instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
not too many people know who james whale is , but it 's a safe bet that a good chunk of them have seen his movies .
if we are to believe the semi- biographical gods and monsters , whale would have wanted it to be that way .
this is an insightful , haunting exploration of the last days of the frankenstein and bride of frankenstein director , and it is notable for introducing one of the first complicated gay characters in a hollywood movie .
gods and monsters has no interest in being a biopic of whale 's life because it tracks only the final few days of his life , and it 's probably a better movie for it .
it 's focus is on whale 's ( ian mckellen ) untraditional and deceptive lust for heterosexual gardener clayton boone ( brendan fraser ) .
it begins with whale ( a fairly talented artist , aside from being a director ) asking boone to " sit for him ,
" ( pose for a portrait ) .
at first , boone does n't realize that whale is gay and grows fascinated with the old man .
when he does discover whale 's sexual orientation from his dedicated and protective maid ( lynn redgrave ) , he is frightened , refusing to sit for the guy .
but he comes back , only to storm out again , disgusted with whale 's " locker room talk .
" boone returns yet another time , after whale promises to tone down the aforementioned " locker room talk , " and finds their platonic relationship to be strengthening .
meanwhile , jimmy himself is suffering from hallucinations and mental attacks as a result of his stroke not long ago .
his ailment leads to desperation and depression , which build to the point where he is forced to ask boone for an incredulously big favor .
what is perhaps most sensational about gods and monsters is brendan fraser 's bravura performance ; up until seeing this film i intensely disliked the young actor because of his tendency to ruin the movies he is in ( blast from the past , for example ) .
i was surprised how expressive an actor he proved himself to be here .
this is impressive because his character 's dialogue is minimal , with mckellan doing most of the talking .
that requires fraser to act through body language ; a difficult skill to master , but something he proves capable of doing well .
this is not to ignore mckellan 's oscar nominated turn .
he earned that nomination with his touching performance here ( although , at the risk of sounding like a philistine , i would have chosen his performance as the nazi in apt pupil for the nomination ) ; an understated , compelling gem .
whale dreaded being remembered solely for his work in the hollywood horror genre , and he thought hollywood to be the equivalent of a battlefield .
he rejoiced in being free from it , only reluctantly going to receptions with fellow movie people .
in the end , perhaps , it is what killed him : the memories of hollywood and war blending together to form a living nightmare . ?
1999 eugene novikov&#137 ;
answer:
P


question:
the bond series is an island in the film world ; where else would we look forward to cliches , and all of the other things that occur in most of these films ?
where else would pure escapism , a vulnerable hero , the " talking villains , " blatant product placement , predictable action sequences , and lots of promiscuity be hoped for instead of a significant change ?
i do n't understand it myself , but that 's what the bond series is based on .
for ( i think )
18 films , we 've mostly got the same thing over and over again , with some variation ( and a bit of change , most notably in the two dalton films ) .
but even i , a king of cynicism , ca n't bitch about it . and " tomorrow never dies , " the ( again , i think ) eighteenth bond film , and second brosnan bond film , is no exception .
thank god !
the plot , as in most of them , is pure balderdash , but seems to have a nice kind of edge to it .
instead of just plain billionaire psychotics , we get a rupert murdoch - esque media mogul / psychotic - elliot carver ( jonathan pryce , looking bitching with a white - haired cru cut , and always talking like he 's out of breath ) , who has the admittingly ingenius idea of getting ratings by creating a war .
no , this is not " wag the dog " - he wants a real war , between china and england , and is stupid enough to put the coverage out before anyone else discovered it . . .
in comes bond .
james is sent all around the world , trying to do research on carver , fighting with his men , and running into ( on more than one occasion ) a chinese secret agent like him : wai lin ( michelle yeoh , asian action star extraordinaire . . .
and co - star of " supercop , " nearly stealing the screen from jackie chan in that one ) .
the two eventually , and predictably of course , begin working together , and yes , there is some sexual tension between the two .
luckily , their relationship is never strained , and she never gives into his cassanova - ness until the finale .
thank god again .
in every bond film , james bags , on average , three women ( sometimes more , sometimes less - the latter being more potent towards the aids - cautionary dalton ) , and he does n't spoil this one ( though we never see them , of course - i mean , they need to stay around a pg-13 rating ) .
there 's always one at the beginning with some chick
we never see again , the big bond girl ( yeoh ) , and this time we have an almost - cameo by teri hatcher as carver 's wife , paris , who , it seems , was once one of the girls he bags at the beginning .
yes , teri 's very attractive , but she seems kind of dull .
of course , it 's not really her fault ; her part is under - written , and she 's only in a small part of it .
oh well .
and there are always the big henchmen , the guys who do the dirty work for the polished big villains .
this time we get a tall , arian - looking ( not to mention robert shaw in " from russia with love " -looking
) guy named stamper ( goetz otto ) , who is pretty awesome , although a bit stiff ( well , mostly his posture , really ) .
and for a bit of comedy , we get a cameo from vincent shiavelli as a german or austrian assassin who is ordered to do in bond at one point .
the government people have small parts , as usual , with q ( desmond llewelyn , looking near death , sadly ) getting only one scene ( in a more grouchy mood than usual ) , and m ( judi dench ) , getting more than m usually gets ( i mean , it is judi dench ) .
and for no reason whatsoever , except 'cause he was so good in " goldeneye , " joe don baker shows up again as wade , admitting he has no reason for being there , and is this time more annoying .
again , oh well .
the action sequences are not a let - down , although sometimes go on too long .
they pop up every now and then , mainly because they have to ( for the sake of the series ) , and some significant ones are the opening one , one in a garage with a bmw that runs on remote control , and a motorcylce chase ( on a bmw cycle , nonetheless ) through china streets ( or was it vietnam . . .
the plot 's not really essential ) .
they 're more high - tech , and feature much more laughs , which , yeah , i dig .
so what if they 're distracting ; they 're supposed to be !
the acting , from most around is great .
yeoh is , actually , one of the better bond girls , mainly because
she 's so unique .
the better bond girls are more independent , and have a certain wily - ness to them .
pussy galore , with her homoerotic undertones and all , is one of the best , and diana rigg , who married bond at the end of " on her majesty 's secret service " only to be killed , added some emotional depth .
yeoh is notable since she 's so active , and has great chemistry with brosnan .
pryce is an awesome villain , being slimy and lovable at the same time .
and brosnan is , once again ,
the mack daddy .
the bond series is built on cliches , mainly because they 're so fun and add to the escapism . if you can remember the dalton years , and they 're serious direction , you remember how unsuccessful they were , both financially and aesthetically .
the series would falter if bogged down with too much plot , too many themes , and too much characterization .
i do n't really understand it myself , yet i 'm one of the bigger fans of the series in the northeast united states .
having seen all of them more than once ( yes , i 've seen this twice already ) , you can tell i adore them .
while it 's not one of the best , like " goldfinger " or " from russia with love , " " tomorrow never dies " is nonetheless a truly awesome installment , even if not being as fully amazing as some of the better ones .
answer:
P


question:
8 mm , written by seven scribe andrew kevin walker , has an interesting idea which is ruined by hollywood formula to become a bog standard murder mystery .
nicolas cage plays family man detective tom welles , who is asked by upper class toff mrs .
christian ( myra carter ) to investigate an movie found in her recently deceased husbands safe .
the movie happens to be an mythical ' snuff movie ' , where the girl featured in the film appears to get brutally slashed .
all mrs .
christian wants to know if the girl in the film was killed or not .
welles agrees , and soon gets pulled into the seedy underworld of porn movies , with video clerk max california ( phoenix ) as his guide .
although the ' snuff ' industry has n't really been examined in mainstream cinema , 8 mm still makes a rather plodding thriller which just seems to be a bit sicker than most .
the snuff movie within the movie is certainly disturbing , although the jerky camera angles and grainy image takes some of the shock away .
8 mm has the problem of not wanting to shock too much , and apart from a few moments , most of the action in the film is nothing you have n't seen from another standard thriller .
the cast help towards the entertainment , apart from an hideous performance by the increasingly lazy nicolas cage .
while he was fun and breezy in earlier films such as raising arizona ( 1987 ) , ever since leaving las vegas ( 1995 ) , cage has lost much of his acting talent and appears to be on autopilot , such as in the terrible snake eyes ( 1998 . ) here , in 8 mm , he 's boring , uninteresting and has a dull monotonous voice .
and in this overlong thriller , these virtues do not help keep the suspense up .
only when cage is onscreen with the excellent phoenix does the film start moving , as phoenix is a true talent .
his performance is a great break away from the gloom , and he 's just purely enjoyable to watch .
catherine keener is completely wasted as cage 's wife , although she delivers a far better performance than her character deserves .
her character , though , is hugely underwritten , one of the most wasted characters of the year .
also fun is fargo 's peter stormare as the wildly over the top snuff film director .
as this film is written by the person behind seven , 8 mm is filled with doom and gloom , and no - one appears to know how to use an light switch .
unlike seven , 8 mm is n't too clever , and the twist is pathetic and startlingly obvious when it arrives . lacking the strong characters
seven featured , 8 mm ultimately becomes uninvolving plot wise , and relies on the graphic scenes to provide any entertainment .
but director joel schumacher , the completely wrong guy for the job , puts style over content , and while the direction and look are good , it 's just not very disturbing .
schumacher also has no idea how to shock and audience , and though we are meant to be looking at the ' dark belly ' of the porn industry , it does n't exactly leave an haunting impression on the viewers mind , which misses the point .
also , the last 20 minutes are so hackneyed , so cliched
, it 's amazing to think it 's the same film you 're watching .
8 mm is far from an success , a ' snuffed ' opportunity . with a boring lead character , ' controversial ' scenes that manage not to be controversial , and a director obsessed with looks , what could have been one of the most shocking films of the year is a dumb thriller .
ultimately , 8 mm is probably worth renting on home video , unless your desperate to see what the snuff film within the film looks like . and trust me , the rest of the 2 hours are not worth it .
answer:

N