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

in 1990 , the surprise success an unheralded little movie called ghost instantly rescued the moribund careers of its trio of above - the - title stars , patrick swayze , demi moore , and whoopi goldberg .
eight years later , moore and goldberg 's careers are n't exactly thriving , but they have had their share of screen successes since ; the same ca n't be said of swayze , who has just added yet another turkey to his resume with the aptly named black dog .
forget the mortal kombat movies -- this trucksploitation flick is the closest the movies has come to video games .
good truck driver jack crews ( swayze ) must drive a cargo of illegal firearms from atlanta to new jersey .
along the way , jack and his crew of three run into a number of obstacles -- such as a highway weigh station , evil truckers , and deadly uzi - firing motorcyclists .
every so often , like at the end of a video game " level " or " stage , " the main baddie pops up : red ( meat loaf , fresh from the triumph of spice world ) , who wants to steal the cache of guns .
just in
case you forget his name or have trouble keeping track of who 's driving what , all of red 's vehicles , be it a pickup or a big rig , are painted -- you guessed it --
red .
i could go into more of the plot specifics ( such as jack 's dream of having a nice home with his family , the past trauma that sent him to prison and cost him his trucking license , the fbi / atf crew tracking the cargo ) , but they are of little importance .
all that matters to director kevin hooks and writers william mickelberry and dan vining are the obstacles jack confronts in his drive from point a to point b .
but they fail at even this modest goal , for none of the highway chaos , as credibly staged as it is , is terribly interesting , let alone exciting .
once you 've seen a couple of trucks bang against each other or a big rig explode the first time
, you 've seen it every time .
as dreary as black dog is as an entertainment ,
the saddest part about the film has nothing to do with what shows up onscreen ; it 's that swayze has to reduce himself to such work .
while far from the best of actors , he is certainly not horrible , and he is a charismatic presence .
i do n't know if it 's his judgment or the dearth of quality job offers that leads him to involve himself with bombs such as black dog .
regardless , if he continues on this career track , could a tv series be far behind ?
N

the most interesting thing about virus is that the title of the film does not refer to the clunky robotic animals that try to kill our heroes .
alas , it refers to our heroes !
as it turns out , the alien race that sends a computer virus to earth ( via the mir space station ) thinks of the human race as a virus -- perhaps even a cancer -- that needs to be eradicated before it spreads any further .
after all , we have taken up this entire planet , and if they let us live for another billion years or so , we might advance beyond our solar system and into the next one .
but the human race does n't have much to worry about .
after all , there 's a woman named foster ( jamie lee curtis )
out there stopping the computer virus .
she 's the chief navigator on a sea vessel ; travelling with her is captain everton ( donald sutherland ) , steve baker ( william baldwin ) , woods ( marshall bell ) , squeaky ( julio oscar mechoso ) , and richie ( sherman augustus ) .
they 're all sailing in a typhoon one lovely evening when they stumble across an enormous , abandoned russian satellite ship in international waters .
lucky for us , we already saw that the computer virus has taken over the ship and eliminated everyone on board .
the evil captain everton thinks he 's going to take the ship in and get a reward ; he convinces his crew that there 's going to be big money , so they try to salvage the ship .
soon , however , when it 's apparent that no one is on board and that the ship has no power , they realize that something bad must have happened .
finally , they meet nadia ( joanna pacula ) who explains their situation : a computer virus has taken over the ship !
it 's creating bio - mechanical life - forms to eliminate the human race !
virus is a truly dumb action thriller , one of negligible intelligence and innovation .
when considering the entire film , you will realize that it lacks a single original scene .
it 's a direct rip - off of nearly every james cameron film ( aliens , the abyss , and the terminator films are the most plagiarized ) ; more importantly , it 's basically the same movie as last year 's deep rising .
i liked deep rising simply because it 's funny
-- it knows it 's silly and derivative .
virus takes itself seriously .
and , in the most serious manner possible ,
it steals from every good and bad film of the genre , showing you countless familiar scenes , and sporting a cookie - cutter plot that any film of the sci - fi / horror genre could fit with a little trimming .
but what is so amazing about virus is how poorly the whole thing has been thought out .
okay , let me get this straight --
the alien race ( which is never really explained ) is basically sentient electricity .
they need to make themselves physical , so they use a space station to get onto a ship ( which is surrounded by water , but who cares about that ) .
on the ship , they make a bunch of clunky , immobile robots that somehow kill three hundred people .
after that , they start using the dead people to create half - human , half - machine creatures that look like the terminator but are much worse at walking around .
the leader , of course , is a big creature .
every film like this has a big creature at the end , but the big creature in virus is so big that it has to tear down the walls to move around .
virus is indeed a cliched film , but the central flaw lies in the fact that the computer virus just is n't very threatening .
it 's established that they can simply turn off the power to stop it , but the virus has sealed the power room by the time our heroes get there .
on one level , virus is almost passable fun .
it 's really gory , and a few of the scenes have interesting camp appeal ( the director , john bruno , worked on a lot of cameron 's films ) .
there 's also a nice array of actors , even though none of them do any acting
( except for donald sutherland , who does a lot of very bad acting ) .
the bottom line , however , is this : virus is a bad movie .
it rips off a lot of good movies that are worth seeing .
in that order , i recommend that you rent any one of the alien films , simply to admire the qualities of a creature that actually threatens our heroes .
N

in chocolat , a chocolate shop owner tells her customers to look into a spinning object of obscure textures , patterns , and lines , hoping she 'll be able to foresee the kind of chocolate they 'll most enjoy .
some scoff the idea , but everyone who gazes into the complexity of the spinning object winds up seeing something different than the next , revealing personality traits which the person may not have known they had before .
this can easily stand as a model for chocolat as a whole : on the surface , it appears to be a light , fluffy fable with no depth or true worth , but when one takes a second , deeper look , chocolat 's true colors begin to shine through . making a bold statement about organized religion and those who practice it , lasse hallstrom 's chocolat is flawlessly acted and meticulously crafted - not to mention one of the best films of the year .
what gives chocolat its magic , much like hallstrom 's 1999 winner of two academy awards , the cider house rules , is its willingness to say what 's on its mind without holding back to prevent offending audiences .
the bold and honest message hallstrom conveys with chocolat will no doubt outrage a select group of viewers , but
those who are willing to suspend their bitterness because they feel they are being intimidated or attacked should find themselves to be in agreement with what the film says about narrow - mindedness .
chocolat centers its story around the small french village of lansquenet , where majority rules , and the majority lives by only one law : religion .
the bulk of the townspeople ( with few exceptions ) are preparing for the sacred time of abstinence , lent , but when the independent thinking , seemingly non - religious vianne rocher ( juliette binoche ) and her daughter anouk ( victoire thivisol ) make the village their home , the people will be tempted beyond belief by the mouth - watering confections in the chocolate shop vianne opens .
many are predictably opposed and deeply offended by vianne 's opening of the chocolate shop just in time for lent , especially the mayor , comte de reynaud ( a cartoon - like alfred molina ) , who will stop at nothing to put her out of business .
on the other hand , the shop is a delight to others , including the cranky armande voizin ( judi dench ) , who sits day by day in vianne 's shop , telling the single mother about her unfortunate detached relationship with her grandson ( aurelien parent - koening ) , which comes as a result of his mother ( carrie - ann moss ) believing armande is a bad influence , as she does not hold the same , strict religious beliefs that she does .
also a fan of the chocolate is the nervous wreck josephine muscat , whose husband is constantly beating her , to whom vianne offers a home and befriends .
juliette binoche is charming and honest as vianne ,
genuinely capturing her character 's determination to turn the narrow - minded townspeople into more happy , independent human beings , but most of chocolat 's success is unquestionably a result of the remarkable performances of the supporting actresses .
lena olin , previously nominated for an oscar in 1989 , deserves her second nomination for her earnest , moving portrayal of a lost , scared woman torn between staying true to her battering , manipulative husband or leaving him to live the life which for which she longs .
judi dench is sharp , incisive , and occasionally greatly touching as armande voizin .
carrie ann - moss , in what is likely to be her first largely noticed ( and acclaimed ) role since the matrix , shows a more solid side of her acting skills not previously seen , crafting a character that the viewer both sympathizes with and despises simultaneously .
victoire thivisol shows much promise as anouk , a young girl hoping her always - on - the - move mother will eventually settle down .
a trade ad for chocolat sums up best the power the actresses have on screen with the tagline : " five extraordinary women , one extraordinary movie .
"
that 's not to say the men do n't do their share , though : alfred molina makes for a sly and utterly repugnant antagonist , hugh o'conor adds quite a bit of comic relief as the priest who seems to not even know why he is who he is , and johnny depp gives a strong performance as the pirate roux , who enters the film late in the game and sparks the romantic interest of vianne .
the technical aspects of chocolat are strong across the board
: lasse hallstrom directs his enchanting fable with great care , perfectly balancing the elements of each genre to be found within the film .
cinematographer roger pratt brings an atmospheric , fairy tale look to the film , and
rachel portman 's masterful score is her best and most memorable since the cider house rules .
chocolat , adapted by robert nelson jacobs from the joanne harris novel , is a wonderful little treat of a film , one that will most likely win over the hearts of audiences and the votes of academy members this winter , and the aggressive backing of miramax films assures the latter .
while not as powerful as the cider house rules , lasse hallstrom 's chocolat is a film which works on all levels - as a drama , a comedy , a fable , a romance , and a fairy tale .
and it even lives up to its name : it is delicious to savor the taste of , easy to digest , and , like all excellent chocolate , it is memorable for days afterward .
the bottom line : chocolat is pure pleasure .

P