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

[EX Q]: roman emperor marcus aurelius ( richard harris ) chooses his trusted general maximus ( russell crowe ) as his successor .
however the emperor 's evil son commodus ( joaquin phoenix ) murders his father before the announcement can be made , and maximus ( as well as his family ) is sentenced to be executed .
maximus is able to escape his executioners , but is later captured and sold as a slave to proximo ( oliver reed ) .
proximo is looking for gladiators to earn himself money ( he being a former gladiator himself ) , and maximus reluctantly uses his skills to prove himself a powerful gladiator .
when emperor commodus announces that new games will be held in the colisseum , proximo takes his gladiators there to do battle .
maximus sees this as his chance to exact revenge on commodus .
gladiator begins with a great battle sequence between the roman army and germania , and actually is able to maintain interest during the now required " 40 minutes of exposition after a kick ass opening sequence " style of moviemaking .
the only downfall of the opening sequence is the editing style used . . .
it 's choppy slow - motion which is unsettling and distracting .
it 's similar to the opening sequence in saving private ryan , but nowhere near as effective .
the actual gladiator battles are thrilling , but also a bit disjointed .
many times it 's unclear as to exactly what 's going on .
. .
all the audience can tell is that blood is being spilled .
we 're not sure who 's blood or by who 's hand though .
there 's an instance of this earlier in the film too
that 's disappointing .
it 's comes when maximus escapes his executioners .
some flashes and a few quick cuts later and maximus is free . . .
but i still do n't know exactly how he did it .
russell crowe should have become a major star after his gleefully over the top role as a computer generated serial killer in 1995 's virtuosity .
for whatever reason his stardom never arrived . . .
but he should have it now .
from here on moviegoers should now be able to say , " let 's go see the new russell crowe movie " .
he gets the best scene in the film ( and one of the best moments of all recent movies ) when he reveals his identity to commodus in the colisseum .
it 's both rousing and chilling
.
joaquin phoenix
does a very effective job of making commodus a person and not just a cartoon character ( which could have easily happened ) .
commodus is conniving , sneaky and whiny , but phoenix never lets the character get silly .
it 's a very good ( and very creepy ) performance .
oliver reed died during the filming of gladiator , and it 's a huge loss to the acting world .
i 've always been fascinated with reed .
. .
he 's one of those very talented performers who once had a fine career but ended up in direct to video junk during his twilight years .
it 's ironic that this film probably would have gotten him back into real movies again , as he gives a fun and sincere performance .
the film is dedicated to him , and he will surely be missed .
reed 's death presented the filmmakers with an obvious problem , as he still had scenes to be completed . rather than recast the role ( and end up reshooting a great deal of footage ) , a digital version of oliver reed was created at a reported cost of 2 million dollars .
ironically , that was probably more money than reed ever earned for a single film .
anyway , this digital effect is only used in one scene that i am aware of ( for about twenty seconds ) and if you are n't looking for it you wo n't even be able to tell .
some of the other digital effects are less convincing however .
. .
and like i always say , noticable digital effects take me out of a movie immediately .
it 's sad that such a good film has these distractions .
movies like the fall of the roman empire and spartacus seemed to do okay without the use of computer effects .
keep in mind that gladiator is based on real people and real events , but is entirely a work of fiction .
however it 's a work of fiction that 's great entertainment , and
another film to add to the list of damn fine flicks released in 2000 a .
d .
[EX A]: P

[EX Q]: " mandingo " has traditionally been seen as one of two things : either a much - needed revisionist look at slavery in the south , or in the words of film critic leonard maltin , " a trashy potboiler " that " appeals only to the s&m crowd .
"
actually , i think " mandingo " is a strange combination of the two , although
it fails on both fronts .
it 's too trashy to be good drama , but too dramatic to be good trash .
the story takes place on a dilapidated louisiana plantation run by crotchety old warren maxwell ( james mason ) and his son , hammond ( perry king ) .
one day in new orleans , hammond comes across a slave trader selling a mandingo named mede ( heavyweight boxer ken norton ) .
although the movie never explains it , a mandingo is simply the name for africans who come from the region of the upper niger river valley .
according to the movie , mandingos were the rolls royce of african slaves .
hammond pays top price for mede and has to fight off others in order to get him .
hammond then spends his time training mede to be a fighter in money brawls with other slaves .
meanwhile , hammond has married his cousin , blanche ( susan george ) , because she wants to escape her family and he is under pressure from his father to produce a grandchild .
hammond , however , is happier spending nights with his " bed wench , " the derogatory name given to female slaves used by their masters for easy sex .
it is quickly apparent that hammond , despite his overt racism , is more in love with his bed wench , a sensitive slave girl named ellen ( brenda sykes ) , than he is with blanche .
hammond considers blanche tainted goods because he finds out on their wedding night that another man had " pleasured " her before he did .
of course , it 's fine that he 's slept with numerous slave girls , but the fact that his wife , a " white lady , " had been with another man out of wedlock destroys his capacity to care for her .
so blanche is usually left lonely and sex - starved while hammond is sleeping with ellen .
blanche gets back at hammond by seducing the studly mede and bearing his child .
hammond and his father can not stand the idea that blanche has given birth to a half - black child ( although it 's okay that ellen was pregnant by hammond ) , so warren kills the child by letting it bleed to death after birth , and hammond poisons blanche .
hammond then finds mede , shoots him twice in the shoulder , and pushes him into a giant cauldron of boiling water .
yes , you read right : the film ends with hammond getting his revenge by boiling mede alive .
judging only by the plot , " mandingo " is pure sexploitation .
the main purpose of the film seems to be getting as many blacks and whites into bed together as possible , with only the slightest commentary on what that would mean in 19th century southern society .
when " mandingo " was released in 1975 , it was still a bit of a shocker to see miscegenation on screen in such a graphic detail ; this way the movie could revise cinematic history while attracting large audiences of curious voyeurs .
dramatically , " mandingo " is weak and unfocused , and historically it 's mostly confused .
if one were to judge history by this film , it would be easy to walk away with the notion that the entire system of american slavery was based on sexuality , not economics .
not once in the film do we see any of the slaves working , except for a few house servants .
the men spend most of the time sitting around , while the sole purpose of a female slave seems to be free sex for the owner .
there is historical basis in the notion that slave owners often slept with their female slaves , but " mandingo 's " overwhelming emphasis on this aspect of slavery gives the movie the unpleasant taste of a cheap sex flick ( although there 's plenty of violence -- fights , vicious beatings , shootings , and the aforementioned human boiling sequence -- thrown in for good measure ) .
some tried to write off " mandingo " as a blaxploitation film , one of a number of quickly - made , low - budget films appealing to black sensibilities in the early seventies , but it 's not that easy .
" mandingo " was studio - financed by paramount pictures , and produced by dino de laurentiis , the grandiose italian producer behind such notorious productions as " the bible " ( 1966 ) , the remake of " king kong " ( 1976 ) , and the ill - fated " dune " ( 1984 ) .
the director was richard fleischer , a veteran who was best known for several special effects - laden action movies including " 20 , 000 leagues under the sea " ( 1954 ) and " fantastic voyage " ( 1966 ) , as well as such superior suspense films as " the narrow margin " ( 1952 ) .
the script , based on the supermarket best - seller by ken ostott ( and the subsequent play by jack kirkland ) , was penned by norman wexler , who had been nominated for an oscar two years earlier for his work on " serpico .
" james mason , perry king , and susan george were well - known and respected actors ( mason already had three oscar nominations under his belt ) , and ken norton appeared to have a promising film career .
so why is " mandingo " so bad ?
a number of reasons , including the fact that all those experienced filmmakers behind and in front of the camera did a lousy job .
wexler 's script is pure poor hokum bordering on the offensive
; it combines stereotyped slave - talk ( " yessuh , massuh " ) , stereotyped southern white trash talk ( " fer whut're you gittin ' outta bed ? " ) , and stereotyped contemporary militant black talk ( " if you see me hang , you gon na know you killed a black brother ! " ) .
fleischer 's direction is clumsy , especially during the fight scenes , and all the actors give weak performances , especially susan george whose constant shrieking finally becomes laughable .
nevertheless , credit should be given where credit is due .
despite its exploitative nature , " mandingo " was one of the first hollywood movies to take an alternative look at slavery .
until then , there had been a kind of underlying racism in all hollywood films dealing with slavery .
even classics such as " gone with the wind " ( 1939 ) can be seen as inherently racist by its glossing over the subject matter .
" mandingo " reassessed the south , and showed that it was n't all beautiful plantations , green fields , and pretty sunsets .
but all this is constantly undermined by the film 's negligible point - of - view
-- it claims to see things from the black perspective , but the entire narrative focus is on the soap opera tales of the white owners .
with a little more maturity and different handling , " mandingo " might have been an effective , worthwhile film .
while it portrays many sensitive aspects of slavery , it never deals with them .
the issues the movie brings up are worthwhile , but wexler 's script refuses to move them beyond a surface level of trashily vicarious viewing .
there is a great deal of potential in honestly exploring the nature of a sexual relationship between slave and owner , but " mandingo " never does it .
steven spielberg touched on that same topic in " schindler 's list " ( 1993 ) , by looking at a nazi officer writhing in inner turmoil because of his feelings for a jewish maid .
the difference between that film and " mandingo " is that spielberg dealt with the situation in a fair , unexploitive manner that focused on the inherent human dilemma .
" mandingo " is satisfied to simply show some skin , and because of that , its " trashy potboiler " nature overshadows any potential social good it might have accomplished .
[EX A]: N

[EX Q]: logical time travel movies are a near - impossibility . considering that the skeptic 's best argument against the possibility of time travel is the idea of altered realities , writing a script that deals with this problem is an imposing task .
occasionally , we get a film that does manage it .
terry gilliam 's " 12 monkeys " was one such film .
but more frequently , we get films that do n't much deal with it at all .
there is one question to ask in this case : does the film have other virtues that override the existing logical inconsistencies ?
the " terminator " films made up for them with exciting action , " back to the future " did it with an entertaining story , and the new film " frequency " pulls off the trick with a strong package of its own .
is " frequency " filled with plot holes ?
yes .
does it matter ?
not really .
the film opens in october of 1969 .
firefighter frank sullivan ( dennis quaid ) puts his life on the line every time he suits up for his job , then goes home to his loving wife julia ( elizabeth mitchell ) and son johnny ( daniel henson ) .
the double - pronged story flashes forward to 1999 , where johnny ( now jim caviezel ) is all grown up and working as a police detective .
a strange occurrence -- the appearance of aurora borealis over new york city -- allows father and son to communicate through the same ham radio frank used in ' 69 and that john has found in the present day .
though both are initially skeptical of the idea , john eventually takes this opportunity to warn his father against his impending death in a warehouse fire , and he succeeds in saving frank from certain doom .
now flooded with memories of a full life with his father alive , john is initially overjoyed , until he discovers that the changes to the timeline have been disastrous :
a serial killer that would have died has instead lived to kill seven more women .
frank and john now must work together to set things right , with john using the information he has gathered in the future to instruct frank on what to do in the past .
the premise of " frequency " is unusual , and requires getting over one very important mental hurdle to fully accept : john and frank are the only ones conscious of how the timeline has been changed as a result of their actions .
this is n't explained ; you just have to go with it .
when frank does n't die in a fire , john is the only one who remembers it differently , while everyone else remembers it the new way .
the concept also runs into problems concerning just how synchronous the two realities -- 1969 and 1999 -- are to each other .
sometimes frank 's changing the past results in something happening right away in john 's world , and sometimes john gets the changes ahead of time .
now , the filmmakers might have perfectly good explanations for this , and i could probably come up with something fairly convoluted ( but nevertheless logical ) if i thought about it hard enough ( for example , the reason john gets advance information of the serial killer 's murders was because the change had already happened in frank 's world , and john is only witnessing the * projection * of that change ) , but explanations are n't really the point .
when " frequency " gets cooking , it 's a riveting little thriller , even if it is confusing .
what matters to a film like this is if the plot makes sense in the moment , and " frequency " works as long as it keeps moving .
the film manages to be engaging despite the logical confusion .
director gregory hoblit and screenwriter
toby emmerich structure " frequency " as good hollywood entertainment , establishing decent , likable characters ,
making us care for them , and setting up a goal to be reached and a conflict to be resolved .
i liked many of the creative touches : the split screens , allowing us to see how the universe is being affected in both realities , and the greater framework of baseball to drive the action forward .
it actually uses the 1969 mets - orioles world series ( the one that featured the amazin ' mets ) to great effect -- frank uses john 's advance knowledge of the series outcome to convince his friends to believe him .
( admittedly , this device may only be of interest to a baseball fan like myself . )
i even liked the final scene , which features frank and john both fighting the same man simultaneously in different time periods .
some may find this scene blindingly confusing , as the reality shifts start coming fast and furious , but it does make sense if you think about it ( and give the script a lot of leeway ) , and let 's face it : it 's a darn cool way to end the film .
there are enough surprises and plot twists in " frequency " to keep you on your toes , and as a result the movie avoids growing stagnant .
the other major thing to appreciate
about " frequency " is the handling of the father - son relationship . quaid and caviezel
carry off their parts easily
; it 's a rock - solid job from both actors .
the relationship is instantly credible because they find the human truth behind the high concept : how would one react to being able to communicate with a dead relative , or with a future descendant ?
watching the exchanges between frank and john will give you a pretty good idea of how to answer that question .
the credibility of the human relationship is absolutely crucial to the rest of the film ; if we do n't believe in the characters , we do n't care about the outcome of the thriller plot .
here , we do care , because we like the lead actors .
i also liked some of the supporting cast members .
elizabeth mitchell gets stuck with two thankless roles , playing julia the doting wife * and * mother , but still performs admirably .
andre braugher , late of the television show " homicide : life on the street , " gives a nice supporting turn as frank 's best friend and future colleague of john .
he has a lovely scene in a diner in which he tries to explain the situation to julia while frank 's world series predictions come true before his very eyes .
braugher strikes the perfect facial expression here , simultaneously dismayed and amused .
perhaps the only thing i did n't like about " frequency " is the overly sentimental coda , during which the camera 's focus goes a little too soft and the baseball theme gets carried overboard .
but that 's only because the film had already earned a poignancy without resorting to cheap tactics .
i freely acknowledge that " frequency " may best work as a " guy " movie , since it focuses on the very male - oriented idea of father - son relationships ( echoes of " field of dreams " can be easily heard ) , but the underlying concept is universally applicable . who would n't want to speak with a long - dead parent ? or see how their children turn out ? " tell me about your life , son " -- excuse me while i mist up .
and do n't call me a sissy .
[EX A]:
P