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

[Q]: it is with hesitance that i call " apocalypse now " a masterpiece .
certainly , it had the pedigree to be one of the greatest films ever made , with a director known for producing masterpieces with ease , and some of the finest actors of the 1970 's .
the plot , an adaptation of joseph conrad 's " heart of darkness " , was set in vietnam , and the timing of the film was supposed to be brilliant , coming on the heels of the end of the war .
" apocalypse " certainly has its moments , some of which are the finest in film history .
the plot is fairly simple .
captain willard ( sheen ) , is a troubled soldier who came back to hanoi for a 2nd tour of duty .
his mission is simple : take a boat up to cambodian territory , and destroy the command of renegade colonel kurtz ( brando ) " with extreme prejudice " .
along the way , willard runs into a series of adventures , including one with lt .
col .
kilgore ( duvall ) , and a strange encounter with playboy bunnies .
willard ' s four person crew finally make it to kurtz ' compound , where he discovers kurtz has set himself up as a god among the natives .
willard 's experiences with kurtz take up the last half - hour , with a confrontation and eventual ending .
the movie is visually breathtaking .
the battle scenes are exquisitely done , and the score is brilliant , setting a murky mood of darkness that is first - rate .
the collage of disturbing images that coppola presents is at times both astonishing and sickening .
the vast amount of detail poured into every war scene is stunning , and there are many episodes that are deeply powerful which resonate through the entire movie .
the journey to kurtz ' camp is quite a ride , with psychosis setting in on almost every character .
the most interesting one is kilgore , the lt .
col .
who cares more about the surf than about the mission .
it is at times revolting , psychotic , and incredible , and
it is one hell of a movie .
the scenes are bold , inventive , and powerful , and the acting is stunning , especially be sheen , duvall , and fishburne .
the narration is exquisite , as is the mystery of kurtz .
coppola sets about a hallucinatory ride through vietnam , kind of like " saving private ryan " on lsd .
the film is jarring in its implications , and psychotic in its execution .
the problems come when the film slows down .
one of the major scenes in the film , where the boat arrives at the final army checkpoint before they start their search for kurtz , is a colossal mess .
the dialogue is confusing , the lighting is atrocious , and the scene drags on for 10 terrible minutes of film .
the true problems happen after the crew does come into the kurtz compound .
the film slows down to a drag .
sheen seems forever captured by a madman , played by brando is a lazy performance that is not deserving of the accolades it received .
brando is in the film for no more than 15 minutes , but is bathed in shadows the entire time , making the last half hour of the film visually pathetic .
the scenes are poorly done , the dialogue is muffled , and the whole mess is utterly confusing beyond all belief .
sheen seems to adore this man , but why the viewers are never told .
the entire journey is supposed to be a prelude for a stunning entrance of this god - like kurtz , but the scenes fall way short of expectations .
granted , it has its moments , which are brutally horrific , but the general feeling is one of confusion .
brando mumbles his lines in a incoherent stir , and my feeling was that this could never be a great man , this could never be a man who inspires hundreds to follow him , so why do they do it ?
there are moments of brilliance , but the visual confusion dilutes the power of the scene .
there are too many questions left unanswered with the character of kurtz to have a satisfying ending .
the finest scene at the end is sheen 's escape , and his entrace into the temple .
his rise out of the water , with the smoke coming off of his slicked head , is a brilliant 30 seconds of film .
yet , you can not shake the feeling that there is so much more this film could have done .
the psychotic ride is unforgettable at times , and indeed the film on the whole is very good .
it is a stunningly flawed expression of film , for it addresses major issues , such as man 's mental stamina during bouts of war .
but one still can not shake the feeling that this film could have so much more powerful , had the character of kurtz been more explored , and had sheen truly succumbed to the fate that the viewer thought he was destined for .
there is too much good material in here not to be called a masterpiece , but it could have been so much more rewarding .
[A]: P

[Q]: deep rising is one of " those " movies .
the kind of movie which serves no purpose except to entertain us .
it does not ask us to think about important questions like life on other planets or the possibility that there is no god . . .
screw that , it says boldly , let 's see some computer generated monsters rip into , decapitate and generally cause irreparable booboos to a bunch of little known actors .
heh !
them wacky monsters , got ta love 'em .
of course , since we can rent about a thousand b movies with the same kind of story , hollywood must give that little extra " oumph " to get people in theaters .
that is where deep rising fails , which is a good thing
.
confused ? let me explain : despite all them flashy effects and big explosions , deep rising is still , at heart , a good ' ol b movie .
luckily , it 's a very good b movie .
the worst cliches in movie history are a b movie 's bread and butter .
therefore , things that would destroy a serious movie actually help us have a good time while watching a movie of lower calibre .
of course we know there 's a big slimy creature behind that door , that one person will wander off to be picked off by said monster and we always know which persons or person will make it out alive .
we just do n't know when or how horrible it will be .
i went to see deep rising with my expections low and my tolerance for bad dialogue high .
imagine my surprise when i discover that deep rising is actually , well ,
pretty darn funny at times .
a funny b movie ?
well , that 's new .
these flicks are not supposed to make us laugh .
( except for a few unintended laughs once a while . ) and before you know it , treat williams , wes studi and famke jansen appear on the big screen .
hey !
i know them guys ( and gal ) from a couple of other movies .
cool .
familiar faces .
so far so good .
our man treat is the hero , he 'll live .
wes is a staple of b movies , he is the token victim .
we know he 'll buy the farm
but he will take a few creeps with him on the way out .
famke is the babe , 'nuff said .
there is also a guy with glasses ( the guy with glasses always dies ) a black person ( b movie buffs know that the black guy always dies , never fails ) and a very funny , nerdy guy .
( ah ! comic relief .
how can we possibly explain having to kill him . . .
let him live . )
after the first fifteen minutes i felt right at home .
i know who to root for and who i need to boo too and a gum to chew .
( please kill me . )
suffice it to say that for the next hour and a half i jumped out of my seat a few times , went " ewwww " about a dozen times and nearly had an orgasm over all the explosions and firepower our heroes were packing .
i 'm a man , we nottice these things .
all in all , i 'd recommend deep rising if you are looking for a good time and care to leave your brain at the door . . . but bring your sense of humor and excitement in with you .
the acting is decent , the effects top rate . how to best describe it ?
put together the jet ski scene from hard rain , the bug attacks from starship troopers , a couple of james bond like stunts and all those scenes from friday the thirteenth and freddy where you keep screaming " do n't go there , he 's behind you " and you end up with deep rising .
for creepy crawly goodness , tight t - shirts , major firepower and the need to go to the bathroom every fifteen minutes from seing all that water .
[A]: P

[Q]: i 'll be the first to admit it .
when you mention the book great expectations , i immediately begin experiencing flashbacks to junior high english class , where i was confronted with a torturously boring book filled with people with such nonsensical names as pip and magwitch .
yes , it 's a classic of literature , but it was a rather dry one , shoved down my young throat like a spoonful of bitter medicine .
certainly , the experience was n't truly that bad , but , to quote ethan hawke in the latest movie adaptation of said book , " i 'm not going to tell the story the way it happened . . .
i 'll gon na tell it the way i remember it .
"
anyway , to return from nostalgia lane , and get back to the present , hollywood , in it 's trendy attempt to modernize the classics , now presents an updated film version of great expectations .
instead of pip , this time the central character is named finn ( played as a boy by jeremy kissner , and by ethan hawke as an adult ) .
finn is an orphan being raised by his unfaithful sister maggie , or should that be mrs .
joe , ( kim dickens ) , and her boorish fisherman husband , joe ( chris cooper ) .
the setting is the florida coast during the mid-70s .
finn is a blooming artist , and spends his time running around the beach drawing fish ( one of his two favorite subjects ) .
during one of these escapades , he literally stumbles upon an escaped criminal ( robert deniro ) .
borrowing a page from the superhuman max cady , deniro 's criminal has a seemingly limitless lung capacity , and favors hiding on the ocean floor .
ok .
. .
maybe that 's an exaggeration , but he certainly beats any of houdini 's records in the opening scenes of the film .
and that 's nothing next to the fuel efficiency of finn 's motorboat , but i digress .
anyway , finn does the convict a good deed , just to show that he 's a really swell guy .
and then the plot moves on .
enter miss havisham . . .
or ms .
dinsmoor here ( anne bancroft ) .
abandoned at the altar some 26 years ago , ms .
dinsmoor is the epitome of the crazy rich old maid .
with bizarre clothing , eccentric mannerisms and a few pounds of makeup , anne bancroft seriously overacts in this role .
although
she ends up nowhere near a believable character
, she does add some humor to the film .
joe is hired to help with the gardening at her unkempt manner , but the insane ms .
dinsmoor soon hires finn to be a plaything for her niece , estella ( raquel beaudene as a young girl , gwyneth paltrow as an adult ) .
for no apparent reason , other than to provide the main plot of the film , finn is instantly stricken for the estella .
perhaps it 's her snooty attitude or her utter disdain for his person , or maybe finn has simply never met a girl before .
in any case , neither as children nor adults , chemistry simply does n't exist between the two , and yet finn spends the remainder of the film pining for her .
even when , as an adult , finn arrives in new york at the behest of a mysterious benefactor , reacquaints himself with estella , and draws her portrait in the nude , there 's nothing .
in fact , there is more sexual tension between helen hunt and greg kinnear 's gay artist during a similar scene in as good as it gets .
at this point , the audience has grown as cold and detached as estella 's character , and could n't care less about the two characters .
the bulk of the blame here falls upon gwyneth paltrow .
she fails to imbue estella , a remote character in the book , with even the vaguest traces of humanity .
there 's obviously something wrong
when , watching the film , you 're more interested with how big her nose looks in silhouette than you are about her character .
without a strong estella , finn 's obsession seems baseless .
you wish he would just stop whining , let estella marry his rival , walter plane ( an oddly subdued hank azaria ) , and just get on with his life .
in fact , the two relationships that work in the film are purely tangential to the main plot .
finn 's relationship with his brother - in - law , joe , is interesting , if a bit stereotypical .
what 's more fascinating are his interactions with deniro .
although it 's only a bit part , it goes to show how much vitality a strong actor can create .
it is apparent that director alfonso cuarsn put a lot of work in creating the imagery of the film .
some of the shots work , but others are too obviously staged ( for example , both of the water fountain scenes ) to have any impact .
finn 's art ( actually the creations of italian painter , francesco clemente ) is used throughout the film , but it mostly fails to have the intended effect .
we never see why finn would generate this style of art , which is simultaneously crude and insightful .
as a result , it ends up as distant as the rest of the film .
modernizing the classics is currently in vogue ( just see william shakespeare 's romeo+juliet ) .
simply update the action to a modern setting , and apply plenty of modern rock .
but such adornments do little to perk up great expectations . as much as i dreaded the novel when i first read it ,
you 'd probably be better off suffering though a reading than watching this romanceless film .
[A]:
N