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

[Q]: steven spielberg 's " amistad , " which is based on the true story of a group of africans who revolted on board a slave ship , then were captured and taken to america where a legal dispute ensued over who " owned " them , is concerned with several different aspects of this story .
first , the film addresses the issue of the inherent evils of slavery .
second , it deals with the historical involvement of several american politicians in the case , including president martin van buren and former president john quincy adams ( anthony hopkins ) .
last , and most importantly , it examines the cultural confusion experienced by the africans who were forced into slavery and the damage done to their native culture in africa by the slave trade .
" amistad " succeeds at least partly with all three of these elements .
i have to admit that i was a little skeptical as to how much i could really get out of another " anti - slavery " movie .
having seen several other movies and documentaries about slavery , i doubted that there was much i did n't already know about it .
fortunately , i turned out to be wrong .
for one thing , spielberg 's camera never once gets near a southern plantation and instead sticks to the slave ships and the slave traders ' operations in africa , so " amistad " was dealing with a different part of the history of slavery from the very beginning .
and some of the images here are , in fact , much more harrowing than what we usually see in movies about slavery .
one scene in the middle , in which the crew of a slave ship dispose of some of their " excess " slaves by throwing them overboard to drown , has to be one of the most disturbing film images of the year .
spielberg digs farther into the evils of slavery than i was expecting he would , and in fact he probably goes about as far as a movie director can without getting an nc-17 rating .
the stark suffering of the africans is contrasted sharply with the shallow luxury of the politicians , such as president van buren and queen isabella of spain , whose naval officers were involved in the legal dispute and who was only a small child at the time .
exposing politicians as narrow - minded , opportunistic hypocrites is fairly standard stuff , of course , but spielberg and writer david franzoni
do it well enough that it still comes off as something more than just a simple exercise in audience manipulation .
the film also examines the contentious nature of the slavery issue at the time , such that john quincy adams ( and probably other politicians like him ) , who clearly disapproved of the practice , was reluctant to get involved in the case until it was appealed all the way to the supreme court .
the biggest success of " amistad " is probably the characterization of cinque ( djimon hounsou ) , who emerges as the de facto leader of the kidnapped africans and struggles to communicate with baldwin ( matthew mcconaughey ) , the lawyer who represents them in court .
through cinque , we are given a window into the native culture , as he and the displaced africans try to explain to the prison guards what they need for a proper burial of a dead tribe member , or find an illustrated version of the bible and try to understand the story of jesus christ .
cinque sees the dispute with a clarity and simplicity that , again , contrasts with the technicalities and mechanics of the legal process and of the political squabbles .
"
what kind of country is this , where laws ' almost ' work ?
"
he asks baldwin in bewilderment , when he learns that the case must be re - tried before the supreme court .
spielberg 's direction tends a little bit towards the manipulative side at times , such as when he adds a heavy orchestral swell to cinque 's angry outburst in the court room .
still , there is n't enough of this for it to be a serious problem .
the main flaw in this film , which prevents it from earning four stars , is that it seems like spielberg and franzoni ca n't quite handle all of these issues at the same time , so instead they settle for addressing each one separately and simply editing the results into the same movie .
this summer 's contact , for example , dealt with several issues at once , but each of them was somehow present in almost every scene and , most importantly , all of them were resolved at once .
" amistad " tries to pull it all together in the end with a speech from adams , but it somehow feels a little forced , and in any case the speech itself , which lasts almost fifteen minutes , wears out its welcome about halfway through .
perhaps the best way to describe it is this :
" amistad " is three four star films edited into one .
almost every individual scene works , but the final product is lacking the necessary focus and coherence , and thus is less than the sum of its parts .
however , i ca n't honestly say how it could have been done differently , and in any case the story comes through with enough raw emotional power that it is still a very good film , and thus
i recommend it to anyone who can handle the disturbing imagery .
[A]: P

[Q]: note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . be forewarned .
i was incredulous when i first heard that mgm was planning a sequel to their 1995 science - fiction flick species .
squandering an intriguing premise , the original film turned out to be a dreadful mess , widely disliked by both audiences and critics alike -- and nonetheless still somehow succeeded in becoming a financial success , raking in over $ 60 million domestic during the competitive summer season despite a distinct lack of star power in its cast ( ben kingsley 's a splendid actor , but
a marquee name he ai n't ) .
miraculously dodging the bullet with the first film , i doubted that they 'd dare tempt fate and go for another round .
so here comes species ii , with a new creative team ( director peter medak and screenwriter chris brancato step in for roger donaldson and dennis feldman , respectively ) that fails to improve the series one iota -- like its predecessor , species ii fails to capitalize on a potentially promising kernel and instead runs the gamut from ridiculously silly to unmitigatedly stupid .
the film follows the exploits of a young man , patrick ross ( justin lazard ) , whose sole focus is on cruising along the streets in order to pick up women , loitering in strip clubs , and generally trying to bed as many different ladies as he possibly can .
in other words , patrick is like a lot of guys ; these activities could describe the everyday routines of a huge percentage of men his age , but there 's a catch -- he 's an astronaut who recently returned from a seemingly successful mission to mars , and who 's now infected with alien dna .
patrick 's overriding compulsion : to mate and sire countless numbers of gooey little alien offspring .
and when he becomes aware of eve ( natasha henstridge ) , a half - human , half - alien clone of the monster from the first film being studied in a government lab , patrick 's primary focus turns to her -- " if these two were to mate , the resulting pure strain of offspring would be unstoppable " warns dr .
laura baker ( marg helgenberger , gamely reprising her role ) with admirable conviction .
species ii opens with the mars mission , and the space scenes are remarkably unconvincing and hokey - looking , even splicing back to dated , grainy footage of actual spacecraft activities -- they really skimped on production values this time around .
however , this all looks positively inspired when compared to the first appearance of the evil alien goo which ultimately infests patrick ; watching as it slinks around the command module of the spaceship , any question as to whether or not this is a cheesy b - movie is quickly answered .
mr .
brancato 's original screenplay is filled with outrageous lines which often leaves the audience in stitches .
like the first film ( and perhaps in homage to it ) , there 's a real penchant for dialogue which underlines the obvious .
last time around featured the hootworthy line uttered by forest whitaker 's psychic empath character upon entering a bloodsoaked room -- " something bad happened here .
"
this time , laura gets to stand over a fresh , shredded corpse with its entails ripped out and mutter " this is awful .
"
and she 's not even empathic !
and when a psychotically horny patrick accosts a supermarket shopper and drags her kicking and screaming behind the building in a woefully - paced suspense sequence , eve , who 's telepathically linked to her alien / human - hybrid counterpart
( whatever ) , helpfully tells our alien - hunting protagonists , " he 's going to rape her .
" while species ii is often unintentionally hilarious , at least it occasionally demonstrates a sense of humour of its own .
there 's an amusing , tongue - in - cheek bit of product placement ( which does n't really make much sense , but i appreciated the sentiment ) , as well as some supermarket - related hijinx ( " he 's in aisle 1 !
" informs eve ) .
if the film maintained this sort of light - hearted tone , it would have been much more charming and enjoyable to watch , but , to its detriment , it instead takes its silly plot far too seriously and barrels along to a bloody , effects - ladened anticlimactic conclusion .
much of the film fails to make a whole lot of sense , and there are such gaping plot holes that it 's terribly difficult to contain any suspension of disbelief .
the implausibilities are endless : what about the toxic bomb in eve 's brain ?
why are the guards armed with guns when they already know firearms are ineffectual ?
my favourite was the slow - motion sequence in the film where eve , sporting superhuman strength , is shown tossing aside guards who are attempting to contain her with what look like body blocks .
this is the sort of movie which leaves you holding your head in amazed disbelief , incredulous that it 's being foisted upon the public .
returning headlines michael madsen ( who reprises tough guy press lennox ) and ms .
helgenberger do what they can with this goofy screenplay ,
but there 's realistically only so much one can do with this script as a basis .
mykelti williamson ( portraying astronaut dennis gamble )
churns out an all - too - familiar spin on a generic brash - mouthed character , and fine character actors george dzundza ( playing colonel burgess and looking ridiculous in the process ) and james cromwell ( patrick 's neglectful father , senator ross ) are utterly wasted in the film .
mr .
lazard gives his character an appropriately shifty - eyed look , while returning vixen ms .
henstridge is actually given the opportunity to act in one scene ( and acquits herself nicely ) , but is mostly relegated to reprising her familiar role of parading about in skimpy clothing ( or none at all ) .
ms .
henstridge recently commented on how some female audiences have expressed appreciation for her character in the first entry of the species series , claiming that " she 's so empowered .
"
a lethal half - alien in heat who dispatches of her sexual partners in grotesque fashion
-- now * that 's
* what i call empowerment .
[A]: N

[Q]: a big , busy boxing satire with a surprisingly paltry punch , the great white hype stars samuel l
.
jackson as a shameless boxing promoter whose plan to boost sagging pay - per - view revenues is to " invent " a white contender ( peter berg ) to challenge his black heavyweight " champ " ( damon wayans ) .
( the logic is that people will pay more to see black vs .
white than black vs .
black . )
he may be right , in an absurdly accurate way , but the film does n't give us a reason to care .
as a scathing sports spoof , hype is just that : unfunny , unfocused , and , at times , just plain pointless .
as a commentary on race relations , it 's even * less * effective .
the dialogue is the best of this mess , lines like jon lovitz exclaiming " i can not make caviar out of fish eggs !
" writers tony hendra and ron shelton also do good on the street slang , though we never hear enough of it .
the script is n't strong enough , though , to support the aggressive camera work of director reginald hudlin ( house party ) .
he comes across as absolute overkill .
the great white hype
* almost * turns around at the end , at the big match , when hudlin attempts an extended gag of rock - concert proportions .
with costumed dwarfs , gangsta rappers , and the " champ " dressed as death , only then do we get a glimpse of the spoof that should 've been .
[A]:
N