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

october sky is a rare oddity in cinema : a self - proclaimed " uplifting " film that is actually uplifting !
based on the autobiographical book by homer hickam , rocket boys , october sky tells the struggle of four boys reaching for their dream .
it 's 1957 , and for the boys of coalwood , west virginia , there 's not much hope of a rosy future .
coalwood is a coal mining town , and , except for the few lucky ones who manage to escape on a football scholarship , most of coalwood 's boys are destined to work in the mine .
but , in october 1957 , an event happens that sparks one boy to dream .
the launch of the soviet satellite sputnik sets homer hickam ( jake gyllenhaal ) to dream a future of rocketry and space travel .
of course , homer 's parents ( chris cooper and natalie canderday ) are n't quite sure what to make of their son 's unusual interests .
homer gets his strongest encouragement from miss riley ( laura dern ) , a teacher in his school who also informs him about the scholarships offered to the winners of a national science fair .
and so , with stars in his eyes , and thoughts of scholarships in his head , homer enlists the help of three other boys ( william lee scott , chad lindberg and chris owen ) and begins to build a rocket .
but , do
these four backwoods boys even have the slightest hope of escaping their destiny ?
there is a lot that could have gone wrong with october sky .
nearly every sequence flirts with becoming syrupy and cliched .
however , miraculously , october sky
avoids nearly all of these pitfalls , making the exact right moves at the exact right times .
a film emerges which manages to be powerful and moving without slipping into the gauzy haze of nostalgia or sliding down the sugarry slope of sappiness .
jake gyllenhaal is outstanding as the kid at the center of this film .
> from the outset of the film , he is immediately likable , and never seems too corny or brainy as to alienate the audience .
unfortunately , while october sky focuses on homer , the other three kids get the short end of the stick .
they remain little more than placeholders reading " insert friend here " .
of the adults in the film , chris cooper is the most fully realized character .
the film never paints him as merely the villainous parent standing in the way of his child 's dreams , but , instead , shows the multihued portrait of a man who wants the best for his family and town , but is too stubborn to realize what that is .
director joe johnson deserves much credit for successfully navigating the many obstacles that october sky manages to dodge .
however , there are still a few occasions when he allows things to proceed just a step too far .
scenes which were natural and inspiring start to become contrived and artificial .
however , these lapses are minimal , and johnson quickly steers the movie back on course .
the problem with many so - called " uplifting " films is that they attempt to force their mediciney goodness down your throat .
october sky never resorts to that level , and yet , manages to become a truly uplifting film purely on its own merits .
P

this christmas , little ralphie parker ( peter billingsley ) wants nothing more than a red ryder bb gun under the tree .
although cautioned by many that he will ?
shoot his eye out ' , ralphie remains optimistic , conjuring up a detailed scheme to get on the good side of his parents and teachers .
it could be possible that no one has ever wanted anything with more passion than ralphie wants this bb gun , and the story of his eternal struggle is a charming one .
` a christmas story ' is a favorite among many during the holiday season , and boy ,
it is certainly easy to see why .
ralphie 's endless desire for the bb gun may transport you back to your childhood , when you were craving a certain gift for christmas and the anxiety was almost indescribable .
evoking pleasant childhood memories is only one of the many things ` a christmas story ' does so well .
here are a few features that make this film such a charming little package
for everybody during the holiday season : 1 ) period detail .
this film is based on the memoirs of late humorist jean shepard , who shares his experiences as a young boy living in the 1940 's with loving detail .
shepard narrates from a first person point - of - view , divulging his various adventures one snowy december , in which visions of taking aim with his new bb gun replaced that of sugarplums dancing in his head .
shepard 's first - hand commentary of several situations is not only downright hilarious , but also witty and warm , with various metaphorical meanings that ring perfectly with the essence of comic timing .
on top of that , young billingsley 's stupefied reactions to each predicament is absolutely perfect in contrast with the narration .
director bob clark captures the look and feel of the era with wonderful technicality .
i can hardly imagine a more accurate depiction of what christmas for young ralphie must have been like .
2 ) mom and dad .
both melinda dillon ( as mom ) and darren mcgavin ( as ?
the old man ' ) are perfect in their roles .
it 's hard to fathom a more agreeable pair for the requirements of a story like this one , with each possessing at least one memorable trait that instantly separates them from the wooden caricatures that could have been featured .
for instance , he is a bloodthirsty turkey hound , and she is forgiving and understanding when it comes to some serious issues .
in portraying the writer as a persistent but mild - mannered young lad , peter billingsley has struck quite the chord .
his performance is richly textured , making all of the humorous situations he stumbles into radiate with flavor and enjoyment . which brings us to . . . .
3 )
the comic situations .
there are plenty of memorable moments in ` a christmas story ' .
moments that undoubtedly will improve in comic potency upon each new viewing , with so much more to explore and to cherish .
i am particularly partial of the ? f - word scene ' , in which ralphie blurts out the shocking four - letter obscenity while helping the old man in the yard .
again , shepard 's method of handling this amusing scenario is nothing short of comic wizardry .
the numerous sequences that stick in one 's mind include , of course , the famous department store santa scene - in which billingsley has some problems in telling old saint nick what he wants under the tree .
i could go on , but i 'll finish on this note :
` a christmas story ' is a standout among holiday movies , because it captures so much in a meager 90 minutes .
not only is it funny ,
it 's often genuinely hilarious . . . .
not to mention warm , fluffy and touching in all the appropriate places .
i plan on making ` a christmas story ' a christmas tradition .
why do n't you ?
P

"
i 've been told by several people , ' you 're old fashioned .
you want to do everything by hand , ' " topiary gardener george mendonca complains , defending his continued resort to hand shears in trimming his intricately privet - sculpted animal creations .
"
this is the only way you can do it and do it right . " snip , snip .
"
some people believe that we are gon na replace ourselves by building these machines , and that may be , " muses mit robot scientist rodney brooks , who builds robots that run on instinct .
"
there may not be a place for humans in the future , if we 're really successful . "
" you feel that there 's a and looking directly into errol morris 's camera .
"
i know you are .
you know i am .
" in some ways the slickest film yet from nonfiction auteur morris ( the thin blue line , a brief history of time ) , fast , cheap & out of control is reportage of the highest order .
journalism students should dream of making connections like these .
cross - cutting among interviews and filmed segments , morris traces the lives of four disparate professionals who seem to share nothing but an immersion in their work , and then threads them around one another in an intricate quadruple helix .
the fun is settling into your theater seat and wondering just what the hell one story can possibly have to do with the other .
what morris manages is something akin to an intellectual magic trick , an interrogative sleight of hand .
one of the things that feels different about an errol morris documentary -- besides the always - striking visuals -- is the interview style , where subjects seem to look directly at the viewer .
weary of pressing his cheek against the camera lens to get this effect during conversations , morris developed an elaborate double - camera gadget he calls , half - jokingly , the interrotron . through a rig that uses a pair of teleprompters to project video images of the interviewer for the subject and vice versa , these folks talk , startlingly , right to the camera -- to the video image of morris , and by extension to the audience .
the gardener wonders whether , after his death , anyone will be interested in maintaining the garden that he 's devoted half his life to tending .
the robot scientist is more than a little pleased to note that his creations may be primal examples of what an insect or even an animal is -- a complicated set of sensory receptors .
the mole rat specialist is delighted to catalog the ways in which these vermin animals behave like insects , and notes that they may be more suited to long - term survival than people .
and the circus trainer pines for a long - lost ideal that was exemplified by world - renowned trainer and showman clyde beatty , who starred in such serials as zombies of the stratosphere ( excerpted at some length here , with affection ) .
starting to detect the patterns ?
fast , cheap & out of control contains a multitude of parallels and tiny intersections , culminating in what feels like an elegy ( the film is dedicated to morris 's late mother and stepfather ) .
the film is balanced on that airy precipice dividing the already musty past from the alternately exhilarating and terrifying space that is the future .
( the title is taken from brooks ' wish that nasa would send a payload of hundreds of expendable robots to scurry about the martian surface , creating a sort of road map for the terrain -- fast , cheap , and out of control . ) with able assists from editors karen schmeer and shondra merrill and cinematographer robert richardson ( oliver stone 's longtime collaborator ) , this becomes a cinematic contraption that 's a wonder of narrative divergence and coherence .
( further enhancing the picture 's wacky intellectual mood is the playful score by alloy orchestra founder caleb sampson . )
different story threads inform and comment on one another with the serene inscrutability of a kieslowski film , or a surrealist dream .
by cobbling together out of these motley musings a thesis on the nature of craftsmanship , invention , and existence itself , morris reveals the presence of cosmic themes -- creation , evolution , death -- in earthbound lives .
at the same time , and just as significantly , he pays tribute to a consuming passion for one 's work .
this breakdown of the dichotomy between the everyday and the extraordinary is likely as profound as anything you 'll encounter in pop culture this year , and the visuals cry out for the big screen .
do n't miss it .
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directed by errol morris edited by karen schmeer and shondra merrill cinematography by robert richardson music by caleb sampson u
. s . , 1997 --------------------------------------------------------------

P