TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: jacques tati 's 1953 classic " les
vacances
de m . hulot " ( also known as " mr .
hulot 's vacation , " in english ) ought to be the textbook on how to do non ?
dialogue comedy in film .
the characters hardly ever speak to each other directly , and the film operates on the paper ?
thin premise that monsieur hulot , played by tati himself , is awkward and clumsy and generally manages to annoy the other guests at the beach resort hotel where he is taking a week 's vacation .
yet the film had me beside myself laughing more consistently than any in recent memory .
part of the reason the film works so well is the clever setup for the various gags .
slapstick has often been regarded as an unsophisticated and even crude form of comedy , but i think part of the reason for this is that it often seems forced : you can only see movie characters start running after something and then crash face - first into a pole so many times before you start to wonder what all these poles are doing there in the first place or why these people do n't watch where they 're going .
in " les vacances de m . hulot , " the gags build upon each other and often start out relatively low - key .
in one sequence , for example , hulot is painting the side of his small row boat on the beach when , while his back is turned , the paint can gets caught up in the oncoming waves , washes away , then comes back up on the other side of the boat .
while crossing over to get the can , hulot steps in the boat and unknowingly cracks it .
when he actually takes the boat out into the water , it breaks in half , but the two halves flip up against each other , trapping him inside as the bystanders mistake it for a shark fin and panic on the beach ensues .
tati does n't waste a single opportunity for humor ;
scenes that might have yielded one joke in most comedies are good for at least four or five in this film .
it has been said that comedy relies on frustrating the audience 's expectations , and " les vacances de m . hulot " succeeds brilliantly in that area as well .
tati accomplishes this largely through a sort of deadpan understatement .
when hulot goes into a separate room during dinner and starts playing a record at defeaningly loud volume , no fights or shouting matches ensue ; instead , the waiter calmly walks in and shuts off the power in the room , disconnecting the record player and leaving a puzzled hulot sitting in the dark .
tati also uses running gags to this effect , allowing them to keep running far longer than most comedy directors would ; more often than not , we can see them coming and think , " oh , he 's not going to do that again , " but , lo and behold , he does .
for example , there is a recurring joke in which hulot 's noisy , sputtering car engine wakes everyone in the middle of the night as an exterior shot reveals the hotel 's lights coming on one by one .
then this image turns up again in the finale , which i will not give away other than to say that involves a lot more noise in the middle of the night than a car engine could ever produce .
the ending is one of two elements that really make this a four - star film as opposed to merely an above - average , clever comedy . as much as i was laughing during this film , i was thinking to myself occasionally that tati had to top himself at the end to really make this work as a complete viewing experience ; suffice it to say that he did .
the other important aspect is that the film never seems disdainful of its characters .
it easily could have turned the tables on hulot and had the other guests exact some kind of revenge on him ; alternatively , it could have portrayed the others as humorless curmudgeons .
instead , tati seems to regard his characters with cheerful amusement more than anything else and invites the audience to like them , however strange or irritating they might seem .
" les vacances de m .
hulot " is not subtitled , but the dialogue is sparse and for the most part not terribly essential to the flow of events .
anyone with a taste for this kind of absurd humor ought to make this film their next rental from the video store .
note : " les vacances
de m . hulot " was not rated by the mpaa .
it would at most receive a pg rating .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: at the outset of swordfish , john travolta 's gabriel shear is pontificating about the status of american cinema today .
basically , he says , it boils down to a lack of imagination among the majority of writers .
how ironic , as travolta seems to be describing his latest venture .
swordfish is loud , violent and amoral .
it has the audacity to justify murder and mayhem in the name of sustaining our way of life .
and how does travolta 's gabriel plan to do this ?
by robbing billions from his own government and using the funds to out - terrorize terrorists .
swordfish is a very cynical movie .
it relies on an audience 's perception of our leaders as ineffectual and duplicitous and on terrorists as non - human , faceless entities not worthy of compassion or consideration .
the movie 's plot is preposterous with enough illogical leaps that if the film ever slowed down , you 'd actually see how ridiculous it all is
.
this is a live - action road runner cartoon , moving so quickly that it 's over before you can catch your breath to ask any reasonable questions .
the storyline revolves around super hacker stanley jobson ( hugh jackman ) , recruited by gabriel to crack the government 's computer codes so gabriel can gather billions for his anti - terrorist campaign .
talk about whacked - out patriotism .
my objections to swordfish are many .
the body count is high , but that is expected in a movie of this sort .
it 's becoming a bore watching anonymous soldiers , police officers and government agents blown to bits .
another example is the family dynamics between stanley , his 10-year - old daughter and his ex - wife .
stanley , though having served time in prison for hacking , is shown as a loving and caring father , forbidden by his ex to see his little girl .
audience animosity is immediately created for his former spouse by showing her as a drinker and smoker who also sometimes stars in her new husband 's adult films .
thus when she is found murdered late in the movie , neither stanley nor his daughter are allowed any time to grieve .
in fact , subconsciously , many in the audience are probably glad she was killed .
then there is the sequence involving one of gabriel 's henchman holding a gun to the head of stanley 's daughter to coerce the hacker to download the key computer program for gabriel .
children as pawns have become a most unwelcome clich ?
in recent films .
there is enough violence in the real world involving children without having to make them on - screen victims as well .
yea
, it 's only make believe , but that does n't mean you have to tolerate it
.
travolta is cool , deadly charming and flamboyant as the near - crazy gabriel .
his character is reminiscent of his villainous characterizations in broken arrow and face / off .
jackman looks dour through most of the proceedings .
his only moment of any depth comes when he finally is able to create the worm to get inside the government database .
his sense of joy and accomplishment is one any computer whiz can appreciate .
halle berry is decorative and lovely as gabriel 's assistant , while don cheadle is given little to do as the head fbi agent hunting gabriel .
swordfish plays like a comic book with a larger - than - life character in gabriel .
viewers align themselves with him despite their uncertainty if he is hero or villain .
and maybe that is the movie 's underlying flaw : there is no real hero to speak of , only those doing their upmost to survive .
and that is not enough .
this is one swordfish that should have been thrown back in the water .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . be forewarned .
it 's startling to consider that it was only a few years ago that film distributors would worriedly rearrange their summer release schedules in order to give the annual disney animated feature juggernaut a wide berth .
the lion king had just cracked $ 300 million domestic in gross to become one of the most profitable ventures in film history , continuing to build on a sturdy base left by prior flicks aladdin and beauty and the beast .
since then , though , disney 's animated features have shown an unbroken string of diminishing returns , with pocahontas , the hunchback of notre dame , and this year 's hercules successively proving less and less potent .
with the once seemingly - impregnable disney stranglehold on the market share suddenly looking mighty vulnerable , and faced with their first serious competition in the animated film market from fox 's anastasia , disney has brought xmas home early by dusting off the feature which sparked the modern revival of feature animation , the little mermaid .
while the animation for the film is , as is typically the case for disney films , unquestionably top - notch , the magic in the little mermaid is not its animation , but
the wonderful innocence of its story and its rousingly superb music .
the film 's storyline is fairly straightforward -- young teen falls for handsome man , father disapproves and assigns hapless chaperone to his daughter , teen disobeys father and goes to desperate lengths to win her man -- except in this case , the chaperone is a crab , the teen is a young mermaid , and the object of her desire is a human prince .
what makes the little mermaid so affecting and so emotionally resonant is the richness and charm of its characters and the sheer clarity and honest simplicity of their emotions .
from the moment mermaid ariel lays her eyes on prince eric , she 's resolutely smitten , and she 's such a pure and endearing character that one ca n't help but invest their heart with her .
this simple but touching love story , coupled with a healthy dose of smart humour , makes the little mermaid a remarkably captivating picture .
one of the interesting things about the little mermaid is something which now curiously dates it : the voices cast for its motley crew of characters .
this film was produced just before the distracting concept of using celebrity voices became in vogue , which started to a certain degree with beauty and the beast and was irrevocably exacerbated by robin williams ' much - heralded turn in aladdin ; by the release of the lion king and henceforth , the majority of characters in the animated films were voiced by celebrities .
while it 's understandable that animated features lacking the name - recognition or drawing power of disney ( say , balto 's use of kevin bacon and bridget fonda , or even anastasia 's showcasing of meg ryan and john cusack ) would be forced to turn to this strategy in order to hype their products , it 's unfortunate that even disney has embraced this policy .
do we really need to hear , say , demi moore as esmerelda in the hunchback of notre dame ?
is the film 's entertainment value really augmented by hearing a recognizable voice , rather than a voice which best suits the role ?
( i 'm not exactly on the edge of my seat for eddie murphy in the upcoming mulan . )
fortunately , the performers who voice the characters in the little mermaid , although perhaps more obscure , are impeccably cast .
chief among them is jodi benson , a 1992 tony nominee for her stage work in crazy for you , who voices the film 's heroine ariel to perfection ; with a wonderfully expressive speaking voice full of youthful vigor , and gorgeous singing voice , ms .
benson provides a most engaging anchor for the film .
( she 's the only reason i 'd even consider catching flubber . )
similarly , samuel e . wright is terrific
in the showy role of sebastian , the weary guardian crab .
he easily milks his lovable character 's comic moments for all they 're worth , and his rendering of two of the little mermaid 's big tunes -- " under the sea " and " kiss the girl " -- have become the stuff of legend .
pat carrol is deliciously villainous and vampy as the evil sea - witch ursula ,
while kenneth mars ' booming voice conveys the stern yet affectionate authority of ariel 's father , king triton .
in large roles and small ( edie mcclurg as dotting busybody carlotta is ideal , and rene auberjonois has great fun with his exuberant french chef ) , the little mermaid is impeccably cast .
of course , the little mermaid will probably be best remembered for its remarkable collection of songs composed by the songwriting team of alan menken ( music ) and howard ashman ( lyrics ) , who had created little shop of horrors and would go on to compose beauty and the beast and aladdin for disney before mr .
ashman 's untimely death .
not only are mr .
menken 's tunes unbearably catchy , but mr .
ashman 's charming lyrics are fully integrated into the film 's storyline so that the songs are a virtual extension of the character 's dialogue , and consequently work wonderfully within the context of the film .
mr .
menken 's score for the film is equally top - notch ;
the sequence where eric ( voiced by christopher daniel barnes ) and ariel tour his kingdom in a horse - drawn carriage becomes magical and wondrous with mr .
menken 's fine score .
it appears that most people prefer the delightfully colourful production number for the calypso - styled " under the sea " as joyfully crooned by mr .
wright , which won the academy award and golden globe awards for best song -- indeed , one of the many little joys in screening the film during its re - release was listening to children scattered throughout the audience singing along with the tune -- but
my favourite is ms .
benson 's heartfelt rendition of the ballad " part of your world " , an achingly beautiful tune of yearning and hope ( wonderfully lyricized by mr .
ashman ) which , accompanied by the film 's most dazzlingly polished animation sequence , packs an emotional wallop which literally brought tears to my eyes
.
during the song 's reprise , which builds to a crescendo with ariel arching on a rock as a wave crashes in , the cumulative effect is nothing short of breathtaking , and one becomes acutely aware that this single instance is one of the finest in animation history .
as of this writing , november 1997 has come to an end , as has disney 's limited 17-day re - release of the little mermaid .
there 's no question that the primary motivation for , if not the film 's reissue itself , at least its timing , was to reinforce disney 's dominance in the animation market and provide direct competition to fox 's costly new upstart animation division and their first major venture , anastasia .
in every respect , the re - release of the little mermaid appears to be a success -- the film 's 1997 grosses have pushed its cumulative domestic gross over the magic $ 100 million mark ; the little mermaid proved to have remarkably strong drawing power for a film initially released only eight years ago and in many homes on video , pulling in close to $ 10 million in its opening weekend ; and although nobody could possibly expect the little mermaid to possibly defeat the aggressively - marketed anastasia in head - to - head competition , it siphoned enough from the fox film 's opening weekend totals to keep anastasia from the coveted weekend leader spot , allowing for disney 's odious flubber to sweep in on the subsequent week and wrestle the family demographic market share away .
but although disney 's motives in the reissue of the little mermaid were self - serving and protectionist , the real winner is the public .
any reason to put this film back into theatres is a good one , and it 's a true joy to see this heartwarming gem back on the silver screen
.
the little mermaid is the best film to come out of the disney 's modern animation renaissance , and one of the greatest animated films ever made .

SOLUTION:
P