TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: " mandingo " has traditionally been seen as one of two things : either a much - needed revisionist look at slavery in the south , or in the words of film critic leonard maltin , " a trashy potboiler " that " appeals only to the s&m crowd .
"
actually , i think " mandingo " is a strange combination of the two , although
it fails on both fronts .
it 's too trashy to be good drama , but too dramatic to be good trash .
the story takes place on a dilapidated louisiana plantation run by crotchety old warren maxwell ( james mason ) and his son , hammond ( perry king ) .
one day in new orleans , hammond comes across a slave trader selling a mandingo named mede ( heavyweight boxer ken norton ) .
although the movie never explains it , a mandingo is simply the name for africans who come from the region of the upper niger river valley .
according to the movie , mandingos were the rolls royce of african slaves .
hammond pays top price for mede and has to fight off others in order to get him .
hammond then spends his time training mede to be a fighter in money brawls with other slaves .
meanwhile , hammond has married his cousin , blanche ( susan george ) , because she wants to escape her family and he is under pressure from his father to produce a grandchild .
hammond , however , is happier spending nights with his " bed wench , " the derogatory name given to female slaves used by their masters for easy sex .
it is quickly apparent that hammond , despite his overt racism , is more in love with his bed wench , a sensitive slave girl named ellen ( brenda sykes ) , than he is with blanche .
hammond considers blanche tainted goods because he finds out on their wedding night that another man had " pleasured " her before he did .
of course , it 's fine that he 's slept with numerous slave girls , but the fact that his wife , a " white lady , " had been with another man out of wedlock destroys his capacity to care for her .
so blanche is usually left lonely and sex - starved while hammond is sleeping with ellen .
blanche gets back at hammond by seducing the studly mede and bearing his child .
hammond and his father can not stand the idea that blanche has given birth to a half - black child ( although it 's okay that ellen was pregnant by hammond ) , so warren kills the child by letting it bleed to death after birth , and hammond poisons blanche .
hammond then finds mede , shoots him twice in the shoulder , and pushes him into a giant cauldron of boiling water .
yes , you read right : the film ends with hammond getting his revenge by boiling mede alive .
judging only by the plot , " mandingo " is pure sexploitation .
the main purpose of the film seems to be getting as many blacks and whites into bed together as possible , with only the slightest commentary on what that would mean in 19th century southern society .
when " mandingo " was released in 1975 , it was still a bit of a shocker to see miscegenation on screen in such a graphic detail ; this way the movie could revise cinematic history while attracting large audiences of curious voyeurs .
dramatically , " mandingo " is weak and unfocused , and historically it 's mostly confused .
if one were to judge history by this film , it would be easy to walk away with the notion that the entire system of american slavery was based on sexuality , not economics .
not once in the film do we see any of the slaves working , except for a few house servants .
the men spend most of the time sitting around , while the sole purpose of a female slave seems to be free sex for the owner .
there is historical basis in the notion that slave owners often slept with their female slaves , but " mandingo 's " overwhelming emphasis on this aspect of slavery gives the movie the unpleasant taste of a cheap sex flick ( although there 's plenty of violence -- fights , vicious beatings , shootings , and the aforementioned human boiling sequence -- thrown in for good measure ) .
some tried to write off " mandingo " as a blaxploitation film , one of a number of quickly - made , low - budget films appealing to black sensibilities in the early seventies , but it 's not that easy .
" mandingo " was studio - financed by paramount pictures , and produced by dino de laurentiis , the grandiose italian producer behind such notorious productions as " the bible " ( 1966 ) , the remake of " king kong " ( 1976 ) , and the ill - fated " dune " ( 1984 ) .
the director was richard fleischer , a veteran who was best known for several special effects - laden action movies including " 20 , 000 leagues under the sea " ( 1954 ) and " fantastic voyage " ( 1966 ) , as well as such superior suspense films as " the narrow margin " ( 1952 ) .
the script , based on the supermarket best - seller by ken ostott ( and the subsequent play by jack kirkland ) , was penned by norman wexler , who had been nominated for an oscar two years earlier for his work on " serpico .
" james mason , perry king , and susan george were well - known and respected actors ( mason already had three oscar nominations under his belt ) , and ken norton appeared to have a promising film career .
so why is " mandingo " so bad ?
a number of reasons , including the fact that all those experienced filmmakers behind and in front of the camera did a lousy job .
wexler 's script is pure poor hokum bordering on the offensive
; it combines stereotyped slave - talk ( " yessuh , massuh " ) , stereotyped southern white trash talk ( " fer whut're you gittin ' outta bed ? " ) , and stereotyped contemporary militant black talk ( " if you see me hang , you gon na know you killed a black brother ! " ) .
fleischer 's direction is clumsy , especially during the fight scenes , and all the actors give weak performances , especially susan george whose constant shrieking finally becomes laughable .
nevertheless , credit should be given where credit is due .
despite its exploitative nature , " mandingo " was one of the first hollywood movies to take an alternative look at slavery .
until then , there had been a kind of underlying racism in all hollywood films dealing with slavery .
even classics such as " gone with the wind " ( 1939 ) can be seen as inherently racist by its glossing over the subject matter .
" mandingo " reassessed the south , and showed that it was n't all beautiful plantations , green fields , and pretty sunsets .
but all this is constantly undermined by the film 's negligible point - of - view
-- it claims to see things from the black perspective , but the entire narrative focus is on the soap opera tales of the white owners .
with a little more maturity and different handling , " mandingo " might have been an effective , worthwhile film .
while it portrays many sensitive aspects of slavery , it never deals with them .
the issues the movie brings up are worthwhile , but wexler 's script refuses to move them beyond a surface level of trashily vicarious viewing .
there is a great deal of potential in honestly exploring the nature of a sexual relationship between slave and owner , but " mandingo " never does it .
steven spielberg touched on that same topic in " schindler 's list " ( 1993 ) , by looking at a nazi officer writhing in inner turmoil because of his feelings for a jewish maid .
the difference between that film and " mandingo " is that spielberg dealt with the situation in a fair , unexploitive manner that focused on the inherent human dilemma .
" mandingo " is satisfied to simply show some skin , and because of that , its " trashy potboiler " nature overshadows any potential social good it might have accomplished .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: chris tucker is one of those guys you immediately get a reaction from -- you either find his helium voice , crazy eyes and jerky mannerisms funny or annoying .
i think i fall into the former category ( i 'm one of the few who thought his turn in " the fifth element " as a prancing , prince - like deejay was complete inspired lunacy and not the least bit aggravating ) , but his new vehicle " money talks " just does n't do him service
.
tucker is good in the movie -- and this is the kind of film that , if people see it , could make him a big star -- but he 's also really the only thing good about the movie .
in fact , if you see " money talks , " it should shock you beyond recognition that two of " toy story " 's writers penned the sloppy script .
tucker 's role here is that of franklin hatchett , a petty los angeles con artist whose carwash scams get him dogged by investigative reporter james russell ( charlie sheen ) .
after being busted on the job for some illegal business involving counterfeit passports , franklin finds himself on a bus to the county jail and handcuffed to slick international jewel smuggler raymond villard ( gerard ismael ) .
but villard 's thugs blow up the bus in an attempt to free their leader ( never mind that the explosion could have instead killed him ) , and because he and franklin are joined at the wrist , franklin is allowed to escape as well , but not before overhearing some important information regarding a diamond stash that -- for some reason or another -- is being hidden in a vintage roadster waiting to be auctioned off at an upcoming auto expo .
the local media mistakenly puts the prison break - out blame on franklin , which is where james comes back into the picture .
he makes a deal to protect franklin if , in turn , franklin gives him an exclusive interview .
this means james must present his new " friend " in the stickiest of situations -- a formal dinner party for he and fiancee grace ( heather locklear ) , also attended by her uber - rich parents ( veronica cartwright and nicely game paul sorvino ) .
and of course the bad guys track franklin down and try to knock him off , all the while he spars and forms an unlikely bond with james .
"
this ai n't no buddy movie , " claim the print ads .
yeah ,
right .
actually , for the better part of , oh , 20 minutes , it appears " money talks " has the momentum to cover entertaining ground , and this is mostly due to the presence of spastic motormouth tucker .
this is tucker 's first leading role , and if you imagine a slightly lankier , african - american jim carrey with a reliance on wild r - rated raunch rather than pg-13 physical comedy , you have a good idea of the conviction with which he assaults the role .
but you realize all too quickly that tucker 's overstated liveliness is the only thing " money talks " has going for it .
and a lively actor alone does not a successful movie make .
it 's all too easy to pick out everything wrong with " money talks .
" the plot is recycled buddy - buddy comedy - thriller tripe that seemed overused even when " nothing to lose " employed it last month .
everything is paint - by - numbers , especially the los angeles coliseum finale , which finds not one , not two , but three separate enemy factions firing at franklin as they pursue him through the bleachers .
the villains , as many as there are , are dull .
certain story elements are too coincidental .
and too much of the film 's dramatic agenda is played too straight .
a scene where grace confronts james after learning franklin 's true identity ( " you brought a killer into my parents ' house ! " ) is extremely silly .
you get the picture .
obviously , i did not have a pleasant experience at " money talks .
"
but the people around me appeared to be having a rip - roaring good time ( one gentleman several rows behind me chortled with such expressive conviction
i began fearing for his health ) .
but tucker , at least for me , is a pretty funny guy , and aces the movie 's best scene , where franklin passes himself off as vic damone 's son at james and grace 's engagement bash and toasts the couple with barry white lyrics .
tucker 's audience -- and he does have one -- will probably like " money talks .
"
those who he irritates , however , will have a more productive day staying home and scraping the gook out from under their toenails .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: 2 days in the valley is more or less a pulp fiction knock off .
it basically involves how a bunch of quirky characters in the los angeles area end up having their lives become intertwined in some very unusual ways .
i 'm not going into much greater detail than that , since it would take forever to explain , and quite frankly , i 'm not willing to spend any more time on it than the 2 hours that i 've already wasted . while it tries very hard to be pulp fiction , 2 days in the valley falls way short
.
this is quite a condemnation considering the cast includes danny aiello , james spader and jeff daniels .
while the story is n't much , and the dialogue and characters rate only marginally better
, 2 days in the valley does have a couple of bright spots .
james spader 's character , while not much better than the rest , is at least fun to watch in a sick sort of way .
and we do get to see a nice cat fight between uber babes teri hatcher and charlize theron
( in her first role ) .
you know a movie is n't that good when the highlight is a brawl between two women .
even if they are both gorgeous .
i will give the writers some credit for the fairly clever ways in which they managed to intersect the lives of this group of characters that would have otherwise never interacted .
but marveling at that ingenuity is a far cry from actually enjoying the result .
while some of the characters and their respective stories are fairly interesting , they inevitably are brought down as they intersect with the other half of the characters that i really cared absolutely nothing about . if i were to put a number on it , only about half of the story and half the characters in this movie were particularly interesting or otherwise enjoyable to watch .
this is the sort of movie that only a huge fan of one or more of the cast members should rent , and even then prepare for disappointment .
not even charlize theron being naked would get me to sit through this movie again .
or at least not all of it anyway .

SOLUTION:
N