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

jet li busted onto the american action movie scene , when he stole the show in 1998 's lethal weapon 4 , with his wicked looks , his nasty moves and his undeniable charisma .
it only took another two years for mega - producer joel silver to set him up in an all - american movie , primed to take over some of the empty action - hero seats left by alleged coke - head van damme and that pudgy guy named steven seagal .
would this film take li past his rival asian action counterparts , namely chow yun - fat and jackie chan ?
let 's find out .
plot : rival chinese and black gangster organizations fall further out of favor from one another , when members of their respective families start turning up dead .
that 's when badass jet li blasts into the picture to find out who the men were behind his brother 's death and to exact some of his own style of revenge .
critique : three words : not enough action !
simple enough ? not enough hong kong kickass jet li action to compensate for a horribly predictable screenplay , bad actors , crappy dialogue and oh - so many over - the - top melodramatic moments . and a romance angle ?
why , one must ask . . .
why ?
i love fight scenes and i really dig jet li too , but this little ditty barely contained three memorable action sequences , and jet , well , the poor dude was barely in the movie .
and i thought this was supposed to be his big break ?
how 'bout giving the slickster some more opportunities to show us his kung - fu fighting chops , slap him in a few more scenes , and give him more chances to practice his acting / english abilities ?
what a letdown .
even black mask was more entertaining than this glossed up , empty shell of a film .
in fact , i am sure that more time was spent gathering the " hits " for the soundtrack of this film , than were on the so - called " screenplay " .
i felt like i was watching a soundtrack rather than a movie most of the time .
the sad part about the bad script is that it would n't matter so much if the film actually had some decent actors spouting out the tacky lines .
but no , save lindo and aaliyah , who were n't too shabby , i thought the rest of the cast was picked primarily from their inability to deliver lines convincingly .
and what was the deal with the whole nfl franchise deal run by some 15-year old looking guy , acting like he 's the overlord of a drug ring ? !
what a mess .
then again , i do n't want it to seem like i 'm complaining solely about the story which was completely foreseeable , since we all go to see these movies for the action anyway , not the story .
well , i guess that 's what disappointed me the most out of this film .
there were a couple of cool fight scenes with li , but simply not enough to satisfy my overall craving .
also , as much as i love the way they incorporate wires and special effects in some of their stunts , a couple of the exaggerated fight scenes were simply too obvious a stunt .
it should be seamless , fellas , not necessarily against the laws of gravity !
the one cool thing that was original in the movie was the way in which the director showed us some of the inside cracklings of the human body when penetrated by a blow , but that simple creative touch could n't save the rest of this film 's uninteresting plot movements .
i 'm disappointed for jet li that this film did n't give him the real opportunity to star in a good story with many great action scenes .
hopefully , the next time will be a charm for this charismatic actor .
for now , i just hope that for his sake , the film 's title is n't a premonition of the movie 's ultimate fate at the box - office .
N

city of angels is the kind of love story that i enjoy the most : thought - provoking , moving , and completely unsentimental .
i find it interesting that this film has been released the same day as my giant , which is a film that is undone completely by its wretched sentimentality .
city of angels is a wonderful film , enhanced by interesting and well - rounded characters and some of the most immersive imagery of the last couple of years .
it 's a love story that takes the familiar angel themes and makes them new and necessary to the story , and avoids most of the cliches we 're so used to seeing in films like this .
city of angels is an apparently loose remake of wim wenders ' 1988 film wings of desire .
i have yet to see wings of desire , so i am , unfortunately , unable to make a comparison of the two .
i have heard , however , that city of angels is dissimilar from the original in numerous ways , which makes me glad that this film is n't a rip - off of its source material .
nicolas cage stars as seth , an angel who , like all of his angel counterparts , is present to lead the dying to heaven ( or somewhere just like it ) .
one day , he is forced to take the life of a patient of dr .
maggie rice ( meg ryan ) , and his attention is called to her .
the angels can make themselves seen to humans , but they ca n't experience any of the senses ( most importantly , touch ) .
he shows himself to maggie , and she falls for him , unaware that he is slightly unavailable because of his apparition status .
seth wants to become human so he can feel her .
that 's when he meets nathaniel messinger ( dennis franz ) , " former celestial messenger and recent addition to the human race .
"
( as a side note , i found messinger to be the most fascinating character , for i can only imagine how incredibly liberating it must be to live knowing what lies beyond death . )
messinger explains to seth that it is possible for angels to become human .
seth manages to convince maggie that he is an angel ( i know , it sounds ridiculous , but
the scene in which she finds out is exceptionally well - done ) ; after much deliberation , she tells him that she could only be with a man who can feel .
this , of course , is when seth decides to take the plunge ( literally ) from a building ; when he wakes up from the fall , he is human , and happy to feel what it 's like to have a split lip and blood oozing from his forehead .
since i love this film so much , i 'll make a minor note that it certainly is n't perfect .
although it is original and mesmerizing , it does fall prey to a few of the cliches of the genre .
the plotting of the story by writer dawn steel is rather formulaic ( though the details are what make the story excellent , and steel has done a great job with them ) .
the ending , too , could have been more powerful and less predictable .
these elements are minor , though , and barely detracted from my overall enjoyment of city of angels .
the acting is superb from everyone involved .
this is perhaps my second - favorite performance from cage ( my favorite being the rock ) .
he 's quiet and pensive , and his eyes are engaging when he speaks his softly - toned words .
he 's perfect for a role like this , and at the same time he reassures us
he 's not bound by playing the psycho ( though he is good at it , as he shows in face / off ) .
meg ryan is a powerful , enticing , and appealingly - chirpy actress , and her work here is some of her best .
dennis franz , however , steals all of his scenes as the energetic former - angel .
what i admire most about city of angels is its overall presentation .
director brad silberling is a talented man , and he knows that a story like this is driven by the characters , rather than forced sentimentality .
his direction is steady , and he shows this in just about every scene : near the beginning , maggie has to tell a mother and her two children that their father is dead .
there is no music or elaborate camera work ; we simply see the reactions of the characters to the information .
this is the way stories should be told , and the strength of scenes resonates more completely when the emotions are real .
the film also appeals to the senses in a way that few love stories do .
cinematographer john seale ( the english patient ) provides some of the most stunning images
i 've seen on the big screen : hundreds of black - clad angels stand on a dim beach in the early morning hours ( just as an example ) .
the music , by gabriel yared ( also of the english patient ) , is perfect for this film :
it 's quiet and moody music ( but not sentimental ! ) , and adds to the atmosphere and tone nicely .
the visual presentation of city of angels is easily the best of 1998 so far .
all of this adds up to a film that is instantly set apart from other members of this genre .
it 's a film that relies on character development and imagery to get the story across -- the excellent actors and the professional production values make city of angels
one of those rare films that both entertains and instigates thought simultaneously .
P

steve martin shines but sgt .
bilko fails to impress based on the popular 50 's sitcom , sgt .
bilko follows the string of old - sitcoms - to - movie conversion fever .
remember the brady bunch movie or the beverly hillbillies released sometime back ?
( brady bunch was a moderate hit in in the us while hillbillies flopped ) .
i do not really know whether the hollywood minds are running out of good ideas or just being plain lazy , but the tv - conversion - movies are hitting our screens like wildfire , sad to say , with mixed success .
such movies are mostly targeted at us viewers since they are usually followings of such series over there and the larger the following , the more likely the sitcom will be made into a movie .
sgt .
bilko ( frankly , i have not seen any its original tv version ) , even with the charm and wild antics of funnymen steve martin and dan akroyd ; failed to entertain .
sgt .
ernest bilko is the man behind the motor pool ( place of vehicle storage and repair ) of fort baxter .
though totally unskilled in the field of work that he is supposed to be in charge of , he has an almost superhuman ability and zeal to sniff out money - making opportunities ; from running a gambling den in the military garage to 4-d pools .
though materialistic in mind , bilko 's methods has thoughtfully ` enriched ' the lives of the men of fort baxter , providing them with some form of real recreation within the camp and the people love him for that .
colonel hall runs the entire fort and thanks to his inborn ` blissfully - confused ' state , bilko has managed to hide his operation , though nearly every living person in the fort knows about it .
bilko 's state of ascent is suddenly under - fire when the pentagon sends major thorn , a tough cookie on army regulations , to check on the progress on the $ 70 million hovertank project , a new weapon under development within the fort 's grounds .
to add to his problems , thorn is determined to bring bilko down in retalliation of a major ` sabo ' done on him by bilko during their younger army days .
director jonathan lynn , who directed my cousin vinny ( in which marisa tomei won an oscar for best - supporting actress ) managed to pull sgt .
bilko through with suitable pacing and some exceptional moments of laughter , but that is about it .
there are really not enough laughter - packed - moments in sgt .
bilko to fully entertain the average movie - goer .
still , steve martin 's sgt .
bilko is played with finesse and full - force by the renowned comedian . without him , sgt .
bilko would have just fell flat on its face .
sgt .
bilko did moderately well in the us box office early this year
but i doubt it will earn much elsewhere around the world .
the current trend in mixed successes in such tv - conversions may be a blessing in disguise , really ; at least it will force hollywood to re - think any of its initial intentions to turn another tv - idea into a movie or at the very least approach those ideas with more creativity . unless you are a fan of the tv - series or love to watch steve martin in action , you can skip this one when deciding which movie to catch in the local theatres .
i 'm sure
there are better ones around .

N