TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: capsule : trippy , hyperspeed action machine from hong kong 's accomplished tsui hark .
van damme and rodman have nice chemistry
, the stunts are eyepopping , and stuff gets blowed up real good ; what more do you want ?
i admit i was all set to loathe double team ; it reeked of cheapjack timing - oriented marketing ( stick dennis rodman in a movie , quick , while he 's hot , and do something about jean - claude van damme 's flagging career while we 're at it ! ) .
surprise -- double team transcends its dumb roots and turns out to be a mess of fun
.
bring some friends , get some pretzels , and have a blast .
van damme is jack quinn , an ex - agent who is brought back in for " one last mission " -- you 'd think any spy worth his shoe phone would run like hell when he hears those words .
but van damme 's character has a pregnant wife who 's also a sculptor , and some unpleasant pressure gets used to get him to come through on this mission .
he 's been assigned to take down an old enemy , a terrorist named stavros ( mickey rourke , looking oddly subdued ) , who may be back up to his old tricks .
in the first showdown between quinn and stavros , the movie wears its ambitions proudly on its sleeve : nonstop action .
an amusement park , a hospital , a private " retired spy " 's retreat , most of rome , various houses , planes , cars and other modes of transport , and the coliseum ( ! )
all become arenas for some of the most bone - rattling shoot - outs and punch - outs filmed .
they are better seen than described and are reason enough to see the film : one jaw - dropping scene has van damme taking on a man who uses a switchblade with his * feet * .
( van damme is a good , dextrous athlete and fighter , but he is often upstaged . )
there are other nice touches .
stavros and quinn both want the same thing : to retire in peace with their families .
that ambition ties them together in various ways , and also humanizes them a bit .
one of the things about hk action movies is that there 's always some form of human element , and that 's carried over into this movie as well .
it gives weight to scenes that would otherwise be forgettable .
also good is dennis rodman , playing a weapons dealer named yaz -- a character who sticks out like a fistful of broken fingers and who is funny just standing there .
rodman is natural on screen ; he 's fun to watch , especially when slinging bad guys like basketballs , and deserves to get a movie of his own , based on what 's seen here : a lightweight , fast - moving entertainment
that showcases all of its pieces excellently .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: razor blade smile running as part of the vancouver international film festival played october 2nd and 4th , 1998 .
official release : halloween reviewed by vince yim
` you think you know all about vampires . . .
believe me . . .
you know f
* ck all . '
with these words , we are brought into the world of a sultry vampire seductress by the name of lilith silver ( played by eileen daly ) .
made into an immortal a century and a half ago by the sinister ethan blake , she continues to alleviate boredom with her state of being .
so , what 's an undead girl to do , except squeeze into the tightest fitting clothes possible , get out her guns , seduce a few guys , and kill a few people for money and blood ?
with that out of the way , let me say this .
this film is bad .
this film is really , really bad .
yet somehow , it is strangely enjoyable .
with all the elements of a direct to video horror flick ?
buxom babes , gore , cheesy dialogue , and bad acting ?
any casual film viewer would be more inclined to spend their money on renting innocent blood or going to see blade .
still , it is considered to be one of the finest british vampire film .
agreed , it might be , but is far from being the best vampire flick ever . period .
razor blade smile has some rather high production values , shown by the nice overall tone to the film .
the film is also a bit of a departure from popular vampire lore , with a vampire that can go out in broad daylight without disintegrating , does n't sleep in a coffin ( but leaves one next to her computer ) , and sees religion as the ` opium of the peoples ' ( hence , immunity to crosses ) .
but aside from that , it does n't stray too far away from horror film conventions .
that is , unless that is intentional .
razor blade smile literally goes for the throat , then pumps the wound full of processed cheese .
you ca n't help but laugh when a female vampire gets decapitated and her severed head goes flying into a puddle .
you 'll laugh even harder at the hideously contrived situations ( to distract two female guards , lilith tosses a cellular phone towards them and dials the number ) .
you 'll laugh the hardest when a murder witness recants the tale and suddenly starts sobbing uncontrollably .
and then , there 's the sudden twist ending ( i have enough heart not to give it away ) .
the film refuses to take itself seriously , which is a good thing , as by the time lilith zips up her skin - tight body suit and then unzips it just to show the right amount of cleavage , you 've most likely forgotten the main point of the story .
but in case you really care , she 's been assigned to kill a bunch of people who belong to the so - called illuminati , and she 's leaving a huge mess behind for the police to find . as much as my criticisms , this movie works best as a guilty pleasure or as a film that you watch with your friends and within groups .
almost destined for cult - status , the film 's campy , cheesy overtones
actually work towards the film .
while this may not necessarily be the film you 'd want to be seen watching by yourself , it makes for a fun time at the movies .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: notice : this is a review and analysis of exotica .
the first part of this piece is the review , the second part contains some analysis of the movie which might be construed as spoilers . if you have not seen the movie and after reading the first part you intend to do so , then save the second part for the discussion afterwards .
starring : bruce greenwood , mia kirshner , elias kosteas , don mckellar , arsinee khanijian , sarah polley director : atom egoyan screenplay : atom egoyan exotica is a film that grows on retrospection .
exotica keeps the viewer guessing about the relationship between the various characters in the film .
all of the people know each other , but apart from that , there seems to be no other reason why to select such set and follow them in this fictional account .
the director hints for possible solutions , using a multi - line plot , so popular with critics in mystery train , and used to good advantage by quentin tarantino in pulp fiction .
exotica reaches a whole new dimension using this technique .
at the end it is surprising to see how well the pieces of the puzzle fit together , in spite their apparent unconnectedness and even misleading features .
the out - of - chronological - order technique has become ever so popular ,
perhaps even de rigueur , for biographical films .
similarly , we can now expect to see more movies in the future which will use , to varying extent , converging multiplots .
on a first glance , once the multi - plot puzzle in exotica is solved , there seems to be little left to look at . but perceptive minds which take the time to dig further will be rewarded with interesting views on life or rather , commentaries on views of life .
exotica is very much worth seeing .
it opened to critic 's praise worldwide ( i first saw it in mexico city , last december ) .
in canada , it broke records for a movie of its kind , which prompted the american distributor to go for a wide release .
apart from a strong plot , acting is very convincing , and the soundtrack seems as if made for the movie .
the spoon - fed - entertainment crowd may not appreciate this movie , and thus it might last little on screen .
but if you want to try a movie a cut above the crowd , with an originality that is ever so rare , by all means see exotica .
analysis
( * * spoilers
*
* ahead ) what is behind the complex plot in exotica ?
first , a common theme of the quest for gratification by monetary means .
the lone tax - auditor , the repressed homosexual pet shop owner , the pregnant woman which runs the nightclub , the rich man which has the club remodeled , the audience at the movie theatre , all use personal wealth to buy palliative relief for the penuries of the soul .
.. .
then we have the quest for gratification through visual means by most of the same people , including those who sit watching exotica .
.. . in that regard exotica stands for onlookers at a nightclub , for the rich man looking through silver mirrors , and poor - rich people looking at other 's people lives through a silver screen .
exotica also stands for unwanted society attention into the lives of other people , such as the tax auditor and the pet shop owner .
exotica is the customer agent looking at the pet shop owner , which in turn is looking at the core of the problems between the strip dancer and the tax auditor through the detached eye of a gay person ( no attraction to the strip dancer ) , and only interested on avoiding jail ( no personal relationship with the tax auditor ) .
in exotica everybody is watching , and what is worse , everybody knows .
second , exotica is about isolated people holding back their feelings ; about people which by voluntary or involuntary means transfer their view of reality to other characters .
the strip dancer becomes the proverbial daughter , the dj becomes the proverbial killer by means of breaking the relationship between the father and the proverbial daughter .
the niece becomes the baby sitter , the baby sitter becomes the dancer , and the dancer becomes the proverbial daughter .
the pet shop owner becomes the proverbial dj , by finding the proverbial daughter .
a chain made of real and imagined links coming around full circle , just as everything comes around to a fitting whole at the end of the movie .

SOLUTION:
P