TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: one of the 90s ' most unwelcome thriller trends returns from the grave : it 's the " _ _ _ from hell " movie !
starting in the early nineties , we were subjected to nearly every conceivable combination of relationships - from - hell !
there were boyfriends from hell , friendly neighborhood cops from hell , nannies from hell , and even secretaries from hell .
but hush has found an old standby that somehow was forgotten in the rush : the mother - in - law from hell ! ! ! ! !
the mother - in - law in question is martha , played by jessica lange .
she has been single - handedly running the family horse farm , kilronan .
her son , jackson ( johnathon schaech ) and his girlfriend , helen ( gwyneth paltrow ) , live in new york , and have no intention to move back down south to the rural kilronan .
but those intentions are about to change .
you see , martha lives by manipulation .
she has used it in years past to breed many championship horses .
now , she believes she can use it to breed herself a grandson .
though at first , helen finds martha charming , soon she is caught in the domineering martha 's web of deception .
it 's hard to understand why nobody ever wises up to martha ' schemes .
as written , most of the characters in the film must be very slow witted .
but then , the film even treats the audience like idiots .
it tries to get away with things ( like leaving a critical piece of evidence in a rather unlikely place ) without even batting an eye .
then again an audience which accepts characters as shallow as these is n't one that 's likely to question details .
jessica lange 's martha is the only semi - developed character in the film , and she applies her talents to redeem it as much as she can .
a character that could have been simply awful is merely groan - worthy .
gwyneth paltrow does n't have much to build upon , as helen 's only character trait seems to be " daughter - in - law " .
still , she fares better than johnathon schaech , whose character is so nonexistent , he 's inexplicably missing for much of the film .
still , there have been much worse
" _ _ _
_ from hell " films .
even with its paper - thin characters and ludicrous setups , hush manages to create a few thrills in a color - by - numbers fashion .
you know what 's coming , but occasionally the film will deliver a shock or two .
the old formulas are around for a reason , but that does n't mean they taste fresh .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: in 1990 , the surprise success an unheralded little movie called ghost instantly rescued the moribund careers of its trio of above - the - title stars , patrick swayze , demi moore , and whoopi goldberg .
eight years later , moore and goldberg 's careers are n't exactly thriving , but they have had their share of screen successes since ; the same ca n't be said of swayze , who has just added yet another turkey to his resume with the aptly named black dog .
forget the mortal kombat movies -- this trucksploitation flick is the closest the movies has come to video games .
good truck driver jack crews ( swayze ) must drive a cargo of illegal firearms from atlanta to new jersey .
along the way , jack and his crew of three run into a number of obstacles -- such as a highway weigh station , evil truckers , and deadly uzi - firing motorcyclists .
every so often , like at the end of a video game " level " or " stage , " the main baddie pops up : red ( meat loaf , fresh from the triumph of spice world ) , who wants to steal the cache of guns .
just in
case you forget his name or have trouble keeping track of who 's driving what , all of red 's vehicles , be it a pickup or a big rig , are painted -- you guessed it --
red .
i could go into more of the plot specifics ( such as jack 's dream of having a nice home with his family , the past trauma that sent him to prison and cost him his trucking license , the fbi / atf crew tracking the cargo ) , but they are of little importance .
all that matters to director kevin hooks and writers william mickelberry and dan vining are the obstacles jack confronts in his drive from point a to point b .
but they fail at even this modest goal , for none of the highway chaos , as credibly staged as it is , is terribly interesting , let alone exciting .
once you 've seen a couple of trucks bang against each other or a big rig explode the first time
, you 've seen it every time .
as dreary as black dog is as an entertainment ,
the saddest part about the film has nothing to do with what shows up onscreen ; it 's that swayze has to reduce himself to such work .
while far from the best of actors , he is certainly not horrible , and he is a charismatic presence .
i do n't know if it 's his judgment or the dearth of quality job offers that leads him to involve himself with bombs such as black dog .
regardless , if he continues on this career track , could a tv series be far behind ?

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: making his directorial debut , actor jon favreau brings along his swingers co - star , vince vaughn , for this tale of two mugs on a career trajectory to nowheresville .
favreau , who also wrote the script , is bobby , vaughn is ricky .
by day they are construction workers .
they also are wanna - be contenders , but neither has had much success .
their last bout pitted them against each other and was a draw , leaving bobby 's record at 5 - 5 - 1 . these two l .
a .
not - so - wise guys also work for max ( peter falk ) , a mid - level mobster , who is patient and understanding with bobby , but who hates ricky 's guts .
max has an easy job for bobby ; fly to new york and make a simple delivery to a gangster named ruiz ( a smooth and silky sean combs ) .
bobby , because of his lifelong friendship with ricky , pleads with max to give his pal another chance and let him tag along to the big apple .
against his better judgment , max agrees .
of course ricky , a motormouth who inserts both feet everytime he speaks , nearly screws up everything . while bobby tries to stay calm and professional , ricky begins swaggering and throwing money around as if he was john gotti or tony soprano .
the constrast in styles and
the chemistry between favreau and vaughn is what makes made so enjoyable to watch .
favreau with his hound - dog face and slow - burn personality could be a modern - day oliver hardy , only much wiser .
vaughn is like someone vaccinated with a phonograph needle , he just keeps yakking and yakking , unaware of the havoc he creates .
yet despite bobby 's constant aggravation and agitation with his partner , a bond of affection and loyalty binds them .
the contrast between the two friends is interesting to watch .
bobby is button - downed , tightly - wound , always waiting for the next shoe -courtesy of ricky - to drop .
ricky is mostly oblivious to the problems he creates and is genuinely surprised when he comes under attack for his faux paus .
in new york , the two lackeys are like fish out of water , stumbling from one situation to another , trying to keep alive .
combs is elegant , cool and low - key menacing as the gangsta they are sent to meet .
falk is amusing in his small role , while famke janssen nearly breaks your heart as bobby 's lowlife girlfriend .
more than anything , made is a movie with heart .
it is loud , obnoxious and very talkative .
but the cameraderie between bobby and ricky holds the key to its interest .
favreau does a commendable job in his directorial debut .
he is a player to be watched as he can only improve with experience .

SOLUTION:
P