TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: so much for sweet returns .
after smart horror films were starting to be made again after the exploitative 80 's slasher movies , starting with 1996 's " scream , " and followed by " scream 2 , " " urban legend , " and the original , " i know what you did last summer , " a film like , " i still know what you did last summer , " was bound to be made sooner or late .
it is a perfect example of the exact reason why horror films temporarily burned out , and that is because they reached for the lowest - common - denominator in filmmaking , favoring non - stop deaths and gore for suspense , and trading in fleshed out , likable characters for one - dimensional nitwits .
it has been exactly one year since julie james ( jennifer love hewitt ) suffered through the ordeal of being terrorized by ben willis , a psychopathic fisherman whom her friends and she accidentally hit in the middle of the road , and then , thinking he was dead , dumped him into the ocean .
since then , julie has relocated to boston university , and although often paranoid and haunted by bad dreams , she has been able to put her life back together .
when julie 's friend , karla ( brandy ) , is called up by a radio station and answers correctly what the capital of brazil is , she wins a vacation to the bahamas for four people , which also includes karla 's horny boyfriend , tyrell ( mekhi phifer ) , and will ( matthew settle ) , who karla sets julie up with after her own boyfriend , ray ( freddie prinze jr . , also returning from the original ) , does n't show up .
when they reach the secluded island , they discover it is the last day of the open season , and will be stranded there for the 4th of july weekend with a few employees to fend off a violent storm headed for them .
of course , julie , her friends , and the workers are n't the only ones there , as the murderous ben willis , dressed in fisherman garb , returns to seek revenge on julie once and for all .
it is a sad state of affairs when a movie like , " i still know what you did last summer , " is made .
i am a very big fan of horror movies , and so it is especially disheartening to find out that this sequel to " ikwydls , " which i am a fan of , is almost an exact replica of a " friday the 13th " movie .
while the original focused more on the story and characters , as well as genuinely suspenseful moments , thanks to the screenplay by kevin williamson ( who did n't return to write the sequel , and it shows ) , " i still know . . .
" has no story to speak of , and is so vacuous of ideas , that the filmmakers , were forced to have a murder occur every five minutes just to keep the audience interested . also gone are any signs of character development , and since every single character died before i got to know them , all i was left with was to stare at the screen , indifferent to what was going on .
while i cared about the fates of the characters in the original , it made no difference to me in this sequel who lived and died .
they were all paper - thin and pointless , except to become victims to the lethal hook of the fisherman .
another element that made the original so memorable were some superbly crafted set - pieces , like the store sequence with sarah michelle gellar , but there are none to speak of in this sequel ( although they do come close at one moment with brandy ) .
since so many people were killed every couple minutes , the suspense and scares evaporated faster than salt in water .
also of note is the mystery of the second killer , and accomplice to ben , but it is obvious from the first frame who it is , and so i could n't even have fun at that , like i did in the " scream " movies and , " urban legend .
"
it figures that just as slasher films were starting to get some recognition again , a film would come along and ruin it for everyone else .
maybe the people who made , " i still know what you did last summer , " should have realized that in order to make a good movie , you must have a screenplay --- or at least one that is n't such a black hole for thoughts and ideas .
the ending of the film inevitably leaves the door wide open for a third part , but judging from this amazingly lackluster first sequel , everyone involved should have quit while they were still ahead .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: as bad as " mimic " was , it definitly scared me .
" mimic " continued the frightening hollywood trend of taking a foreign director who shows a lot of creative ingenuity and style , and completely flushing it when he comes to america to make a movie .
director guillermo del toro was recently imported from mexico after he made the award winning and inventive horror film " cronos .
" that movie worked because it took an unconventional story , unique characters and well written plot and dialogue to create a truly scary movie .
in " mimic " , del toro does n't bother to give us anything original .
the plot is a stupid combination of " aliens " meets " species " meets " jurassic park .
"
the characters have been recycled from a few hundred other movies .
there 's nothing new in " mimic " .
it 's just a bunch of old tricks that rarely work .
at the end of the movie , you 're stuck wanting your money back .
maybe the worst thing about the movie is that del toro followed another annoying trend of recent movies
: he forgot to turn the lights on .
i do n't understand why suspense movies lately have to follow the " seven " trend and be set in dark , dank areas .
watching " mimic " i was tempted several times to yell at the screen " turn the lights on !
the switch is to your right !
use common sense !
just do it !
you 'll be able to see the monster in the corner !
"
there 's a scene where mira sorvino is standing in subway station while the lights are flickering on and off .
it looked like the light operator was having a seizure , and sorvino did n't even notice - she just stood there looking like she was having deep thoughts .
" hmmm . . . .
i think bean soup would be good for dinner tonight . "
" mimic " has a lot of incidental shock tactics ( boo !
just kidding ! ) and follows them up with the real scare , but nothing in this movie scares you .
the audience in the theater never jumped during suspenseful moments ; i think they were bored , too .
i should n't blame del toro .
he is n't the first successful foreign director to come to hollywood and make a bad movie .
hong kong director john woo made two of the best action films of all time , " the killer " and " hard boiled " then came to america to make the stupid " broken arrow .
" french directors luc besson ( " la femme nikita " ) and george sluizer ( " the vanishing " ) followed woo 's lead and made dumbed down versions of those movies .
robert rodriguez , who directed the terrific low budget
" el mariachi " came to hollywood and directed the horrible , high - budget " desperado .
"
i do n't know why a foreign director who shows such talent in his country ca n't make a good american movie .
woo finally broke through and made " face / off " , but it still is n't up to par with his earlier films .
i get the feeling a hollywood producer sits in his office , chews on a big smelly cigar and says to the director , " welcome to america !
i bet you must be tired after being on that boat for so long .
do you speak english ?
now , i know you think you 've made good movies in the past , but now you 're in america , so things are a little different here .
just remember what the american audience always wants , and you 'll be fine .
they want to see at least one big breasted woman , characters that they 've seen a thousand times before
( because change scares americans ) , and you always need a cheesy feel - good ending to wrap things up . if you do n't make that kind of movie , you 'll be shining my shoes in no time . "

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: " alcohol and drugs = bad .
not alcohol and drugs =
good .
got it ?
" just when you though you 've seen enough of brave young women dealing with their personal problems on screen , be that insanity or alcoholism , hollywood releases yet another one of those ' deep , emotional stories about finding yourself ' . .
' 28 days ' is practically a visualization of the usual ' meaningful ' true stories that people are so proudly retelling at aa - meetings .
gwennie ( sandra bullock ) is a young woman who drowned her problems in alcohol .
for her life was a big party , with no beginning and no end .
this behavior has of course estranged her from her only sister and from life itself .
her existence is filled with endless parties and comic episodes .
such as when she got drunk with boyfriend jasper ( dominic west ) , borrowed her sister 's ( elizabeth perkins ) wedding limo and crashed it into someone 's house .
this time she had to pay with a 28 day stay in court - ordered rehab .
here she must realize that the only thing that can save her is her is redemption , willpower and commitment .
most important she must realize her place and direction in life and understand that her life is not just a big party .
the film itself feels like a rehab program , whining and moaning about things that have been said and written a million times .
it is a classic cautionary tale .
an echo .
a big , fat and expensive clich ? .
a shadow of last year 's ' girl , interrupted ' , which likewise followed in the footsteps of great masterpieces like ' the cuckoo 's nest ' and ' trainspotting ' .
director betty thomas has stuffed her film with so many failures and errors , that it is impossible to sum them all up in one review .
for some paranoid reason she decided to make her film a drama / comedy .
jokes and funny characters almost deliberately delude you from the really important and complex issues : alienation , despair , terror , confusion , loneliness .
and what awesome power and strength of character it actually takes to overcome all that and become clean .
is n't that what the filmmakers wanted to show in the first place ?
even the transition process itself seems like a walk in the park .
betty thomas ' idea of hell is a cozy , homey place where happy alcoholics and cheerful drug addicts are not allowed to smoke , drink or watch tv after 11 .
it is simply too light , simplified and unnecessary sweet to be taken seriously .
but the worst thing about it is that it actually thinks that it is saying something of significance .
that it actually tries to educate the audience with its extremely predictable and primitive story .
"
all you need to do is just say no " , says dr .
cornell ( steve buscemi )
as if was the revelation of the century .
and that 's how simple it is !
in fact i would rather watch ' lost in space ' once again , than return to ' 28 days ' .
as for acting , it 's acceptable , but hardly anything else .
for sandra bullock it 's an opportunity to demonstrate that she is capable of more than ' speed ' .
she handles her part with a surprising professionalism and ease that certainly saves the film from being a complete flop .
dominic west shines as the source of gwenie 's devilish temptations , but elizabeth perkins ' and steve buscemi 's great talents are wasted on unnoticeable and shallow characters .
although intellectually ' girl , interrupted ' was a greater achievement , ' 28 days ' is superior in its visual aspect .
there are some nice flash back sequences and occasionally impressive pacing , but the overall technical aspect of this film is on the ground floor .
the most important thing is that we 've seen it before and it was a lot better . ' clean and sober ' , ' only when i laugh ' , ' when a man loves a woman ' , ' leaving las vegas ' and many other stronger films were made about the same issues .
so what 's the point ?
in other words ' 28 days ' does n't contribute to the moviemaking business on any level .
if you 're caught in a snowstorm or bolts of lightning fall from the sky and you 're standing in front of the movie theatre , you might as well go in and watch ' 28 days ' .
under all other circumstances stay away , because this film equals $ 8 and 103 minutes lost .

SOLUTION:
N