instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
synopsis : two con artists find the perfect patsy in harry ( woody harrelson ) - - an inept former journalist who trips and bumps his head into a post , tries to slap a girl and gets poked in the eye , has ill - timed fits of coughing , and fails at everything he does .
the story is told from harry 's point of view .
harry always carries around a shot of whiskey although he swears he does n't drink .
one day harry is approached by the con girl rhea ( elisabeth shue ) , who is similar to harry in that she carries around a cigarette but swears she does n't smoke .
seduced , harry agrees to participate in a money - making scheme involving faking the kidnapping of odette ( chloe sevigny ) , the teenage daughter of a rich man .
turns out , it 's all part of a needless , very puzzling , extremely elaborate and convoluted scheme
( it involves hiring special impersonators ) by two cons in order to fool harry , a hero who barely has the intellectual capacity of a wooden post .
when the ' kidnapped ' odette is found dead , the clues point to harry as the kidnapper / murderer , and the police are hot on harry 's trail .
harry suddenly realizes he has been framed while others have taken the ransom money .
can he get out of this mess ?
opinion : palmetto is a long , uninteresting film with all the wrong feel .
hero harry is an inept bungler who trips up often and consistently overestimates his own intelligence .
this farcical kind of character works best in an entertaining naked gun action comedy or dragnet spoof .
but palmetto is played like a dark , serious , detective noir drama , and watching harry 's bumbling confidence amounts to an irritating distraction .
there 's a lapse in concentration in the middle of the movie as the camera goes wild on breasts , buttocks , short skirts , colored painted nails , and women 's legs .
even when the focus is supposedly on harry and his dilema , you can always notice the side of elizabeth shue 's breast forming a prominent foreground .
towards the end , palmetto re - focuses on plot for the grand finale - - a confusing explanation involving impersonators , with woody harrelson handcuffed and suspended over a tub of acid as he hears the criminals ' confession . if you can imagine ' shemp ' from the three stooges playing the detective hero of an hbo ' lingerie suspense ' thriller , that 's how out of synch this movie feels .
answer:
N


question:
( warning to those who have not seen seven : this review contains some spoiler information . )
seven is a powerful , fully - realized film on the level of the silence of the lambs .
it is a disturbing film that accomplishes its biggest of goals -- it occupies the viewers mind long after the closing credits have rolled .
while this film is not for the squeamish , there is no denying that seven demands attention , for it is a film that transcends its genre in both style and substance .
for starters , classifying seven as a " thriller " would not be an altogether complete classification of this film .
while i was genuinely thrilled throughout , i would rather call seven an " intense drama , " because that is what it delivers -- meaningful scenes with a relentlessness that does not readily let up .
part of director david finchers accomplishment is in style .
he seems to have a knack for knowing exactly how the average person fears something as " simple " as a corpse .
and visually , fincher shows us the remains of murder victims in all - too - realistic and graphic terms ( courtesy of rob bottin 's always - grisly special effects ) .
throw in the appropriate but not - to - be - underestimated effects of lighting and a foreboding score and the result is a technical masterpiece of the murder scene .
these scenes alone are quite impressive ; as fascinating as they are harrowing .
yet , seven is more than just a technical accomplishment .
in addition to style , fincher supplies substance .
seven has compelling characters that it wants us to know and understand , and fincher ties them all together in a completely pessimistic view of society .
detective william somerset ( morgan freeman ) is a man who has nearly given up on the world .
its easy to see why .
the world does n't make sense .
( somerset drives this point home with a rather ghastly story of a robbery victim who was attacked just blocks from the police precinct .
after knocked down and robbed of his wallet , the attacker stabbed the helpless man in both eyes . )
why should somerset believe that by following this murder investigation and " picking up the pieces " he will be able to catch the killer ?
somersets new partner , david mills ( brad pitt ) has not given up on the world , perhaps because he is still young ( and perhaps by having this optimism he 's naive in
this films portrayal of the world ) .
he completely disagrees with somersets abandonment of hope .
however , david 's wife ( gwyneth paltrow ) has so much fear of her urban surroundings , she is n't even sure if she wants to * tell * her husband about her recent pregnancy , let alone carry it until birth and attempt to raise it in this environment .
these three characters are all performed with skill and authenticity
that makes them feel like real people and not the typical hollywood characters a lesser film might have offered .
and in addition to making clear how each of these characters sees the world , fincher gives us support for
* why * they feel the way they do .
but if there 's one character that underlines the message seven is trying to convey , it has to be the killer , john doe ( kevin spacey ) .
seven 's payoff lies in its ability to allow us to see how the killer views the world and what drives him to do what he does .
one important thing to remember about doe is how easy it is to simply dismiss him as a " psycho , " with no motives behind his slayings .
this is exactly the mistake mills makes .
in the extremely intense and superbly performed closing scenes , were allowed to see that doe is , in his mind , merely a product of society .
he 's a killer who kills those who are bringing society down .
in his mind he did n't kill " innocent " people , and , perhaps , they were not completely innocent ( but , then again , who is ? ) .
he s absolutely infuriated that mills believes that the murder victims were innocent .
really , seven does n't just comment on the superficial obviousness of how screwed - up john doe is .
seven makes larger statements about how screwed - up society is , hinting that society 's degradation is simply conducive of creating more john does .
besides the stylistic and larger - issue arguments for seeing this film , i recommend seven because it is , after all , also a very slick and well - made thriller .
it features exciting plot developments , commanding performances , lots of suspense , and a conclusion that is chilling , riveting , and quite unfair .
but then again , its a cruel world .
answer:
P


question:
andrew lloyd webber 's musicals , preferably his early work with lyricist tim rice , present a musical which is totally unlike any musical before its time .
webber and rice do not subscribe to the gaity of such musicals as " oklahoma ! , " or the slapstickness of shows like " a funny thing happened on the way to the forum .
"
they instead tackle hot issues from our past , and view them differently , and pack them together with redundant , catchy music , as well as thoughtful lyrics .
like " jesus christ superstar , " which examined the rise and fall of jesus in his last days from a fame perspective ( in the cool tune " superstar , " a dead judas comes back from the dead to ask jesus why he did n't spread his message wider ) , " evita " takes an inventive stance on its topic , this time being the famed wife of argentinian dictator , juan per ?
n ,
eva , who slept her way to the top and became famous chiefly because she got attention , much like the woman playing her : madonna ( although i think madonna did rise to the top for her musical talent , among other things ) .
" evita " deals with the rise and fall of eva per ?
n , a woman who captured the heart of the nation after marrying juan ( jonathan pryce ) , then died at the young age of 33 , creating an international stir of mourning not unlike that of princess di ( the two do share a bit in common , although it was n't like di slept to " the top " ) .
webber and rice sure chose bizarre topics for their musicals , but they always have a point for doing it .
here , they wish to expose her for what she is , but still show that despite all of her many drawbacks , her lying , and covering up for her fascist husband , but show that she was still a good woman with fairly good intentions , and her death was very sad .
it 's also a musical , with almost no words not unsung .
the film plays like a rock opera , much like their " jesus christ superstar , " with many giant musical sequences just like the old musicals , even if they do possess very intelligent lyrics , which create not only an intellectually enlightening experience , but also a very entertaining one . after all , this is a musical , and webber 's musicals never undermine this .
they are a balance of energy and intellectual depth , walking on a fine line between the both , and never stumbling on either side .
this is why the beginning of " evita " is kind of a let - down .
okay , it is a let - down .
i 'm not saying the opening moments are bad , because they 're pretty good .
but what comes after is a lifeless , un - entertaining , and totally unrewarding sequence where she cons a singer ( jimmy nail ) into taking eva to buenos aires after a one - night stand .
in the musical , it 's a fun , energetic sequence , culiminating in the show stopper , " buenos aires , " which is also lifeless .
then a punch is pulled as we see eva being screwed over by the singer , instead of her leaving him , where she ends up singing the sad tune , " another suitcase in another hall , " which was meant for a later character , screwed over by eva .
the portrayal of eva in the beginning is too soft , seeming like parker and oliver stone , who adapted it for the screen , are afraid to present her for what she is , even while it 's being narrated by a hater of eva 's , the omnipotent ( antonio banderas ) , who presents her in a negative light .
for a while , it looks like alan parker ca n't pull it off . however , the film pulls itself together in a flash , and after that song is over , and the giddily nihilistic song " goodbye and thank you , " where we see eva go through a long line of lovers who help her ascend , is magnificent , darkly comical , and just gleeful .
from this point on , the film is hypnotic , satisfying , and satirical .
no more punches are thrown , and the basic outline of the original musical are in tact .
we see eva woo and marry juan , get him out of jail , rise to stardom , falter a bit , come back , and then gradually die of cancer ( i think it was because of cancer ) .
more importantly , many of the themes from the musical carry on with this , as well as some filling - in - the - gaps reconnassaince work .
juan , who is pretty underwritten in the musical , is given some extra scenes , and exposed as what he was for eva : an accessory .
a muted scene where he tries to visit her respective room but is shunned allows us to learn more about juan , and understand his sadness more than we did before .
> from the " goodbye and thank you " number on
, the film shows eva trying to cover up for the horrible government by doing cheap and petty things which wooed a nation , and saved a government , even while it left the nation 's people downtrodden .
but despite this , the nation still loved eva , and when she slipped into death , the world mourned her because she was a star .
that 's when our narrator , ch ? , comes out to show that she was n't the great woman she really was , and expose her fame .
describing this character is difficult , mainly because he has no real realistic background ( he 's said to be based on the revolutionary ch ?
guevera , but the two probably could have never met , like they do in the film ) , but he serves as a perspective on eva , but even his perspective ca n't help us from feeling bad when eva dies a pathetic death .
alan parker , no stranger to bizarre musicals ( he 's done " fame , " " the committments , " " bugsy malone , " and " pink floyd the wall " - the latter which is absolutely brilliant ) , nails the film , exposing everything for what it is .
we cry for evita at the end because we feel we should , by the way it is presented .
his direction is manipulative for a reason : to show the mourning for what it is .
and there is energy throughout ,
with lots of bright colors , and scenes which are cinematically entertaning , as well as enriching and deep , such as the balcony scene where she sings " do n't cry for me , argentina , " and her death sequence , which is poignant becuase of how sad it is .
madonna 's golden globe winning performance is much like the movie : starts kinda downhill then goes up quickly , remaning there for the rest of the film .
at the beginning , she looks like she 's too busy concentrating on her singing to act , but she eventually gets it right , though never really getting the presence of , say , patti lupone ( who did the role in its american premiere back in the late 70s ) .
her death , though , is brilliant .
her singing could be better though .
i know she took lessons to improve her range and all , but it still sounds like she 's trying to hard .
she sounds way too soft in several places where she should be comanding ( like . . .
patti lupone - i heard her sing on an old " evita " cd , and you could just feel her stage presence without even seeing her ) .
but it 's generally very good , although not up to the brilliance the role really requires .
antonio banderas , who is almost like a guilty pleasure these days ( i 'm one of the few people who thinks he rocks ) , is
extremely comanding in his performance , presenting a lovable narrator .
his singing is very good , though nothing compared to the original , mandy patinkin .
he does have a pretty good singing voice , and a great range . and jonathan pryce is pretty awesome , although very brief at times , in his role as juan , seeming to put on a poker face for his melancholy facade .
although it gets off to a rocky start ( " rocky " 's polite for what it really is ) , it soon picks up and becomes a wonderully poignant musical .
like the other musical released in ' 96 ( woody allen 's
" everyone says i love you " ) , it 's a reminder that the hollywood musical may be dead , but it can come back every now
and then for a brief performance .
answer:

P