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

Q: 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 .

A: P
****
Q: plot : a young man who loves heavy metal music and especially the band steel dragon , to whom he 's devoted a tribute band in which he sings , gets launched into stardom when the real group get rid of their lead singer and call on him to take his place .
critique : i 'm a sucker for movies like this .
a young man with a humble background and lofty dreams , works hard , devotes the time , the energy and the patience , and ultimately hits it big - time .
in the case of this film , our boy loves a certain heavy metal band and as luck would have it ( yup , luck always finds its way into these types of equations , although generally tied very closely to hard work ) , they need a new singer .
his entry and adaptation to the whole " rock ' n roll " lifestyle fills the rest of the film and is really fun to watch .
although i will preface this by saying that one thing that would definitely enhance your appreciation for this film is your own love ( or past love ) of heavy metal music and the whole scene around it .
metal was one of my first loves as a teen and even though the genre of music is n't that prominent anymore , i still check out my motley crue , twisted sister and anthrax cds every now and again .
that 's not to say that you wo n't like this film if you do n't like the music , but the music and live performances from the band , play a big part in the movie , and i for one , had a blast watching and listening to it all .
but the even greater draw in this film is the standout performance given here by mark wahlberg .
wow , hand this fella some major props , as he totally becomes this heavy metal geek / god ( incidentally , metal god was the film 's original title , and a much better one if you ask me ) .
he is this movie and
i was quite taken by his character pretty much the whole way through .
he came off like a regular guy with extremely passionate goals and work ethic , who was willing to do anything in order to fulfill his dreams .
aniston was also surprisingly good as the girlfriend ( and the romance angle between them was sweet ) , but she did n't pull me in hard enough during their emotional scenes .
i was also impressed by some of the " real " musicians who played in the film ( zakk wylde from ozzy osbourne , jeff pilson from dokken , stephan jenkins from third eye blind , blas elias from slaughter ) , but actor dominic west as kirk cuddy made the biggest impression among the band members .
it 's to note that this film was based on a real - life tale of a young man who used to sing in a judas priest cover band and then went on to become their actual singer ( their original singer also admitted to being gay , as in this film ) .
just for the record , i 'm certainly not recommending this film for its originality or surprise elements , since most of this stuff has already been covered in some way or another in other movies , but because it 's a fun , uplifting , well - paced movie with a solid central showing by wahlberg and energetic live performances .
oh yeah ,
and for those who dig the " heavier " side of music , the soundtrack also rocks ! !
you see . . .
dreams can come true .
. .
where 's joblo coming from ? almost famous ( 8/10 ) - blow ( 8/10 ) - boogie nights ( 9/10 ) - detroit rock city ( 8/10 ) - girlfight ( 6/10 ) - goodfellas ( 10/10 )

A: P
****
Q: for many people , procrastination is n't a problem to overcome , it 's a high art .
we 'll do just about anything to put off a task .
when the deadline for this column nears , it 's the only time during the week dishes get washed and the bed made and laundry done and
plants watered and . . .
eventually , hopefully , sometimes , there 's a breakthrough
and we actually get down to work .
amazingly it 's almost always easier than we dreaded and
after finishing , that sense of oppressive apprehension melts away .
and then , the next time , we do it all again .
english professor grady tripp ( michael douglas ) is a master .
seven years ago , his first book was a hit .
he 's been working on his second -- a short 200-page piece -- since then .
fearful that he ca n't live up to the first , he ca n't bring himself to finish it .
no writer 's block , he 's nearing 3 , 000 pages with no end in sight .
now he 's having a particularly difficult day .
the college 's annual writers conference is bringing in accomplished novelists reminding tripp that other people are finishing _ their _ books .
during the first day , his wife has left him , his married girlfriend informs him
she 's pregnant and his agent is in town with a six - foot transvestite in tow .
by the evening , our besieged writer is driving though the snow - covered streets of pittsburgh with a suicidal student beside him , a stolen jacket that marilyn monroe wore on her wedding day in the back seat and a murdered blind dog stuffed in the trunk .
this could be a pivotal point in his mid - life crisis .
and then there 's the next morning .
there 's a lot to like about this movie .
there are no huge explosions , shattering glass or computer - generated dinosaurs to distract from the very real human issues .
grady is caught up in the curse of people who accomplish great things early in their career .
in the world of " what have you done for me lately ?
" , he knows his second book has to be better than his first . instead of finding out , he drifts , comfortable in the insular cocoon of academic peter panhood .
he does n't have much of a life and neither does his star pupil james leer ( tobey maguire ) .
james may be suicidal and psychotic .
certainly everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie .
he makes up a past of working clash anguish because the truth of wealth and comfort just is n't interesting enough .
as the weekend progresses , they are both forced to fully engage life .
that 's the question they must face : comfort or real experiences ?
the film takes some interesting chances .
non - traditional relationships are presented as matter - of - fact .
extra - marital , gay , interracial , professor - student : here they are n't judged , merely choices .
the actors are all first - rate .
douglas triumphs , playing against type as he spends most of his time disheveled , unshaven and clad in a pink women 's house robe .
maguire 's disengaged alienation works perfectly here .
robert downey jr .
as grady 's agent livens up his scenes .
director curtis hanson (
" l . a . confidential " ) makes a few missteps .
the women are underused .
frances mcdormand does a good job of her limited role of sara , grady 's married lover
but we never understand much of who she is .
the chemistry between the two of them is non - existent which makes some of the ending unconvincing .
katie holmes is a student with a major crush on the professor , but her character goes nowhere .
we never even see grady 's exiting wife .
this is very much a guy 's film .
the varied relationships between the men are much more convincing than any of the others .
grady 's alternating mentoring and rejection of james is the centerpoint of the film , not him and sara .
as the boomers age , expect to see more mid - life crisis films to catch the attention of that demographic .
eventually it 'll probably become cliche , but right now
we 've got a winner .
i 'll finish this in a second .
right now i have to grab some paint .
i noticed some trim in the other room that needs a little touch - up .
( michael redman has written this column for so long that he 's made mid - life crisis a career choice . )

A:
P
****