TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: capsule : not as bad a sequel as crow 2 or batman & robin , but still horribly putrid , cheesy and ill - conceived .
this one belongs in saturday morning cartoons . . .
extended review : you know , about halfway through this movie , i realized that if you hacked out everything except the fight scenes , you 'd have a damn fine 35 minutes or so of flashy , hong kong style martial arts .
beautifully choreographed by robin shou , who also plays liu kang , the fight scenes are both mind - blowing and graceful , acrobatic enough to make olympic gymnasts weep .
this is what made the original so fun , but
unfortunately for the sequel , we are without the frenetic directorial style of paul anderson .
instead , they got john r .
leonetti , the cinematographer for the original mortal kombat . not a good choice .
while the fight scenes are brutal and eye - popping , the rest of the movie looks like standard made for tv fare .
the acting is sub - par , which i could endure if it were not for a . )
the director 's style , b . )
the special effects , & c . )
the treatment of the story and characters .
a . )
mr .
leonetti should go back to lighting , in my opinion .
i could say dozens of bad things about him :
he way overuses slow - motion
, he has no eye for action , he ca n't get even mediocre performances out of actors , and so on .
but by far his worst move was the way he treated jumping .
apparantly , everybody can now fly .
hell , i 'm all for the occaisional gravity defying flip kick and whatnot , but not when it happens every few minutes , and is done so poorly .
better jumping and acrobatics has been seen in xena : warrior princess .
in short , they should have gotten paul anderson back .
or at least let robin shou direct . . .
b . )
unlike the first one , whose sfx were vibrant and somewhat realistic , mk : a 's special effects are bland , fake looking , and overall just plain bad
.
i counted at least half a dozen times that blue - screening was painfully obvious .
had this movie been made in the 80 's , it would have been ground - breaking .
but in today 's industry , it does n't even look finished .
c . )
now for
the _ really _ bad parts .
i admit , i 'm an avid fan of the mortal kombat series .
the games are amusing diversions , an easy way to work off stress and anger .
the first movie was a mindlessly fun thrillride .
this could have been a really cool movie .
it is n't .
the writers apparantly deemed it necessary to lower the target audience from teens to preschoolers .
some of the plot elements are just plain stupid .
how stupid ?
take , for instance , how our heroes move around .
they use giants spheres the roll around underground , supposedly at thousands of miles per hour . . .
oh boy . . .
even worse is the treatment of secondary characters .
blink and you 'll miss 'em .
most characters had more depth in the video games .
if you thought batman & robin was bad about this , you ai n't seen nothin' yet .
a good 75 % of the characters are introduced , kick somebody around a bit , then either die or are forgotten about .
there 's no explanation at all for this .
and for the final blasphemy , the fight that all the fans were waiting rabidly for , the fight hyped to be the most intricate of the movie , lasted about 3 minutes and then just sort of . . . ended .
it almost made me weep . to sum it all up , rent it on video , and fast - forward through everything except the fight scenes .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: you know the plot : a dimwit with a shady past is seduced into committing a crime only to be double - crossed by a fatal femme .
in " palmetto , " the dimwit is harry barber ( woody harrelson ) , a reporter who 's just been released from prison ( he was framed by the gangsters and corrupt officials he was investigating ) .
enter la femme : rhea malroux ( elisabeth shue ) , the sexy young wife of the richest man in palmetto , florida ( rolf hoppe ) .
she and her stepdaughter odette ( chlo ? sevigny ) have a plot to extort 500k from the old man : harry will " kidnap " odette .
after groping both women , harry agrees .
as everyone except harry can see , he 's being set up as a fall guy .
sure enough , before long , harry has a dead body in his trunk and the cops on his tail .
his brother - in - law ( tom wright ) , an assistant da , has hired harry to be the press liaison for the case , so harry gets a front row seat for his own manhunt ( and we get to watch him sweat - literally ) .
there are several plot twists , of course - a couple of them even took me by surprise .
apparently every woman in palmetto is a raving horndog , and they 're on harry like he 's the only bone in the kennel .
shue vamps so broadly that i expected tex avery 's wolf to show up .
her incredible performance in " leaving las vegas " seems to have been a fluke .
here , she could easily be mistaken for melanie griffith .
shue 's character is supposed to be a savvy schemer
but she comes off as a brainless bimbo
.
in addition to shue and sevigny , the kennel includes gina gershon ( who filled the dimwit - with - a - shady - past role in " bound " ) as harry 's girlfriend nina ; when harry gets out of jail , she licks his face ( now there 's a horndog ) .
the parts are so overplayed that with a little push " palmetto " could have been an over - the - top parody of film noir
a la " romeo is bleeding .
"
as it is , it 's best watched at 2 am on showtime ( the love scenes seem to have been written for one of that channel 's soft porn programs anyway ) .
" palmetto " has a well - known director , volker schl ?
ndorff , who 's best known for his adaptations of major literary works , especially " the tin drum .
"
i suppose he must have been drawn to this plot - by - numbers script by the same admiration for classic film noir that led scorsese to remake " cape fear .
"
schl ?
ndorff tries hard - he makes an interesting motif out of the ubiquitous palmetto bugs - but
nothing can freshen up this stale script .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: assume nothing .
the phrase is perhaps one of the most used of the 1990 's , as first impressions and rumors are hardly ever what they seem to be .
the phrase especially goes for oscar novak , an architect who is the main focus of three to tango , a delightful , funny romantic comedy about assumptions and being yourself .
novak ( matthew perry ) , a shy , clumsy , chicago based architect , along with openly gay partner , peter steinberg ( oliver platt ) , fights for projects day in and day out .
one of these is the job of restoring a popular building for charles newman ( dylan mcdermott ) , a rich , well - known businessman .
charles immediately takes a liking to oscar , as he enjoys his personality and sense of humor .
seeing oscar as someone he could trust , charles asks him to watch his girlfriend , an unpredictable , adventurous girl named amy post ( neve campbell ) , who makes a living by blowing glass .
charles wants to know who she talks to , what she does , and where she goes .
the point ?
to make sure she 's not seeing someone else , of course .
oscar gladly takes the job , and meets amy at an art show of hers , and sparks fly between the two from the get go .
oscar feels he has found the one meant for him , and he is content with the idea of being with amy .
well , another popular phrase of the 90 's is " all good things must come to an end , " and this stays true for oscar as well .
charles walks in on amy and oscar having a drink one night , as oscar and amy have become great friends , but he does n't seem to mind .
why is this ?
he thinks oscar is gay .
he 's not afraid to share this with him either .
oscar stands in shock after the words , " i swear if you were n't gay oscar , i 'd have to kill you , " are muttered flamboyantly from charles ' mouth .
the word spreads instantly through town .
will oscar " come out " of his supposed gayness , or will he tell everyone that he is n't ?
one would immediately think he would deny the fact , but numerous occurrences come to oscar , which result in the fact that if he denies the fact , he could lose his job with charles .
matthew perry does n't escape his character as chandler on the already classic t .
v .
comedy " friends , " as both oscar novak and chandler are clueless , shy , and sensitive .
nonetheless , perry is hilarious here , and shows that he can handle drama , as obviously , his character suffers quite a bit here .
it 's wonderful to see neve campbell outside of a horror movie ,
( she was the star of scream 1 and 2 , and the upcoming scream 3 ) as
she handles comedy superbly here .
her voice , smile , and personality are more than perfect for romantic comedies- stay with this genre , neve .
neve is delightful as her conflicted character , who feels love for oscar , but knows , based on rumors , that he is gay . as usual , campbell is likable as her likable character .
unlike the other two leads here , dylan mcdermott is flat in his dialogue , and is never convincing .
when his character his present , mcdermott sets a dull tone to the scene with his horrible acting .
stick to the t .
v .
drama , the practice , dylan .
the major weak spot in three to tango is the direction of damon santostefano .
no originality or technique is used whatsoever .
three to tango is lucky that the script is so edgy and that perry and campbell are wonderful in comedy , or else the film would have been a disaster , as it is just plain boring to look at .
three to tango is a film done many times before , as the plot is suspiciously close to 1998 's the object of my affection , but the plot has never been completed so well .
three to tango 's script , written by rodney patrick vaccaro and aline brosh mckenna is fun , fast , and funny , delivering not only original , hilarious gay jokes ( not your run of the mill material ) , but a certain snappiness in the dialogue between characters that always keeps you smiling .
unlike last summer 's south park : bigger , longer , and uncut and 1997 's in & out , three to tango is a comedy in which the gay element is not crude or vulgar .
the script is wise to take this route , as gays ca n't ( i do n't think so , anyway ) be offended by this light , playful comedy .
( to prove this , a gay couple was in the audience who were laughing constantly . )
three to tango 's climax is a hilarious , clever scene that is pure irony based on the outcome of most romantic - mistaken identity comedies .
three to tango is a gem .
the bottom line : three to tango is a light , sharp , snappy romantic comedy with a superb ending , and great stars .
one of the better romantic comedies of 1999 .

SOLUTION:
P