In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
One example is below.
Q: plot : two teen couples go to a church party , drink and then drive .
they get into an accident .
one of the guys dies , but his girlfriend continues to see him in her life , and has nightmares .
what 's the deal ?
watch the movie and " sorta " find out . . .
critique : a mind - fuck movie for the teen generation that touches on a very cool idea , but presents it in a very bad package .
which is what makes this review an even harder one to write , since i generally applaud films which attempt to break the mold , mess with your head and such ( lost highway & memento ) , but there are good and bad ways of making all types of films , and these folks just did n't snag this one correctly
.
they seem to have taken this pretty neat concept , but executed it terribly .
so what are the problems with the movie ?
well , its main problem is that it 's simply too jumbled
.
it starts off " normal " but then downshifts into this " fantasy " world in which you , as an audience member ,
have no idea what 's going on
.
there are dreams , there are characters coming back from the dead , there are others who look like the dead , there are strange apparitions , there are disappearances , there are a looooot of chase scenes , there are tons of weird things that happen , and most of it is simply not explained .
now i personally do n't mind trying to unravel a film every now and then , but when all it does is give me the same clue over and over again , i get kind of fed up after a while , which is this film 's biggest problem .
it 's obviously got this big secret to hide , but it seems to want to hide it completely until its final five minutes .
and do they make things entertaining , thrilling or even engaging , in the meantime ?
not really .
the sad part is that the arrow and i both dig on flicks like this , so we actually figured most of it out by the half - way point , so all of the strangeness after that did start to make a little bit of sense , but it still did n't the make the film all that more entertaining .
i guess the bottom line with movies like this is that you should always make sure that the audience is " into it " even before they are given the secret password to enter your world of understanding .
i mean , showing melissa sagemiller running away from visions for about 20 minutes throughout the movie is just plain lazy ! !
okay , we get it .
. .
there are people chasing her and we do n't know who they are .
do we really need to see it over and over again ?
how about giving us different scenes offering further insight into all of the strangeness going down in the movie ?
apparently , the studio took this film away from its director and chopped it up themselves , and it shows .
there might 've been a pretty decent teen mind - fuck movie in here somewhere , but i guess " the suits " decided that turning it into a music video with little edge , would make more sense .
the actors are pretty good for the most part , although wes bentley just seemed to be playing the exact same character that he did in american beauty , only in a new neighborhood .
but my biggest kudos go out to sagemiller , who holds her own throughout the entire film , and actually has you feeling her character 's unraveling .
overall , the film does n't stick
because it does n't entertain , it 's confusing , it rarely excites and
it feels pretty redundant for most of its runtime , despite a pretty cool ending and explanation to all of the craziness that came before it .
oh ,
and by the way , this is not a horror or teen slasher flick . . .
it 's just packaged to look that way because someone is apparently assuming that the genre is still hot with the kids .
it also wrapped production two years ago and has been sitting on the shelves ever since .
whatever . .
. skip it !
where 's joblo coming from ?
a nightmare of elm street 3 ( 7/10 ) - blair witch 2 ( 7/10 ) - the crow ( 9/10 ) - the crow : salvation ( 4/10 )
- lost highway ( 10/10 ) - memento ( 10/10 ) - the others ( 9/10 ) - stir of echoes ( 8/10 )
A: N
Rationale: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").
Q: the disney studios has its formula for annual , full - length animated features down so pat that it 's hard to remember which one you 're watching at any given moment .
" mulan , " their 36th animated adventure , is the latest case in point .
once again we have a tale focused around a strong central character ( female as usual ; disney is one of the few studios whose heroines -- ariel , belle , pocahontas , and now mulan -- get equal screen time with their heroes in recent years ) .
add the requisite love interest and a wise - cracking sidekick or two ,
pep up the soundtrack with a handful of strategically placed show tunes ( an introspective number by a pool or looking in a mirror , a rousing anthem , a cutesy , montage - backed crowd pleaser ) , pose a few threats to our engaging lead , and tie things all up neatly by the closing credits .
bob 's your uncle !
better make that walt 's your uncle . . .
kids will no doubt go ga - ga over " mulan " ( or at least the fast food tie - ins ) , but familiarity can , after a while , leave grown - ups -- this reviewer included -- wishing for a little more .
maybe an animated feature without -- shock !
horror !
--the songs , for example ? or maybe a film in which a cheeky chihuahua called pepe longs to become a matador from trinidad ? ?
how about simply ditching the sidekicks altogether ?
it is n't gon na happen .
like disney 's previous entries , " mulan " is slow to make its mark .
the animation tends to suffer from some slackness in the early going and the humorous element , a madcap dragon wannabe ( in the guise of a loquacious lizard with a case of dry mouth , courtesy eddie murphy 's animated vocal talents ) , plays like an inappropriate if necessary
( formula - wise ) afterthought .
however , after about an hour everything comes together and the formula , like it or not , clicks .
highlights include a spectacular cavalry charge on a snow - covered pass ( which , due to the sophistication of today 's computer - generated imagery , is hard to tell from the real thing ) , a memorable , show - stopping musical interlude
( " i 'll make a man out of you , " penned by matthew wilder and david zippel ) , and last but not least , mulan herself .
voiced by ming - na wen , mulan is disney 's strongest female character to date .
when hordes of huns pour over china 's great wall and threaten to overthrow the imperial palace , the emperor decrees that every family in the land dispatch one man to serve in the imperial army .
since mulan 's father is infirm , but proud , the high - spirited mulan steals her father 's armor and , incognito , signs up to face the mongolian menace .
attracted to , but not distracted by , her commanding officer shang ( b .
d .
wong )
, mulan outmatches her fellow combatants in smarts , wit , and physical ability .
she 's a woman of the ' 90s
a couple of millennia ahead of her time .
A:
P