TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: for many people , procrastination is n't a problem to overcome , it 's a high art .
we 'll do just about anything to put off a task .
when the deadline for this column nears , it 's the only time during the week dishes get washed and the bed made and laundry done and
plants watered and . . .
eventually , hopefully , sometimes , there 's a breakthrough
and we actually get down to work .
amazingly it 's almost always easier than we dreaded and
after finishing , that sense of oppressive apprehension melts away .
and then , the next time , we do it all again .
english professor grady tripp ( michael douglas ) is a master .
seven years ago , his first book was a hit .
he 's been working on his second -- a short 200-page piece -- since then .
fearful that he ca n't live up to the first , he ca n't bring himself to finish it .
no writer 's block , he 's nearing 3 , 000 pages with no end in sight .
now he 's having a particularly difficult day .
the college 's annual writers conference is bringing in accomplished novelists reminding tripp that other people are finishing _ their _ books .
during the first day , his wife has left him , his married girlfriend informs him
she 's pregnant and his agent is in town with a six - foot transvestite in tow .
by the evening , our besieged writer is driving though the snow - covered streets of pittsburgh with a suicidal student beside him , a stolen jacket that marilyn monroe wore on her wedding day in the back seat and a murdered blind dog stuffed in the trunk .
this could be a pivotal point in his mid - life crisis .
and then there 's the next morning .
there 's a lot to like about this movie .
there are no huge explosions , shattering glass or computer - generated dinosaurs to distract from the very real human issues .
grady is caught up in the curse of people who accomplish great things early in their career .
in the world of " what have you done for me lately ?
" , he knows his second book has to be better than his first . instead of finding out , he drifts , comfortable in the insular cocoon of academic peter panhood .
he does n't have much of a life and neither does his star pupil james leer ( tobey maguire ) .
james may be suicidal and psychotic .
certainly everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie .
he makes up a past of working clash anguish because the truth of wealth and comfort just is n't interesting enough .
as the weekend progresses , they are both forced to fully engage life .
that 's the question they must face : comfort or real experiences ?
the film takes some interesting chances .
non - traditional relationships are presented as matter - of - fact .
extra - marital , gay , interracial , professor - student : here they are n't judged , merely choices .
the actors are all first - rate .
douglas triumphs , playing against type as he spends most of his time disheveled , unshaven and clad in a pink women 's house robe .
maguire 's disengaged alienation works perfectly here .
robert downey jr .
as grady 's agent livens up his scenes .
director curtis hanson (
" l . a . confidential " ) makes a few missteps .
the women are underused .
frances mcdormand does a good job of her limited role of sara , grady 's married lover
but we never understand much of who she is .
the chemistry between the two of them is non - existent which makes some of the ending unconvincing .
katie holmes is a student with a major crush on the professor , but her character goes nowhere .
we never even see grady 's exiting wife .
this is very much a guy 's film .
the varied relationships between the men are much more convincing than any of the others .
grady 's alternating mentoring and rejection of james is the centerpoint of the film , not him and sara .
as the boomers age , expect to see more mid - life crisis films to catch the attention of that demographic .
eventually it 'll probably become cliche , but right now
we 've got a winner .
i 'll finish this in a second .
right now i have to grab some paint .
i noticed some trim in the other room that needs a little touch - up .
( michael redman has written this column for so long that he 's made mid - life crisis a career choice . )

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: after the terminally bleak reservoir dogs and the brutally violent pulp fiction , jackie brown seems like something of a light - hearted departure for quentin tarantino .
it 's more of a ho - hum heist story with characters that speak the tarantino language .
luckily , his showcase of actors convert every morsel of possible enjoyment onto the screen , and jackie brown has no trouble entertaining the average viewer .
the story introduces us to a street - wise black woman named jackie brown ( pam grier ) , a flight attendant who smuggles money and drugs from one destination to another .
she works for a bottom - of - the - barrel airline and receives a minimal salary .
but one day , she is picked up by a pair of federal officials ( including michael keaton as the tough - nosed ray nicolet ) , and found with a handsome load of cash and a small bag of smuggled dope .
jackie is working for a weapons dealer named ordell ( samuel l . jackson ) , who pays her bail money but suspects her of tipping off the feds about their operation .
soon jackie and ordell are plotting a way to smuggle $ 500 , 000 through to them under nicolet 's nose , with the help of ordell 's oaf of a partner ( robert de niro ) and drugged - out lady friend ( bridget fonda ) .
also entering the picture is a bail - bondsman named max cherry ( robert forster ) , who takes a liking to jackie and agrees at one point to make the situation even more complicated ( how i wo n't say ) .
the big drop - off is undoubtedly the high point of jackie brown , in which numerous double - crosses take place and many clothing store bags ( filled with cash ) switch hands .
it 's unfortunate that tarantino takes his sweet time getting there , and does n't offer anything extremely compelling while doing so .
there are , as always , amusing exchanges between characters .
the funniest repartee is between de niro and fonda , as he becomes annoyed with her constant bickering while making fun of his iq , or lack thereof .
the most interesting relationship is between max and jackie .
a 56-year old white bail bondsman and a 44-year old black flight attendant with believable chemistry ?
you 've got to commend the acting .
jackie brown is a seriously dragged - out exercise enlivened by such fine acting .
the film clocks in at a lengthy 2 hours , 35 minutes .
tarantino 's talky style manages to hold your attention heavily , but there are more than a few dramatic lapses and crucial lulls in the storyline .
also , fans of the director should be prepared for a lighter side to appear .
jackie brown has four major shootings , and two of those take place mostly off - screen , so do n't be expecting a typical tarantino bloodbath .
you can expect frequent foul language , mostly coming way of ordell , who ( much to the dismay of spike lee ) uses the ' n ' word as part of his regular vocabulary .
the acting is the glue that holds everything together .
grier , making a sudden comeback from her reign in the 1970 's , is more than adequate for the title character .
in fact , she 's flat - out great . another comeback comes from former tv star robert forster , who does a grand job as max cherry , and is perfectly cast in doing so .
michael keaton makes his presence felt , albeit in small but dignified moments , and de niro is ideal in playing the lug - head who goes over the edge .
speaking of that , bridget fonda has relatively little to do as ordell 's bikini - clad beach babe , and yet she manages to look fairly occupied .
there 's not a single sign of misplaced dialogue or snubbed line throughout the entire movie .
which is a life - saver for mr .
tarantino .
the story barely holds together in the meantime , and we merely get a small tremor whenever there should be a defeaning earthquake .
but oh well .
jackie brown manages to be an enjoyable detour from quentin tarantino , even if it is lacking the glaring and original bite of his previous work .
let 's just hope that the director has n't gone soft on us .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: has hollywood run out of interesting characters and plot - driven suspense thrillers that we must spend two hours watching will smith and a gritty gene hackman exchange obtuse dialogue and run around dodging fireballs ?
in enemy of the state , that is exactly right .
a few parts the net , and a few parts conspiracy theory , enemy is about as exciting as watching smith talk to cgi aliens in 1997 's lame brained men in black .
will this guy ever get a real role ?
he has the bruce willis syndrome .
the plot is bascially smith , playing a lawyer , getting into hot water with some high government murderers , who assassinated a powerful political figure earlier in the movie , when a tape of the killing gets into his hands .
he inlists the help of an old conspirator ( hackman ) , and , at the end , er . . .
you know .
enemy was one of the worst films of last year .
not only was it sloppy in telling its story and getting its facts straight ,
the acting was mediocre when it should have been energy driven , and i did n't like how smith always magically out - smarted the badies when all the other extra characters , seeming more intelligent than smith , somehow got run over by a truck .
enemy came out around the same time as the superior star trek : insurrection .
i know these two films are different in , well , everything , but the fact that enemy outgrossed insurrection just baffels me .
somehow , quality ca n't overshadow quantity .

SOLUTION:
N