TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: meet joe black ( reviewed on nov .
27/98 )
starring brad pitt , anthony hopkins , claire forlani in " meet joe black " , brad pitt plays death .
that 's all that really needs to be said , but nevertheless , i will provide the three of you that have seemingly been living in a cave with a plot description .
death decides to take a holiday , what with all the rigors of soul - collecting and all , and forces anthony hopkins into showing him what it 's like to be human .
death assumes the body of brad pitt , and from there , much trouble ensues .
for one thing , death - as - pitt falls in love with hopkins daughter , played by claire forlani .
obviously this enrages hopkins , because really , what can death offer ?
besides eternal damnation , of course .
there is also a sub - plot about forlani 's ex - boyfriend ( she dumps him for pitt ) trying to take over hopkins company .
" meet joe black " runs just under three hours .
i 've always thought that such obscene running times should be limited to historical epics .
" meet joe black " is neither historical nor is it an epic , though i get the feeling martin brest ( the director )
desperately wants it to be .
every single scene in the movie goes on about 3 - 4 minutes too long .
and the ending takes about 20 minutes longer than it really should .
a severe editing job could have made this movie excellent , instead of just good , which is what it is .
pitt , an actor i normally loathe , is actually quite engaging as death .
i believed his performance , and i could see why forlani 's character would fall in love with him .
i have to agree with roger ebert , though , who found it hard to believe that an entity that 's been around for all time would n't know what peanut butter was .
that has nothing to do with pitt 's performance , of course , but it is a little distracting .
hopkins gives his usual excellent performance .
he 's able to portray the angst of a man who knows he has very little time left , without making him an obnoxious whiner .
and in her first major studio role , claire forlani is surprisingly good .
she has a sweet tenderness that allows the audience to instantly root for her .
so , " meet joe black " is
a good movie hampered by it 's ridiculous running time .
had the film been cut by an hour or so , i have no doubt that i would be calling it one of the best movies of the year in this review .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: october sky is a rare oddity in cinema : a self - proclaimed " uplifting " film that is actually uplifting !
based on the autobiographical book by homer hickam , rocket boys , october sky tells the struggle of four boys reaching for their dream .
it 's 1957 , and for the boys of coalwood , west virginia , there 's not much hope of a rosy future .
coalwood is a coal mining town , and , except for the few lucky ones who manage to escape on a football scholarship , most of coalwood 's boys are destined to work in the mine .
but , in october 1957 , an event happens that sparks one boy to dream .
the launch of the soviet satellite sputnik sets homer hickam ( jake gyllenhaal ) to dream a future of rocketry and space travel .
of course , homer 's parents ( chris cooper and natalie canderday ) are n't quite sure what to make of their son 's unusual interests .
homer gets his strongest encouragement from miss riley ( laura dern ) , a teacher in his school who also informs him about the scholarships offered to the winners of a national science fair .
and so , with stars in his eyes , and thoughts of scholarships in his head , homer enlists the help of three other boys ( william lee scott , chad lindberg and chris owen ) and begins to build a rocket .
but , do
these four backwoods boys even have the slightest hope of escaping their destiny ?
there is a lot that could have gone wrong with october sky .
nearly every sequence flirts with becoming syrupy and cliched .
however , miraculously , october sky
avoids nearly all of these pitfalls , making the exact right moves at the exact right times .
a film emerges which manages to be powerful and moving without slipping into the gauzy haze of nostalgia or sliding down the sugarry slope of sappiness .
jake gyllenhaal is outstanding as the kid at the center of this film .
> from the outset of the film , he is immediately likable , and never seems too corny or brainy as to alienate the audience .
unfortunately , while october sky focuses on homer , the other three kids get the short end of the stick .
they remain little more than placeholders reading " insert friend here " .
of the adults in the film , chris cooper is the most fully realized character .
the film never paints him as merely the villainous parent standing in the way of his child 's dreams , but , instead , shows the multihued portrait of a man who wants the best for his family and town , but is too stubborn to realize what that is .
director joe johnson deserves much credit for successfully navigating the many obstacles that october sky manages to dodge .
however , there are still a few occasions when he allows things to proceed just a step too far .
scenes which were natural and inspiring start to become contrived and artificial .
however , these lapses are minimal , and johnson quickly steers the movie back on course .
the problem with many so - called " uplifting " films is that they attempt to force their mediciney goodness down your throat .
october sky never resorts to that level , and yet , manages to become a truly uplifting film purely on its own merits .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: disney cements their place in the forefront of feature animation with the release of their latest animated adventure , mulan .
while it adheres a bit too close to the disney formula to be perfect , it is nonetheless an entertaining film for both kids and adults .
fa mulan (
ming - na wen , singing :
lea salonga )
wants nothing more than to be a dutiful daughter and honor her family .
. .
it 's just that she does n't quite fit in with the chafing customs of her time .
while most girls her age are trying to quietly and demurely seek the approval of the local matchmaker ( miriam margoyles ) , mulan would prefer speaking her mind .
but there is trouble on the horizon .
the evil huns , led by shan - yu ( miguel ferrer ) , are invading china .
the emperor ( pat morita ) has decreed that each family must donate one man to serve in the army .
the only male in mulan 's family is her father , fa zhou ( soon - tek oh ) , who , old and with a bad leg , honorably accepts his fate .
mulan , on the other hand , decides to save her father 's life .
. . by secretly masquerading as a man and taking his place on the battlefield .
mulan , under the assumed name of ping , appears at camp where she , along with the other bumbling recruits , yao ( harvey fierstein ) , chien - po ( jerry tondo ) and ling ( gedde watanabe ) , are trained in the art of war by captain shang ( b .
d .
wong , singing :
donny osmond ) .
but she 's not alone in her tasks .
. .
in typical disney fashion , she has three animal companions : her horse khan , a lucky cricket crickey , and a pint - sized " guardian " dragon called mushu ( eddie murphy ) .
much like the gargoyles in the hunchback of notre dame , the humor in mulan is lukewarm and does n't flow well with the rest of the more serious story .
sure , some occasional comic relief is welcome , particularly in a film geared for the younger set , but mulan overdoes it .
the overdose of humor turns what could have been a powerfully great film into a good , but schizophrenic experience .
but , that commentary aside
, this is a very well made film ( which makes the formulaic additions all the more regrettable ) .
the animation is on par with some of disney 's best .
the story itself is interesting , and the action scenes are awe - inspiring .
the musical score to the film is enjoyable , though , as has been the case with disney 's recent work , the songs are mostly forgettable .
at least , we 're only subjected to four of them this time around .
mulan boasts the highest death toll of any disney cartoon to date .
most of the killing is off - screen and it 's all highly depersonalized ( there 's nothing to compare with the death of mufasa or bambi 's mom ) .
there 's nothing graphic , and the film resides snugly inside a g rating .
children will probably have more questions about the restrictive ancient customs than of the slaughter of armies .
it 's ironic that a film concerned with bucking tradition is hampered because of its strict adherence to disney tradition .
if the filmmakers had the guts to lessen the humor , ax the compulsory songs , and remove the obligatory ( and somewhat unrealistic ) romance , they could have had a classic on their hands .
instead , they merely deliver a very good time at the movies .

SOLUTION:
P

