TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: "
the endurance : shackleton 's legendary antarctic expedition " in 1914 , as the great war descended upon europe , sir ernest shackleton began his third expedition to antarctica , this time to be the first to cross the ice - bound continent on foot .
28 men set sail on the brigantine endurance and they would not be heard from again for nearly two years .
director george butler , using film footage and photographs from the historic journey , tells their remarkable story in " the endurance : shackleton 's legendary antarctic expedition .
"
the expedition started out as a merely incredibly difficult quest to traverse , on foot , the vast wasteland of antarctica .
as the intrepid ship and crew entered the weddell sea , the entry to the cold , cruel continent , they did not plan on the dense pack ice bringing the voyage to an abrupt halt as the endurance became trapped within sight of land .
for months the ice thickened and compressed until the ship was crushed , stranding the men on the flow , propelling them away from their goal and , eventually , into their lifeboats for safety .
shackleton , faced with a desolate situation , made the decision to lead the three tiny boats to the relative safety of uninhabited elephant island .
once on this " safe " haven , shackleton next turned his sights to saving his crew and returning them to civilization .
he and five of his men leave the island in an open boat to make the 800 mile journey on the world 's roughest sea to get help from the nearest inhabited island of south georgia .
miraculously , the six land , after 17 days at sea , on the uninhabited side of the target island and are forced to trek across treacherous , snow covered mountains , covering 22 miles in just 36 hours .
this ordeal is followed by several attempts by shackleton to get back to elephant island to rescue the remaining crewmen .
in the end , he is successful and everyone made it back home alive , only to be swallowed up by the ravages of the war .
the title of this fascinating documentary , " the endurance , " is more than just the name of ship that carried the crew of brave men to the edge of the world .
it is also the description of the stamina and ability of every one of the men who survived 19-months of the toughest , most grueling conditions on the face of the earth .
the name of the film is a tribute to every member of the crew and to the ship that sheltered them for many month of frigid antarctic weather .
it also describes the focused mental state of shackleton who never gave up on himself or his men .
with astonishing foresight , shackleton brought australian cinematographer and photographer frank hurley along on the journey .
the filmed footage and photos are remarkable as they capture the ordeal of the men , day to day life , the affection all felt for their loyal sled dogs , the slow destruction of the endurance and the preparations to get off of the pack ice flow .
after the sinking of the ship , the remaining film stock , with the exception of a still camera and three rolls of film , had to be discarded so the continuing chronicle of the incredible journey gets less photo documentation as the ordeal plods on .
considering hurley was using relatively primitive photo technology in one of the world 's harshest environments and captured so much on film is a feat unto itself .
( hurley created his own account of the shackleton expedition in his 1919 documentary , " south , " an interesting companion piece for " the endurance .
"
if shackleton 's original idea , document his trek across the frigid southern continent , had been successful , it would have been considered a super human feat .
as you watch the story of " the endurance " unfold , you realize that the disastrous obstacles the sir ernest and his men faced and overcame were even greater accomplishments than the first intent .
( shackleton 's amazing 800-mile journey in an open boat is fodder for a rousing adventure story all by itself . )
there are a couple of minor nitpicks with this fine work , though .
actor liam neeson narrates the story , but his voice is too soft spoken and lilting for the dramatic tale .
the nature of the ordeal also concentrates most of the visual material , both film and photo , in the documentary 's first half .
as the crew 's adventure takes more drastic paths , hurley had less and less film stock available to chronicle the awesome events .
helmer butler and his team fill in the blanks , but the treasure of " the endurance , " its film footage , is mostly relegated to the early months of the expedition .
i ca n't think of a true - life adventure that shows , better , the triumph of man over seemingly insurmountable odds .
"
the endurance , " based on caroline alexander 's book , is an eye - opening documentary that goes where few men have gone before and , even more remarkably , all 28 survivors lived to tell about it .
i give it a b+ .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: in the past , tim burton has taken cinema by storm with the action packed batman , and the hilarious ed wood , but lately his films just do n't cut it .
sleepy hollow has some unique features , but the script is a terrible mess
.
for those who remember disney 's fantastic " adventures of ichabod crane " , it is actually superior to this .
disney 's version was at least interesting , while burton 's film drags on far too long , without any suspense or frights .
while the stories are similar , the new version adds too much to the once likable story , and throws in some weak dialogue to top it off .
ichabod crane ( johnny depp ) is now apparently a constable , who was sent to new york to investigate suspicious murders .
the victims are headless , and no traces of evidence were found , until the murderer reveals himself , hence the headless horseman .
now with the help of christina ricci and an orphaned boy , they must stop the headless horseman from a killing spree , that could destroy the whole town of sleepy hollow .
sure the headless horseman is an intriguing character , but the story has so many holes that even he nor depp can save this disaster
.
in the original , the headless horseman was meant to be unstoppable .
no one could stop him , not even ichabod .
by the end of the film , it had audiences in deep thought .
burton however concentrates far too much on the atmosphere , and how to make the main characters heroes .
he takes no risk what so ever , and this is where he fails .
another pathetic element of the film was the script .
like i said earlier , he just stuffed too much in at one time , and made it look real sloppy , kind of like the mess
the headless horseman made with his victims .
he completely butchered the story to pieces .
thankfully there are a few factors that i particularly liked .
the acting by depp was quite notable .
he took the nerdy character of the cartoon , and simply acted it out in a better manner .
if it was n't for his quirky one - liners , i doubt i could have remained awake , because quite frankly i was getting sleepy
.
just when i thought christina ricci was getting to be a good actress , she winds up doing this .
it just goes to show no actress or actor can pass up a big blockbuster .
it 's too tempting to let go , even if the script is mush .
the atmosphere too was quite involving .
i should have just gazed at the sets , and the eerie fog , rather than actually pay attention to what was going on .
at least burton 's films are eye candy , even if they are trash .
the only real scenes of value were the tree full of heads , and the fight between the horseman , depp and casper van dien .
other than that ,
i wish i could just fast forward through all the gaping holes in the film , and just sit back and stare at the scenery .
by the end , i can only think back and laugh at how bad sleepy hollow developed .
this is the biggest disappointment of the year , especially when such a talented director like burton handles a project like this .
do n't waste your time or money , because your head will feel hollow .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: linda fiorentino disappeared off the radar after a deservedly heralded turn in the cable pic the last seduction , and her being cast as dogma 's lead is nothing short of inexplicable .
she 's still in fine form
as bethany , an abortion clinic worker who 's lost her faith .
one night , a visitor from heaven makes a fiery entrance in bethany 's bedroom .
he is metatron ( alan rickman ) , the voice of god , and he needs her help : she must stop two fallen angels from entering a new jersey church - the fate of the universe depends on it .
god would do it him / herself , but he /
she is . . .
missing , having taken up human form somewhere on earth never to be heard from again .
bethany is joined on her road trip to the garden state by the " prophets " jay ( jason mewes ) and silent bob ( kevin smith , doing double - duty ) , the slacker minstrels who have appeared in all of smith 's films thus far .
at some point , rock drops naked out of the sky as rufus , the undocumented ( and very black ) " thirteenth apostle " , and offers his assistance , as does divine stripper serendipity ( salma hayek ) .
it 's a wild ride .
they 're in pursuit of loki and bartleby ( damon and affleck , respectively - this is probably the sharpest either has ever been ) , who were banished from heaven to wisconsin and have discovered a dogmatic loophole that will enable their return .
loki decides to wreak havoc along the way with the knowledge that his sins will be absolved at the pearly gates .
at one point , he terrorizes a boardroom full of suits with an angry combination of words and bullets .
it 's a nasty , guiltily enjoyable little scene that asks , " how corrupt are you ? " .
wings of desire
this ai n't .
since debuting with clerks , smith has grown as a director , particularly in terms of working with actors .
( chris rock is this film 's only weak link - between jokes , he 's wooden . )
his no - frills visual style has n't changed much over the years , though ( dogma 's widescreen compositions at least have blockbuster affectations ) , nor has his writing - his characters still sit around delivering one caustic , hilarious speech after another .
dogma chips away at big religious issues - namely , the hypocrisy that accompanies any organized system of beliefs - eloquently and articulately , but a few of the monologues sound too much like blatant exposition .
as well , the verbal introduction of each new person seems to take forever .
any movie with this much weighty talk would have a hard time maintaining momentum ( hurlyburly , anyone ? ) , and eventually dogma 's pacing goes slack .
a long diatribe from bartleby late in the game , in which he laments the destiny of celestial beings , comes at a point when we 've heard enough .
because his change of heart ( bartleby is initially the good cop to loki 's bad ) drives the climax , said rant is given a great deal of screen time .
sure , affleck deserved a big moment ( damon steals their scenes together prior ) , but it ultimately makes the film and us feel bloated .
like tarantino , smith was a video - age sponge who became a sample - mad indie filmmaker .
dogma pays welcome homage to an eclectic batch of movies , including indiana jones and the last crusade , with silent bob doing his best harrison ford , and weird science - a shit demon attacks our heroes !
smith also has a kitchen sink brand of humour : his dexterous maneuvering between the satirical ( a cardinal played by george carlin attempts to mount a publicity campaign with the slogan " catholicism
wow ! " )
and the scatalogical ensures that no lover of comedy will leave
dogma feeling malnourished .
i bust
( ed ? )
a gut on several occasions .
proceedings also get off on the right foot with the opening with
the funniest disclaimer ever .
it 's a disclaimer unlikely to put protestors at ease , for to read it , one actually has to see dogma .
the prerelease ballyhoo is in the tradition of the last temptation of christ 's , martin scorsese 's 1988 adaptation of nikos kazantzakis ' controversial novel , in that it is not directly linked to the picture 's content but to rumours and heresy .
there 's a famous anecdote about fletch director michael ritchie inviting picketers of the last temptation of christ into a screening on his dime , just so they could know for certain what they were rallying against .
( not one of them had watched it . )
every single person refused .
smith and scorsese have a lot in common , and so do the two films in question , because both smith 's bethany and scorsese 's jesus are hollow shells without their faith .
in fact , dogma 's denouement ( which follows a thrilling showdown that 's worth the wait ) is a catholic love - in , a veritable recruitment poster .
( i felt sentimental about a religion i do n't belong to .
now that 's powerful filmmaking . )
smith is nothing if not sincere about his own devotion to god , and that spirituality shines through
.
it 's enough to make me forgive dogma for its editorial sins .
my religion is movies .
when the catholic league beats on dogma for imaginary crimes against a doctrine , in a roundabout way they 're attacking what i live for : freedom of expression through celluloid .
i therefore feel that , although i 'm no bible - thumper , i 'm at least as qualified to criticize dogma as william donohue and his followers .

SOLUTION:
P

