In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
One example is below.
Q: 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 )
A: N
Rationale: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").
Q: there are some works of art that are almost impossible to review , not because of their own complexity , but because of their legendary status which prevents the reviewer to say anything original .
one of such masterpieces is casablanca , probably not the best film in the history of the seventh art , but definitely the most popular one .
its popularity can be measured not in a multitude of more or less disguised remakes that were made in more than half a century since its premiere , but also in countless tributes and references that movie makers use in their works to this day .
casablanca is also a movie that has the very rare virtue of both being praised by the critics and loved by general audience .
one of the things that makes this film even more unique was the fact that it was doomed to fail , at least judging by conventional movie - making wisdom of its time .
it was based on a broadway play so mediocre that it had n't been produced on stage ; screenplay by three writers - julius g. epstein , philip j. epstein and howard koch - was beeing written as shooting went along ; the main actors were producers ' second choice , and , finally , man behind camera , michael curtiz was considered to be capable , but not great director .
however , the movie was commercially successful and earned three " oscars " , including the one for the best film .
until this very day , it is considered to be the best example of hollywood film- making in its own golden age .
the plot of the movie was heavily influenced by the needs of ww2 propaganda , yet it also used rather complicated and now almost forgotten political circumstances of that global conflict in order to make intriguing story . in december 1941 , casablanca , exotic port on the atlantic coast of north africa is controlled by officially neutral , yet nazi - collaborating french vichy government .
thousands of refugees from war - torn europe are stuck there on the way to lisbon and safety of america , and ready to pay any price for precious exit visas .
many shady characters thrive on their misery , including the corrupt police chief , captain renault ( rains ) .
his best friend is rick blaine ( bogart ) , who used to be idealistic anti - fascist , and now owns popular night club in casablanca and lives by his own cynical philosophy of " sticking his neck for nobody " .
however
, everything changes when he gets in possession of two precious extra visas .
this event coincides with the arrival of two new refugees to casablanca .
one of them is victor laszlo ( henreid ) , czech resistance leader who escaped three times from nazi concentration camps and became the legend of enslaved europe .
he is accompanied by his beautiful wife ilsa lund ( bergman ) , with whom rick had a stormy affair in the eve of nazi occupation of paris .
the couple needs visas , especially because of the gestapo major strasser ( veidt ) being on their trail .
rick is now forced to choose between love , wounded pride , self - preserving interest and his own hatred of fascism .
the casting for this movie seems influenced by divine inspiration - humphrey bogart , most legendary actor in the history of cinema , is one of the rare character actors who elevated his persona to the star status .
bogart 's portrayal of rick as complicated man , torn between idealistic past and bitter present , was so perfect , that his icon would forever be connected with that character .
another icon in his company is ingrid bergman , great actress of old hollywood , here in her artistic and visual prime .
the cinematic coupling of bogart and bergman became one of the main symbols of that era of filmmaking - some happier times when the romance on the screen did n't look childish nor trite like in some more contemporary works .
for many people , casablanca is probably the best romantic film ever made .
but the reason for that is n't the romance itself - it 's the realistic story of people forced to make tough , and often wrong choices in their life .
the casting of casablanca was right on target not just in a case of main leads .
the supporting actors also did a marvellous job .
sidney longstreet and peter lorre were here mainly to give a mystic flavour spotted in a previous bogart classic - john huston 's maltese falcon ; yet both of them managed to portray colourful and original characters .
another shining example of good casting is now almost forgotten paul henreid as the weakest part of love triangle ; character of victor laszlo has believable charisma and looks like a somebody who could inspire millions of people to rise against nazi tiranny .
unfortunately , the charisma that burdened laszlo , leaves little place for difficult choice , making his character forever overshadowed by rick / ilsa coupling .
however , rick and ilsa actually have a serious competiton for most memorable character in casablanca .
captain renault , brilliantly portrayed by claude rains in a role of a lifetime , was embodiment of perfect , almost unmatched balance between ethical corruption and physical charm .
despite being the undoubtful villain in almost entire movie , rains managed to make renault sympathetic character , and his final conversion to the side of good , symbolized in not so subtle gesture at the end of movie looked unnecessary .
rains also gave another dimension to the movie , making it even more ambiguous ; people who like to analyse movies to death discovered signs of homosexuality in renault 's relationship towards rick , and rick 's final words leave room for even more outrageous speculations . together with well - drawn characters and exciting story , the movie was good in creating his own atmosphere .
professional nitpickers would probably have a field day in discovering numerous historical and geographical inaccuracies , but casablanca is still a shining example of hollywood ww2 movie that is beliavable , if not realistic .
any way , even if we do n't see it as a historical document , casablanca is movie that can be source of entertainment as well as infinite inspiration .
A:
P