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
contact is the 1997 movie i 've seen the most - five times to be exact .
four of those times were on the big screen , but even on a tv ,
it 's a very impressive film .
the same ca n't be said for films like independance day , but that 's because contact is a rare example in sci - fi filmmaking where the story is treated more importantly than the special effects , and all of us know looking back that id4 did n't offer much outside of some one - time delightful eye candy .
contact 's wonderfully presented story deals with ellie arroway ( jodie foster ) , a radio astronomer whose preference of study involves the outdated technique of " merely listening " to sounds out in space .
her interest in the field of astronomy developed at a very young age , encouraged by her loving father , ted ( david morse ) , who let ellie use a small ham radio to pick up on frequencies and communicate with people as far away as pensacola , fl ( that was , of course , before the days of internet chat rooms ) .
while everyone else uses modern technologies to aid them in the search for extra - terrestrial intelligence ( of which the program seti is an acronym for ) , ellie prefers to pop on a pair of headphones and see what she can pick up on , keeping the youthful magic and intrigue strongly alive .
ellie 's strong scientific basis essentially makes her an atheist , a belief likely influenced by the death of her father while she was still quite young .
in puerto rico , she meets palmer joss ( matthew mcconaughey ) , a writer examining the effects of technology on the world 's overall happiness ; a one- time seminary student who describes himself as " a man of the cloth , without the cloth " .
despite the vast differences in opinion regarding a " supreme being " , ellie and palmer hit it off , and even take the time to sleep together .
it 's a weak and hurried relationship , but director zemeckis needs it to add to the plot later on .
meanwhile , dr .
david drumlin ( tom skerritt ) , who has authority over seti but finds the program a frivolous waste of time and money , is ready to pull the plug on any and all seti funding .
this leaves the passionate ellie searching for new sponsors , eventually finding a setup in new mexico and leaving palmer with no explanation , and only a one night stand to remember .
it is in this nm city where , several months later , ellie finally picks up on a strong signal from outer space , perhaps the most profound discovery in the history of science .
when the signal is closely examined , many new developments spring up , and before long , drumlin is stepping in to take over the operation he once scoffed at .
eventually , it is concluded that information in the signal may be blueprints for a transportation device used to teleport an earthling to vega ( where the signal seems to have originated ) .
the media swarms , fanatics go further off the deep end , scientists clamor for new information , politicians huddle in discussion of appropriate actions to take , and presidents are morphed into a celluloid reality ( remember when zemeckis could n't get enough of this in forrest gump ? ) .
as if that were n't enough , ellie 's discovery leads her to the nation 's capital where she again runs into palmer .
contact is based on the novel by carl sagan and deals heavily with the subject of science vs . religion .
the impressive thing is how well both aspects are presented , with no signs of bias .
arguments for both sides are intelligent , solid , and thought - provoking .
when palmer joins a selection committee to choose an ambassador to vega ( of which ellie is a leading candidate ) , personal convictions play a more important role than love interests .
the question is , can a person who does n't believe in god truly be the best representative of earth when 90 % of the planet * does * believe in a higher power ?
even when the film wraps up , it 's uncertain whether it 's meant to play as an advocate for religion , science , both , or even neither , and in our modern day society where " right and wrong " is only opinion ( at least speaking " politically correctly " )
, the ambiguity is an incentive .
do n't get me wrong .
as much as it sounds like it , contact is n't merely a theology class rolled into a reel of film .
it 's a * highly * enjoyable two and a half hours .
despite its seemingly heavy issues , it 's not a tedious undertaking to watch this film .
the special effects are outstanding , though ( warning ! )
highly depreciated on the small screen .
even so , some of the subtle visual effects ( that will likely go unnoticed by many ) are even more impressive than ones more recognizable as " sci - fi " .
the storytelling is rich and complete , and although there are moments in the film that feel quite pretentious ( and at times , even hokey ) , it 's
easily one of the best 1997 films , and one of the best sci - fi films i 've ever seen
.
this is zemeckis ' best since back to the future , and for those of us who actually know that forrest gump was astronomically overrated , zemeckis now has real reason to boast .
Answer:
P