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

[Q]: on the basis of this film alone , i never would have predicted that , in two years , quentin tarantino would become the country 's biggest hotshot director .
reservoir dogs
has hints of the tarantino brilliance that emerged in pulp fiction , but is a much less substantive , more conventional crime story than the big pf .
here 's what the two movies do have in common . . .
--scenes of intelligent , amusing dialogue with no relevance to the plot --a story that jumps back and forth in time rather than going in a logical , chronological sequence --graphic yet necessary violence
--an engaging crime story --dialogue liberally spiced with swear words and racial / gender slurs --three of the same actors ( harvey keitel , tim roth and steve buscemi )
--a mexican standoff ending , although this one is considerably less optimistic than pf reservoir dogs is an entire hour shorter than pulp fiction because it 's only got one story to tell rather than three .
crime lord joe cabot ( veteran actor lawrence tierney ) has assembled five criminals who have never even met each other to pull a diamond store heist .
the five are instructed not to reveal their real names or personal details or anything the cops could use if one of them was captured and interrogated .
instead , they are all given code names off the color chart -- mr .
white ( keitel ) , mr .
pink ( buscemi ) , mr .
orange ( roth ) , mr .
blonde ( michael madsen ) , mr .
brown ( tarantino ) and mr .
peach ( tarantino 's chin ) .
most of the movie 's running time is spent with mr .
white and pink waiting at a warehouse for the others to arrive .
mr .
orange , meanwhile , is on the floor , dying from a gunshot wound .
the police had arrived at the scene of the crime way too soon , leading white to believe one of the five was an informant .
the story 's background unfolds through a series of flashbacks , of the crime itself and the meetings between joe and the criminals prior to the crime .
eventually , blonde arrives with a police officer hostage , and what follows is a truly brutal , uncomfortable torture scene .
let 's just say picasso would be inspired by what blonde does to the cop 's ear .
a lot of the time , reservoir dogs seems like your typical gangster heist - gone - wrong movie , but there are a few sequences that are uniquely tarantino .
the opening scene in the coffee shop starts the movie off on a high note the rest of it does n't live up to , as the criminals plus joe have a conversation on , among other things , tipping philosophies and their interpretations of madonna 's " like a virgin .
"
another scene involves roth 's lengthy manufactured story about running into a group of cops and a police dog in a bus station bathroom while carrying a giant bag of marijuana .
neither of these have much plot relevance but are given ample time to develop , like the captain koons gold watch speech in pulp fiction , only here these sequences are more enjoyable than the rest of the movie .
reservoir dogs is good
but it 's no pulp fiction .
[A]: P


[Q]: ` bats ' is an insulting slap across the face for any dedicated horror movie fan .
to pull something like this off , you need to have a sense of wit and style , with a heavy dosage of humor to back up the process if the fright factor ever declines .
something like the underground worm thriller ` tremors '
had just the perfect mixture of these elements , and in return , the film was tremendous fun .
with the notable exception of a wisecracking supporting player , ` bats ' mainly plays it 's premise for straight - arrow horror .
judging
by the ridiculous premise
, this was not exactly a wise move .
the movie attempts to capture the essence of alfred hitchcock 's ` the birds ' , but fails miserably .
done right , it could have been adequately amusing halloween cinema .
unfortunately , ` bats ' is a prime example of a formula movie done terribly , terribly wrong .
the only thing amusing about this festering pile of guano is in how intelligible the filmmakers anticipate their core audience to be .
i will recite the following paragraph in a manner that will reach the audience of individuals to whom ` bats ' is aimed toward .
those guys in hollywood have made a movie about bats .
these bats are not very nice , because they eat a lot of people .
boy , are these bats ugly .
they are infected with this bogus virus that makes them super - duper smart .
they 've got big claws and red eyes and they are not very friendly at all .
a whole bunch of people in texas get killed , so a sheriff guy and a scientist lady are brought in to kill the bats .
they have big guns and other cool things to fight them with , but the bats are pretty smart , so it 's sorta hard to do .
the bats swoop down and they shoot at them to make they go away for good .
but no , ` bats ' is probably too violent for pre - schoolers .
the film , directed by louis morneau , should have ventured straight into video stores .
on the small screen , perhaps more fun could have been derived with lower expectations . but sitting through this crapper on the big screen is almost awkward ; although at a few moments it becomes a guilty pleasure , the film is poorly written , poorly acted and executed with glaring ineptitude .
even the bats themselves are cheesy , and the attack sequences too rushed and jittery
to be properly enjoyed .
the sheriff in the story is emmett kimsey ( lou diamond phillips ) , who embodies every pathetic stereotype a small - town authority figure
usually portrays ( he chomps on a cigar , struts contentedly in his boots , etc . .. ) .
the scientist is dr .
sheila casper ( dina meyer ) , who specializes in flying mammals and is classified as ` the best in her field ' .
meyer uses a lot of technical terms designed to make the movie seem more intellectually capable , but everything about dr .
casper is recycled beyond recognition .
her memories of how she became hooked on the topic of bats sounds suspiciously like oceanographic student matt hooper 's tale of how he became infatuated with sharks in ` jaws ' .
everything revolving around ` bats ' is tired drivel , which desperately requires some directorial style or acting capabilities to spruce it up .
the supporting cast could have been constructed out of straw , with voices dubbed in later .
in fact , that may have worked out better in the end .
take one glance at casper 's bat - loathing sidekick jimmy ( leon ) , and you 'll have immediate deja vu
- he 's the exact same humorous buddy caricature from every other movie , constructed specifically for timed comic relief .
unfortunately , none of his comic interludes are funny .
in the role of deranged mad scientist dr .
mccabe , the reliable bob gunton gets cornered with the most hideously idiotic character in the bunch .
mccabe ` accidentally ' released two experimental test subjects , and the virus spread to other bats .
the entire town of gallup , texas is under attack from an enormous swarm of the creatures , but gunton appears to be inconspicuously contemplating something else .
something like : ` when is the damn movie going to be over
? ?
i just want my money . '
the bats are ugly , i must say .
there 's the occasional moment where they look moderately convincing , but mainly , the swarm is represented in cheesy digital imagery .
only bits of the bloody action even hint at the campy fun the film could have been , but by the absurdly stupid climax , it 's way too late in the game for a decent recovery .
characters experiment in slaughtering the bats with gunfire .
let 's explore the logic there : is this really a very efficient way to decrease the bat population ? ?
you could empty an entire clip at the flying winged serpents and not even wound one , and after that there are only 18 , 000 more of them .
this kind of behavior represents the regular level of intelligence behind ` bats ' .
[A]: N


[Q]: the u . s .
army utilizes a number of books known as field manuals which stipulate the specific way in which almost every action imaginable must be done .
one particular field manual is known as the fm 22 - 5 , which among other things , covers the practice of saluting .
under the " saluting " section is a sub - section which covers how a salute is rendered by a military work detail in the presence of a superior officer .
the salute is rendered by the highest - ranking individual present when the superior officer comes within six paces of the detail , and is dropped when the officer passes six paces from the detail .
in any event , the salute is rendered only by the man ( or woman ) in charge , rather than by the whole group .
almost at the very beginning of the general 's daughter , we see a general 's motorcade passing a work detail .
everyone salutes .
it looked impressive , but it just was n't right .
that little bit showed me that someone either did n't do the appropriate research , or made the conscious decision to go with style over substance for the scene .
in fact , this would serve as a metaphor for the rest of the picture , as it seems director simon west tried so hard to craft a film with atmosphere and flash that he forgot a coherent story and good characterization are also crucial to a good movie .
what results is a film that looks good , but like that one scene , just is n't right .
the first fifteen minutes of the film is a good example .
paul brenner ( john travolta ) is an agent for the army 's criminal investigation division , undercover at a georgia army base to investigate an illegal arms sale .
prior to the transaction , the buyer gets a whiff that brenner is n't the unscrupulous supply sergeant he 's supposed to be , and later that night attempts to kill him by shooting up the houseboat on which brenner is living .
so ensues a cat and mouse action sequence which ends like a certain scene in raiders of the lost ark ( we 'll just say that it involves propellers ) .
brenner then receives new orders when the commanding general 's daughter , captain elisabeth campbell ( leslie stefanson ) , is found naked , bound , and dead on one of the base 's training ranges .
he is teamed with rape investigator sarah sunhill ( madeleine stowe ) to uncover the truth about the peculiarly gruesome murder .
what i want to know is why the whole action scene with the arms buyer was even necessary .
it gives no insight into brenner , other than the fact that he 's a little cocky .
does the arms subplot turn up later ?
no , so why add this extra running time to the film ?
the answer : it looked cool . or how about the " atmosphere " ?
the beginning of the general 's daughter presents us with imagery of the deep south - thick trees , dirt roads , sultry colors over water - all backed up with bayouesque music .
nice immersion in the setting , but
it soon does n't matter , for when the film 's plot shifts over to the murder investigation , so does the entire mood .
no attention is paid to the location of the story , and the music is altered to fit a very generic thriller theme .
did the filmmakers start out thinking they were making a different movie ? instead of creating a cohesive atmospheric theme for the entire film ,
we get the distraction of one of theme followed by another , just because the director thought he should show off some of the countryside .
the above examples also serve to illustrate that inconsistency is another problem with this movie .
as i 've already mentioned , an entire section of the film does n't jibe with the rest , and the characterization only adds to the difficulty .
brenner , who comes across as a man with little respect for authority , suddenly snaps to in the presence of general campbell ( james cromwell ) and
utters some of the corniest
" yes , sir " s i 've ever heard
.
he even delivers an emotion - charged monologue about why he will work so hard to catch the person who killed the general 's daughter , even though he was totally flippant about the whole thing just a couple of minutes previous .
sunhill , who initially comes across as a professional investigator , utilizes a couple of blatantly illegal methods to obtain information , and even revels in her ingenuity .
both characters are protagonists , but it 's hard to get behind them when their personalities are all over the place , and in some cases , simply unappealing
.
i could imagine that during filming , west would shoot a scene , then take the actors aside and tell them , " let 's do it again , but this time , i want more .
"
i say this because although travolta and stowe are normally very good , in this film
they overact in most of their scenes . an even worse offender is clarence williams iii as the general 's aide , colonel fowler .
i swear the guy says all of his lines from the position of attention .
a far cry from his days as linc in " the mod squad " , i ca n't help but think he was acting from west 's direction .
a couple of side characters including a west point psychologist ( john beasly ) and a young female private ( ariyan a . johnson ) make their scenes nearly impossible to bear .
the only two actors who seem to have escaped west 's influence are james woods , who provides a good performance as colonel moore , elisabeth 's mentor at the psychological operations unit , and timothy hutton as colonel kent of the military police .
woods relishes the role of a man whose job is playing with people 's minds , and does so without ever taking it over the top .
hutton just kind of hangs around , but at least he was n't overacting .
i have n't read the nelson demille novel on which this movie was based , but i 'll bet more than a few dollars that the story was better in book form .
the movie version has got characters which come and go with little or nothing to do except fill up space , or provide bits of information which seem to neither mean anything in terms of advancing the story nor reveal any significance once the whole story is finished .
every time we 're presented with some new aspect to the case , west gives us more of that flash by playing it up like it 's the most momentous discovery ever , but the information is not used by the investigators at all .
instead , when conclusions are drawn , they are such tremendous leaps of faith that you wonder if successful investigations are not based on facts , but lucky guesses instead .
the army should have saved time by bringing in brennan and sunhill , letting them play a game of twenty questions with the suspects , then letting them guess who the killer was .
would 've been over in a half hour .
the film finishes with a sort of bookend , featuring the same style and southern scenery as the very beginning .
literally during the closing credits , we get to see brennan get in his car and drive off , then we get to see sunhill get in her car and drive off .
they both seem kind of happy .
maybe they were driving away from simon west .
[A]:
N