TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: in one of my many videos i have attained from the local library , casablanca was my third classic in some weeks .
the others being citizen kane and vertigo ( yes , i am trying to see as many of afi 's greatest movies ever made as i can ) .
but , casablanca stood out from the rest for me : it was actually watchable .
what most hail as the greatest american film ever , casablanca is n't so much a love story as a political frenzy with a love triangle thrown in .
it seems that star humphry bogart spend about 85 percent of the movie with various leaders of the nation instead of with ingred bergman .
that annoyed me , as did the ending .
why did n't the plan turn around ? ! ?
surprisingly , i enjoyed the film .
i liked bogart 's character and his acting
( not over the top as most actors in his era ) .
i once read about if you had a choice to be in a movie , which one would it be , and a women said casablanca .
at first i was thinking to myself " why ?
" then , as i watched the film again , i understood why .
the movie is very well done and the script top - notch , although i doubt i understood more than half of the political mumbo jumbo .
casablanca is , in my mind , no classic ( like solaris ) , but it is a good film and stylishly shot
.
hey , hollywood , how about this : a remake with harrison ford and anne heche ?
now that would be a classic .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: absolute power , the new film produced and directed by clint eastwood , attempts to be a thriller set in the world of hypocritical presidents and their murderous political staff .
it is about as thrilling as a lecture on the mating habits of the south american grasshopper .
one can only wonder how an utterly absurd script like the one written by william goldman could have ever interested eastwood .
not only is the plot unbelievable and contrived , but even the writing itself lacks any consistency or intelligence .
continually underestimating the audience , the film gives us information we already know or do nt even need .
details essential to the story are so improbably convenient they are annoying
( like why would two unprepared secret service men carry two night - vision goggles in their car ? ) .
oddly enough , the initial setup for absolute power offers interesting possibilities .
a masterful jewel - thief ( played by clint eastwood ) witnesses the murder of the wife of a powerful millionaire ( played by e. g. marshall ) .
while robbing one of marshalls mansions , he is forced to hide in the bedrooms vault .
there , through a two - way mirror , he sees the wife and another man engage in passionate foreplay .
their game of love quickly turns into a violent struggle as the man starts beating the woman . in self defense , the woman grabs a letter - opener and stabs the man in the elbow .
she raises her arm to stab again when she is fatally shot by two secret service men .
the man ?
he is the president of the united states of america .
where does the film go wrong ?
it can not be the acting .
clint eastwood , ed harris and gene hackman as the president give type - cast , but decent performances .
the cinematography is sufficient ; wild and erratic during action sequences , dark and mysterious during psychologically suspenseful scenes , and calm and warm during dramatic dialogue .
even the music is not as bombastic as it usually tends to be in the thriller / suspense genre .
the fault clearly lies in the screenplay , and the screenplay alone .
while setting up a story about misuse of power , about the true possessors of that power , and about intrigue and double - crossing , it does not resolve it .
not one buildup of suspense is resolved by an exciting climax . rather , the tense situations are left dangling at the end , giving the viewer an uneasy sense of incompleteness .
an example of this is a very promising and tense buildup of a scene : in an attempt to arrest clint eastwood , the police have set up a trap at a small restaurant .
police officers are everywhere , incognito of course .
at the same time , not one but two hit men are preparing to kill clint eastwood when he arrives .
all three parties are unaware of each others presence .
this scene is tremendously exciting and the audience is wondering how clint eastwood , who might suspect this is a trap , will get himself out of this difficult position .
he will probably have a brilliant plan , involving ingenious preparations .
however , when he arrives at the trap , both hit men miss ( how convenient )
and in the confusion eastwood simply walks away .
the buildup of this scene took about ten minutes .
ten minutes of close ups of the hit men loading their weapons intercut with the police preparing for the trap .
the scene was resolved in less than 20 seconds .
.. parallel to the story line of catching the real killer is a cliche emotional tale about the estranged relationship between father eastwood and his daughter .
the daughter blames her father for never being there for her , because he was either in jail or robbing a house somewhere .
of course their relationship takes a turn for the better during the adventure and they end up a happy family .
again , it is commendable that absolute power tries to deviate from the mainstream suspense film by giving room for a dramatic subplot . however , trying is simply not enough !
the second story line should be subtle , original and preferably unpredictable .
.. everything this film is not .
how could a screenplay like absolute power ever get the funding to be produced ?
how could eastwood , who has successfully produced and directed many outstanding films such as the brilliant unforgiven , ever believe in a project like this one ?
i am sad to say that my respect for the actor / director / producer has diminished substantially due to this film .
director quentin tarantino once said : " i can make a good movie out of any bad script .
" director clint eastwood obviously can not .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: eddie murphy has a lot riding on harlem nights .
as the movie 's writer , director , executive producer , and star , murphy will shoulder all of the blame if harlem nights fails .
but at the same time , he 'll receive all of the credit if it succeeds .
should you sacrifice your hard - earned cash to support murphy 's risky gamble ?
well , that depends on whom you trust more :
me or eddie murphy .
here 's what murphy thinks : " i think the audience is expecting a good time .
they gon na get sexy .
they gon na get funny .
they gon na get drama .
they gon na get all of that .
i think it 's the best movie i 've done " ( paramount radio network ) .
here 's what i think : harlem nights is charmless , unoriginal , disappointing , and almost without question , the worst film of the actor 's career
( i have n't seen best defense ) . and guess who 's to blame ? !
the movie 's problem is not murphy 's direction : harlem nights is a fairly good looking film .
no ,
the project was probably doomed even before the cameras rolled .
murphy 's awful script is the culprit .
let 's count the mistakes
he makes in his first attempt at screenwriting : ( 1 ) murphy shatters the record for the most profanity in a motion picture .
yes , he even outdoes his own work in raw .
practically every line of dialogue in harlem nights contains at least one four letter word .
and after 15 minutes , it gets irritating .
( 2 ) murphy wastes the talents of his fine cast .
richard pryor , redd foxx , michael lerner , and della reese face the impossible task of carving out credible characters from a script riddled with stereotypes .
each of them shines occasionally , but basically what we have are good performers stuck in a bad vehicle .
( 3 )
the movie demeans women by depicting them solely as sexual objects and as pawns in power struggles between men .
murphy has admitted in interviews that he is weary of women in his private life , which is really neither here nor there .
but when murphy puts his bitter feelings on 3 , 000 movie screens across the country , it 's another matter altogether .
you 're forced to swallow some pretty gruesome stuff .
for instance , murphy punches della reese in the stomach .
and he shoots jasmine guy in the head .
this is a mean - spirited movie , folks !
lovely newcomer lela rochon gets off easy in her role as a common whore , but only because she does n't have any scenes with murphy .
thank god : he might have run her over with a bulldozer .
( 4 ) murphy has written for himself perhaps his blandest role to date .
the loveable eddie murphy charisma emerges only once or twice during the film .
murphy would rather give his character a spiffy wardrobe than a spiffy personality .
sometimes it seems as if murphy made harlem nights just so he could wear fancy suits and look debonair .
( 5 ) the plot is a shameless rip - off of the sting .
if you 're going to make another sting movie , you 've got to do something original .
murphy 's tale of warring nightclub owners in harlem ( circa 1938 ) fails to add anything new to the formula .
( 6 ) to get laughs , murphy makes fun of stuttering .
you know a comedy is digging deep when it resorts to ridiculing the handicapped .
( 7 ) murphy 's idea of drama is a scene in which his character apologizes for the first time in his life .
for what ? for shooting reese 's little toe off !
needless to say , murphy shows little , if any , promise or imagination as a screenwriter . in all fairness , however , a few rays of sunshine do manage to break through the gloomy cloud surrounding the movie .
danny aiello is fun to watch as a dirty cop on the take .
aiello stands out in the large , ensemble cast : he obviously relishes the opportunity to play such a nasty character ( a racist detective with mob ties ) .
aiello 's zesty performance gives harlem nights some much needed spice .
another bright spot is arsenio hall , who has a hilarious , show - stopping cameo as a cry - baby gangster ; hall virtually steals the spotlight from murphy .
in fact , hall 's ten minutes on screen are the funniest ten minutes in the movie .
unfortunately , his character is completely irrelevant to the plot ; murphy should have given hall a much bigger role .
of course , i 've already mentioned that i did n't care for murphy 's character , but i have to admit that i did love his neckties .
they are simply spectacular -- almost worth the price of admission .

SOLUTION:
N