TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: fact that charles bronson represents one of the most important movie icons of the 1980s represents one of the biggest and almost tragic ironies of that decade .
tragedy lies in the fact that the icon status was earned less by quality of his work in movies , but the quantity .
most of those movies were produced by cannon group , company led by israeli producers menahem golan and yoram globus .
those two men probably thought that they could be the next roger corman ,
b-
movie mentors of future hollywood legends .
unfortunately , that did n't happened , and when cannon finally went bankrupt at the end of the decade , behind it stood the huge pile of cinematic garbage , that would require at least few centuries before it reaches the camp appeal .
sadly for bronson , that garbage also contained numerous movies in which that capable character actor and action hero of the 1970s tried to raise their worth simply by being the main lead , and lowering his own reputation in process .
on the other hand , bronson could take comfort in a fact that those movies were extremely popular , especially among the audience 3 or 4 times younger than bronson himself .
one of such movies that seriously marred bronson 's reputation is death wish 3 , third sequel in the series which began with death wish in 1974 .
in the original movie , bronson played paul kersey , mild - mannered new york architect who turns into deadly street vigilante after his family fell victim to urban violence .
that movie was far from masterpiece ; yet , in it the director michael winner was skillfully offering the cinematic remedy for very real disease of growing crime rates of the time ( on the same lines like siegel in dirty harry ) .
unfortunately , six years later cannon group got rights to the character of paul kersey and
began destroying it by pumping out sequels ; even the presence of its original director did n't stop the rapid decline of the quality .
death wish 3 begins when kersey comes to visit an old friend , living in the urban wasteland of east new york , populated by young criminals and people too old or too poor to move out .
before the reunion , kersey 's friend falls victim to the street gang led by evil fraker ( played by gavan o'herlihy , probably the only noteworthy role in the film ) .
kersey decides to avenge his death and slowly prepares for his crusade , while the police inspector shriker ( ed lauter ) , ants to use him as a secret weapon in his losing war against the urban crime .
bronson , the main asset in this movie , plays the character who is nothing more than an efficient killing machine .
although bronson 's charisma does help in overcoming some implausibilities
( single man in his 60s and armed with a single pistol manages to wipe out dozens of opponents with superior firepower ) , the lack of emotions or bronson 's own commitment could be seen in a very few lines spoken in a film .
the movie authors were somewhat aware of that emotional shallowness , so they added romantic interest for their hero - public defender played by deborah raffin and conveniently terminated in order to give some more motives for kersey 's crusade .
on the other hand , emotions are much better played by confronting law - abiding , yet ethnically stereotyped citizens with their daily nemesis of street punks - ruthless enough to exercise their reign of terror on the entire city blocks , and stupid enough to be killed in droves by kersey .
unfortunately , michael winner does n't know how to work out the plot , and after torturing the viewers with mostly uninteresting characters and cliched and formulaic situations , ends this movie with a bang .
the big showdown at the end - that turns east new york into the sarajevo - like battle zone - is probably the worst part of the movie , because of the poor editing and the cheap sets and props that give away the low budget .
in short , this movie could be recommended only to the most fanatical charles bronson fans or for the people who are already desperate for 1980s nostalgia .
( special note for trekkies : marina sirtis , the actress who played counsellor deanna troi in star trek : the next generation could be spotted in a small role of portorican wife ) .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: " psycho meets the exorcist with no holds barred " .
a blurb like that sounds like desperate publicity for some low budget , third rate rip - off .
but no , this tacky plug comes from the poster for suspiria , perhaps italian horror director dario argento 's most consistently successful film .
what impresses most in re - watching this surrealistic , supernatural thriller is that argento 's directorial flair and stylish visuals are matched by a near - fully coherent narrative .
screenplays have always been his achilles heel ; confusing subplots , gaping holes , totally illogical incidents and reactions .
no question : argento has always been a better director than a writer .
fortunately , he gets the plotting pretty well right with suspiria , taking his cue from a book by thomas de quincey called " suspiria de profundis " .
the film 's storyline suffers from no major lapses in logic , provided one can accept the premise of a ballet school being a front for a coven of witches .
jessica harper plays an american who travels to germany to further her studies in dance .
arriving at the school late at night in driving rain , she sees a girl leave and run into the storm in a clearly distressed state .
what happens next - and i do n't make the comparison lightly - is a murder sequence that for intensity , shock value and sheer directorial flair ranks alongside alfred hitchcock 's infamous shower scene in psycho .
it 's quite possibly a homage to hitchcock , but with its baroque sets , graphic gore and brilliantly chaotic musical accompaniment by the gothic rock group goblin , this stunning sequence remains very much argento 's own .
though nothing else quite equals the intensity of suspiria 's opening 15 minutes , the film continues to be never anything less than engrossing as harper begins her own investigations and slowly comes to realise this is no ordinary ballet school .
we meet an assortment of slightly sinister characters , most notably the head ballet teacher played by alida valli in another one of those delicious sour - old - matriarch - from - hell roles she does so well .
several more violent murders ensue , including a startling scene in a deserted square where a blind man is . . .
well , i would n't want to spoil things now , would i ?
and the film 's climax , staged amid secret corridors and hidden rooms , has a gothic ghoulishness
that 's most impressive .
the english language versions of most argento movies usually suffer trimming , and not just for the violence - deep red and phenomena , for example , have been appallingly hacked about .
fortunately , the cuts to suspiria ( about 7 minutes in this version ) have not adversely affected the film .
the dubbing of the italian actors into english is quite competently done , too , excepting one appalling and unintentionally hilarious effort with a conversation between harper and a professor about the history of witchcraft in the region .
and the soundtrack ?
it is interesting to imagine what power the film would have lost if it had been scored by someone else .
as it stands , the use of goblin 's music in suspiria is outstanding .
apparently , argento played the soundtrack on location while filming so the actors could hear the music as they acted out their parts .
a stereo video player adds greatly to the viewer 's overall experience .
even better , see suspiria in a cinema , where you 'll get the added bonus of widescreen .
and the colours !
deep reds , eerie blues , a superb use of shadow and contrast .
the cinematography of luciano tovoli , whose more recent credits include reversal of fortune and single white female , is uniformly superb .
a nod also must go to production designer giuseppe bassan for his wonderful baroque interiors .
these kinds of settings are crucial to the atmosphere of argento 's more surreal excursions , the other most notable example being inferno ( 1980 ) on which bassan also worked .
suspiria is the film that broke dario argento into the major league of european directors , and it is fully deserving of its cult status .
the gore is at times a little excessive and overstated - that 's always been one of argento 's shortcomings - but overall
this is a fascinating , compelling example of italian horror .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: director : penelope spheeris ( decline of western civilization ii -
the : metal years , dudes , & suburbia ) cast :
mike myers ( wayne campbell ) , dana carvey ( garth algar ) , : rob lowe ( benjamin oliver ) , tia carrere
( cassandra ) summary : wayne and garth have a public access show called " wayne 's : world .
"
the show is a underground hit , until benjamin : oliver comes onto the scene .
benjamin wants to turn the : show into a big hit nationwide , possibly destroying the : essence of " wayne 's world " in the process .
[ expectations - medium ] long review =
= = = = = = = = = = i must admit being a bit reluctant going into this film .
i did n't believe that they ( mike myers and dana carvey ) could hold it up for an hour and a half , i figured that perhaps the first half - hour would be great , and the rest would be " fluff .
" however , i was really surprised about
how well they were able to keep the laughs going for the virtually the whole film , with the exception of the ending .
( which i wo n't discuss for obvious reasons , but it 's not * that
* bad . ) story :
the plot was quite thin , but it really was n't that noticeable , because of the rapid - fire jokes that myers wrote in .
alot of the jokes are very similar to hot shots ! , in being very " parodyish .
"
( okay , bad term . )
extremely witty throughout , although ( as in hot shots ) it got a bit repetitive in the middle .
acting : as in many comedies , the acting is n't really * that * important . however , myers turns in a good performance as wayne , playing the character perfectly , ( although i still liked him better back on much music , in a more " canadian " type of mode . )
carvey is okay as garth , but he lacks the spark myers puts into wayne .
tia carrere is mediocre as cassandra , playing it very stilted .
lowe is fine as ben oliver , but is nothing to write home about .
without a doubt , this movie is mike myers all the way .
direction : spheeris is a classic " music " movie director , making dudes , and decline of western civilization ii -- the metal years .
( she also directed the boys next door , which is different , to say the least . )
she is very capable , knows how direct a comedy , the correct camera movements it instill laughs , etc .
one of the better jobs i can remember for a comedy .
overall : i would suggest to anyone that likes snl 's skits to go see this film in the theatres .
however , my personal opinion , as in most comedies , is that they work just as well on video .
you definately have to be fan of music , and all forms of media in general to enjoy this film .
without a doubt , this is the best comedy so far this year .
it 'll make tons ' o ' dough for everyone involved .
let 's just hope they make a thousand sequels .
[ sorry , i had to get the lame joke in . . .
forgive me . ]

SOLUTION:
P