In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
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Question: big courtroom thrillers have always captivated america .
o .
j . simpson , tom capano , the menendez brothers .
all these names are synonymous to americans and courtrooms .
and , of course , courtroom dramas are not a new topic to hollywood . whether it be john grisham 's thrilling novels or television 's famous dramas , the courtroom has always provided big bucks .
so when i rented a civil action , i was expecting the film to be like the rainmaker , a brilliant law film that kept viewers on the edge of their seat .
however , what i saw in a civil action was far different from what i expected , a major surprise , but
fortunately , a pleasant one .
john travolta always seems to come up big when you least expect it .
no one expected him to light up the screen in grease , nor in saturday night fever .
but , whenever he gets knocked down , he always seems to come back fighting .
a civil action is not john 's best performance , but a strong one that could rival any performance in 1998 .
travolta proves that a normal and believable performance can vault a film into oscar nominations .
his performance is not flashy , nor memorable , just solid . if he delivered the only solid performance , this film would still be average .
luckily , he has a strong supporting cast .
william h .
macy is probably one of the most underrated actors in hollywood .
he continues to deliver great performances one after the other , but he is still regarded as a secondary actor .
in a civil action , he delivers yet another great performance
as travolta 's paranoid and greedy accountant .
he is not a lovable character , but a character who stands out in your mind whenever you think of the film .
he is not one of the big time lawyers , just a measly accountant .
but , he delivers one of the best supporting roles of 1998 , but there is actually someone better in a civil action .
robert duvall is also an underrated actor .
he gets many leading roles , but is never heard when you hear of big box office draws like tom hanks , brad pitt and jim carrey .
duvall has a supporting role in this as a lawyer of the co - defendant .
duvall is magical in this role .
he is the wise teacher , who not only battles it out in the courtroom , but also manages to teach every major player a lesson , in his own twisted way .
in many non - comedic films , directors are always trying to find a way to implement a touch of comedy , to keep the audience on their toes .
unfortunately , they usually just key in on one character whose main objective is to be funny ( jar - jar binks , anyone ? ) .
however , this usually backfires because the character is never fully developed .
this is not the case in a civil action .
they have comedy coming from all sides . whether it be duvall 's inane questions or macy 's sharp anger , the laughs come in a steady pace .
granted , it 's not roll in the aisle funny , but it provides a nice addition to the film .
the plot is terrific- somewhat .
the setup is nice with the film actually starting with a victory in the courtroom .
then the case that will make or break jan ( travolta ) 's career rears its ugly head .
they find out the goldmine involved with the case and wind up taking it .
however , budgets soon flounder and jan finds himself in deep debt .
i will not spoil the rest , although i must speak of the one downside to the film .
the courtroom debates are great , but the actual problem they are fighting for is never fully explored .
it left me somewhat confused , although the rest of the film is terrific .
all in all , john travolta is back yet again in this great film .
his supporting cast , consisting of macy and duvall , turn in tremendous performances , which ease the load on travolta .
the film is smart , witty and thought provoking .
not only does it gauge in - court battles , but also the various tolls it can take on the major players .
a civil action provides everything a drama lover craves .

Answer: P


Question: according to popular film opinion , a film 's greatness is determined by time .
take for example " casablanca .
" great film , even today .
it 's still as powerful as it was when it came out and still as romantic and tragic .
another example would be " star wars , " which had a very , very healthy box office gross despite the fact that we had all seen it about 3 billion times before .
but as i rewatched " independence day " when it came out on video after being the number one hit of 1996 , i kinda felt like it was n't as cool as when i had first seen it .
i had liked it when i saw it the first time (
*
* * was my original view ) and basically saw it as a good " escape film .
"
but when i rewatched it , i felt cheated .
thus , the curse of the " event film . " " independence day " is like that kid who come out of nowhere and makes everybody happy at once ( except for a couple kids - the critics , in this situation ) .
but after a while , this kid becomes annoying and you just wait for the next one .
well , this kid is the " event film " in my little analogy .
and when i rewatched " independence day , " not only did it not look cooler at all on the big screen , but i felt insulted the whole time .
there are too many gaping craters in the plot and you just are n't sure if it 's comedy or hokey drama .
one scene , you 'll see a hilariously nebbish scene between jeff goldblum and judd hirsch ; the next you 'll see a bunch of military uptight guys walking around , saying corny lines .
the worst is a scene between brent spiner and bill pullman where spiner is sayinig something innocently funny but is barked like a junkyard dog by bill pullman who gives him the most unitentionally funniest speech since the end of " glen or glenda ?
"
now this annoying kid 's problem is that in the process of trying to make everyone like him all at once , he shows he has no balls .
and " independence day " has no balls .
it plays it safe everywhere .
it throws in a ton of action that is borrowed from other superior films .
the chase scene between the alien ship and will smith is straight out of " star wars .
"
i mean , is n't that devil 's den ? and
the aliens are about as anticlimactic as demi moore 's breasts in " striptease .
"
they 're these octopus men , boring freaking octopus men .
i mean , come on .
the aliens in " 2001 " were more interesting and you did n't even see them !
basically the plot is straight from a b - movie from the 50s : aliens come to earth and we wonder if they 're hostile or peaceful .
okay , it 's an interesting topic , but it 's not handled greatly .
now they are n't and somehow a computer geek , jeff goldblum , figure out they 're using our satellites as a countdown to destruction .
yep .
these aliens are not only heavily armed , they 're stupid too .
they also use the same kind of computer as we do , but that comes about later .
the president ( bill pullman ) , who 's under attack for being a wimp , decides this would be a nice time to be belligerent , and he decides he 'll stay in the white house which the aliens have covered .
i do n't care if it 's bob freaking dole in the white house , get him out of there .
i do n't care if you have to inject him with sodium pentathol , just get him out of there .
later on , he 's stupid and wants to fly in the attack on a big alien ship .
i think it 's time for impeachment for this guy .
he 's more senile than reagan on pot .
then there 's a cocky pilot ( will smith ) who is the only person to survive the counter - attack on the second day and becomes moses in leading his children to the elusive area 51 ( the film 's only sign of being brave ) .
his girlfriend 's a stripper sharing a subplot with " striptease " in that she has to do it for her son .
come on , she has a fighter pilot boyfriend / soon - to - be fiance .
i think she can quit that job and get a more respectable job at long john silvers .
she 's also the few , the proud , the lucky to survive the igniting of l . a .
( as well as her dog , who narrowly survives ) .
there are some bright spots .
they tossed in enough old film homages to keep me laughing .
the best one is when jeff goldblum ( nicely named david ) turns on his computer and a picture of hal comes up and says , " good morning , dave .
"
and they even played r .
e . m .
's
" it 's the end of the world as we know it ( and i feel fine ) at the beginning .
and judd hirsch steals the film by actually acting great ( he 's a stereotype ,
but i just loved the man anyway ) .
but there are no real subtle comic moments .
will gets way too many one - liners and he has no one to play off of
( execept jeff towards the end , and the two do great ) .
as i said , this film has no balls .
it is just aiming for a crowd pleaser
and that 's what it is .
but after a couple months , we all move on to the next " event " film while intaking little films and a couple indy ones for good measure .
but at least the indy ones last for a lifetime .
this one 's short on batteries .

Answer: N


Question: in the year 2029 , captain leo davidson ( mark wahlberg , " boogie nights " ) is training ' his ' chimp pericles to pilot a pod from the usaf oberon space station .
when an electromagnetic storm is encountered and pericles ' pod is lost , davidson sets out unauthorized and lands thousands of years in the future on the " planet of the apes .
" maybe if 20th century fox had set the proverbial 100 chimps in front of typewriters they would have gotten a better results than this adaptation of the pierre boulle novel by
william broyles jr .
( " cast away " ) , and lawrence konner & mark
d. rosenthal ( " mighty joe young " ) .
director tim burton 's unique look and style are nowhere to be found in this silly , pointless remake .
davidson no sooner lands than he finds himself being swarmed by savages running in terror , whom he wisely joins .
however , he 's rounded up with the lot of them by the apes which rule this plant and handed over to slave trader limbo ( paul giamatti , " duets " ) .
ari ( helena bonham carter , " fight club " ) , daughter of the illustrious senator sandar ( david warner , " titanic " ) and simian bleeding heart , believes humans should live with apes on equal standing , an unpopular notion .
she takes a liking to leo , who she deems ' unusual .
' general thade ( tim roth , " lucky numbers " ) is of the opposite opinion , wishing for declaration of martial law that will allow him to annihilate the race .
he 's sweet on ari .
it 's relatively easy to see where this ' new ' story is going from the onset , yet its ultimate revelation has gaping logic holes .
the much ballyhooed ' surprise ' ending is a nonsensical let down .
an attempt at a love triangle , conveyed by ari and the human daena ( estella warren , " driven " ) giving each other ' back off ' looks over leo , fails because he never develops a relationship with either of them .
the lone sex scene is some hilarious foreplay between elder orangutan senator nado ( glenn shadix ) and his trophy wife nova ( burton 's squeeze , lisa marie ) .
guffaws will also likely greet charlton heston 's cameo as thade 's father , the one ape harboring a firearm ( ! ) who sputters some very familiar lines before dying .
the only real success of the 2001 " planet of the apes " is rick baker 's makeup , and even that 's an iffy affair .
no attempt was made to change the human whiteness of the actors ' eyes , a real distraction amidst some otherwise impressive work .
roth , warner and michael clarke duncan ( as thade 's right hand man attar ) are given the most impressive makeovers .
giamatti looks more like a skull than an ape and the female apes are too humanized to be given sexual appeal .
tim roth delivers the most impressive acting job by getting
the body language right - his nasty chimpanzee character leaps about , most spectacularly when mounting his steed , but
even 's he 's undone by some obvious wire work .
bonham carter delivers a goodly range of emotion from behind a stiff prosthetic , but is undone in turn by the silliness of the writing .
most of the film has a set bound look which no amount of mist can cover .
the ape 's city resembles a dank complex of tree houses .
the apes ' military costumes ( colleen atwood , " sleepy hollow " ) as well as their field tents are reminiscent of eiko ishioka 's work on coppola 's " dracula .
"
that oriental flavor is also found in danny elfman 's tribal , percussive score .
" planet of the apes " was the last blockbuster hope for the summer of 2001
, a dismal movie season that 's going to the dogs .

Answer:
N