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

[EX Q]: this christmas , little ralphie parker ( peter billingsley ) wants nothing more than a red ryder bb gun under the tree .
although cautioned by many that he will ?
shoot his eye out ' , ralphie remains optimistic , conjuring up a detailed scheme to get on the good side of his parents and teachers .
it could be possible that no one has ever wanted anything with more passion than ralphie wants this bb gun , and the story of his eternal struggle is a charming one .
` a christmas story ' is a favorite among many during the holiday season , and boy ,
it is certainly easy to see why .
ralphie 's endless desire for the bb gun may transport you back to your childhood , when you were craving a certain gift for christmas and the anxiety was almost indescribable .
evoking pleasant childhood memories is only one of the many things ` a christmas story ' does so well .
here are a few features that make this film such a charming little package
for everybody during the holiday season : 1 ) period detail .
this film is based on the memoirs of late humorist jean shepard , who shares his experiences as a young boy living in the 1940 's with loving detail .
shepard narrates from a first person point - of - view , divulging his various adventures one snowy december , in which visions of taking aim with his new bb gun replaced that of sugarplums dancing in his head .
shepard 's first - hand commentary of several situations is not only downright hilarious , but also witty and warm , with various metaphorical meanings that ring perfectly with the essence of comic timing .
on top of that , young billingsley 's stupefied reactions to each predicament is absolutely perfect in contrast with the narration .
director bob clark captures the look and feel of the era with wonderful technicality .
i can hardly imagine a more accurate depiction of what christmas for young ralphie must have been like .
2 ) mom and dad .
both melinda dillon ( as mom ) and darren mcgavin ( as ?
the old man ' ) are perfect in their roles .
it 's hard to fathom a more agreeable pair for the requirements of a story like this one , with each possessing at least one memorable trait that instantly separates them from the wooden caricatures that could have been featured .
for instance , he is a bloodthirsty turkey hound , and she is forgiving and understanding when it comes to some serious issues .
in portraying the writer as a persistent but mild - mannered young lad , peter billingsley has struck quite the chord .
his performance is richly textured , making all of the humorous situations he stumbles into radiate with flavor and enjoyment . which brings us to . . . .
3 )
the comic situations .
there are plenty of memorable moments in ` a christmas story ' .
moments that undoubtedly will improve in comic potency upon each new viewing , with so much more to explore and to cherish .
i am particularly partial of the ? f - word scene ' , in which ralphie blurts out the shocking four - letter obscenity while helping the old man in the yard .
again , shepard 's method of handling this amusing scenario is nothing short of comic wizardry .
the numerous sequences that stick in one 's mind include , of course , the famous department store santa scene - in which billingsley has some problems in telling old saint nick what he wants under the tree .
i could go on , but i 'll finish on this note :
` a christmas story ' is a standout among holiday movies , because it captures so much in a meager 90 minutes .
not only is it funny ,
it 's often genuinely hilarious . . . .
not to mention warm , fluffy and touching in all the appropriate places .
i plan on making ` a christmas story ' a christmas tradition .
why do n't you ?
[EX A]: P

[EX Q]: in the opening shot of midnight cowboy , we see a close - up of a blank movie screen at a drive - in .
we hear in the soundtrack human cries and the stomping of horses ' hooves .
without an image projected onto the screen , the audience unerringly identifies the familiar sound of cowboys chasing indians and can spontaneously fill in the blank screen with images of old westerns in our mind 's eye .
even without having seen a cowboys and indians movie , somehow the cliched images of them seem to have found their way into our mental schema .
but do cowboys really exist , or
are they merely hollywood images personified by john wayne and gary cooper ?
exploring this theme , director john schlesinger uses the idea of the cowboy as a metaphor for the american dream , an equally cliched yet ambiguous concept .
is the ease at which salvation and success can be attained in america a hallmark of its experience or an urban legend ?
midnight cowboy suggests that the american dream , like image of the cowboy , is merely a myth .
as joe buck migrates from place to place , he finds neither redemption nor reward in his attempt to create a life for himself , only further degeneration .
during the opening credits , joe walks past an abandoned theater whose decrepit marquee reads ` john wayne : the alamo . '
as joe is on the bus listening to a radio talk show , a lady on the air describes her ideal man as ` gary cooper ?
but he 's dead . '
a troubled expression comes across joe 's face , as he wonders where have all the cowboys gone .
having adopted the image of a cowboy since youth , joe now finds himself deserted by the persona he tried to embody .
joe 's persistence in playing the act of the cowboy serves as an analogue to his american dream .
he romanticizes about making it in the big city , but his dreams will desert him as he is forced to compromise his ideals for sustenance .
by the end of midnight cowboy , joe buck loses everything and gains nothing .
just as the audience can picture cowboys chasing indians on a blank screen , we can also conjure up scenes from pretty woman as paradigms of american redemption and success .
but how realistic are these ideals ?
joe had raped and been raped in texas .
the scars of his troubled past prompt him to migrate to new york , but he does not know that his aspirations to be a cowboy hero will fail him there just as they had in texas .
alongside the dream of success is the dream of salvation .
the ability to pack up one 's belongings and start anew seems to be an exclusive american convention .
schlesinger provides us with strong hints as to joe 's abusive and abused past with flashbacks of improper relationships with crazy anne and granny .
we understand that joe adopts the fa ?
ade of a cowboy , a symbol of virility and gallantry , as an attempt to neutralize his shame .
he runs from his past only to be sexually defiled this time by his homosexual experiences in new york .
in the scene at the diner which foreshadows joe 's encounter with the gay student , joe buck spills ketchup on himself .
standing up , we see the ketchup has made a red stain running from the crotch of his pants down his thigh .
schlesinger visually depicts the degeneration of joe 's virility by eliciting an image of bleeding genitals , signifying emasculation .
beyond the symbol of castration , the scene may also connote the bleeding of a virgin 's first sexual encounter , a reference to joe 's first homosexual liaison .
the fact that the idea of a bleeding virgin is relegated only to females furthers the imagery of joe 's emasculation .
it is ironic that joe has trouble prospecting for female clients , but effortlessly attracts men .
joe believes his broncobuster getup is emblematic of his masculinity ; new yorkers see his ensemble as camp and ` faggot stuff . '
there are two predominant images of new york .
the first is that new york is the rich , cosmopolitan city where hope and opportunity are symbolized by the tall skyscrapers and the statue of liberty .
the other new york is travis bickle 's new york , a seedy , corruptive hell on earth .
joe envisions new york as the former , but is presented with the latter .
mirroring the irony in which joe envisions his cowboy attire as masculine , he mistakenly buys into the fable that new york is filled with lonely women neglected by gay men .
joe thinks he is performing a great service for new york , but the city rapes him of his pride and possessions .
the people steal joe 's money , the landlord confiscates his luggage , and the homosexuals rob him of his dignity .
what has become of joe 's american dream ?
schlesinger responds to this question with the scene at the party .
joe gets invited to a shindig of sorts and at the gathering is exposed to a dizzying array of food , drugs , and sex .
at the party , all of joe and ratzo 's desires are made flesh ; joe flirts successfully with women and ratzo loads up on free salami .
contrasting joe 's daily struggles , shots of warhol 's crew display wanton indulgence .
there is an irreverence in the partygoers ' attitude ; we see a shot of a woman kowtowing to nothing in particular , orgies breaking out in the periphery , and drugs passed around like party favors .
the party makes a mockery of joe ' s ideals .
joe believed that hard work and persistence were the elements for success in america ; scenes of the party and his rendezvous with shirley suggest that it is the idle who profit from joe 's toils .
the american dream , schlesinger suggests , is merely a proletarian fantasy , for those who are content no longer dream , but become indolent .
as joe heads to miami , all that was significant of the cowboy image has left him .
his masculinity is compromised and his morality is relinquished .
for joe , nothing is left of the cowboy hero and commensurately , he surrenders the identity .
tossing his boots into the garbage , he returns to the bus for the last leg of his journey to miami .
the final shot of midnight cowboy shows joe inside the bus , more introspective , taking only a few glances outside the window .
instead of the frequent pov shots of joe excitedly looking out of the bus on his way to new york , schlesinger sets up this final shot from the exterior of the bus looking in through the window at joe .
reflections of the palm trees ratzo so raved about run across the bus ' window with joe hardly taking notice .
the scenery of miami no longer exacts the same excitement from joe as before .
the world seems smaller to joe now ; the termination of his journey coincides with the termination of his american dream .
no longer does joe aspire to be the enterprising gigolo ; he resolves to return to a normal job and resign to basic means .
midnight cowboy presents two familiar incarnations of the american dream .
there is the frontier fantasy that if you are brave enough to repel a few indians , you can set up a ranch out west and raise a beautiful family .
then there is the jay gatsby dream that a man of humble stock , with perseverance , can make a fortune in the big city .
joe 's attempt to realize these dreams robs him of his innocence in texas and morality in new york .
during his search for an intangible paradise , joe ends up raping a girl and killing a man .
an allegory of chasing the promise of the american dream , joe
buck 's progressive
moral atrophy is a warning against the pursuit of illusory icons .
[EX A]: P

[EX Q]: plot : lara croft is british , rich and kicks a lot of ass .
she also likes to raid tombs but when the illuminata discover that all nine planets are about to stand in alignment for the first time in 5000 years , and that lara holds the key to time , well , needless to say , they want to nab it from her .
oh yeah , lara also likes to sport a lot of tight shirts .
. .
hummana - hummana - hummana .
. .
critique : angelina jolie was great in this movie .
there were also about three " action scenes " that were pretty cool to look at in this film .
uhhhhhm , unfortunately the rest of the movie sucked
! bad dialogue , generic sidekicks and bad guys ,
a lame mystery , yoda - esque moments with mumbo - jumbo being sprouted about and even
some crappy cgi near the end .
all in all , this movie was n't the horror show that some of the early reviews had warned us about , especially since every other scene does feature jolie 's torpedoes begging to burst out of her lucky shirts , but it was quite the letdown nonetheless , especially when you consider the major opportunity that the filmmakers had here to create a cool , hip woman hero , based on a popular video game .
i do n't know , i guess you have to put most of the blame on director simon west , who did n't really tie the whole movie together all that well .
the film lacked energy , a consistent pace and well . . .
a fun time !
i felt kinda depressed while watching this movie .
all that " father " crap was horrible and the dialogue given to poor john voight to recite was just plain embarrassing
( and i 'm not even gon na mention his moustache . . .
hehehe ) .
why have this shite in the movie at all ? ! ?
i especially hated the scenes in which some ghost - like figure , friend or child would ramble on about lara croft 's father while all the time ,
i 'm not giving one ounce of crap as to what they 're talking about .
i guess that 's called lack of " character development " , right ?
that 's when a movie builds enough background into the characters on the screen , so that we could actually " get into " it and care about them .
i did n't care about anyone in this movie , and was bored during most of its " let 's explain why we 're doing all this gobbledygook " moments . and even though i thought that jolie kicked some mighty ass (
damn , did she look sexy blasting those guns or what ? ! ? ) ,
everybody else around her was so goddamn boring
!
her butler was a throwaway with no personality , her side - kick was supposed to be funny but
just annoyed me
every time he said the word " bugger " ( and he says it a lot , trust me ! )
and all of the so - called bad guys just spewed one - dimension !
they had no spark , no energy amongst them , and even though a few of the action scenes in the movie were cool ( see the trailer
and you 'll know which ones i 'm talking about ) ,
the overall picture was lame and the dialogue and mystical bull - crap just buried it even further .
also , for a movie that 's supposed to be about all of these exotic locations , i was n't necessarily impressed by any of its exterior shots , and even less so with its interiors , which all looked like they were shot in the same room .
mind you
, i wo n't go as far as to say that it 's the " worst movie of the year " ( remember that i actually have to go see freddie prinze jr .
movies also ! ) , but
it 's definitely the worst film that i 've seen during this summer movie season ( of course , it 's still early
and i 'm sure there are a few more garbage heaps coming down the pike ) .
skip this one altogether and rent any of the indiana jones movies instead . . .
trust me , you 'll miss the boobs but end your night with some rock - solid porn
and it 's all good !
where 's joblo coming from ?
raiders of the lost ark ( 10/10 ) - the mummy ( 8/10 ) - lost in space ( 7/10 ) - the mummy returns ( 6/10 ) - the general 's daughter ( 3/10 ) - romancing the stone ( 7/10 ) - wild wild west ( 3/10 ) - mission impossible 2 ( 7/10 )
[EX A]:
N