instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
roger ebert asks in his review of sexy beast , " who would have guessed that the most savage mad - dog frothing gangster in recent movies would be played by . . .
ben kingsley ?
"
my response would be that anyone who has seen alan arkin in wait until dark , henry fonda in once upon a time in the west , or anthony hopkins in the silence of the lambs should have guessed it .
they should know that the way for a film to create a really creepy sociopath is cast someone who generally plays mild , sympathetic , or even ineffectual character roles .
the same characteristics that make an actor seem gentle in most of his roles can work in his favor when a role calls for him to be fierce and vicious .
that is the principle that works for kingsley in sexy beast .
gary " gal " dove ( played by ray winstone ) has retired from a london career of crime and is living on a luxurious villa in spain .
life has become a routine of sunning himself and relaxing .
but his paradise is about to be shattered by a one - two - punch .
the first punch is a boulder that comes rolling down the hill next to the villa .
the second punch comes from gal 's past .
back in london
gang boss teddy bass
( ian mcshane , tv 's lovejoy ) is planning to break into a safety deposit room in a bank and he wants gal .
he sends his most rabid henchman don logan ( ben kingsley ) to fetch gal .
don will accept any decision gal makes from " yes " to " certainly .
" however , if gal says " no " don will do whatever it takes to turn it into a yes including threatening guy 's ex - porn- star wife deedee ( amanda redman ) . in the meantime don knows just how to get under everybody 's skin .
kingsley makes don a compact package of fury and nastiness .
there are some serious problems in louis mellis 's and david scinto 's script that should have been caught before filming .
when we see the actual crime we have no idea why gal was so important to its success .
beyond an ability to use skin - diving gear , no special talents are required of him .
any local hood could have done what gal is needed for .
additionally the crime involves digging from a swimming pool to the bank vault , flooding the vault .
no only
could they have let the water out of the pool and avoided the complication altogether , but there is by far too much water to be accounted for by what was in the pool .
in spite of the provocative title , the story is cliched and overly familiar .
i know i have seen all the plot elements of sexy beast in old westerns like the law and jake wade .
the story is usually of the reformed outlaw , a robert taylor type , who has hung up his guns and is trying for a life of peaceful respectability .
the old gang , however , wants to do one more job with their old buddy and sends a rabid richard widmark type to go and git ?
i m .
it is not a great plot .
in sexy beast even the plot twists have gray beards .
perhaps the film has a little more respectability because it was made not as a western but as a stylish british gangster film .
it is an old plot dressed up to look new .
if the plot is old , at least the style is creative .
this is director jonathan glazer 's first film , but he has reputedly done some notable tv ads for guinness stout .
his style does have some unexpected touches including some very odd dream sequences .
cinematographer ivan bird uses a lot of half lit scenes .
we see one side of a person 's faces .
but the other side fades into the darkness , a sort of metaphor for the half - world these characters in - habit .
half of everything that is happening is also kept hidden .
us yanks will have a hard time with some of the dialog .
at least in my theater it was difficult to make out the words with the quiet speaking , the heavy accents , and the cockney language .
sexy beast is a very and familiar minor plot lent respectability in the us by being done in what is here a still somewhat novel genre , the london crime film .
the plot may be new to british crime films , but it would be overly familiar as a western .
further respectability comes from ben kingsley 's high - powered performance .
i give it a 4 on the 0 to 10 scale and a 0 on the -4 to +4 scale .
answer:
N

question:
i am a steven seagal fan .
i only say this now because " mufti splenetik " is n't my real name and because i probably need to explain why i went into this film expecting great things .
any proud seagal fan worth his beans will tell you that the seagal formula is something you can depend on .
seagal films can always be counted on for minimal dialogue , heaps of expendable baddies with extemely crunchable bones ( which we 'll always hear when seagal does his limb - twisting thing ) , rarely a female co - lead in sight ( unless it 's a real - life model - wife who has n't worked since weird science ) and , usually the worst possible titles you can imagine .
not to mention very straightforward plots , generally all - round bad dialogue and mr implacable leather - face himself in that same black outfit he 's been in since nico doing his " my hands are sharp , nimble knives " thing , seagal the stoic , sir petrified ponytail , duke of dull .
in the glimmer man , seagal breaks out of this formula : he gets a * sidekick *
, attempts to banter , and puts on a new vest .
he 's also put on quite a lot of weight .
small potatoes , you may say , a man should be able to accessorize and banter if he wants to , but damnit , if it ai n't broke , why fix it ?
( more on this disappointed person 's dashed expectations later ) .
as jack cole , seagal is a homicide detective with a questionable past .
while he and his partner ( played by keenen ivory wayans ) are investigating a series of ritual killings , cole himself becomes a suspect , especially when a background check run by campbell reveals practically nothing on cole .
it turns out that cole is a former trained government assassin ( you just ca n't trust these homicide detectives ) , someone whom victims used to catch just a glimpse of in the jungle before he pounced on them , and hence , well , you know , that " glimmer man " thing .
an increasingly fishy homicide investigation in the present soon leads to the gradual uncovering of a larger , more threatening conspiracy that involves a crooked businessman ( bob gunton ) , cole 's former cia boss ( brian cox ) and deals involving chemical weapons .
the glimmer man plot is pretty standard stuff , drawing ( as with his other films ) elements from the hotter films of the year ( eg , se7en ) .
it 's the other changes that disappoint .
for example , although there 's a fair amount of violence in this movie , there 's also the disastrous pairing of seagal with keenen ivory wayans , probably the best known of the wayans tribe ( how many are there , exactly ? ) from television 's " in living colour .
" wayans plays whiney straightman to seagal 's bead - adorned and brocade - draped cole , keeping up his " are you crazy " part of the dialogue with wasted zest .
as campbell , wayans confines himself to bemoaning his new partner 's eccentric habits , but the chemistry between the two is minimal , and seagal 's wooden comebacks make for painful watching .
a cook in under seige 2 , seagal is now a buddhist who speaks chinese and wears prayer beads and intricate silk jackets over his normal black ensemble .
he chants , refuses to fight unless truly provoked and introduces campbell to powdered deer penis to cure his allergies .
again , a benign ( if trite ) plot device except for the fact that these new character traits require seagal to speak more than usual .
heck , he has to deliver punchlines and carry a steady conversation with someone other than himself for a large part of the film .
is that a lot to ask of the seague ? too much .
seagal 's best characteristic used to be that he knew his purpose in this already complicated world of movies : to crunchily snap off bad guy appendages , and to do it silently , and alone .
not for seagal , the snappy one - liners of arnold and stallone , nor the attempts to show that he can act , much less think .
no kindergarten cop , no oscar , just simple , unadulterated deathblows .
that 's really how it must have started : like - minded fans who knew what they wanted streamed in to watch the seague do his thing , knowing that never in the seagal universe would they ever have to see him do anything else .
we trusted him .
we got to know him .
now , betrayal .
i do n't know if i can watch another seagal movie without that little niggling doubt that he 's going to try to be funny again .
i 'll try , but it wo n't be easy .
if you have n't watched the glimmer man yet ,
you might want to wait for the video to come out .
it 's easier to just fast forward the dialogue parts and linger on the action sequences .
after all , if we ca n't depend on our fantasies , what can we depend on ?
the flying inkpot rating system :
* wait for the tv2 broadcast .
*
* a little creaky , but still better than staying at home with gotcha !
*
* * pretty good , bring a friend .
*
*
* * amazing , potent stuff .
*
*
*
* * perfection .
see it twice .
mufti spelenetik is still a steven seagal fan .
everybody makes mistakes once in awhile .
answer:
N

question:
losing a job is not an all too uncommon thing .
reacting to such a personal setback by taking a group of small children hostage is a bit more rare .
while we all might feel the desire to blow someone 's head off with a shotgun when they do n't seem to grasp our point of view , actually threatening them with one is usually something we avoid .
this is n't the case with sam baily - john travolta 's slightly askew average - joe persona in mad city .
"
i do n't think people listen to guys like me , " sam laments during an exclusive interview from behind the walls of a museum .
just a few days ago , sam was a guard at this same museum , but when cutbacks led to the elimination of his security position , sam 's apprehension resulted in a brash decision .
in an effort to get his ex - boss , museum director mrs .
banks ( blythe danner ) , to " just listen " , he barges into the museum one day equipped with a fully loaded shotgun , taking the uncooperative banks and a group of school children hostage .
sam 's overall concern is valid enough - if he loses his job , his paycheck , his benefits , etc . , his wife and two children wo n't be provided for .
he 's not a lunatic or a hot - tempered madman , he 's somewhat like a child - panicky , compulsive , and running on emotion - and his naive intentions are n't helped any by the fact that banks was n't overly compassionate with the let go .
overall , he 's just like you and me - except that he has the capacity to view the line we 'd deem " far enough " as the starting mark of some crazy race .
meanwhile , television reporter max brackett ( dustin hoffman ) is also on the scene .
covering a " fluff " story for the evening news concerning the museum cutbacks , max suddenly finds himself in the middle of the biggest - breaking news story he ever could 've hoped for . having been demoted from network newsman to smalltime affiliate reporting , max is anxious to turn this into his , and only his , story .
max immediately bonds with sam .
max even coaches sam thru hostage negotiations and writes scripts for him to use with the police over the phone .
at first , max 's intentions do n't stretch beyond high ratings and a good boost to the ole pride factor , but as he gets to know sam more personally , he begins to sympathize and even become somewhat of an advocate for him .
the media , however , is creating a frenzy that leaves the fickle public shifting gears as often as a diesel truck moving downhill .
the accidental shooting of ex - co- worker cliff ( bill nunn ) , a black security guard , becomes one of the main factors in the controversy over sam 's honest ambitions .
also involved in this film are robert prosky as lou potts , head of the news department of the station max falls directly under , and alan alda as the nationally famed reporter kevin hollander , who uses his network power to try and outshine max .
alda and prosky
both turn in fine performances that fit like gloves on their acting abilities .
then there is mia kirshner , who plays the young tv station intern laurie .
she falls under max 's wings only to become a student taught too well in the way of sensationalistic reporting .
kirshner 's credits are relatively small for now , including roles in films like exotica and the forgettable sequel to the crow .
still , kirshner 's character transformation shows that she has shining ability to play both good girl and kinda - bitchy - in - a - reserved - way roles .
i would n't mind seeing her in some more prevalent parts , where perhaps her talent will be able to blossom more fully onscreen .
while the viewpoint of the media as a greedy , self - righteous monster has indeed been tackled before , mad city provides a solid two hours of enjoyability .
hoffman and travolta are both excellent actors , and seeing them together is a real treat .
they both do a great job at smoothly and naturally becoming their characters , and they provide enough chemistry for us to genuinely care for both .
there is quite a bit of humor in this film , and without it , it could 've fallen into a drab , cliched social statement more likely to garner sleep from the audience than applause .
this is n't a flick that will grip at both your funny bone and your heart , but it will lightly touch both , making for a recommendable movie .
if for nothing more than the opportunity to watch both hoffman and travolta at the same time , i urge you to check this one out .
answer:
P