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

Q: sometimes , when i decide to write a short story or a poem , i think of a title first , and then think of a subject to go with it .
it seems that the makers of disturbing behavior had a similar train of thought when it came to the title sequence .
i would n't be surprised if a couple of guys got together and created the opening credits , and then someone saw it and made up a story to go along with it .
the title sequence is so good , so ominous and original , that it had me engrossed before the picture even began .
of course , my attention dwindled shortly into the film .
disturbing behavior , like so many thrillers , starts off interesting and ends up
laughably ridiculous .
it 's a teen horror film with no interesting violence or sex .
it 's a suspense film with no suspense .
it 's an evil small town story with no story to speak of .
it 's a disaster , a listless and uninspired disaster , that just barely misses one - stardom because of a few good sequences , a mercifully short running time , and one terrific set of opening credits .
our main man is a fellow named steve clark , blandly played by jimmy marsden .
he moves to a small town with his family after , tragically , his brother shoots himself .
steve is very upset about the untimely death of his brother ; we learn this through strange home - video like nightmares that he has occasionally .
the big trial for steve is , of course , to fit in at school and make new friends .
marsden looks like your stereotypical jock down to the last detail , so he seems a poor casting choice for a social reject .
as a social reject , he falls in with some pretentious dope - smoking philosophers , gavin ( nick stahl ) and rachel ( katie holmes ) .
gavin informs steve that the local group of jocks , known as the blue ribboners , are actually a bunch of zombies , assimilating new members into their group , while sporadically killing innocent people .
so , it 's up to our group of mismatched protagonists to 1 ) solve the mystery , and
2 ) do something about it .
by the end of it all , something has happened and things have been explained , but the film still does n't make any sense .
disturbing behavior was written by scott rosenberg .
i 've seen his name around recently ( he was one of the toucher - uppers on the armageddon script ) , and i imagine that , for the most part , he knows what he 's doing when it comes to screenwriting .
he did , however , have a complete lapse in judgement when he got the idea for this film , and then decided to actually take the time to write it out .
evil small town films are pretty common ( the last one , phantoms , is also a dismal failure ) , but it takes a lot of skill to make the formula work .
rosenberg 's script is a complete mess , lacking in even the most basic attempts at characterization .
and it makes no sense , nor is their any purpose when things are finally " explained .
"
there is supposed to be an element of surprise when we see what is happening to the jocks , but the film never explains exactly what * is * happening .
they get strapped to chairs , a microchip is inserted into their eyes , and -- poof -- they become sex - crazed , superviolent , machine - like creatures .
the doctor responsible for all this , dr .
caldicott ( bruce greenwood ) , must be pretty nuts for thinking that this kind of behavior is a step up from the way high school jocks actually behave ( or , perhaps , this is the only realistic element in the film ) .
much of the writing is simply bad , and rosenberg has no intuition when it comes to the way high school kids act . in one terrible scene , gavin explains to steve all of the high school cliques , while pointing them out in the cafeteria .
up front , i should say that , in four years of high school , i did not eat in the cafeteria even once .
that aside , the various social groups he points out are general , uninteresting , and poorly - shown .
for instance , he points to the " nerds , " who are all wearing glasses and playing with their laptops .
it 's such an obvious cliche that i ca n't believe rosenberg even bothered .
most of the dialogue is forced ( no one says , " bite me !
" anymore ) , and none of the scenes have any degree of wit .
this picture is not inspired , and most scenes flop from one to the other , with no sense of momentum or energy .
the blame for this can be placed on director david nutter , who apparently likes his films dry .
horror films should at least exploit violence , but this one is shockingly timid .
there are a few good scenes , though , such as an interesting trip through an insane asylum ( this is , however , the most forced scene in the film , for how our heroes get there or why they bother are things we never learn ) .
i also liked the school janitor character , played by william sadler .
he has a few lines that are surprisingly thought - provoking .
the acting is largely a waste of talent .
marsden is , as i said , bland ( thought not particularly bad ) .
bruce greenwood is shamelessly wasted .
stahl and holmes both show they have talent , but the direction is n't good enough to hone in on their skills
( stahl 's performance seems more like a parody of high school potheads ) .
none of these characters expand beyond their one dimension , and , frankly , watching cardboard cut - outs of human beings run down hallways while screaming just is n't all that cool .
disturbing behavior is a wreck of a film , and it started out a wreck before shooting even began .
i 'm surprised there were producers who read this script and thought that it would make a good film , or that it would make a lot of money at the box office .
it 's not boring , or even blatantly awful , but
it 's an uninspired lump of a film .
it sure starts off nicely , but the regression into total absurdity is so consistent that the very last scene is outright laughable
.
so , if you go to see this film , take my advice : appreciate the credit sequence , and pray it never ends .

A: N
****
Q: look back at all the times in your life when there was a fork in the path to the future .
some sort of decision had to be made , and , for better or worse , it irrevocably altered the course of your existence .
> from time - to - time , everyone thinks about the roads not taken , and how things might have turned out if the choice had been different .
perhaps even more dizzying to contemplate is how a seemingly minor action -- catching the 10 am train , for example -- could have an equally profound , yet less obvious , impact .
maybe that 's where you met your significant other , and , had you reached the platform just a few seconds later ?
film makers are no less fascinated by issues of destiny than anyone else , and that 's why there 's no shortage of movies about this subject .
the best of the bunch were probably made by the late polish director krzysztof kieslowski , who was obsessed with questions of fate and chance .
these themes weave their way through many of his movies , including decalogue , the double life of veronique , and the triptych of blue , white , and red .
however , they are most explicitly examined in a 1981 film called blind chance , where kieslowski presents the three different fates of one man after a minor action ( missing or catching a train )
changes the course of his life .
in his autobiography , kieslowski on kieslowski , the director describes his attraction to the concept this way : " [ the idea is ] rich and interesting ?
that every day we 're faced with a choice which could end our entire life yet of which we 're completely unaware .
"
while this approach has been the fodder for several notable dramatic films ( including , in a way , frank capra 's it 's a wonderful life ) , sliding doors is the first romantic comedy to plumb its depths .
the " road not taken " approach is n't just a plot device , either .
writer / director peter howitt expands upon both possible fates of a character after she just misses / catches a train .
the audience watches , with ever - growing fascination , how this one event impacts upon every aspect of her life : her future career , where she lives , whom she loves , and whether she has a family .
as her separate destinies diverge and then re - converge , she becomes two completely different individuals .
that woman is helen , played by gwyneth paltrow as a long , dark- haired brit .
one day , after losing her job as an advertising executive , she decides to return home in the middle of the day .
the scene of the pivotal moment is a train platform .
in scenario # 1
, she just slips through the sliding doors before the train pulls out of the station .
on board , she meets the cheerful , talkative james ( john hannah ) , a monty python fan who is taken with her beauty .
minutes later , in her flat , she walks in on her lover , gerry ( john lynch ) , in bed with another woman ( jeanne tripplehorn ) .
in scenario # 2
, she misses the train and , shortly thereafter , is the victim of an attempted mugging .
she does n't meet james and fails to make it home in time to discover gerry 's infidelity .
juxtaposed one against the other , while sharing many places , cues , and characters , the two stories proceed in parallel from there .
on one level , for viewers who enjoy pondering the workings of fate , sliding doors can be viewed as a deep and wonderful experience .
but , for those who just appreciate a romantic comedy characterized by solid acting , a script with a few twists , and a great deal of genuinely funny material , sliding doors still fits the bill .
one of its most obvious strengths is that it can satisfy many different types of audiences -- those who demand something substantial from their motion pictures , and those who could care less .
it should n't come as any surprise that the acting , at least from three of the four leads , is solid .
paltrow , who does double duty as two helens who are initially the same , yet gradually become much different , is the standout .
she plays both of her roles effectively and believably -- the shy , insecure woman who stays with gerry and the liberated , platinum - blond who severs the ties to her old life and embarks on a new career with a new man .
john hannah , known to most american viewers as the younger gay character in four weddings and a funeral , is instantly likable .
john lynch , taking a break from movies about ireland 's troubles , does a good job presenting gerry as a inept , selfish philanderer .
only jeanne tripplehorn , who plays an over - the - top vixen , seems out of place .
her attempts at broad comedy are occasionally jarring , and it 's occasionally difficult to see her lydia as anything more than a plot element .
one member of the supporting cast deserves special notice .
douglas mcferran , who plays gerry 's best friend , russell , is an absolute delight , stealing every scene that he 's in .
part of this is surely because he is given the best lines in the movie .
on one occasion , he has a marvelous monologue bemoaning how advances in the telecommunications industry have trapped men into a life of monogamy .
on another occasion , while laughing at gerry 's plight with the women in his life , he comments , " being with you makes the wait for the next episode of seinfeld more bearable .
"
but it 's not all in the dialogue .
mcferran tears into this part with relish ; his performance becomes one of the most memorable aspects of a top - notch comedy .
this is the first feature film for peter howitt , and he approaches the task with unimpeachable aplomb .
the script is shrewd and inventive , combining wit , romance , and intelligent melodrama into a crowd - pleasing whole .
sliding doors grants more than just a good time at the movies , however .
for those who are so inclined , its central theme offers an opportunity to ponder some of the more philosophical questions about the workings of the universe -- all while having a good time .

A: P
****
Q: the relaxed dude rides a roller coaster the big lebowski a film review by michael redman copyright 1998 by michael redman the most surreal situations are ordinary everyday life as viewed by an outsider .
when those observers are joel and ethan coen , the surreal becomes bizarre .
when the life is that of jeff " the dude " leboswki , the bizarre falls over the edge into the world of " what'sgoingonaroundhere " .
the marvelous sound of " the stranger " ( sam elliot ) 's
voice - over introduces the film .
at least it does until he forgets what he was going to say and gives up .
the dude ( jeff bridges ) is described as the " laziest man in los angeles , possibly the world " , although he 's not so much slothful as he is relaxed .
spending the last 30 years with a roach clip in one hand and a white russian in the other , he does n't have much of a life , but he 's having a good time .
when asked what he does for fun , he responds " bowl , drive around and the occasional acid flashback " .
lebowski 's passion is bowling .
when he 's not rolling the ball down an alley towards a strike , things just happen to him .
arriving home one night , he 's beaten by thugs attempting to collect money that his wife owes them .
even worse , they urinate on his rug .
the problem is that the dude does n't have a wife .
his assailants realize that their target is a different lebowski when they glance around at his apartment .
the " big " lebowski ( david huddleston ) is a multi - millionaire and his dudeness lives in two - room squalor .
the next day , our ragtag hero visits his namesake 's mansion attempting compensation for his soaked rug .
the carpet is important to him because it pulls the room together : not surprisingly since it 's virtually the only object there .
when he 's denied any money , he picks up a replacement rug off the floor .
on his way out , he runs into lebowski 's trophy
babe wife bunny
( tara reid ) who offers to perform a sexual act that , according to rumor , is one of bill clinton 's favorites for a thousand bucks .
the penniless dude wisecracks that he 's heading for the cash machine .
later he gets an unexpected phone call enlisting his aid in being the bag man to deliver a ransom to bunny 's kidnappers .
this begins the trademarked coen brothers crimes - gone - wrong sequences .
the kidnappers are impossibly inept .
the dude and his cronies are even worse .
every plan goes awry .
you can almost see lebowski 's brain churning in slow motion as he tries to figure out the clues .
that 's the story , but to tell the truth it does n't much matter .
there could be almost any plot and the film would be just as entertaining .
the narrative only exists so we can watch the offbeat characters and the quirky predicaments they fall into .
the dude 's bowling buddies walter ( john goodman ) and donny ( steve buscemi ) look like people you 'd see on the street but , like everything else in this film , they 're not quite what they seem .
walter is a vet as stuck in vietnam as the dude is in the sixties .
everything that happens reminds him of a situation in the nam .
when a fellow bowler crosses the foul line but wo n't admit it , walter pulls a gun on him until he marks a zero on the score sheet .
donny gets precious few words in between walter 's screaming and the dude 's rambling .
when he does , walter shouts him down with horrendous albeit seemingly unintentional bowling puns .
donny is " out of his league " and does n't " have a frame of reference " .
the film is peppered with people for whom the term " character " would be an understatement .
the big lebowski 's daughter maude , an avant - garde " vaginal " artist , paints while swinging naked in a leather apparatus like an s&m mary martin .
the kidnappers are german techno nihilist bikers .
bunny lebowski is a high school cheerleader turned porno star .
most impressive is john turturro in his far too small role as a hispanic bowler .
as the flamenco music swells , we see him putting on his lavender hose .
the camera pans up to an all - purple skin - tight bowling outfit with " jesus " ( pronounced with a " j " , not an " h " ) embroidered on the pocket .
he addresses the lane with intense seriousness and one painted fingernail .
his tongue slowly snakes out and lovingly licks the glowing bowling ball .
bridges works the dude as if he had been living him for decades and maybe he has .
i ca n't think of anyone else who could have done a better job .
buscemi has a limited role , but he plays it perfectly .
the more that i see john goodman the more convinced i am that he 's one of the treasures of our time .
it 's odd to think that most of the world knows him only as roseanne barr 's television husband .
more like the coen 's " raising arizona " than their hit " fargo " , " the big lebowski " demands an open mind and even more open eyes .
a mark of the coen brothers is that even with all wonderful dream sequences and the broad slapstick physical comedy on the screen , much of the humor is subtle and easy to miss .
there 's so much going on that
frequently it disappears before you can see it . walking out of the theater
, i felt that the film had something important to say .
on further examination , i was n't sure exactly what it was .
"
if you meet jesus at the bowling alley , it 's not going to be what you expect " ?
"
when the going gets weird , the weird go bowling " ?
maybe there 's no real message .
perhaps it 's just a roller coaster ride through a hilarious world .
maybe that 's enough .
( michael redman has written this column for 23 years and just realized that he was so taken with the dude that he ran out of space to talk about " the man in the iron mask " starring that favorite of 14-year - old girls of all ages .
redman@bvoice .
com is the eaddress for estuff . )

A:
P
****