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

[Q]: "
what 's your favorite new york moment ? "
" this one 's climbing the charts .
" starring john cusack , kate beckinsale , eugene levy , molly shannon .
directed by peter chelsom .
rated pg-13 .
there 's no doubt that 95 % of romantic comedies follow a distinct pattern
: guy sees girl , guy wants girl , guy goes through unreasonable obstacles to get girl , guy gets girl .
in rare cases , the genders are flipped .
predictability is a given .
rarely , though , is a romantic comedy as cheap , as obvious , or as pointless as serendipity , a film that uses its " theme " as an excuse for its plot contrivances .
" lightweight " does n't begin to describe it .
this is like anti - gravity .
it begins in a new york city bloomingdale 's , a product placement that rivals cast away 's fedex for sheer blatancy .
jonathan trager ( john cusack ) and sara thomas ( kate beckinsale ) both go for the same pair of gloves .
after going through the perfunctory motions , jonathan gets to keep the gloves and the two of them go out for ice cream , followed by ice skating .
jonathan falls hard , and sara is charmed . when she writes her name and number down on a piece of paper , a truck rumbles by and blows it out of her hand .
she takes this as a sign from fate that they should n't be together ; jonathan is flabbergasted . to pacify him , she comes up with an idea : jonathan will write his number on a 5 dollar bill , which she will promptly spend .
when she gets home , she will write her name and number inside a book ( " love in the time of cholera " ) and sell it to a used bookstore .
if the bill gets back to her or the book to him , it will mean that they are meant to be together .
three years later .
both sara and jonathan are now engaged to other love interests .
both realize they are n't content .
both go looking for the other .
what happens now is so absurd that i 'm almost tempted to recommend the film for the sake of seeing it .
the two of them run circles around each other in a set of incredible " coincidences " that i would describe as contrivances if it were n't for the film
oh - so - cleverly dismissing that criticism by building its plot around " serendipity .
"
of course , since the movie is about fate , the screenwriter can do anything he damn well pleases .
i 'm not buying it .
there 's no suspense in any of this because we know exactly what 's going to happen , but serendipity insists on drilling its purportedly " adorable " non - story into our heads .
instead of " will they meet ?
"
the question we 're asking is " when will they meet already ? " to make matters worse , every " coincidence " is telegraphed from a mile away ; by the last reel
i was bored enough to actively look for signs that something else " incredible " was going to happen .
cusack is fine and beckinsale , at least , is n't saddled with another lumbering , clunky screenplay ( she 's had bad luck , what with brokedown palace and pearl harbor on her resume ) , just an inanely pointless one .
serendipity also relieves the tedium with the amazing eugene levy , who plays a snarky bloomingdale 's salesman .
what 's the interest in watching a movie that spirals around and around a predestined
( no pun intended ) conclusion ?
serendipity wants to tug at the heartstrings , but it only tests our patience .
[A]: N

[Q]: john sayles ' " men with guns " is about what happens to a society when brute force and constant threat of violence are the only means of gaining and maintaining power .
the film takes place in an unnamed central american country , where the men with guns are the rulers .
most of the country is divided into tiny segments - some are controlled by guerrillas with guns , some are controlled by army soldiers with guns , and all the spaces in - between are controlled by thieves , bandits , and terrorists .
all people not fitting one of those descriptions are defined only by their powerlessness .
however , like so many central american countries , this one also features modernity .
there is an unnamed capital city that bears all the hallmarks of contemporary civilization : skyscrapers , hospitals , televisions , highways , etc .
but , it might as well be in another country because those who live in the comforts of the city have either decided to ignore the violence ravaging the rest of the land , or else they are simply ignorant of it .
the film 's main character , dr .
fuentes ( federico luppi ) falls into the latter category .
one of his patients , an army general , describes him as the most educated man he has ever met , and also the most naive .
fuentes is a true liberal , a caring man who thinks he can cure the ills of his country by fighting bacteria and ignorance among the indigenous indians .
with government assistance , he has trained a large group of eager young medical students and sent them into the rainforest to cure and educate .
this program was to be his legacy , and he repeats over and over that it was a good idea .
however , when he ventures into that same rainforest to visit his prot ?
g
? s , he finds that things have not turned out as he has envisioned .
as he travels deeper into the forest , going from village to village , the story is always the same : the doctors were all killed by either the guerrillas or the army soldiers , usually for helping the other .
when dr .
fuentes asks a village woman why the army killed one of the doctors , she replies simply , " because they had guns , and we did n't . " rational science and all its attempts to cure have been wiped out by the men with guns , because others ' sickness and ignorance helps them maintain power .
dr .
fuentes picks up several companions during his journey , all of whom are characterized by their loss .
first , there is a young boy named conejo ( dan rivera gonz ?
lez ) , who has neither a mother nor a father .
next , fuentes crosses paths with a thief named domingo ( dami ? n delgado ) , who deserted the army because he was tired of being jeered into committing murderous atrocities .
through his ordeal in the army , domingo has lost most of his self - respect , and defines himself only by his pistol .
along the way , the group also picks up padre portillo ( dami ?
n
alc ?
zar ) , a priest who has lost his faith .
as domingo is running from the army , so is portillo - he has been labeled a guerrilla sympathizer , and ran away from the village in which he was preaching .
last , the group takes on a mute girl named graciela ( tania cruz ) , who has n't spoken since she was raped two years earlier , her innocence and even her will to live forcefully taken from her .
sayles two major strengths as a director - characters and setting - are abundantly evident in " men with guns .
"
( like many of his films , sayles might have tightened this one somewhat in the editing room , but a longer - than - necessary running time is a sin almost always committed when the director is also the editor . )
he creates fascinating , complex characters , especially dr .
fuentes and domingo .
their uneasy relationship is also somewhat humorous in context of the film 's overarching theme of violence as power - domingo 's attempts to control fuentes with his revolver are constantly undermined by fuentes ' belief that the revolver is unloaded ( at first it is , but later is is n't ) .
the setting is also as thick with detail as the rainforest itself .
sayles knows how to bring a location to life , whether it be an early twentieth - century coal mining town in " matewan " ( 1987 ) or a contemporary texas / mexico bordertown in " lone star " ( 1996 ) .
sayles is not a particularly inventive director - he likes to let his actors do most of the work - but he and cinematographer slavomir idziak ( " gattaca " ) successfully evoke both the beauty and the danger of the central american terrain .
sayles also maintains a strong sense of authenticity by filming everything on location in mexico , using all latin american actors , and having all the dialogue spoken in either spanish or native indian dialects .
the one exception is a couple of bumbling american tourists who work not only as comic relief , but as evidence of just how clueless the united states is about what is going on a few hundred miles south of the texas border .
it would not be a stretch to say that " men with guns " is a depressing film .
in fact , the two feelings it evokes most are hopelessness and failure .
in addition to loss , the main characters are also failures at something , whether that be dr .
fuentes failure to change anything through medicine , or padre portillo 's inability to stand up and be the martyr he always dreamed of being .
nevertheless , it is bleak material sayles has chosen , and he deals with it accordingly .
the last shot of the film does offer a hint of hope , even in a world where , as one character puts it , " nobody refuses the men with guns .
"
[A]: P

[Q]: synopsis :
cro - magnon ayla loses her mother to an earthquake and escapes certain death by a lion .
reluctantly rescued by a neanderthal clan who likes to have sex doggy - style , ayla grows up to become a blond , feminist supermodel who challenges the neanderthal patriarchy by throwing rocks and giving birth without a mate .
comments : allow me to state for the record that i find daryl hannah an appealing presence in movies .
she proved quite charming as the intelligent astronomer in the romantic comedy roxanne and equally creepy as pris in the sci - fi classic blade runner .
the clan of the cave bear clearly tries to capitalize on hannah as a selling point : the poster art bears a striking closeup of hannah in tribal paint and the video box prominently features her name in lettering the same size as the title .
not even her starring role in this turkey , unfortunately , can save it from being an unbelievable exercise in cheese .
it 's so uniquely bad ( a film dealing with prehistoric man that actually tries , and miserably fails , to be serious ) that it 's oddly fascinating .
the ridiculous attempt at drama here leaves the audience somehow transfixed , wanting to see how this dud plays out .
the clan of the cave bear is based upon a popular novel by jean m. auel .
to this day , the book possesses a loyal cult following .
i remember a dear friend of mine had a dog - eared copy of the novel she had read as a child with all the so - called dirty parts blacked out with marker by her grandmother .
i have never read this book , but i sure hope it 's 10 , 000 times better than its film adaptation .
if not , then i 'm at a complete loss to explain its popularity .
the clan of the cave bear immediately opens with a comically absurd scene .
a young ayla , looking much like drew barrymore in e. t. , tramps about in the woods .
with her cute little ponytails and fur wrapped about her , the audience 's expectations of a convincing portrayal of prehistory are immediately shattered .
what follows is a laughably choreographed sequence in which an earthquake swallows up ayla 's mother ( a blonde with fur pants .
..
er , leggings ) .
tearful ayla looks on as the cameraman shakes the camera .
..
well , as the earthquake slowly recedes .
a hungry lion becomes interested in her for lunch , but the screaming six - year - old manages to outrun the king of the wild and find a safe haven .
i wo n't detail the story any further ; this seems enough to illustrate my point .
this movie is really stupid .
it never even gives the audience a chance to suspend their disbelief .
also , the obvious comparison between the appearance of cro - magnon man in prehistory and the rise of feminism in our century is about as subtle as burning a wonderbra in front of charlton heston .
the movie does n't just suggest this message ; it whacks the message into the audience with a two - by - four .
a blond , gorgeous woman challenges the social laws of a bunch of people in gaudy brown wigs .
she 's of the " new people "
; they 're of the " old people " with " the memories .
"
yep .
we get it .
we get it .
the clan of the cave bear apparently received an academy award nomination for best make - up , which surprises me .
the movie depends upon a lot of make - up obviously , but much of it is unconvincing . as stated before , daryl hannah is daryl hannah here ; she looks like she just stepped out of the shower all the time .
the rest of the characters have dark make - up of some sort smeared over them to look like dirt .
the face - painting that 's occasionally seen is perhaps the only notable work here in my mind .
this movie also suffers from its new age trappings .
maybe the music sounded a lot more fresh or original during 1985 , but now it sounds dated and cliched , like poorly conceived elevator music .
add to this the film 's faux - mysticism , including spirit animals and dream visions , and a narrator who sounds like a psychic you 'd expect to hear on a 1 - 900 number , and you get a movie that has serious problems being serious .
the clan of the cave bear is rated r , though it 's probably one of the most inoffensive offensive films i 've seen in quite a while .
it contains several scenes of sex sans nudity .
the violence mostly consists of hunting scenes .
the funniest moment of the movie occurs when a neanderthal in love with ayla attempts to rescue her from a ferocious bear .
the bear bites his head off and the audience sees it rolling about .
although this may sound gratuitous , i 'm sure
, it 's so cheesy that it probably wo n't bother most people .
the clan of the cave bear is a bad movie .
however , as i wrote at the beginning of this review , it does have the distinction of originality .
typically when i think of bottom - of - the - barrel films dealing with early man , fantasy movies involving dinosaurs ( who did not exist at the same time as man ) and raquel welch come to mind .
the clan of the cave bear tries so hard to be serious that , though it 's so bad , the audience is still interested by the unique setting and characters of the movie ( which is why i awarded this turkey two stars ) .
i have to think that fans of the book would be disappointed with this film version
; however , i 'm only basing this observation on the fact that the book is almost invariably better than the movie .
i shudder to think that it could be otherwise . . .
[A]:
N