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

Q: star wars : ?
episode i -- the phantom menace ( 1999 ) director : george lucas cast : liam neeson , ewan mcgregor , natalie portman , jake lloyd , ian mcdiarmid , samuel l. jackson , oliver ford davies , terence stamp , pernilla august , frank oz , ahmed best , kenny baker , anthony daniels screenplay : george lucas producers :
rick mccallum runtime :
131 min .
us distribution :
20th century fox rated pg :
mild violence , thematic elements copyright
1999 nathaniel r. atcheson a fellow critic once stated his belief that a reviewer should not speak of himself in his own review .
i 've attempted to obey this rule in recent months , but to do so would be impossible in this case .
the fact is , nearly every person who goes to see the phantom menace brings baggage in with them .
the original star wars trilogy means so much to so many people .
for me , they calibrated my creativity as a child ; they are masterful , original works of art that mix moving stories with what were astonishing special effects at the time ( and they still hold up pretty darn well ) .
i am too young to have seen star wars in the theater during its original release , but that does n't make me any less dedicated to it .
on the contrary , the star wars trilogy -- and the empire strikes back in particular -- are three items on a very short list of why i love movies .
when i heard that george lucas would be making the first trilogy in the nine - film series , i got exited .
when i first saw screenshots from the film , well over a year ago , i embarked on a year - long drool of anticipation .
and when the first previews were released last thanksgiving , i was ready to see the film .
but then there was the hype , the insane marketing campaign , and lucasfilm 's secretive snobbery over the picture .
in the last weeks before the picture opened , while multitudes of fans waited outside of theaters and stood in the boiling sun days in advance just to be the first ones in the theater , i was tired of hearing about it .
i was tired of seeing cardboard cut - outs of the characters whenever i went to kfc or taco bell .
i just wanted to see the movie .
reader , do not misunderstand .
i did not have an anti - hype reaction .
the hype was unavoidable .
i understand and accept the hype -- it 's just what happens when the prequel to the most widely beloved films of all time get released .
five minutes into the phantom menace , i knew there was a problem .
" who are these jedi knights ?
"
i asked .
"
why are they churning out stale dialogue with machine - gun rapidity ?
" " why are n't these characters being developed before their adventures ?
" " why is there a special effects shot in nearly every frame of the entire film ?
" these were just some of my questions early on .
later , i asked ,
" where 's the magic of the first three films ? " and
" why am i looking at my watch every fifteen minutes ? '
by the end of the film , i was tired , maddened , and depressed .
george lucas has funneled his own wonderful movies into a pointless , mindless , summer blockbuster .
the phantom menace is no star wars film .
take away the title and the jedi talk and the force , and you 're left with what is easily one of the most vacuous special effects movies of all time .
it 's an embarrassment .
i looked desperately for a scene in which a character is explored , or a new theme is examined , or a special effects shot is n't used .
there are a few of each , but they 're all token attempts .
the fact is , george lucas has created what is simultaneously an abysmally bad excuse for a movie and a pretty good showcase for digital effects .
this is not what i wanted to see .
i did n't want to leave the phantom menace with a headache and a bitter taste in my mouth , but i did .
the story centers mostly around qui - gon jinn ( liam neeson , looking lost and confused ) and his apprentice , obi - wan kenobi ( ewan mcgregor , who scarcely has a line in the film ) and their attempts to liberate the people of the planet naboo .
naboo is the victim of a bureaucratic war with the trade federation ; their contact on naboo is queen amidala ( natalie portman ) , the teenage ruler who truly cares for her people .
after picking up jar jar binks ( a completely cgi character , voiced by ahmed best ) , they head to tatooine , where they meet young anakin skywalker ( jake lloyd ) and his mother ( pernilla august ) .
qui - gon knows that the force is strong with young anakin , and so the jedi knights take the boy with them on their journeys .
the bad guys are darth maul and darth sidious , neither of whom have enough lines to register as characters .
there is n't anything particularly wrong with this story when looking at it in synopsis form .
the way lucas has handled it , however , it unsatisfactory .
first of all , we do n't learn one single thing about qui - gon jinn .
not one thing .
what was his life like before this film ?
well , i imagine he did n't have one .
that 's why he feels like a plot device .
this probably explains why neeson looks so hopeless in the role , and why he 's recently retired from film ( i do n't blame him , honestly ) .
obi - wan , a character i was really looking forward to learning more about , is even less interesting .
mcgregor has just a few lines , so
anyone hoping to see the engaging young actor in a great performance is urged to look elsewhere .
since these two men are the focus of the phantom menace , lucas has served us a big emotional void as the centerpiece of his movie .
things start to pick up when our characters reach tatooine ; young anakin is perhaps the only truly fleshed - out character in the film , and lloyd does a thoughtful job with the role .
i was also hugely impressed with the sand speeder scene ; rarely is an action sequence so fast and so exciting .
and when anakin says goodbye to his mother , i found it moving .
also fairly good is portman , and she manages to give a little depth to a character where no depth has been written .
jar jar binks is one of the most annoying characters i 've ever had to endure , but he 's more interesting than most of the humans .
as soon as the relatively - brief segment on tatooine is over , it 's back to the mind - numbing special effects and depthless action scenes .
i 've seen many movies that qualify as " special effects extravaganzas , " but the phantom menace is the first one i 've seen that had me sick of the special effects fifteen minutes into the movie .
the reason is obvious : george lucas has no restraint .
i ca n't say that i did n't find the effects original , because i did -- the final battle between darth maul , obi - wan , and qui - gon is visually exceptional , as is most of the film .
but i also found the effects deadening and tiresome .
my breaking point was near the end of the picture , as anakin is getting questioned by yoda and the other jedi masters ; in the background , we see hundreds of digital spaceships flying around through a digital sky ,
and i wanted that to go away .
ca n't we have one stinking scene that is n't bursting at the seems with a special effects shot ?
i got so sick of looking at the cgi characters and spaceships and planets and backgrounds
that i really just wanted to go outside and look at a physical landscape for a few hours .
and then there 's the question of magic .
what was lost in the sixteen years between the phantom menace and return of the jedi ?
i have a feeling that lucas was so focused on how his movie looked
that he forgot entirely the way it should feel .
john williams ' familiar score is no help , nor is lucas ' direction .
i think it comes right down to characters
: there are none here .
i longed for the magnetic presence of han , luke , and leia , but i got no such thing .
and what about the ridiculous expectations ?
mine were n't that high ; i simply wanted a film that showed me the roots of the films that i grew up loving , a story that had a few characters and a few great special effects .
instead , i got two hours and fifteen minutes of a lifeless and imaginative computer graphics show .
i do n't hate the phantom menace as much as i resent it : i 'd like to forget that it exists , and yet i ca n't .
it 's here to stay .
i can only hope that episodes ii
and iii have something of substance in them , because if they do n't , then lucas will have pulled off the impossible task of destroying his own indestructible series .

A: N
****
Q: one of the 90s ' most unwelcome thriller trends returns from the grave : it 's the " _ _ _ from hell " movie !
starting in the early nineties , we were subjected to nearly every conceivable combination of relationships - from - hell !
there were boyfriends from hell , friendly neighborhood cops from hell , nannies from hell , and even secretaries from hell .
but hush has found an old standby that somehow was forgotten in the rush : the mother - in - law from hell ! ! ! ! !
the mother - in - law in question is martha , played by jessica lange .
she has been single - handedly running the family horse farm , kilronan .
her son , jackson ( johnathon schaech ) and his girlfriend , helen ( gwyneth paltrow ) , live in new york , and have no intention to move back down south to the rural kilronan .
but those intentions are about to change .
you see , martha lives by manipulation .
she has used it in years past to breed many championship horses .
now , she believes she can use it to breed herself a grandson .
though at first , helen finds martha charming , soon she is caught in the domineering martha 's web of deception .
it 's hard to understand why nobody ever wises up to martha ' schemes .
as written , most of the characters in the film must be very slow witted .
but then , the film even treats the audience like idiots .
it tries to get away with things ( like leaving a critical piece of evidence in a rather unlikely place ) without even batting an eye .
then again an audience which accepts characters as shallow as these is n't one that 's likely to question details .
jessica lange 's martha is the only semi - developed character in the film , and she applies her talents to redeem it as much as she can .
a character that could have been simply awful is merely groan - worthy .
gwyneth paltrow does n't have much to build upon , as helen 's only character trait seems to be " daughter - in - law " .
still , she fares better than johnathon schaech , whose character is so nonexistent , he 's inexplicably missing for much of the film .
still , there have been much worse
" _ _ _
_ from hell " films .
even with its paper - thin characters and ludicrous setups , hush manages to create a few thrills in a color - by - numbers fashion .
you know what 's coming , but occasionally the film will deliver a shock or two .
the old formulas are around for a reason , but that does n't mean they taste fresh .

A: N
****
Q: with the release of gattaca , i began to wonder why all science fiction films deal with destructive aliens , or aliens in general .
hollywood has given audiences plenty of thrills with those alien films , but what was usually lacking was a good story . . . and good characters . . . and good acting , etc ( contact being the exception ) .
and for some reason , hollywood has never taken a look at the aliens here on earth .
the closest , that i have seen anyway , was 2001 :
a space odyssey , which made mankind an alien race themselves , being dwarfed by the technology which they created .
now comes gattaca , another film about technology reigning supreme , except here on our planet .
the difference between 2001 and this one is simple : gattaca is more frightening .
most of the concepts of this movie are based on recent discoveries in genetic engineering . using this premise , writer / director andrew niccol creates some genuine suspense and thrills .
unfortunately , due to a lack of advertising , i fear gattaca may fair horribly at the box office .
since seeing the film , i have been asking people if they have seen gattaca .
lately , however , i have been asking them if they have even heard of gattaca .
most people do n't even realize that it is a film .
despite this fact , i surely hope that the audience members who have seen this film will tell their friends about it .
niccol 's film deserves more than what independence day made because it is smarter , better produced , and more realistic .
gattaca begins in the 21st century .
procreating is now done in a petri dish , and genetic engineering is the normal way of doing it .
natural child birth is considered old - fashioned .
we are introduced to jerome morrow ( ethan hawke ) , an employee of the gattaca space program .
one of the directors of the program has been murdered , and the main suspect is one vincent freeman .
the only problem is that jerome morrow is vincent freeman .
vincent was born the natural way when his parents decided on bringing their first child into the world through love .
however , after his birth , and through several genetic tests , doctors tell his parents that he will have a 99 % chance of a weak heart , as well as poor eye sight and a short life span .
as a result , both parents decide to bring their next baby into the world via genetics .
anton ( loren dean ) is produced without flaws , and the competition between brothers spawns .
vincent has a dream to fly a solo - flight around the titan , the 14th moon of saturn , but because of his condition , gattaca , and society in general , forces him to do menial labor around the company .
labeled
an " in - valid , " vincent 's dream seems impossible , until he meets a black - market dna specialist , german ( tony shalhoub ) .
german introduces him to a " valid " who has been paralized from the waste down due to an automobile accident .
jerome morrow ( jude law ) agrees to give vincent all the proper identification tools ( urine , blood , skin and hair samples , etc . ) that he will need to get past gattaca 's tight security .
in exchange , vincent will provide jerome with the rent money and friendship .
after the murder , however , his dreams are put at risk due to one of vincent 's eyelashes left at the scene of the crime .
irene cassini ( uma thurman ) is a genetically flawed " valid " working for gattaca , and she begins to fall in love with vincent / jerome .
gattaca is one of the best science fiction films i have seen in a long time .
only two other intelligent science fiction films have come out in the past two years ( contact and the arrival ) and gattaca will rank among them .
unfortunately , whenever one intelligent film comes out against special effects - laden films , it normally gets buried .
the second best thing about gattaca is the production design by jan roelfs .
the orange glow of gattaca 's scenes are impressive , but the sets deserve most of the credit .
the sets are very well done , creating a futuristic sense , but not too futuristic as to alienate viewers .
as we look at the designs , we realize that these buildings are n't too far into the future .
this brings the plot even more credibility as genetic engineering becomes more possible by every passing day .
the best thing , however , is the plot .
the story is more than your average sci - fi / thriller .
at its heart , it develops a theme which is never overpowering but is always present .
perhaps niccol is warning our race about the changes genetic tampering could bring .
would our society become a bunch of soulless zombies ?
maybe human nature is a result of mankind 's flaws .
if we get rid of flaws , do we get rid of dreams as well ?
niccol 's intelligent script handles all these questions extremely well , and the result is an incredibly smart thriller set against a dramatic story , or vice versa .
the power of the actors brings a lot of credibility to flat characters .
while flat may sound like a poor job on niccol 's part , it actually enhances the meaning behind the story .
ethan hawke has developed into a handsome adult actor , giving his best performance of his lifetime so far .
his curiosity and motivation pushes his character past all the discouraging remarks from his parents and " valid " peers .
uma thurman is . . .
well , uma thurman .
her character is slightly underdeveloped , but the story is n't about her . however , thurman gives a lot of depth to the flat character .
jude law gives the most complex performance of the film with the most disturbingly realistic character .
he provides several nice touches , and his final scene is a very touching and heartwrenching one .
loren dean gives a nice performance in his well - developed character .
dean is also responsible for some of the most suspenseful scenes in the movie .
alan arkin portrays one of the detectives with a little less more excitement than with his psychiatrist in grosse pointe blank .
still , he does a good job .
gore vidal and xander berkeley both provide some very good supporting roles , and berkeley also gives a heartfelt discussion towards the end of the film .
gattaca is rated pg-13 for brief violent images , language , some sexuality , and nudity .
despite the somber and desolate mood of the entire film , i was n't exactly prepared for the ending which left me feeling empty .
it turned me off slightly , but then i realized that everything turned out the way it should have .
if this had been a typical hollywood film , it would have ended much differently .
however , with all the mindless science fiction films out there , it is nice to have a film which does n't talk down to its audience
( i especially like the ironic title and how it consists of the four letters which make up the genetic coding : g , t , c , and a ) . instead , it provides some much needed entertainment which gives us science fiction fanatics just what we want : a science fiction film with morals behind it .
whatever happened to giving the audience a lesson while entertaining ?
hopefully more writers and directors will learn from gattaca . . .
and hopefully audiences will too .
p .
s .
personal note to p .
j .
gladnick
: how dare you call this film the worst film of the year .
i ca n't even begin to image what film you do like .
that frightens me beyond anything .

A:
P
****