TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: plot : this movie takes place over one day .
it 's a rookie cop 's narcotics training alongside a seasoned police veteran .
the rookie does n't know much about " street justice " , so the older cop teaches him about the way things work in the " real world " .
how even cops like themselves have to " bend the rules " and " break the law " every now and then , in order to catch the really bad guys .
critique : a pretty intense little movie with solid acting across the board , some ups , some downs and a thrilling ending , despite a couple of small flaws .
i really enjoyed this movie because it followed two extreme characters and put them in situations which had me wondering about what i would do if i were in their place .
the film gets right into the " dirty " side of , well .
..
the dirt on the streets , and proceeds to teach the rookie cop ( and us , the audience ) how things really work down there .
of course , we 're receiving this lesson from a man who has put away a lot of scum in his time , but the things he seems to be doing are n't exactly on the up - and - up either . and therein , lies the fun of the film .
do you agree that you yourself would need to break a few small laws in order to put away the people who break the really big ones ?
well , as the film moves along , we 're given two points of view in respect to this predicament , and to me , both sides made sense at some point or another . and
you got ta give a lot of credit to the screenplay for that , the director , who builds the film up wonderfully ( with the darkness of the day leading to the darkness in the script ) and the two actors who deliver their parts in spades .
hawke , first off , because he rarely plays these " commercial " roles but does so perfectly here , with a vulnerable side which has you feeling for the bastard right off the top .
and denzel , well , what can you say about mr .
washington that has n't already been said before ?
he comes through as per his usual high - level style here , and gives the audience a completely different side to his talent , of which , i personally would like to see more .
he 's nice
, he 's not so nice , he 's smart , he 's not so smart , he 's caring
and he 's a dog all the way .
the few problems that i did have with this film included the redundant nature of the whole thing at some point ( okay , we get it .
..
you have to be nasty in order to deal with these nasty people .
.. move on ) and this one really major " coincidence " which involved a bathtub , that saved the day for one character , but seemed a little too " convenient " for my taste .
i also never really understood how washington 's character got out of a certain dire predicament , only to be seen driving his car in the very next scene .
but obviously these small flaws did n't taint my overall enjoyment of this tense drama , a film that gets you right into the streets , into the nooks and the crannies , and into the moral dilemma which lies between the justice system and the day - to - day drug busts .
see it if you want to wrestle with some of these issues yourself
, see it if you want to see denzel and ethan strike up a palpable chemistry on - screen , and see it if you like holding on to your seat - handles real tight during a movie .
in fact , see it for the scene in which ethan hawke plays cards with a host of gang - bangers alone .
..
dang
, now that 's intense !
where 's joblo coming from ?
the corruptor ( 7/10 ) - crimson tide ( 9/10 ) - l. a.
confidential ( /10 )
- lethal weapon ( 8/10 ) - requiem for a dream ( 8/10 ) - seven ( 10/10 ) - shaft ( 7/10 ) - traffic ( 8/10 )

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: " crazy / beautiful " suffers from the damned - if - you - do , damned - if - you - don't syndrome .
after a spate of flighty , cookie - cutter teen films , the romantic drama addresses alcoholism and parental loss along with its love story .
but rather than applaud the production , early reviews have dismissed it as an overblown " afterschool special .
"
even worse , in the wake of federal trade commission hearings that blasted the industry for marketing violent and sexual movies to young people , the studio got a case of the heebie - jeebies and forced director john stockwell to re - shoot scenes and cut footage to " tone things down .
" needless to say , the filmmaker was frustrated .
"
we were trying to make a cautionary tale , " he told newsweek , " and we could n't show the behavior we were trying to caution people away from . " regardless , the film works , thanks to exceptional performances from its lead players and a script determined to transcend stereotypes .
" crazy / beautiful " is quality fare , good enough that i half - expected the summer movie crap police to walk into the press screening and confiscate the print for " failure to incorporate explosions and poop jokes .
" set in pacific palisades , calif .
, the story follows the burgeoning relationship between two teens .
every morning and evening , carlos nunez ( jay hernandez ) takes a two - hour bus ride in order to attend pacific high school .
an honor student and star athlete , carlos is responsible , modest and focused as he works on securing a place in the naval academy .
all is well until he meets nicole oakley ( kirsten dunst ) , the daughter of a rich congressman ( bruce davison ) .
nicole is a drunk apparently hell - bent on self - destruction .
carlos is smart enough to recognize the danger in getting involved with her , but he is only human
and she has the greatest smile .
plus , as her father notes , she has a real knack for drawing others into her downward spiral .
as with " save the last dance , " " crazy / beautiful " ( god , how i hate lower - case titles ) takes situations that look stale on paper and makes them seem fresh .
while noting the racial and social differences between the kids , the screenplay dances around most of the clich ?
s
( there are still several mtv moments , though ) .
the filmmakers make a point to give characters that crucial extra bit of shading that turns them into individuals instead of stereotypes and the actors take it from there .
cute - as - a - button dunst forces the viewer to share the pain beneath nicole 's behavior .
she is credible enough that when dad urges carlos to get away from her before she drags him down , i hoped the boy would listen .
as carlos , hernandez is a revelation . hunky without looking like the product of a hollywood design team , the young man can really act ; we will see a lot of this guy in the future . aside from its title , the biggest problem with " crazy / beautiful " is its ending , which wraps everything up too fast and too tidy .
after carefully presenting credible characters and situations , the conclusion feels rushed and lazy .
still , this is the kind of film that deserves accolades from critics instead of cheap shots .
"
afterschool special " my ass ?
" crazy / beautiful
" is the real deal .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: well , here 's a distasteful , thoroughly amateurish item
that , surprisingly , was actually a box - office hit at the time of its release .
after just viewing the film for the first time , my primary question is how did anyone with an iq north of 35 enjoy this movie ?
it is cheap , idiotic , unfunny , and not nearly as raunchy as i had heard it was .
at least some smut would have livened things up a bit .
"
porky 's , " tells the story ( if you can call it that ) of four clueless high school buddies , pee wee ( dan monahan ) , billy ( mark herrier ) , tommy ( wyatt knight ) , and mickey ( roger wilson ) , whom desperately want to get laid .
women , for the most part , are a mystery to them ( and in this movie , they are to the audience , as well , since all of them are written and acted as if they are aliens from a different planet ) .
their plan is sidetracked , however , when they venture out to a smarmy strip bar named porky 's , which they are able to get into using fake i d 's . after they pay the manager one - hundred bucks for three hookers , they are played a trick on and find themselves being dumped into the swamp below the building .
for these four teenage guys , this means war on porky 's .
"
porky 's , " ultimately manages to fail on almost every possible level .
as a teenage sex - romp , it is not wild or amusing enough . as a comedy ,
all of the jokes are predictable and fall flat .
as a look back at the 1950 's , it is something , i suspect ,
most people from that era would want to bury deep in a grave .
and as a revenge movie , it is a crushing bore .
one of the most offensive things about , " porky 's , " is how jaw - droppingly inaccurate the film is about teenagers .
the four main characters are not even attempted to be developed as characters , and we learn very little about them , except that they are horny and would probably feel more comfortable in a preschool .
that sure is revealing information .
the female characters fare even worse under the inaudacious screenplay and direction by bob clark .
the women are all treated as objects or comedy props , rather than real people .
for example , the two gym teachers , mrs .
balbricker ( nancy parsons ) and honeywell ( kim cattrall ) , only have one purpose , and that is to be made fun of .
mrs .
balbricker is a gruff , no - holds - barred , overwight woman who will not stand for any foolishness , and , in one particularly embarrassing scene for all involved , honeywell has sex with a coach and barks like a dog .
there is no way to tell if parsons or cattrall are servicable actresses ( even though i have the suspicion they are not ) , but one thing is for sure : they are asked to do things in this film that are not at all funny , only humiliating . to prove how out - of - touch this so - called comedy is , compare it to other more serious 80 's films about teenagers , and it looks even worse in comaprison .
any of the john hughes pictures , such as 1984 's " sixteen candles , " or , 1985 's " the breakfast club , " put , " porky 's , " at an even greater shame .
those films actually dealt with serious teen matters , but remained a great deal funnier , thanks to their bright and truthful writing .
and heck , if , " porky 's , " wanted to be a teenage sex movie
, i 'd take 1982 's " fast times at ridgemont high , " or 1982 's " the last american virgin , " over this any day of the week .
director bob clark is not a bad director .
two years after he made , " porky 's , " he directed the nostalgic holiday classic , " a christmas story .
"
i would forgive him for this misfire , in fact , if it was n't for the fact that he also wrote the screenplay .
just the thought that someone would actually sit down to write such a piece of garbage , and think that it was actually a film worth releasing unto the unsuspecting world , is actually a whole lot funnier than anything in , " porky 's .
"

SOLUTION:

Show your work and conclude with the exact phrasing "Therefore, the final answer is [answer]." where [answer] is just the final number or expression that solves the problem.
user
N

