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

brian de palma 's snake eyes stars nicolas cage 's evil twin , who confusingly uses the same stage name as his talented brother .
like a foreign tourist who screams his lines in english to ensure that he will be understood , cage yells with the ferocity of a man with a bad case of caffeine overload . de palma , whose last great film , the untouchables , was crafted over a decade ago seems to have lost his magic .
in snake eyes , he manages to elicit some of the worst performances possible out of a skilled cast .
only gary sinise rises slightly above the hackneyed material .
the rest of the actors become caricatures in this by - the - numbers thriller .
ryuichi sakamoto 's atmospheric and melodramatic music dominates almost every scene .
heavy on the long violin notes , its rhythm is punctuated by thunder .
( the script by de palma and lost world 's david koepp sets the action during a hurricane in an attempt to pump up the adrenaline level and the noise .
only the latter is achieved . )
cage plays rick santoro ,
a corrupt atlantic city cop who shakes down criminals to get betting money .
the movie takes place over a single evening when a world championship fight is being held .
with a flashy , bad wardrobe and a gold cell phone , rick is an obnoxious cop who does n't know when to shut up . spouting cliched and ridiculous dialog
, he screams such lines as , " i was made for the sewer , baby ! "
actually the line is more apropos for the movie as a whole .
sinise plays kevin dunne , a naval officer who is in charge of the security for the secretary of the navy , who has come to watch the fight .
but most people in the film are not who they seem to be , and the thin script makes all of them easy to guess .
the plot , which is told in endless flashbacks , concerns the assassination of the secretary through a scheme set up by some malevolent businessmen ?
that adjective is , of course , redundant in hollywood thrillers .
the flashbacks become repetitious with the same scene shown again and again , sometimes from a different perspective and sometimes not .
although a brian de palma film requires a certain amount of gratuitous violence , this one is remarkably tame for the man who became famous when he made carrie .
the movie 's outline has some promise , but the movie itself is leaden .
the film takes itself all too seriously .
at best , it is a 1940s - style b movie .
a little humor would have helped the script some , but a complete rewrite would have been better .
and , although i hate to say it , a different director would have been the biggest improvement .
snake eyes runs 1 : 39 .
it is rated r for violence and would be acceptable for teenagers .
N

the original _
babe _ was my favorite movie of 1995 ,
a sleeper hit that transcended its target audience .
being a surprise commercial and critical success , it had no marketing tie - ins , which limited its final take .
thus , babe 2 arrives , with a budget greater than the money made in babe 1 .
plush dolls , vending machines hawking t - shirts , and macy 's thanksgiving day balloons arrive for holiday money - grubbing . too late .
this is a sad review to write , because babe 2 not only does _ not _ live up to the original , but it does n't even come to a fraction of it .
i should n't expect that sequels to modern fairy tales to match their predecessors ' magic , but this film tries too hard , and loses its charm
. consider a driver applying the accelerator with great intensity , unaware that his car is in neutral .
imagine with me , if you will , _ scream _ 's jamie kennedy , explaining the " rules " for sequels like babe 2 .
( 1 ) there must be _ more _ talking animals .
( 2 ) there must be _ more _ slapstick comedy .
( 3 ) there must be _ more _ songs for those mice to sing : that 's cute .
( 4 ) keep the story cards to break up the action : that 's cute too , even though " the pig gets wise " made no sense , given the context of that story partition .
( 5 ) there must be action , however illogical , that will conjure up pivotal scenes from the original : the trademark song that nobody remembers the words to , the baa - ram - ewe secret code , the " that 'll do , pig .
that 'll do .
"
now throw in the limitations : ( a ) james cromwell , now a hot commodity ,
has limited time on the set ( or maybe he did n't approve of the script ) .
( b ) christine cavanaugh , the voice of the original babe , demands more money ( $ 200 , 000 - -paltry considering the $ 80 million budget ) . out .
e .
g .
daily comes in with noticable results .
( c ) george miller , the director , is more well - known for his dark futuristic mad max films and his twilight zone segment , not for kiddie fare ( and no , he did n't direct that _ andre _ film in ' 94 ) .
( d ) the special effects are impressive ,
_ but limited _ .
babe talks , but most of the time from a single shot , repeated over and over again .
( babe is center screen , looking straight into the camera , with a happy smirk -- regardless of whether he 's happy , or scared , or tired ) .
season now with the " original " elements , which , as we will find out , are straight from the screenwriting - is - hell bin .
( i ) change the venue into " the big city " .
this has been praised as wildly original .
excuse me : did n't _ home alone
_ do this several years ago ?
how about the muppets ?
even _ the bad news bears _ travelled to tokyo
.
sorry .
no dice .
side note : to give the city a fairy - tale look , george miller crafted a fantastical fantasyland that merges the landmarks of the world 's great cities , and yes , it _ is _ impressive .
but this too is over - used , repeating the same view over and again on multiple occasions .
and , for the most part , babe _ remains in the hotel _ .
( ii ) given the limitations of cromwell , the human element is taken over by " the boss ' wife " played by magda szubanski .
s - t
- r - e - t - c - h .
she 's not a lead actress - type
, she 's not funny enough in her physical comedy , and she 's simply embarrassing in some of her pratfalls .
( have her arrested falsely on drug charges !
have her accidentally incite a riot with biker dudes and scantily clad babes !
have her bounce around on a bungee cord at a prestigious benefit dinner ! )
i was hoping for a little smirk during these scenes , but i felt sorry for the embarrassment that she put herself in .
i am restraining myself from talking about the dark nature of the film , the violence , the scene where a pit bull dangles from the bridge , head submerged underwater .
even the best fairy tales have a bit of the macabre in it , as the brothers grimm have demonstrated .
no . . .
my problem is with the story , or lack thereof .
_
babe _ is sent out to save the hoggett farm , but once in the city , that story is forgotten .
being a good - natured pig in the midst of the cynicism of his environs is nice , but , other than rescue that aforementioned pit bull , what did babe actually _ do _ ? without giving the ending away , the farm is saved from a left - field quirk that had nothing to do with the pig .
speaking of " pig " , or , " pig - pig - pig - pig - pig ! "
.
the word " pig " is so overused , had they changed it to an expletive , and had the pig be al pacino , i could have been watching _ scarface
_ .
this is screenwriting ? further ,
i can not explain the deep gnaw at my gut in the many scenes where accidents happen to good people in fantastically elaborate setups .
had it been a cartoon , and the victim be an equivalent of elmer fudd , maybe my reaction would have been softened .
but to farmer hoggett ?
his wife ?
an elderly mickey rooney ?
much too irreverent .
( " quick !
splice those singing mice into those scenes ! " ) .
the film is n't a colossal failure .
i did like glenne headley 's schmoozy chimpanzee .
i liked the pink poodle .
the dog on the cart , who momentarily thinks he 's in dog heaven . and a weird looking guy who may have been doubly - cast as an airport employee and a judge .
but most of the time , i was looking down , in boredom , or in embarrassment over the hacked - up script .
them singing mice , those chapter partitions , the proficient acting of the animals-- none of these can compensate for a story .
let me spoil the final scene : farmer hoggett looks at pig , proud , says " that 'll do , pig .
that 'll do .
"
that 's it .
hope i did n't ruin it for you .
but tell me this : what the heck did that pig
_ do _ ?
N

close your eyes for a moment , if you will , and imagine the sound of stephen rea 's gaelic brogue , silky smooth and irish like a pint of guinness .
a lackadaisical , naughty little schoolboy voice that flirts and gambols .
an acerbic , sing - song metered voice that evokes the startling imagery and language of anthony burgess '
" a clockwork orange .
"
a voice that deliciously conjures scenes both porcine and puerile , like those out of " delicatessen , " or " the tin drum .
" imagine all of that , and you 'll get a good sense of what you can expect from " the butcher boy .
" imagine that and more .
neil jordan 's latest film " stars " rea in more ways than one .
rea ,
the accomplished irish actor most notable from his star turn in jordan 's " the crying game ,
" contributes a restrained and managed performance as da brady , a small town drunk in an unnamed irish community in the 1960s .
but it 's his wall - to - wall narration as the butcher boy of the title
, da brady 's son , francis , that makes rea 's " performance " worth watching , worth listening to .
and that 's only half the fun .
playing the young francie
brady is newcomer eamonn owens and he is , without a doubt , a revelation
. for as much as rea 's voiceover permeates almost every scene of " the butcher boy , " owens commands virtually every frame .
it 's impossible to take your eyes off him .
with his crop of carrot - colored hair , ruddy complexion , and overall grubby appearance , francie brady is an unlikely hero , refusing to be done in by his alcoholic , trumpet - playing father , his depressive , suicidal mother , or the neighboring , bespectacled monster known as mrs .
nugent ( fiona shaw ) .
in fact , everything was ok until " the nugent " came to town .
now , she poses as much a threat to the safety and security of town bully francie and his best pal joe ( alan boyle ) as the looming commie menace ( " the butcher boy " is set at a time when the fear of nuclear obliteration is first and foremost in the minds of many ) .
" pigs !
" screams mrs .
nugent at the brady menagerie .
"
you 're all pigs !
"
it 's the start of many a related image .
after ma brady is shipped off to the " garage " for psychiatric observation and da brady downs one bottle of whiskey too many , francie finally loses grip of his fantasy world of cowboys and indians , the lone ranger , and other comicbook characters .
squealing like a stuck pig , francie does " the likes o ' that " on the nugent 's living room floor , and is himself whisked away to a very catholic remand home for " boney arsed bogmen , " where his ever fertile imagination -- and clever chicanery -- runneth over .
director jordan 's vivid treatment of pat mccabe 's nightmare novel produces a sometimes disturbing , dark comedy littered with surreal touches ( such as sin ?
ad o'connor playing the virgin mary ) .
it 's not as outlandish as the trailers make out ; instead , this remarkable film focuses on the effects external influences have on the friendship between two boys ( schoolboy chums in real life ) , allowing us to empathize with their plight in the presence of extraordinary behavior .
it 's bleak and it 's black
but it 's fundamentally very funny
.
rea talks us through it , beautifully , and owens drags us though it ,
admirably
, and , in tandem with jordan 's sure hand , theirs are contributions to make " the butcher boy " a film worth savoring .

P