instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
are we victims of fate in life or can we create our own destiny ?
director / writer brad anderson seems to be saying yes to both questions in his witty film
"
next stop wonderland " .
the two main characters , alan and erin , spend the entire movie in each other 's orbit , catching glimpses of one another , yet not quite connecting until the inevitable conclusion .
is it fate that keeps them near each other and ultimately puts them together ?
does this predestination carry over to all aspects of life ?
as the film starts , erin castleton ( hope davis ) , a melancholy 29- year old late shift nurse , is ending her live - in relationship with her boyfriend ( hoffman ) .
rather , he is ending it with her . arriving home from work , erin finds her boyfriend parked in front of their apartment , car packed with his belongings .
in a fumbling , amusing and self deluding ramble , he instructs erin to watch a videotape he 's made detailing why their relationship is doomed to fail and why he 's leaving .
it 's obvious he lacks the courage to confront her directly as he rails on about accomplishing something with his life and taking a stand , all the while backpedaling his way out of their relationship .
he then flees the scene with the grace of an inept thief .
erin 's mother ( holland taylor , in a surprisingly effective , small role ) , fearing that her daughter will be without a man in her life , takes out a personal ad for erin .
to erin 's embarrassed horror , the ad describes her as a " frisky , cultured , carefree professional with a zest for life " .
eventually , erin responds to the tidal wave of responses , which makes for some of the most humorous , telling moments of the movie as she meets prospective suitors and " poseurs " .
alan , a plumber and aspiring marine biologist , first spots erin as he 's cleaning the inside glass of a fish tank at the boston aquarium .
wearing a wet suit and goggles , he follows erin from window to window , separated by the glass as erin , oblivious to his gaze , enjoys the fish .
later , we see him on a train as she sits on a platform outside , mere feet away .
the movie spends it 's entirety having their paths circle each other without crossing .
there are several subplots involving alan .
one concerns his attempts to get on the job track at the boston aquarium , thereby escaping his apparent fate to carry on the family plumbing business .
another subplot involves his father 's desperate attempts to force fate 's hand by gambling away his life at the dog track .
a distracting focus is put on alan 's debt to a loan shark and the manner in which he pays it off .
the movie tries too hard to make alan a likable guy .
thankfully , his dream- guy persona is counterbalanced by erin 's distant , yet fundamentally hopeful , personality .
the film moves along at an unhurried pace , albeit too much so in the latter third , as we wait for the two to meet .
co - writers anderson and lyn vaus throw a couple of possible red herrings into the mix as the two find other possible relationships .
the films shifts into a much slower gear as we wait for these romances to blow over .
when alan and erin eventually do meet , we see that perhaps they both were destined for each other as they share a lingering , almost subliminally knowing , gaze .
it 's a sweet , measured moment .
the disappointment comes in the fact that we 've come to know the pair , yet we do n't get to view their impending romance .
the film 's inherent belief in the subtle persistence of fate and the wonder it can bring to one 's life makes " next stop wonderland " a quiet pleasure in a cinematic landscape littered with explosions , shallow characters and overdone special effects .
answer:
P


question:
hollywood has really done the whole dracula thing to death ( no pun intended - honest ) .
it 's a shame , too , because the good count was probably the most frightening out the old b - movie monsters .
i mean , come on .
are people really going to get that scared over a big green guy named frankenstein that moves at a speed of five miles per hour ?
hell no .
and not only was the idea of a vampire frightening as hell , but it also carried with it a kind of sensual feeling as well , not commonly associated with horror films .
and not only has the idea been done too many times , but with the possible exception of from dusk ' till dawn , has not been done very well lately , either .
this is precisely why
it was so much fun for me watching the original nosferatu .
i got to go back to the times when making movies ( even horror movies ) was considered an art form , and not just done to make cash like nowadays .
and that is exactly what this film is ; art .
i 've been a horror fan since i was eight years old , and to this day
i have not seen any horror film cover the intellectual ground that this film covers
.
let me backtrack a minute .
when i say " intellectual ground " , i do n't mean that nosferatu tackles philosophical questions or anything like that , i just mean that in order for the film to work the way it was intended to , a little bit of thinking is involved .
with most modern slasher movies like friday the 13th and what - not , you can just simply sit back in your chair and be frightened by the gore that is shown .
those movies could have been made by a fifth grader with a good makeup kit ; movies like this require the viewer to actually pay attention and ponder what is happening on the screen .
you see , this movie has barely any violence in it and even less blood or gore .
this is a thinking man 's slasher flick .
the " nosferatu " of the title is orlock ( max shreck ) , a strange , hermit - like count that , as the film opens , is looking for a new home to buy .
he employs the help of hutter ( gustav von wangenhein ) , a real estate salesman ( or something to that effect ) who has a nice home and even a fiancee named ellen ( greta schroeder ) . upon orders from his boss , hutter treks to the transylvanian mountains to visit orlock 's castle and speak to him about his new home ( which just happens to be right next door to hutter 's ) .
the next morning , he wakes up to find teeth marks on his neck . . .
not really a good sign .
he then discovers through some reading that the count is a " nosferatu " , or vampire , one of the undead that feeds off the blood of living humans .
but by the time he pieces this together , he is too late ; orlock has already embarked to hutter 's hometown via boat .
will hutter reach his destination in time to save his fiancee from the deadly clutches of count orlock ?
the character of orlock is , of course , dracula .
the only only reason his name was changed was because this was an unauthorized account of bram strocker 's novel .
just thought that was an interesting little side note .
. .
probably the only way you will get to see
this fine film is by purchasing a copy of arrow entertainment 's digitally restored cut , now available in stores .
however , this version is quite different than maunau 's original masterpiece .
the movie is now sporting a new soundtrack by band type o - negative and color tinting , much like the 1984 version of lang 's metropolis .
now , i really appreciate what arrow entertainment is trying to do here , bringing a classic like this to the attention of a wider audience that might have otherwise just skipped this one .
but alas
, i like watching movies the way they were originally intended to be seen .
but that 's just my bag
; you may like the newer , more " modern " version better .
either way , i suggest investing your money in a copy .
if you like what they have done with it , pop it in the vcr and enjoy .
if you 're like me , just do what i 'll do during future viewings ; turn the color all the way down on your television , hit mute , turn on some bach or mozart or whatever , dim the lights and prepare to view what is truly one of the greatest films ever made .
answer:
P


question:
in our time .
in our modern world , where the cool rule , it 's hard to imagine that shakespeare is becoming ' the man ' .
and yet - film after film , after film , is based on his everlasting magic .
in warner brothers ' latest production , shakespeare is kicking ass to a rap beat , while his magic and intelligence slowly fades away .
though the producers of the matrix have vaguely based their picture on william shakespeare 's ' romeo and juliet ' , its title sequence with a frightening rap song and a black limo making its way through the dark streets of new york , is very hard to associate with shakespeare 's poetry .
the film takes place during a silent war between the two major mafia families in the city - the afro americans against the chinese .
the youngest son of a chinese mafia chieftain is found murdered .
the afro - americans are immediately suspected , but a peace treaty is signed between the two godfathers .
it is at this point that han ( the romeo of the story ) finds out about his brother 's death .
escaping from a prison in china , he returns to united states to avenge his brother 's fate .
but before he can restore justice with his kung fu kicks , he falls in love with a mysterious beauty .
the only problem is that she is the daughter of his enemy . .
there 's only a weak echo of shakespeare 's talent in this disappointing production .
and there are more problems besides its title
.
of course we do n't call it a deformation of a great masterpiece .
we call it ' modernization ' .
it seems that the producers fear that the audience will not respond to lyrics , without any car chases and gun fights .
this lack of respect for the audience i find
very disturbing
.
kenneth brannagh has already proven that shakespeare does n't need to be updated , because his tales are grounded in the basics of life and human nature .
and as long as love , hate , honesty and corruption do exist , everyone will understand and embrace shakespeare .
i must admit that i found ' rome must die ' very confusing .
i can forgive andrzej bartkowiak , since it is his first attempt at directing .
he manages to create an incredible atmosphere and directs with a firm precision .
unfortunately he completely forgot about character- and story developments .
his latest picture is therefore visually impressive , but intellectually hollow .
the love story between han ( jet li ) and trish ( aalyah ) , and the mafia intrigues are undeveloped and simplified .
jet li is one of the most amazing fighters to ever hit the silver screen and aalyah has a magical voice .
their achievement save this film from being completely braindead , but they are not actors , and therefore can not act .
they are nothing more than two celebrities put together .
the other actors , including isaiah washington , russell wong , henry o and dmx all give the standard mediocre performances .
delroy lindo is the only one that projects a coherent image of reality .
but there 's more than acting to worry about .
even with li 's incredible skills in martial arts , the action scenes ( though technically excellent ) are too long and story updates simply embarrassing
.
to make a long story short : ' romeo must die ' is not intelligent enough to be a thriller , not sensual enough to be a love story and too serious to be a fun action film .
it is certain that bartkowiak would be much better off with o this embarrassing and completely unnecessary parallel to ' romeo and juliet ' , so the film is completely stuck - not sure of what to be .
and in the end it 's nothing .
there are no performances worthy of notice , no interesting character- or story surprises .
so again , the only good thing about it is its technical achievement .
this film can boast of great sound , fast paced editing , solid cinematography and some very well coordinated action sequences .
the music is another factor that prevents you from leaving the theatre .
it is mostly provided by aalyah 's enchanting voice and several carefully inserted rap songs by various artists , that create a kind of ' ghetto feel ' to it .
but when i think back , it 's not much
i remember from this ' production ' .
as in almost every summer movie , there are some interesting scenes , but most of the moments that i remember are associated with massive special effects .
it is not a film that will get any attention for its artistic qualities , simply because it does n't have any .
for someone who has never read shakespeare , it 's another popcorn film .
for those of us who has , it 's a waste of money , time and brain cells .
answer:

N