instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
you always have to be careful with the first official studio release out of the gate each year .
they 're obviously films for which the studios have no great hopes ( having missed both the deadline for academy award eligibility and the big box - office holiday season ) .
combine that with howie long 's first starring action role , and
you 've got a doozy of a movie
that , while not as bad as it could have been , is n't a very good film .
howie stars as an ace smokejumper ( a firefighter who parachutes into forest fires unreachable from the ground ) .
in the slightly contrived opening scenes , we witness his heroism in action , as he , and his mentor ( played by scott glenn ) attempt to rescue a small girl and her dog from an oncoming forest fire .
william forsythe plays the bad guy , a mass murderer who has several million dollars tucked away to help fund his jailbreak .
he ( and five convict cohorts ) manages to get selected for firefighting duty when a woodland blaze just happens to ignite nearby .
his escape plan bets a lot on the laxity of the guards , but ( since there must be a movie )
luck is with him .
soon the now - escaped convicts are masquerading as canadian firefighters .
why canadian ? who knows , eh ? along the way they pick up a pretty birdwatcher ( suzy amis ) to be their hostage .
enter howie long .
he 's called in to help fight the blaze , and when he spots the group of " ground pounders " , apparently lost , he parachutes in to help .
when he discovers their true identity , he is the only thing standing between them and escape , and the only hope of help for the hostage .
long 's acting talents are above those of , say , steven seagal , but not by much .
although his delivery is mostly flat and wooden
, he 's a likeable hero , and there are some hints here and there that he may get better .
the script does n't help him out any , however .
all too often , it veers into the realm of the unintentionally funny .
the dialogue is strictly b - movie material , and the plotting relies too heavily on coincidences to be believable .
long 's co - stars are a mixed bag .
at least they 're all comfortable in their respective roles .
forsythe has the scenery - chewing villain down cold , down cold , and scott glenn is always enjoyable to watch , even when he does n't seem to be stretching his talents ( as is definitely the case here ) .
suzy amis plays peril pretty well , but is n't given much more to do .
some of the nature and wildfire shots are interesting , but many are rather bland .
you 'd think that the director , dean semler , a former cinematographer , would at least produce a film with interesting visuals .
that 's not the case .
there 's a lack of originality to nearly all the sequences .
. .
we 've seen this stuff before .
it 's not the most auspicious start to 1998 , but it could have been worse ( just think back to 1996 's debut , bio - dome ) .
however , after a month of oscar - caliber pictures , a movie like firestorm at least gives you some perspective on how good those movies really were .
in fact , there 's a good chance that some of them are still playing near you . . .
answer:
N


question:
when i watch a movie like mike nichols ' what planet are you from ?
i ca n't help but feel like everyone is looking at me .
it 's as if all the audience is gazing at the back of my head in the darkness , eyes shooting daggers , quietly blaming me for the fact that they paid hard - earned money to spend their time watching this . . .
this .
. .
thing .
i shift uncomfortably in my seat .
i 'm reminded of how i feel when i see a pair of second- or third - rate celebrities engaging in a teleprompted " funny " conversation to introduce the next blockbuster award .
it 's not my fault , i know it 's not my fault , but dammit ,
someone 's got ta be embarrassed , because it does n't look like anyone on the screen is ready to take the blame .
i 'm about to give you a list of names of people who are gon na make a movie together : garry shandling , annette bening , john goodman , greg kinnear , mike nichols .
do any of these names make you instantly shudder ?
the answer i would have come up with before today is no , this is quite a list of talented individuals we 've got here .
granted , john goodman was in the flintstones , and greg kinnear has turned in some less - than - lackluster leading man performances in certified failures like a smile like yours , but even so , they 've got proven power as excellent supporting players .
garry shandling has two television classics under his belt , his ingenious little
it 's garry shandling 's show and the larry sanders show .
and for god 's sake , mike nichols directed the graduate , and annette bening is just walking away from american beauty .
so explain this .
. .
this .
. .
thing .
what planet are you from ?
purports to be a comedy exploring the relationship between men and women satirizing the whole pop - psychology mars / venus phenomenon .
but what this movie winds up being is a collection of unfunny cringe - inducing moments coupled with uninsightful cringe - inducing moments ; the end result is , unsurprisingly , an unfunny , uninsightful , cringe - inducing , thoroughly icky embarrassment .
garry shandling plays an alien from a planet populated by technologically advanced but emotionally vacant males
( they reproduce through cloning , of course ) .
his leaders put a select group of males through a series of tests designed to determine which one is most fit to fly off to earth , find a female of the species , and impregnate her .
they 're taught how to pretend that they 're listening by nodding and saying " uh - huh , " and how to compliment shoes .
imagine my delighted surprise when , oh heavens , all their carefully practiced tactics turn out to fail miserably , producing comedic results !
the lucky winner is fitted with a penis ( since theirs , after generations of disuse have long since shrunk out of existence . . .
i will restrain myself from mentioning the implausibility of such a scenario since the population has stopped evolving due to the fact that they 're all just clones . . .
whoops , too late . )
the penis , when aroused , tends to make a humming noise .
the writers , when frequently strapped for ideas , tend to turn to this as a source of " comedy .
"
it is n't funny the first time .
it is n't funny the eighth time .
it is n't funny the eighteenth time .
if anything , it made me feel vaguely self - conscious .
garry meets up with a coworker at a bank played by greg kinnear , who turns out to be a generic , unlikable scumbag .
he 's meant to fill the part of unfortunate role model for shandling 's alien character , but he 's so flatly drawn that even the writers quickly give up and toss him aside .
kinnear 's scumbagginess is demonstrated by the fact that he claims other peoples ' work as his own to worm his way into a vice presidents ' position and goes to aa meetings to pick up chicks .
wow .
what a magnificent bastard .
nearly every man in the movie , in fact , is played as the same sort of sex - driven slimeball .
when kinnear 's wife walks into the office , there is n't a single guy who does n't trip , bump into a wall , or otherwise pratfall as if they 'd never seen a woman before .
the few guys that are n't particularly slimeballs , such as john goodman 's detective character , are simply uncommunicative workaholics .
shandling meets up with annette bening , who will inevitably prove to be the love he never knew existed , at one of kinnear 's aa meetings .
shandling 's mission is to have a baby , and when he reveals his desires to her , bening instantly falls for him , and the next day . . .
they get married .
yup .
the next day .
cuz ya see , it turns out she wants a baby too !
bening 's character perhaps was the most difficult to watch , especially after seeing her come apart at the seams so effectively in american beauty . . .
if her character here is supposed to be representing the female of the species as a whole , then woe , i say , to the species .
she 's unfathomably insecure , and succumbs so easily to all of shandling 's lines and lies that it borders on tragic .
there 's a point where , after thinking she may not be able to bear children , she learns that she is indeed pregnant .
when garry comes home after nearly cheating on her , she strolls into the kitchen and sings " high hopes " ( you know , the uplifting ant and the rubber tree plant song ) to deliver the news , and then says to him , " now you ca n't leave me .
"
we 're supposed to empathize with shandling 's discovery of the feeling of " guilt , " but instead i wanted to weep for bening that she was placing her entire life and soul firmly in the lap of a great big nothing .
and eventually , shandling falls in love with her . .
.
for real , i suppose , though i 'm not sure exactly what prompted it .
what 's the message i derive from all this ?
men are liars , inherently empty creatures , but if you hang around long enough . .
.
well , maybe something will click .
ha ha .
. .
ha ?
i 'm thankful such broad cynicism is n't frequently allowed to run so rampant .
let 's all join hands and pray that the planet these folks are from is not this one .
there 's also a subplot involving john goodman as an airline incident investigator that wades in the bog of stupidity .
goodman , through a series of astoundingly implausible realizations , puts together the fact that shandling is a being from another world with a magic , vibrating penis .
it has all the makings for a subplot of having shandling be discovered , that , thankfully , never comes to the inevitable hackneyed fruition .
instead , it just dangles limply on the branch for a while , withers , and falls away .
further proof that goodman should just stick to doing coen brothers movies .
but let 's not dwell on this any longer , i 've already wasted plenty of your time and my own .
let 's move on , forget about what we 've seen here , and get on with our lives .
and to help us out , let 's end things on a happy note .
. .
congratuations go out to annette bening , winner of this week 's " title !
" award , for delivering the awkward line of dialog containing the movie 's name .
answer:
N


question:
> from writer and director darren stein comes jawbreaker , the poorly told tale of what can happen when an innocent birthday prank goes wrong .
at reagan high , four girls are sitting on top of the world .
courtney shane , played by rose mcgowan , holds the title of meanest , most disrespectful soul in the school .
everyone hates her , but everyone envies her due to her popularity .
courtney is the " leader " of her clique , which also includes julie , played by rebecca gayheart , liz purr , played by charlotte roldan , and marcie , played by julie benz are the other three in the group .
it is liz 's seventeenth birthday , and julie , courtney , and marcie concur that they will play a seemingly innocent prank on her , but the prank results in the death of liz .
just like stupid teens in any teen directed film such as this one , the foursome decide to cover up the death to make it look like a murder committed by someone else .
and also just like in other teen directed movies , one of the four do n't agree with hiding it , this time that character being julie .
and finally , just like in other teen movies , there is a witness outside the group trying to hide the truth .
this time that character being fern mayo ( judy greer ) , who is subject to many cracks from courtney 's group , as well as the entire school .
> from here
, jawbreaker turns into a predictable tale of revenge , bad morals , and at least trying to do the right thing .
not only is the script weak , on a whole the acting is horrid
thanks to a large amount of the main cast .
judy greer is undeniably awful as her one dimensional , annoying character , as she overacts every line she has .
also on the bad side of acting is julie benz , almost falling to the annoying factor that greer delivers .
on the positive side of acting , rose mcgowan performs well here , but does n't match her wickedly clever performance as " tatum " , in 1996 's scream .
mcgowan 's role is annoying , but this only adds to the film .
she is wickedly mean , and even though she a well - written character , you downright hate her .
faring even better than mcgowan is rebecca gayheart , who is always exceptionally believable as her roles .
when the script feeds her a one or two dimensional character , she turns it into three , always putting strong emotion and power into her roles .
gayheart is n't given as much to do here as she was in 1998 's urban legend , but you can still get a strong taste of her acting skills in jawbreaker .
jawbreaker drifts and mianders different sub plots throughout , hardly throwing anything for the viewer to get absorbed in .
we get way off of the topic of the jawbreaker incident , and get into things that do n't have anything to do with the actual film .
the beginning and ending are strong , it 's just the middle that needs a lot of help .
during the body of the movie , it is undeniably repetitive , never progressing towards a conclusion .
nothing to grab the viewer 's interest is around , and the same , extremely annoying song plays over and over again .
jawbreaker tries to get off on the same time of humor used in the 1995 film clueless , but falls flat .
the few gags that actually work die off quickly and die off with a bang .
all in all , a horrible disappointment .
the bottom line : the tagline reads , " even the sweetest candies are sour as death inside .
"
yes , that is too true .
no matter how good this film may have looked , it fails to deliver .
answer:

N