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

Q: " holy man " boasts a sweet , gentle , comic performance from an unusually subdued eddie murphy and a few moderately funny skits .
unfortunately , to get to the good stuff you have to sit through a painfully long set - up , loads of tedious filler , interminable shots of jeff goldblum stammering and twitching ,
a superfluous romantic subplot and quite possibly the most annoying performance of robert loggia 's career .
if ever a movie screamed " wait for video so you can fast - forward through all the dull and annoying parts
, " this is it .
eddie murphy plays g , a robed nomadic pilgrim wandering the land enjoying the moment and spreading his spiritual message .
a chance meeting with ricky hayman ( goldblum ) ,
a stressed - out executive of a home - shopping channel , and kate newell ( kelly preston ) , a no - nonsense media analyst , results in physical injury to g . quicker than you can say " the odd couple ,
" g ends up rooming with an extremely leery ricky .
after some script gymnastics , g appears live on the air at the good buy shopping network , wreaking havoc on the cheesy product demonstrations , enraging network owner mr .
mcbainbridge ( loggia ) , and becoming a national media sensation .
" holy man " attempts to be several things at once .
it tries to satirize home shopping networks , but it 's difficult to effectively make fun of something that is already a self - parody .
the film attempts to teach us that collecting material possessions is merely a futile attempt to fill the spiritual holes in our hearts , but that 's common knowledge already .
" holy man " also tries to present a story of redemption , as ricky hayman tries to decide whether to exploit g 's good will to achieve financial security or do the right thing at the expense of his career .
anyone want to place a wager on his final decision ?
the one genuine asset in " holy man " is eddie murphy , who gives a charming performance , sharing love , good will and relevant advice to all those around him , while beaming his million dollar smile at just the right moments .
murphy is delightful and the film takes off whenever he 's onscreen .
unfortunately , he 's not onscreen enough .
jeff goldblum gets the lion 's share of screen time and his tired storyline weighs the proceedings down .
as his potential love interest , kelly preston tries to brighten things up , but she transforms from an all - business media shark to an empathic softy far too quickly and the abrupt change reeks of contrivance .
the other principal actor , robert loggia , wastes his talents in a one - note turn as a ruthless , screaming monster .
structurally unsound and way too long
, " holy man " is appealing when murphy is onscreen and dull
when he is n't . instead of dropping your money at the theater for this trifle , wait until it hits video and fast - forward past everything except the murphy scenes .
g suggests that we focus on enjoying the moment and that 's the best way to do so .

A: N
****
Q: it 's probably inevitable that the popular virtual reality genre ( " the matrix , " " existenz " ) would collide with the even more popular serial - killer genre ( " kiss the girls , " " se7en " ) .
the result should have been more interesting than " the cell .
"
as the movie opens , therapist catharine deane ( jennifer lopez ) treats a catatonic boy ( colton james ) by entering his mind through some sort of virtual reality technique that 's never fully explained .
after months of therapy sessions in a surreal desert , catharine has no success to report .
meanwhile , killer carl stargher ( vincent d'onofrio ) has claimed another victim .
his particular hobby is to kidnap young women , keep them in a glass cell overnight , and drown them .
he takes the corpse and soaks it in bleach , then suspends himself over the body and jerks off while watching a video tape of the drowning .
although carl 's been doing this for awhile , he 's recently become sloppy , and fbi agent peter novak ( vince vaughn ) is closing in fast .
not fast enough , though , to keep carl from sticking another woman ( tara subkoff ) in the cell or to catch him before he suffers a schizophrenic attack that leaves him in a coma .
from the videos in carl 's house , peter can see that the drowning cell is automated and will fill with water forty hours after the abduction .
to save the kidnapped girl , peter has to find the cell before the end of the day , and comatose carl 's not talking .
so off they go to catharine in the hope that she can go inside carl 's mind and find out where the cell is in time .
the focus of " the cell " in on the ornate interior of carl 's mind , but the universe director tarsem singh creates seems more an exercise in computer - generated spectacle than an exploration of the psychotic personality .
for the most part , it 's style without substance .
in his own mind , carl is a decadent emperor in flowing robes , ming the merciless , as well as a frightened boy ( jake thomas ) abused by his father .
all in all , the mind of a psycho killer turns out to be a strangely dull place , and i kept wishing i could fast - forward to the next development .
singh is best known for directing music videos , particularly rem 's " losing my religion , " and " the cell " seems very much like a really long , really slow mtv video with the sound deleted .
singer lopez seems to think she 's in a video as well ; she devotes more time to posing in elaborate costumes than she does to acting .
the premise had great promise .
the computer - generated world within carl 's mind could have been a bizarre , surreal universe governed by insanity and symbolism rather than logic .
the first room catharine enters in carl 's head shows this promise .
she finds a horse standing in center of the room ; suddenly , sheets of sharp - edged glass fall into the horse , dividing it into segments .
the panes of glass separate , pulling apart the pieces of the still - living horse .
this scene is twisted , disturbing , and thought - provoking , because the psychological importance of the horse and its fate is left to the viewer to ponder .
another element that should have been developed is the effect on catharine of merging with the mind of a psychopath .
their minds begin to bleed together at one point in the movie , and this should have provided an opportunity to discover the dark corners of catharine 's own psyche .
like sidney lumet 's " the offence " or michael mann 's " manhunter , " " the cell " could have explored how the madness of the killer brings out a repressed darkness in the investigator .
however , catharine 's character is hardly developed at all , and lopez has no depth to offer the role .
bottom line : do n't get trapped in this one .

A: N
****
Q: " battlefield earth " is the best comedy of the year .
it has to be .
the other prospect is just too horrifying to consider .
bad movie syndrome struck me again , so after witnessing how much " battlefield earth " has been proclaimed a train wreck in both critical and popular circles , i felt the masochistic urge to see the disaster first - hand . is it as bad as advertised ?
oh yes , very much so .
the plot is incomprehensible .
the acting is atrocious .
the special effects are mediocre .
the action is dull .
the implausibilities are legion .
the dialogue is cringe - inducing .
the whole package is funny when it wants to be serious and irritating when it wants to be funny .
i do n't even want to continue reviewing this movie ; i 'd like to purge the atrocity from my mind as soon as possible , but you probably want to read my thrashing in all its sarcastic glory , so here it is : the premise is basically a rip - off of " planet of the apes , " only minus the apes and philosophical discussion , and plus a race of evil aliens from the planet psychlo .
the year is 3000 , the psychlos have conquered earth , and the human population has been enslaved .
only a handful of humans escaped to radiation - rich areas to escape the aliens ; they live out their lives in fear .
one man , johnny goodboy
( i know , i know ) tyler ( barry pepper ) , ventures to the outworld and is captured by the psychlos .
there he confronts the psychlo head of security : a big , ugly , klingon - looking creature called terl ( john travolta ) .
pressed into slavery , johnny vows to lead a revolution and take the planet back .
meanwhile , terl is faced with his own problems : he has recently learned that he 's stuck living on earth ( which he hates ) for the rest of his career because he pissed off his boss by sleeping with the big man 's daughter .
he decides to give johnny knowledge of the psychlo language and technology ( this is where the plot gets ridiculous . . . ) so the " man - animal " can lead a mining expedition into places the psychlos ca n't go .
terl then plans to keep the mined gold for himself .
of course , his plan does n't work .
so many things wrong with this movie -- where to begin ?
how about with travolta , whose hollywood clout brought about this , the cinematic version of scientology guru l . ron hubbard 's sci - fi novel ?
early previews for " battlefield earth , " with constant shots of a makeup - laden travolta cackling like lex luthor , had me ( and several audience members ) remarking , " what the hell is travolta thinking ?
"
the movie did nothing to stem such remarks .
all that ridiculous cackling he did in the trailers is in full force here
: terl cackles after nearly every line , and so does every other psychlo .
of course , this makes every scene hilariously overwrought , no more so than when the script clumsily stumbles into political commentary .
the psychlos are probably supposed to be some kind of satire of corporate america , but ceos generally do n't laugh maniacally after denying pay raises to their employees .
( " you were going to be promoted -- but now you 're not !
fwahahahahahahahaha ! ! ! ! !
"
)
it 's no big surprise terl loses to the humans -- he 's an idiot .
he breaks every kind of supervillain rule in the book .
he underestimates his enemies , assuming he 'll win just because he 's smarter .
( he uses the word " leverage " like some sort of scientologist mantra . )
not content to go the james bond villain route of explaining his plans to the hero , he hooks him up to a machine that gives him knowledge of all the psychlos ' language and technology .
( why this machine is even around in the first place is beyond me . )
he then appears shocked that johnny points a gun at him .
no wonder this guy never got his promotion .
the plot inconsistencies are too numerous to mention .
why do the psychlos build an earth base in which both they and the human slaves must wear little breathing apparatuses to survive ?
how come the psychlos are wasting their time mining for gold when the doors of fort knox are wide open ?
how in the world did all those fighter jets survive sitting in a hangar for 1 , 000 years ?
and how do all these previously brain - dead cavemen learn to fly them so quickly ?
there 's a whole lot more to scratch one 's head about in " battlefield earth .
" bring a scorecard to track the plot holes .
director roger christian shoots " battlefield earth
" in the most distracting way possible , tilting nearly every shot sideways for no discernible reason .
all the characters appear to be standing on the walls , and it 's awfully difficult to watch a movie when you must tilt your head just to watch ordinary passages of dialogue .
the action sequences are atrociously edited ,
every one turned into an endless slow - motion parade that drains all potential excitement .
are these things really so hard to construct ?
my respect for supposed " lightweight " action directors has grown by leaps and bounds after witnessing in " battlefield earth " how badly an action sequence can be shot .
this movie is an absolute headache .
it 's not just the shot selection and editing ;
the movie , quite frankly , makes no sense .
for most of " battlefield earth 's " running time , i just did n't know what was happening .
it did n't have anything to do with me finding the events stupid or illogical ( though they certainly are ) --
i really had no idea what the hell was going on
.
when i pieced the plot together later , it did n't look any better .
here 's how much of a disaster this is : " battlefield earth " is already the worst movie of the year , and it 's going to take something really , really inept to top it .
the only thing we can take comfort in about the film is that no one will be suckered into joining the church of scientology because of it .
in fact , i 'd think that hubbard 's cult would want to distance themselves from this bomb as fast as possible .
that 'll teach me to give into bad movie syndrome again .

A:
N
****