instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
jake kasdan , son of one of the best screenwriters around , breaks into filmmaking by writing and directing this hard - to - categorize detective story : part mystery , part comedy , part character study and part romance .
for the most part , kasdan manages to combine the genres successfully and create a captivating film .
daryl zero ( bill pullman ) is a modern day sherlock holmes .
the parallel is present down to his love of music ( though zero plays the guitar rather than the violin ) , and his addiction to drugs ( amphetamines , rather than morphine ) .
he even titles his cases with such sherlockian epigrams as the case of the mismatched shoelaces , the case about the man who lied about his age , or the case of the hired gun who made way way too many mistakes .
however zero 's observance of the fine art of detachment , though it makes him a brilliant private investigator , makes him somewhat of a self - imposed outcast in society .
he could do nothing without the legwork of his trusty assistant dr .
watson
, i mean steve arlo
( ben stiller ) .
arlo is not happy with his job .
he is thrilled to be around zero 's brilliance , but his bizarre behavior , and strange requests , are frustrating to the former lawyer .
and they 're even more so to his girlfriend , jess ( angela featherstone ) , who is fed up that her boyfriend 's boss means more to arlo than her .
this is the situation when a new case comes knocking .
gregory stark ( ryan o'neill ) hires zero to find his lost keys .
it seems that he kept a safety deposit box key on the ring , and the box apparently contains some incriminating evidence .
now , stark is being blackmailed , and needs to reclaim his key before the nightmare can end .
to solve this case , zero reluctantly crawls out of his shell .
however , this is when he is vulnerable . . .
and this time he falls for charms of a wily paramedic , gloria sullivan ( kim dickens ) , who may be involved in the blackmail scheme .
for the first time , zero has to question his own objectivity , as he finds his client less and less sympathetic .
zero effect is weakest in its obviously " wacky " scenes depicting daryl zero 's odd behavior .
such scenes might be appropriate in an out - and - out satire , making zero an ace ventura - ish character . however ,
there 's a much meatier movie in here . . .
it just takes a while to get out .
that 's not to say that there 's not a place for humor in this film .
in fact , some of the best scenes are ben stiller 's wonderfully underplayed comic moments of absolute disgust and frustration with his employer .
however , the over - the - top scenes never quite gel with the rest of the film , and they are n't funny enough to stand on their own .
once the investigation is underway , however ,
zero 's brilliance really begins to shine .
his lightning quick inferences are as fascinating as many of sherlock 's own .
as the mystery begins to unfold , zero 's deductions lead the plot in interesting directions , but never lose the viewer .
zero effect works well during its romantic scenes as well .
zero 's relationship with gloria is low - key , but it hits all the right notes .
however , we are always kept distant from gloria 's character .
she 's given plenty of development , but we never understand what she is thinking .
perhaps that may be intentional : to place the audience in zero 's zone of detachment .
but , on the whole , it is frustrating .
bill pullman , when he 's not spacing out , creates a vibrant character in daryl zero .
there 's one moment when zero briefly connects to the world which he has managed to detach from for many years ,
and it is shockingly moving . . . expressing a seriousness that heretofore was unassociated with the character , but one which fits in well .
and , although it is sometimes hard to take a detective called " zero " seriously , it is at this moment that the viewer understands the meaning behind the name .
although zero effect is a bit awkward in places , it is a strong debut for kasdan , and shows great promise .
answer:
P


question:
i do n't appreciate it when a thriller manipulates the viewer into thinking the plot is interesting , when in fact it 's ludicrous .
in the case of the general 's daughter , the plot is more than capable of intriguing you to a certain point .
but at this juncture in the story , the movie begins to fall apart like a crumbling cookie .
this predictable summer thriller is only sporadically involving , and that is unfortunately not enough to compensate for all of it 's detailed flaws .
get past one moment early on where john travolta exercises his southern accent , and you 're likely to survive this entire movie .
travolta plays criminal investigations divisions officer paul brenner , who 's working undercover at a military base when another situation arises : the apparent rape and murder of a young female officer ( leslie stefanson ) .
it turns out that the victim is the daughter of general joe campbell ( james cromwell ) .
let the investigation begin .
with the assistance of fellow cid investigator sarah sunhill ( played rather on - the - sidelines by madeleine stowe ) , brenner uncovers what appears to be an intricate and bizarre homicide case .
things begin to get marginally engrossing when we meet colonel moore ( james woods ) , a former commanding officer of the deceased who has a few secrets up his sleeve .
woods submits another scene - stealing performance here as he oozes authority , surrounded by clouds of smoke emitted from his cigar .
with echoes of his supporting role in true crime , in which he duked it out with clint eastwood in enjoyably profane verbal exchanges , he makes every moment believable .
here though , the intense dialogue comes care of confrontations with travolta , as the two send mindful , knowing glares across the room .
there are many scenes such as this in the general 's daughter , in which the veteran cast performs splendidly under pressure , but the circumstances that tie these meetings together are difficult to absorb .
director simon west ( con air ) , shows a watchful eye of delivering a stylish looking thriller , but he fails miserably when it comes to the intellectual part of it .
the general 's daughter is , more often than not ,
a predictable and unexciting mess .
it does not help matters that the plot is virtually actionless , dragging it 's heels all the way at a mind - numbing snails pace .
a few brief action scenes , marvelously handled in the editing department , show that the movie could have delivered such a more proficient package .
from a director who does such a great job of staging explosions and miraculous stunts , i suggest west should stick with mindless , rip - roaring action features and attempt to avoid future projects like this .
still , the movie is certainly not without it 's merits .
the acting is very good from the majority of the experienced cast .
the performances range from commanding ( travolta ) to electric ( woods ) to stiff - as - a - board
( cromwell , who does n't show off his real talents here ) .
madeleine stowe manages to hold her own for a while , but as the female lead in an action - thriller , she does n't pull through sufficiently .
one of the problems with the execution is that it 's very predictable .
>
from minute one , i had few doubts about the identity of the killer in question .
the script even unwillingly points him out for us , using familiar techniques to hide his guilt until the unmasking toward the end .
in all fairness , we 've seen many of the devices used in the general 's daughter put to greater effect in other films .
the secrets behind the girl 's mysterious death are explained gradually , but by the resolution we have tunneled through so much malarkey that it feels unnecessary and surprisingly silly .
the general 's daughter is not a terrible movie , and it is involving enough to sustain a viewer 's attention span for a certain period of time .
but it just could have been so much better .
answer:
N


question:
whenever u . s .
government starts meddling into other countries ' affairs , under the pretext of supporting human rights or preventing political , religious or ethnic persecution , the other side is ready to use mantra that says " look who 's talking !
what have you done to the indians ?
" however , even the americans themselves are ready to use that dark chapter of their own national history when it suits their purposes .
hollywood is just another example , with its revisionist westerns , made in early 1990s .
those movies tried to exploit the emerging wave of political correctness , coinciding with the 500th anniversary of columbus ' discovery of america .
one of such examples is geronimo : an american legend , 1993 western directed by walter hill , film that deals with one of the last conflicts between american natives and white settlers .
the hero of the film is geronimo ( played by wes studi ) , leader of apaches , fierce warrior tribe that used to give hard time to white settlers during the second half of 19th century .
when the movie begins , in 1885 , geronimo and his apaches made peace with u . s .
government and try to live peacefully in arizona reservation .
however , broken promises , injustice and violence against his people would make geronimo restless .
with not more 30 or so of his followers , he escapes reservation and begins guerrilla campaign .
general crook ( gene hackman ) , commander of u . s . army forces , respects geronimo and knows that even his 5 , 000 force is n't enough to catch geronimo in the great spaces of the american southwest .
instead , he turns to people who are more experienced with apaches - lt .
charles gatewood ( jason patric ) and indian hunter al sieber ( robert duvall ) . together with young lt .
britton davis ( matt damon )
they would begin mission aimed at capturing geronimo .
geronimo :
an american legend , like many movies made under the shadow of political correctness , try to tell the tale about oppressed minorities , but instead the real subject is the bad conscience of the oppressors .
so , the story about geronimo is told from the perspective of his enemies .
almost all of them happen to be his greatest admirers and use every opportunity to express how sorry they feel for having to fight him and his people .
although such elements of john millius ' screenplay do indeed have some basis in history ,
they harm the story of geronimo .
to be honest , walter hill does try to make geronimo the real hero of the film , but the movie segments that deal with the plight of apaches and the uprising are given too little time . instead , they turn out to be nothing more than the back story for rather uninteresting adventure story of gatewood and his band . to make even worse , hill has some real problems with pacing and style , and in the end we have impression that we are watching two films
badly edited into one - story about geronimo and story about his pursuers .
the movie should have been better if it turned to geronimo 's life before and after his last uprising , in many ways more interesting than the story about gatewood .
the difference between those segments could be observed through the different quality of acting .
wes studi , cherokee actor who was so impressive as magua in the last of the mohicans , was perfect choice for geronimo , not only because he resembles geronimo , but because he induces a lot of passion in his role .
contrary to him , we have disinterested actors who sleepwalk through the roles of his white enemies .
while this could be expected from someone like jason patric , it is shame when we have veterans like gene hackman or robert duvall .
even hill 's directing is bellow expectations - battle scenes are too short and , like in many of his late films , force viewers to ask what had happened to the great action director of 1970s .
even his old associate , music composer ry cooder , disappoints , with the score that shifts between indian motives and classic .
on the other hand , photography by lloyd ahern ii , with the use of red lenses , gives somewhat dreamy atmosphere , ideal for this movie that was supposed to be melancholic epic .
all in all , compared with some of the hollywood 's examples of political correctness , this film is n't so bad , but we are left with the unpleasant impression that it could have been better .
answer:

N