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

before even seeing a single frame of the film , it would be easy to snicker at deep impact , in which a comet on a collision course with earth threatens the existence of all life on the planet .
it is the latest entry in this decade 's dubious revival of the ' 70s disaster film , and the first of two " the sky is falling " flicks to hit screens this year ( the other being this coming july 's armageddon , in which a meteor is the threat ) .
its tagline , " oceans rise .
cities fall .
hope survives " is not as cornball as that of the utterly ridiculous collapsing tunnel thriller daylight ( " they came in alone . . .
the only way out .
.
. is together " ) , but it 's every bit as treacly .
the opening moments of deep impact offer more to snicker at .
the cheesiness is not confined to the disaster movie conventions , such as the usual opening " roll call , " in which all the major characters and their personal problems are introduced .
the most prominent of the " personal " stories is that of ambitious tv news reporter jenny lerner ( tea leoni ) , who is distraught that her father ( maximilian schell ) left her mother ( vanessa redgrave ) for a younger woman ( rya kihlstedt ) .
what is just as snicker - worthy is how this co - venture between paramount and dreamworks skg aggressively pushes another high - profile corporate collaboration , microsoft and nbc 's cable news network msnbc , which employs jenny , who is the film 's ostensible main character .
in the vision of america presented here , msnbc is the television news source of choice in every home , when in reality it only reaches a fraction of the country .
the initial signs point toward something along the lines of a volcano or dante 's peak , but there 's one thing about deep impact i underestimated : the skills of director mimi leder .
she won an emmy for her helming work on nbc 's smash er , which is essentially a weekly disaster movie , each episode featuring a new set of guest stars with their own personal and medical crises .
the challenge presented by this format to the director is twofold : ( 1 ) to make the audience care for these guest characters , regardless of how briefly seen or thinly written they are , and ( 2 ) powerfully tug at the emotions without being heavy - handed or overly melodramatic .
having passed the " er challenge " in numerous episodes and showed a flair for creating suspense in the peacemaker , leder could not be a better fit to bring michael tolkin and bruce joel rubin 's rather formulaic disaster screenplay to screen .
as the countdown to impact progresses , the ominous feeling of doom is palpable , leading the final act to take on a surprisingly convincing and affecting emotional dimension .
there 's nothing here that will profoundly move anyone , but the fact that anything manages to touch the heart is high achievement in a genre generally more concerned with effects .
situations that initially feel contrived , such as jenny 's familial crisis and the teenage romance between sarah hotchner ( leelee sobieski ) and comet discoverer leo biederman ( elijah wood ) , achieve some poignance ; and even the more vaguely drawn characters , including u . s .
president tom beck ( morgan freeman ) , astronaut spurgeon " fish " tanner ( robert duvall ) , and his rather faceless crew ( ron eldard , jon favreau , mary mccormack , blair underwood , and alexander baluyev ) aboard the comet - bombing spacecraft messiah , have their share of touching moments .
the latter fact owes a debt to the actors , who all do a solid job and are well - cast , with the possible exception of leoni ; she delivers a decent performance , but her trademark unconventional speech rhythms and line delivery make her somewhat hard to buy as a star news broadcaster .
although its catastrophic theme and impressive special effects work
( the giant ocean waves are particularly spectacular ) place deep impact in the same category as the likes of twister , it is the first of the ' 90s disaster films to successfully marry the advanced film technology with emotions that ring true -- a film that makes a genuine impact , even if it is n't as deep as hoped .
P

it may seem weird to begin a film about glam rock with a sequence that includes a spaceship , a green ovular pin , and the birth of oscar wilde , but if one really strains , they can see that perhaps maybe these connections are not half off .
wilde 's philosophy was that everyone should be true to their own human nature , and the result of his following this philosophy was that he was imprisoned , loosing his family and his career .
the glam rock movement in the early 70s in england had a similar take and came to a similar demise .
the main difference was by placing makeup on their face and acting out on their deepest fantasies and inquiries about life ( mostly dealing with androgony and sexuality ) , they became less and less like themselves and more and more like everyone else .
and that 's why the movement seemed to end as soon as it began .
it 's been said that todd haynes ' " velvet goldmine , " the film that chronicles what it was like to be a part of the movement , not only from those who experienced it but by those who created it , steals a lot from " citizen kane , " and that 's true .
in the film , a british journalist in the 80s , arthur stuart ( christian bale ) , is asked to go back and find out what happened to 70s glam rock star brian slade , a fictitious rock star , who faked his own death on stage , bringing the end not only to his career but to the entire glam rock movement .
structure - wise
, this totally steals from " kane , " not only from the set - up ( he interviews three people , and the story is a result of their flashbacks ) , but in other things , like the beginning ( death , then newsreel ) , and smaller details , like the bitter ex - friend in a wheelchair and the bitter ex - wife as a washed - up lounge singer , found in a bar after hours .
this is no " kane , " and it really does n't aspire to be : it does n't attempt to be the deep outlook of something gone like " kane " did , and it does n't really uncover anything poignant about humanity .
instead , it uses the flashbacks as a form of contrast between the magic that was the glam rock era and the boredom that was life after glam rock for those who were participants .
the 80s scenes are dry and deliriously melancholy , equipped with a performance by bale that is perhaps appropriately dull and unengaging .
but the 70s scenes are engaging , though , not to mention addictively campy .
they radiate with gorgeous cinematography
that nicely accentuates all the vibrant colors of the era , and a feel that 's so eerily lighthearted that when combined with the then - footage , they become not only a symbol of decadence , but of times when everything seemed so simple .
instead of creating the world the way it was , haynes paints their own world as if it were a narcotic fairy tale : the glam rock movement was full of so much freedom and liberation that after you 've experienced it , everything else seems so mundane .
there 's no outside world to speak of , secluding these people inside a protective globe that will eventually crack .
haynes focuses his story on the tale of blade and the other fictitious rock hero , curt wild , and their relationship that created , molded , and then brought down the movement , reducing everyone else who contributed to it as merely that - contributors .
blade - played with reserve by the pouty jonathan
rhys meyers - and wild - played with anarchic wildness by ewan mcgregor - are little more than thinly disguised recreations of david bowie and iggy pop , respectively , complete with the creation of a ziggy stardust persona named maxwell demon and the confirmation that the two rock stars may have
very well not only have been one - time partners in music , but also partners in bed .
through discussions with slade 's ex - manager cecil ( michael feast ) , ex - wife mandy ( toni collette , reinventing herself as an american blonde dish who fakes a british accent when with slade ) , and finally ex - partner wild , journalist stuart begins to remember his own experiences in the era , like his discovery of his rebelliousness cum conformity , including the moment when he began questioning his own sexuality ( when he opens up his first slade record , he finds a naked and green slade lying on a crimson blanket ) , and finally running away from home to be part of the london scene , finally resulting in leading a boring job in america .
haynes demonstrates that he 's quite the visual auteur , molding scenes that are like long heald breaths , such as a seemingly long sequence juxtaposing a slade / wild concert of them performing a brian eno cover , " baby 's on fire , " with scenes from a decadent drug party ; and the film 's most wow - inspiring sequence , the first concert scene of wild with his band , the ratttz , where mcgregor lets loose so much anarchic steam that his wild iggy - esuqe movements ( including stripping naked ) and screams that the film captures that perfect moment when one discovers a major talent , and another ( slade ) discovers his idle .
even the brief music videos , spoofs of bowie 's , have a rare visual flair that 's pure camp , and which would cause ken russell to drool .
the best sequence , though , may be the beginning , following the prelude , a sequence which acts as the middle ground for both the actual being of the movement and the post - movement era .
in it , stuart and his mates are going to the infamous slade concert where he fakes his own death , where he kills off his alter ego maxwell demon in what appears to be a real assasination , which brought about the end of the era in one swift fake bullet .
with brian eno 's famous " needle in the camel 's eye " playing in the background , the scene has a detached exhileration - the song does n't seem to be played in quite the same way the other songs are .
it has a distance that 's hard to put a finger on , and it seems to represent that all this is coming to a quick and sad ending , and when one sees slade in the dressing room before the show , docked in a silver frock with wings and blue hair , depressingly staring into the mirror , it comes off as a none - too - obvious prophecy of the finale in the beginning of the film .
this movie 's not so much about plot , but more about the way it is presented , making this one of those films which is classified as being " style over substance , " a statement which prompts many critics to line up for attack .
however , for the most part , the engaging part of this film is not the story but rather the way in which haynes creates this world , by using his sets , costumes , cinematography , and especially the music to play as characters in his film .
the music is especially notable .
the soundtrack , which is wall to wall , consists of old school glam rock tunes by the likes of brian eno , t - rex , and roxy music , as well as covers by slade 's band ( with vocals by thom yorke , and occasionally rhys meyers himself ) , and even newer music by shudder to think that sounds uncannily bowie - like .
the cast is rather impressive , but no one really walks away with the film , and no performances are extremely good .
although eddie izzard , as slade 's manager ( who challenges slade 's first manager to an arm - wrestling match to see who gets control of his career ) and michael feast as the first and tragic manager come off greatly , and collette and mcgregor have their moments , rhys meyers and bale are noticably sub - par , neither putting a lot of effort into their respective roles .
some of it is at fault with the actual construction of the film by haynes .
rhys meyers ' brian slade remains merely a metaphor for the glam rock era , dying when he turned into a retro - garbo , resorting to a life of salinger - ism , and found in the mid-70s to be lying around , sniffing coke off the ass of a party girl .
in fact , no one in this film is really seen as a person , rather than just as a symbol or composite of a type who thrived during the era .
bale 's character is an especially tough sell : bitter and depressed by flashbacks to his young adulthood , he 's not an extremely personal character , and his cliched experiences ( being hounded by the record store guys for buying a record put out by a " poof " ) never help us communicate with him .
nevertheless , rhys meyers and mcgregor have the excuses that their characters are not really characters but rather the results of an era that has left them , and others , bitter , part of which helps the film work , since this is a major piece of eye candy .
at the prime of the movie , they at least look the role of fashionable leaders - slade with his perpetually - changing , androgonys persona , and wild with his topless and unpredictable image , which clash and fuse into an unstable union .
their story - of how slade was so influenced by wild that he adapted it into a similar who - cares attitude crossed with camp - is engaging , without the personal background .
the story of stuart , though , is a tougher sell because he 's the everyman , and when you ca n't totally identify with the everyman , your story 's in slight trouble .
as a cultural rock piece , " velvet goldmine " is rather good , but it is merely good .
it never totally takes off , although it has moments where it absolutely flies
,
but then comes back down .
it 's really nothing more than
a bunch of really great moments , surrounded by material that could really be much better .
the beginning is captivating but slow , the middle is fantastic , and the ending is not only shallow but worse than that
, it drags ( the final half hour not only does it not bring the story to any real conclusion , it could probably stop at any point ) .
and did anyone really figure out what the mystery is that arthur unearths ?
it almost seems like there was no point in the entire investigation other than to unearth the past , which is commendable but
not totally so .
still , it does what the oliver stone pic " the doors " did n't do right , becoming very insightful to what happened , using the visual style to hit most of the right notes of contrast between what made the era so great to those who lived during it and
why after living through such an era that everything else seems half - assed ( i suppose the message is : " live life , but after you 've lived it , what else is the point when you 'll be forced to live with regretful memories ? " ) .
the really superb achievement of this film is that during its flashbacks , it successfully creates for the audience what it must have felt like to be in that era , but with the added perk of knowing the result of all that goes down .
P

i ca n't recall a previous film experience where the fairly good time i was having turned as sour as quickly as it did during feeling minnesota . for forty minutes or so , i was lured into a loopy if occasionally over - wrought romantic comedy , and i was even giving keanu reeves the benefit of the doubt .
then , rather suddenly , i was clubbed over the head with a nasty bit of violence ; shortly thereafter , i was whacked in the gut by another .
feeling minnesota is a film that made me feel violated , as though i had trusted writer - director steven baigelman to bring me a cool glass of water
and instead he threw acid in my face .
feeling minnesota tells the story of a topless dancer named freddie ( cameron diaz ) who finds herself in deep trouble when her boss red ( delroy lindo ) suspects her of stealing from him .
red 's punishment is to force freddie to marry his bookkeeper , sam clayton ( vincent d'onofrio ) , who is far from the man of freddie 's dreams .
enter jjaks ( keanu reeves ) , sam 's estranged younger brother , who arrives at the wedding just in time to catch freddie 's eye and have sex with her in the bathroom .
united in their mutual attraction and their mutual loathing of sam , jjaks and freddie take off together , but sam is n't ready to let them go without a fight .
freddie , meanwhile , is n't ready to let sam 's money go without a fight , and thus begins a series of violent confrontations .
there is both style and substance to the beginning of feeling minnesota , as baigelman opens with an effective montage showing jjaks and sam 's intense sibling rivalry as boys , and their mother ( tuesday weld ) sending jjaks away to live with his father .
it does a great job of setting up jjaks ' unstable life , a life which has landed him in trouble for petty crimes and always trying to please his family ; reeves ' wounded look is just right for jjaks .
the wedding sequence includes a number of nice moments , most notably the aforementioned bathroom scene in which a simple question is given a very funny spin .
most important , baigelman begins to establish the connection between freddie and jjaks with humor and economy , as in a scene where they both spontaneously begin singing along to the replacements ' " i will dare " on the car radio .
you would have every reason to expect that relationships -- both familial and romantic -- would be the focal point of feeling minnesota .
unfortunately , you would be dead wrong .
i suppose i should have expected daisies and valentines after an early scene in which red threatens freddie as she tries to avoid the wedding , but i certainly did n't expect what i got .
what i got was yet another in a long line of recent films trying to ride the tarantino wave by mixing gags and brutality , or rather creating gags about brutality .
suddenly , the story of romantic entanglements and family conflict becomes a story about a corpse , and everything which had come before degenerates so completely that virtually nothing is recognizable .
the sibling rivalry not only becomes little more than an excuse for one round of beatings after another , but there is no consistency to the characterizations .
vincent d'onofrio turns in a manic performance as sam , whose jealousy , competitiveness and apparent sense of inferiority seem far more in keeping with what we know about jjaks , while reeves turns into a framed hero too reminiscent of chain reaction , and both of them spend most of the second half of the film screaming and covered in blood .
there are films which have managed to employ a radical shift in tone successfully ( jonathan demme 's something wild and neil jordan 's the crying game come to mind ) , but they did n't try to draw an audience with the promise of relatively innocuous entertainment .
i do n't want to dismiss baigelman 's successes out of hand -- he gets a fun performance out of dan aykroyd as a crooked cop , and some well - crafted comic moments -- and it is not his fault that fine line has chosen to promote feeling minnesota as a light - hearted caper .
it
_ is _ his fault that he violates his own characters for the sake of shock value , and that he ca n't make his two halves into a whole .
feeling minnesota
left me feeling used , and there 's not much funny about that .

N