Detailed Instructions: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
See one example below:
Problem: 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: N
Explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Problem: one would think that david duchovny , star of the cult favorite " x - files " would be very careful in choosing his leading man cinema roles .
at least one would hope so .
one would be seriously incorrect .
eugene sands ( duchovny ) is a surgeon so dedicated to his craft that he becomes addicted to amphetamines to stay awake and work more .
it turns out to be a bad plan when he loses a patient and his license while under the influence .
ten months later , in a seedy bar to score synthetic heroin , the doctor gets a chance to ply his trade when assassins gun down a customer . using a plastic water bottle and bar tubing , sands operates and saves his life .
smalltime hoodlum raymond blossom ( timothy hutton ) is impressed with the cutlery skills on his associate .
he kidnaps and then offers down - and - out eugene a position in his organization .
blossom needs a doctor to patch up gunshot victims that would be problematic at a hospital .
sand 's temptation is that this will give him a chance to practice medicine again albeit illegally , big chunks of cash to fuel his habit and close proximity to the gangster 's womanfriend claire ( angelina jolie ) , this film 's babe factor .
the would - be big time operator is desperately in need of help .
on the run from russian mobsters ( the bad guys that seem to be all the rage in this year 's films ) and trying to cut a pirate software deal with the chinese mafia , blossom is surrounded by blood .
after a few medical misadventures , the physician grows disenchanted with his employment .
an encounter with a couple of psycho surfer dudes who threaten to blow him away unless he " fixes " their dead buddy cements his feeling that he is in the wrong line of work .
when the fbi visits and forces him to become an informant , there is no question that he needs to be somewhere else .
oddly enough , these seem like they could be exciting scenes .
the film disproves that assumption .
then a bunch of other uninteresting things happen .
writing this only two days after seeing the film , its a struggle to remember the events .
you can take that as a solid lack of recommendation .
for all the coolness that duchovny exhibits in " x - files " , it 's a surprise that his big screen presence is
so lacking in charisma .
the doctor is particularly bland and dull .
even the cold turkey bit which is rife with dramatic possibilities come across as banal .
a little chocolate and minor sweats get him through heroin withdrawal .
like virtually everything else in the film , it 's a missed opportunity .
the fox mulder detachment does n't work here .
oscar - winner hutton 's manic mobster is much more difficult to get a handle on .
played partially for comedy and partially as crazed killer , blossom almost becomes real , but then sinks into goofiness .
most of the time hutton looks as if he 's searching for his character and coming up empty .
jolie also makes a few false moves towards creating a three - dimensional human being before giving up and turning into scenery .
the most interesting aspect of her performance is watching her pouty lips threaten to take over the screen .
the rest are n't any better .
michael massee 's eccentric fbi agent never revs up .
one of blossom 's henchmen steals a few moments of the show as a quirky gunman reminiscent of val kilmer 's doc holliday in " tombstone " .
his two - gunned blasting as he does a bizarre dance is the high point of the film .
but that 15 seconds is n't worth sitting through the other 90 minutes .
first time film director andy wilson ( known for his work on the british television series " cracker " ) appears to be attempting to jump on the " pulp fiction " bandwagon .
the best of these movies combine a sense of style and flash with significant substance .
the second - rate ones concentrate on just one of these aspects .
" playing god " does neither well .
the basic idea of the film is solid .
and then it goes nowhere .
even worse , it plods back and forth , up and down a long and winding road before
it ends up nowhere .
fox fails yet again in his search for intelligent life .
Solution:
N