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

i like movies with albert brooks , and i really like movies directed and written by albert brooks .
lost in america and defending your life are two of my favorite comedies .
his humor is of a kind that is not very prevalent in movies today , inundated as we are with films which revel in their aim toward the lowest common denominator .
you will rarely see any slapstick in an albert brooks film , while the dialog will not be as oppressive as in some of the independent " talk films " which are finding their way into theaters .
the situations in which his characters find themselves are ones we can often identify with , but even if we ca n't , brooks has the talent to make them comfortable , and therefore we laugh .
teenagers and jim carrey fans probably wo n't find an albert brooks movie very funny , but people who look for more than what we could find on television probably will .
put simply , brooks ' comedy is intelligent .
mother is albert brooks ' latest film , and it does not disappoint .
brooks plays john henderson ,
a middle - aged science fiction writer just coming off his second divorce .
he makes an attempt at dating , but fails miserably .
he then has dinner with his brother jeff ( rob morrow ) , a successful sports agent who seems to live the ideal life .
jeff has a good job , a loving family , and most of all , a warm relationship with their mother beatrice ( debbie reynolds ) .
after dinner , john witnesses a telephone conversation between jeff and beatrice , and is at the same time amazed and sickened by how hunky - dory the dialog is .
in comparison , beatrice always hints at a fault in john and his career every time she talks with him , and john gives it right back to her .
at the end of one of their conversations where beatrice has just picked apart john 's life , she says , " i love you , " and john replies with , " i know you think you do .
"
the thing is , beatrice is not overt with her criticisms , but instead gives them in that mothering way which is tantamount to nit - picking and guilt loading .
it 's the kind that goes something like , "
yes , dear , i think you do that wonderfully , but .
.. .
"
it seems as though nothing he does makes her happy .
there 's always the big
but .
john believes that his mother is somehow connected to his failed relationships with women , either because of his flawed self - esteem caused by his need for validation , or perhaps because he tends to unconsciously seek out women who remind him of his mother in an oedipal manner .
he comes to the conclusion that since his problems are rooted in his boyhood home , he should move back in with his mother for a while just to see what kinds of feelings come out , and by that be able to sort out why his life is the way it is .
"
a great experiment " , he calls it .
brooks ' own brand of humor really shines in this film , especially in the interaction john has with his mother .
there 's a scene where john has just arrived at his mother 's house , and after having driven from los angeles to sausalito , and having explained to his mother about the " great experiment " , beatrice asks , " now explain to me again why you do n't want to stay at a hotel .
"
she still does n't get it , and it is absolutely hilarious .
in the same scene , we get little glances at the life his mother leads when she tries to feed him food that is no longer fresh .
she apparently buys in great quantities and refrigerates it until the lettuce is wilted and the sherbet is iced over .
when john points out the ice on the sherbet , beatrice tells him not to worry about the protective glaze .
"
you 've named the ice ? " asks john .
he 's also surprised at the variety of items
beatrice keeps in the refrigerator , such as a twenty - pound block of cheese .
"
the freezer was a good invention , " says john , " but it 's not supposed to be used for everything .
that 's why it 's smaller than the refrigerator .
"
it 's something most of us find strangely familiar .
brooks is also a master at employing the non sequitur .
for example , in defending your life , his and meryl streep 's characters are in a comedy club having a discussion .
when they 're finished and walk out , brooks cuts to the comic on stage who is just at the point of delivering his punch line , " and so the moral is , if you have to fart , go outside !
"
you do n't know what the joke was because you could n't hear him during the entire scene , but i must have laughed for the next five minutes , it seemed so out of context .
in this film , brooks uses the same trick a couple of times to open or close a scene .
i do n't want to give them away , but suffice it to
say they work just as well as they have in the past .
john 's purpose for staying with his mother is to learn , and we as the audience learn right along with him .
his mother is not the fascinating type to begin with , but as john spends more time with her , we learn things about her personality and her lifestyle that give her depth .
watching the character of beatrice unfold is every bit as enjoyable as the humor that accompanies it each step of the way .
on screen , brooks does an excellent job playing this kind of character
: you get the feeling he often believes he is the only sane person in an insane world .
in a way , he 's very much like yosarian of catch-22 , expect with something of an attitude .
casting debbie reynolds as beatrice is perfect .
she assumes the part with ease , even moving and speaking a little slowly , and is just so adorable it 's hard to get mad at her character .
this only helps the audience to share the frustration john feels when dealing with her .
as his first choice , brooks originally wanted to lure nancy reagan out from her acting retirement to play beatrice , but the former actress and first lady could not leave her husband , who was beginning to show symptoms of alzheimer 's disease .
that may be just as well , since reynolds lends a softness to the character which enhances it immensely .
rob morrow also does a good job at playing the younger brother who has always been mother 's favorite and , for all his success in his job and family , is slowly exposed as a mama 's boy .
the only things that hold this movie back from being better are a couple of plot holes .
a solid connection is not really made between john 's troubles and his reasons for living with his mother .
additionally , the end results of the experiment do not necessarily jibe with the stated goals , and although this may have been sloppy screenwriting , how can you be mad at the guy who also wrote this ?
: beatrice : you must think i 'm some kind of moron .
john
: no , i think your someone who thinks i 'm a moron .
beatrice : well , it takes one to know one .
P

what do you get when you rip - off good movies like woody allen 's bananas and martin scorsese 's after hours ?
you 'd think you 'd get the best of both films .
instead you get woo .
falling in somewhere between def jam 's how to be a player ( which was awful ) and booty call ( which was ok ) , woo is yet another in the embarassing genre of showing african - americans to be nothing more than sexual buffoons .
the whole film plays out as a black version of after hours , as wild woman woo ( jada pinkett smith ) goes out on a blind date with straight - laced tim ( tommy davidson ) .
mayhem follows them .
for some unknown reason ( read :
contrived screenplay ) davidson puts up with all of woo 's antics for the entire night , which include her destroying his bathroom mirror , stealing things from his house , violently questioning him ( accusing and belittling him actually ) about previous girlfriends , causing a riot in an elegant restaurant , and other various infuriating things that any normal person would n't tolerate .
but for the sake of this bad movie ?
sure , why not ?
there are a few chuckles in the film , the best being the scene swiped directly from bananas .
in this case , davidson is running from thugs , gets into a subway car as the doors are closing , starts to taunt the thugs , then the doors open back up again .
a good joke , but a stolen one .
another chuckle is provided by billy dee williams ' cameo as himself .
movies like woo are seemingly released every three months or so , and not one of them has ever been a hit .
woo wo n't be one either .
so
why was it made ?
and more importantly , is n't there anyone else besides me who thinks these films are offensive ?
everyone involved should really reconsider their careers at this point .
[ r ]
N

mars attacks !
( 1996 )
- c : jack nicholson , glenn close , annette bening , martin short , danny devito , rod steiger , pierce brosnan , sarah jessica parker , michael j . fox , jim brown , pam grier , joe don baker , natalie portman , christina applegate , lisa marie , tom jones .
this is director tim burton 's finest film to date .
many will compare this tale of martians who invade earth to independence day , but even though the stories are similar , they really are two distinctly different films .
however as a whole , mars attacks is much more entertaining than id4 , and i loved id4 .
you really have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy this film .
it is completely wacked - out and unlike anything you 've ever seen .
once the silly tone of the film is set , it 's easy to just sit back and throw logic out the window because logic and comedy just do n't mix .
the plot is simple : martians invade the earth .
but it 's different than any other invasion film .
usually it 's the evil aliens versus the heroic humans .
this time however , it 's the goofy aliens versus the equally goofy humans .
the martians , who are all computer generated , are just about the funniest things i 've seen in a long time
.
they look funny , they move funny , and their " language " is hilarious .
and about the special effects .
the effects in mars attacks ! are just about the most flawless ones i 've seen to date .
the computer animation of the martians combined with the goofy personalities they are given makes them seem 100 % real .
there are just a couple of scenes that do n't work , mainly those involving sarah jessica parker and pierce brosnan on board an alien ship .
also , glenn close overacts tremendously in her ( thankfully ) very limited screen time , so much so that i actually applauded silently when her character meets her demise .
but there are many big laughs in the film , as i said , if you are in the right mood .
could it have been funnier ?
certainly . was it funny enough ?
yes .
was i entertained ? absolutely .
on a personal note , i 'd like to thank whomever cast rod steiger ( my favorite actor ) in the film as war - crazy general decker .
finally , after many very small parts in direct to video garbage and minor tv roles , steiger is back on the big screen in a real movie that many people will see .
while he 's not given the type of role that you can give a real " performance " in ,
he does the job well and has some good lines of dialogue .
the preview audience i saw the film with really seemed to enjoy him .

P