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

[EX Q]: this sunday afternoon i had the priviledge of attending a private screening at the sony astor cinema in new york city , of james cameron 's most heralded film , titanic .
postponed from last summer , with an escalated budget that makes it the most expensive movie in history , this was one film i was eager to preview .
so , is this movie going to sink or swim this holiday ?
my best guess .
. . . it will sink , though with many awards attatched to its hull .
no doubt , titanic is the most elaborate disaster movie ever made .
it boasts the most amazing effects that i have ever seen done to date .
to see a ship fall apart , with actual people running across the ship , flying across the deck , and falling to the water , is just amazing to look at .
the effects are so stunningly realistic , you would swear you were looking at actual footage .
but titanic is more than a disaster movie , and that 's where the problem lies .
there is a love story attatched that nearly ruins the entire premise .
i 'll give a capsule summary of the story without spoiling anything for you : the film begins with a modern day excavation of sorts of the sunken titanic .
we see actual footage of the sunken ship , as cammeron had set up special cameras to film the wreckage on the ocean floor .
bill paxton leads the expedition , in search of sunken treasure .
what he finds instead , leads him to a mysterious old woman who recounts her tale of the titanic voyage .
we meet rose ( kate winslet ) , a young woman , who comes from an upper - class family .
rose is to be we d to a man she does not love .
we meet jack ( leonardo dicaprio ) , a young man , who comes from a poor financial background , and wins a ticket aboard the titanic , in a poker game .
the two meet under interesting circumstances , and the love story begins .
add in a jealous fiance , and a not - so - nice law officer played by david warner , and you have a story that , well , gets a bit overplayed and oversappy .
i must add , at this point , that the most likeable character in the movie is played by kathy bates , as a woman with " new money " who is a lot less uptight than the other rich folk on the ship .
she is a pleasure to see on screen .
when the ship does hit the iceberg at exactly 1 : 40 into the film , and eventually sinks , you never really feel for any of these characters .
the film is just loaded with unlikeable rich snobs and other folk you never really get a grasp on .
the effects are tremendous .
from the roars of gears and pumps in the engine room , to a doomed ship cracking at the seams , this is an effects picture that looks and sounds like no other .
we saw titanic in dolby digital surround , and by far , it is the best sounding movie i have ever seen .
my friend commented it was the best sound mix he has ever heard
.
when people are in the water , at film 's end , you are surrounded by the voices of lost soles .
titanic runs far too long .
the movie is 3 hours and 15 minutes in length .
and , while most of the first 2 .
5 hours runs very fast and well - paced
, the final 45 minutes almost comes to a sudden stop , and you realize that this sappy love story has to finish itself out before the movie finally ends .
do n't get me wrong about titanic . . . .
it 's not a bad as i am making it out to be .
it really is an exceptionaly well - made film .
the costumes and sets are incredible , and true to the time period .
the ship is painstakingly created exactly true to form , as we see actual pictures of the modern - day wreckage , transformed into the movie depiction .
this film will certainly win on effects , costume , set design and sound .
cameron has certainly made his best film to date .
unfortunately , titanic is not a best picture candidate .
it just does n't have a strong supporting story .
it 's an exceptional disaster film with sappy filler inside .
it just does n't have the emotional impact that i suspect mr .
cameron was shooting for .
i predict that titanic will open to likeable reviews .
it is a film worth seeing .
i predict that it will only do moderately well at the box office .
with its extreme running time , and lack of enough robust to get substantial word - of - mouth , i expect that it will do even better on home video .
this will certainly be the definitive ac3 movie for all you home theater enthusiasts .
titanic opens december 19th , and is released by paramount pictures and twentieth century - fox .
i give titanic 3 stars ( .
that 's not bad .
ron epstein riginally posted in home theater forum
= = =
[EX A]: P

[EX Q]: stendhal 's syndrome : a condition where , in the presence of art , a person becomes engulfed in a painting and hallucinates and may afterwards suffer symptoms such as depression , suicidal behaviour and personality disorder .
grim stuff , to be sure , but the subject of a remarkable film from italy 's master of the horror thriller dario argento . boasting an unforgettable soundtrack from the grandfather of film music ennio morricone
, the stendhal syndrome is a quite magnificent return to form for argento .
it follows his disappointing american debut trauma ( 1992 ) , the patchy opera ( 1987 ) and several mediocre films he produced for young italian director michele soavi in the late 1980 's .
based on the novel by graziella magherini , the film stars argento 's daughter asia as young roman police inspector anna manni in pursuit of a brutal rapist - killer .
visiting florence to follow up several leads , she is lured by the killer alfredo ( thomas kretschmann ) to an art gallery , a favourite haunt where he hopes to identify exactly who is on his tail .
at the gallery anna is overwhelmed by a painting and faints .
posing as a bystander , alfredo briefly comes to her aid and having now identified his pursuer , a strange game of cat and mouse begins .
a gripping story evolves , and a coherent one , too , which may surprise those familiar with argento 's often lumpy narratives .
the stendhal syndrome is not a simple cop - hunting - killer scenario .
it is a disturbing and often compelling study of the central character 's psychological disintegration .
the script explores its psycho - sexual themes with intelligence and candour , perhaps too much so for more sensitive viewers .
but as dark as its themes are , the stendhal syndrome emerges as one of the most artful and effective european thrillers of the last ten years .
argento is once again working in his native italy , and he fully exploits the opportunities to use art and architecture for both symbolic statements and as departure points for several brilliant hallucinogenic sequences . effects whiz sergio stivaletti serves his director well here , and the cinematography by giuseppe rotunno is consistently excellent .
the film 's opening 20 minutes segues between hallucination , flashback and real - time with tremendous style .
proof that , at his most inspired , argento remains one of the world 's most exhilarating filmmakers .
the cast is generally good , though marred at times by dubbing into english that renders speech all but emotionless .
asia argento 's performance is by turns risky , awkward and fascinating .
it 's a difficult role , and given her relative inexperience on screen
she deserves applause for her efforts .
thomas kretschmann is chillingly effective as alfredo , and marco leonardi ( of cinema paradiso , and possibly the most gorgeous looking man in italy ) does okay as anna 's work colleague and increasingly confused love interest .
but perhaps the stendhal syndrome 's single most striking element is ennio morricone 's soundtrack .
active since the 1960 's
, morricone has scored over 100 films in his career and this must rate as one of his finest efforts .
it 's mostly a variation on the one theme : a slow circular melody for strings and wordless female vocal possessed with an extraordinary , haunting beauty that lingers long afterwards .
it 's been three decades since argento and morricone worked together .
this is a long welcome reunion .
if the film has a fault , it is that the last half hour drags a little and the film does n't quite reach a completely satisfying climax .
but by the closing scenes , the stendhal syndrome has already offered us enough to qualify as one of the very best films of dario argento 's career .
* note : see the uncut print from japanese laserdisc if you can .
dubs of this version are available from various video dealers on the world wide web .
[EX A]: P

[EX Q]: ex - universal soldier luc has to battle a group of newer - model engineered fighters gone bad .
the review jean - claude van damme has a one - liner early on in universal soldier : the return , his latest attempt to remain relevant , that sums up this entire movie ; he says " been there , done that .
"
no film critic could possibly sum up van damme 's recent film choices any better .
while other ageing action stars have wisely moved into other film genres ( schwarzenegger makes as many family comedies as he does action films ) , van damme stubbornly persists in sticking with what used to work for him : martial arts and guns .
this unwillingness or perhaps inability to move into new genres has caused van damme to enter the straight to video world , with legionnaire never seeing the inside of a multiplex .
he joins fellow martial artist / action star steven seagal as they watch their film careers rapidly fizzle away .
universal soldier : the return is truly poor .
the plot is a complete copy of several action films from this decade , specifically terminator 2 : judgement day and the similarly named soldier .
soldier 's kurt russell was an older model super - soldier sent off to retirement when circumstances forced him to battle his successors , for the good of a planet ; schwarzenegger 's terminator in t2 tried to save john connor from a newer model killing machine , the t-1000 ; and jean - claude , a former universal soldier , has to save the planet from the rampage of a group of , you guessed it , newer model soldiers . considering the poor box office performance of soldier
, it 's amazing that this project was ever given the go - ahead .
luc devereaux
( van damme ) was the sole remaining universal soldier ( or unisol for short ) , until he was returned to a normal , if muscular , human form .
in this sequel ( technically the fourth film in the series , following two straight - to - video duds that were ignored here plot - wise ) , luc is now a human trainer / consultant of sorts for the unisol program .
working with dylan cotner ( xander berkeley , who interestingly also appeared in t2 ) , the unisol program has engineered a tougher , fiercer fighting force with the help of super - computer seth .
unfortunately , upon hearing that the program has been axed by the government , seth takes control of his soldiers , killing everyone in the building except for luc , his partner maggie , his daughter hillary and erin , a reporter trapped inside .
the rest of the film involves luc trying to keep them all alive , while beating up a group of near - indestructible soldiers , most notably romeo ( popular wrestler goldberg ) .
there are lots of fights , gun battles , lame plot developments and a noticeable lack of plausibility .
there are so many clich ?
s in this film that it is almost painful to watch .
luc gets saddled with the task of saving erin the reporter early on , and in the course of a single night , they go from bickering to falling for each other , to kissing .
erin is a pathetically - written character ; people are getting brutally gunned down all around her , and yet , not only does this not seem to frighten her , but she finds time to remind luc that she " is n't leaving without her story " .
whatever .
other laughable moments include a ) luc going to a strip club to get internet access ( what ? ) and b ) a group of rangers , who after having been given good advice ( luc tells them that their weapons are useless , and shows them a specific gun which should work better ) , choose to go into battle with their useless weapons anyway ( guess who wins the battle ? ) .
not one single scene in universal soldier : the return has any originality to it .
when fuelled by don davis ' loud , driving music score , the film 's many fights become almost passable , but mostly are full of the same ol' jean - claude moves .
director mic rodgers ( a former stunt co - ordinator ) keeps the action coming at a rapid pace , with only a few token serious moments to be found .
his past work is evident in the many moments when characters are thrown through windows , tossed off of buildings or sent flying through the air thanks to an explosion . if only jean - claude were n't getting so old and slow compared to younger martial arts film actors like jet li , rodgers could probably have made a decent action film .
to place the blame squarely at van damme 's feet , however , is an injustice .
i 'm not sure that anyone , not even robert deniro or edward norton , could make writers william malone and john fasano 's script sound
good .
one particularly painful scene is when erin asks luc how he is so sure that the aforementioned strip club will have internet access .
he cringes , looks down and mutters " uh .
.. uhm .
.. they all do , i saw it on 60 minutes .
eh he he
he "
the script 's and indeed the entire film 's only saving grace is goldberg .
he chews up every scene he is in , obviously enjoying his role immensely .
he even gives the film a few laughs , as he mutters things like
"
i really do n't like that guy
"
every time he fails to kill luc .
sadly , his presence is not enough to turn universal soldier :
the return into anything better than a below - average action film that truly deserves to have joined its fellow sequels by going straight - to - video .
[EX A]:
N