Part 1. Definition
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
Part 2. Example
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 )
Answer: N
Explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").
Part 3. Exercise
here 's a word analogy : amistad is to the lost world as schindler 's list is to jurassic park . in 1993 , after steven spielberg made the monster dino hit , many critics described schindler 's list as the director 's " penance " ( as if there was a need for him to apologize for making a crowd - pleasing blockbuster ) .
now , after a three - year layoff , spielberg is back with a vengeance .
once again , his summer release was special effects - loaded action / adventure flick with dinosaurs munching on human appetizers .
now , following his 1993 pattern , he has fashioned another serious , inspirational christmas release about the nature of humanity .
that film is amistad .
although not as masterful as schindler 's list , amistad is nevertheless a gripping motion picture . thematically rich , impeccably crafted , and intellectually stimulating , the only area where this movie falls a little short is in its emotional impact .
watching schindler 's list was a powerful , almost spiritual , experience .
spielberg pulled us into the narrative , absorbed us in the drama , then finally let us go , exhausted and shattered , three - plus hours later .
aspects of the movie have stayed with me ever since .
amistad , while
a fine example of film making , is not as transcendent .
the incident of the ship la amistad is not found in any history books , but , considering who writes the texts , that 's not a surprise .
however , the event is a part of the american social and legal fabric , and , while amistad does not adhere rigorously to the actual account , most of the basic facts are in order .
several , mostly minor changes have been made to enhance the film 's dramatic force .
on the whole , while amistad may not be faithful to all of the details of the situation , it is true to the spirit and meaning of what transpired .
one stormy night during the summer of 1839 , the 53 men imprisoned on the spanish slave ship la amistad escape .
led by the lion - hearted cinque ( djimon hounsou ) , they take control of the vessel , killing most of the crew .
adrift somewhere off the coast of cuba and uncertain how to make their way back to africa , they rely on the two surviving spaniards to navigate the eastward journey .
they are tricked , however , and the la amistad , which makes its way northward off the united states ' eastern coastline , is eventually captured by an american naval ship near connecticut .
the kidnapped africans are shackled and thrown into prison , charged with murder and piracy .
the first men to come to the africans ' defense are abolitionists theodore joadson ( morgan freeman ) and lewis tappan ( stellan skarsgard ) .
they are soon joined by roger baldwin ( matthew mcconaughey ) , a property attorney of little repute .
aided by advice from former president john quincy adams ( anthony hopkins ) , baldwin proves a more persuasive orator than anyone gave him credit for , and his central argument -- that the prisoners were illegally kidnapped free men , not property -- convinces the judge .
but powerful forces have aligned against baldwin 's cause .
current president martin van buren ( nigel hawthorne ) , eager to please southern voters and 11-year old queen isabella of spain ( anna paquin ) , begins pulling strings behind - the - scenes to ensure that none of the africans goes free .
at its heart , amistad is a tale of human courage .
cinque is a heroic figure whose spirit remains unbreakable regardless of the pain and indignity he is subjected to .
he is a free man , not a slave , and , while he recognizes that he may die as a result of his struggle , he will not give it up .
effectively portrayed by newcomer djimon hounsou , whose passion and screen presence arrest our attention , cinque is the key to viewers seeing the amistad africans as more than symbols in a battle of ideologies .
they are individuals , and our ability to make that distinction is crucial to the movie 's success .
to amplify this point , spielberg presents many scenes from the africans ' point - of - view , detailing their occasionally - humorous observations about some of the white man 's seemingly - strange " rituals " .
the larger struggle is , of course , one of defining humanity .
as the nazis felt justified in slaughtering jews because they viewed their victims as " sub - human , " so the pro - slavery forces of amistad use a similar defense .
the abolitionists regard the africans as men , but the slavers and their supporters see them as animals or property .
in a sense , the morality of slavery is on trial here with the specter of civil war , which would break out less than three decades later , looming over everything .
amistad 's presentation of the legal and political intricacies surrounding the trial are fascinating , making this movie one of the most engrossing courtroom dramas in recent history .
four claimants come forward against the africans : the state , which wants them tried for murder ; the queen of spain , who wants them handed over to her under the provision of an american / spanish treaty ; two american naval officers , who claim the right of high seas salvage ; and the two surviving spaniards from la amistad , who demand that their property be returned to them .
baldwin must counter all of these claims , while facing a challenge to his own preconceived notions as the result of a relationship he develops with cinque .
even though attorney and client are divided by a language barrier , they gradually learn to communicate .
aside from cinque , who is a fully - realized individual , characterization is spotty , but the acting is top - notch
.
matthew mcconaughey successfully overcomes his " pretty boy " image to become baldwin , but the lawyer is never particularly well - defined outside of his role in the la amistad case .
likewise , while morgan freeman and stellan skarsgard are effective as joadson and tappan , they are never anything more than " abolitionists .
"
nigel hawthorne , who played the title character in the madness of king george , presents martin van buren as a spineless sycophant to whom justice means far less than winning an election .
finally , there 's anthony hopkins , whose towering portrayal of john quincy adams is as compelling as anything the great actor has recently done .
hopkins , who can convincingly play such diverse figures as a serial killer , an emotionally - crippled english butler , and richard nixon , makes us believe that he is adams .
his ten - minute speech about freedom and human values is unforgettable .
one point of difference worth noting between amistad and schindler 's list is this film 's lack of a well - defined human villain .
schindler 's list had
ralph fiennes ' superbly - realized amon goeth , who was not only a three - dimensional character , but a personification of all that the nazis stood for .
there is no such figure in amistad .
the villain is slavery , but an ideology , no matter how evil , is rarely the best adversary .
it is to spielberg 's credit that he has fashioned such a compelling motion picture without a prominent antagonist .
amistad 's trek to the screen , which encountered some choppy waters ( author barbara chase - riboud has cried plagiarism , a charge denied by the film makers ) , comes in the midst of an upsurge of interest in the incident .
an opera of the same name opened in chicago on november 29 , 1997 .
numerous books about the subject are showing up on bookstore shelves .
it remains to be seen how much longevity the amistad phenomena has , but one thing is certain -- with spielberg 's rousing , substantive film leading the way , the spotlight has now illuminated this chapter of american history .
Answer:
P