TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: once again , the battle is dreamworks versus disney : earlier this year , the mammoth companies fought to the death with their end - of - the - world asteroid flicks , deep impact and armageddon .
here we are now , just a few months later , and they 're at it again with dueling bug movies , antz and a bug 's life .
what i find so astonishing is that both pairs of movies are so inherently similar in both story and execution .
i mean , come on
-- what were the chances of two studios both deciding to bring out computer - animated films about bugs ?
as was the case with the meteor movies , disney has come out on top : though antz is a likable movie , a bug 's life is far superior .
in fact , this movie made me realize what was wrong with antz
: i became immersed in the world of a bug 's life , while antz just made me scrutinize everything .
but it 's not really fair to base an entire review on a comparison .
a bug 's life is a remarkable film in its own right , and deserves to be seen apart from any other computer - animated film about bugs .
in fact , it 's one of the best films this year : it 's smart , subtle , and funny , but it 's also perfect family entertainment and relentlessly entertaining .
i have n't had such a good time at the movies in months .
it tells the story of an ant named flick ( voice by dave foley ) ; he 's a nice guy , but he 's also a troublemaker .
the ants spend all season putting together the offering , a big pile of food that they provide for the grasshoppers .
just before the grasshoppers come , flick accidentally knocks over the offering , and ruins everything for the entire colony : the grasshopper 's leader , hopper ( kevin spacey ) , is enraged , and tells them that the ants need twice the food by the end of summer , or they 're all dead .
flick , feeling responsible for this , sets off to look for help -- he realizes that the only way to be rid of the grasshoppers is to fight them .
he heads to the city ( the city being a house a few miles away ) , where he finds a colorful bunch of circus bugs : a ladybug ( denis leary , who is spectacular ) , a black widow ( bonnie hunt ) , a caterpillar ( joe ranft ) , a butterfly ( madeline kahn ) , a rhinoceros beetle ( michael mcshane ) , and a stick ( david hyde - pierce , also giving a hilarious performance ) .
flick does n't know they 're actors , and they do n't know that flick needs them to kill a bunch of grasshoppers , so they return to the colony with flick and find themselves in an unusual position .
the most obvious element of a bug 's life is the quality of animation .
created by pixar ,
the same people who brought us toy story , a bug 's life has some of the most amazing visuals i 've ever seen .
the bugs seem to inhabit a three - dimensional space , and occasionally there will be a shot that is indistinguishable from live action .
this is a lush , colorful world , full of life and imagination : the way the animators insert the things all of us see in our daily lives ( matches , bottlecaps , tin cans , etc . ) and make them active objects in the bugs ' world is innovative .
the film is also mercilessly exciting , particularly in a superbly - staged scene involving our heroes ' escape from a bird ( a little bird never seemed so huge and threatening ) .
but the makers of a bug 's life know where the importance lies : story and characters .
flick , with solid voice work from foley , is a great guy to lead the story .
but the real treat comes with the circus bugs ; they 're such a likable group of characters -- the standouts are the stick ( hyde - pierce is so good ) , francis the ladybug , and the big fat caterpillar .
all of these bugs have more than a token personality , which makes the suspenseful scenes work because we care about the bugs , and it also keeps the tear - jerking scenes from seeming obligatory .
in my review of antz , i said that the film is a clever cop - out because it presents a bunch of little humans reacting to an ant - like existence .
in concept , a bug 's life is basically the same movie , except that i was never given enough time to find things that i did n't like about it .
with such strong work in both animation and script , a bug 's life is nothing but
a joy to sit through .
it really is too bad that it had to come out so close to that other bug movie , but a bug 's life is so good that i 'm sure it will find its audience .
after a slew of endlessly violent and cynical movies , it 's downright refreshing to sit through an innocent picture like this and laugh without feeling guilty .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: field of dreams
almost defies description .
although it 's about baseball , it 's not a baseball movie .
although the film is extremely spiritual , it 's not about religion .
and although field of dreams is melodramatic , it 's not a tearjerker .
to really understand what field of dreams is all about , you have to see it .
in the film , kevin costner plays ray kinsella , a baseball fan , ' 60s berkeley graduate , and iowa farmer .
one day as he is standing in the middle of his expansive corn fields , ray hears a voice ; it tells him : " if you build it , he will come .
"
then ray has a vision and somehow concludes that if he builds a baseball field in the middle of his corn , shoeless joe jackson will arise from the dead to play ball once again .
and even though it depletes his family 's savings and his neighbors think he 's crazy , ray clears away the corn and builds a baseball field , complete with bleachers and flood lights .
"
if you build it , he will come .
"
and lo and behold , shoeless joe does come -- bringing with him several of his dead teammates .
and then ray hears the voice again ; it tells him to " ease his pain .
" ray thinks this means that he must travel to boston to meet terence mann , an influential and radical novelist from the ' 60s who has since stopped writing and dropped out of society .
with great aplomb , james earl jones plays the disillusioned author who joins forces with ray and embarks with him on a magical and spiritual journey .
the cast in field of dreams is excellent ,
especially kevin costner in the lead role .
costner gives a quiet , subtle , and moving performance as a man who before building the baseball field had done nothing crazy or spontaneous in his entire life .
costner gives ray just the right mix of enthusiasm and idealism to make us believe in his mystic visions and swallow this wondrous fairy tale .
amy madigan gives a fine supporting performance as ray 's feisty and loving wife , who against her better judgement supports her husband 's crazy ideas .
in her most impressive scene , madigan vehemently argues against book burning at a p .
t .
a . meeting , displaying the sincere passion of a ' 60s berkeley radical .
ray liotta is appropriately eerie and awe - inspiring as the ghost of shoeless joe , the legendary batter who was suspended from baseball for his involvement in the 1919 chicago " black sox " scandal .
and finally , burt lancaster is memorable
in a small , but important , role as a small town doctor whose professional baseball career was limited to only one inning .
field of dreams is a touching fairy tale full of life , wonder , mystery , spirit , and humor .
it , for the most part , succeeds in capturing our emotions and suspending our disbelief .
ray kinsella 's spiritual quest in pursuit of his dreams proves to be moving and miraculous .
but while field of dreams generally avoids excessive melodrama , it unfortunately does at times go overboard , and by the end it gets down - right sappy .
in general , however , field of dreams is an emotionally satisfying fantasy -- one i can recommend to everyone but unromantic cynics .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: is jimmy stewart the greatest actor of all - time ?
it 's quite possible .
his career spanned over 40 years , and he acted in more movies than most actors ever could .
yet , when he is talked about in the media , he is generally thought of as an actor who played one type of role : the nice guy .
and that 's really a shame .
"
the naked spur " features jimmy stewart in a role completely different than what people would expect from him .
it 's a western , which stewart specialized in around this period , and it casts him as a desperate man out to collect a bounty on a man who used to be his friend .
before he finds that man , though , he runs into two men who agree to help him , thinking he is a sheriff .
when the criminal is eventually caught , the two men discover stewart 's secret , and decide they want a piece of the action too .
the rest of the film is a suspenseful journey in which each man suspects the other constantly .
also featured is the woman travelling with the criminal , well played by janet leigh .
we 're never too sure who 's side
she 's really on until the end .
leigh is an actress probably best known for her role as the " shower lady " from " psycho " , and that 's unfair .
she gives a strong performance as a woman who is pulled between these two men .
stewart gives a performance unlike anything i 've ever seen from him .
he usually keeps cool no matter what occurs , but here , he gets downright hysterical at times .
i think perhaps he took this role to prove to the public that he was more than just a " nice guy " .
his performance borders on psychotic at times , but
i loved watching every second of it .
it 's roles like this one that make me admire him as much as i do .
he was an actor unafraid to take chances , and even ruin his public image .

SOLUTION:
P