TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: the coen brothers are back again , this time with homer 's " odyssey " as the backdrop in their tale of three fugitives from a mississippi chain gang who trek across the south to find a secret treasure in " o brother , where art thou ?
" right for the beginning of " o brother " the coens grab your attention with a chain gang of prison inmates breaking rocks along the road in unison to a work song .
the camera flows around the hard toiling men , giving a visually exciting symmetry to the scene that ends with our three heroes - ulysses everett mcgill ( george clooney ) , delmar ( tim blake nelson ) and pete ( john turturro ) - escaping across a cotton field .
it is the beginning of a journey that takes on different meanings and urgencies to each member of the trio .
a strong suite , as always with the coen brothers , is the depth of character of the folks they create in their films .
their characters are goofy and comical , like nicolas cage in " raising arizona " ; or , dramatic , as albert finney and john turturro in " miller 's crossing " ; and , even a mix of the two with frances mcdormand in " fargo .
" in all cases , and in " o brother , " too , the characters populating their films are three - dimensional people .
ulysses everett is a handsome , hair - obsessed petty criminal with a silver tongue and not a lot in the brains department .
but , he seems like a genius when compared to the simple , sweet delmar and the maladjusted pete , who follow their self appointed leader to a promised treasure of $ 1 . 2 million .
their odyssey takes on the mystical proportions of homer 's original material as they meet all manner of people along the way , including those dangerous sirens who beckon them onto symbolically rocky shoals and a cyclops who beats them and takes all their money .
there is magic , too , when delmar believes that pete was turned into a horny toad by the sirens .
the story meanders through the different vignettes of the boys ' adventures , giving the flick a choppy , episodic feel that disrupts the overall flow .
some of the interludes are an epiphany , though .
the trio becomes a quartet when they pick up guitar - playing tommy johnson ( chris thomas king ) and visit a radio station in the middle of nowhere , run by its blind owner ( stephen root ) .
they become the soggy bottom boys for the sightless radio station man and , without their knowledge , are recorded as they sing the traditional tune , " i am a man of constant sorrow .
"
it is a wonderful moment of moviemaking and gives us , in my mind , the best movie song of the year
.
contrasting this and other wonderful moments
( the sexy seduction by the sirens comes to mind ) are some pretentious bits that detract from the overall quality of " o brother .
" in particular , near the end , is a scene where ulysses , delmar and pete crash a ku klux klan rally to save tommy from being lynched .
the scene is overblown and flashy and reeks of " the wizard of oz .
"
they do n't say " lions and tigers and bears , oh my !
" and there 's no dorothy , but it is the land of oz we 're seeing here .
the highs and lows of the story flow are tempered by fine acting on several levels .
george clooney is funny , charming , a little dumb and one of the handsomest actors in the business today .
he has the charm of a 30 's movie idol and is able to put himself into silly situations with dignity .
ulysses has an ongoing obsession with his hair , risking life and limb to get a particular brand of pomade and a supply of hairnets .
his vanity will come to plague him as it would any mystical hero - wanderer .
while clooney is the name draw for " o brother , " the show stealer is tim blake nelson as delmar .
the heretofore unknown nelson is terrific as the simple convict who , at one point , hears the word of the lord and joins members of a church congregation in their mass baptism .
delmar is saved and dedicates his life to doing good and provides a richness to his simple character that makes him shine .
the taciturn pete , as played by longtime coen collaborator turturro , is the sullen member of the trio and gives them the necessary angst .
all together , the tuneful triumvirate is a mix of the three stooges and the three musketeers as they prove to be buffoons , albeit brave ones .
the colorful supporting cast is rampant with homerian characters to meet and get to know along the way of the boys ' odyssey .
charles durning appears as incumbent governor pappy o'daniel , who keeps crossing paths with them in his bid for re - election .
john goodman is wicked as the one - eyed bible salesman and con artist , big dan teague .
michael badalucco is manic and outrageous as outlaw and bank robber extraordinary
, george " babyface " nelson .
stephen root is amusing as the blind dj , rep'ing one of the many references to the sightless that abound in the film in mystical ways .
holly hunter is wasted in the small role as ulysses ' estranged wife , penny ( and the real reason for this adventure , not secret treasure ) .
techs are , as expected in a coen brothers venture ,
first class .
cinematographer roger deakins , who has worked on five previous coen films , captures the sultry atmosphere of the south .
the photography complements the lush period production and costume provided by dennis gassner and mary zophres , respectively .
once again , roderick jaynes - the alter ego of ethan and joel coen - is on board as editor .
the high points outweigh the low through most of " o brother , where art thou ?
" with particular praise for the wonderful selection of period and traditional music .
i give it a b .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: jonathan demme 's _ beloved _ , based on the book toni morrison , is a study in skillful literary adaptation .
on the one hand , the film manages to recreate key moments from the novel , evoking morrison 's pragmatic narrative style without using her authorial voice .
on the other hand , beloved omits the some of the finer details of the book , favoring an ambiguously defined back story upon which to build the story 's main events .
this choice is a smartly made one , for it creates an open space in which the story 's wide range of emotions can gestate and grow
.
indeed , the impact of the film is so protracted that much of it can not be felt until long after the end credits have rolled .
_ beloved _ takes place in the second half of the 19th century , during the so - called reconstruction era after the civil war .
for newly - freed slaves , it is a time of confusion and turmoil .
oprah winfrey is sethe , a slave who escaped a kentucky plantation and took her children to an ohio farmhouse , where she hoped the terror would end .
what she did not know was that it would follow her there , and remain with her long after the physical threat had vanished .
_ beloved _ ultimately tells the story of sethe 's search for forgiveness , one long - hampered by an unforgettable sin .
the film starts off on a dreary day ten years after sethe 's escape , as a violent , unseen energy rocks her dilapidated farmhouse .
invisible hands terrorize her family , flinging objects across rooms , shaking tables , rattling floorboards .
sethe 's sons run away , perhaps for good , leaving sethe and her daughter denver to fend for themselves .
demme 's matter - of - fact handling of this supernatural element is just one of _ beloved _ 's intriguing aspects .
all of the characters take for granted that ghosts are real .
when paul d ( danny glover ) -- a former slave who escaped kentucky along with sethe -- arrives at the house eight years later and is confronted with the ghost 's hellish visions , he does n't run in terror .
instead , he asks who the ghost is .
as in morrison 's novel , demme quickly establishes that the horror of the story will not come from the fact of the ghost itself , but from the terrifying past in which the ghost was created .
sethe is the one being haunted , but the ghost in the house is the least of her fears .
in fact , the ghost is one of the reasons she chooses to stay .
the story takes an bizarre turn with the appearance of beloved ( thandie newton ) , a young black - clad woman who appears on sethe 's front lawn , leaned christ - like against a tree stump .
sethe and denver immediately take to the rasping woman and try to nurse her to health .
they know not who she is , but that does n't matter .
only paul d is suspicious of the stranger .
little does the family know that beloved will bring about many changes , and force sethe to release a guilt she has held onto so urgently for eighteen years .
winfrey is arguably beloved 's greatest asset .
she inhabits the role of sethe
so convincingly it is hard to believe this is the same woman who shines brightly on a tv talk show .
lisa gay hamilton does an impressive job in the emotionally demanding role
as the younger sethe , whose appalling actions make her the disturbed woman we see eighteen years later .
danny glover is affable
as the sympathetic paul d , as is kimberly elise as denver , sethe 's wanderlusting daughter .
as sethe 's sage - like mother - in - law old baby suggs , beah richards
authoritatively commands every scene in which she appears .
the film 's least palatable choice of casting is unfortunately that of the role of beloved herself .
thandie newton plays the glassy - eyed girl with a demented fervor which is endearing at first , but which becomes off - putting and unintentionally laughable by the end .
departing from the honed aesthetic he used in such films as _ the silence of the lambs
_ and _ melvin & howard
_
, director demme has used a bit of dramatic overstatement to get across the vivid descriptions in morrison 's novel .
totemic camera shots and color - saturated scenery are decidedly uncommon in demme 's films , but the few he uses here work to the film 's benefit .
_ beloved _ 's most memorable scenes are those of baby suggs ' gatherings in a forest clearing , where the bright yellow - greens of nature entrance the viewer as much as suggs ' words do .
for the most part , though , demme maintains his trademark directorial neutrality .
this , combined with morrison 's equally frugal method of storytelling , may make _ beloved _ somewhat of a challenge to watch , even to those familiar with the book .
though the film compliments the book extraordinarily well
, it falls short in allowing the sort of accessibility one usually expects from a film .
nothing is spoon - fed to the viewer .
morrison 's novel is just as enigmatic , but unlike a movie , a book can be put down to allow the various undercurrents and themes to churn and absorb .
the movie begins like _ poltergeist _ , and ends like _ the color purple _ , with shades of _ the scarlet letter _ and _ little women
_ somewhere in the middle .
taken as a whole
, beloved is a disquieting , one - of - a - kind experience , one to be viewed with guards down and spirits in abeyance .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: are we victims of fate in life or can we create our own destiny ?
director / writer brad anderson seems to be saying yes to both questions in his witty film
"
next stop wonderland " .
the two main characters , alan and erin , spend the entire movie in each other 's orbit , catching glimpses of one another , yet not quite connecting until the inevitable conclusion .
is it fate that keeps them near each other and ultimately puts them together ?
does this predestination carry over to all aspects of life ?
as the film starts , erin castleton ( hope davis ) , a melancholy 29- year old late shift nurse , is ending her live - in relationship with her boyfriend ( hoffman ) .
rather , he is ending it with her . arriving home from work , erin finds her boyfriend parked in front of their apartment , car packed with his belongings .
in a fumbling , amusing and self deluding ramble , he instructs erin to watch a videotape he 's made detailing why their relationship is doomed to fail and why he 's leaving .
it 's obvious he lacks the courage to confront her directly as he rails on about accomplishing something with his life and taking a stand , all the while backpedaling his way out of their relationship .
he then flees the scene with the grace of an inept thief .
erin 's mother ( holland taylor , in a surprisingly effective , small role ) , fearing that her daughter will be without a man in her life , takes out a personal ad for erin .
to erin 's embarrassed horror , the ad describes her as a " frisky , cultured , carefree professional with a zest for life " .
eventually , erin responds to the tidal wave of responses , which makes for some of the most humorous , telling moments of the movie as she meets prospective suitors and " poseurs " .
alan , a plumber and aspiring marine biologist , first spots erin as he 's cleaning the inside glass of a fish tank at the boston aquarium .
wearing a wet suit and goggles , he follows erin from window to window , separated by the glass as erin , oblivious to his gaze , enjoys the fish .
later , we see him on a train as she sits on a platform outside , mere feet away .
the movie spends it 's entirety having their paths circle each other without crossing .
there are several subplots involving alan .
one concerns his attempts to get on the job track at the boston aquarium , thereby escaping his apparent fate to carry on the family plumbing business .
another subplot involves his father 's desperate attempts to force fate 's hand by gambling away his life at the dog track .
a distracting focus is put on alan 's debt to a loan shark and the manner in which he pays it off .
the movie tries too hard to make alan a likable guy .
thankfully , his dream- guy persona is counterbalanced by erin 's distant , yet fundamentally hopeful , personality .
the film moves along at an unhurried pace , albeit too much so in the latter third , as we wait for the two to meet .
co - writers anderson and lyn vaus throw a couple of possible red herrings into the mix as the two find other possible relationships .
the films shifts into a much slower gear as we wait for these romances to blow over .
when alan and erin eventually do meet , we see that perhaps they both were destined for each other as they share a lingering , almost subliminally knowing , gaze .
it 's a sweet , measured moment .
the disappointment comes in the fact that we 've come to know the pair , yet we do n't get to view their impending romance .
the film 's inherent belief in the subtle persistence of fate and the wonder it can bring to one 's life makes " next stop wonderland " a quiet pleasure in a cinematic landscape littered with explosions , shallow characters and overdone special effects .

SOLUTION:
P