TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: jay and silent bob strike back can rightfully be subtitled
" kevin smith 's greatest hits " for the film is comprised of numerous references and characters from smith 's earlier works including , clerks , mall rats .
chasing amy and dogma .
so , be advised : bone up on that cinematic quartet in order to achieve the maximum enjoyment from smith 's latest outing .
kevin smith must be a very likable person because several good sports took a ton of kidding in this feature , most notably miramax , the studio whose subsidiary , dimension films , is jay and silent bob 's distributor .
others deserving accolades include ben affleck , matt damon , directors gus van zant and wes craven and the mighty george lucas .
this is a laugh - filled , foul - mouthed road film with jay ( jason mewes ) and silent bob ( smith ) hitching to hollywood to sabotage miramax 's production of bluntman and chronic , comic book characters based on the two jersey slackers .
jay 's convoluted reasoning is that if the film is shut down , people on the internet will stop insulting him and bob , even though it is not him and bob the people are dissing , but rather their comic book counterparts .
no matter , the duo begin their long trek hitching rides across the country .
but first they get some tips from a veteran hitchhiker , played by george carlin , who tells them to follow " the book " - the rules of the road .
of course jay 's interpretation immediately gets the duo in trouble with a friendly nun ( carrie fisher ) who offers them a ride .
jay and silent bob contains enough laughs that the movie 's weaker aspects - which include a lame subplot about a girl gang of diamond thieves as well as a buffoonish federal park ranger played by will ferrell - can be easily tolerated .
really , how can you not laugh at a film in which our heroes are picked up by the mystery van , and jay has a pot - induced hallucination concerning velma and daphne .
the movie 's highlight , though , is near the finale .
in hollywood , jay and silent bob sneak onto the miramax lot where they crash the set and are mistaken for extras of the latest affleck - damon picture , good will hunting 2 : hunting season . here
we are privy to a hilarious conversation between affleck and damon in which the two put down each other 's careers and film choices .
and the laughs continue to grow .
next up is jason
( american pie ) biggs and james ( dawson 's creek ) van der beek , the actors chosen to portray bluntman and chronic .
the pair mistake jay and silent bob for their stunt doubles .
finally , comes a star wars homage featuring one of the stars of that legendary feature .
this bit will leave you howling .
smith 's obvious affection for pop culture icons is evident in the way he shoots these scenes and handles his performers .
he allows them to play it all tongue - in - cheek .
their fun comes through the screen to the audience .
it is too bad that this is jay and silent bob 's swan song .
the characters have grown since their supporting role debuts in clerks .
but smith realizes that times have changed , and he does n't want his creations to overstay their welcome .
so smith has provided them with just the right kind of exit , saving the best for last .
goodbye jay and silent bob .
at least you 're going out with a blast .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: it may seem weird to begin a film about glam rock with a sequence that includes a spaceship , a green ovular pin , and the birth of oscar wilde , but if one really strains , they can see that perhaps maybe these connections are not half off .
wilde 's philosophy was that everyone should be true to their own human nature , and the result of his following this philosophy was that he was imprisoned , loosing his family and his career .
the glam rock movement in the early 70s in england had a similar take and came to a similar demise .
the main difference was by placing makeup on their face and acting out on their deepest fantasies and inquiries about life ( mostly dealing with androgony and sexuality ) , they became less and less like themselves and more and more like everyone else .
and that 's why the movement seemed to end as soon as it began .
it 's been said that todd haynes ' " velvet goldmine , " the film that chronicles what it was like to be a part of the movement , not only from those who experienced it but by those who created it , steals a lot from " citizen kane , " and that 's true .
in the film , a british journalist in the 80s , arthur stuart ( christian bale ) , is asked to go back and find out what happened to 70s glam rock star brian slade , a fictitious rock star , who faked his own death on stage , bringing the end not only to his career but to the entire glam rock movement .
structure - wise
, this totally steals from " kane , " not only from the set - up ( he interviews three people , and the story is a result of their flashbacks ) , but in other things , like the beginning ( death , then newsreel ) , and smaller details , like the bitter ex - friend in a wheelchair and the bitter ex - wife as a washed - up lounge singer , found in a bar after hours .
this is no " kane , " and it really does n't aspire to be : it does n't attempt to be the deep outlook of something gone like " kane " did , and it does n't really uncover anything poignant about humanity .
instead , it uses the flashbacks as a form of contrast between the magic that was the glam rock era and the boredom that was life after glam rock for those who were participants .
the 80s scenes are dry and deliriously melancholy , equipped with a performance by bale that is perhaps appropriately dull and unengaging .
but the 70s scenes are engaging , though , not to mention addictively campy .
they radiate with gorgeous cinematography
that nicely accentuates all the vibrant colors of the era , and a feel that 's so eerily lighthearted that when combined with the then - footage , they become not only a symbol of decadence , but of times when everything seemed so simple .
instead of creating the world the way it was , haynes paints their own world as if it were a narcotic fairy tale : the glam rock movement was full of so much freedom and liberation that after you 've experienced it , everything else seems so mundane .
there 's no outside world to speak of , secluding these people inside a protective globe that will eventually crack .
haynes focuses his story on the tale of blade and the other fictitious rock hero , curt wild , and their relationship that created , molded , and then brought down the movement , reducing everyone else who contributed to it as merely that - contributors .
blade - played with reserve by the pouty jonathan
rhys meyers - and wild - played with anarchic wildness by ewan mcgregor - are little more than thinly disguised recreations of david bowie and iggy pop , respectively , complete with the creation of a ziggy stardust persona named maxwell demon and the confirmation that the two rock stars may have
very well not only have been one - time partners in music , but also partners in bed .
through discussions with slade 's ex - manager cecil ( michael feast ) , ex - wife mandy ( toni collette , reinventing herself as an american blonde dish who fakes a british accent when with slade ) , and finally ex - partner wild , journalist stuart begins to remember his own experiences in the era , like his discovery of his rebelliousness cum conformity , including the moment when he began questioning his own sexuality ( when he opens up his first slade record , he finds a naked and green slade lying on a crimson blanket ) , and finally running away from home to be part of the london scene , finally resulting in leading a boring job in america .
haynes demonstrates that he 's quite the visual auteur , molding scenes that are like long heald breaths , such as a seemingly long sequence juxtaposing a slade / wild concert of them performing a brian eno cover , " baby 's on fire , " with scenes from a decadent drug party ; and the film 's most wow - inspiring sequence , the first concert scene of wild with his band , the ratttz , where mcgregor lets loose so much anarchic steam that his wild iggy - esuqe movements ( including stripping naked ) and screams that the film captures that perfect moment when one discovers a major talent , and another ( slade ) discovers his idle .
even the brief music videos , spoofs of bowie 's , have a rare visual flair that 's pure camp , and which would cause ken russell to drool .
the best sequence , though , may be the beginning , following the prelude , a sequence which acts as the middle ground for both the actual being of the movement and the post - movement era .
in it , stuart and his mates are going to the infamous slade concert where he fakes his own death , where he kills off his alter ego maxwell demon in what appears to be a real assasination , which brought about the end of the era in one swift fake bullet .
with brian eno 's famous " needle in the camel 's eye " playing in the background , the scene has a detached exhileration - the song does n't seem to be played in quite the same way the other songs are .
it has a distance that 's hard to put a finger on , and it seems to represent that all this is coming to a quick and sad ending , and when one sees slade in the dressing room before the show , docked in a silver frock with wings and blue hair , depressingly staring into the mirror , it comes off as a none - too - obvious prophecy of the finale in the beginning of the film .
this movie 's not so much about plot , but more about the way it is presented , making this one of those films which is classified as being " style over substance , " a statement which prompts many critics to line up for attack .
however , for the most part , the engaging part of this film is not the story but rather the way in which haynes creates this world , by using his sets , costumes , cinematography , and especially the music to play as characters in his film .
the music is especially notable .
the soundtrack , which is wall to wall , consists of old school glam rock tunes by the likes of brian eno , t - rex , and roxy music , as well as covers by slade 's band ( with vocals by thom yorke , and occasionally rhys meyers himself ) , and even newer music by shudder to think that sounds uncannily bowie - like .
the cast is rather impressive , but no one really walks away with the film , and no performances are extremely good .
although eddie izzard , as slade 's manager ( who challenges slade 's first manager to an arm - wrestling match to see who gets control of his career ) and michael feast as the first and tragic manager come off greatly , and collette and mcgregor have their moments , rhys meyers and bale are noticably sub - par , neither putting a lot of effort into their respective roles .
some of it is at fault with the actual construction of the film by haynes .
rhys meyers ' brian slade remains merely a metaphor for the glam rock era , dying when he turned into a retro - garbo , resorting to a life of salinger - ism , and found in the mid-70s to be lying around , sniffing coke off the ass of a party girl .
in fact , no one in this film is really seen as a person , rather than just as a symbol or composite of a type who thrived during the era .
bale 's character is an especially tough sell : bitter and depressed by flashbacks to his young adulthood , he 's not an extremely personal character , and his cliched experiences ( being hounded by the record store guys for buying a record put out by a " poof " ) never help us communicate with him .
nevertheless , rhys meyers and mcgregor have the excuses that their characters are not really characters but rather the results of an era that has left them , and others , bitter , part of which helps the film work , since this is a major piece of eye candy .
at the prime of the movie , they at least look the role of fashionable leaders - slade with his perpetually - changing , androgonys persona , and wild with his topless and unpredictable image , which clash and fuse into an unstable union .
their story - of how slade was so influenced by wild that he adapted it into a similar who - cares attitude crossed with camp - is engaging , without the personal background .
the story of stuart , though , is a tougher sell because he 's the everyman , and when you ca n't totally identify with the everyman , your story 's in slight trouble .
as a cultural rock piece , " velvet goldmine " is rather good , but it is merely good .
it never totally takes off , although it has moments where it absolutely flies
,
but then comes back down .
it 's really nothing more than
a bunch of really great moments , surrounded by material that could really be much better .
the beginning is captivating but slow , the middle is fantastic , and the ending is not only shallow but worse than that
, it drags ( the final half hour not only does it not bring the story to any real conclusion , it could probably stop at any point ) .
and did anyone really figure out what the mystery is that arthur unearths ?
it almost seems like there was no point in the entire investigation other than to unearth the past , which is commendable but
not totally so .
still , it does what the oliver stone pic " the doors " did n't do right , becoming very insightful to what happened , using the visual style to hit most of the right notes of contrast between what made the era so great to those who lived during it and
why after living through such an era that everything else seems half - assed ( i suppose the message is : " live life , but after you 've lived it , what else is the point when you 'll be forced to live with regretful memories ? " ) .
the really superb achievement of this film is that during its flashbacks , it successfully creates for the audience what it must have felt like to be in that era , but with the added perk of knowing the result of all that goes down .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: lisa cholodenko 's " high art ,
" is an intelligent , quiet drama .
its strongest quality , aside from the top - notch central performances , is the perceptive way in which the film , also written by cholodenko , observes its characters .
they are all flawed people , some more troubled than others , but they are not judged .
judging the characters in this picture would be a creative misstep on the filmmakers ' parts , because no one , no matter how bad off they are , deserve to be negatively judged if they are involved in some serious problems that they can not break free of .
syd ( radha mitchell ) , a 24-year - old woman living with her longtime boyfriend james ( gabriel mann ) , has recently been awarded an ideal job at the high - profile photography magazine , " frame .
"
she very much enjoys where her career is headed , but is often not taken very seriously by her managers , who are always giving her petty jobs to do , when she knows she could be doing more important things .
one night , while taking a bath , syd notices a leak coming from the apartment above hers , so when she goes up there to inform them of it , she meets lucy beliner ( ally sheedy ) , a thin , worn - out , and unhappy woman , who lives with her drug - addicted german girlfriend , greta ( patricia clarkson ) , a pathetic former actress who is usually so out - of - it that she often is in and out of conciousness .
syd quickly strikes up a conversation with lucy , and discovers that she used to be an acclaimed photographer ten years before .
lucy claims she does n't want to get back into the profession , but syd manages to convince the " frame " editors to do a piece on her work .
all the while , syd begins to grow deep feelings for lucy , even though she has never previously been attracted to a woman , and lucy starts a battle with her personal demons . " high art , " is such an effective motion picture because it is never suger - coated or idealized , but instead an honest and convincing portrait of a handful of unhappy people whose lives are going nowhere , while syd 's luck begins to rise .
the film in no way is about lesbianism , but about love , which was a refreshing change of pace from the usual stereotypical portraits of homosexuality .
as lucy and syd grow closer and closer together , we really do believe that they are falling in love with each other , even if the relationship might be doomed .
with this picture , ally sheedy 's star has risen once again , thanks to her touching , nearly flawless portrtayal of lucy , a woman who , in the course of a decade , has found her life consumed almost entirely by drugs , which has taken away her once - blossoming career .
her characted really is tragic , and one particular scene involving lucy and her mother , in which lucy admits to her that she has a drug problem , and her mother matter - of - factly responds by saying she ca n't help her , is heartbreaking .
although not autobiographical , sheedy has had drug problems in her past , and i suspect she brought that knowledge of already being in lucy 's footsteps to her role .
also very good is radha mitchell as syd , who previously starred in the slight 1997 australian comedy , " love and other catastrophes ,
" wh caught me by surprise with her performance .
easily being able to pass as christina ricci 's older sister , mitchell obtains the same natural charisma that has made ricci so popular recently .
as accurate as almost
every detail is in , " high art , " i wish the relationship had been more tightly written involving syd and james , who , played by gabriel mann , is left with a throwaway role .
by the time he finds out about syd and lucy , he disappears from the film , and i wish there had been another scene where they confronted each other .
this is a very minor fault , however , in a film that is full of riches .
although many of the characters are stuck in a hopeless pit of despair , syd and lucy are intelligent people who recognize their problems .
the character of dominique ( anh duong ) , the " frame " editor who decides to give syd a chance with her ideas , was also written to be far more mature than expected .
and the one sex scene in the film was beautifully and originally done .
for once , it did not invlove steaminess , or violent sexual activity , or gratuitous nudity , but focused on the actual characters , who love each other , and their insecurities involved in making the decision to actually have sex . " high art , " which won the screenwriting award at the 1998 sundance film festival , marks the superior feature film debut of cholodenko , as well as sheedy 's strongest , and best , role to date .

SOLUTION:
P