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: more than forty years ago , the " sword and sandals " genre of historical epic ruled the box office .
during the 1950 's hollywood sought to give audiences a reason to turn off their televisions and go out to the movies by offering the grand spectacle of the roman empire in cinemascope .
" ben - hur . "
" cleopatra .
" " the robe . "
" sparticus .
"
" the fall of the roman empire . "
" quo vadis .
"
sometimes brilliant , sometimes campy , the roman epic was the technicolor funeral pyre of classic hollywood .
since then , epics have appeared infrequently ( " the last emperor , " " braveheart " ) and some of the best have been small - screen affairs produced in the 1970 's ( " roots , " " shogun " ) .
yet , the phrase " we who are about to die salute you " has been absent until now .
" gladiator " begins in germania in a .
d .
180 .
roman general maximus ( russell crowe ) has conquered yet another group of barbarians for his emperor marcus aurelius ( richard harris ) , and he is eager to retire to his plantation in spain where his wife and son are waiting .
however , the emperor is worried that his decadent weakling son commodus ( joaquin phoenix ) will prove a poor successor , so he wants to make maximus his heir as a transition toward rome becoming a republic again .
when commodus hears the plan , he strangles his father and orders maximus and his family murdered .
maximus escapes from the executioners , but he arrives home too late to save his wife and son .
a caravan of slavers pick up the wounded hero and carry him off to north africa .
( why the caravan happened to be cruising by maximus ' place is never explained . )
an african named juba ( djimon hounsou ) treats maximus ' wounds .
proximo ( oliver reed ) , a gladiator who won his freedom , purchases maximus and juba as fodder for the arena .
of course , maximus proves as able a gladiator as he was a soldier , and his fame spreads .
when commodus reopens the coliseum , proximo brings his troupe of warriors to rome to compete .
our hero wins the hearts and minds of the cheering crowds and finds that he has an ally in commodus ' sister lucilla ( connie nielsen ) .
the similarities to " braveheart " are obvious : an evil king , a determined warrior seeking revenge for his murdered family , the aid of a lovestruck princess .
also , like mel gibson 's epic , " gladiator " has a primarily visceral appeal and is driven forward by the hero 's anger .
it 's a simple tale of good versus evil .
maximus has all the manly virtues : nobility of purpose , courage in battle , loyalty to king and country , physical stamina , and devotion to family .
commodus is his opposite in every way : a sniveling , selfish coward who is intended to disgust the audience .
the opening night crowd in my theater was about 70 % male , and that seems appropriate .
" gladiator " is a guy movie ( would the opposite of a " chick flick " be a " dick flick " ? ) .
there 's much pumping of testosterone and chopping off of body parts in gruesome battle sequences .
( those easily offended by gore should stay away . )
lucilla is the only female character , and what sparks there are between her and maximus are dampened by his devotion to his dead wife .
joaquin phoenix gives an astounding performance .
in the scene where commodus kills his father , phoenix shows the pain of a son who has never had his father 's love or pride .
throughout the picture , phoenix manages to give depth to a character who 's scripted as a caricature of evil .
i 've been a russell crowe fan since " romper stomper .
"
this role does n't offer him the complexities of his parts in " l . a . confidential " and " the insider " -- essentially his job is to grunt heroically -- but his voice , which has a richard burton resonance textured by a clint eastwood rasp , is perfect for the genre .
the late oliver reed gave us the best work of his career in his last role .
i hope it will be rewarded with an oscar .
my only major quibble with " gladiator " is its stylized look .
several scenes are tinted .
we 've seen a lot of the tinted look lately , particularly in " payback " and " the matrix .
"
i do n't get the appeal of the style , which makes feature films look like tv ads .
in " payback " it was merely annoying , but in " gladiator " it bleaches the color out of the grand spectacles that are the raison d'etre of the roman epic .
( perhaps it 's meant to gloss over the imperfections of the computer - generated shots . )
also , the battle scenes are filmed in a strange herky jerky style that seems to be slo mo and fast forward simultaneously .
( it reminds me of the way the flash runs in the comic books , leaving a half - blurred trail of images of himself behind . ) with a more realistic look , " gladiator " could be even more satisfying than " braveheart " because it has a tighter script and a more fulfilling conclusion .
bottom line :
a rousing action film enriched by fine performances but tarnished by stylistic choices .
A:
P