In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

[Q]: tomb raider .
fun ?
exciting ?
challenging ?
given the unprecedented popularity ( especially among teenage boys ) of the video game that sports an uber - buff , pistol packin ' babe who raids , well .
. .
tombs , you have to believe it 's these three things and more !
"
lara croft : tomb raider , " the big screen variant of said video game , which features a pumped - up angelina jolie ( the oscar ? winner for " girl , interrupted " no less ) in the title role is , however , none of these things .
it is n't fun , it is n't exciting , and the only challenge is seeing how long you can stay in your seat
( i suffered through to the bitter , bitter end ; the wife opted for barnes & noble at the 45-minute mark ) .
directed by simon west with the same subtlety he brought to " con air , " " tomb raider " is an empty - headed , big budget bore .
the story borrows unintelligently from that mother of all turkeys " hudson hawk " ( the same hokum about planetary alignments and sacred stones that , when brought together , well . . . who the heck cares ? ) and it makes " super mario bros .
"
( bob hoskins ' ill - advised career move ) look like " rocco and his brothers " ( that classic of italian neo - realism ) .
i 'll go out on a limb here and say i suspect there 's actually more character development in the video game than the movie proper .
this is where the jolie defenders / video game nuts jump in and say this movie is n't about character development
it 's about kicking serious butt ( or bum , since ms .
croft hails from england 's green and pleasant ) .
with lips , breasts , and biceps all inflated to the max , lara croft is all about posturing , and jolie has a hard time simply standing still without trying to look tough .
ok , let 's forget challenging .
should n't " tomb raider " be , at the very least , fun and exciting ?
should n't our butt - kicking heroine also encompass the sophistication of , say , james bond with the wit of indiana jones ?
there 's no humor to be found anywhere in " tomb raider , " even though it tries hard from time to time .
even " the mummy returns " did n't take itself too seriously .
the villain here is noticeably lacking , the special effects are ridiculously overblown and unnecessarily complicated , and the script is non - existent .
to liven things up ( perhaps ) , jolie 's live father jon voight puts in a few minutes as lara 's dead father lord croft ; talk about a stretch .
one thing i had n't expected from the film is that jolie affects a slightly better english accent than her pa ( although i suspect that thin - looking moustache he 's forced to wear gets in the way some ) .
unsuccessful ?
not entirely .
if anything , " lara croft : tomb raider " makes you want to check out the video game itself to figure out exactly what all the fuss was about .
[A]: N


[Q]: eyes wide shut is n't the masterpiece many were hoping to see in stanley kubrick 's final film , but it is an impressive achievement ; a mesmerizing , haunting , adult psychodrama about marriage , fidelity and sex .
it 's a stanley kubrick film from beginning to end , consistently exhibiting the auteur 's trademark penchant for long , continuous takes , his unparalleled deftness behind the camera and his uncanny ability to extract gorgeous performances from his exhausted cast ( indeed , eyes wide shut attained infamy even before its release for its notoriously laborious shoot : kubrick , a renowned perfectionist , reportedly held his cast " hostage " on the set for nearly a year ) .
in an uncharacteristic maneuver , kubrick cast two big - name stars in the lead roles , namely real - life husband and wife tom cruise and nicole kidman .
they play bill and alice harford , a volatile couple who , during the course of a couple nights , ponder the validity of the idea that a husband and a wife must be faithful to each other .
he is an m .
d .
, she 's unemployed and we are introduced to them as they are getting ready to go to a fancy party .
at the affair , they are both propositioned and both nearly succumb to the temptation to play around with someone else .
when they return to their lavish new york apartment kidman ( after smoking a dash of weed ) inquires whether her husband had sex with two models who approached him during the night .
he ( truthfully ) says that he did not and asks what happened with that hungarian guy she was dancing with .
they proceed to argue until alice tells her spouse a lustful story : evidently some time ago , she had a thing for a young naval officer .
she admits that she was ready to give up her whole future with bill and their young daughter if this guy wanted her even for one night .
bill is jolted by alice 's story and we anticipate his reaction , but at that moment he gets a phone call and has to go " show his face " at the house of a just - deceased patient .
this turns out to be the beginning of a long and eventful night on the town .
the daughter of the dead patient hits on him
but he wisely turns her down .
he almost does the dirty deed with a kindly hooker who approaches him on the street .
then , through a series of coincidences , he winds up at a gothic mansion where a ritualistic ( and frankly , creepy ) orgy takes place , with costumed people performing various public sex acts on each other .
erotic dread mounts as cruise ( who 's not supposed to be there ) wonders the spacious halls watching the " action " until he is discovered to be an outsider .
much hoopla has been raised over the fact that warner bros .
digitally edited the orgy scene .
with the help of a computer , they put in cloaked figures to block some of the actual sex acts ( they can still be seen , just not in all their glory ) in order to avoid the dreaded nc-17 rating .
european viewers will see the film as kubrick envisioned it .
roger ebert calls the american version the " austin powers version , " and many others have bashed the alterations .
i am of the potentially controversial opinion that the figures only supplement the scene 's mystical atmosphere .
the first thing one notices about eyes wide shut is how it looks .
this is an artful , distinctively gorgeous production , shot in dark , moody hues and featuring some elaborate , beautiful scenery .
from the giant mansion used in the film 's centerpiece to the decor at the christmas party to the harford 's apartment , this film is always a pleasure to look at .
to boot , a great soundtrack makes it more atmospheric still .
at the core , behind the graphic , controversial content and unappealing mood , this is a good - natured movie that emphasizes the importance of fidelity .
it looks at sex as almost perfunctory by portraying it as unnerving rather than erotic .
it 's something superficial and yet something necessary to achieve a deeper relationship .
at the end , it seems , bill 's eyes are wide open to the special kind of love he and his wife have for each other , more meaningful than anything he could ever hope to find on the streets of new york .
kubrick
elicits wonderful performances from both cruise and kidman .
tom is completely convincing as dr .
harford , a man who seems guided solely by destiny , with no control of the course his life will take .
nicole projects a quiet intensity as the jittery yet aggressive wife and her performance is stunningly effective
: she 's headed for an oscar nod .
the movie has some help from a similarly strong supporting cast , at the head of which is director - cum - thespian sidney pollock , enigmatic and articulate as harford 's mysterious friend .
eyes wide shut is not perfect : the last hour could have used a slightly more scissor - happy editor and both cruise and kidman are too good- looking for me to believe that either would have a very strong temptation to philander .
still , this is an important work from a great director , and while it may not be on par with some of stanley kubrick 's best it is a worthy final film , a complex exploration of jealousy and faithfulness . ?
1999 eugene novikov&#137 ;
[A]: P


[Q]: i did n't realize how apt the name of this movie was until i called the mpaa ( the motion picture association of america - the folks who decide what 's g , nc 17 , pg , r or x ) to ask why the preview was rated r .
so that we can make some sense of their response , let me tell you about the movie itself .
"
the celluloid closet " is a documentary about how homosexuality has been portrayed in the movies over the past several decades .
it 's brilliant , funny , naughty and extremely poignant .
it tore at my heart to watch a gifted lesbian screenwriter explain that , as a rule , gay audiences hunger for any hint of homosexuality on screen .
regardless of how veiled - or how sordid - the presence of a gay or lesbian person allows others to lessen their sense of isolation and makes them feel as if they 're not quite so invisible as america seems to want them to be .
the movie itself is rated r - and for good reason .
it contains scenes of bloody , violent gay bashing and graphic , uninhibited , sex .
as with any movie , i appreciate knowing about these things ahead of time , so i can decide for myself whether to see the movie with a friend , a date , my 11 year old niece , alone or not at all .
but , that 's the movie .
now back to the preview .
prior to this film being theatrically released ( it was originally filmed as a documentary for hbo ) i had seen the coming attractions trailer for it at least six times .
there was no nudity , no violence , no bad language , nothing that i could see that would be offensive or inappropriate for a general audience ( okay , whoopi goldberg did refer to someone " boning " someone , but
the last i knew that was n't one of the seven words you ca n't say on tv ) . except for a scene of two fully clothed men kissing .
hmmmmm .
when i inquired about the rating on the trailer , a very nice woman at the mpaa quoted from " the handbook " that a trailer approved for all audiences could contain " no homosexuality or lesbianism and no going down on someone .
"
hello ?
i was in the office
and it was the middle of the day .
bravely , i pursued .
"
i 've seen that trailer ,
oh . . .
probably half a dozen times , " i gulped . . .
"
and i do n't remember that scene .
" " well , " she chirped .
"
it 's there .
our little eyes are trained to see that .
"
no really .
in the words of dave barry , " i am not making this up .
"
they are " trained " to " see that ? " when someone who was shocked at the rating the first time and made a note to watch it carefully the following five times or so managed to let it slip past her ?
gosh , i certainly do n't mean to question the mpaa , or " the handbook " .
i
would , however , like to suggest that it 's they who are in the closet on this one .
and the light ai n't good in there .
but , having seen " the celluloid closet , " and being one of a handful of straight people involved in a primarily gay and lesbian weekly bible study ( email me and i 'll give you the details ) , none of this was any big surprise .
the point of the movie was that homosexuality , even in the politically correct 90s , is ridiculously perceived as a threat to a mostly heterosexual society .
a point well made in this candid and honest film
.
now , i could go off on the mpaa 's ruling that a trailer must contain " no homosexuality or lesbianism " and ask how that is defined , particularly in light of some of the things , both sexual and non - sexual , that i 've watched straight people do in trailers .
i just do n't feel the need to go there , because it seems so obvious .
i 'll instead suggest that the mpaa re - evaluated their evaluation criteria .
let the ratings reflect not subject content , like " sex " and " violence " .
let them reflect attitude content .
in the future , i 'd be interested in knowing whether the movie is rated d for disrespectful or s for stereotyped .
then i 'd truly be able to make an informed decision about how i spent my time .
[A]:
P