TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: capsule : trippy , hyperspeed action machine from hong kong 's accomplished tsui hark .
van damme and rodman have nice chemistry
, the stunts are eyepopping , and stuff gets blowed up real good ; what more do you want ?
i admit i was all set to loathe double team ; it reeked of cheapjack timing - oriented marketing ( stick dennis rodman in a movie , quick , while he 's hot , and do something about jean - claude van damme 's flagging career while we 're at it ! ) .
surprise -- double team transcends its dumb roots and turns out to be a mess of fun
.
bring some friends , get some pretzels , and have a blast .
van damme is jack quinn , an ex - agent who is brought back in for " one last mission " -- you 'd think any spy worth his shoe phone would run like hell when he hears those words .
but van damme 's character has a pregnant wife who 's also a sculptor , and some unpleasant pressure gets used to get him to come through on this mission .
he 's been assigned to take down an old enemy , a terrorist named stavros ( mickey rourke , looking oddly subdued ) , who may be back up to his old tricks .
in the first showdown between quinn and stavros , the movie wears its ambitions proudly on its sleeve : nonstop action .
an amusement park , a hospital , a private " retired spy " 's retreat , most of rome , various houses , planes , cars and other modes of transport , and the coliseum ( ! )
all become arenas for some of the most bone - rattling shoot - outs and punch - outs filmed .
they are better seen than described and are reason enough to see the film : one jaw - dropping scene has van damme taking on a man who uses a switchblade with his * feet * .
( van damme is a good , dextrous athlete and fighter , but he is often upstaged . )
there are other nice touches .
stavros and quinn both want the same thing : to retire in peace with their families .
that ambition ties them together in various ways , and also humanizes them a bit .
one of the things about hk action movies is that there 's always some form of human element , and that 's carried over into this movie as well .
it gives weight to scenes that would otherwise be forgettable .
also good is dennis rodman , playing a weapons dealer named yaz -- a character who sticks out like a fistful of broken fingers and who is funny just standing there .
rodman is natural on screen ; he 's fun to watch , especially when slinging bad guys like basketballs , and deserves to get a movie of his own , based on what 's seen here : a lightweight , fast - moving entertainment
that showcases all of its pieces excellently .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: how could a g - rated disney film based on meg cabot 's novel " the princess diaries " be anything but cute , harmless fun ?
easy .
take all the cute , harmless fun out of it .
and while you 're at it make it borrr - ring .
that 's what director garry marshall , screenwriter gina wendkos and , not to be outdone , producer whitney houston have done with the g - rated disney film " the princess diaries .
"
you could n't tell it from the audience though , a braintree , mass .
of growing , glowing pre - pubescent girls ( and the odd parental , popcorn perched about their persons ) , who positively cheered when the end credits rolled ( ah the film had struck a lovely nerve with them but not with fuddy - duddy old me ) .
well , i might have cheered that the utter tripe was now well and truly over , but that would have been too obvious .
too obvious is the least of the problems with marshall 's film ( garry made a couple of other " princess " movies-- " pretty woman " and " runaway bride
" --but this one 's way without julia roberts
so maybe
*
that 's * its problem ) .
in addition to being predictable as molasses , " the princess diaries " has hardly got a laugh in it
( it 's a comedy ) , could bore the pants off an abyssinian for long , long stretches , and is so sloppily edited the principals refer to scenes we have n't even seen yet ( and probably never will except , perhaps , in the dvd edition ) .
marshall should take virtually all of the blame here , since he 's been at this for some time and should know when a scene or two is n't working . . .
and hardly
* any * of " the princess diaries " works ( " works , " alas , implies cleverness and there 's none of that here either ) .
newcomer anne hathaway stars as mia thermopolis , a bright but socially invisible san franciscan teen who learns that her single mom ( a wacky artist played by the likable caroline goodall ) had a bit of a fling with some royal member of some miniscule european country nobody ever heard of ( the filmmakers go out of their way
* not * to call it serbia , which is pretty much what all miniscule
european countries are called in the movies mark my words ) and now she , mia , is next in line to rule " genovia " ( hence the headphones / tiara combo in the print ads ) .
julie andrews , with the luminous factor cranked to 11 , plays mia 's grandmother ( aka queen clarisse renaldi ) , who shows up out of the royal blue and lends mia much advice and direction in the eating , talking , and looking like a princess department ( although mia 's big makeover simply transforms her from ugly duckling to ugly swan ) .
does queen julie lose her dignity for the sake of a good laugh ?
not really .
consuming a corn dog is about the worst that it gets .
also on stereotypical hand are a brainless jock , an evil cheerleader , a dorky - looking best friend ( " welcome to the dollhouse " 's heather matarazzo ) , a sensitive auto mechanic / musician , and marshall mainstay hector elizondo as joe the driver , imparting wit and wisdom from the front seat of mia 's chauffeur - driven limousine at every intersection .
a non - animated g - rated movie is a rarity these days but the rating here reflects the fact that all the guts , all the good stuff , has been exorcised from the finished product .
lame , labored , and lamentable
, " the princess diaries " is recommended for eight - and - a - half year olds of the feminine persuasion * only * ; all others would do well to avoid it
( like potholes , the plague , and " the perfect storm " ) .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: "
my name is jack carter , and you do n't want to know me " says our brooding anti - hero ( sylvester stallone ) .
take his advice !
to know this guy is as rewarding as being thrown over a terrace .
and to watch this film is almost as painful .
" get carter " is a gloomy looking , unimaginative film that offers no joy .
jack carter is as tough as tough guys come .
he works out of vegas as a self - described ' financial adjuster ' . explaining his duties , he says , " people make promises and break them .
i help them remember .
"
he has a chiseled body full of tattoos .
he has the weathered look indicative of a man who has seen his share of hard times .
he speaks in a hushed but menacing tone of voice .
in other words , this is sylvester stallone acting like . . .
sylvester stallone .
and like most of his previous roles , his character is a shallow , one - dimensional thug whose modus operandi is to talk tough , hassle a few hapless people , find out what he needs to know , and then dispense his own kind of justice .
with the charisma of a pit bull , being tough is all that jack carter knows .
yet , even tough guys know when to put family first .
as the story begins , we learn that jack 's little brother has died in a car accident .
the police attribute it to heavy drinking .
however , jack is suspicious , believing that he was ' taken out ' .
he takes a break from his vegas duties and tries to see if he can find the truth .
as he pokes around , he runs into several lowlife characters .
they include a shady business partner , a prostitute , a dweebish millionaire molded after bill gates , and an oily owner of a porn website .
any one of them may know something about his brother 's death .
all of them have the means of carrying out the deed .
but do n't expect an exercise in sleuthing where well - placed clues lead carter to the truth .
he 's all brawn and no brains , so there are no epiphanies during his investigation .
instead , he uses intimidation to muscle his way forward , cycling through this circle of suspects .
flustered with his lack of progress , he cycles through them again and again .
this all gets tiring fairly quickly .
by the time the film launches into its final act , we 're numb from its pedestrian pace .
oddly , as a tough - guy thriller , it starves us for action .
admittedly , there is one nifty chase sequence , but this is related to a tangential and needless plot
( carter 's vegas ties send thugs to retrieve him ) .
the story also fails to generate any kind of emotion .
stallone
has the personality of a slab of stone .
and the look and feel of the film is perpetually downcast .
the weather is constantly overcast or rainy .
meanwhile , most shots take place at night , in dimly lit rooms , or in dark alleys .
it 's just impossible to get stirred about that kind of atmosphere .
as a result , " get
carter " amounts to nothing more than a flat thriller , bereft of clever moments and devoid of any excitement .
you 're better off leaving this guy alone .

SOLUTION:
N