In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
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Question: jacques tati 's 1953 classic " les
vacances
de m . hulot " ( also known as " mr .
hulot 's vacation , " in english ) ought to be the textbook on how to do non ?
dialogue comedy in film .
the characters hardly ever speak to each other directly , and the film operates on the paper ?
thin premise that monsieur hulot , played by tati himself , is awkward and clumsy and generally manages to annoy the other guests at the beach resort hotel where he is taking a week 's vacation .
yet the film had me beside myself laughing more consistently than any in recent memory .
part of the reason the film works so well is the clever setup for the various gags .
slapstick has often been regarded as an unsophisticated and even crude form of comedy , but i think part of the reason for this is that it often seems forced : you can only see movie characters start running after something and then crash face - first into a pole so many times before you start to wonder what all these poles are doing there in the first place or why these people do n't watch where they 're going .
in " les vacances de m . hulot , " the gags build upon each other and often start out relatively low - key .
in one sequence , for example , hulot is painting the side of his small row boat on the beach when , while his back is turned , the paint can gets caught up in the oncoming waves , washes away , then comes back up on the other side of the boat .
while crossing over to get the can , hulot steps in the boat and unknowingly cracks it .
when he actually takes the boat out into the water , it breaks in half , but the two halves flip up against each other , trapping him inside as the bystanders mistake it for a shark fin and panic on the beach ensues .
tati does n't waste a single opportunity for humor ;
scenes that might have yielded one joke in most comedies are good for at least four or five in this film .
it has been said that comedy relies on frustrating the audience 's expectations , and " les vacances de m . hulot " succeeds brilliantly in that area as well .
tati accomplishes this largely through a sort of deadpan understatement .
when hulot goes into a separate room during dinner and starts playing a record at defeaningly loud volume , no fights or shouting matches ensue ; instead , the waiter calmly walks in and shuts off the power in the room , disconnecting the record player and leaving a puzzled hulot sitting in the dark .
tati also uses running gags to this effect , allowing them to keep running far longer than most comedy directors would ; more often than not , we can see them coming and think , " oh , he 's not going to do that again , " but , lo and behold , he does .
for example , there is a recurring joke in which hulot 's noisy , sputtering car engine wakes everyone in the middle of the night as an exterior shot reveals the hotel 's lights coming on one by one .
then this image turns up again in the finale , which i will not give away other than to say that involves a lot more noise in the middle of the night than a car engine could ever produce .
the ending is one of two elements that really make this a four - star film as opposed to merely an above - average , clever comedy . as much as i was laughing during this film , i was thinking to myself occasionally that tati had to top himself at the end to really make this work as a complete viewing experience ; suffice it to say that he did .
the other important aspect is that the film never seems disdainful of its characters .
it easily could have turned the tables on hulot and had the other guests exact some kind of revenge on him ; alternatively , it could have portrayed the others as humorless curmudgeons .
instead , tati seems to regard his characters with cheerful amusement more than anything else and invites the audience to like them , however strange or irritating they might seem .
" les vacances de m .
hulot " is not subtitled , but the dialogue is sparse and for the most part not terribly essential to the flow of events .
anyone with a taste for this kind of absurd humor ought to make this film their next rental from the video store .
note : " les vacances
de m . hulot " was not rated by the mpaa .
it would at most receive a pg rating .

Answer: P


Question: this is one of the most funny and entertaining comedies of the year
and it just happens to be animated .
there are some great voice over commentaries from hollywood 's most famous celebrities , some fabulous animation and a compelling story .
this is the best we 've seen from disney since " beauty and the beast " ( 1996 ) .
this film begins an unspecified time following the happily - ever - after conclusion to toy story .
in the aftermath of their earlier adventures , buzz ( voice of tim allen ) and woody ( voice of tom hanks ) are now fast friends and all the toys live in perfect harmony , content with their " lives " .
one day , andy broke woody 's arm off , while playing with him .
woody is now officially discarged and worthless , left with his nightmares , where he lies in a trash can with the other discards .
later andy 's mother decides to have a yard sale , and she collects a few old toys from her son 's room .
since one of these discards is a member of the moving toy gang , woody goes to the rescue , leaving the safety of the house for the uncertainty of the front lawn in order to bring the toy back .
although his mission is successful , he is placed in a serious predicament when a toy collector named al ( voice of wayne knight ) spies woody while hunting through the wares available at the sale .
the cowboy toy represents the final collectible needed to complete his collection of merchandise from the old tv series , " woody 's roundup .
" if he can acquire woody , al can ship everything to a toy museum in japan for a huge profit .
so , after andy 's mother refuses to sell the wooden cowboy
, al steals him , and it 's up to the other toys , led by buzz , to go into the city to save their friend .
and so , buzz , rex ( voice of wallace shawn ) , hamm ( voice of john ratzenberger ) , mr .
potatohead ( voice of don rickles ) , and slinky ( voice of jim varney ) , go out on a dangerous journey to rescue their friend , they find themselves confronting things like busy streets and other buzz lightyear toys .
there are car chases , gun fights and finally the confrontation between buzz and his nemesis ( who , by the way , resembles darth vader ) .
meanwhile , woody learns that he was once a tv celebrity and has a family - a cowgirl named jessie ( voice of joan cusack ) , a horse named bullseye , and a father figure called the prospector ( voice of kelsey grammar ) .
they offer him another life , as a celebrity -- a toy in a museum in japan .
he is now forced to choose between being loved intensively by andy for a little while ( before he grows up ) and be forgotten , or be admired by children for generations .
the problem is , if woody escapes from al 's clutches and returns home , they will end up back in the lonely darkness of storage .
a real effort is made in the technical department .
the animation is rich and colorful , with lots of wonderful details .
the
" cinematography " is also extremely improved since toy story ; there are a lot of complicated swings , turns and close - ups that really make an impression .
lighting and filters are used to create a mood ( as in a surprisingly emotional moment - jessie 's remembrance of her days when she was a beloved toy ) the film contains a lot of in - side jokes ( such as the one about videogames ) , and entertaining parodies on " jurassic park " and " star wars " .
the film ends with the " failed takes " , the kind of scenes that we are used to see after comedy shows on tv .
these outtakes are some of the funniest scenes in the film . but what in the end makes " toy story 2 " a memorable experience is not the jokes , its multiple parodies or marvelous animation .
it is its heart and emotions -- the story about the meaning of friendship , love and even life itself .
it is not difficult to predict that " toy story 2 " would be a huge economical success , but its artistic achievement was unexpected .
unexpected because the first film was n't much more than a demonstration of special effects .
but mostly it was unexpected because disney has n't produced anything spectacular in years and is constantly surpassed by companies such as dreamworks and warner brs .
but here the director has changed the atmosphere of the film , making it more accessible and interesting for persons older that 9 years .
this is a big step - away from the ancient laws of disney - animation .
off course , this is not " antz " , it is not as intelligent ; this is not a landmark and no masterpiece , but i promise that you 'll find it as funny and enjoyable as i have .
whether this is the best animated film of the year , i dare not say .
my choice would probably be " the iron giant " , but ( along side with " american pie " ) this is the comedy of the year .
i almost lost my hopes for disney , but " toy story 2
" proves that disney has n't lost their ability to entertain .

Answer: P


Question: apparently , director tony kaye had a major battle with new line regarding his new film , american history x .
i do n't know the details of the fight , but it seems that he is not happy with the final product , and nearly removed his name from the credits altogether .
i 've heard about this kind of thing happening before , and it makes me wonder how much input a studio has over the films they produce .
as it is , i found american history x to be an extremely good film , not just because of tony kaye 's focused look at the touchy subject of racism , but because of a powerful , charismatic performance from edward norton .
it 's hard to believe that it has only been two years since norton 's fantastic role in primal fear , but , here he is now , starring in his own film and making himself a star .
norton is one of those performers who becomes his character , and his work in american history x is one of the very best performances this year .
he plays a young man named derek vinyard , a skinhead living in venice beach with his brother , danny ( edward furlong ) , mother ( beverly d'angelo ) , and sister , davin ( jennifer lien ) .
the film opens with a flashback , in which derek brutally kills two black men vandalizing his car .
we find out that this lands him in prison , and the film from that point is seen through the eyes of danny .
in the present - time of the film , danny is in high school , and eager to follow the footsteps of his brother .
much of the film is told in flashback , and we see the path that leads to derek 's adoption of white supremacy .
when derek is released , having served three years in prison , he finds that his brother is now a full - blown skinhead ; derek , however , has given up the violence , and tries to get his brother to understand why racism and the violence that comes with it are bad things .
what makes this all interesting is that these two young men are not stupid , thoughtless people -- they are intelligent and articulate , and voice their beliefs in disturbingly straightforward terms .
it 's hard to make a controversial movie and not preach , but kaye has found the right note for his material .
because american history x is a mainstream film , there has to be a redemption phase for our main character -- some people may think that this is the only way to make him sympathetic .
i partially disagree with this , because , although i do not advocate racism in any way , it 's interesting the way kaye presents derek
-- he is a loud , obnoxious man , but he 's also very smart .
the reasons for why he becomes a skinhead are believable -- his father was arbitrarily killed by a group of black men .
it 's clear that he 's passionate about his beliefs , and that he 's not just a punk looking for an excuse to beat people up .
of course , it helps that kaye has an actor as talented as norton to play this part .
it 's astonishing how frightening norton looks with a shaved head and a swastika on his chest .
in addition to getting the look just right , he 's perfect for this role
-- derek requires intelligence , depth , and a whole lot of shouting , and norton does it all with ease .
even when he 's at his meanest , derek has a likable quality to him , and that 's a gutsy approach when telling a story about a skinhead .
what adds depth to the story is a subplot in which the principal of danny 's school ( avery brooks ) becomes obsessed with purging the hatred from danny .
the other performances are all terrific , with standouts from furlong , d'angelo , and lien . visually , the film is very powerful .
kaye indulges in a lot of interesting artistic choices , and most of them work nicely --
lots of slow - motion and strange camera angles add to a moody atmosphere .
but , like a lot of movies lately , american history x skims past greatness in the last few minutes .
although the climactic scene is very moving
, the picture ends with a pretentious , preachy resolution featuring a brief narration from a character who was killed .
for a movie so smart a subtle up until that point , it felt like a slap in the face to be hand - fed a theme in such a simplistic way .
it makes me wonder what , exactly , tony kaye disliked about the final version of his film .
perhaps this last scene was the problem .
it 's hard to imagine any director not being at least partially pleased with a film this good -- in a time when so many movies are timid and weak , american history x manages to make a compelling argument for racism without advocating it any way .

Answer:
P