In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

[Q]: mpaa : not rated ( though i feel it would likely be pg , for martial - arts violence . )
with three movies already ( re ) released theatrically in america , and at least three more on their way , jackie chan is one of the newest " hot properties " in action adventure stardom , and it 's just about time .
for over twenty - five years , jackie 's been starring in martial arts and action movies in hong kong , thrilling audiences with both an incredible grasp of acrobatics and martial arts and a wonderful sense of comedy .
" drunken master " has the distinction of being the first jackie chan movie to " make it big
" --this is the movie that supposedly set jackie up for big stardom in hong kong .
i 'm not entirely sure why , exactly .
in many ways , " drunken master " is similar to most of jackie 's other early films , such as " fearless hyena " i and ii , " master with cracked fingers " , " half a loaf of kung fu " , " spiritual kung fu " , and others .
in fact , looking at all these early films together , one gets the impression that they were stamped out , cookie - cutter style , at a rate of four to six per year , all using the same casts and telling very similar stories .
to be honest , i think that early jackie chan movies are something of an acquired taste .
they 're quite different from action movies as we know them in america .
these films tend to be set in the chinese countryside in an indeterminate period sometime in the distant past , with fairly slow plots that often meander far afield and sometimes seem to exist only for the intention of stringing comedy and fight scenes together .
" drunken master " , though its plot is tighter than some , is no exception .
( as an aside , " drunken master " was the first jackie chan movie i ever saw , and i saw it the way it was meant to be seen .
. . in a movie theater in seattle , as part of an asian film festival .
at the time , i did n't really think it was anything special . . .
but after having seen more films like it , it 's kind of grown on me . )
" drunken master " 's storyline is very similar to that of other early jackie chan movies , such as " fearless hyena " i and ii and " master with cracked fingers
" --slacker martial arts student is taught the martial arts by a harsh - seeming master , and has a big fight with an evil bad guy in the end ( a formula that has been " adapted , " to put it kindly , by american films such as karate kid ) .
more specifically , jackie chan plays the part of wong fei - hong , aka " naughty panther , " a fun - loving , practical - joking kung fu student who is too good at kung fu for his own good , but not _ quite
_ good enough .
after embarrassing his instructor 's assistant by beating him roundly , then beating up a bully in a marketplace , wong fei - hong tries to hit on a pretty girl , but discovers that she , and her mother , can hit back , better than he can . . .
and is further chagrinned to discover that the two women are his cousin and aunt , respectively .
his father , wong kei - ying , is unhappy about this , and is further annoyed when the father and brother of the bully show up to sue for damages .
kei - ying soon institutes a harsh regimen of punishment , which fei - hong does not like at all .
while escaping from this punishment , fei - hong meets up with a drunken old man , who proceeds to thrash him soundly , then take him on as a student and thrash him some more .
this turns out to be su hua - chi , a legendary master of drunken - style kung fu .
he assigns fei - hong a series of bizarre tasks , such as filling jugs with water while hanging upside down from a frame , cracking walnuts with his hands , and other such exercises , that seem like more pointless cruelty but are actually strengthening him up .
then , when he 's ready , he teaches him the seven styles of drunken kung fu .
unfortunately , the lazy fei - hong only practices six of them . . .
" drunken master " features some wonderful martial arts sequences , with jackie winning some fights and losing others .
it 's been said before , but i 'll say it again --
these fights do n't just _ happen
_ , they 're as
carefully choreographed as any ballet performance , and it shows .
in his fights , jackie often makes use of objects found in his environment-- benches , jugs , cups , bowls , fruits and vegetables -- often in new and surprising ways .
the fight scenes , particularly those toward the end of the film , are unparallelled in most american films .
whether jackie wins or loses , it 's really something to see . . .
and it 's often as funny as anything , too .
and funny is the other thing
jackie chan is very , very good at
.
there 's very little
that 's new in this movie --
jackie winning fights , jackie getting beaten badly by a master , jackie going through punishment or training . . .
these schticks have all been seen before , in any one of several dozen similar jackie movies from the seventies and early eighties .
but they 're still hilarious as ever .
likewise , jackie has a _ great _ supporting cast , many of whom were also in other early jackie films , and they 're often the source of plenty of hilarity on their own .
the really big thing about " drunken master " , though , that inspired several copycats ( including a couple starring jackie himself ) and a sequel fifteen years later , was the drunken - style kung fu .
i 'm not certain whether or not this is actually a genuine style of kung fu , but the principle behind it is to imitate the wobbly movements of a drunkard to lull the enemy into a false sense of security . . .
and it apparently helps if you 're drunk while you 're doing it .
genuine or not , i have to admit , there 's just something incredibly fun
about watching a fellow who looks utterly sloshed wading into a group of startled opponents and making mincemeat out of them before they even realize what 's going on .
come to think of it , perhaps this element is what accounts for this film 's success over any of the other jackie films . . .
it 's not just martial arts , it 's the kind of martial arts that makes you stop and go , " whoa . . .
" on the negative side , the cinematography in this film is nothing special , the film stock is rather primitive , the plot is often rather slow , and the subtitles are sometimes extremely hard to read against the background . " gone with the wind " , this is n't .
still , if you like martial arts films , or like what you 've seen so far of jackie chan and want to see more , give it a shot .
it 's much more " real " than chuck norris or jean - claude van damme .
you might very well like it .
another interesting thing about " drunken master " has to do with its video availability in the us .
" drunken master " is the
only early jackie chan movie that i know of that you can find in its original , letterboxed , hong kong subtitled form , commercially available on vhs ( from magnum video , in a gold box , for about $ 10 ) .
there are plenty of other early jackie films around , but these are typically either in dubbed , pan - and - scanned form or else import tapes priced for rental instead of purchase .
thankfully , " drunken master " , at least , is available in the aspect ratio in which it was meant to be seen , at a very affordable price .
if you like " drunken master " , take a look at the numerous other early jackie chan films that are out there ( even the dubbed ones are n't really _
too _ bad .
.
. if nothing else , you can enjoy the martial arts choreography while making fun of the dialogue ) .
i particularly recommend " spiritual kung fu " , " half a loaf of kung fu " , the " fearless hyena " movies , and " snake & crane arts of shaolin " .
also , the mostly - unrelated - storywise sequel , " drunken master ii " , will hit theaters in american release sometime later this year ( though what its american - release title will be is still uncertain ) and comes _ highly _ recommended by this reviewer .
also , for a rather different interpretation of the character wong fei - hong ( who is in fact a popular figure from chinese folklore ) , i 've been told to suggest the " once upon a time in china " series starring jet li ( though i have n't personally seen any of them yet ) . if you choose to watch " drunken master " , i really hope you enjoy it , and i hope it starts to open your eyes to the wonderful world of asian cinema
that 's out there .
all in all , i give this film
an .
[A]: P


[Q]: what would you do if no one could see you ?
well , if you 're a super smart bio - molecular research scientist working for the military , you 'd grope a co - worker and rough - up your neighbor from across the street .
that 's right .
of all the non - criminal possibilities brought about by rendering oneself invisible , in " hollow man " kevin bacon 's character opts to commit sex crimes .
er , it 's kevin bacon who plays the super smart military bio - molecular research scientist ?
something sounds horribly wrong already .
but this is a paul verhoeven film , and the sleazepin director of such open - crotch classics as " basic instinct " and the infamous " showgirls " never lets a little credibility get in the way of his voyeuristic tendencies which , when you come right down to it , is all this film is about .
"
hollow man " features a string of hapless , c - list actors
( among them bacon , elisabeth shue , josh brolin , and kim dickens ) in a grade - z plot with a lot of special effects that , frankly , do n't look much better than those used in the 1933 version of " the invisible man .
"
oh bacon glistens when he gets wet all right and looks like a rather fatty side of cheap flank steak when he 's attempting reentry but
otherwise it 's lots of " thermal " shots and inanimate objects
( elisabeth shue included ) bobbing around without any visible signs of support .
since invisibility , once achieved , is n't much of an effect ( the actors spend half their time conversing with nobody and the other half of their time talking to each other -- it amounts to much of a muchness ) , the director elects to wardrobe all of his female protagonists in loosely - buttoned sweaters so that the minute bacon 's character gets invisible he can head straight for them .
it 's as if that fascinating concept -- what would you do if no one could see you ?
--is
simply a verhoeven ploy to show some skin .
as a horror film , " hollow man " is unsophisticated and disturbing
( in its intent , not its achievements ) and not worth your time or your hard - earned dollars .
it 's minor verhoeven -- and even that 's not saying much -- and boy is it hollow .
[A]: N


[Q]: " america 's sweethearts " has an intriguing premise and a great cast , but it is n't nearly as edgy or funny as it should be .
almost all the problems with the project can be traced back to co - script writer billy crystal , who shows the same lack of discipline with the screenplay that he typically displays while co - hosting " comic relief " charity shows with robin williams and whoopi goldberg (
two other paragons of self - indulgence ) .
crystal ignores a simple , but crucial , rule : for a screwball comedy to work , the characters must be placed into a rigid social setting , because only in that context will their unorthodox antics be humorous .
"
america 's sweethearts " takes place at a press junket , where decorum must be maintained in front of the reporters .
it 's a promising set - up , but the screenplay quickly blows off the rules , thus dissipating the tension of the situation .
by the end of the film , all the lead performers participate in a huge fight with a room full of journalists looking on , but their outbursts are only mildly amusing because the structure has been destroyed .
john cusack and catherine zeta - jones play eddie thomas and gwen harrison , a beloved acting duo whose marriage hit the skids when gwen began seeing hector ( hank azaria ) , a spanish actor with an ego almost as pronounced as his lisp .
of the last nine films eddie and gwen made together , six crossed the $ 100 million mark , but the prospects for their final effort , a space opus titled " time over time , " are far from rosy .
while eddie has spent many months in a new age rest clinic fretting over the breakup , gwen 's solo films have tanked .
to make matter worse , the director of the movie ( christopher walken ) , a " visionary " who purchased the unabomber 's cabin and had it moved to his backyard , is withholding the film from the studio , insisting that the first screening be held at the junket .
desperate to win over the press , the studio elects to hire lee ( billy crystal ) , a recently fired publicist , to salvage the situation .
lee hopes to turn lemons into lemonade by convincing eddie and gwen to pretend to be on the road to reconciliation .
he enlists the help of kiki ( julia roberts ) , gwen 's sister , personal assistant and whipping girl .
what lee does n't know is that kiki is in love with eddie , a fact that could temper her effectiveness .
press junkets are a haven for control freaks .
studios fly journalists in from around the world and put them up in a plush hotel , with food and drink always at hand .
generally , on the evening of their arrival , writers are bussed to see the featured film , then ferreted straight back to the hotel .
the next day , writers go to the studio suites and assemble in groups of five or six for roundtable interviews .
every 30 minutes or so , a producer , director , writer or actor is brought into the room for a few minutes of questions , with a publicist hovering in the corner to keep an eye on things .
the atmosphere is one of cordial oppression ?
writers are free to ask what they want , but understand that if the studio dislikes a question , they may not be invited to future junkets .
representatives from tv stations face even more restrictions .
they get roughly five minutes to interview each member of the cast and crew , with the studio filming the exchanges .
the " reporters " are notorious for tossing softball questions as they suck up to the stars , but to play it safe , the studios stand ready to erase the tapes if anything unpleasant occurs .
placing two spoiled actors in a setting where image is everything is inspired , but the screenplay undermines the conceit .
the junket is moved from the handsome , but highly confining , four seasons hotel to a plush resort near las vegas .
for most of the film , the movie stars run around the sprawling grounds , completely safe from the eyes of the press .
when they do deal with journalists , the " it is imperative that you be on your best behavior in front of the reporters
" premise is de - clawed .
gwen and eddie insult each other while the tv cameras roll , they scream at each other in a restaurant filled with the media and , at the screening of the movie , everyone connected with the film goes nuts , all without any repercussions .
lee certainly is n't bothered by any of the infantile outbursts ; in fact , he makes arrangements for footage of even more inappropriate behavior to be delivered to the tabloids .
is the studio angry about his handling of the combative actors ?
hell no ?
they feel lee is a genius for garnering so much publicity for the movie .
all of which underscores how billy crystal and co - writer peter tolan screwed up their own premise
: the comedy in " america 's sweethearts " is based on barely - in - control people trying to contain themselves in the presence of reporters , except that it does n't matter because any publicity is good publicity .
and thus the very set - up for the film implodes , leaving smoke and dust in place of laughter .
so what about the cast ?
julia roberts , at her best playing the underdog , is utterly charming here , although i could have lived without flashbacks that exist solely as an excuse to show her in a fat suit ( and not a very convincing one , by the way ) .
catherine zeta - jones makes a believable brat and john cusack fleshes out his obsessed character enough to make him vaguely sympathetic .
by casting himself as the publicist , billy crystal allows himself to do roughly the same thing he does on " comic relief " - stay on the sidelines of the action while tossing off cornball jokes and snarky remarks .
in supporting roles , hank azaria wears out his welcome fast with broad gestures and a spanish accent that speedy gonzales would have deemed " too broad .
"
seth green is amusing as a toadie , stanley tucci is very good as a ruthless studio head and christopher walken plays the eccentric director with suitable flair , though
he has little to work with
. come to think of it , " little to work with " is the operative phrase for this movie .
as a hollywood satire , " america 's sweethearts " is toothless .
as a romance , it is at best a minor pleasure .
such a good cast , such a waste of their efforts .
had it not been taken long ago , a better title for the film would have been " much ado about nothing . "
[A]:
N