instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
no filmmaker deconstructs a story as well as atom egoyan .
i 'm referring , specifically , to the narrative form .
in the sweet hereafter , egoyan tells his story in a similar framework to his exotica or the adjuster .
said story , of a fatal school bus accident in the small town of sam dent , british columbia , that shatters the morale of the locals , is told in a most unstraightforward manner .
when the film opens , the accident has already happened , and stephens ( the wonderful holm ) , a polite ambulance - chaser , has arrived with the promise of a lawsuit that will eek out the truth of what really occurred that fateful morning .
throughout , we get to meet the parents of the dead , broken souls who follow stephens like " the pied piper " ( passages of which are read during the film ) .
but there is one living passenger , the paralyzed nicole ( polley ) , whose dark secrets of a life before the accident may affect her decision to testify .
we finally do see the accident , about three quarters into the film , which is a stunning visual effect .
a horrific long take that shows the bus sliding , then stopping , then collapsing into a frozen lake , is the best digital trickery in any movie this year
and , perhaps , ever , in a motion picture .
the fractured narrative also intercuts a preoccupied stephens on an airplane , traveling to meet his hiv - positive runaway daughter , as well as glimpses of the artificially happy lives these people led pre - accident .
i have a problem not with the story or story structure , but with egoyan 's heavy- handedness behind the camera .
for the first hour or so , i can quite honestly say i was on the verge of tears ; these are miserable , miserable people .
but that 's just the problem : so anguished are these folk that sympathy wanes after a while , when a lot of sadness becomes too much .
also , a subplot involving incest rings untrue .
perhaps it would n't feel so contrived if it were n't shot in such a tasteful manner .
there are two characters who are father and daughter ; when they first appeared i thought they were lovers .
i was half - right .
nevertheless it 's worth - seeing .
the delightful critic geoff pevere recently wrote that " american films are about action , canadian films are about consequences , " hence a recent wave of films about the effects of shock and death from toronto directors , including crash and kissed .
the sweet hereafter is much better
than either of these two films , simply because it 's not boring
or , in the case of kissed , afraid of its own material ( necrophilia ) .
egoyan is a fine , fine , postmodern storyteller , whose work is entertaining , edgy and smart , if a bit too intellectual at times .
though i harped on the weightiness of the material ,
i was always absorbed , engrossed , and surprised by the sweet hereafter .
answer:
P

question:
notting hill 's trailer is awful : a laughless , schmaltzy montage .
the movie was desperately marketed to the anti - phantom menace crowd , the same lovelorn females who ignored the love letter .
and it apparently worked .
perhaps the presence of julia roberts - whose allure beyond those perfect teeth still escapes me - had a lot to do with notting hill 's opening weekend success , but the film 's staying power is based on word of mouth . allow me to spread some more good buzz for notting hill .
grant stars as william thacker , a travel - bookstore owner who works and resides in a tiny english district called notting hill .
into his shop one day wanders famous actress anna scott ( roberts ) .
a common thief , some spilled orange juice , and
some stilted conversation leads to their first , highly impetuous ( or is that improbable ? ) , kiss .
days later , william sneaks into her hotel suite under the guise of a magazine journalist , and so begins a passionate , albeit surreptitious , affair .
( aside : notting hill 's portrayal of press junkets is deadly accurate . )
only anna 's celebrity - or william 's lack thereof - threatens to drive a wedge between them .
richard curtis has tapped into fantasy we all have considered , and for at least its first half - hour the picture 's " beauty and the beast " -like scenario is ( romantic ) escapism of the highest order .
as with groundhog day or pleasantville , while watching the high - concept comedy notting hill one constantly imagines him / herself in the lead ; it 's william 's ordinaryness that entices the spoiled and bored anna .
curtis ( who previously penned four weddings and a funeral ) is also smart enough to know that the unlikely couple 's situation is not enough to fuel two hours ' worth of entertainment , so
some of notting hill 's finest moments revolve around william 's eccentric friends and family .
by now , dear reader , you 've probably heard a lot about rhys ifans ' performance as william 's imbecilic welsh flatmate .
yes , he 's a crowd pleaser , a walking sight gag , but his character is not nearly as involving as the wheelchair - bound ( and appropriately named ) bella ( mckee , the anguished waitress of naked ) or max ( tom mcinnerny ) , her lousy chef of a husband .
in the movie 's best sequence , william , anna , and company sit around bloated from max 's latest concoction and hold a contest : the last brownie on the table goes to the diner with the saddest life .
the scene ends only as a british writer would end it .
if anything , fantastic bits like these dull the main plot 's dramatic impact .
roberts and grant , especially , are appealing , but their relationship is convolutedly interrupted too many times ( four weddings ' suffered similar flaws ) , and william and anna ultimately only have one thing in common
: they 're lonely .
( worth noting in roberts ' and grant 's favour : the ubiquitous " i 'm just a girl , standing across from a boy , asking him to love her " episode is not nearly so syrupy as it appears in clips , and it features some of the best emoting either actor has ever done . )
notting hill is nonetheless enjoyable
; on the visual side of things , i especially appreciated michell 's playful changing - of - the - seasons number . if only ( and this is a surprisinly minor gripe ) he had lopped off the egregious epilogue ; for a story that thrives on what we bring to it , the filmmakers work too hard to tidy things up , leaving our imaginations in the lurch .
answer:
P

question:
expand the final fifteen minutes of home alone into a feature - length film and you 've got baby 's day out -- an agreeably amusing children 's comedy about a bumbling band of kid kidnappers who are unwittingly outwitted by an innocent infant .
the plot tracks a trio of crooks - posed - as - photographers ( mantegna , pantoliano , haley ) who steal nine - month - old bennington august cottwell iv , aka baby bink , from his old - money home .
but the plan goes awry when baby crawls out an open window and into the streets of downtown chicago !
following the path of his favorite story , called " baby 's day out , " baby rides a bus and visits the zoo and winds up at a skyscraper construction site .
while baby stays unscathed , the crooks fare worse for the wear .
the stooges get hit by boards and dropped from roofs and , of course , suffer multiple crotch injuries .
( john wayne bobbitt should probably steer clear of this one . )
like he did in planes , trains , and automobiles
, john hughes again demonstrates his mastery of the simple set - up and extended execution .
here , he 's aided and abetted by a director , patrick read johnson , whose choreography could rival
a coen brother .
best bit : baby crawling across a busy city street .
baby 's day out has only two emotions -- awww and ouch -- and the actors play them accordingly .
forget the cartoon concern of lara flynn boyle or cynthia nixon , disposable as mom and nanny , respectively , the ones to watch are the ones who are wincing .
joe mantegna is a great head stooge , barking lines like " that little doo - doo machine is my retirement money .
"
brian haley has a great scene with a gorilla , while joe pantolianto plays curly to mantegna 's moe .
*
he * is funny .
needless to say , twins adam and jacob warton
are adorable beyond belief .
answer:
P