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

Q: it was with a huge lack of something to do that i decided to watch this on good old upn on sunday afternoon , when the only good things on tv are the second - rate movies they show ( some are good : they showed " total recall " before this one ) . if you know me , i think seagal is probably the most boring action star to ever live .
and this includes keanu reeves .
what do i hate about seagal ?
i hate how he uses one facial expression for every single threatening and non - threatening situation ( the squint ) .
i hate those scenes in every movie where he goes around , bullying people up , saying stupid lines with a brooklyn accent more fake than burt reynold 's hairpiece in " boogie nights .
" i despise how he never gets a bruise
in any of his fights .
i hate how every single plot twist leads to just a melodramatic fight between he and the chief villain .
i hate his non - satirical messages ( in the beginning of this one , he slaps on a quote from arthur miller , which has nothing to do with the film , except it 's about brooklyn where this film takes place ) .
and i hate how he 's so narcissistic that he thinks that he can actually fucking sing
( during the end credits , he has a good old hill billy rock tune sung and penned by him ) .
sure , the guy 's probably a nice guy in person
( i actually found him very non - threatening when he was on letterman not too long ago ) .
but the guy makes worse films than reagan did .
so what 's the plot of this shit - terpiece ?
well .
. .
something about him trying to catch a stupid - ass crook ( william forsythe ) who shot and killed his partner in broad daylight .
i could n't believe how bad this scene was - the guy was conveniently with his family so we get the maximum emotional effect ( ahem ! ) .
and forsythe even said some stupid lines to him before he took off .
i 'm sorry , did anyone ever hear of concealing one 's self ?
so in comes ex - brooklynite seagal , who dedicates his life to catching this guy .
and i just wished he had caught him in the beginning , then ended the film .
but noooo ,
this drags on , as he bullies forsythe 's family members ( including a stupid bar - owner , and none other than gina gershon as his other bar - owner sister ) .
and forsythe more than once threatens his family .
at one point , he actually comes to their house and stalks them like a non - threatening nicholson in " the shining " ( complete with them all hiding in the bathroom , but with an added bonus of one girl conveniently loosing her cool and screaming to give them away ) .
seagal paints himself as a lovable person , with a son , and a fiancee .
he even shows him hanging with his son , checking up on his homework , and then about to take him out for a bit of " catch , " when he 's conveniently called away on assignment .
i dunno about you , but playing " catch " with seagal was one of my childhood nightmares .
he also shows him as that bad - ass he wants to be , with scenes of him bullying crooks around , and taking out people who are stupid enough to attack him even after he 's unarmed a chinese guy swinging bats with a pool cue .
serves them right .
this film , as some of his do , has an interesting supporting cast of actors who are actually talented , but do n't appear to be in this film .
i already mentioned gina gershon ( who 's pretty horrible in this one ) , as well as william forsythe , who over - acts terribly .
i know this guy can act : he was awesome in " raising arizona " as goodman 's partner in crime .
but he 's just awful here .
jerry orbach gives the only credible performance in the film as the police chief who checks up on segal after things have gone down .
why is he the only one who gives a good performance ?
well , because his role is small enough and sporadic enough to not tarnish his credibility .
he seems to be in here just to give it a cool " law and order " feeling ( even if it 's not a " cool " feeling ) .
and in cameos are b - rated erotic - thriller - cinemax - style stars , shannon whirry ( as " terry malloy , " which is more of a bad joke than a clever one ) and athena massey .
oh !
and " er " 's
julliana margiulles has two scenes .
" out for justice " just proves once again that american action films just suck .
i know that there 's such a good thing as good action - he 's called john woo .
but if you 're in the mood for some good old no - brainer , fun - yet - dumb action , do n't bother watching this .
it 's so stupid that it 's boring .

A: N
****
Q: not too many people know who james whale is , but it 's a safe bet that a good chunk of them have seen his movies .
if we are to believe the semi- biographical gods and monsters , whale would have wanted it to be that way .
this is an insightful , haunting exploration of the last days of the frankenstein and bride of frankenstein director , and it is notable for introducing one of the first complicated gay characters in a hollywood movie .
gods and monsters has no interest in being a biopic of whale 's life because it tracks only the final few days of his life , and it 's probably a better movie for it .
it 's focus is on whale 's ( ian mckellen ) untraditional and deceptive lust for heterosexual gardener clayton boone ( brendan fraser ) .
it begins with whale ( a fairly talented artist , aside from being a director ) asking boone to " sit for him ,
" ( pose for a portrait ) .
at first , boone does n't realize that whale is gay and grows fascinated with the old man .
when he does discover whale 's sexual orientation from his dedicated and protective maid ( lynn redgrave ) , he is frightened , refusing to sit for the guy .
but he comes back , only to storm out again , disgusted with whale 's " locker room talk .
" boone returns yet another time , after whale promises to tone down the aforementioned " locker room talk , " and finds their platonic relationship to be strengthening .
meanwhile , jimmy himself is suffering from hallucinations and mental attacks as a result of his stroke not long ago .
his ailment leads to desperation and depression , which build to the point where he is forced to ask boone for an incredulously big favor .
what is perhaps most sensational about gods and monsters is brendan fraser 's bravura performance ; up until seeing this film i intensely disliked the young actor because of his tendency to ruin the movies he is in ( blast from the past , for example ) .
i was surprised how expressive an actor he proved himself to be here .
this is impressive because his character 's dialogue is minimal , with mckellan doing most of the talking .
that requires fraser to act through body language ; a difficult skill to master , but something he proves capable of doing well .
this is not to ignore mckellan 's oscar nominated turn .
he earned that nomination with his touching performance here ( although , at the risk of sounding like a philistine , i would have chosen his performance as the nazi in apt pupil for the nomination ) ; an understated , compelling gem .
whale dreaded being remembered solely for his work in the hollywood horror genre , and he thought hollywood to be the equivalent of a battlefield .
he rejoiced in being free from it , only reluctantly going to receptions with fellow movie people .
in the end , perhaps , it is what killed him : the memories of hollywood and war blending together to form a living nightmare . ?
1999 eugene novikov&#137 ;

A: P
****
Q: jackie chan kicks his way into van damme territory with twin dragons , an embarrassingly bland action comedy of mistaken identities .
chan plays separated - at - births boomer and john ma , whose drastically different paths . . .
aw , forget the plot description , it 's not even worth the space .
but let 's face it .
no one goes to jackie chan movies for the plot anyway .
the scenes where nothing happens in chan 's films have always been little more than glue thriftily spread to hold the action sequences together .
in the case of twin dragons , however , the tiresome plot - driving scenes fritter away so much of the movie that you almost want to shout ( at the risk of demeaning the artistic value of cinema ) , " get to the good part already ! " most of the film is devoted to showing the brothers ' efforts to hide the other 's existence from their own acquaintances .
why it is necessary to do this is not satisfactorily explained , but neither are a lot of aspects of the plot .
the twins ' love interests , demure club - singer barbara ( chan - film regular maggie cheung ) and lusty bride - hopeful tammy ( nina li chi ) , get disoriented in all the brouhaha , yet strangely seem not to mind that they are not sure which brother they are in love with .
the scenes describing the boys ' bumbling antics get stretched so thin
we stop caring who chan is supposed to be in any given shot ( in several shots , in fact , even the make - up and hair people seem to forget which brother is which . ) .
even chan 's so - corny - it's - funny humor is off - kilter in this outing .
some of the gags are so carefully innocuous they 're annoying .
a case in point : whenever anyone sees the brothers together , they fall to the ground in a dead faint .
are we laughing yet ?
as usual , the final showdown is the film 's jewel , a tour de force display of chan ' s agility and grace .
never mind that it 's not clear how the brothers end up fighting suited bad guys inside an automobile crash - testing facility .
it 's all good fun , but too little too late .
perhaps chan 's next movie should just be a collection of the last fight sequences of all of his movies .
they could call it jackie chan 's the final fight scenes , and everybody would go home happy .
reviewed april 14 , 1999 at loews theaters white marsh , white marsh , md .

A:
N
****