TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: with more and more television shows having gay characters , and even the infamous " ellen " sitcom being centered on the life of a lesbian , the movie industry too seems to be gaining more and more homosexual based plot lines .
the birdcage was critically acclaimed , as was this years chasing amy .
then along came in & out , and all three of these films are on my top ten list for the years in which they were released .
it 's also noticeable that this " alternative lifestyle " becomes less and less taboo as the years go by , and it seems that using comedy as a medium is proving a worthwhile effort .
while it 's a very serious issue to many , it is the comedies that people are flocking to see and that are gaining notoriety .
but the way we 're using comedy to present homosexuality is also changing quite dramatically .
while the gay community was once very stereotyped and used to laugh * at * , it is more and more becoming something we laugh * with * , and when a movie like in & out comes along , it is something that both heterosexuals and homosexuals should be able to thoroughly enjoy .
it does n't poke fun at the lifestyle , it simply uses it to all
it 's comedic capacity , just as love , sex , marriage , birth , death , and anything else has been .
the idea for in & out was born the day tom hanks won his oscar for portraying an aids - afflicted gay man in philadelphia .
if you remember , during his acceptance speech , hanks gave a highly emotional tribute to the gay community , and even sighted a former gay teacher of his as a major inspiration in his life .
it 's a serious and touchy subject , but producer scott rudin viewed it as the setting for a potentially hilarious comedy , and pitched it to screenwriter paul rudnick .
it 's true that if this same film had been written by a heterosexual , it may have been more controversial , but because it was written by an openly gay writer , the prerogative was set .
kevin kline , who only seems to become more and more acclaimed , stars as howard brackett , a high school english teacher in the small , picturesque town of greenleaf , indiana .
after a three - year engagement to fellow teacher emily montgomery ( joan cusack ) , a wedding date has been set , and the hubbub surrounding it is almost as big as that
surrounding another huge story - greenleaf high graduate cameron drake ( matt dillon ) is up for a best actor oscar .
the small town eagerly awaits both events , and both seem quite astronomical , but little does anyone know how much one will affect the other .
when cameron drake is announced the winner , the excitement is heightened as he pays tribute to his high school english teacher , mr .
brackett .
everyone is cheering back in greenleaf - that is until cameron tacks on those three calamitous words , " and he 's gay .
"
the town becomes silent as the entire population joins in a simultaneous jaw drop .
the thing is , nobody , including howard , can understand how cameron came to that conclusion , and such wild and unexpected news can only wreak havoc in such a conservative american haven such as greenleaf .
naturally the questions pour from howard 's fiancee , parents ( debbie reynolds & wilford brimley ) , students , and the high school 's principal , tom halliwell ( bob newhart ) , and the evidence starts to become more and more obvious : howard is clean , neat , honest , sincere , a romantic , and perhaps the most incriminating fact , he loves barbara streisand .
the frenzy is n't helped any when camera crews from every conceivable news magazine and " entertainment tonight " wannabe show up at greenleaf high the very next morning .
one particular reporter is peter malloy ( tom selleck ) of " inside entertainment " , who unlike the collage of other reporters , wants to spend a whole week in the life of howard brackett , including coverage of his wedding .
the intrusion is all but welcome by howard , who is going more and more out of his mind with each passing minute .
it seems that no matter where he turns , a camera is being shoved in his face and questions regarding homosexuality are being tossed to him like frisbees .
the dominoes begin to tumble as howard 's closest friends begin acting different and principal halliwell hints at a possible termination of employment should howard indeed be gay .
it all sounds very devastating , and it would be if it were n't presented with near - perfection by one of this year 's most delightful ensemble casts
.
kline seems only to improve with age , and he is downright perfect here .
the great thing about this film is that every single character has a moment to shine , and they use it wonderfully .
every single actor turns in one of their best performances ever .
dillon has never been so likeable , cusack
has never seemed so perfect for a role , and brimley , reynolds , and newhart
all provide huge laughs when they 're up to bat .
rudnick 's script is heavily laced with wit and humor , and you 'll likely find yourself laughing out loud for a solid ninety minutes .
while in & out does n't carry enough to give it four stars , it remains one of the best done films of the year , all - around .
the script is exuberant , the actors are absolutely top- notch , and we 're allowed just the perfect blend of heart - tugging so as not to bog down the laughs .
it remains a solid comedy throughout its entirety , yet we 're still allowed a sappily touching ending .
despite it 's subject matter , and one scene that comes almost too close for comfort on explaining gay sex , this is a movie that everyone could , and should , enjoy .
frank oz , best known as a voice talent for muppets
, directs this film quite delightfully , using all the potential rudnick 's script has to offer , which turns out to be quite a bit . check this one out .
you 'll have a gay old time .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: "
some houses are born bad , " goes the haunting 's tag line , to which i must add , " some movies , too .
"
nothing short of hiring a new cast , a more literate screenwriter , and a new director could have saved this tragically misguided adaptation of jackson 's meritorious novel .
the haunting is late entry summer dreck too slick to be creepy , and its seemingly endless stream of digital trickery and spooky ooky sound effects do n't frighten so much as numb the audience into submission
- the film is like a rube goldberg contraption rigged to shout " boo .
" fragile nell ( taylor ) , bisexual theo ( zeta - jones ) , and smiley luke ( wilson ) are three insomniacs who gather at the reputedly possessed hill house for an extended study on sleep disorders , hosted by professor marrow ( neeson ) .
marrow 's secretly gathering data on their respective paranoid responses to his recount of hill house 's bleak history .
he 's not prepared for the very real apparitions that terrorize the crew , nell especially , who has some ancestral connection to the manor 's previous inhabitants .
taylor is thoroughly insufferable in her first big - budget lead .
for starters , her consistently dour expression sucks the life out of even the early scenes , when we 're introduced to the mansion and all its fun - house trappings .
her character is supposed to be depressed , having tended to an unloving mother for too many years , but taylor plays nell as supernaturally lame , alternately grouchy , mopey , wiggy and pathetic , and i kept wondering why the other characters did n't just ditch this bitch
.
as for the obscenely photogenic zeta - jones , she breezes through her scenes with a wink and a smile and takes the scenery with her .
unfortunately , she 's saddled with some of the most unlikely dialogue the screenplay has to offer .
theo 's assessment of the house ?
"
i love it !
sort of charles foster kane meets the munsters .
" who on earth would say that in place of " citizen kane meets the munsters " ?
( furthermore , would you gladly spend a single night in a house befitting that description ? )
both actresses fare better than neeson , who looks embarrassed to be a part of this ensemble ( and for good reason ) , and his character is the most bland .
as luke puts it , dr .
marrow pulls the old " academic bait and switch " on his subjects , but he breaks down and confesses to this the second he 's accused .
later , he risks his life by climbing a crumbling stairwell to save nell ( it 's amusing to hear neeson shout " nell " repeatedly , given his starring role in the 1994 jodie foster vehicle of the same name ) .
why was this nice , helpful , and redemptive researcher so absent of ethics at the start ?
the haunting was well designed by eugenio zanetti .
his sets are obsessively detailed , and even before the cgi kicks in , they seem alive , never quite still .
i do have one beef with this aspect of the production :
the real life mansion used in exterior shots , nottinghamshire 's harlaxton manor , is so vast that one has trouble believing that nell and company , no matter how much running away they do from ghosts and goblins , always finish up in locations that were established in act one , as if all the action has been confined to one wing of hill house .
eighty million dollars was spent on the haunting , and despite a powerhouse box office debut ,
i doubt it will recoup its costs ( including marketing ) domestically .
thank jan de bont for that : proving for the third time that speed was a fluke , in that it was actually enjoyable , de bont has served up another ride , sans thrill .
his images , well - lit though they are , have an unmistakable been there - done that quality
; in fact , whole sequences , not to mention the cloaked , airy ghoul who owns the climax , feel lifted from a much smarter and infinitely more enjoyable spectacle from three summers back , peter jackson 's the frighteners .
i do n't mean to suggest de bont is a plagiarist , i mean to suggest that he 's a hack , having found no new ways to give us chills .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: according to hollywood movies made in last few decades , life in small town is one of the worst things that could happen to a human being .
even worse fate awaits those who were unfortunate to grow up in those dark , god - forsaken places and later forced to live forever traumatised by the experience .
on the other hand , it seems that something more than atlantic ocean divides europe from america , because one of the most popular and beloved european films takes exactly the opposite view .
this film is amarcord , 1974 comedy by famous italian director federico fellini , which later gave inspiration to numerous imitations and homages , and even led few american screen artists to adopt its heretical views about benefits of small town life .
the film is based on the screenplay by fellini and tonino guerra and it lacks the plot in usual sense .
instead we follow one year in 1930s italian summer resort town of rimini through the series of short vignettes that depict various local events and customs , as well as series of local , often very colourful characters .
although many of those characters occasionally take the role of narrator , movie concentrates on its nominal protagonist , 14-year old boy titta ( played by bruno zanin ) and chronicles his sexual frustrations , obsession with local beauty queen named gradisca ( played by magali noel ) , problems in his lovingly dysfunctional family , as well as troubles his father ( played by armando brancia ) have with mussolini 's fascist regime .
amarcord was often noted as the ultimate nostalgia film , and it probably explains why it is very popular , even among those people who actually do n't like federico fellini 's work very much .
every member of its potential audience would find part of himself or herself in this film , because fellini in this film clearly illustrates natural human desire to paint past in the best way possible .
distortion between actual past and its subjective interpretation could be found even in the title of the film - word " amarcord " is nothing more than badly pronounced phrase " i remember " in local italian dialect .
in the same way the word is distorted , so is the past in memories of those who remember it .
after the premiere , fellini rejected any claims about autobiographical character of this film , but it does n't matter whether rimini of amarcord actually resembles rimini of fellini 's childhood or not ; any place and any time could resemble characters and situations of this film .
fellini 's views on nostalgia are clearly illustrated with a way he mixes reality and fantasy in this film .
even the most naturalistic scenes are laced with dark humour and grotesque images .
characters look like caricatures , actors playing them often deliberately overact , and women , especially those who fuel titta 's sexual fantasies , often have certain body parts with gargantuan proportions .
every now and then , scenes that depict 1930s reality gradually slide into fantasies of movie 's characters and rimini becomes almost indistinguishable from the magical place in characters ' visions .
because of that , almost everything in this film looks different , and in most cases better , than it would have looked in the real life .
even the fascism gets fellinian make - over - fellini views mussolini 's totalitarian regime as nothing more than visual spectacle ( explaining why similar regimes enjoyed such popular support throughout history ) and opportunity for comedy .
when fascists finally show their true colours and begin torturing their opponents , even this becomes opportunity for scenes of macabre humour .
unlike many of his italian colleagues in 1970s , who had used 1930s period setting to explicitly condemn fascism and serve fashionable political agenda , fellini does n't care that much about politics .
lack of self - righteous moral perspective is compensated with fellini 's humanistic approach to his characters .
each of them , regardless of age , gender , social class or physical appearance , is given opportunity to express his or her views , dreams and fears .
fellini treats all those characters with warmth and affection , even when he paints them as grotesque caricatures of real people .
because of this warmth and democratic spirit , amarcord could be viewed as one of the most humane films of 20th century , and it keeps its general feel good atmosphere despite depicting having many uncomfortable , melancholic and even tragic moments .
fellini could n't produce such effects without using his own directorial talent that gave a very personal touch to this movie .
vignettes are n't memorable because of the characters only ; fellini uses camera , painting film in bright colours , especially in the scenes that depict character 's fantasies .
fellini also knows how to use locations , whether such location happens to be luxurious hotel , bright - coloured beach or rural countryside .
even the down - to - earth streets of rimini , where everyone knows everyone , gets magical dimension during the snowfall .
on the other hand , lack of credible special effects somewhat diminished the same effect during the ocean liner scene .
this atmosphere is also provided by incredible talent of composer and fellini 's long - time associate nino rota .
his amarcord theme is probably one of the most recognisable , most popular and most relaxing and uplifting pieces of film music ever produced .
that music alone should be the reason to view amarcord as one of the indisputable classics of seventh art .

SOLUTION:
P