TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: after the terminally bleak reservoir dogs and the brutally violent pulp fiction , jackie brown seems like something of a light - hearted departure for quentin tarantino .
it 's more of a ho - hum heist story with characters that speak the tarantino language .
luckily , his showcase of actors convert every morsel of possible enjoyment onto the screen , and jackie brown has no trouble entertaining the average viewer .
the story introduces us to a street - wise black woman named jackie brown ( pam grier ) , a flight attendant who smuggles money and drugs from one destination to another .
she works for a bottom - of - the - barrel airline and receives a minimal salary .
but one day , she is picked up by a pair of federal officials ( including michael keaton as the tough - nosed ray nicolet ) , and found with a handsome load of cash and a small bag of smuggled dope .
jackie is working for a weapons dealer named ordell ( samuel l . jackson ) , who pays her bail money but suspects her of tipping off the feds about their operation .
soon jackie and ordell are plotting a way to smuggle $ 500 , 000 through to them under nicolet 's nose , with the help of ordell 's oaf of a partner ( robert de niro ) and drugged - out lady friend ( bridget fonda ) .
also entering the picture is a bail - bondsman named max cherry ( robert forster ) , who takes a liking to jackie and agrees at one point to make the situation even more complicated ( how i wo n't say ) .
the big drop - off is undoubtedly the high point of jackie brown , in which numerous double - crosses take place and many clothing store bags ( filled with cash ) switch hands .
it 's unfortunate that tarantino takes his sweet time getting there , and does n't offer anything extremely compelling while doing so .
there are , as always , amusing exchanges between characters .
the funniest repartee is between de niro and fonda , as he becomes annoyed with her constant bickering while making fun of his iq , or lack thereof .
the most interesting relationship is between max and jackie .
a 56-year old white bail bondsman and a 44-year old black flight attendant with believable chemistry ?
you 've got to commend the acting .
jackie brown is a seriously dragged - out exercise enlivened by such fine acting .
the film clocks in at a lengthy 2 hours , 35 minutes .
tarantino 's talky style manages to hold your attention heavily , but there are more than a few dramatic lapses and crucial lulls in the storyline .
also , fans of the director should be prepared for a lighter side to appear .
jackie brown has four major shootings , and two of those take place mostly off - screen , so do n't be expecting a typical tarantino bloodbath .
you can expect frequent foul language , mostly coming way of ordell , who ( much to the dismay of spike lee ) uses the ` n ' word as part of his regular vocabulary .
the acting is the glue that holds everything together .
grier , making a sudden comeback from her reign in the 1970 's , is more than adequate for the title character .
in fact , she 's flat - out great . another comeback comes from former tv star robert forster , who does a grand job as max cherry , and is perfectly cast in doing so .
michael keaton makes his presence felt , albeit in small but dignified moments , and de niro is ideal in playing the lug - head who goes over the edge .
speaking of that , bridget fonda has relatively little to do as ordell 's bikini - clad beach babe , and yet she manages to look fairly occupied .
there 's not a single sign of misplaced dialogue or snubbed line throughout the entire movie .
which is a life - saver for mr .
tarantino .
the story barely holds together in the meantime , and we merely get a small tremor whenever there should be a defeaning earthquake .
but oh well .
jackie brown manages to be an enjoyable detour from quentin tarantino , even if it is lacking the glaring and original bite of his previous work .
let 's just hope that the director has n't gone soft on us .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: national lampoon 's animal house , made in 1978 and set in 1962 , remains one of the -- no , fuck that noise --
* the * funniest movie ever made .
and this is n't just my opinion , either ; everybody knows this , and that 's why about a gazillion inferior rip - offs have been made , trying to duplicate its success .
( pcu anyone ?
and the first person to bring up glory daze gets decked . )
animal house takes place at the fictional faber college , circa 1962 , where the omega frat calls the shots .
these guys are wholesome , clean - cut , model - citizens .
. .
i .
e .
a bunch of assholes .
greg , their leader , is going out with mandy pepperidge , but since the silly bastard does n't believe in pre - marital sex , their relationship never goes further than a quick jack - off under the stars .
neidermeyer is the supreme - bozo of the bunch , walking around with his dick out kicking freshman ass and trying to impress the muff . also hanging around these losers is babs , future universal studios employee and serious bitch .
now let 's just take a peak next door , at the delta house .
over here , anything goes : you wanna throw shit out the window ?
okay .
you wanna crush a bunch of beer cans on your forehead and pour honey - mustard all over your chest ?
go right ahead .
the frat 's leaders are otter and boon ( tim matheson and peter riegert ) .
otter is the ladies ' man , going out with another girl every night , and boon is the comedian .
he 's got a steady - date , katy ( karen allen ) , but she 's sick of playing second - fiddle to a bottle of j .
d .
then there are the others : pinto , a wimp ; flounder , a blimp ; d .
day , a biker ; stork , who may or may not have brain - damage ; and last but not least . . .
bluto !
bluto , played by the late ,
great john belushi , is the man .
he 's the kind of guy who slugs back entire fifths of whiskey then proclaim , " i needed that .
"
the kind of guy who puts a cream - filled snowball into his mouth , puffs up his cheeks and spits it out , and then says " i 'm a zit -- get it ?
" the story is as follows : the omegas are getting the deltas kicked off campus .
the deltas , knowing that fighting the omegas is stupid , decide to go out with style , throwing a wild toga party and ruining the homecoming parade .
this is the fucnniest movie int he history of the world
. do yourself a favor and go see it .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: accepting his oscar as producer of this year 's best picture winner , saul zaentz remarked that his cup runneth over .
one could almost say the same about his much - prized film .
rarely is the screen
so overflowing with potent imagery , symbolism , ideas and metaphors , complex and literate storytelling ,
all possessed of an intelligence that invites -- even demands -- constant scrutiny , an acuity of perception and observation
that must somehow yield the truth .
in short , the antithesis of all things hollywood .
yet this surfeit of signals is made to serve a rather pale and thinly realized love story whose emotional impact is as dry as a desert wind .
ralph fiennes is the title character , an amnesiac burn victim whose gradual return to memory , and particularly the memory of love , is the ostensible focus of the film .
but despite the use of numerous flashbacks to help put the pieces of this personal puzzle together , we never learn enough about the man to feel much empathy for him .
his emotional life before the story begins is an essential clue that remains withheld .
the same can easily be said for every other character in the film , of which there are too many .
juliette binoche 's nurse comes as close as this film gets to an emotional heart .
at least we learn early on that she is scarred by the deaths of those close to her , and so we understand why she is eager to escape the company of her comrades in order to seek refuge in the convalescence of a mysterious , disfigured , dying stranger .
even this information is imparted so quickly and in such cursory fashion , however , that it verges on the comical .
with so many characters enjoying so little screen time , the film 's 160 minutes can be taxing . yet there is something so captivating about the sensibility behind the camera that i could n't help but
feel that greatness was in the air .
hints of it were everywhere -- in a man who hates ownership but wants desperately to possess his lover ; in ancient cave paintings of swimmers copied casually by a modern - day swimmer in the sahara ; in the way the shifting sands of time obliterate everything more completely than a world war .
there is enough latent meaning to supply college film students with paper topics for years .
but ultimately the emotional truths writer - director anthony minghella was grasping for were never revealed .
in the end , i was left with the impression that i had witnessed quite an oxymoron : a haunting bore .
bore is perhaps too strong a word .
but after drinking in the rich production values , the cup remains only slightly over half - full .

SOLUTION:
P