instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
it is with hesitance that i call " apocalypse now " a masterpiece .
certainly , it had the pedigree to be one of the greatest films ever made , with a director known for producing masterpieces with ease , and some of the finest actors of the 1970 's .
the plot , an adaptation of joseph conrad 's " heart of darkness " , was set in vietnam , and the timing of the film was supposed to be brilliant , coming on the heels of the end of the war .
" apocalypse " certainly has its moments , some of which are the finest in film history .
the plot is fairly simple .
captain willard ( sheen ) , is a troubled soldier who came back to hanoi for a 2nd tour of duty .
his mission is simple : take a boat up to cambodian territory , and destroy the command of renegade colonel kurtz ( brando ) " with extreme prejudice " .
along the way , willard runs into a series of adventures , including one with lt .
col .
kilgore ( duvall ) , and a strange encounter with playboy bunnies .
willard ' s four person crew finally make it to kurtz ' compound , where he discovers kurtz has set himself up as a god among the natives .
willard 's experiences with kurtz take up the last half - hour , with a confrontation and eventual ending .
the movie is visually breathtaking .
the battle scenes are exquisitely done , and the score is brilliant , setting a murky mood of darkness that is first - rate .
the collage of disturbing images that coppola presents is at times both astonishing and sickening .
the vast amount of detail poured into every war scene is stunning , and there are many episodes that are deeply powerful which resonate through the entire movie .
the journey to kurtz ' camp is quite a ride , with psychosis setting in on almost every character .
the most interesting one is kilgore , the lt .
col .
who cares more about the surf than about the mission .
it is at times revolting , psychotic , and incredible , and
it is one hell of a movie .
the scenes are bold , inventive , and powerful , and the acting is stunning , especially be sheen , duvall , and fishburne .
the narration is exquisite , as is the mystery of kurtz .
coppola sets about a hallucinatory ride through vietnam , kind of like " saving private ryan " on lsd .
the film is jarring in its implications , and psychotic in its execution .
the problems come when the film slows down .
one of the major scenes in the film , where the boat arrives at the final army checkpoint before they start their search for kurtz , is a colossal mess .
the dialogue is confusing , the lighting is atrocious , and the scene drags on for 10 terrible minutes of film .
the true problems happen after the crew does come into the kurtz compound .
the film slows down to a drag .
sheen seems forever captured by a madman , played by brando is a lazy performance that is not deserving of the accolades it received .
brando is in the film for no more than 15 minutes , but is bathed in shadows the entire time , making the last half hour of the film visually pathetic .
the scenes are poorly done , the dialogue is muffled , and the whole mess is utterly confusing beyond all belief .
sheen seems to adore this man , but why the viewers are never told .
the entire journey is supposed to be a prelude for a stunning entrance of this god - like kurtz , but the scenes fall way short of expectations .
granted , it has its moments , which are brutally horrific , but the general feeling is one of confusion .
brando mumbles his lines in a incoherent stir , and my feeling was that this could never be a great man , this could never be a man who inspires hundreds to follow him , so why do they do it ?
there are moments of brilliance , but the visual confusion dilutes the power of the scene .
there are too many questions left unanswered with the character of kurtz to have a satisfying ending .
the finest scene at the end is sheen 's escape , and his entrace into the temple .
his rise out of the water , with the smoke coming off of his slicked head , is a brilliant 30 seconds of film .
yet , you can not shake the feeling that there is so much more this film could have done .
the psychotic ride is unforgettable at times , and indeed the film on the whole is very good .
it is a stunningly flawed expression of film , for it addresses major issues , such as man 's mental stamina during bouts of war .
but one still can not shake the feeling that this film could have so much more powerful , had the character of kurtz been more explored , and had sheen truly succumbed to the fate that the viewer thought he was destined for .
there is too much good material in here not to be called a masterpiece , but it could have been so much more rewarding .
answer:
P


question:
" virus " is a monster movie without a monster .
any movie with a hurdle that large to overcome had better be pretty damn good
otherwise .
sadly , " virus " does not deliver , on any level .
the movie opens with the russian space station mir about to transmit something ( we never find out what ) to a big boat with lots of satellites on it .
sudddenly , a wave of colorful lightning comes flying through space , and winds up destroying mir and using it to transmit itself to the aforementioned big boat .
cut to seven days later , we meet donald sutherland and his band of seafaring vultures .
see , they spend all their time sailing around looking for dead - in - the - water ships to rescue , and then collect the reward money .
at least , i * think
* that 's what they do .
along with many other things in the film , their reason for being out in the middle of the ocean is n't really explained .
so , they stumble upon this big boat with lots of satellites on it , and decide to haul it back to russian waters .
the only problem is , the crew starts disappearing one - by - one and turning into borg .
yes , borg .
complete with the red laser beam in place of an eye .
apparently , this alien lifeform can only survive if inside something electrical .
so , it creates make - shift machines and uses humans for " spare parts " .
blah , blah , blah .
i could go on forever describing the ludicrous so - called plot , but i wo n't .
suffice it to say the most original thing about this movie is having donald sutherland play an irish man ( !
) . everything else in this movie has been taken from other ( better ) movies .
for example , many of the machines resemble those found in the little - seen japanese movie , " tetsuo - the iron man " .
and the plot is right out of " aliens " .
the funny thing is , i was actually expecting to enjoy this movie .
i have a soft spot for cheesy monster movies , like last years under - appreciated " deep rising " .
but " virus " , as i mentioned earlier , does n't even have a monster .
it just has a big pile of circuits and wires and expects the audience to fear this ridiculous looking contraption .
" virus " is the type of movie that really makes you wonder what the screenwriter was thinking about when he wrote it .
besides the lame " monster " , it 's chock full of dialogue that no real person would ever say , and situations that no real person would ever allow themselves to get into .
for example , there is a scene late in the movie in which one of the characters actually attempts to * negotiate * with the alien !
now , i do n't know about you , but if i came upon a lifeform that viewed mankind as a virus to be eliminated , i doubt that i would attempt to reason with it .
that makes about as much sense as a baby squirrel calmly asking a fierce predator to spare his life .
finally , " virus " is n't scary .
the least the filmmakers could have done was to make the movie just a little scary .
as it is , it 's about as frightening as a box of cookies .
skip " virus " .
if it 's a cool monster movie you want , rent the far superior ( and the granddaddy of this genre ) " aliens " .
answer:
N


question:
devotees of robert a . heinlein , be forewarned : paul verhoeven 's starship troopers is less an adaptation of heinlein 's novel than it is a literary satire .
the author 's jingo - all - the - way militarism and his tendency to create plastic characters with plastic conflicts had me expecting a soulless , faceless parade of carnage from the film version .
and i suppose that 's exactly what verhoeven delivers , with sometimes hilarious results .
heinlein 's basic motifs are so faithfully rendered that their flaws become a source of amusement , while their strengths become the stuff of high - energy entertainment .
outlining the plot of starship troopers is a fairly silly endeavor , since it 's basically a big bug hunt . . .
aliens in broad daylight .
sometime in the future , humanity is threatened by giant , malevolent insects which have evolved into twenty - foot - tall action figures ( arachnids with super - impaling spikes , beetles that spew forth lava , dragonflies with guillotine legs ) .
among those who sign on to save the earth are a group of high school classmates from buenos aires : conflicted rich kid johnny rico ( casper van dien ) ; his math whiz girlfriend carmen ( denise richards ) ; dizzy ( dina meyer ) , who secretly carries a torch for johnny ; and carl ( neil patrick " doogie howser " harris ) , who not - so - secretly carries a torch for dizzy , and also has a talent for speaking telepathically to ferrets .
while carmen heads for flight school and carl joins military intelligence , johnny and dizzy become mobile infantry , their various battles intertwining with romantic sub - plots out of a third season episode from " beverly hills 90210 .
"
so if starship troopers is another movie where one - dimensional characters wade through trite situations on their way to killing a bunch of aliens , what makes it any better than , say , independence day , a movie where one - dimensional characters waded through trite situations on their way to killing a bunch of slightly different aliens ?
for one thing , you sense that the film - makers are aware of the pulp nonsense they have as source material .
the very absence of major stars in the cast feels thematically appropriate , not just fiscally prudent .
if starship troopers had been turned into a tv - movie , aaron spelling would have produced it .
it 's a story which requires emoting , not acting ; it 's a prime time soap opera with big guns , played for all the dopey melodrama it 's worth .
the no - name cast also plays into verhoeven 's treatment of heinlein 's most controversial conceit .
in this society , we learn , one can only be a full citizen after completing some sort of federal service , military for most .
verhoeven pays the notion plenty of lip service , then proceeds to skewer it with brilliant mock recruitment ads ( named after the world war ii - era " why we fight " series ) in which youngsters are indoctrinated into the joys of firearms , or the pleasures of stomping cockroaches .
these characters really are just " fresh meat for the grinder , " as one character puts it , which makes their lack of familiarity all the more fitting .
it 's not that starship troopers is anti - military , because it never treats the true horror of war as anything but a great big , violent video game .
in fact , the characters are living the propaganda ( particularly johnny , who receives so many field promotions he may not remember his own rank by the time the film ends ) .
verhoeven is actually having it both ways
-- he 's making fun of gung - ho boosterism even as he fires his fresh - faced recruits into battle on a gung - ho booster rocket of visual effects .
if that makes starship troopers hypocritical , at least it 's enthusiastically staged hypocrisy .
there may not be a person worth caring about in the whole film , but it moves like nobody 's business .
verhoeven stages
some thrilling action sequences , sending swarms of bugs after the anonymous grunts then having various body parts strewn about the screen like landscaping .
it is that rare special effects blockbuster which demonstrates a sense of pacing to match its budget ; i was caught up in the action enough of the time that i was n't perpetually groaning over the absence of real human beings .
i wish i could find it in myself to work up more outrage over the callous way humans are dispatched in starship troopers , but it did n't work out that way .
that would be punishing verhoeven for getting to the heart of his material .
answer:

P