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: ingredients : lost parrot trying to get home , friends synopsis : a russian janitor named misha ( tony shalhoub ) discovers a little old parrot languishing in the basement of a science research facility .
" paulie the talking parrot " ( the voice of jay mohr ) soon regales misha with his life story .
as a young bird paulie is raised by marie ( hallie kate eisenberg ) , a little girl with a speech impediment .
by attending marie 's speech lessons , paulie learns to act / speak like a regular person .
unfortunately , after being unfairly blamed for an accident , paulie is taken to a pawn shop and sold .
paulie 's biggest wish is to return to marie .
many years later , and after a succession of memorable owners ( gena rowlands , cheech marin , and jay mohr ) , paulie falls in with a bad crowd and is apprehended in los angeles trying to steal jewelry .
he is sent to a cruel research facility , where he refuses to participate and is imprisoned the basement .
will misha help paulie get back to marie ?
opinion :
every time people watch movies that portray animals as beings with cute human personalities , some well - meaning audience members go out next christmas or birthday and buy a dalmatian or whatever creature is currently popular .
soon enough , " birthday kid " loses interest and the purchased pup ends up at the local pound , a victim of neglect .
my sister owns a real paulie : it thinks like a parrot , bites like a parrot , and requires as much attention as a newborn human infant .
please think twice before buying one .
okay .
back to the story .
in movies , parrots usually play support characters , but paulie might be the first movie where the ( animatronic ) bird gets main billing .
paulie , like those side characters in disney cartoons , is cute and sassy , a strutting , miniature human .
actually , paulie is the voice of jay mohr ( he played jennifer aniston 's boyfriend on picture perfect ) doing his best buddy hackett impression ( which is interesting , since hackett himself cameos as the pawn shop owner , and mohr doubles as a customer ) .
paulie is for kids .
while watching paulie you hear little tykes in the theater laughing hysterically when paulie calls the cat a " stupid furball .
" sometimes , however , there are statements the kids do n't get .
for example , when paulie 's elderly owner ivy ( gena rowlands )
dies , paulie explains , " well , one day , the cat got her .
"
and you hear kids exclaim , " what cat ? !
" imagine lassie come home , except with a doll - sized human dressed as a bird , and you 'll have a good idea of the plot and characterization .
bird tries to get home .
bird meets elderly friend .
bird loses elderly friend .
bird meets eccentric friend .
bird loses eccentric friend .
bird meets bad influence .
and so on and so forth , with paulie meeting friends and saying goodbye at a meandering pace until he finally makes it back to marie ( trini alvarado ) .
the bottom line ? break out the popcorn money , moms and dads .
paulie may be the low end version of lassie , bambi , or babe , but he 'll do .
sometimes the wisecracks go over their heads , but i 'm sure youngsters can appreciate a story about a little person ( paulie ) trying to get home , meeting friends and experiencing moral lessons on the way .
and good luck explaining what it means when paulie says of ivy , " well , one day , the cat got her . "
Solution: P