instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
i do n't appreciate it when a thriller manipulates the viewer into thinking the plot is interesting , when in fact it 's ludicrous .
in the case of the general 's daughter , the plot is more than capable of intriguing you to a certain point .
but at this juncture in the story , the movie begins to fall apart like a crumbling cookie .
this predictable summer thriller is only sporadically involving , and that is unfortunately not enough to compensate for all of it 's detailed flaws .
get past one moment early on where john travolta exercises his southern accent , and you 're likely to survive this entire movie .
travolta plays criminal investigations divisions officer paul brenner , who 's working undercover at a military base when another situation arises : the apparent rape and murder of a young female officer ( leslie stefanson ) .
it turns out that the victim is the daughter of general joe campbell ( james cromwell ) .
let the investigation begin .
with the assistance of fellow cid investigator sarah sunhill ( played rather on - the - sidelines by madeleine stowe ) , brenner uncovers what appears to be an intricate and bizarre homicide case .
things begin to get marginally engrossing when we meet colonel moore ( james woods ) , a former commanding officer of the deceased who has a few secrets up his sleeve .
woods submits another scene - stealing performance here as he oozes authority , surrounded by clouds of smoke emitted from his cigar .
with echoes of his supporting role in true crime , in which he duked it out with clint eastwood in enjoyably profane verbal exchanges , he makes every moment believable .
here though , the intense dialogue comes care of confrontations with travolta , as the two send mindful , knowing glares across the room .
there are many scenes such as this in the general 's daughter , in which the veteran cast performs splendidly under pressure , but the circumstances that tie these meetings together are difficult to absorb .
director simon west ( con air ) , shows a watchful eye of delivering a stylish looking thriller , but he fails miserably when it comes to the intellectual part of it .
the general 's daughter is , more often than not ,
a predictable and unexciting mess .
it does not help matters that the plot is virtually actionless , dragging it 's heels all the way at a mind - numbing snails pace .
a few brief action scenes , marvelously handled in the editing department , show that the movie could have delivered such a more proficient package .
from a director who does such a great job of staging explosions and miraculous stunts , i suggest west should stick with mindless , rip - roaring action features and attempt to avoid future projects like this .
still , the movie is certainly not without it 's merits .
the acting is very good from the majority of the experienced cast .
the performances range from commanding ( travolta ) to electric ( woods ) to stiff - as - a - board
( cromwell , who does n't show off his real talents here ) .
madeleine stowe manages to hold her own for a while , but as the female lead in an action - thriller , she does n't pull through sufficiently .
one of the problems with the execution is that it 's very predictable .
>
from minute one , i had few doubts about the identity of the killer in question .
the script even unwillingly points him out for us , using familiar techniques to hide his guilt until the unmasking toward the end .
in all fairness , we 've seen many of the devices used in the general 's daughter put to greater effect in other films .
the secrets behind the girl 's mysterious death are explained gradually , but by the resolution we have tunneled through so much malarkey that it feels unnecessary and surprisingly silly .
the general 's daughter is not a terrible movie , and it is involving enough to sustain a viewer 's attention span for a certain period of time .
but it just could have been so much better .
answer:
N

question:
you always have to be careful with the first official studio release out of the gate each year .
they 're obviously films for which the studios have no great hopes ( having missed both the deadline for academy award eligibility and the big box - office holiday season ) .
combine that with howie long 's first starring action role , and
you 've got a doozy of a movie
that , while not as bad as it could have been , is n't a very good film .
howie stars as an ace smokejumper ( a firefighter who parachutes into forest fires unreachable from the ground ) .
in the slightly contrived opening scenes , we witness his heroism in action , as he , and his mentor ( played by scott glenn ) attempt to rescue a small girl and her dog from an oncoming forest fire .
william forsythe plays the bad guy , a mass murderer who has several million dollars tucked away to help fund his jailbreak .
he ( and five convict cohorts ) manages to get selected for firefighting duty when a woodland blaze just happens to ignite nearby .
his escape plan bets a lot on the laxity of the guards , but ( since there must be a movie )
luck is with him .
soon the now - escaped convicts are masquerading as canadian firefighters .
why canadian ? who knows , eh ? along the way they pick up a pretty birdwatcher ( suzy amis ) to be their hostage .
enter howie long .
he 's called in to help fight the blaze , and when he spots the group of " ground pounders " , apparently lost , he parachutes in to help .
when he discovers their true identity , he is the only thing standing between them and escape , and the only hope of help for the hostage .
long 's acting talents are above those of , say , steven seagal , but not by much .
although his delivery is mostly flat and wooden
, he 's a likeable hero , and there are some hints here and there that he may get better .
the script does n't help him out any , however .
all too often , it veers into the realm of the unintentionally funny .
the dialogue is strictly b - movie material , and the plotting relies too heavily on coincidences to be believable .
long 's co - stars are a mixed bag .
at least they 're all comfortable in their respective roles .
forsythe has the scenery - chewing villain down cold , down cold , and scott glenn is always enjoyable to watch , even when he does n't seem to be stretching his talents ( as is definitely the case here ) .
suzy amis plays peril pretty well , but is n't given much more to do .
some of the nature and wildfire shots are interesting , but many are rather bland .
you 'd think that the director , dean semler , a former cinematographer , would at least produce a film with interesting visuals .
that 's not the case .
there 's a lack of originality to nearly all the sequences .
. .
we 've seen this stuff before .
it 's not the most auspicious start to 1998 , but it could have been worse ( just think back to 1996 's debut , bio - dome ) .
however , after a month of oscar - caliber pictures , a movie like firestorm at least gives you some perspective on how good those movies really were .
in fact , there 's a good chance that some of them are still playing near you . . .
answer:
N

question:
available in an all new video edition from arrow entertainment ( $ 29 . 95 ) , with an introduction by david carradine , written & produced by wayne j .
keeley f .
w .
murnau 's career ended sadly and prematurely .
the german director of such classics as " sunrise " and " the last laugh " died in a car accident shortly after signing a deal to make american pictures at paramount .
murnau was reportedly a giant man , well over six feet , a towering figure probably incapable of anything but a grand entrance . which brings us to " nosferatu : a symphony of horror " : surely he felt a kinship with his title character , the looming vampire embodied by intimidating max schreck ; in one of the most indelible images in film history , silent or otherwise , schreck rises from his grave , gnarled hands outstretched , and he 's so big that part of his head is cropped by the top of the frame .
the plot of " nosferatu . . .
" is lifted -- unauthorized -- from bram stoker 's " dracula " .
the british hutter is an eager real estate man assigned to visit and discuss future living arrangements with count orlock of transylvania .
he leaves behind girlfriend emily , only to discover orlock 's secret -- he 's a bloodsucker -- and struggle to return to england before the nosferatu reaches his lady love .
in addition to schreck 's performance , the cinematography and effects are outstanding .
arrow video 's digitally remastered version of the classic is something of a mixed - coffin .
the cover art features a red - tinted , hairy , goateed vampire staring straight at you , his fanged mouth agape , while the bodies of two sexy , writhing women entice you below .
trouble is , murnau 's monster is pale - faced , bald , pointy - eared , and non - goateed , and there is n't a single sexy , writhing woman to be found in his movie .
this sort of misleading packaging makes little sense when one recalls the countless number of ghouslish scenes in the film from which cool cover art could have been extracted .
additionally , notifying the viewer that this is in fact murnau 's film seems like afterthought since his name and the genuine title are written in small print below our goateed vampire .
that said , a good mastering job has been performed on the film itself .
the original elements are not in the best condition -- non - studio silents were unlucky in their preservation-- so we 're still dealing with a slightly washed out , scratched , jittering image .
but at least the day and night scenes are tinted sepia and blue , respectively , especially helpful to an audience who may question nosferatu 's waltzing around during what seems like sunlight ( it took a lot of light to expose stock in the twenties ) .
the title cards have been redone , and they are legible , accurate , and digitally altered to flicker -- a very nice touch .
( even the opening copyright warning flickers ! )
the score has been replaced by music from type o negative , a hard - rock group , arguably gothic , and their songs underscore the film nicely--
certainly the coolest video a band can ask for .
when our hero , hutter , first steps onto the doomed carriage to count orlock 's castle
, we hear a well - timed " now you 're dead ! " from lead singer peter steele .
david carradine makes an appropriately vampiric host ; he fiddles with a blade and cane while introducing the film .
after the feature , which runs about 63 minutes , is included a new music video from type o negative , the black - and - white fang - fest " black no . 1
" .
of course , " nosferatu : a symphony of horror " is the main attraction , and while my latest viewing raised questions ( why is the woman called emily in the title cards but
" mina " --as bram stoker called her -- in hutter 's letters ? , for instance ) , it made me realize how much this movie has inspired and been stolen from .
coppola 's 1992 " bram stoker 's dracula " owes a great stylistic debt to murnau 's masterpiece , but the one thing it could n't thieve was the original 's abstract charms .
this latest incarnation from arrow will probably-
-like the rescored " metropolis " a few years back -- turn a silent film into more palpable entertainment for the latest generation of film freaks .
answer:
P