TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: pitch black is a sheep in wolf 's clothing .
it is full of darkness , danger and violence and if you buy into the marketing hype , an unsettling and scary film going experience .
do n't be fooled .
pitch black is a morality play masquerading as a scare - fest .
it starts off with blistering intensity .
a cargo spaceship crash lands on a planet apparently leeched of life by the scorching heat of three suns .
among the survivors is fry ( mitchell ) , the ship 's pilot , who spends the film wrestling with the fact that she tried to jettison the other passengers in her effort to land the craft safely .
there is imam ( david ) , an islamic leader whose faith in his god is tested repeatedly throughout the film .
there is a law enforcement officer in the form of johns ( hauser ) , who attacks every situation with square jawed authoritarian zeal .
and there is riddick ( diesel ) , a menacing , muscle - bound convicted murderer who 's being brought back to justice by johns .
the group quickly sizes up the situation and each other .
confident in their assessment of matters , a plan is set in motion to escape their hellish environment .
those plans are shredded by the appearance of one of the planet 's wildlife , a predatory , sometimes winged , species that enjoys the taste of blood and flesh .
fortunately , the creatures are light sensitive and are forced to live in networks of catacombs under the planet 's surface .
unfortunately , the group has managed to land on the planet moments before an eclipse is about to occur , taking away their one protection from the monsters .
the group 's savior comes in the form of johns , whose decisive leadership looks to deliver them from purgatory .
or does it ?
pitch black deviates from the standard sci - fi fare by avoiding some of the stock " escape the boogieman " conflicts the genre typically serves up .
just as the planet gave a false facade of lifelessness , first appearances given by the survivors proves to be just as false .
the excitement of the film comes not from the danger posed by the creatures , but rather from watching the shifting allegiances and emotional growth of the characters as the planet serves as a deus ex machina of sorts to catalyze emotional growth .
a recurrent theme runs throughout the movie of faith , whether it be religious or in a person , and how that powers their motivations .
i found it telling that an accidental death occurs early on due to the misperception of a self professed atheist .
conversely , imam constantly contributes any good fortune to allah .
one by one , his perceived heaven sent blessings are taken away and crushed .
imam is forced to reassess his faith .
another character expresses belief in god , along with a life long hate .
yet another character makes a decision that echoes the sentiments of christ about selflessness and has lasting repercussions for several of group .
it is a fascinating character study hiding under the guise of a scare flick .
special mention should be made of vin diesel , who intriguingly conveys feral menace combined with a truly mesmerizing presence .
his character could have easily slipped into a parody of the baddass killing machine , but twohy and diesel add surprising depth to riddick .
they can be excused for the two or three shwarzenegger - like catch phrases that growl their way out of diesel 's mouth .
the movie has its flaws that can be nitpicked .
the creatures do look derivative of the ones in alien .
the dialogue is n't the freshest at times , reminiscent of a bad comic book .
yes , the appearance of riddick 's vision skills are more than a little timely considering the situation .
these trappings are on the periphery of the story twohy is really trying to tell .
twohy may have lured you in under the pretense of scaring you with film fabricated boogieman , but he shows the real boogieman to be the prejudices and beliefs we use to direct decisions in our lives .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: susan granger 's review of " the watcher " ( universal ) just what we need : another lurid , trashy serial killer saga .
this time , keanu reeves plays an elusive homicidal maniac who engages in a gruesome ticking - clock cat - and - mouse game with james spader , a burnt - out fbi agent who has suffered a traumatic nervous breakdown after too many years on the job with the lapd .
to taunt spader , who has relocated to chicago , reeves packs up his trusty piano wire and moves too .
before long , he starts mailing photographs of the lonely , unsuspecting young women who are his intended windy city victims , challenging spader , along with the chicago police department , to stop him within 24 hours before he strikes again .
in the midst of this murderous frenzy , there 's spader 's psychologist , played by marisa tomei , who is even less convincing as a medical professional than jennifer lopez in " the cell .
"
writers david elliot , clay ayers and darcy meyers , along with first - time director joe charbanic ( helmer of music videos for reeves ' band dogstar ) , dwell on the warped thrill of the methodology and the chase , revealing , early on , exactly whodunit since the killer says he and the cop " need each other to give meaning to our lives .
"
plus , as reeves explains , " we 're all stacked right on top of each other , but we do n't notice each other any more .
" after that , it 's all sound effects and tricky camera - work , along with a muddled , discordant soundtrack .
james spader 's acting technique can be described as ' wooden deadpan ' while keanu reeves maintains his perpetually monotone ' dude ' persona which sometimes works , sometimes does n't .
chris ellis , as spader 's self - important colleague , is the only cast member who manages to be convincing .
on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " the watcher " is an appallingly awful , amateurish 2 .
the real torture is watching it .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: robin williams , this time without a beard , returns to drama in this sloppy , sickly sweet fantasy with few redeeming features apart from the incredible effects .
he plays chris nielsen , who meets annie ( annabella sciora ) and promptly marries her .
they have two great kids , who sadly die in a car crash .
just when it could n't get any worse , chris gets killed in a car crash , and goes to heaven where he meets his guide albert ( gooding jnr . )
annie ca n't take the grief anymore , and kills herself .
( all sounding like good fun so far ? )
the ' penalty ' for suicide is to go to hell , and chris goes on a mission to try and rescue her using the help of the traveller ( max von sydow . )
based on a novel by twilight zone writer richard matheson , what dreams may come is clunky , manufactured material doused with a extra load of sugar .
this is the worse spielberg film spielberg never made .
everything is wrong about this movie : the performances are forced , and the audiences fail to relate to any of the characters .
williams puts on a convincing upset face , but that 's all it is : a face .
there 's no emotion behind it .
sciora 's performance is lazy , and bogs down the whole film .
she may look pretty , but she ca n't act .
max von sydow is o .
k as the traveller , if nothing special .
cuba gooding jnr , thankfully , adds some bounce to his performance , and is certainly the best performer in the film .
it 's a shame that his character is so flat and 2-d , and offers no room for improvement .
all the performers have to work with a soppy script
, that tries it 's best to get some emotion going , but never takes off the ground .
there are _ some _ scenes which could be real heartwarmers , but the faceless characters do n't help to get anything out of the performers .
while films like e .
t used great actors , music and direction to pull of a masterful heart - tugging scene , what dreams may come is haphazard , expecting the emotion to come out of the scene automatically .
instead , it 's all rather boring
.
sure , the music is pretty ( by michael kamen ) and the cinematography is n't bad ( by eduardo serra ) but there 's something lacking .
the script does n't help , filled with hopeless romantic clich ?
s , and dud speeches
.
richard matheson can write some awesome science fiction stories , sadly this novel would look embarrassed in a bargain bin , let alone being converted into a $ 70 million vehicle for robin williams . despite being set in heaven , what dreams may come is mightily depressing .
the film rushes a happy ending , but everything before this is very , very sad and black , which just adds to make the ending even more hopeless and stupid
.
but there 's one redeeming feature about this failure of a movie : the special effects .
heaven and hell are truly incredible places , and the actors fit perfectly with the virtual sets .
but despite this , what dreams may come , proves to be nothing but the biggest disappointment of 1998 .
instead of raising questions about existence , it raises boredom .
sadly , i recommend you give this film a miss .
better luck next time , robin .
a david wilcock review ?
1998
"
you know , for kids
" - norville barnes

SOLUTION:
N