TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: what makes reindeer games even more disappointing than just a predictable , lifeless action flick is the cast and crew who signed onto the project .
most of the people involved in reindeer games just came off terrible slumps with excellent comeback performances in their most recent films .
john frankenheimer , who made the unforgettable cold war drama the manchurian candidate way back in the early 60 's , recently showed critics and fans alike that he still had some magic left in his directorial skills when he created the brilliant car chase scenes in ronin .
screenwriter ehren kruger gave a remarkable first impression when he wrote the script for the underrated arlington rd .
ben affleck displayed his comedic talents in dogma and boiler room , and even on saturday night live directly after the horrible forces of nature and 200 cigarettes .
even charlize theron , who i was convinced could n't act , did a decent job in cider house rules .
when all of these bright stars come together , one would assume that the movie will have great potential to be entertaining .
after coming out of the theater showing reindeer games , disbelief was my first reaction ?
then frustration .
the movie could have premiered on cinemax at two in the morning starring an all - rookie cast and still would have been equally lacking in entertaining .
the acting is so pitiful and the script so dull
, i may have to rethink some of my opinions on how talented these actors actually are .
it seemed like everyone was restricted to just the script and not given a fair amount of improvisational rights .
we have all seen ben affleck have some fun on the set , it is so apparent in a number of scenes in good will hunting when he exchanges jokes with his friends at a bar .
the actors in that movie were having fun and , from that , the audience had fun .
reindeer games is the complete opposite ; the actors do n't seem to want to be their characters ( even danny trejo , who will do practically anything , does n't look like he is enjoying himself ) , causing the audience to quickly lose interest .
evidence of public disapproval was noted when a woman behind me yelled " boy this movie is horrible ! " and when there were scattered giggles during the most dramatic moments .
the story follows a man , rudy ( ben affleck ) , who is leaving prison in a few days along with his best friend and cellmate nick ( james frain ) .
nick has been exchanging love letters with a beautiful woman , ashley ( charlize theron ) , and can not wait to leave prison and meet her in person .
when nick is killed in a prison riot , rudy decides to pretend to be nick and take ashley out on a date for the christmas holidays .
unfortunately ashley 's brother , gabriel ( gary sinise ) interferes with their relationship .
thinking rudy is nick , he kidnaps rudy and threatens to kill him unless he helps rob a casino , which nick use to work at as a security guard .
now rudy must pretend to be nick so he can protect ashley from her brother gabriel .
confused ?
the movie only gets more complex as it goes on , until it gets way , way too complex at its climax .
but reindeer games makes its first serious mistake during the first half an hour .
the hero commits a greedy , selfish act when he decides to pretend he is his dead cellmate in order to date ashley .
some hero .
the point of a hero is to do the morally correct thing , a person for the audience to relate to or admire .
when rudy lies and cheats his way into trouble , instead of gathering support from me for him to ultimately succeed in getting the bad guys , i felt more like he was getting what he deserved and even wanted to see him fail at times .
the most irritating part of the film
( besides the fact that this is a christmas movie released in february ) is the number of chances the bad guys get to kill rudy but fail or delay for some idiotic reason .
the routine in which the bad guy must explain his genius plan to the hero before attempting to kill him with some elaborate machine is getting so tired
nowadays , especially when i eagerly want to see the hero dead .
the only saving grace keeping this movie from receiving zero stars is an amusing but pointless cameo from isaac hayes as a prisoner upset with his food .
why he was in this movie for such a pointless role
beats me .
why any of these people had anything at all to do with this movie
beats me .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: " crazy / beautiful " suffers from the damned - if - you - do , damned - if - you - don't syndrome .
after a spate of flighty , cookie - cutter teen films , the romantic drama addresses alcoholism and parental loss along with its love story .
but rather than applaud the production , early reviews have dismissed it as an overblown " afterschool special .
"
even worse , in the wake of federal trade commission hearings that blasted the industry for marketing violent and sexual movies to young people , the studio got a case of the heebie - jeebies and forced director john stockwell to re - shoot scenes and cut footage to " tone things down .
" needless to say , the filmmaker was frustrated .
"
we were trying to make a cautionary tale , " he told newsweek , " and we could n't show the behavior we were trying to caution people away from . " regardless , the film works , thanks to exceptional performances from its lead players and a script determined to transcend stereotypes .
" crazy / beautiful " is quality fare , good enough that i half - expected the summer movie crap police to walk into the press screening and confiscate the print for " failure to incorporate explosions and poop jokes .
" set in pacific palisades , calif .
, the story follows the burgeoning relationship between two teens .
every morning and evening , carlos nunez ( jay hernandez ) takes a two - hour bus ride in order to attend pacific high school .
an honor student and star athlete , carlos is responsible , modest and focused as he works on securing a place in the naval academy .
all is well until he meets nicole oakley ( kirsten dunst ) , the daughter of a rich congressman ( bruce davison ) .
nicole is a drunk apparently hell - bent on self - destruction .
carlos is smart enough to recognize the danger in getting involved with her , but he is only human
and she has the greatest smile .
plus , as her father notes , she has a real knack for drawing others into her downward spiral .
as with " save the last dance , " " crazy / beautiful " ( god , how i hate lower - case titles ) takes situations that look stale on paper and makes them seem fresh .
while noting the racial and social differences between the kids , the screenplay dances around most of the clich ?
s
( there are still several mtv moments , though ) .
the filmmakers make a point to give characters that crucial extra bit of shading that turns them into individuals instead of stereotypes and the actors take it from there .
cute - as - a - button dunst forces the viewer to share the pain beneath nicole 's behavior .
she is credible enough that when dad urges carlos to get away from her before she drags him down , i hoped the boy would listen .
as carlos , hernandez is a revelation . hunky without looking like the product of a hollywood design team , the young man can really act ; we will see a lot of this guy in the future . aside from its title , the biggest problem with " crazy / beautiful " is its ending , which wraps everything up too fast and too tidy .
after carefully presenting credible characters and situations , the conclusion feels rushed and lazy .
still , this is the kind of film that deserves accolades from critics instead of cheap shots .
"
afterschool special " my ass ?
" crazy / beautiful
" is the real deal .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: it 's rather strange too have two computer animated talking ant movies come out in a single year , but that is what disney and pixar animation ; s latest film represents .
while a bugs life is n't nearly as deep as it 's predecessor , dreamwork 's antz ,
it is just as funny .
a bug 's life centers , appropriately , around the life of an ant , named flik .
flik , cutely voiced by newsradio 's david foley , hates sticking too tradition and attempts too find new ways of harvesting food and other task .
when one of his inventions causes the offering too be completely lost , the leaders of the colony send him out on a mission too get him out of the way .
the offering is food that a vile group of grasshoppers force the ants too harvest for them .
the leader of the grasshoppers is hopper , who is fiendishly voiced by oscar winner kevin spacey .
when the offering is lost hopper is very upset and he vows to return shortly too retrieve double the amount of food .
when the leaders of the ant colony send flik out on his mission , they never dream he will be successful , they just hope they can get him out of the way so they can harvest the extra food .
flik 's mission is too hire some warrior bugs too fight off the grasshoppers when they return .
instead flik accidentally hires circus performing bugs , who he mistakenly assumes are warriors .
when he returns with the ` warriors ' , the town is ecstatic until they find out the truth about their heroes .
a bug 's life has animation that is simply stunning .
the sheer uniqueness of the day to day bug life is very imaginative . together with the great voice acting , this film is the perfect holiday family film .
its main weakness is that it could n't beat antz to the theaters , making it seem like stale material .

SOLUTION:
P