TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: warning : may contain slight mild spoilers .
rated :
r for intense violence / gore , some strong sexuality and language .
starring : arnold schwarzeneggar , robin tunney , rod stieger , gabriel byrne .
running time :
132 minutes we go into a movie theater , boom !
the lights go down , our hearts race , we go through ten minutes of preview and finally the movie we 've been waiting to see for a long time comes on .
we sit there , watch in disbelief that this movie is as bad as it is .
why should n't i have know what i was getting myself into .
again like this past summers hit " stigmata " , " end of days " may be worse .
it 's not like this is any kind of original idea , it just throws in some " rosemary 's baby " , along with " the devil 's advocate " a little " exorcist " and some " stigmata " here and there .
whala you have " end of days " a movie that is extremely disappointing
and by the previews made it look terrific .
sadly but truly again like most recent films , all the good parts are in the trailers .
the plot which is very confusing at times is also very ludicrous and the movie is destined to be a hit in the first weekend , and flop in the next .
jericho cane ( arnold schwarzneggar in hit typical macho role ) is a cop who finds out that he is chosen to track down satan ( living in gabriel byrnes body ) and stop him from impregnating christine york ( robin tunney ) because if he does , and she gives birth all existence as we know it will cease to exist .
he has to do this before it turns into the year 2000 , and strangely he 's trying to fight him 5 minutes before 2000 comes .
he seeks help from the catholic church and help from rod stieger ( in a terrific role ) and tries to save this girl leading to an ending that 's satisfying , but turns into a typical action movie
.
that 's pretty much it on plot .
it does have the razzle and dazzle of a great action movie , and with the 100 m dollar budget parts seem to show it , parts you have to wonder where all the money went .
as for arnie ?
good role ,
ok performance .
i think since he is getting a little older he is held back a lot of his stunts .
the thing that disappointed me was the fact that there was nothing to the film
.
in the trailers it looks like a good scary , action film and ends up being a boring , long and preposterous drama that leads into something else that leaves us with questions .
gabriel byrnes ( who ironically played a priest in " stigmata " ) here plays satan and gives a good performance but again seems held back and not into his character .
two years back al pacino gave a terrific performance in the fun " the devil 's advocate " and here it seems like the idea of him is in the character also .
robin tunney ( great performance as always ) plays satan 's main person whom he wants to impregnate to carry his child .
of course rod stieger gives another great performance which really is n't nothing new .
the direction by peter hyams is at times a bit overblown , though not nearly as the visual style was in " stigmata " .
here we are given great camera work , and some great scenes that are terrifically directed but sadly just do n't work in this movie .
the script written by andrew marlowe has a few witty lines , but again the movie is all style and no substance and by the ending finale climax i was ready to go home .
only a few things work here and those are a few of the performances , the writing and visual style , but the storyline and the finished product do n't work as well .
the sad thing is that " end of days " had so many things going for it .
the plot could have been more organized , the action scenes could have been more brainy and less mind - numbing
.
at times it seems like " armageddon " and started to get old and tiresome .
hollywood is running out of ideas bad , and like i 've always said before needs new ones .
even with its 100 m budget " end of days " is less than pleasing .
in fact the 100 m dollar budget is at least 30 m over , and easily could have had a 70 m budget .
maybe i sound crazy , but i am really looking forward to the new exorcist film , and hope that they make it as good as the original .
we need to get new ideas and stop recycling old ones just to make money at the box - office .
we need to get more films like " the blair witch project " that could scare people to death , while people thinking well what exactly is scaring them and how do i know that it is in fact the blair witch .
overblown effects , stupid and thin plot - line , good performances , disappointing . . . .
umm
yup those pretty much describe " end of days " .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: as we see the terrible events that unfold before our eyes in the middle east at the moment , hollywood does n't loose the oppertunity to get involved , by telling stories and expressing opinions .
this film centers on a relationship forged throughout the adult lifetimes of two marine colonels , hays hodges ( tommy lee jones ) and terry childers ( samuel l . jackson ) .
they fought side by side in vietnam , where childers saved hodges ' life by shooting an unarmed pow .
that 's against the rules of war but understandable , in this story anyway , under the specific circumstances .
certainly hodges is not complaining .
years pass .
hodges , whose wounds make him unfit for action , gets a law degree and becomes a marine lawyer .
childers , is now a respected and much - decorated hero that has served his country with his life and sould .
because of his excellent record , childers is sent to yemen to rescue the american ambassador ( ben kingsley ) , cowering in the embassy under assault from violent demonstrators and snipers blasting from rooftops .
childers does what he has to do : evacuate the family and protect the men under his command .
after three marines die and the colonel thinks he sees ground fire , he orders his troops to shoot into the firing crowd .
more than 80 yemeni men , women , and children are mowed down .
childers is immediately accused of ordering his men to fire on a crowd and murder of unarmed civilians .
he persuades his old friend hodges to represent him in the courtroom drama that occupies the second half of the film .
did childers violate authorized u . s .
military rules of engagement ?
or are there simply no rules in war ?
the answers to these stereotypical questions are obvious , but the inconsistent plot immediately raises all sorts of other questions .
the murder of 83 " innocent civilians " has to result into something greater than a simple trial in the u . s .
where is the accusations from the arab leaders ?
where is the u . n . ?
the film ends without even telling the most interesting story : what happens on the international arena ?
this film ( in a way akin to films such as " a few good men " ) has already been accused of breaking the rules of morality and ethics and even of racism .
these accusations are pretty heavy , but also unfair .
what director william friedklin truly broke was the rules of decent filmmaking
. one of the earliest apparent problems with ' rules of engagement ' is its lack of credibility .
the entire operation in yemen may remind us about what happens in the middle east right now , but is overdone , contrived and unrealistic - as if a chain of events had to happen in a particular manner in order for the plot to proceed .
a lot of it is so cheesy that no one could possibly accept it as reality .
that is precisely why it 's not offensive .
it is completely unobjective .
many stories are started and never finished .
many questions are asked , but never answered .
a lot of parallels are referring to nothing .
it seems that neither the director , producers or the screenwriter can make up their minds about the contents of their film .
is it about arab mentality ?
america 's foreign policies ?
america 's role in the world ?
corruption in the higher circles ?
it goes on and on .
it consists of countless stories , but not a definable plot .
it tries to be everything for everyone and ends up being nothing for no one .
i think that it is ironic , because director william friedkin 's probably most acclaimed film was " the exorcist " which had a silly story , but became a rather effective film .
in this case you have a strong story with many possibilities and the result is a silly film .
though several scenes bare the mark of professionalism ( such as the impressive battle scenes ) , his latest film does simply not engage .
i believe that friedklin is a director that is absolutely depended on great scripts and talented producers in order to succeed .
it 's obvious that he has neither and the result is therefore a catastrophe .
the characters feel designed , unreal , merely shadows , with no life outside the conflict .
even the actors can not save this film from going under .
though both jackson and jones act admirably , with performances that are as good as you get with a script like this , it is not something that these great actors can boast of .
they have roles that they could play blindfolded with their hand on the back .
jackson is gray and jones uninteresting .
the rest of the cast , including ben kingsly , blair underwood and guy pearce are simply waiting for their paychecks .
the time has come for the verdict .
on the charges of complete lack of objectivity , i find this film guilty .
on the charges of breaking the rules of reasonable filmmaking , i find it guilty .
but on the charges of racism i find this film not guilty , because of it 's inconclusive and often silly plot
that lacks objectivity everywhere , not only when concerning the arab population .
i must admit that the film is dangerously near the line of being racially offensive and i do think that screenwriter stephen gaghan went a bit too far , portraying the yemeni people almost as stereotypical hollywood bad - guys .
this is very sad , since in a time like this it is crucial to not lose objectivity and proclaim the truth .
however , it is absolutely necessary to remember that the muslim terrorists are responsible for most of the terrorist activity in and outside the united states .
and that it 's not a coincidence that u . s .
residents in the middle east , including yemen are on constant maximum alert .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: synopsis : a man whose lover , paris , was murdered agrees to test out an experimental virtual reality home unit system .
the subject escapes from the real world and his current girlfriend , laura , and becomes addicted to virtual reality , which , due to a design flaw in his unit , recreates the dead paris .
comments : virtual seduction , executive produced by roger corman and lance h . robbins , serves as a cheaply - made precursor to strange days , a far superior film .
both movies deal with desperate men who have trouble relating to their current lovers because they are ( ab ) using technology to be with former lovers ( in strange days , the technology utilized recorded dreams rather than virtual reality ) .
interestingly , both films also take place a couple of years from now during the turn of the new millenium , though strange days uses the setting far more effectively .
this exemplifies the problem with virtual seduction .
it 's not bad for what it is : low - budget science fiction concerning the psychological dangers of virtual reality .
unfortunately , it 's been done before and since in much better films , a fact which ultimately leaves the sci - fi fan bored by this movie .
virtual seduction has many faults
( one of them is the fact that the video inexplicably has its own trailer before it begins ) .
the film 's script explores the possibilities of virtual reality interestingly at first , but its treatment of the subject matter gets heavy - handed and wooden as the movie progresses .
many important scenes seem too dark ; the lighting could have been improved significantly .
the cast , a collection of veteran b - movie actors and sitcom regulars , do only a mediocre job in their roles .
jeff fahey , of the original lawnmower man , convincingly , though
unenergetically
, plays the lead character .
carrie genzel plays paris , the vr lover , but ami dolenz , as the current love interest , seems like a much more interesting and attractive character with a caring personality , which does n't lend credence to the film 's premise .
meschach taylor , of the once popular designing women sitcom , adequately plays a scientist working on the project , but his performance is n't something to write home about either .
virtual seduction is one of those harmless movies to which you could do some light manual labor and not mind having it on in the background .
in other words , one could fold laundry while glancing up at it every now and then , but it 's rather boring to just sit and watch .
the movie is surprisingly not as violent as one expects from b - movies in this genre , but it is still an adult r - rated film due to sexual situations and a suicide attempt .
this turkey , ultimately , is n't awful , but it 's not particularly interesting or unique either
.
do n't be seduced into watching this movie unless you 've got several loads of laundry and nothing else to watch .

SOLUTION:
N