In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
One example: plot : two teen couples go to a church party , drink and then drive .
they get into an accident .
one of the guys dies , but his girlfriend continues to see him in her life , and has nightmares .
what 's the deal ?
watch the movie and " sorta " find out . . .
critique : a mind - fuck movie for the teen generation that touches on a very cool idea , but presents it in a very bad package .
which is what makes this review an even harder one to write , since i generally applaud films which attempt to break the mold , mess with your head and such ( lost highway & memento ) , but there are good and bad ways of making all types of films , and these folks just did n't snag this one correctly
.
they seem to have taken this pretty neat concept , but executed it terribly .
so what are the problems with the movie ?
well , its main problem is that it 's simply too jumbled
.
it starts off " normal " but then downshifts into this " fantasy " world in which you , as an audience member ,
have no idea what 's going on
.
there are dreams , there are characters coming back from the dead , there are others who look like the dead , there are strange apparitions , there are disappearances , there are a looooot of chase scenes , there are tons of weird things that happen , and most of it is simply not explained .
now i personally do n't mind trying to unravel a film every now and then , but when all it does is give me the same clue over and over again , i get kind of fed up after a while , which is this film 's biggest problem .
it 's obviously got this big secret to hide , but it seems to want to hide it completely until its final five minutes .
and do they make things entertaining , thrilling or even engaging , in the meantime ?
not really .
the sad part is that the arrow and i both dig on flicks like this , so we actually figured most of it out by the half - way point , so all of the strangeness after that did start to make a little bit of sense , but it still did n't the make the film all that more entertaining .
i guess the bottom line with movies like this is that you should always make sure that the audience is " into it " even before they are given the secret password to enter your world of understanding .
i mean , showing melissa sagemiller running away from visions for about 20 minutes throughout the movie is just plain lazy ! !
okay , we get it .
. .
there are people chasing her and we do n't know who they are .
do we really need to see it over and over again ?
how about giving us different scenes offering further insight into all of the strangeness going down in the movie ?
apparently , the studio took this film away from its director and chopped it up themselves , and it shows .
there might 've been a pretty decent teen mind - fuck movie in here somewhere , but i guess " the suits " decided that turning it into a music video with little edge , would make more sense .
the actors are pretty good for the most part , although wes bentley just seemed to be playing the exact same character that he did in american beauty , only in a new neighborhood .
but my biggest kudos go out to sagemiller , who holds her own throughout the entire film , and actually has you feeling her character 's unraveling .
overall , the film does n't stick
because it does n't entertain , it 's confusing , it rarely excites and
it feels pretty redundant for most of its runtime , despite a pretty cool ending and explanation to all of the craziness that came before it .
oh ,
and by the way , this is not a horror or teen slasher flick . . .
it 's just packaged to look that way because someone is apparently assuming that the genre is still hot with the kids .
it also wrapped production two years ago and has been sitting on the shelves ever since .
whatever . .
. skip it !
where 's joblo coming from ?
a nightmare of elm street 3 ( 7/10 ) - blair witch 2 ( 7/10 ) - the crow ( 9/10 ) - the crow : salvation ( 4/10 )
- lost highway ( 10/10 ) - memento ( 10/10 ) - the others ( 9/10 ) - stir of echoes ( 8/10 )
Solution is here: N
Explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Now, solve this: every once in a while , when an exceptional family film comes along , i will attempt to champion it by challenging parents to put their money where their mouths have been ; with all the hubbub over the lack of films suitable for children , it is remarkable how many non - disney films disappear in a couple of weeks .
now i see that in so doing , i have unfairly ghettoized these films .
so i am issuing my challenge not just to parents , but to anyone who wants to support smart , funny , energetic film - making : see matilda .
see it in a theater , rather than shrugging and waiting for it on video .
see
the best film i have seen in 1996 .
not the best children 's film .
. .
the best film . period .
based on a story by roald dahl , it tells of young matilda wormwood ( mara wilson ) , an extraordinarily bright girl whose great misfortune it is to have a pair of deeply stupid parents : harry ( danny devito ) , a crooked used car salesman ; and zinnia ( rhea perlman ) , a simple - minded bingo addict .
the wormwoods barely notice matilda exists , and when they do , it is only to scold her for spending too much time reading books .
when they finally do send her to school , it is to crunchem hall , a bleak place run by cruel , child - hating miss agatha trunchbull ( pam ferris ) .
but things begin to look up for matilda when she discovers a sympathetic teacher , miss honey ( embeth davidtz ) , who nurtures her natural inquisitiveness .
matilda also discovers another special talent -- the ability to move things with her mind -- which allows her to help herself and miss honey to overcome miss trunchbull 's cruelty .
it was this spring 's james and the giant peach which inspired me to note that the best and most lasting tales for children tended to have more than a hint of darkness to them , and you can bet that the roald dahl responsible for the gleeful ghoulishness of james and willy wonka and the chocolate factory has more of the same in store with matilda .
and just as james benefited from the dark sensibilities of henry selick and tim burton , matilda soars on the cock - eyed direction of danny devito .
devito made black humor a key element in throw momma from the train and the war of the roses , and he contributes some memorable images .
in one scene , an unfortunate girl is made an example of by miss trunchbull when she is picked up by her pig - tails and flung through the air like a throwing hammer ; later , an overweight boy is forced to eat an entire massive cake after he is caught stealing a dessert .
matilda is just twisted enough to be a perfect fairy tale .
it is also characteristic of the best children 's tales that they manage to teach lessons in such a way that children almost do n't realize that they are learning them .
there is a hilarious moment when matilda 's television - addicted father snatches away the book she is reading ( in a wicked joke , he thinks _
moby dick _ is pornographic ) and forces her to watch an inane game show ( hosted by jon lovitz ) in which contestants are smeared with adhesive and placed in a booth filled with cash blowing around .
matilda is a story which promotes the value of intellectual curiosity over passive entertainment , and it does so while poking holes in that most frustrating of notions for a child -- that because " i 'm big and you 're little
, i 'm right and you 're wrong .
"
more specifically , it has as
its heroine an intelligent , self - confident girl who struggles successfully against other people 's notions of how she should behave .
it is no coincidence that matilda was co - written by robin swicord , who contributed the superb recent adaptation of little women .
finally , matilda has that quality i find rarest and most treasured in family entertainment : it is family entertainment in the truest sense of the word .
devito knows enough to make matilda fast - paced and appealing to children , taking a deliciously nasty performance by pam ferris as miss trunchbull and making it the focal point of some priceless physical comedy , including a great chase through her dark house .
the child actors are winning but never obnoxiously adorable , with mara wilson making matilda a clever and extremely likeable character .
but there are also many , many delights for adults , including my favorite scene in which matilda uses her powers to frighten miss trunchbull by having chalk write on a chalkboard by itself while matilda 's classmates recite in sing - song fashion ; there is also a deadpan cameo by paul reubens as an fbi agent staking out matilda 's father .
i ca n't imagine anyone of any age leaving matilda feeling as though his or her intelligence had been insulted .
matilda is a film which left me glowing with good feeling .
i will see it again , and years from now i will watch it with my children .
and now i will stop , because somewhere near you matilda is about to begin , and there is a seat in that theater you should be in , if you have a child or ever were a child .
Solution:
P