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

[Q]: breakdown is an moderately entertaining , if underwhelming , thriller .
kurt russell and kathleen quinlan play couple jeff and amy taylor , taking the scenic route to california through redneck country .
however , while in the middle of nowhere , their jeep decides to break down , leaving them stranded .
a friendly truck driver , warren ( walsh ) , offers to give them a lift to town .
although jeff rejects the offer ( he wants to stay with his car ) , amy agrees , hops into warren 's lorry , and promptly disappears .
jeff wonders where the hell she is , and when he later catches up with warren and warren says he has never seen amy in his life , the plot thickens and jeff goes on a chase to find his wife .
although comparisons can be made with this film to deliverance ( 1972 ) and the vanishing ( 1993 ) plot wise , the latter two are far superior character and script wise .
kurt russell is o .
k as jeff , although he can seemingly only pull of one expression , which is angry .
throughout the whole film , he looks angry ( or just pissed off . )
quinlan is o .
k again , but again
she can only pull off one expression , which is looking dorky .
throughout the whole film , she looks dorky .
j .
t walsh ( who , sadly , recently passed away ) is fine as warren ( who we soon find out is a kidnapper )
although his actual character is pretty weak , and not really menacing enough .
the supporting cast do their best aswell , with rex linn as a doubting sheriff , and the other kidnappers .
the story , written by first - timer jonathan mostow ( who also directs ) is o .
k ,
if surprisingly familiar and sometimes extraordinarily stupid .
some of the things the characters do in this movie is beyond the bounds of idiocy .
there are some flaws with the plot also , as the characters do the complete opposite to logical ( presumably to keep the story ' exciting ' ) and also the fact that the story just is n't strong enough to sustain the audience 's attention .
the picture moves along very slowly also .
it almost threatens to drop dead .
the picture does pick up towards the end , but by then it 's too late .
mostow directs the action sequences well enough , however .
the film does n't really come to a satisfying conclusion , either .
the ending tries to be bleak , but just comes off annoying
.
breakdown could of been a far more enjoyable picture
had it had a stronger cast and director .
instead , it just turns out to be merely average .
a missed opportunity .
overall rating= review by david wilcock
[A]: N

[Q]: the most interesting part of
"
ca n't hardly wait " just happens to be not only the most human , but
for many of us , the one part that many of us can easily relate to .
that is the character of denise ( lauren ambrose ) , the film 's sole sarcastic member who mocks everything that goes on in the film , and at one point sits down on a couch and looks totally bored .
the film wisely holds over this moment , nicely showing her alienation in the midst of a large high school party .
.. almost too nicely .
for some members of the audience ( read : me ) , this is basically a mirror of what 's going on with them watching this film .
we sit there wondering why we 've even bothered to see a film about a long high school party we probably never felt the desire to go to in the first place .
i would actually highly recommend this film if it satirized all of this .
after all , this film is filled with a bunch of pathetic stereotypes much of which i went to high school with .
everyone 's here :
the jock , the homecoming queen , the nerd ( and his dominions of trekkies and x - philes ) , the alienated wannabe writer , the school spirit girl , the pothead ( s ) , the wigger , etc , etc , etc , and weirdly enough this film shows them as superficial , lame , and basically as a bunch of losers . except for denise , who rolls her eyes at everything , and easily becomes the most likable character even before she speaks ( her yearbook entry , something which is done for each main character , quotes oscar wilde - definite pointers there ) .
unfortunately , the writers and directors take several major misteps on the way to making this into an admirable and even likable film .
the film , as i said , portrays most of its characters as superficial and just totally ignorant to everything .
however , instead of sticking with this , perhaps even going a bit further with it , they let this lie , and actually make these characters into our heroes .
we follow several of them , all a bunch of moronic stereotypes with only a shread of humanity and realism , and tries to tell boring and overly melodramatic tales about them as if we actually cared and/or identified with them .
and if we did , we certainly do n't want to revisit that state of being .
here 's a quick low - down : it 's graduation , and we follow a bunch of seniors on the last night , otherwise known as the " american grafitti " or , to a lesser extent , the " dazed and confused " cliche .
the formal just followed them as they drove aimlessly ; the latter did a little bit of that and featured a big outdoor keg party .
"
ca n't hardly wait " just opts for a big indoor keg party , and a little bit of aimless driving , albeit of the i'm - whining - because - i - can't - get - a - girl - i - want brand .
we follow many people around , but mostly we trail preston ( ethan embry , of " that thing you do ! " ) , the alienated writer , who 's been pining over the homcoming queen , amanda ( the totally overrated jennifer love hewitt ) , for the entirety of high school because he thinks they shared a moment their freshman year over a freaking pop tart .
now that she 's broken up with her football player boyfriend , mike ( peter facinelli ) , he decides to go to the party with a note he 's written declaring his " love " for her in the hopes he 'll build up the guts to give it to her .
.. even though he 's leaving for a multi - week intensive writing program hosted by none other than kurt vonnegut
( okay :
the ingenius vonnegut or some icky noxema spokesperson ? ) .
since that plot is incredibly lame and a track record of what goes on with it would n't be able to carry a commercial let alone a feature film , and because it 's a party , there are some more main characters , such as : william ( charlie korsmo , finally surfacing after " dick tracy " ) , the nerd ( and his dominions ) who has come up with a ridiculous plan to publically sabotage mike , who 's humiliated him for years , but gets too caught up in drinking to do it ; kenny ( seth green ) , the wigger , who has decided that this party will be where he will finally get laid ( uh huh ) ; and denise , the only exceptional character , who unfortunately gets stuck in a bathroom ( do n't ask ) with kenny where the two characters let down their characters and are allowed to follow the laws of plot cliches from point a to point b with nary a bit of characterization involved after awhile . ugh .
the main comparison this film is getting to another film is actually not " american grafitti " or " dazed and confused , " two films that embraced and ultimately made humans out of many of its high schoolers ( not to mention were extremely entertaining ) , but to john hughes films of the 80s , most notably " sixteen candles .
"
the big difference in the two is that that film managed to not only embrace but even satirize its main characters , and did so equally and in an entertaining fashion .
this film forgets to satirize its characters , and ultimately tells a story about a bunch of uninteresting stereotypes .
..
and then says that it 's all okay .
we ca n't take this film seriously , nor can we take this as fun , so really what good is it ?
but i will tell you some things i did
like
: i liked the direction , except for a couple too - over - the - top features , like way - too - glossy jump cuts
( it 's like an oxymoron ) and other obscurities .
generally , though , elfont and kaplan do have graceful camera movement , and even manage to capture
an altman - esque feel to their film from time to time ( a thing with a note , though , is too hokey to really be admirable ) .
i actually did like seth green , for once in about a decade ( when he played a very young woody allen in " radio days " ) - his desintegration of his wigger character was almost believable .
.. almost .
and , of course , lauren ambrose is wonderful as denise , the one character we could have used some more of , even though it would have changed the entirety of the film .
however , the character of denise really does n't work with the film , when really thought about .
she 's far too witty and realized ( at least for the first half ) to belong in this film , and whenever she appears , she automatically gives everything a delightfully satirical tone .
she 's not just the cynic or the intellectual ; she 's just a very interesting character who provides entertainment even if it further damages other already damaged characters .
she may ruin the film more , but at least when she 's on screen we can sit up and think to ourselves " well , at least we 'll be entertained .
"
a couple other things that just do n't work : mike 's character , who suffers an epiphany throughout the film but in the end acts as though he has forgotten everything : too much the sacrificial lamb for the film in general ;
the aimless , bitchy driving by preston to try and get over his inability to shack up with amanda - give me a break ; and
perhaps the one thing that just does n't work at all : jenna eflman 's uncredited cameo as an angel - just did n't work , but nice try .
basically the worst thing about this film , the real reason i 'm giving this such a low rating , is because it refuses to give us any fully realized characters and then insists we follow around complete stereotypes from other movies doing things that are inane and unlike anything we 'd do .
we do n't feel for these characters because for most of us , we are n't stereotypes going through the motions to worn subplots .
the acid test for high school movies is : does it at all capture the feel of what it 's portraying ?
the answer for this film is no .
nice try , though .
[A]: N

[Q]: " when will the devil take me ?
" he asks rhetorically in lulling voice over .
the spoiled title character of _ onegin _ ( pronounced oh - negg - in ) is waiting on death to relieve him after a lifetime of rapacious behaviour .
martha fiennes ' debut feature is ( quite literally ) filmed poetry
( it 's based on an epic russian poem by alexander pushkin ) , a profound study of regret , of how we confuse shame with guilt .
when we first meet eugene onegin ( ralph , acting for his sister ; another brother , magnus , composed the score ) , a philandering aristocrat from st .
petersburg , he has just inherited his uncle 's estate . with plans to sell it , onegin pays a summer visit to the manor , which is located in an underpopulated russian countryside , and not long into the trip he meets a neighbouring family of blue bloods .
smitten with olga larina ( headey ) , he befriends olga 's fianc ? , vladimir lensky ( stephens ) , while olga 's sister , tatyana ( tyler ) , romanticizing his flippant attitude ( he 's a nineteenth bad boy ) , falls for onegin .
in one sweaty , inky torrent of passion , tatyana writes him a love letter .
he is at least intrigued by the note but rejects her affections , it is implied , because he can .
soon after , tragedy strikes , and onegin makes himself scarce .
when we catch up with him , six years later , he has just returned to st .
petersburg , where at a grand ball he discovers that an old friend ( donovan ) has married a more womanly and wordly tatyana .
this time , onegin finds her irresistable .
what is most amazing about ralph fiennes ' performance is his subtle physical transformation from dashing snob to miserly grouch .
overwhelmed by a top hat , the onegin who pines for tatyana seems smaller in stature than the one who brushed her off , an ebeneezer scrooge trapped in christmas past .
the actor has been constricted playing heroes for too long now - there 's room to breathe in a role that 's made up of shades of gray like " onegin " .
petula clark sang of a universal phenomenon in " parking lot
" : " you do n't know what you 've got ?
til it 's gone .
" onegin 's about - face on tatyana speaks for those of us
( read : most of us ) who need confirmation that someone or something is wanted by others before we want it as well .
what the character feels is not jealousy but remorse , embarrassment , even , at having let her go .
out of identification we feel empathy for onegin , a callous bastard .
tatyana 's emotions echo a thousand ditties , but that makes them no less vital .
she changes , too , from a girl in crush to a woman with divided loyalties .
tyler acquits herself surprisingly well among her uk co - stars , filling in sketchy gaps by expressing base sentiments in a series of wanton stares .
they both have faces , mr .
fiennes and ms .
tyler , capable of conveying archetypal russian misery .
_ onegin _ could have added up to little more than a distinguished episode of " masterpiece theater " , even with its current cast of thoroughbreds intact , were martha fiennes not at the helm .
an mtv background ( she cut her teeth directing rock videos for xtc and others ) has positively influenced her sense of pace ( though , thankfully , not her shot lengths - no spasmodic cutting here ) ; at just over 100 minutes , _ onegin _ clicks along like a brisk walk through valleys of despair .
the film has an atypical period look , as well .
absent are the sumptuous tableware and antique furnishings that stand in for plot and character in those drippy merchant ivory productions .
the sets are almost expressionistically bare , echoing the loneliness of the protagonists .
( cinematographer remi adafarasin often allows space to engulf them ; i 'm reminded the climax , which unfolds in a sea of white . )
martha fiennes
has a clear command of cinema , and her spare , often painfully human visual presentation of " yevgeny onegin " is arguably the most lucid translation of pushkin 's difficult text yet .
ms .
fiennes may be the most exciting female presence behind a camera since jane campion .
[A]:
P