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
i rented this movie with very high hopes .
this movie got praise as one of the best films of 1998 , and unfortunately , was not as good as i hoped , but was still very intriguing and thought provoking .
first of all , the casting for this film is great .
tobey maguire and reese witherspoon are the future of hollywood .
they play their roles as the parker brother and sister perfectly .
with a plot as unbelievable as this film , you need chemistry and honest acting from your cast .
tobey and reese ( bud and mary sue parker ) play their roles perfectly and display their characters with honesty and believability .
william h. macy , an actor i have grown to love over the past year , turns in another great performance as the tv dad who is torn over his wife , a " colored " person and his friends , the " non - colored " ones .
he also displays believability and must display a certain lack of chemistry with his wife .
he does this perfectly and yet again shows why he should be one of the top actors in hollywood .
joan allen is equally great as betty parker ,
the ideal tv mom .
her character is the most ambitious .
she is very na ?
ve , and must display this well to make her character believable
and she does just that .
her lack of chemistry with macy , which the role calls for , and her developed chemistry with jeff daniels is terrific , and if daniels would have been as stellar as the rest of the cast , then this film would even been even better .
as said before , jeff daniels gives a bad performance .
his character displays the change going on throughout the town , yet he does not display it with enough conviction .
his character is very confusing and he is not very believable .
this film could have been elevated to a whole new level had daniels been able to give a better performance .
the movie is very provocative .
it challenges the issues of racism that existed in the past and that still exist today .
i really was not expecting all of the elements they brought up ,
but they pulled them off with such flair that it was mind blowing .
they demonstrate the racism issue without a hitch , but do it in a slow pace .
the only major flaw in the film besides the performance by daniels is length .
some films are not meant to be that long .
pleasantville is one of those films .
this film could have been so much better had they not moved so slowly to it .
first , they are amazed by the implementation of color .
then they want to have it .
then they do not want to .
then the war ensues between the colored and non - colored .
this is all strung out over two hours , which was way too long .
some movies need a lot of time .
saving private ryan was a little bit under three hours long and i thought it could have used more time .
this film is only two hours long , and seems much longer .
length is everything in films .
if you can nail down the perfect timing and pace , you can win half the battle .
pleasantville can move at a good pace at times , but it is not consistent enough .
overall
, pleasantville is a very pleasant and provocative departure from the predictability of most films these days .
i went in expecting a light - hearted film about change .
i left learning an important lesson about racism and the way things change .
luckily
, pleasantville teaches this lesson in such a way to make it appeal to all audiences .
only if it could have done in a shorter amount of time .
Answer:
P