TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: there is n't much good about this movie .
not much i can say about the acting , directing , or writing that would make you consider seeing this movie .
so i 'll get my one good comment out of the way , at least joel schuemacher ( batman & robin )
did n't direct it or it would be titled " technicolor city " .
in fact there is nothing colorful about this movie , its dark and depressingly gloomy right down to the bitter end .
the plot has a tendency to be interesting , but all that passes while your laughing at the ridiculous things thrown into what could have been a fascinating movie .
the plot is impossible to explain due to how senseless it gets , so i will just touch on the bare minimum .
john murdoch ( rufus sewell ) awakes in the bathtub of a cheap hotel , only to find out he has forgotten everything .
john must find out who he is before the " strangers " ( a .
k .
a . mind erasing aliens ) find him and use him for their own evil conspiracy .
during the film some interesting points are raised about human individuality , and the existence of inherently evil people .
any of these points however are completely " erased " from your mind as you watch the actors stumble through the dreadful script .
as i mentioned earlier , nothing but the atmosphere is right in this film .
the acting is bland , and since there is virtually no character development
no one seems to care .
the special effects are low budget and some even hilariously fake , a sign of a true " b - movie " . the direction is poor and there is little continuity , not that you would expect it in a movie switching realities constantly .
lastly the script is weak and has no concept of reality , and does n't deserve to have the word " science " in science - fiction .
if i have n't got my point across , i 'll say it more plainly : this is a bad movie .
lets hope the next movie by alex
" i wish i was tim burton " proyas is at least tolerable .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: the job of the film critic is to see a movie and write a review of it that tells you what it 's about and why it 's good or bad .
i feel kind of embarrassed to admit this , but i after having seen " get carter
" i really ca n't tell you what it 's about although i could go on and on about how and why it 's a bad movie .
" get carter " falls into that category of ?
movies that continue to be made for reasons unknown to anyone outside of a hollywood executive board room .
you might call them the " steven seagal / mickey rourke / jean - claude van damme / wesley snipes school of mediocre action / crime thrillers .
"
you know - the potboilers that are heavy on fistfights , shoot - outs and car chases but really light on plot and character development .
they have stories where the so - called hero just keeps running into characters who have some connection to one of the other characters who are all antagonists without a reason for being in the movie other than to give the protagonist someone to fight , chase or shoot at .
sylvester stallone stars as jack carter , a las vegas - based mob enforcer who returns home
* for his brother 's funeral .
he believes his brother ?
richie was " taken out " and did n't die from a dwi accident .
carter 's one of the most cliche bad - asses ever captured on celluloid .
his face alone is pretty intimidating and there 's quite a few scenes in which he leans on both regular citizens and criminal lowlives simply by staring them down and speaking with confidence in his " rambo - on - testosterone - therapy " voice .
stallone 's performance in this movie is so forced and unnatural
he does n't realize he 's mocking himself .
the actual story involves carter 's investigation into his brother richie 's death .
he 's in a town that 's not his
but somehow the local top dogs know him very well .
mickey rourke co - stars as one of these characters , a sort of crime boss who has something to do with running a porno web site and blackmailing a young internet tycoon
( played by alan cummings looking and acting a lot like pee wee herman ) .
there 's also another plot involving richie 's mistress , a secret cd - rom with some convicting and disturbing evidence on it and something terrible involving one of carter 's still - living relatives .
i 'm rolling my eyes
just thinking about trying to critique all this in a way that could be remotely comprehendible .
i could just rip the screenplay to shreds , plus the direction or the editing or the production values but that would require discussion of nearly every scene in order to explain it all .
i do n't like to put spoliers in my reviews either intentionally or accidentally .
yes , " get carter " is just that complicated and complex .
and what 's worse is that it 's not this intricate to make it seem smart like " the usual suspects " for example - just the opposite .
you get the feeling whoever wrote this script
did it in short intervals spaced far apart
and they probably did n't remember what had already happened and did n't figure out how each scene would lead in to the next one or how the major plot points would work towards the climax .
all you really need to know is that most of the film is just scenes of carter tracking down one scumbag or supposed witness after another , asking them what they know , getting information and then realizing that if he was n't a complete idiot he could have figured it out in the first five minutes .
although the supporting characters are equally stupid themselves since they tell him everything which comes back to haunt them in one violent way or another .
making a movie entirely about criminals does n't necessarily mean they have to be unlikable and cliche cutout characters .
mel gibson starred in " payback " a few years ago
that had a story not unlike this one but had such a good screenplay you could n't help
but like him even though he was just as bad a guy as jack carter .
so ultimately " get
carter " fails for pretty much every selling point it has
. carter is not a likable character and you really do n't care if he gets revenge or not .
the action sequences are not at all exciting or original .
the enemies and their massive conspiracy are not threatening at all ( c'mon , you know who 's going to win every brawl and shoot - out and car chase ) .
in the end you do n't feel nearly satisfied with the results .
the filmmakers did a good job in doing everything as unoriginal as possible .
*
the city is never mentioned by name
but i assume it 's seattle since all the cars have washington license plates
and it 's always raining .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: " take a number , fill out a form , and wait your turn .
"
starring kati outinen , kari v ? ?
n ?
nen , sakari kuosmanen , elina salo ; written & directed by aki kaurism ?
ki
; cinematography by timo salminen it might be possible to call drifting clouds a satire or a black comedy , but that would imply a sense of anger , of vitriol , of energy ; drifting clouds is what you get when the rage and vitality are gone .
it is the sad , slow story of lauri and ilona , a married couple caught between the wheels of capitalism as it grinds inexorably onward .
he loses his job as a tram driver , because everyone drives cars nowadays .
within a couple of months , she loses her position as a head waiter , when her restaurant is bought out by a chain and the entire staff replaced .
a conversation early in the film reveals a lot about their situation .
lauri has surprised ilona by buying her a tv , which she greets with little enthusiasm .
she notes that they have n't finished paying for the bookshelves or the couch yet .
he says that in four years the payments will be done and then they can buy some books for the shelves .
it would pass as deadpan humour if it was n't spoken with such resigned weariness .
this sets the tone for the rest of the movie .
there is humour and idiosyncracy at the periphery , but at the centre there is frustration and futility , and sorrow for the ways in which the logic of profit reduces people , until their worth is equated solely with their earning capacity .
there is an element of political commentary in this critique of the mechanisms of capitalism and the stultifying social environment it creates , but in drifting clouds the political is subsumed by the personal : the movie is about two people and what happens to them , and nothing else matters .
lauri and ilona live lives starved for friendship , respect , culture , passion .
they go to the movies , and walk out past old posters for l'atalante and l'argent , but the movie they have just seen is a pointless , violent , unfunny comedy .
their house and workplaces are uniformly unpleasant , painted and upholstered in lifeless colours ( ugly greens , dull reds , insipid blues ) , full of inelegantly functional objects and appliances .
the art design is impeccable in its tawdriness , and director aki kaurism ?
ki often matches the colour of characters ' clothes with the background colour and/or lighting , so that it seems as if they are almost physically fading into the environment .
there is no suggestion of sexuality in the relationship ; ilona and lauri sleep in separate beds and their gestures of affection lack the heat of desire ; their lives are now bound by something more complex and desperate than love .
their downward , downsized , downtrodden lives have a momentum that is almost comic , as one setback succeeds another , bottoming out when lauri stakes all their remaining money on the spin of a roulette wheel .
it must have been tempting to play the story for more laughs , more farce , more deadpan wit , but the film 's great strength
is the sober , empathic manner in which it observes lauri and ilona 's misfortunes .
irony would be an injustice .
situations and settings are broad and exaggerated -- this is not realism -- but they are not distorted .
the emotions are authentic .
if it is difficult to laugh at anything that happens , despite the droll performances , the laconic humour , that 's because kaurism ?
ki brings such compassion and understanding to the manifold indignities that are suffered .
he shows us how humiliating it must be for a woman of thirty - eight , who has worked long and hard to win a respectable position , to be forced to accept a job as a dishwasher in a two - bit restaurant ; how humiliating it must be for a man nearing 50 to confront his wife 's former employer , demanding the rest of her wages , only to have the crap beaten out of him , unable to land a single punch , when the employer and his cronies refuse to give him the money .
all this is observed keenly , with great economy : every cut , every line of dialogue , is judicious .
if most films are novelistic in their telling , this one brings the focus and concentration of a short story to bear .
but what is gained in nuance and acumen is rather undermined by the sense that the material barely accommodates the 96-minute running length .
i have seen many movies far less profound , less humane , less necessary than drifting clouds , but they filled me with an urge to watch them again , and this one did not .
it does not need to be seen twice : its every detail and implication can be absorbed in one viewing .
it is not a movie that will be seen by a large audience , because it can not be pitched to one .
there is no selling point .
it is all understatement , restraint , melancholy .
the characters are unremarkable , their best years behind them , their dreams dissipated ; it takes all the effort they can muster just to pay the bills .
this does not make them less fascinating , merely less marketable , which is a shame , because this is a movie which should be seen , precisely because it pays attention to people and emotions that most movies prefer to ignore .
it engages us and touches us and resolves -- surprisingly , and movingly -- into something resembling a happy ending .
the only thing greater than the ill - luck that governs the characters ' lives is their refusal to give in to despair .
their persistence is rewarded with what might be called a " feel - good " ending elsewhere , but not here , because this ending differs in kind from most such endings : this one has truly been earned .

SOLUTION:
P