instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
robert benton has assembled a stellar , mature cast for his latest feature , twilight , a film noir mystery set amid the fading stars of hollywood .
paul newman stars as retired detective harry ross .
harry has spent the last couple of years doing odd jobs for jack and catherine ames ( gene hackman and susan sarandon ) , a pair of married actors who have fallen from the limelight .
when jack sends him on a routine delivery job , however , the old instincts kick in .
soon , harry is wading through a mystery where friendships and lives are on the line , and he no longer knows who to trust .
there are plenty of familiar faces throughout twilight , in addition to newman , hackman and sarandon .
james garner plays raymond hope , a former cop and one of harry 's best friends .
stockard channing plays verna , harry 's former partner , and possibly a former love interest .
reese witherspoon is mel , the distrustful daughter of the ames ' , and liev schrieber is her scuzzy boyfriend .
giancarlo esposito appears as harry 's bumbling detective protigi , and john spencer is a suspicious police captain .
with a cast like that , it 's almost worth watching twilight just to stargaze .
luckily , there 's more to the film than some sort of actor 's recognition ceremony .
twilight has a solid film noir - ish plot .
it may not have as many twists and turns as some of the classics , but it has much more than a lot of what passes for film these days .
the major cast members all deliver strong performances , as can be expected of their caliber .
however , none of them have that little extra oomph which would make them memorable .
the supporting cast is enjoyable , if a little underdrawn .
stockard channing 's character , in particular , is a cipher .
there 's more to her character than the film takes the time to describe .
it 's a minor , but irritating , flaw .
with a solid cast , and a good plot
, there 's a lot to recommend about twilight .
it 's biggest flaw is actually its short running time .
at a slim 94 minutes , there 's a lot of stuff that 's packed into an awfully small package .
still , the chance to see newman , sarandon and hackman working together is worth a cramp or two .
answer:
P

question:
at first glance , it appears that the home alone movies are brainless slapstick intended for those with minds of 8-year olds .
that 's true of home alone
2
and i 'd bet money that it 's true of home alone
3 ( opening soon ) .
but home alone
actually has a lot going for it , and the cartoon slapstick does n't get in the way .
the mcalisters , all 15 of them , are going to france for the holidays .
four adults and eleven kids are spending the night together before heading to the airport en masse .
the littlest kid , kevin , is the victim of the older kids ' cruelty .
kevin 's patience runs out when he learns that his plain - cheese pizza has already been eaten , and he 's going to have to starve .
he attacks his big bully brother buzz , who had been teasing him .
the fight disrupts the already - chaotic dinner , spilling milk and soft drinks all over the table , a few cousins , and an uncle .
the knee - jerk reaction is for everyone to blame kevin .
nobody came to his rescue when he was being teased , but they all point their fingers when he fights back .
the ultimate punishment comes from mom ( catherine o'hara ) who sends him up to the spare bedroom in the attic for the night .
on his way up the stairs , he tells her that " families suck " and that he hopes never to see any of his family again .
that night the power goes out , knocking out the alarm clocks , so the mcalisters wake up in a big hurry to get to the airport .
in a surprisingly plausible setup , kevin is mistakenly accounted for , and the family heads off without him .
it 's interesting that , in a subtle way , his parents never noticed him missing because of their deliberate desire to separate themselves from their children .
first they delegate the headcount to an older sibling , and second , they put all the kids in coach while they fly first class .
they 're two - thirds of the way across the atlantic before they realize they are missing a child .
meanwhile , kevin believes that somehow his wish has come true .
he 's finally rid of his family !
life is a dream come true .
he can jump on the beds , watch r - rated movies , eat gobs of ice cream and potato chips , and dig through his big brother 's secret box .
slowly , the novelty wears off and he settles into the mundane .
he grooms himself , he does the laundry , he goes shopping ( " i bought some milk , eggs , and fabric softener " ) .
he also starts to miss his family , not just for their company , but for the security they bring .
the furnace in the basement is a scary monster , the old man next door is a snow - shovel murderer , and two crooks are trying to break into his house .
macaulay culkin is cute but he is n't much of an actor .
still , we can see that kevin 's character grows , thanks to some good direction and editing
.
for example , acting has little to do with the emotional impact of the scene where kevin searches out a seasonal santa at night , just as " santa " is getting in his car .
kevin asks the man to pass on his request - he wants his family back - to the real santa .
he learned how to deal with the furnace .
you turn on the lights and it 's not so scary anymore .
he goes to a church one evening
and there he sees the snow - shovel murderer , who actually turns out to be a nice man .
they talk about their fears and kevin learns that age alone does not make you less afraid .
finally , in the last 20 minutes , kevin confronts his last fear - the bandits , head on ( literally ) .
this last act is full of violent comedic slapstick , and after the movie 's genuine dramatic setup , it is dessert .
it 's a lot of fun , and it does n't overwhelm the rest of the movie
.
on the whole , home alone is a great holiday movie .
john williams ' original score has the sound and feel of holiday music without the disadvantage of being overplayed at the malls , and the christmas setting can put you in the mood for those family gatherings .
but it does have its flaws .
the smallest problem is that culkin does n't act very well .
as i said before , he is cute , but repeated viewings reveal more about how columbus covered himself than about culkin 's insight into his character .
the biggest problem is that during the cartoony coda , the villains threaten kevin 's life about five times .
instead of " i 'm gon na get that kid
" they say " i 'm gon na kill that kid .
"
some might argue that the tone is the same , but i strongly disagree .
mixing comedy with specific and viable threats of murder is a sociopathic faux - pas .
i 'll probably never see home alone 3 , and i wish i had skipped home alone 2 , but i do enjoy home alone almost every year
.
do n't let your impressions of the others detract from the original , which has much more to offer than cartoon slapstick .
answer:
P

question:
plot : a peculiar french girl grows up lonely with her father and does n't quite know what she wants out of life .
one day , she falls upon something , and believes that her ticket to happiness may be in helping others .
she starts with the people around her , but when she suddenly falls for her own guy , she ca n't act strongly enough because of her shy and dreamy nature .
critique : a clever , quirky , original french flick set in a picturesque paris , featuring an endearing lead with a giant imagination , much loneliness and a little bit of love for everyone .
this is a " feel - good " kind of movie , a fairy tale for grown - ups who are bummed out about life .
it does n't pretend to be deep , it does n't weigh itself down with long expositions or intricate studies of its characters , it 's basically just a " cute movie " in the same vein as chocolat and pay it forward , with some amazing visuals and incredibly nice intentions ( and if chocolat was somehow able to nab an oscar nomination for best picture last year ( a sham on so many different levels ) , you might as well slap this film up for consideration also , since it 's quite a bit better and much more original than the former ) .
one thing that this film is n't though , at least according to me , is the best film of the year ( it was bestowed the honor of " best " in at least 3 different film festivals so far this year ) .
it actually managed to stagnate a little bit about halfway through and it just went on for way too long ( it 's a little over two hours
but it felt even longer ) , with much of the second half of the movie devoted to many different characters , all of whom were n't as interesting as the lead , and a lot of indecisiveness from ms .
amelie herself , which got frustrating .
thankfully , this film does n't bog itself down with too much of that stuff , and actually goes out of its way to invent new ways to shoot scenes , to integrate moments of fantasy into its fabric and to transport the audience inside the imagination of this kind - hearted french girl .
on the whole , it 's a lot of fun and it carries a beautiful message of love and support for your fellow man .
the lead , audrey tautou , is perfect for the role , and gives you enough moments of truth to develop her character into someone that you care about by the end of the film .
unfortunately , the rest of the cast is n't as well - developed , and even though most of them are pretty appealing , a couple could 've been left out to save time and at least one was left stranded plot - wise , by the film 's end ( what happened to the guy in the caf ? who was spying on his ex - girlfriend the whole movie ? ) .
now i have n't seen too many recent french films , i will admit , but if this is the kind of " scene " that they 're developing over in " le pays du vin " , i would n't mind catching more of their flicks in the future ( crimson rivers was another french film that i saw earlier this year , which i really liked- ironically , that film was directed by mathieu kassovitz , who is the co - star in this film ) .
granted , the english subtitles got a little tough to keep up with at times ( i speak and understand french also , but some of the local colloquialisms went over my head ) , especially since the film 's visuals were so intriguing
that you just could n't help but constantly gawk at them , but the general idea , the background music , the nifty french neighborhoods , the very creative way of enveloping the audience into the story - line from the start , were all very easy to appreciate , and i for one was especially glad to have seen this movie during these trying times in the world .
in fact , i 'd recommend it to anyone looking for a jolly ol' time at the movie house , with a particular emphasis on folks with a lot of imagination , a little loneliness in their lives and many dreams in their hearts .
and this guy directed alien :
resurrection ?
get outta here ! !
note : i especially loved the way that the script detailed and showed the loves / hates of everyone with exact mentions in the film .
it was very original , very well shot and very nostalgic , as many of us were able to relate to the behaviors described .
good stuff !
where 's joblo coming from ?
chocolat ( 6/10 )
- crimson rivers ( 8/10 ) - ghost world ( 9/10 ) - like water for chocolate ( 8/10 ) -
o brother , where art thou ( 7/10 ) - pay it forward ( 5/10 ) - rushmore ( 9/10 ) - woman on top ( 7/10 )
answer:
P