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

[Q]: close your eyes for a moment , if you will , and imagine the sound of stephen rea 's gaelic brogue , silky smooth and irish like a pint of guinness .
a lackadaisical , naughty little schoolboy voice that flirts and gambols .
an acerbic , sing - song metered voice that evokes the startling imagery and language of anthony burgess '
" a clockwork orange .
"
a voice that deliciously conjures scenes both porcine and puerile , like those out of " delicatessen , " or " the tin drum .
" imagine all of that , and you 'll get a good sense of what you can expect from " the butcher boy .
" imagine that and more .
neil jordan 's latest film " stars " rea in more ways than one .
rea ,
the accomplished irish actor most notable from his star turn in jordan 's " the crying game ,
" contributes a restrained and managed performance as da brady , a small town drunk in an unnamed irish community in the 1960s .
but it 's his wall - to - wall narration as the butcher boy of the title
, da brady 's son , francis , that makes rea 's " performance " worth watching , worth listening to .
and that 's only half the fun .
playing the young francie
brady is newcomer eamonn owens and he is , without a doubt , a revelation
. for as much as rea 's voiceover permeates almost every scene of " the butcher boy , " owens commands virtually every frame .
it 's impossible to take your eyes off him .
with his crop of carrot - colored hair , ruddy complexion , and overall grubby appearance , francie brady is an unlikely hero , refusing to be done in by his alcoholic , trumpet - playing father , his depressive , suicidal mother , or the neighboring , bespectacled monster known as mrs .
nugent ( fiona shaw ) .
in fact , everything was ok until " the nugent " came to town .
now , she poses as much a threat to the safety and security of town bully francie and his best pal joe ( alan boyle ) as the looming commie menace ( " the butcher boy " is set at a time when the fear of nuclear obliteration is first and foremost in the minds of many ) .
" pigs !
" screams mrs .
nugent at the brady menagerie .
"
you 're all pigs !
"
it 's the start of many a related image .
after ma brady is shipped off to the " garage " for psychiatric observation and da brady downs one bottle of whiskey too many , francie finally loses grip of his fantasy world of cowboys and indians , the lone ranger , and other comicbook characters .
squealing like a stuck pig , francie does " the likes o ' that " on the nugent 's living room floor , and is himself whisked away to a very catholic remand home for " boney arsed bogmen , " where his ever fertile imagination -- and clever chicanery -- runneth over .
director jordan 's vivid treatment of pat mccabe 's nightmare novel produces a sometimes disturbing , dark comedy littered with surreal touches ( such as sin ?
ad o'connor playing the virgin mary ) .
it 's not as outlandish as the trailers make out ; instead , this remarkable film focuses on the effects external influences have on the friendship between two boys ( schoolboy chums in real life ) , allowing us to empathize with their plight in the presence of extraordinary behavior .
it 's bleak and it 's black
but it 's fundamentally very funny
.
rea talks us through it , beautifully , and owens drags us though it ,
admirably
, and , in tandem with jordan 's sure hand , theirs are contributions to make " the butcher boy " a film worth savoring .
[A]: P


[Q]: synopsis : the president of a company wants to test his self - appointed successor , who 's psychotic , and thinks it 's a great idea to spend a week with him and their wives in an isolated cabin a hundred miles from civilization with no dependable transportation or means of communication after a heavy snowfall .
comments : tracks of a killer had a couple of strikes against it before i even began watching it .
strike one was the fact that someone had scrawled the word garbage on the videotape 's sticker in black marker
( not typically a good sign when you rent a film ) .
strike two came while the previews played .
did you ever get a sinking premonition about a movie 's quality ( or lack thereof ) while watching the trailers that come before it ?
well , the cheesy films being advertised before tracks of a killer were films that no one has ever heard of starring people no one knows , and they all looked bad ( definately not a good sign ) .
tracks of a killer itself completed the strikeout .
about the only positive thing this film had going for it was the fact that it sports some nice scenery .
to be fair , the first half - hour or so promises at least a watchable thriller .
wolf larson , who bears more than a passing resemblance to hugh grant , adequately plays the underling obviously set up as the killer of the film 's title .
james brolin and kelly lebrock seem equally adequate as the loving couple larson will later threaten .
brolin 's character , for some inexplicable reason , thinks its a great idea to spend some time in a cabin , practically isolated , with lebrock and larson , whom he 's decided to test for the week before giving him full control of his company .
by the time the characters arrive at the cabin , this film begins to become tedious .
apparently , brolin 's successor 's test involves chopping wood for the fireplace and skiing , which do n't seem like attributes necessary to run a business in the city .
but , then again , what do i know about business ?
i do think , though , that they should have invested in some better furniture for the cabin ; its beds and closets have a habit of just breaking at the slightest touch .
larson 's character accidently kills his own wife rather than the couple he wants to kill .
this leaves the movie with an hour to go and only three characters , which really is n't enough to sustain it .
the film 's writer must have taken a cue from stephen king , as scenes from tracks of a killer seem lifted out of misery and gerald 's game .
larson and lebrock fight and torture each other ( the tables get turned a couple of times ) while brolin tramps around in the snow looking for help .
some old guy 's around too
, just so the killer can add to his body count without killing the couple , who everyone knows will be alive at the end of the film .
the old guy , however , miraculously survives his first death and appears later to be killed again by the killer in a scene
so ludicrous it 's worthy of a chuckle or two
.
outside of that chuckle , unfortunately , tracks of a killer will just bore you as the obvious plot is drawn out ad infinitum and the actors , for some reason , become increasing obnoxious . if you 're in a video store and thinking about renting this turkey , do n't . make tracks to a far superior suspense film , like misery .
[A]: N


[Q]: james jones , one of the major novelists from the middle of the twentieth century , has written a number of fictional works about the effects of war on the individual .
a veteran of world war ii , and a witness to the pearl harbor bombings , his novels are not only grounded in realism but poetic in nature .
they are reminiscent of stephen crane in their blunt eloquence , a trait which lends itself to razor - sharp focus .
but perhaps none matches the scope of his autobiographical novel , the thin red line ; now a cinematic masterpiece from director terrence malick .
the book 's principal cast , some thirty characters , has been trimmed down for this rendition , but it still retains its most endearing value .
each of the roles has an everyman quality , emphasizing jones ' examination of world war ii on the american soldier .
there 's a definitive chain of command present , and this also plays on the motivations of the cast .
but most importantly , and perhaps intrinsic to the novel but not to the movie , a dynamic and effective voice - over is used .
malick has several characters relating their thoughts , giving the viewer a greater perspective of the issues at stake .
the issues at stake are many and one .
told from a limited third - person perspective ( as opposed to a top - down , omniscient view ) , the movie entails the struggle of an american infantry company ( " c - for - charlie " ) to take a hill during the conflict at guadalcanal .
the south pacific island is seen by the top brass as the key position for american armed forces to hold if they want to win the war . and want to win the war they do .
in an excellent performance , nick nolte plays c - for - charlie 's commanding officer , lt .
col .
gordon tall .
he 's an aging soldier who embodies the win - at - all - costs mentality , if only to impress his superior ( john travolta , in a questionable cameo ) .
this philosophy is opposite that of captain bugger staros ( elias koteas ) , who dearly values the life of each and every one of the men under his command .
at the front are the privates and corporals ( adrien brody , james caviezel , ben chaplin , et al ) , lead by 1st sgt .
welsh ( sean penn ) , who must actually execute the suicide orders handed down to them .
the thin red line is filled with intense , visual poetry , but it 's nearly three hours long .
although the interest level is high throughout the first two hours , the climax comes forty - five minutes before the end of the movie ; it goes without saying that the movie drags on the back end .
the thin red line will doubtless be compared to 1998 's other masterpiece of war , saving private ryan a countless number of times .
but to do so is to belittle both films , for
although similarities abound , so do differences .
director malick has a story to tell , and for those interested in listening , this can be a very outstanding movie .
[A]:
P