instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
based on the novel set in 1914 by joseph conrad , victory spins a tale of a pair of lovers , heyst ( william dafoe ) and alma ( irene jacob ) , who seek refuge on heyst 's isolated island .
however , their idyllic world begins to crumble upon the arrival of mr jones ( sam neil ) , martin ricardo ( rufus sewell ) and their servant , pedro ( graziano marcelli ) , who have come to steal heyst 's rumoured plunder .
while the novel is largely complex in characterization , the film sadly transposes conrad 's characters into lacklustre leads , the most disappointing being heyst himself .
conrad 's heyst adheres religiously to his late father 's ways of detachment and isolation .
his ascetic lifestyle is thrown into question when he meets alma , a helpless orchestra girl who charms him with her voice .
the struggle to embrace the arrival of alma into his solitude , however , is lost in mark peploe 's ( director and writer ) diluted version of heyst . without properly establishing the crucial details of heyst 's character , all that is left of conrad 's main character is a very shallow treatment of his internal conflict between detachment and human involvement .
on the one hand , actualizing the subtext is a mammoth task ( though not impossible ) , but on the other hand , dafoe 's flat acting can not be excused as an attempt at stoicism .
in the end , we are supposed to witness heyst renounce his philosophy and finally come to an understanding of what it is to love another .
the final transformation , while perceptible , lacks the cathartic revelation which is undeniable in conrad 's novel .
its absence in the film is unforgivable .
the film seems more concerned about moving the plot along when so much has yet to be said about the relationship between the two complete strangers .
alma is supposed to have overcome great emotional barriers in the relationship , namely heyst 's underlying philosophy of detachment , which heyst himself grapples with .
the struggle against heyst 's ignorance of true human involvement accounts for much of the greatness of alma 's love for him .
jacob , fair - skinned , gentle and yet passionate , handles the role with precision , detailing nuances where possible .
unfortunately , she is let down by a superficial script .
the couple 's relationship develops too hastily , leaving all subtlety effaced and replaced with a blatant show - and - tell approach .
all we know of the characters are mostly explained by their lines alone .
this is unsatisfactory when so much of the turmoil experienced by the two stem from their buried thoughts and emotions .
the sketchy handling of their relationship stands out as sorely as dafoe 's american accent ( an inappropriate one since heyst spent most of his life in london ) .
the other characters such as schomberg ( jean yanne ) , the owner of a hotel , and mr jones ( sam neill ) , also fall short of conrad 's meticulous characterization .
while schomberg should have been more menacing and vindictive , mr jones should have been portrayed as something more of an enigma .
sam neil 's caricature of a slightly stout , effeminate and soft - spoken gentleman - at - large nullifies the effect intended by conrad who describes mr jones as " an insolent spectre on leave from hades , endowed with skin and bones and a subtle power of terror " .
poor characterization aside
, kudos goes to rufus sewell for his excellent portrayal of ricardo , secretary to mr jones , a reckless ruffian capable of murder .
sewell , with his cockney accent and large expressive green eyes , becomes the true terror of the unholy trinity , masterminding deceitful plans behind jones ' back .
at the same time , we are entertained by the foolhardiness of his plans .
despite the authentic setting and marvellous cinematography by bruno de keyzer ,
very few images are left behind for us to savour after the film has ended
. sourabaya and its surrounding islands and volcanoes may have their charm , but mean nothing once the film fails to capture the essence of an epic , which is what victory deserves to be .
the delicately inter - woven complexities in the love story are lost to an inadequate production .
at the end of the film , we are told that perhaps alma 's victory was in teaching heyst how to love .
a hollow victory indeed .
the flying inkpot 's rating system :
* wait for the video .
*
* a little creaky , but still better than staying at home with gotcha !
*
* * pretty good , bring a friend .
*
*
* * amazing , potent stuff .
*
*
*
* * perfection . see it twice .
answer:
N

question:
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 .
answer:
N

question:
very few people would be unaware of beavis & butt - head ( both created and narrated by mike judge ) .
they are the two animated mtv characters who have the most annoying laughter know to human kind .
you may have seen them on their television program , as they snigger and make lude remarks about women ,
anything related to sex , and the music film clips that they watch .
in beavis & butt - head do america the pair finally make their big screen debut , to the delight of some , and the deplore of others .
beavis & butt - head ( yes , those are their real names ) , are two very ugly teenagers with extremely warped minds driven by raging hormones .
they live their lives in front of the television .
the worst possible event occurs to the pair when their television is stolen .
this happens as they sleep , and when they awake it takes them a few minutes just to decipher that the television has gone .
beavis even tries to use the remote , though there is no television there .
the two spot a van outside and two sinister looking men carrying a television .
even at this point they have no idea what has happened .
they look around , seeing all the evidence , but are completely oblivious to the fact that these men have just stolen their television .
before the movie i knew that they were stupid , but i did n't realise just how stupid .
this is typical of their behaviour throughout the film .
eventually they realise that their television has been stolen , so they leave their sofa to go search for a television .
luck would have it that they stumble into a hotel room ( looking for a television ) where a man is awaiting two guys whose task it is to kill his wife .
this man , thinking that beavis & butt - head are the assigned killers , tells them that they can have $ 10 , 000 if they " do his wife " .
beavis & butt - head , being the ignorant fools that they are , think that he is offering them $ 10 , 000 dollars to have sex with his good looking wife .
they are taken to the airport where they fly to las vegas to " do her " .
to them , this is the best day of their lives .
not only are they going to lose their virginity ( one of their lifelong aims ) , but most importantly , they will have enough money to buy a big screen tv .
inevitably they become caught up in a huge crime , and unbeknown to them , are tracked across the country by the fbi .
oddly enough , it is their complete stupidity that spares them from being caught , as a result the fbi is convinced they are criminal masterminds .
they end up travelling right across america , visiting places such as the hoover dam and washington dc .
the irony is that although they visit so many grand and spectacular locations , their one time out in the big world away from their television , they are completely oblivious to it .
at old faithful they are far more fascinated with the infra - red operated urinals than with the geyser itself .
beavis & butt - head essentially have the journey of their lives .
they even get to meet the president .
but all they care about is getting their television back , and losing their virginity .
this is one of the many reasons that the film is so funny
- it 's unbelievable just how stupid they are , and how they can be so oblivious to everything around them .
the humour is certainly crude , but then beavis & butt - head are just that ; crude , lude and rude .
in the end you ca n't help but feel sorry for them , a pair of anti - social couch potatoes whose life is television .
in this respect , and also with regard to authority ( such as the fbi ) mike judge is quite critical of amercian society . if you are easily offended , or find this pair particularly annoying , steer clear .
otherwise , it should keep you laughing the whole way through .
one note of warning : do n't take friends who like to imitate beavis & butt - head . . . . .
you 'll never hear the end of it !
answer:
P