TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: this christmas , little ralphie parker ( peter billingsley ) wants nothing more than a red ryder bb gun under the tree .
although cautioned by many that he will ?
shoot his eye out ' , ralphie remains optimistic , conjuring up a detailed scheme to get on the good side of his parents and teachers .
it could be possible that no one has ever wanted anything with more passion than ralphie wants this bb gun , and the story of his eternal struggle is a charming one .
` a christmas story ' is a favorite among many during the holiday season , and boy ,
it is certainly easy to see why .
ralphie 's endless desire for the bb gun may transport you back to your childhood , when you were craving a certain gift for christmas and the anxiety was almost indescribable .
evoking pleasant childhood memories is only one of the many things ` a christmas story ' does so well .
here are a few features that make this film such a charming little package
for everybody during the holiday season : 1 ) period detail .
this film is based on the memoirs of late humorist jean shepard , who shares his experiences as a young boy living in the 1940 's with loving detail .
shepard narrates from a first person point - of - view , divulging his various adventures one snowy december , in which visions of taking aim with his new bb gun replaced that of sugarplums dancing in his head .
shepard 's first - hand commentary of several situations is not only downright hilarious , but also witty and warm , with various metaphorical meanings that ring perfectly with the essence of comic timing .
on top of that , young billingsley 's stupefied reactions to each predicament is absolutely perfect in contrast with the narration .
director bob clark captures the look and feel of the era with wonderful technicality .
i can hardly imagine a more accurate depiction of what christmas for young ralphie must have been like .
2 ) mom and dad .
both melinda dillon ( as mom ) and darren mcgavin ( as ?
the old man ' ) are perfect in their roles .
it 's hard to fathom a more agreeable pair for the requirements of a story like this one , with each possessing at least one memorable trait that instantly separates them from the wooden caricatures that could have been featured .
for instance , he is a bloodthirsty turkey hound , and she is forgiving and understanding when it comes to some serious issues .
in portraying the writer as a persistent but mild - mannered young lad , peter billingsley has struck quite the chord .
his performance is richly textured , making all of the humorous situations he stumbles into radiate with flavor and enjoyment . which brings us to . . . .
3 )
the comic situations .
there are plenty of memorable moments in ` a christmas story ' .
moments that undoubtedly will improve in comic potency upon each new viewing , with so much more to explore and to cherish .
i am particularly partial of the ? f - word scene ' , in which ralphie blurts out the shocking four - letter obscenity while helping the old man in the yard .
again , shepard 's method of handling this amusing scenario is nothing short of comic wizardry .
the numerous sequences that stick in one 's mind include , of course , the famous department store santa scene - in which billingsley has some problems in telling old saint nick what he wants under the tree .
i could go on , but i 'll finish on this note :
` a christmas story ' is a standout among holiday movies , because it captures so much in a meager 90 minutes .
not only is it funny ,
it 's often genuinely hilarious . . . .
not to mention warm , fluffy and touching in all the appropriate places .
i plan on making ` a christmas story ' a christmas tradition .
why do n't you ?

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: nicolas cage comes up with an ingenious survival mechanism for his role in the wink - and - a - concussive - nudge bombast - o - rama con air .
the opening credits sequence introduces us to cage as cameron poe , a gulf war veteran convicted of manslaughter and serving eight years in prison after an ill - fated bar - room brawl .
the prison scenes are accompanied by voice - overs in which poe , in a languid southern drawl , describes prison life to his wife back home and offers simple homilies for the daughter he has never met .
if the scene gives you a tickle of familiarity , it probably should .
cage appears to realize that con air is going to be utterly dim - witted and ridiculous , and that he 's going to have to do something to keep himself entertained .
and thus he slips into a familiar , surreal role as his own commentary on the proceedings -- cage plays cameron poe as a buffed - up version of raising arizona 's h .
i .
mcdonnough .
cage should have known what he was getting himself into .
he got a paycheck from jerry bruckheimer last year for the rock , and if there 's one thing you can count on from a bruckheimer production ( even without his late partner don simpson ) , it 's that you can count on seeing everything you saw in the _ last _ bruckheimer production .
the critical difference between the rock and con air is cage 's performance .
in the rock , cage appeared to be having the time of his life jumping into the action fray for the first time .
that sense of discovery has been replaced by a wry self - awareness .
while the plot of con air finds poe a parolee on board a hijacked prison transport plane whose goal is just to get home , cage 's goal is different but just as simple : to get out of the film with some measure of dignity intact .
audiences , too , should know what they 're getting themselves into with a bruckheimer production .
in fact , the marketing people are counting on it .
no one who loathed the rock for its swear - grunt - blast repetitiveness will be converted by con air ; no one who loved the rock for exactly the same reasons will be dissuaded .
director simon west ( yet another tv commercial auteur plucked by bruckheimer from the advertising equivalent of the schwab 's soda fountain )
delivers exactly the kind of adrenaline / testosterone cocktail which could launch an endocrinology lecture
( it 's perversely appropriate that one sympathetic con spends most of the flight nearing a diabetic coma ; like insulin , con air does the work of a gland ) .
what he does n't deliver is a moment of suspense .
a bruckheimer film has no use for hitchcock 's notion that showing you the bomb under the desk creates a more interesting scene than just blowing up the desk ; a really , _ really _ big desk and a really , _ really _ big bomb will serve the purpose nicely .
if either west or bruckheimer were interested in genuine tension , they might have done something with con air 's creepiest set - up .
at a desert stop for the plane - load of convicts , serial killer garland greene ( steve buscemi )
wanders of into a trailer park where he meets a little girl having a tea party in a drained swimming pool .
their tete - a - tete is eerie and menacing , providing a welcome shift in tone and giving buscemi a chance to stand out in a cast with too many villains ( danny trejo , ving rhames and a characteristically reptilian john malkovich among them ) .
in fact , con air usually opts for too much of something when the tiniest measure of restraint would have been an improvement -- too many characters , too much editing , too many dopey punch lines , too much of the cheap , ugly appeals to machismo which characterize too many bruckheimer efforts .
it is that kind of exhausting excess to which cage is responding with his detached performance .
while malkovich goes for the outrageous and john cusack ( as a u . s . marshal )
goes for
earnest , cage looks like he just wants to go to sleep .
his recycled raising arizona performance is a means of escape , his chase after a stuffed bunny a continuation of his pursuit of that big box of huggies .
it does n't bode well for cage 's appearance in face / off later this month ; perhaps he already realizes that all he can do in action films is more of the same over and over .
there 's a word for people like you , nicolas .
that word is called recidivist . . .
repeat offender .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: it 's an interesting premise .
our reality is only real to us because it is what we perceive to be real .
in truth , our entire existences are lived out in our minds as we are fed information through electronic inputs directly to our brains .
what we see , what we do , everything around us is nothing more than a computer - generated construct interlinked with the minds of others through a vastly powerful artificial intelligence .
our bodies , severely atrophied , are kept alive for the sole purpose of generating heat and electrical energy for a dominating order of machines which control the planet .
the sci - fi realm has been waiting a little while for something new to come along .
the matrix is n't it - the idea of a war between man and a sentient computer network , a sham world , the ability to plug one 's brain into a computer , has all been gleaned from such sources as the terminator , dark city , and a few star trek episodes ( both classic and next generation ) .
what is new is the ability to weave all of these various elements together and succeed in producing a film that is both entertaining as well as thought - provoking .
keanu reeves plays a computer whiz nicknamed neo , who is plucked out of the artificial world ( known as the matrix ) by a group of renegade humans who are clandestinely fighting to expose the fallacy of the computer - generated existence and free humankind from the oppression of the machines .
the group 's leader , morpheus ( laurence fishburne ) , has chosen neo because he believes neo is " the one " who is destined to lead the attack against the artificial intelligence .
> from the beginning of the film , we are kept on our toes trying to figure things out .
this , in a lesser movie would be annoying , but the matrix presents itself in an intelligent manner which makes the puzzle rather interesting and even fun .
what is reality ?
what is a sham ?
the film turns our very perception of life on its side .
more than once , we are also presented with the question of whether we would rather know the harsh truth of reality , or live a life of relative bliss , oblivious to the true nature of our surroundings . as viewers ,
this is intriguing enough , so imagine what it would be like for neo .
and who to better play a bewildered person than keanu reeves ?
reeves , whom i 've never really cared for as an actor , is competent in roles which require a lot of straightforwardness , and little subtlety .
he was good in speed , for example , but laughably poor in a walk in the clouds .
neo is actually one of those roles which reeves
slips into rather nicely
, so much of my expectation was happily for naught .
in a couple of places , the script even capitalizes upon his wooden nature , and this is a heavy credit to writers / directors andy and larry wachowski .
i mean , since bill and ted 's excellent adventure , what movie could you say really " utilized " keanu reeves ?
more interesting than reeves is fishburne , who 's morpheus nearly runs the gamut of emotions , and convincingly so . very surprising for a sci - fi movie .
fishburne also maintains a certain demeanor about himself throughout , as if he always knows what to expect .
this helps to further the aura of his character 's proficiency and extensive knowledge .
hugo weaving as agent smith , one of the artificial intelligence 's anti - intruder programs , is also good playing his deadpan , no - nonsense , kick ass role , which requires him to show emotion at the appropriate time .
unfortunately , when weaving speaks for more than a few sentences in a row , the nature of his character 's speech pattern becomes a little more laughable than impressive .
carrie - anne moss plays trinity , morpheus 's number one assistant who becomes somewhat of a love interest for neo .
although her character is somewhat inconsistent , moss
nevertheless delivers an above par performance when fishburne is n't in the picture .
there were few expenses spared when it comes to the special effects .
many methods of imagery are employed , from modeling to bluescreen to computer graphics .
of special note is the use of the " freeze and turn " effect where the entire scene is frozen , turned , then continued from a new angle .
this is accomplished by using a large number of still cameras employed in a semi - circle , with motion picture cameras placed at the two ends .
the motion cameras film the action , and at the appropriate moment all the still cameras fire at once .
place each still image in a film sequence
and you get a nearly seamless transition from the first motion camera to the second .
pretty slick .
the matrix drips with style .
from the clothing to the music to the action , we 're watching an exaggerated version of what we 're used to .
much of it seems like the combination of two genres of the hong kong action film - there 's a lot of kung fu , there 's a lot of gunplay .
when a character is letting go with an automatic weapon , much is made of the empty cartridges falling to the floor in slow motion .
there 's also the element of the japanese action cartoon ( called anime by aficionados ) , especially in the way the sequences are filmed in sweeping pans and emphasized actions through special effects .
combined ,
it 's really like no live - action film i have ever seen .
the film is not without its faults .
some of the scenes and ideas are " borrowed " a little too liberally from other films , and one component of the ending is decidedly disappointing .
some of the lines are also pretty bad - in one instance , a supporting character incorrectly delivers a famous saying , and it was n't meant to be a joke .
however , these shortcomings detract little from what is an overall solid action sci - fi film that for once does more than merely entertain .

SOLUTION:
P