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

one never quite knows what one is going to get with a mamet film .
his american buffalo is a set - bound piece that has very little plot .
sometimes he will tell a story that really moves .
heist is mamet
doing his most entertaining work .
unlike his the spanish prisoner , there are no lapses in credibility .
heist is probably the best mamet thriller since house of games .
it is the kind of plot with which you are never sure who will double - cross whom , and frequently it is mamet double - crossing the viewer .
watching the film 's team getting around security the viewer is frequently asking himself either " what the heck are they doing ?
"
or " why did n't anybody think of that before ? " appropriately enough heist opens with a very clever jewelry store job .
it is so clever that one wonders if mamet really thinks up all these ideas himself or if he has help from professional magician and con expert ricky jay , now a regular actor in mamet films .
this is a robbery that works like a well - oiled machine .
there is just one problem and it is enough to get joe moore ( played by gene hackman ) filmed on a security camera .
now joe has to get out of the business .
it was coming time anyway .
joe 's team including bobby blane ( delroy lindo ) , fran moor ( rebecca pidgeon ) , and pinky pincus ( ricky jay ) is going to split up and go separate ways .
but crime boss bergman ( danny devito ) is pulling the strings
and he says that joe and his people have to manage one more robbery .
and he has to take along a young kid , the short- fused jimmy silk ( sam rockwell ) .
immediately it is obvious that there is more going on than meets the eye .
much of what distinguishes heist is mamet 's dialog .
remarkably it serves a double purpose .
the robbery team sounds at once very professional and at the same time it has mamet 's special feel for dialog
.
hackman has lines like " everybody needs money .
that 's why they call it money .
"
mamet 's timing is perfect in the direction but terrible in the production .
the plot is coincidentally a lot like the plot of the recent the score , which is , in fact , a very similar story .
both are good films , perhaps for some of the same reasons .
but at least on a high level they are much the same story .
the other problem with the timing of heist is that it involves airport security and clever ways to get around them .
i saw the film at the toronto international film festival on september 12 , 2001 .
that made the subject matter just a little too timely .
my understanding is that the release will be delayed .
my biggest problem with the film is that rebecca pidgeon 's acting at times seems very poor .
it is some kind of mamet trademark i do not understand to have women talk without inflection , as if they are just reading the words for the first time .
it is an irritation and distracts us from what is
otherwise a very good thriller .
it is one i rate an 8 on the 0 to 10 scale and a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale .
P

in double jeopardy , the stakes are high .
think of the plot as a rehash of sleeping with the enemy , and then rearrange the details and the gender of the stalker .
the finished product , although able to maintain the viewer 's attention , is
a predictable and unexciting thriller with an idiotic script .
` alex , i 'll take homicide for $ 400 . . . '
libby parsons ( ashley judd ) is a happily married mom leading a normal life .
one night , her husband nick ( bruce greenwood ) takes her out for a romantic escape on a sailboat .
libby awakens in the middle of the night to find she is covered in blood and nick has strangely disappeared .
she follows a trail of bloody footprints up to the deck , where she handles a fallen knife ( like any stupid character ) and is spotted by the coast guard , who are responding to a distress signal sent earlier in the evening .
nick is presumed dead , and although she pleads her innocence , libby is tried and convicted for the murder of her husband .
now , please do n't think i 'm spoiling any vital plot details , because the informative trailer has already spilled most of the beans . if you have n't seen this preview , do n't read any further .
but seriously , the inane screenplay by douglas
weisberg and douglas s
.
cook is so elementary that the average viewer will be two or three steps ahead of the characters .
during the most vital scenes in the movie , i was anticipating every twist or ` surprise ' that eventually popped up on the screen .
i imagine the writers presume their core audience for double jeopardy is a very naive group of individuals .
most , unfortunately , will be too distracted by the moronic plot to appreciate the few positive aspects of the production .
one is tommy lee jones , who plays travis lehman , a parole officer given the tedious task of watching over libby after she serves her sentence in prison .
jones is always wonderful as an authority figure , and he 's certainly familiar with this sort of role ( as he played so well in the fugitive and us marshals ) .
judd , as a likable heroin with gusto , also has a chance to flex her acting abilities .
while emotionally unconvincing , the actress is tremendously fun in her juvenile role , perking up the movie like an injection of anti - depressant .
the actors , and their relationship together , present the one - two punch that prevents double jeopardy from derailing itself entirely .
and now , back to the plot .
while behind bars , libby learns an interesting little bit of information : a person ca n't be convicted of the same crime twice .
this law , called ` double jeopardy ' , could be her motive for hunting down her husband .
.
. who may still be alive .
yes , you heard right .
the movie degenerates into a cross - country chase , where everything you expect to happen . . .
does .
the final scenes , which could have redeemed the film , are poorly handled by director bruce beresford - whose previous work centers highly around drama ( driving miss daisy , paradise road ) .
ironically , it is those elements - like the driving force of libby to reunite with her son - that do n't quite work here .
at least double jeopardy is paced well enough to satisfy diehard fans of the two stars .
unfortunately , jones lacks some of the edge that he had as sam gerard in the fugitive , and the real depth of his character is only skin deep .
but he and ashley judd are more than welcome considering the material , and both have some memorable comic moments .
judd , in particular , has a hilarious scene in which she wards off an oncoming male by explaining she has to check in with her ` parole officer ' .
hmmm .
. .
perhaps this would have made a good comedy .
it is disappointing , because there are the makings of a competent action film here .
it 's nicely shot and choreographed in downtown vancouver , and will entertain those who are n't turned off by the woeful story - line .
?
tis a shame that double jeopardy is an adult thriller that would n't fool most children .
N

call it a road trip for the walking wounded .
stellan skarsg ?
rd plays such a convincingly zombified drunken loser that it 's difficult to spend nearly two hours of screen time in his smelly , boozed - out presence .
yet this ever - reliable swedish actor adds depth and significance to the otherwise plodding and forgettable aberdeen ,
a sentimental and painfully mundane european drama .
playwright august strindberg built his career on families and relationships paralyzed by secrets , unable to express their longings until the hour is far too late .
that 's an accurate reflection of what aberdeen strives for , focusing on the pairing of an alcoholic father , tomas ( skarsg ? rd ) and his alienated , openly hostile yuppie daughter , kaisa ( lena headey , gossip ) .
they have n't spoken in years , and would n't even be making the long trip from norway to aberdeen , scotland by automobile if it were n't for kaisa 's mother ( charlotte rampling , under the sand ) rotting away in a hospital bed from cancer .
in a soap opera twist , mother has only a few days to live .
( only in the movies , right ? )
too blitzed to even step foot on a plane , tomas hits the open road with kaisa .
loathing each other all the while , they make periodic stops for tomas to puke on the dashboard or pass out -- whenever he is n't muttering
what a rotten kid she turned out to be .
despite his sloshed viewpoint , tomas recognizes that the apple has n't fallen very far from the tree .
kaisa gets nosebleeds from snorting coke , sabotages her personal relationships through indifference , and is unable to restrain her quick and vindictive temper .
ai n't they a pair ? unable to find true notes of unspoken familial empathy in the one - note and repetitively bitchy dialogue , screenwriters kristin amundsen and hans petter moland fabricate a series of contrivances to propel events forward -- lost money , roving street hooligans looking for drunks to kick around , nosy cops , and flat tires all figure into the schematic and convenient narrative .
by the time they reach the hospital , it 's time to unveil the secrets from a dark past that are not only simplistic devices that trivialize the father - daughter conflict , they 're also the mainstays of many a bad strindberg wannabe .
this revelation exists purely for its own sake .
aberdeen does n't know where else to go .
weak , unimaginative casting thwarts the pivotal role of kaisa .
if lena headey were a stronger actress , perhaps aberdeen could have been able to coast on the performances and moody , haunting cinematography ( rendering norway into its own pastoral ghost world -- the reference to a certain superior american indie flick intentional ) .
headey 's too busy acting , using her face and furrowed brow to convey every last twitch of insouciance .
if she were paying any attention to skarsg ?
rd , maybe she 'd figure out that doing less can reveal so much more .
it 's worthwhile to compare aberdeen to an earlier film released in 2001 , jonathan nossiter 's captivating signs & wonders .
it 's not
just because skarsg ?
rd and rampling played disturbed parental figures in both films
( they 're not bound by ceremonial wedlock in aberdeen ) .
the differences in the way their characters were presented is significant .
in aberdeen , rampling is a luminous diva , preening and static in her hospital bed .
despite skarsg ?
rd 's solid performance as tomas , his pathetic drunk is never given much of a chance to emote anything besides catatonic sorrow .
there 's genuine ferocity and sexually charged frisson during their understated confrontations in signs & wonders , allowing them to suggest a gray zone of complications that accompany torn romance and years of stifled curiosity .
nossiter 's film thoroughly explores this neurotic territory in addition to delving into the americanization of greece and the use of mysticism as an illusion to deflect pain .
if signs & wonders sometimes feels overloaded with ideas , at least it 's willing to stretch beyond what we 've come to expect from traditional drama .
aberdeen is never half so ambitious , content to sleepwalk through the rhythms and timing of other movies .
when did character driven stories stop paying attention to the complexities of real life ?
the depressing answer can be found in lawrence kasdan 's trite but occasionally useful grand canyon , where steve martin 's hollywood mogul pronounces , " all of life 's riddles are answered in the movies !
" even foreign films are taking that advice to heart .

N