instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
big courtroom thrillers have always captivated america .
o .
j . simpson , tom capano , the menendez brothers .
all these names are synonymous to americans and courtrooms .
and , of course , courtroom dramas are not a new topic to hollywood . whether it be john grisham 's thrilling novels or television 's famous dramas , the courtroom has always provided big bucks .
so when i rented a civil action , i was expecting the film to be like the rainmaker , a brilliant law film that kept viewers on the edge of their seat .
however , what i saw in a civil action was far different from what i expected , a major surprise , but
fortunately , a pleasant one .
john travolta always seems to come up big when you least expect it .
no one expected him to light up the screen in grease , nor in saturday night fever .
but , whenever he gets knocked down , he always seems to come back fighting .
a civil action is not john 's best performance , but a strong one that could rival any performance in 1998 .
travolta proves that a normal and believable performance can vault a film into oscar nominations .
his performance is not flashy , nor memorable , just solid . if he delivered the only solid performance , this film would still be average .
luckily , he has a strong supporting cast .
william h .
macy is probably one of the most underrated actors in hollywood .
he continues to deliver great performances one after the other , but he is still regarded as a secondary actor .
in a civil action , he delivers yet another great performance
as travolta 's paranoid and greedy accountant .
he is not a lovable character , but a character who stands out in your mind whenever you think of the film .
he is not one of the big time lawyers , just a measly accountant .
but , he delivers one of the best supporting roles of 1998 , but there is actually someone better in a civil action .
robert duvall is also an underrated actor .
he gets many leading roles , but is never heard when you hear of big box office draws like tom hanks , brad pitt and jim carrey .
duvall has a supporting role in this as a lawyer of the co - defendant .
duvall is magical in this role .
he is the wise teacher , who not only battles it out in the courtroom , but also manages to teach every major player a lesson , in his own twisted way .
in many non - comedic films , directors are always trying to find a way to implement a touch of comedy , to keep the audience on their toes .
unfortunately , they usually just key in on one character whose main objective is to be funny ( jar - jar binks , anyone ? ) .
however , this usually backfires because the character is never fully developed .
this is not the case in a civil action .
they have comedy coming from all sides . whether it be duvall 's inane questions or macy 's sharp anger , the laughs come in a steady pace .
granted , it 's not roll in the aisle funny , but it provides a nice addition to the film .
the plot is terrific- somewhat .
the setup is nice with the film actually starting with a victory in the courtroom .
then the case that will make or break jan ( travolta ) 's career rears its ugly head .
they find out the goldmine involved with the case and wind up taking it .
however , budgets soon flounder and jan finds himself in deep debt .
i will not spoil the rest , although i must speak of the one downside to the film .
the courtroom debates are great , but the actual problem they are fighting for is never fully explored .
it left me somewhat confused , although the rest of the film is terrific .
all in all , john travolta is back yet again in this great film .
his supporting cast , consisting of macy and duvall , turn in tremendous performances , which ease the load on travolta .
the film is smart , witty and thought provoking .
not only does it gauge in - court battles , but also the various tolls it can take on the major players .
a civil action provides everything a drama lover craves .
answer:
P


question:
first impressions : critically , a close - to - awful film , but money - wise , it has been doing ( and will continue to do ) great .
a sometimes - funny film that sags and lags and oftentimes gets boring .
an orginal plot that grows old real fast .
one of the only 90 minute films that i 've gotten bored through .
men in black has defied the odds .
when i first saw that the flick was 89 minutes long , i thought maybe that this was a poor attempt at an independence day type film that just ran out of gas .
however , i now realize that not only did men in black run out of gas , but the film in 90 minutes manages to show off a very original idea ( which summer audiences have embraced ) that becomes old about 25 minutes into the movie .
tommy lee jones and will smith play two " government " agents who are responsible for keeping order in alien society .
the ridiculous plot begins when an alien " bug " , played weirdly by vincent d'onofrio , who was so great in full metal jacket , lands on earth to retrieve a galaxy that 's somewhere on " orion 's belt .
"
anyway , the basic plot revolves around jones and smith to stop this bug from getting the galaxy , or a higher power will blow up the earth .
the premise is ridulous , but that is not why i did n't like this film .
i love original plots .
this one had an original one .
but director barry sonnenfeld did something to this film that ruined its plot : he made the film drag and also put in unncessary elements in it that are found in romance films .
whenever i saw d'onofrio 's bug stomp and eat people in the film ,
it got terribly boring after a while .
while smith 's wise - cracks did fill in the gaps , it was n't enough .
and also , i can not believe the screenwriters elected to have a sub - plot where tommy lee jones missed his former lover because as an alien agent , they ca n't have contact with any humans really .
and here i see jones , at a satellite computer , watching his lover plant the garden ?
a sentimental moment in an alien movie ?
nice try , but i do n't think so .
it does n't work here .
it just makes the movie even more ridiculous and even more boring
: we do n't only have aliens to worry about , but now we have jones 's conscience .
i came into the movie not wanting to see jones 's conscience , but wanting to see a real action movie that had lots of aliens in it .
maybe it 's unfair that i partly judged this movie on what my expectations were .
nevertheless , even though some parts are indeed funny , the plot in this movie grew old and boring -- quick .
answer:
N


question:
the calendar year has not even reached its midway point , but that has n't prevented columbia pictures from trotting out a lavish period drama more befitting of the winter oscar - bait season .
bille august 's high - profile adaptation of victor hugo 's classic les miserables delivers everything one would expect from a classy hollywood epic -- handsome production values , strong performances by a top - notch cast , a literate screenplay -- with one critically missing element : emotional sweep .
for those not familiar with hugo 's original novel or the hit stage musical it inspired , the hook of les miserables essentially boils down to something like a 19th - century french - set version of the fugitive .
after serving 19 years in a prison work camp for stealing a loaf of bread , the brutish jean valjean ( liam neeson ) is paroled . immediately upon release , he steals valuable silverware from a kindly bishop who takes him in for a night ; he is caught by authorities , only to be forgiven by the bishop , who lets valjean keep the silver to start a new life on the straight and narrow .
that he does , and in doing so breaks his parole , which sets the obsessively determined inspector javert ( geoffrey rush ) , who was one of the guards in valjean 's prison camp , on his trail .
thematically , however , les miserables is a story about redemption , which valjean finds through his dealings with two women , the hard - luck factory - worker - turned - prostitute fantine ( uma thurman ) , and her illegitimate daughter , cosette .
years after breaking parole , valjean becomes mayor of the town of vigau , where he forms a warm friendship with fantine after saving her from an unjust arrest by javert .
valjean promises the gravely ill fantine he will rescue the young cosette ( mimi newman ) from her cruel caretakers , the thenardiers , and raise the child as his own .
the " father " and " daughter " eventually land in paris , where the teenage cosette ( claire danes ) falls for dashing student revolutionary marius ( hans matheson ) .
the decades - spanning story is the stuff that cinematic epics are made of , and the danish august turns in his most accomplished english - language work , following the underrated 1994 superstar soap the house of the spirits and last year 's stylish but highly preposterous mystery smilla 's sense of snow .
he and screenwriter rafael yglesias bring the sprawling tale into clear focus and keep the events moving at a brisk pace .
production designer anna asp , costume designer gabriella pescucci , and cinematographer jorgen persson give les miserables a sumptuous period look whose accomplishment is mostly matched by the efforts of the cast .
neeson is commanding yet endearingly vulnerable ; rush 's finely modulated menace is far more rewarding than his overrated , oscar - winning theatrics in shine ; and thurman disappears nicely into her highly unglamorous role .
the younger members of the cast fare less well .
danes is convincing as cosette , but her overdone lip quivering during her crying scenes becomes a distraction ; and matheson , while competent , is a less interesting robert sean leonard .
as technically adept and cerebrally engaging the film is , by the time les miserables was over
, my emotions had only been superficially involved .
while i was touched by valjean 's relationships with fantine and cosette , i was not moved .
not even reaching the " touching " level is the cosette - marius pairing .
my only previous experience with les miserables is with the musical ( as i am sure many others ' is ) , and i was dismayed to see eponine , a friend of marius 's who selflessly dies in the name of her unspoken love for him , almost completely jettisoned from this adaptation ( the daughter of the thenardiers , here she is only briefly seen as a child ) .
her presence would have added
some much - needed conflict and emotional heft to the youthful romance , but i suppose august and yglesias felt one tragic heroine ( fantine ) was enough .
even so , as 1998 creeps into summer blockbuster season , les miserables is a thoughtful , well - made , entertaining film , one that will sate moviegoers hungry for a dose of drama before popcorn no - brainers invade the multiplex .
answer:

P