instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
take two old and dying men , a lifetime of regrets , a house full of sins , a thoroughly despicable man , enough lies , insecurities and other character defects to keep a team of psychiatrists gainfully employed , then add a inexplicable meteorological and amphibian - based phenomenon and you will have summed up magnolia , the newest film from paul thomas anderson ( boogie nights ) .
the movie tells multiple stories , weaving them together , or overlapping them during the course of its three hour running time .
would that the stories were worth the telling .
earl partridge ( jason robards , a thousand acres ) is dying of cancer .
bedridden , in much pain , it is obvious that his time is growing short .
his much younger wife played by julianne moore ( an ideal husband ) is surprised to find herself struggling with his impending death .
having married for money , she discovers that she has actually fallen in love with the old guy and regrets having cheated and lied .
earl regrets having cheated on his first wife and estranging himself from his only son ( tom cruise , eyes wide shut ) , now a misogynist self - help guru who teaches men how to " seduce and destroy , " his sexual and vulgar perspective on male / female relationships is so over - the - top as to be utterly unbelievable .
meanwhile , jimmy gator ( philip baker hall , the insider ) is also dying of cancer .
not as physically incapacitated as earl , jimmy is still able to perform his duties as the lovable host of a long - running quiz show which pits adults against children .
the current whiz - quiz - kid is stanley spector ( jeremy blackman in his film debut ) who is tired of the pressure of performing and is willing to call it quits .
on the other hand , quiz kid donnie smith ( william macy , mystery men ) would like nothing more than to return to the spotlight when he was a " somebody .
"
his pathetic life is souring as he can no longer capitalize on his brief 15 minutes of fame which stanley is all too eager to relinquish .
jimmy has his own family crisis as his drug - addict daughter ( melora walters , boogie nights ) refuses to have anything to do with him for reasons which are not disclosed to us until the end of the film .
grabbing at one last attempt at happiness she reaches out to a softhearted cop ( john c .
reilly , never been kissed ) even as she tries to push herself away from him because she deems herself not worthy of his affection .
this dysfunctional group carries on for what seems to be an interminable two - thirds of the movie .
and then it gets worse , literally raining frogs .
yes , frogs . assuming it to be an intended deus - ex - machina device ,
it is an ineffective one because it does n't seem to faze the characters much .
oh , they may step gingerly around the splattered frog corpses littering the streets , but otherwise , the frog shower did n't seem to change their behavior or pattern of living ( or dying ) .
there is simply too much going on in this movie and most of it is distasteful to watch .
mr .
anderson further obscures the film by incorporating a loud and intrusive sound track that often drowned out the dialogue , a character who apparently rapped a significant clue to a plot development which was completely unintelligble , and a heavy handed segment of " historical " occurances containing ironic twists which set up absolutely nothing .
one of the recurring themes is found in a line donnie quotes : " we may be done with the past , but the past is not done with us .
"
this is an absolute lie .
god is in the forgiveness business .
in fact , as we humbly ask for forgiveness and repent or change our offending mindset , god 's word says that he not only forgives , he also forgets .
"
i , even i , am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake , and will not remember thy sins .
" isaiah 43
: 25 [ kjv ] the spiritual one who keeps bringing up our unrighteous past is the same one who wants to keep us in a state of condemnation .
do n't let him .
next time your spiritual adversary reminds you of your past , take great pleasure in reminding him of his future .
he hates that .
answer:
N


question:
one would think that david duchovny , star of the cult favorite " x - files " would be very careful in choosing his leading man cinema roles .
at least one would hope so .
one would be seriously incorrect .
eugene sands ( duchovny ) is a surgeon so dedicated to his craft that he becomes addicted to amphetamines to stay awake and work more .
it turns out to be a bad plan when he loses a patient and his license while under the influence .
ten months later , in a seedy bar to score synthetic heroin , the doctor gets a chance to ply his trade when assassins gun down a customer . using a plastic water bottle and bar tubing , sands operates and saves his life .
smalltime hoodlum raymond blossom ( timothy hutton ) is impressed with the cutlery skills on his associate .
he kidnaps and then offers down - and - out eugene a position in his organization .
blossom needs a doctor to patch up gunshot victims that would be problematic at a hospital .
sand 's temptation is that this will give him a chance to practice medicine again albeit illegally , big chunks of cash to fuel his habit and close proximity to the gangster 's womanfriend claire ( angelina jolie ) , this film 's babe factor .
the would - be big time operator is desperately in need of help .
on the run from russian mobsters ( the bad guys that seem to be all the rage in this year 's films ) and trying to cut a pirate software deal with the chinese mafia , blossom is surrounded by blood .
after a few medical misadventures , the physician grows disenchanted with his employment .
an encounter with a couple of psycho surfer dudes who threaten to blow him away unless he " fixes " their dead buddy cements his feeling that he is in the wrong line of work .
when the fbi visits and forces him to become an informant , there is no question that he needs to be somewhere else .
oddly enough , these seem like they could be exciting scenes .
the film disproves that assumption .
then a bunch of other uninteresting things happen .
writing this only two days after seeing the film , its a struggle to remember the events .
you can take that as a solid lack of recommendation .
for all the coolness that duchovny exhibits in " x - files " , it 's a surprise that his big screen presence is
so lacking in charisma .
the doctor is particularly bland and dull .
even the cold turkey bit which is rife with dramatic possibilities come across as banal .
a little chocolate and minor sweats get him through heroin withdrawal .
like virtually everything else in the film , it 's a missed opportunity .
the fox mulder detachment does n't work here .
oscar - winner hutton 's manic mobster is much more difficult to get a handle on .
played partially for comedy and partially as crazed killer , blossom almost becomes real , but then sinks into goofiness .
most of the time hutton looks as if he 's searching for his character and coming up empty .
jolie also makes a few false moves towards creating a three - dimensional human being before giving up and turning into scenery .
the most interesting aspect of her performance is watching her pouty lips threaten to take over the screen .
the rest are n't any better .
michael massee 's eccentric fbi agent never revs up .
one of blossom 's henchmen steals a few moments of the show as a quirky gunman reminiscent of val kilmer 's doc holliday in " tombstone " .
his two - gunned blasting as he does a bizarre dance is the high point of the film .
but that 15 seconds is n't worth sitting through the other 90 minutes .
first time film director andy wilson ( known for his work on the british television series " cracker " ) appears to be attempting to jump on the " pulp fiction " bandwagon .
the best of these movies combine a sense of style and flash with significant substance .
the second - rate ones concentrate on just one of these aspects .
" playing god " does neither well .
the basic idea of the film is solid .
and then it goes nowhere .
even worse , it plods back and forth , up and down a long and winding road before
it ends up nowhere .
fox fails yet again in his search for intelligent life .
answer:
N


question:
"
no man is an island ,
" one character quotes john donne in apt pupil , effectively summarizing the movie 's themes .
while hardly a great film , singer 's ambitious adaptation of king 's short story * is challenging nonetheless ; perhaps the most shocking aspect of this inclement psychological thriller is that a major studio got behind it .
apt pupil is a bleak picture destined to be misunderstood by the masses .
1984 .
wonder - bred high school honours student todd bowden
( renfro ) conducts his own extracurricular investigation of kurt dussander , a nazi war criminal who fearfully fled berlin in the 1960s and was never heard from again .
bowden suspects arthur denker ( mckellan ) , the lonely german senior citizen who lives nearby , is actually a pseudonymous dussander - much research and dusting for fingerprints proves young todd 's theory .
bowden strikes a deal with dussander : in exchange for not revealing his identity , dussander must satisfy bowden 's intense curiosity by recounting the atrocities of the holocaust from the nazi point of view .
the stories he hears keep todd up at night and haunt his daydreams , but like a bystander at a traffic accident , todd 's desire for gory details overrides his repulsion .
bowden revives in dussander feelings dormant since the end of wwii .
marching in a mock uniform around his kitchen is wholly cathartic for dussander : it leads to his torture of a cat and the torment of his " student " , among other things .
bowden , who has taken on very hateful qualities
( he kills birds and doodles swastikas on his notebook ) , engages the veteran in an endless game of one - upmanship .
dussander stands to lose his freedom , and bowden his credibility - in effect , his post - secondary school future .
all of this winds down to a fairly unpredictable ( and unsettling ) conclusion , one which requires leaps of faith from its audience yet is more satisfying than the source material 's excessive climax .
singer has yet to get keyser s ?
ze out of his system .
his the usual suspects and apt pupil are both about evil masquerading as innocence ( verbal 's tics and todd 's golden - boy reputation are plausible ruses ) ; they showcase morally bankrupt anti - heroes to whom telling the truth is not an option if they are to achieve their goals .
apt pupil is a richer film than the usual suspects , a movie famous and popular partly because its plot machinations were not germane to the outcome - there was no way you could see the ending coming , as it was all a hoodwink , anyway .
thankfully , singer has gotten most of the usual suspects ' film - schoolish geek theatrics out of his system .
some scenes in apt pupil feel overdirected and/or obvious ( the dream sequences were extraneous ) , but the majority of the film is subdued - and singer 's handling of the violent scenes is boldly restrained for a film about a murderer and a murderer - in - training .
mckellan 's and renfro 's performances contribute enormously to the overall success of the film ; while most people will focus on british stage vet mckellan 's finely - tuned realization , i 'd like to single out renfro 's daring work .
he is n't afraid to play someone largely unappealing and cold - hearted ; he strips his character of vanity , something many of his peers would n't do .
( can you picture kieran culkin or jonathan taylor - thomas in the same role ? )
renfro was recently charged with possession of cocaine -
i hope he does n't continue down that path , because he has a big future in good movies waiting for him .
as guidance counsellor edward french , " friend " schwimmer also deserves mention .
he wants to be the parent to todd that todd 's own well - to - do folks are not ( todd , like most modern kids - and only - children - has mom and dad wrapped around his pinky finger ) , and his sincerity makes the apt pupil 's blackening - heart even more apparent .
but one of the film 's ultimate questions , are we born evil or do we learn evil ? , might be answered in french , whose motives are the slightest bit ambiguous .
no man is an island , indeed - we all have the capacity to make the " right " or the " wrong " choices .
schwimmer winningly plays one of a trio of fascinating characters who make the unconventional apt pupil laudible .
-october , 1998
* the excellent collection king 's stories called different seasons spawned not only apt pupil , but the shawshank redemption ( originally titled rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption ) and stand by me ( originally titled the body ) .
answer:

P