In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
--------
Question: while watching " shallow grave , " i found myself periodically noticing thematic similarities to the coens ' " blood simple .
"
both are good films in which several characters , none of whom are the most conscientious to have walked the earth but still are not really evil , indulge in an act of deception that soon necessitates more serious crimes .
the body count rises , and before long seemingly normal people have blood on their hands .
both films are also flawed , but for different reasons .
"
blood simple " is unrelentingly dark and moody , but its characterizations were a little hollow .
" shallow grave , " on the other hand , is nearly flawless for an hour and twenty minutes , and then the filmmakers throw away much of what they 'd accomplished for a more standard , audience - pleasing ending .
the events of the film were sufficiently intense and disturbing that i honestly felt quite troubled by what i was witnessing on screen most of the time , yet there was a slight grin on my face at the end .
as the film begins , we are introduced to alex ( ewan mcgregor ) , juliet ( kerry fox ) , and david ( christopher eccleston ) , a scottish trio living in an apartment in glasgow .
they are all sarcastic and occasionally obnoxious , but other than that they seem like a fairly normal bunch .
a man named hugo moves into the apartment 's remaining vacancy , and the next morning he is found dead of a drug overdose .
juliet is about to call the police when alex discovers that hugo had brought with him a suitcase filled to the brim with cash ( presumably from criminal activities ) .
the three eventually decide to keep the money and cover up the death ; after a drawing of straws , the particularly unenviable task of mutilating the body so as to make it unidentifiable and burying it falls to david , who had been the most reluctant to partake in the scheme from the beginning .
all of this transpires in the first twenty minutes or so of the film , and part of what makes " shallow grave " so brilliant for a while is that i honestly had no idea what was coming next .
other than the obvious question of why they do n't report the death and simply hide the cash , which is not addressed , the plotting and characterization , while sometimes predictable , worked in a way that kept my attention and , on more than one occasion , gave me chills .
i will , therefore , attempt to continue this review in a way that does n't give away too much of the plot .
broadly , the trio are in danger due to hugo 's underworld connections , as two goons search for the money and kill several people in the process .
a police inspector ( ken stott ) is clearly suspicious and visits the apartment , asking pointed questions and trying to unnerve the three suspects by exchanging banal and weirdly humorous bits of dialogue with a junior detective .
david , meanwhile , becomes increasingly paranoid , moves into the attic , and develops an affinity for sharp objects .
director danny boyle effectively creates an atmosphere of mounting tension and suspicion in the apartment , and finally the three seem ready to turn against each other .
while i do not consider myself the " happy endings are automatically stupid " type , i thought that " shallow grave " really should have ended in tragedy - a realistic analysis of the story up to the last ten minutes of the film would indicate that all three characters were probably about to end up in prison , in the mental hospital , or in the morgue .
this could have been accomplished , quite credibly , but then boyle and screenwriter john hodge seem to flinch and opt for a more conventional " caper " ending in which we get a kick out of seeing who outsmarted whom , and nothing more .
granted , this is n't really a " happy " ending , but it 's still pretty light - hearted compared to what preceded it .
i really should n't say anything more about the ending as far as details go , but let me add that it seemed not only shallow and lazy but also inconsistent with the rest of the film and not very believable .
yes , this ending made me crack a smile for a couple of minutes , but ultimately it left me feeling as if i 'd been cheated .
still , " shallow grave " was brilliant
most of the way through , and it does at least meet the minimum requirements for an entertaining thriller , and i am therefore awarding it three stars .
i guess i just ca n't help but think about that fourth star that boyle and hodge let slip away .

Answer: P


Question: my filmcritic . com colleague norm schrager nailed session 9 , brad anderson 's throwback to spooky horror films from the 70 's .
it worked as an eerie homage without being self - referential or smugly postmodern .
genre aficionados will acknowledge the similarities in tone to stanley kubrick 's the shining and george romero 's dawn of the dead without being taken out of the engrossing narrative ( i .
e . , a psychologically addled waste management team clears out an abandoned lunatic asylum ; unspeakable dread ensues ) .
in a double - whammy for 2001 , anderson shoots and ( mostly ) scores again with his eclectic riff on time - travel episodes from the twilight zone , appropriately titled happy accidents .
much like session 9 , the cards are played very close to the vest here .
is boyish , eccentric " sam deed from dubuque , iowa " a futuristic voyager from the year 2470 or just your run - of - the - mill psychologically disturbed nutcase let loose on the present - day streets of nyc ?
as played by wonderful character actor vincent d'onofrio ( full metal jacket ) , it 's up in the air whether or not we should accept his detailed monologues about life after the polar ice caps have melted .
the question proves to be moot , at least for a time .
even if the whole thing proves to be a creative delusion , one agrees with the character judgment passed down on him by his new girlfriend , ruby ( marisa tomei ) : " he 's a freak , but he sure tells a good story !
"
neurotic ruby thinks she may have found true love after a series of nightmarish dating disasters ( the junkie , the fetishist , the artist , the frenchman , etc . ) , but is n't quite sure how to handle " sam deed " when he starts explaining the barcode on his arm , his elaborately constructed fake identity , his pathological fear of dogs , his ability to speak five different languages , and his mission to change a crucial moment in time that may have ramifications on time 's alternate realities .
( do n't ask . )
it 's all a bit much to take in .
ruby 's close friend gretchen ( cuz ya ca n't have a love story without the token friend , though nadia dajani invests the thankless role with warmth )
chalks it up as a sexy role - playing game , but her cautious therapist ( holland taylor ) warns her that co - dependency is rearing its ugly head again
and she 's in over her head with yet another doomed relationship .
who ya gon na believe ?
despite her winning an academy award , marisa tomei has always struck me as an annoying and unwelcome screen presence , one that undermines the pleasure of watching happy accidents .
her brassy new yawk attitude never really meshes with her desperate desire to appear " cute " to her adoring fans . being loud and flashing a ( disingenuous ) smile does not necessarily equal " substantial and sexy .
"
it takes more than a crack team of hair and wardrobe people to imbue her with personality .
then there 's that damned voice , which strains to be oh - so - adorable .
look , this stuff is purely subjective .
some people feel this way about richard gere , others can not bear to watch robin williams ' hyperactive schtick .
for my money , it 's m .
tomei with a bullet .
happy accidents is a romantic comedy filtered through twelve monkeys ( or , more appropriately , chris marker 's la jetee , especially with those still framed " memory " photographs anderson employs as a stylistic device throughout ) .
modern manhattan is filmed with an otherworldly , vaguely alien eye with a color scheme oddly reminiscent of logan 's run .
as the stranger in a strange land , d'onofrio walks slightly out - of - step , wonderfully affable but often inscrutable with his wayward expressions and bemused detachment .
this is science fiction told mainly via the power of suggestion ( though it often falls into the sci - fi trap of having entirely too much forced exposition -- we want deeds , not words ! )
at least twenty minutes too long , happy accidents eventually gets around to a race - against - time scenario that puts " sam deed " to the ultimate test .
no movie can live in ambiguity forever , but anderson seems terminally unable to provide satisfactory conclusions to his otherwise well structured recent narratives .
( let 's pretend the loathsome and predictable next stop wonderland never happened , shall we ? )
there are also some slow , repetitive stretches as ruby and sam go over the same arguments again and again over whether or not he 's crazy .
the premise is strong enough to sustain interest , but it 's enough to throw a nod in the general direction of rod serling for wrapping up his ideas in half - hour time slots , commercials included .

Answer: P


Question: summary five liberal iowa graduate students share a house and carry on a tradition of a large sunday dinner .
for a year now they have been inviting a guest for dinner and discussion .
on this occasion one of the roommates , pete ( ron eldard ) , brings home a stranger who picked him up when his car broke down .
the stranger is zack ( bill paxton ) who appears like a decent enough good samaritan .
nothing could be further from the truth .
after some dinner conversation it appears that zack is , among other things , a racist
" you know my grandfather once said that if he knew you coloreds were going to be so much trouble we 'd have picked the damn cotton ourselves " , and an anti - semite .
an argument escalates at the dinner table and leads to violence .
after zack assaults marc ( jonathan penner ) and pete , zack is killed .
the roommates are at odds with what to do .
marc , pete and paulie ( annabeth gish ) immediately wish to call the police .
luke ( courtney b . vance ) and jude ( cameron diaz ) suggest something different .
after more discussion they agree to dispose of the body and cover it up .
they do not want to be sent to jail for what they feel was a justifiable homicide .
when it is done the roommates realize that it was easier than they thought .
so easy in fact that they decide that every sunday their dinner guest would be someone who opposes of their views .
if they all agree that the guest deserves to die , they will poison them and bury them in the back yard .
the back yard fills up rather quickly , its ' victims including ( among others ) a right to life extremist , an anti - environmentalist and a homophobe .
by the time the roommates get to their tenth victim they begin to question their methods .
are they giving the guests a chance ?
are they even giving them good food anymore ?
this film is what i like to call a " hidden treasure " .
this film is such a pleasant surprise .
a well written , devilish satire that is funny , sexy and original
.
this film should be a hit , but i guess the fact that it apparently had no marketing would n't give it much of a chance .
i had never heard of it until i saw a copy at my video store .
stacy title does a wonderful job directing .
she somehow finds the time to give all of the characters enough screen time to develop a distinct personality .
> from the five members of the house to other key characters including sheriff stanley ( nora dunn ) , the local law closing in on the truth , and the dream dinner guest , norman arbuthnot ( ron perlman ) , a rush limbaugh clone who should be the roommates easiest kill .
perlman gives the films ' best performance .
he finds the right note as the right wing big mouth who simultaneously offends and gains followers , and may just inadvertently talk his way out of death .
the other actors are convincing as well , as all of the roommates deal with their murderous ways .
some of the characters appear to be heading down the road towards insanity , while others grieve their decisions .
when friends ask me to recommend a movie , this is usually the first one i think of .
i am not saying that this is my favorite movie ( although it is in my top ten ) , but because the film was such a wonderful surprise
, i have a fondness for it .
i also try to recommend films like this : ones that have not been seen by many people , but should .

Answer:
P