TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: jackie brown entered theaters with little fanfare and a lot of expectation .
even though advance publicity on this one was fairly limited , the audiences waited for the showings with heightened anticipation .
this is , after all , the first movie quentin tarantino has directed since the highly touted pulp fiction .
to say he has been inactive in between would be to tell a falsehood , since he has been involved in such projects as destiny turns on the radio , desperado , four rooms , and from dusk ' til dawn .
he was also called in at the last minute to help punch up the screenplay for crimson tide .
( i 'm willing to wager the debate over which silver surfer is the only true silver surfer was penned by him . )
tarantino contributed on and off screen to these films , but never took the director 's helm .
nearly four years since gaining notoriety on the hollywood scene and making john travolta a star once more , tarantino returns with a film he can call his own .
the film opens up with an homage to the graduate , with jackie brown ( pam grier ) on one of those airport people movers as the credits are displayed in front of her .
jackie is a flight attendant for air cabo , which flies back and fourth between los angeles and cabo san lucas .
this makes jackie a convenient cash courier for gun dealer ordell robbi
( samuel l . jackson ) who is currently keeping his money stashed in mexico .
however , while bringing fifty thousand dollars back into the u . s .
for ordell , jackie is apprehended by fbi agent mark dargus ( michael bowen ) and atf agent ray nicolet ( michael keaton ) , who catch her not only with the money , but with a bonus of a couple of ounces of illicit drugs .
jackie did n't know they were in the package with the cash , but that 's of no consequence to the authorities , who threaten jackie with a couple of years hard time if convicted .
of course , dargus and nicolet are just using the sentence to get jackie to turn over the big fish , ordell .
ordell uses honest bail bondsman max cherry ( robert forster ) to get jackie out of jail , but while max is immediately attracted to her , jackie is more concerned about her immediate safety , since ordell killed the last one of his operatives who got picked up by the police .
sure enough , ordell shows up at jackie 's apartment that evening and tries to silence jackie for good , but she " borrows " max 's pistol and manages to turn the tables on ordell .
instead of closing the irony circle and relocating a bullet from the pistol 's chamber to ordell 's head , jackie proposes a deal .
since ordell wants to get his money out of mexico , jackie will get back up to her old tricks and be a courier for him once more , but this time for a more substantial fee : fifteen percent of ordell 's half million dollars .
with a gun in his face , how can ordell not agree ?
by itself , this premise might have been interesting enough to carry the film .
however , we are also introduced to a number of double crosses which make us pay attention and think .
jackie claims to be bringing the money in for ordell , but she 's also making a deal with the feds as well as with max .
the film throws us off every once in a while by leading us to believe the deal we thought was authentic is actually a sham , but it is in no way done to the extent that we feel jerked around .
instead , it 's actually a nice departure from the predictability which is prevalent in so many of today 's movies .
at least this film has a little imagination .
most of the performances in jackie brown are above par .
pam grier , of whom i had never taken notice before , plays jackie with a mix of confidence and vulnerability which makes her character believable .
samuel l .
jackson has a kind of mesmerizing quality about him as he handles himself in situations where you know he is in total control .
robert forster is thoroughly likable because he comes across as such an honest guy , trying to do his best . .
never mind that he belongs to a profession where sneaking into a guy 's apartment to zap him with a stun gun is simply a matter of course .
he 's just so down - to - earth , the nature of his job really does n't occur to us , even when we 're shown him bringing a handcuffed woman to prison , or when we see the tools of his trade .
in supporting roles are robert de niro as louis gara , a recently paroled friend of ordell 's , and bridget fonda as melanie , one of the girls ordell keeps around town .
unfortunately , de niro is basically wasted as his lines are few and far between , and then they are mostly clipped sentences .
in this film , he 's not really de niro , but stereotypical de niro , uttering things like , " little bit , " and " pretty much .
"
fonda , on the other hand , plays the slightly spaced - out melanie with satisfactory relish and cuteness , such that even when she is annoying louis , we are taking her side .
as is characteristic of any film in which tarantino has had a hand ,
the dialog is quick and snappy .
it grabs our attention and is actually interesting , and in many respects , this makes jackie brown a film which needs few visuals ; the lines are a form of art in and amongst themselves .
do n't count tarantino out when it comes to using the camera , however .
there 's a scene where max is unwittingly watching a dry run of a money exchange , and he 's not really sure what 's happening , but by composing the scene just so , his realization of what 's going on is felt simultaneously by the audience .
we look at the screen and think , " gee , that 's clever , " and then think the same thing about how the film induced us into that wonderful feeling of catching on .
although tarantino is n't afraid to drag out a shot for dramatic effect , it unfortunately works to varying degrees in this film .
there are shots where a character is simply driving , and we watch this person and somehow get an idea of what is going on in his or her head .
this is a tribute to both direction and acting .
however , there is at least one other scene where we follow jackie through a mall , and she is looking for something ; desperately looking for something .
we get the idea of the frantic nature of her search , but we follow her for so long that we end up not really caring about what she 's looking for , but instead hoping she 'll just stop .
overall , viewing jackie brown is time spent well .
some flap has already been made about the language used in the film , but it 's really not much worse than many of the other movies out there today .
in fact , one might even be able to say that the way in which these " offensive " words are employed almost cause them to parody themselves and therefore transcend their own offensiveness .
go see the film and see what i mean .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: i still ca n't figure out why people went in droves to see this movie .
now before you go assuming i 'm some sort of high brow snob , who ca n't appreciate a little dumb humor , let me say that i love cheap humor .
i thought there 's something about mary was one of the funniest films that i have ever seen and it was certainly one of the best films of 1998 .
low brow adolescent humor can be a lot of fun , the problem with the waterboy is that it is just low brow and adolescent , there is no humor component .
i wanted to like the waterboy , i really did .
i think i only laughed maybe 2 or 3 times throughout the entire movie .
actually , i smiled a couple of more times on top of that .
not a great record for a 90-minute film .
the problem with the waterboy is the same as most other adam sandler movies .
those responsible for this mess seem to think that the sheer fact that sandler walks around using a goofy voice and playing dumb the entire movie is a substitute for actual funny material .
nothing could be further from the truth , as matter of fact , sandler 's idiot voice started to get on my nerves at points in this film .
it 's really a shame too , because this film had the potential to be very funny .
i personally believe that sandler is probably a very talented comedian , it 's just that so far he has n't been able to find the right film to showcase his talents .
if his only talent is making goofy voices and playing morons , my guess is that his career in the movies will go down the same road as the vast majority of the former stars of saturday night live .
most of whom are now happily no longer in the entertainment industry .
sandler plays a 31-year - old , somewhat mentally challenged , waterboy for a college football team .
the team 's somewhat mentally disturbed coach ( henry winkler ) realizes that his waterboy has a great deal of pent - up rage , which , if harnessed properly , would make him a force to be reckoned with on the football field .
you can figure out the rest from here .
sandler joins the team and this once lowly waterboy becomes a football star .
as i said , the film had a great deal of potential .
the idea was a decent one , but the main potential of this movie is a result of the cast .
all of whom are very good , just hamstrung by really , really , lousy material .
even sandler , annoying goofy voice and all , has enough charisma and natural comedic ability to overcome some of his bad material .
even as unfunny as his character is , i still found myself rooting for him throughout the film .
but it is the supporting cast that i feel most badly about .
if their material had been just a bit better , this film could have been such a funny movie .
fairuza balk plays sandler 's leather - wearing biker - chick love interest and does a great job playing sleazy and sexy at the same time .
winkler is great as the coach who uses a " coaching for dummies " -style book to help him get through games .
the real standout though , is kathy bates .
even with some of the worst material of her career to deal with , she is still a treat to watch in her role as sandler 's overprotective and overbearing mama .
even with the performances of bates and winkler , there is absolutely no way i would recommend this movie .
although i get the distinct impression that without them , this film would have ranked in negative numbers for me .
which is sad , because i ca n't really put my finger on a particular element of the movie and single it out as the cause of the disaster that it became .
it 's obvious that those involved , specifically the actors , tried very hard to make what they thought was going to be a funny movie .
it 's just too bad that 99 percent of all of the jokes fell flat .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: synopsis : a novelist struggling with his latest work buys a weird brain with a protruding eyeball encased in a jar .
the brain exerts its evil influence upon the novelist and his secretary , while his wife disapproves .
meanwhile , a loan shark in need of a shave tries to leave his profession .
comments : why is this movie called possessed by the night ?
it 's hard to speculate .
most of this film takes place during the day , and the only thing possessing anyone is an icky , pulsating , bubbling brain thingie in a jar .
in case you have n't picked up on this yet , possessed by the night is a bottom - of - the - barrel " thriller " ( i use the term " thriller " loosely here ) which is really cheap and bad .
the plot , which sounds like a cheesy pulp science fiction story from the 1950s , actually serves one purpose : to exploit nude women as often as possible .
writing a movie review for a film like this proves oddly challenging .
there 's really not much to say .
the acting is lousy ; although , occasionally , the attempts at acting are so absurd that they garner a chuckle or two from the audience .
most humorous is frank sivero , who plays murray , the novelist 's agent .
he is so horrible in this role that one ca n't help but be amused .
the plot sucks .
nearly half the film is devoted to a loser loan shark who wants out of the profession , even though he has only limited relevance to the movie as a whole .
the dialogue stinks .
a loan shark , for instance , tells another how much he loves bimbos , which is something the audience really does n't need to know .
everything about possessed by the night is second rate , even the film credits .
as the names of the not - so - talented film crew scrolled by at the end , joseph scales came up , credited as being " assistsant to foley artist .
"
someone could have used an editor !
to be honest , the film is basically an excuse to flash frontal nudity and show some sex scenes .
playboy playmate shannon tweed , after all , is the star here .
i suppose that if one wanted this sort of thing , he would like this movie .
why did i give this turkey two stars and not one ?
as a bad movie , it is unintentionally funny enough to keep someone passingly interested in the film .
if you feel possessed to see possessed by the night , however , i 'd recommend you exorcise this impulse and watch something else .

SOLUTION:
N