera and Kat Dennings star in this film about a never-ending night. Filled with typical Hollywood cliches, an unrealistic plot, and mediocre acting, unless you're watching this film because your parents wouldn't let you, you won't be too enthralled. I am surprised to discover that it's based on a book.


Directed by Peter Sollett.
Written by Lorene Scafaria.
Based on the novel by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

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

American Teen, 2008

Filmmmaker Nanette Burstein's American Teen follows the lives of seven teens in a small town in Indiana.



If it weren't for MTV shows like Laguna Beach, this might be a "breakout" documentary but instead it is nothing new: Typical voyeurism with an added splash of very creative animations.


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

The Boys from Baghdad High, 2007

Follows four high school boys from Baghdad. Much of the footage is shot by the boys themselves.




An interesting view of life in a war-torn country, that asks the question: how different are we really?



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

Righteous Kill, 2008

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro pair up in a movie that really should be better. They are cops on the hunt for a serial killer--similar to the TV series Dexter, the serial killer only makes "righteous" kills. The plot gets kind of confusing at times but despite that I was still able to predict the ending about half-way through the movie.





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