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

[Q]: " psycho meets the exorcist with no holds barred " .
a blurb like that sounds like desperate publicity for some low budget , third rate rip - off .
but no , this tacky plug comes from the poster for suspiria , perhaps italian horror director dario argento 's most consistently successful film .
what impresses most in re - watching this surrealistic , supernatural thriller is that argento 's directorial flair and stylish visuals are matched by a near - fully coherent narrative .
screenplays have always been his achilles heel ; confusing subplots , gaping holes , totally illogical incidents and reactions .
no question : argento has always been a better director than a writer .
fortunately , he gets the plotting pretty well right with suspiria , taking his cue from a book by thomas de quincey called " suspiria de profundis " .
the film 's storyline suffers from no major lapses in logic , provided one can accept the premise of a ballet school being a front for a coven of witches .
jessica harper plays an american who travels to germany to further her studies in dance .
arriving at the school late at night in driving rain , she sees a girl leave and run into the storm in a clearly distressed state .
what happens next - and i do n't make the comparison lightly - is a murder sequence that for intensity , shock value and sheer directorial flair ranks alongside alfred hitchcock 's infamous shower scene in psycho .
it 's quite possibly a homage to hitchcock , but with its baroque sets , graphic gore and brilliantly chaotic musical accompaniment by the gothic rock group goblin , this stunning sequence remains very much argento 's own .
though nothing else quite equals the intensity of suspiria 's opening 15 minutes , the film continues to be never anything less than engrossing as harper begins her own investigations and slowly comes to realise this is no ordinary ballet school .
we meet an assortment of slightly sinister characters , most notably the head ballet teacher played by alida valli in another one of those delicious sour - old - matriarch - from - hell roles she does so well .
several more violent murders ensue , including a startling scene in a deserted square where a blind man is . . .
well , i would n't want to spoil things now , would i ?
and the film 's climax , staged amid secret corridors and hidden rooms , has a gothic ghoulishness
that 's most impressive .
the english language versions of most argento movies usually suffer trimming , and not just for the violence - deep red and phenomena , for example , have been appallingly hacked about .
fortunately , the cuts to suspiria ( about 7 minutes in this version ) have not adversely affected the film .
the dubbing of the italian actors into english is quite competently done , too , excepting one appalling and unintentionally hilarious effort with a conversation between harper and a professor about the history of witchcraft in the region .
and the soundtrack ?
it is interesting to imagine what power the film would have lost if it had been scored by someone else .
as it stands , the use of goblin 's music in suspiria is outstanding .
apparently , argento played the soundtrack on location while filming so the actors could hear the music as they acted out their parts .
a stereo video player adds greatly to the viewer 's overall experience .
even better , see suspiria in a cinema , where you 'll get the added bonus of widescreen .
and the colours !
deep reds , eerie blues , a superb use of shadow and contrast .
the cinematography of luciano tovoli , whose more recent credits include reversal of fortune and single white female , is uniformly superb .
a nod also must go to production designer giuseppe bassan for his wonderful baroque interiors .
these kinds of settings are crucial to the atmosphere of argento 's more surreal excursions , the other most notable example being inferno ( 1980 ) on which bassan also worked .
suspiria is the film that broke dario argento into the major league of european directors , and it is fully deserving of its cult status .
the gore is at times a little excessive and overstated - that 's always been one of argento 's shortcomings - but overall
this is a fascinating , compelling example of italian horror .
[A]: P


[Q]: every once in a while , when an exceptional family film comes along , i will attempt to champion it by challenging parents to put their money where their mouths have been ; with all the hubbub over the lack of films suitable for children , it is remarkable how many non - disney films disappear in a couple of weeks .
now i see that in so doing , i have unfairly ghettoized these films .
so i am issuing my challenge not just to parents , but to anyone who wants to support smart , funny , energetic film - making : see matilda .
see it in a theater , rather than shrugging and waiting for it on video .
see
the best film i have seen in 1996 .
not the best children 's film .
. .
the best film . period .
based on a story by roald dahl , it tells of young matilda wormwood ( mara wilson ) , an extraordinarily bright girl whose great misfortune it is to have a pair of deeply stupid parents : harry ( danny devito ) , a crooked used car salesman ; and zinnia ( rhea perlman ) , a simple - minded bingo addict .
the wormwoods barely notice matilda exists , and when they do , it is only to scold her for spending too much time reading books .
when they finally do send her to school , it is to crunchem hall , a bleak place run by cruel , child - hating miss agatha trunchbull ( pam ferris ) .
but things begin to look up for matilda when she discovers a sympathetic teacher , miss honey ( embeth davidtz ) , who nurtures her natural inquisitiveness .
matilda also discovers another special talent -- the ability to move things with her mind -- which allows her to help herself and miss honey to overcome miss trunchbull 's cruelty .
it was this spring 's james and the giant peach which inspired me to note that the best and most lasting tales for children tended to have more than a hint of darkness to them , and you can bet that the roald dahl responsible for the gleeful ghoulishness of james and willy wonka and the chocolate factory has more of the same in store with matilda .
and just as james benefited from the dark sensibilities of henry selick and tim burton , matilda soars on the cock - eyed direction of danny devito .
devito made black humor a key element in throw momma from the train and the war of the roses , and he contributes some memorable images .
in one scene , an unfortunate girl is made an example of by miss trunchbull when she is picked up by her pig - tails and flung through the air like a throwing hammer ; later , an overweight boy is forced to eat an entire massive cake after he is caught stealing a dessert .
matilda is just twisted enough to be a perfect fairy tale .
it is also characteristic of the best children 's tales that they manage to teach lessons in such a way that children almost do n't realize that they are learning them .
there is a hilarious moment when matilda 's television - addicted father snatches away the book she is reading ( in a wicked joke , he thinks _
moby dick _ is pornographic ) and forces her to watch an inane game show ( hosted by jon lovitz ) in which contestants are smeared with adhesive and placed in a booth filled with cash blowing around .
matilda is a story which promotes the value of intellectual curiosity over passive entertainment , and it does so while poking holes in that most frustrating of notions for a child -- that because " i 'm big and you 're little
, i 'm right and you 're wrong .
"
more specifically , it has as
its heroine an intelligent , self - confident girl who struggles successfully against other people 's notions of how she should behave .
it is no coincidence that matilda was co - written by robin swicord , who contributed the superb recent adaptation of little women .
finally , matilda has that quality i find rarest and most treasured in family entertainment : it is family entertainment in the truest sense of the word .
devito knows enough to make matilda fast - paced and appealing to children , taking a deliciously nasty performance by pam ferris as miss trunchbull and making it the focal point of some priceless physical comedy , including a great chase through her dark house .
the child actors are winning but never obnoxiously adorable , with mara wilson making matilda a clever and extremely likeable character .
but there are also many , many delights for adults , including my favorite scene in which matilda uses her powers to frighten miss trunchbull by having chalk write on a chalkboard by itself while matilda 's classmates recite in sing - song fashion ; there is also a deadpan cameo by paul reubens as an fbi agent staking out matilda 's father .
i ca n't imagine anyone of any age leaving matilda feeling as though his or her intelligence had been insulted .
matilda is a film which left me glowing with good feeling .
i will see it again , and years from now i will watch it with my children .
and now i will stop , because somewhere near you matilda is about to begin , and there is a seat in that theater you should be in , if you have a child or ever were a child .
[A]: P


[Q]: m : i-2 , the sequel to mission impossible , is a james bond wannabe film , but it fails to even come close to that film in wit , humor , and entertainment value .
it tries to be a spy / romance movie , but without any suspense the film just looks like it 's an extended commercial for dudes who think they look cool in throwaway sunglasses .
it is a film that prefers techie gadgets to anything human .
the coolest thing about this movie , was all the holes it had in its story and the most trite thing about the movie , was the usage of doves throughout as peace symbols .
the film plays as if it was a wet fantasy dream about techie violence .
except for the choreographed action sequences , the film was dull for three - quarters of its time , filled with too many dead spots in its story to garner concern about its wooden characters or the superficial romance that developed .
as for the action scenes , they might look good to those who are converts to violence in their films , but their advertisement for sadistic responses , is nothing short of mindless cartoon violence , which makes it very difficult to sit back and applaud without feeling put off by the gratuitous cruelty seen .
m : i-2 opens and closes with fast - paced action scenes , but it is hard to get past the middle part which just drags on in banal dialogue .
the film looks as if it had been invaded by a computer virus , at that point .
the only thing that kept me awake , was the horrible music composed by hans zimmer that became very loud at any of the film 's supposedly momentous action scenes and seemed to make an uninteresting scene even more noticeable in the wrong way .
it 's a mega - buck film adapted from a popular high - tech gadgetry tv series .
but its artistic success is an impossible task to accomplish because it hired the wrong director and actors to star in it , and it failed to produce a story that had any substance .
john woo ( " broken arrow " / " face / off " ) is good at doing car chases , choreographed fights with midair flips and kung - fu kicks , slo - mo shots of two guns blazing , and of fire explosions , but he just ca n't seem to handle dialogue and suspense .
the star of the film and co - producer , tom cruise , and his romantic interest , thandie newton , are miscast .
cruise is no james bond and looks more like a yuppie than a superhero in his stylish long hair and innocuous smile , as he tries to carry off this macho role , while thandie is not an action - film girl , and seems like a fish- out - of - water in this one .
their romance did n't work , not only was it tepid and not sexy , but it was n't convincing .
the film opens with dizzying speed , perhaps with the hope that a befuddled audience is its best bet for success .
we will be in three different locations instantaneously : sydney , the american southwest , and seville .
first , we are in sydney , australia , where a scientist with a muffled russian accent , dr .
nekhorvich ( rade )
, mentions that he created a deadly killer virus called chimera and an antidote for it .
he also mentions that every hero needs a worthy villain .
which explains the film 's mythic theme .
.. as we enter the world of comic book myths on good and evil .
the one who played the villain , dougray scott , does so in a one - dimensional gruff tone , which did not distinguish him in that role .
at least , if the film got
the villain part right , it might have had some fun with this nonsense .
soon the diabolical scientist is on a plane talking to someone he trusts called dimitri , but then the plane is taken over by terrorists who set it on automatic pilot and crash it into the rocky mountains . before they crash the plane and parachute out of it , the one who was posing as dimitri , turns out to be sean ambrose ( scott ) , a rogue member of the imf , which is a cia - like clone .
he steals the package with the antidote , peels off a latex mask , which is a replica of the hero of the story , ethan hunt ( cruise ) , who had posed as dimitri to the scientist before and had thereby gained his trust .
sean and his group of terrorists carry out this attack because they plan a virus plague on the world and then to sell the victims the antidote at marked up prices .
we already saw the gimmick of peeling masks used in face / off and in the original mission impossible , which as convoluted a plot as that film had , it was still a superior film to this sequel .
woo has run this peeling mask routine into the ground , as it is used so often in this film by both sides , so much so , that it blurs any ethical character differences between good guy or villain .
it makes it seem as if anyone could be another character , which distorts the reality of the film and makes it impossible for the film to make much sense .
next we are in a mountain range in the american southwest , and ethan is on vacation , hanging by his fingertips while climbing and looking cool , when a helicopter with his boss anthony hopkins aboard , delivers via a rocket launcher , a pair of talking sunglasses .
hunt learns his next mission is to retrieve the chimera package and he is allowed to pick two regular imf agents to help , billy baird ( john polson ) and luther stickell ( ving rhames ) , with luther running a high - gadget computer , but he also must get a jewel thief named nyah hall ( thandie ) to join his team .
he is told , as an incentive to recruit her , all her criminal charges will be dropped .
hopkins then signs off with the tag line : this message will self - destruct in five seconds .
actually , with the departure of hopkins , it was this disposable film that actually self - destructed at this point .
in seville , hunt recruits nyah into the team in the middle of a jewel heist and a subsequent car chase , where he nearly runs her audi sports car over the side of a mountain road .
he also falls for her when this was only supposed to be a business deal , and learns that she is valuable because her ex - boyfriend was sean ambrose and that he still wants to f
* ck her .
the imf team then inject a location tracer chip into her to spot sean so she can go f
* ck him , as she leads them to his hide - out in the seaside of australia in which he shares with his sneering villainous cohort , the south african , hugh stamp ( richard roxburgh ) .
robert towne , the screenwriter , who contributed to the first " mission , " who is noted for doing " chinatown " -- writes a colorless , pedestrian script , one that fails even to be funny in a camp way .
the terrorists , who aim to rule the world , are interested in owning 51 percent in a biotech company and in getting stock options , as they plan to infect sydney with the virus and have their company sell the antidote , insuring that they will make billions on the stock .
ethan comes to the rescue of the world and of nyah , with his only conflict being who is more important to save first .
ethan does this rescue against all odds , as he finds a way to penetrate a security tight biotech company , fight it out with sean and the other terrorists , and rescue nyah , who injected herself with the virus to hinder sean 's getting it , as the only way to transport the virus is through another person or from the vaccine needle .
ethan rescues her by doing stunt riding on a motorcycle , using kick - boxing , winning a shootout , throwing a full john wayne supply of grenades at the terrorists , making some more use out of that peeling mask bit , and by being completely fearless and larger than life , while he kick 's everyone 's ass .
if i was only entertained by this .
..
i could have lived with it .
but this film was so badly made , that it was like watching a highlight film of a basketball game , seeing only the slam - dunks , but with the game itself being excluded from the telecast .
in any case , this is a critic - proof film , and will in all probability do well in the box office , as it was made to appeal to all the demographics who find commercial ventures like this one easy to buy into .
[A]:
N