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

Q: ever watch a very young child try and tell a joke that is beyond his , or her , sophistication ?
it 's full of stops and starts and usually , the punch line is ruined .
i felt the same way watching drowning mona .
skip a stone across water and you approximate the depth of this attempt at an ensemble comedy .
there are some slightly successful attempts at humor , but they only serve as window dressing .
there is a running gag about the town , verplanck , n .
y .
, being a test town for the then new yugo .
everyone drives a yugo , differentiating their cars with personalized license plates .
even the police chief drives one .
there is a certain sublimeness to the image of a lights and siren decked out yugo skittering its way through the town streets .
there also is a running gag about one of the characters , jeff , missing a hand and how it occurred .
it pokes gentle fun at the notion of urban legends .
it turns out the truth is more horrifying than any legend .
there are some sight gags that pop up as well , such as mona 's tombstone , which reads " demoted " , instead of devoted .
still , the core of the story maintains the flatness of a still pond .
the lynchpin of the film falls on the redundant and sporadic scenes involving mona ( midler ) .
each scene with her is the same : scream at someone , hit someone , then scream some more .
there 's no uniqueness or modulation to her or explanation for her meanness .
anyone off the street could have played the role , such as it is .
the other characters are walking cardboard cutouts .
each one is defined by one trait and no further attempt is made at deeper characterization .
there is a burly , female car mechanic , so of course , there is a forced lesbianism gag .
mona 's son , jeff ( marcus thomas ) is a simpleton , hence
you can predict his dialogue before it even plods its way from his mouth .
chief of police rash ( devito ) likes broadway musicals and loves his daughter .
there 's nothing more to him .
elle , the chief 's daughter ( campbell ) , is bland personified , a dutiful girl with no higher aspiration than to have a child and be married .
mona 's husband phil ( fichtner ) jeckle and hydes from shirking coward to reptilian letch .
bob ( affleck ) , elle 's betrothed , and business partner to jeff , is a mumbling , obvious dullard .
there is no contrast to any of the characters .
by having at least one character with some wit , or wits , to serve as counterpoint to the others , perhaps steinfeld 's attempt at satirizing a small town infested with ambitionless people might have come off better .
ostensibly a murder mystery , drowning mona gives you almost all the clues immediately , then lets you sit back and feel superior as you watch the cast of paper people fumble their way to finding the killer , who could be anyone due to mona 's loving manner with everyone on town .
even that aspect of the film fails , throwing in a convenient , ridiculous and unsatisfying wrap to things .
it 's been a while since i walked away from a movie theater in an angry mood .
what makes it all the more remarkable is that i rarely remember a comedy making me so angry for wasting my time at it 's ineptitude .

A: N
****
Q: city of angels is the kind of love story that i enjoy the most : thought - provoking , moving , and completely unsentimental .
i find it interesting that this film has been released the same day as my giant , which is a film that is undone completely by its wretched sentimentality .
city of angels is a wonderful film , enhanced by interesting and well - rounded characters and some of the most immersive imagery of the last couple of years .
it 's a love story that takes the familiar angel themes and makes them new and necessary to the story , and avoids most of the cliches we 're so used to seeing in films like this .
city of angels is an apparently loose remake of wim wenders ' 1988 film wings of desire .
i have yet to see wings of desire , so i am , unfortunately , unable to make a comparison of the two .
i have heard , however , that city of angels is dissimilar from the original in numerous ways , which makes me glad that this film is n't a rip - off of its source material .
nicolas cage stars as seth , an angel who , like all of his angel counterparts , is present to lead the dying to heaven ( or somewhere just like it ) .
one day , he is forced to take the life of a patient of dr .
maggie rice ( meg ryan ) , and his attention is called to her .
the angels can make themselves seen to humans , but they ca n't experience any of the senses ( most importantly , touch ) .
he shows himself to maggie , and she falls for him , unaware that he is slightly unavailable because of his apparition status .
seth wants to become human so he can feel her .
that 's when he meets nathaniel messinger ( dennis franz ) , " former celestial messenger and recent addition to the human race .
"
( as a side note , i found messinger to be the most fascinating character , for i can only imagine how incredibly liberating it must be to live knowing what lies beyond death . )
messinger explains to seth that it is possible for angels to become human .
seth manages to convince maggie that he is an angel ( i know , it sounds ridiculous , but
the scene in which she finds out is exceptionally well - done ) ; after much deliberation , she tells him that she could only be with a man who can feel .
this , of course , is when seth decides to take the plunge ( literally ) from a building ; when he wakes up from the fall , he is human , and happy to feel what it 's like to have a split lip and blood oozing from his forehead .
since i love this film so much , i 'll make a minor note that it certainly is n't perfect .
although it is original and mesmerizing , it does fall prey to a few of the cliches of the genre .
the plotting of the story by writer dawn steel is rather formulaic ( though the details are what make the story excellent , and steel has done a great job with them ) .
the ending , too , could have been more powerful and less predictable .
these elements are minor , though , and barely detracted from my overall enjoyment of city of angels .
the acting is superb from everyone involved .
this is perhaps my second - favorite performance from cage ( my favorite being the rock ) .
he 's quiet and pensive , and his eyes are engaging when he speaks his softly - toned words .
he 's perfect for a role like this , and at the same time he reassures us
he 's not bound by playing the psycho ( though he is good at it , as he shows in face / off ) .
meg ryan is a powerful , enticing , and appealingly - chirpy actress , and her work here is some of her best .
dennis franz , however , steals all of his scenes as the energetic former - angel .
what i admire most about city of angels is its overall presentation .
director brad silberling is a talented man , and he knows that a story like this is driven by the characters , rather than forced sentimentality .
his direction is steady , and he shows this in just about every scene : near the beginning , maggie has to tell a mother and her two children that their father is dead .
there is no music or elaborate camera work ; we simply see the reactions of the characters to the information .
this is the way stories should be told , and the strength of scenes resonates more completely when the emotions are real .
the film also appeals to the senses in a way that few love stories do .
cinematographer john seale ( the english patient ) provides some of the most stunning images
i 've seen on the big screen : hundreds of black - clad angels stand on a dim beach in the early morning hours ( just as an example ) .
the music , by gabriel yared ( also of the english patient ) , is perfect for this film :
it 's quiet and moody music ( but not sentimental ! ) , and adds to the atmosphere and tone nicely .
the visual presentation of city of angels is easily the best of 1998 so far .
all of this adds up to a film that is instantly set apart from other members of this genre .
it 's a film that relies on character development and imagery to get the story across -- the excellent actors and the professional production values make city of angels
one of those rare films that both entertains and instigates thought simultaneously .

A: P
****
Q: warning : may contain slight mild spoilers .
rated :
r for intense violence / gore , some strong sexuality and language .
starring : arnold schwarzeneggar , robin tunney , rod stieger , gabriel byrne .
running time :
132 minutes we go into a movie theater , boom !
the lights go down , our hearts race , we go through ten minutes of preview and finally the movie we 've been waiting to see for a long time comes on .
we sit there , watch in disbelief that this movie is as bad as it is .
why should n't i have know what i was getting myself into .
again like this past summers hit " stigmata " , " end of days " may be worse .
it 's not like this is any kind of original idea , it just throws in some " rosemary 's baby " , along with " the devil 's advocate " a little " exorcist " and some " stigmata " here and there .
whala you have " end of days " a movie that is extremely disappointing
and by the previews made it look terrific .
sadly but truly again like most recent films , all the good parts are in the trailers .
the plot which is very confusing at times is also very ludicrous and the movie is destined to be a hit in the first weekend , and flop in the next .
jericho cane ( arnold schwarzneggar in hit typical macho role ) is a cop who finds out that he is chosen to track down satan ( living in gabriel byrnes body ) and stop him from impregnating christine york ( robin tunney ) because if he does , and she gives birth all existence as we know it will cease to exist .
he has to do this before it turns into the year 2000 , and strangely he 's trying to fight him 5 minutes before 2000 comes .
he seeks help from the catholic church and help from rod stieger ( in a terrific role ) and tries to save this girl leading to an ending that 's satisfying , but turns into a typical action movie
.
that 's pretty much it on plot .
it does have the razzle and dazzle of a great action movie , and with the 100 m dollar budget parts seem to show it , parts you have to wonder where all the money went .
as for arnie ?
good role ,
ok performance .
i think since he is getting a little older he is held back a lot of his stunts .
the thing that disappointed me was the fact that there was nothing to the film
.
in the trailers it looks like a good scary , action film and ends up being a boring , long and preposterous drama that leads into something else that leaves us with questions .
gabriel byrnes ( who ironically played a priest in " stigmata " ) here plays satan and gives a good performance but again seems held back and not into his character .
two years back al pacino gave a terrific performance in the fun " the devil 's advocate " and here it seems like the idea of him is in the character also .
robin tunney ( great performance as always ) plays satan 's main person whom he wants to impregnate to carry his child .
of course rod stieger gives another great performance which really is n't nothing new .
the direction by peter hyams is at times a bit overblown , though not nearly as the visual style was in " stigmata " .
here we are given great camera work , and some great scenes that are terrifically directed but sadly just do n't work in this movie .
the script written by andrew marlowe has a few witty lines , but again the movie is all style and no substance and by the ending finale climax i was ready to go home .
only a few things work here and those are a few of the performances , the writing and visual style , but the storyline and the finished product do n't work as well .
the sad thing is that " end of days " had so many things going for it .
the plot could have been more organized , the action scenes could have been more brainy and less mind - numbing
.
at times it seems like " armageddon " and started to get old and tiresome .
hollywood is running out of ideas bad , and like i 've always said before needs new ones .
even with its 100 m budget " end of days " is less than pleasing .
in fact the 100 m dollar budget is at least 30 m over , and easily could have had a 70 m budget .
maybe i sound crazy , but i am really looking forward to the new exorcist film , and hope that they make it as good as the original .
we need to get new ideas and stop recycling old ones just to make money at the box - office .
we need to get more films like " the blair witch project " that could scare people to death , while people thinking well what exactly is scaring them and how do i know that it is in fact the blair witch .
overblown effects , stupid and thin plot - line , good performances , disappointing . . . .
umm
yup those pretty much describe " end of days " .

A:
N
****