In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
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 )
Example solution: N
Example explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Problem: as the small boats rock slowly toward the shore at omaha beach normandy on d - day , the weary , seasick soldiers take a deep breath and open the large protective shield at the back of the boat .
they are unaware of exactly what is going to happen .
one man kisses the crucifix that hangs around his neck .
as the flap falls , the battle begins .
they are trapped like rats in a cage and proceed to be blown to pieces in the wake of enemy gunfire .
amid the chaos of this massacre , stands a shot that , at least for me , hangs in the air like the girl in the little red coat in schindler 's list .
a soldier , clearly missing an arm , wanders around the body - strewn beach like a lost puppy .
we are not invited to know what he is searching for until he finds it himself .
he bends over , picks up his arm and starts to carry it , probably not bothering to ask himself ; " what now ? " saving private ryan is a masterfully composed film .
the direction is out of this world , surely the type of command that can win spielberg another directing oscar .
the cinematography , by janusz kaminsky , is also astounding .
but be forewarned , this is the most violent and graphic film i have ever seen .
the articles you read and the warnings you see are justified ; saving private ryan is visually as disturbing as a film can get .
the question is , " does the story and its realism justify the excessive use ?
" the answer from my point of view is " no " .
braveheart was a truly gritty , and , one would imagine , realistic battle film .
ryan is ten times worse .
expect disembowelments , sucked in skulls , heads blown to bits , arms and legs flying across the battlefield .
many in the theater could not bear to watch .
and it is a shame , too , because this is otherwise by far one of the standouts this year .
but such graphic displays may turn away even the most loyal spielberg supporters ( and academy members ) . saving private ryan takes us from the attack at omaha beach on d - day , 1944 , through into the film 's primary mission .
captain miller ( hanks ) assembles an 8 man crew and sets off to find a missing solider , private ryan , whose three brothers have already been killed on the battlefield .
the government goes to great lengths to make sure that mrs .
ryan does n't recieve a fourth letter of condolences about her sons , that no person should suffer such injustice .
miller 's crew is not in favor of the mission and they begin to harbor a secret hatred for ryan , though they do n't yet know him .
they resent having to trudge out to bring home one soldier who does n't have any more or less right to live than any of them .
this film manages to keep up a rapid pace and , though there is a lot of set up between battles , the story continues full speed to the end .
the pacing and dramatism of the extremely well choreographed battle scenes is really in a league of it 's own .
spielberg , though not a student of the " quick cut " school of filmmaking , takes a stab at it here , and does it better than michael bay or any of his mtv counterparts could ever hope to do it .
bay should pay close attention , take copious notes .
if you want to jump cut every two seconds , do it the way spielberg does it in ryan .
in the end , the extremity of the gory violence is not justified by the " importance " of the film .
schindler 's list taught many people the truth about the holocaust .
it opened eyes , sparked debate and study .
though the battle scenes in ryan have never been portrayed as realistically before , they do n't amount to anything as serious or thought provoking as the schindler 's list .
overall , this is just the truest depiction of the old adage , " war is hell .
" but braveheart - dosage would have fit this movie much more appropriately , and would have made the difference between me getting up the nerve to see it again some day and realizing that this is something i doubt i could endure again .
masterful work marred only by excessive gore .
Solution: P