TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: plot : a young man who loves heavy metal music and especially the band steel dragon , to whom he 's devoted a tribute band in which he sings , gets launched into stardom when the real group get rid of their lead singer and call on him to take his place .
critique : i 'm a sucker for movies like this .
a young man with a humble background and lofty dreams , works hard , devotes the time , the energy and the patience , and ultimately hits it big - time .
in the case of this film , our boy loves a certain heavy metal band and as luck would have it ( yup , luck always finds its way into these types of equations , although generally tied very closely to hard work ) , they need a new singer .
his entry and adaptation to the whole " rock ' n roll " lifestyle fills the rest of the film and is really fun to watch .
although i will preface this by saying that one thing that would definitely enhance your appreciation for this film is your own love ( or past love ) of heavy metal music and the whole scene around it .
metal was one of my first loves as a teen and even though the genre of music is n't that prominent anymore , i still check out my motley crue , twisted sister and anthrax cds every now and again .
that 's not to say that you wo n't like this film if you do n't like the music , but the music and live performances from the band , play a big part in the movie , and i for one , had a blast watching and listening to it all .
but the even greater draw in this film is the standout performance given here by mark wahlberg .
wow , hand this fella some major props , as he totally becomes this heavy metal geek / god ( incidentally , metal god was the film 's original title , and a much better one if you ask me ) .
he is this movie and
i was quite taken by his character pretty much the whole way through .
he came off like a regular guy with extremely passionate goals and work ethic , who was willing to do anything in order to fulfill his dreams .
aniston was also surprisingly good as the girlfriend ( and the romance angle between them was sweet ) , but she did n't pull me in hard enough during their emotional scenes .
i was also impressed by some of the " real " musicians who played in the film ( zakk wylde from ozzy osbourne , jeff pilson from dokken , stephan jenkins from third eye blind , blas elias from slaughter ) , but actor dominic west as kirk cuddy made the biggest impression among the band members .
it 's to note that this film was based on a real - life tale of a young man who used to sing in a judas priest cover band and then went on to become their actual singer ( their original singer also admitted to being gay , as in this film ) .
just for the record , i 'm certainly not recommending this film for its originality or surprise elements , since most of this stuff has already been covered in some way or another in other movies , but because it 's a fun , uplifting , well - paced movie with a solid central showing by wahlberg and energetic live performances .
oh yeah ,
and for those who dig the " heavier " side of music , the soundtrack also rocks ! !
you see . . .
dreams can come true .
. .
where 's joblo coming from ? almost famous ( 8/10 ) - blow ( 8/10 ) - boogie nights ( 9/10 ) - detroit rock city ( 8/10 ) - girlfight ( 6/10 ) - goodfellas ( 10/10 )

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: this film is based on the campy tv show from the 1960 's under the same appellation .
mind you , most people ( including yours truly ) who will see this movie will not have seen any episodes from the original series .
the movie is really a stand alone in that regard .
the family robinson .
. .
lost in space .
plot : set in the year 2058 , the family robinson is chosen to sail out into space in search of other planets that might contain the natural resources earth needs in order to survive its future .
a colonization process , if you will .
they are joined by able pilot west ( leblanc ) , and evil uninvited stowaway ( oldman ) , who does not want to see the trip conclude on a successful tip .
eventually , their trek goes awry , and all are " lost in space " .
"
how do get back to earth ?
" is the question that infests the rest of this sci - fi epic .
critique : this film reminded me a lot of the fifth element ( 6 . 5/10 ) from the summer of 1997 .
it 's a film with a lot of flash , but very little actual substance .
admittedly , there is n't an annoying character like chris tucker from the other film , but this film does run a little too long , and did lose me in regards to its complex time - travel / multi - dimensional story line .
having said that , the special effects in this movie were amazing , and the overall look and feel were also way above average .
you really felt like you were in the future , and riding through space with these poor souls .
unfortunately for this chosen family , their 10-year old son is the smartest one in the group , and the father is too wrapped up in his work to notice the rest of his family ( ever heard that one before ?
yawn ! ) .
the acting is ok , and i was especially surprised at the solid performance by tv friend 's matt leblanc who shows us all that he 's definitely more than just a pretty face .
on the down side , the family riff - raff that cuts through most of the picture is lame and time - consuming ( even though
we got ta give them credit for " trying " to develop characters in a sci - fi pic ) , the story line is hard to follow , the evil character in the movie actually tells people that he 's " evil " , and the movie goes on for about 20 minutes too long .
on the slick side , many of the special effects are really cool
( the sequence in which the family is " paralyzed " during the hyper - drive is awesome , and the animated monkey that joins the family halfway through the flic is mucho cool ) , the credit presentation at the end of the film is slamming , and
the adventures that they fall into are somewhat thrilling
( i will also admit that " somehow " they got me to semi - tear up near the conclusion of this picture . . . .
very odd . . . . . ) .
overall , if you 're a big sci - fi fan , check this movie out for the special effects and challenging narrative , and if you 're not , i would still suggest seeing this movie , but then you could probably wait until it comes out on video so that you forward past some of the boring parts .
little known facts : this film will always be remembered as the movie that knocked titanic ( 7/10 ) out of the top spot at the box - office after 15 straight weeks at number one .
garry oldman is british , and was once married to uma thurman for about six months .
mimi rogers was tom cruise 's first wife .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: i have nothing against unabashedly romantic films .
when done right , with at least slightly evident restraint , they can be engaging , sweeping , appealing .
but it 's a hell of a shame when someone botches it as badly as nora ephron botched sleepless in seattle ,
a hollow , boring romance that should appeal only to the most gullible of viewers ; the ones willing to buy into ephron 's whiny views of life and romance .
tom hanks and meg ryan , two of hollywood 's most likeable stars play sam baldwin and annie reed , repectively .
baldwin 's wife recently died and he moved to seattle with his son , jonah , seeking to get away from the familiar surroundings which remind him of his late spouse .
jonah senses tension and calls a talk radio show to tell the world about their problems .
sam seems ready to strangle his son for calling the show , but when he gets on the phone he begins pouring his heart out .
ephron has him do this so that annie reed ( meg ryan ) can hear it .
annie is a happy woman .
she is engaged to walter , an allergy - prone working man and seems to be perfectly content .
but after hearing sam the widower on the radio show , she becomes convinced that he is her destiny and is willing to risk her engagement for it .
five years after this movie hit theaters , hanks , ryan and ephron would team up again in the far better , although still sub - par romantic comedy you 've got mail , which is about people who hate each other in real life falling in love on the internet .
at least that movie had a sense of spontaneity .
here it seems that the first one hundred minutes exist solely to set up for the last five .
the fact that sam and annie will finally meet is so excruciatingly obvious that everything else is perfunctory .
sleepless in seattle is full of wonderful performers ; from its two leads to supporting stars like bill pullman and rosie o'donnell . but none of them can save the film from being a bore .
its characters are dull and empty , its script is n't funny or particularly charming .
the script has a fundamental problem : annie gives up , for little reason , her life with walter to pursue " sleepless in seattle , " whom she has never even seen .
it 's the kind of life decision that real people do n't make , and its a major , unforgivable plausibility sacrifice .
in essence , this movie 's purpose is to head towards a goal that should n't even exist .
it 's a ten minute short film with ninety - five minutes of filler .
if you were to show me sleepless in seattle and i did n't have to review it , you could just call me " asleep in philadelphia . " ?
1999 eugene novikov&#137 ;

SOLUTION:
N