TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: an entertaining 2 hours awaits the audience in this film set in the early 80 's . sevigny and beckinsale play disco chicks alice and charlotte , who are on the lookout for love .
alice is mousy , shy , intellectual , charlotte is bitchy , out - going and fun .
we join their adventures as they go through a variety of adventures , and men , all to the background of the local disco .
whit stillman has both written and directed an interesting and believable story .
alice and charlotte are both well written characters , and the actresses who play them are n't bad aswell .
sevigny delivers an honest performance , and makes the audience feel for her character .
beckinsale plays extreme bitch personified , yet her character never becomes completely unlikeable .
the huge supporting cast also play a part in making sure this movie is thoroughly entertaining .
the dialogue is sharp and well written ,
with many funny set pieces .
for example , there 's a great discussion about lady & the tramp by the main characters .
the disco tunes playing in the background also make sure that this admittedly long film is good fun .
the direction is good , bringing out the drama and comedy in the scenes .
but their are slight flaws with the movie .
firstly , although it is supposedly set in the 80 's , the characters are very , very 90 's .
the way they dress and act have a very 90 's feel to them .
although the male hairstyles look slightly 80 's , frankly the 80 's atmosphere just was n't conveyed , which is a shame .
also , as mentioned above , the film is too long , and some parts do lag .
the charm of the characters do help these moments , but generally the editing could of been a bit tighter .
the plot also side - tracks into a silly cocaine dealing bust , which seemed out of place in this movie .
finally , their are almost too many characters in the film , and despite the running time , the film never really spends enough time on them .
some of the characters are very slight , which is a shame .
the conclusion , while funny , is also surprisingly weak , and certainly not strong enough . but despite these qualms , the last days of disco is a funny , warm movie , which is certainly worth seeing , and is a fitting homage to the disco era of the 80 's . worth a look .
overall rating= review by david wilcock ?
1998
" you know , for kids " - norville barnes

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: way of the gun is brimming with surprises , some good , most bad .
one of the good ones is ryan phillippe 's surprisingly halfway decent performance .
after the actor gained much attention by posing and preening through teen swill like i know what you did last summer , he hinted at a bit growth in last year 's cruel intentions with his amusingly contemptuous john malkovich meets james spader performance , though his acting in that film faltered around the third act mark , precisely when the screenplay made his character grow a heart ( presumably to appeal to his training bra wearing fans ) and start bellyaching about how he 'd fallen for his " target " .
it was a dramatic shift that neither phillippe nor the film 's director could negotiate .
but he seems to be trying and that should n't be overlooked ( or probably over praised ) seeing as how , at this point , he really is n't required to do much but look pretty .
here , phillippe has procured a five day growth of beard , his hair askew and his affect altered to sound something like james cagney in all his " look here , see " glory .
it 's tough to believe a pretty boy like phillippe as a hard ass , but his performance actually helps with the illusion .
unlike ben affleck 's puppy dog approach in reindeer games , phillippe is believable and not too bad at that .
as for the plot , well , that 's one of the bad surprises ; phillippe and the great benicio del torro play two moronic ( and not even remotely likeable ) criminals ( introduced to us in the parking lot of a rave where they stupidly pick a fight with about twenty people ) who hatch a scheme to kidnap a surrogate mother ( juliette lewis ) after overhearing that she 's carrying the baby of painter ( scott wilson ) , a very well connected wealthy man .
the kidnapping devolves into a laborious shoot out where much damage is done and many are killed .
but the anti - heroes escape with the woman while an aging hit man ( james caan ) and two scheming bodyguards ( taye diggs and nicky katt ) remain in pursuit .
directed by christopher mcquarrie , the screenwriter who won an oscar for his work on usual suspects , an overrated piece of crime noir in many circles ( this one included ) , way of the gun is a hodgepodge of crime thriller motifs that just oozes eye rolling familiarity .
unlike phillipe , mcquarrie does n't seem to be growing at all ; he fills his flick with a sprawling labyrinth of plot all snatched from movies
i know i 've seen before and worse , it feels like it .
the film lacks even a fresh approach ( like what soderbergh did out of sight or the limey ) to its clich ?
s , all of which are spewed before us in a picture that tries so desperately to be hip and gritty without bothering to notice how common it is
.
it features characters living by a code they seemed to have picked up in sam peckinpah 101 rather than any thing resembling life .
even attempts at emotional weight feel strained like in preposterous scene where enemies james caan and benicio del torro stop in their tracks to have a cup of coffee and pontificate on life , philosophy , etc .
i did n't like the bit much when it first appeared in heat ,
here , it 's even more self consciously " dramatic " .
usual suspects , which also featured a bunch of low lives that seemed to live by a code they learned from the movies , worked to some degree because of that astonishing twist ending .
nowadays an astonishing twist per ending is de rigeur , never mind if it deems all that transpired before it completely inconsequential .
thus , nearly every character in way comes with at least one dirty little secret ( most amateurishly projected before they appear ) and it too has an ironic little twist at the end ( nothing earth shattering , like in the usual suspects ) but i admit , i did n't see it coming , and i smiled .
however most of the movie feels exactly like the interrogation scenes between palminteri and spacey in usual suspects : a lot of faux huffing and puffing with no rhythm or reason .
or substance .
it 's just as overplotted as suspects , and often dull as any overplotted movie without interesting characters , a distinctive style , or a good script would be .
even the good stuff , most of which involves james caan ( doing a fine job ) , feels odd and out of place in a movie that thinks lines like " karma is only justice with out the satisfaction " are clever .
at one point caan laments " need is the ultimate monkey " a line so inexplicable he might as well have said " love is like hippo ass " .
i 've seen porno with better dialogue .
and some with better plot lines too .
but rarely has porn offered up such a talented cast ( i mean , can you even compare james caan to ron jeremy ) .
caan slips into this role with seeming ease , he could do this kind of soft - spoken tough guy in a coma , but he manages to give his character depth and weariness .
benicio del torro is always welcome , though here he plays it fairly straight ( rather than another oddball character creation like the ones the actor gave us in usual suspects and excess baggage ) , adopting a brad pitt - esque quizzical pout to go along with his heavy swaggering .
speaking of pitt , his ex , juliette lewis , is a weak link , either shouting her lines with ear shattering shrillness , or waddling about like a silly goose .
nicky katt was brilliant in a brief role in the limey , here his role is just as brief only
he seems wasted ; he 's only kept around for his cold presence .
taye diggs has a similar function , cool as ever , but never a character , though the guy has one helluva death scene .
for the most part way is incessantly talky with no reason to give a hippo 's ass about any thing that transpires since its characters are never more than simplistic pawns .
it 's vaguely tarantino - ish , but in a bad truth and consequences nm way , with phillippe , in one scene , leaping into a stupid rant about " faggots " migrating to los angeles .
you know the routine .
the final shoot out is pure bargain basement john woo ( who himself seems to be doing bargain basement john woo ) with interchangeable bad guys lining up to be shot at .
but those gun shots sure crack like thunder .
just the other day i was watching an old dirty harry movie on cable and was stunned to hear the weak elephant grunt - like sound that emanated from harry 's fetishized smith and wesson .
oh how far we 've come .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: ralph fiennes is carving out a nice niche for himself in the genre of period piece romances .
for his followup to the academy - beloved the english patient , he has once again turned to a love story , this time directed by accomplished australian film maker gillian armstrong ( little women ) .
despite some obvious overplotting , oscar and lucinda is a mostly effective and often affecting motion picture that touches our hearts while daring our minds to balk at its implausible coincidences .
the film opens in the mid-1800s , with parallel storylines in new south wales , australia and devon , england .
as the helpful narrative voice of geoffrey rush informs us , lucinda leplastrier ( cate blanchett ) is a headstrong young woman being raised in the australian outback .
meanwhile , half the world away , oscar hopkins ( fiennes ) has broken with his puritanical father over religious issues , and has gone away to school to study to be an anglican priest .
lucinda is fascinated with glass ; oscar is obsessed with theology .
lucinda is rich ; oscar is poor .
lucinda is forward and self - assured ; oscar is timid and uncertain of himself .
yet one characteristic unites these two diverse individuals -- the compulsion to gamble , whether it 's on horses , dogs , cards , or the flip of a coin .
and fate has decreed that they will one day meet .
that day does n't occur until 45 minutes into the film , when oscar boards a ship bound for sidney , australia , where he hopes to change his life and minister to anyone in need of his help .
another of the passengers is lucinda , who is returning from england where she was shopping for machinery to equip her newly - acquired glassworks factory .
at first , their relationship is that of a reverend and a confessor , but it does n't take long for both of them to recognize a kindred spirit in the other .
a friendship is born , and , once they reach australia , it develops into something more potent .
but oscar is uncertain of lucinda 's affection , and feels he must do something to prove himself worthy of her .
oscar and lucinda is n't beyond a little manipulation to get the desired emotional response , and there are times when the storyline curves in preposterous directions .
on more than one occasion , it 's apparent that events are occurring specifically to funnel the characters into a position where there is only one possible route .
coincidence is a crucial plot device ; without it , this movie ca n't go anywhere .
the voiceover narration ( never one of my favorite techniques ) is too verbose and breaks into the story at undesirable moments .
( however , without it , the final twist , which i will not reveal , would not be as poignant . )
yet , despite these quibbles , i enjoyed oscar and lucinda .
storyline faults pale in the light of two such finely - realized characters .
thematically , the film is also strong .
the unifying motif -- that everything in life is a gamble -- is successfully delineated .
oscar and lucinda do n't just wager their money , they bet their hearts , minds , and souls .
a card game they engage in shortly after they first meet could easily be considered a form of emotional " strip poker " where defenses are peeled away to reveal their shared , secret passion .
oscar does not see gambling as a vice .
in fact , he believes that the greatest chance one takes in life is betting one 's immortal soul on the truth of a religious faith .
ralph fiennes , who normally plays strong , confident men , is very much at home
as the fumbling , insecure oscar .
the actor brings a variety of nervous tics to the part , all of which subtly add to a vague sense of discomfort whenever oscar is on - screen . as good as fiennes is , however , he is eclipsed by cate blanchett .
the actress , who appeared earlier this year as one of the leads in bruce beresford 's paradise road , is mesmerizing as lucinda .
she gives this liberated woman her flash , and feeds the chemistry between the two lead characters so that it sparkles rather than fizzles .
effective support is provided by ciaran hinds ( the male lead in jane austen 's persuasion ) as lucinda 's close friend , tom wilkinson ( the full monty ) as oscar 's mentor , and clive russell as a self - serving adventurer .
there 's a real magic
in the way armstrong develops the story , keeping things moving in unexpected directions without lingering too long on any one moment or sequence .
( in fact , i wish she had devoted a little more time to the luminous middle act , which has oscar and lucinda together . )
with the skill of a consummate storyteller , she weaves romance , friendship , passion , humor , and tragedy together into a complete package .
the characters , with all of their human foibles and neuroses , are wonderfully developed by fiennes and blanchett .
so who cares if the storyline is a little ripe and unwieldy ?
oscar and lucinda still offers abundant pleasures to reward the viewer .

SOLUTION:
P