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: luckily , some people got starship troopers .
some people knew it was supposed to be silly .
for those of you who did n't , how could you miss it ?
from the very beginning , when we see an interactive internet - like promotional video for the armed forces of the future , it should be obvious this film is to be taken lightly .
i guess without blatant one - liners and home alone style slapstick , some people just do n't recognize such goofy humor .
such a dry approach to such intentionally campy humor must have left some disillusioned .
first thing to do before seeing this movie - lighten up .
meet the equivalent of " beverly hills 90210 " meets " mighty morphin power rangers " .
four close friends are now graduating high school and are ready to join the armed forces , which , in the future , means fighting for the whole galaxy and not just your country .
johnny rico ( casper van dien ) is ready to join the infantry , mostly because his girlfriend carmen ibanez ( denise richards ) has enlisted to be a pilot .
dizzy flores ( dina meyer ) has enlisted as a trooper , and it 's possible she 's joining merely to follow rico , whom she 's always had eyes for . if you saw these three on the street , you 'd automatically start searching for the fashion designers and photographers , for never has a movie 's cast looked so much like the cut - out cover of " seventeen " magazine .
the lone non - supermodel , carl jenkins ( played by doogie howser himself , neil patrick harris ) is the brainiac who gets into the military intelligence division , the top secret department that pretty much leaves doogie - er , carl out of the picture .
( good call - now we can put all our drooling efforts into only the most deserving of characters ) .
right off the bat , rico becomes the star of the show , far surpassing all the other soldiers and becoming squadron leader in a short period of time .
but a horrific accident during a standard training exercise ( which follows all to closely to his breakup with carmen ) leaves rico ready to call it quits .
with his bags packed and his civilian clothes back on , johnny is ready to walk off base and catch the next flight home .
well sorry , rico suave , but there 's no place like home , especially after gigantic alien insects have destroyed it .
that 's right
, the planet is being attacked by a colony of arachnid - like alien beings that a can of raid just is n't going to destroy .
with a sudden change of heart ( and clothes ) , rico is back in the game , following his fellow starship troopers off to fight a mean group of daddy long legs .
what starship troopers really is , is a spoof of all that it even remotely touches on - the soap opera like love affairs of high school , the love for sci - fi and thirst for gore shared by this same age group , etc .
nothing is taken seriously .
it 's almost as much a satire on young adults as clueless , but with its sly and futuristic approach , it 's not as recognizably so .
it 's a spoof so subtle that many wo n't recognize the spoofery .
if you deem this as sci - fi / action , you 're wrong .
it 's sci - fi / action / comedy , with the comedy being on the level of such cult favorites as evil dead 2 .
starship troopers just may be on the road to cult status as well .
gore is a factor heavily brought up in reviews of this film , but the gore , too , is meant to be cheesy .
yes , it 's graphic , but it 's also brutally phony , and that 's what makes it such great fun to watch .
not since the old " mr . bill " skits on " saturday night live " has torture and mutilation been such a joy to watch .
people were laughing out loud
every time a body was severed in half or a head was viciously decapitated .
perhaps it brings back fond memories of the severities we inflicted upon our sisters ' barbie dolls as young children .
with the actors resembling ken and barbie so closely , it 's a good chance this is the case , whether we 're fully aware of it or not .
starship troopers has it 's slow parts , but it 's truly an alternative to your typical sci - fi / action flick or lame juvenile comedy .
aside from the intentionally cheesy gore , the special effects are quite astounding . when the spaceship passes a meteor , it 's quite an awesome spectacle , visually crisp and captivating .
if you 're looking for brainless fun , this is the epitome of your search .
a beautiful cast , awesome special effects , fast - paced action , campy acting , and a whole lot of gore .
this is
brainless heaven .
just remember not to think .
A:
P