In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

[EX Q]: roman emperor marcus aurelius ( richard harris ) chooses his trusted general maximus ( russell crowe ) as his successor .
however the emperor 's evil son commodus ( joaquin phoenix ) murders his father before the announcement can be made , and maximus ( as well as his family ) is sentenced to be executed .
maximus is able to escape his executioners , but is later captured and sold as a slave to proximo ( oliver reed ) .
proximo is looking for gladiators to earn himself money ( he being a former gladiator himself ) , and maximus reluctantly uses his skills to prove himself a powerful gladiator .
when emperor commodus announces that new games will be held in the colisseum , proximo takes his gladiators there to do battle .
maximus sees this as his chance to exact revenge on commodus .
gladiator begins with a great battle sequence between the roman army and germania , and actually is able to maintain interest during the now required " 40 minutes of exposition after a kick ass opening sequence " style of moviemaking .
the only downfall of the opening sequence is the editing style used . . .
it 's choppy slow - motion which is unsettling and distracting .
it 's similar to the opening sequence in saving private ryan , but nowhere near as effective .
the actual gladiator battles are thrilling , but also a bit disjointed .
many times it 's unclear as to exactly what 's going on .
. .
all the audience can tell is that blood is being spilled .
we 're not sure who 's blood or by who 's hand though .
there 's an instance of this earlier in the film too
that 's disappointing .
it 's comes when maximus escapes his executioners .
some flashes and a few quick cuts later and maximus is free . . .
but i still do n't know exactly how he did it .
russell crowe should have become a major star after his gleefully over the top role as a computer generated serial killer in 1995 's virtuosity .
for whatever reason his stardom never arrived . . .
but he should have it now .
from here on moviegoers should now be able to say , " let 's go see the new russell crowe movie " .
he gets the best scene in the film ( and one of the best moments of all recent movies ) when he reveals his identity to commodus in the colisseum .
it 's both rousing and chilling
.
joaquin phoenix
does a very effective job of making commodus a person and not just a cartoon character ( which could have easily happened ) .
commodus is conniving , sneaky and whiny , but phoenix never lets the character get silly .
it 's a very good ( and very creepy ) performance .
oliver reed died during the filming of gladiator , and it 's a huge loss to the acting world .
i 've always been fascinated with reed .
. .
he 's one of those very talented performers who once had a fine career but ended up in direct to video junk during his twilight years .
it 's ironic that this film probably would have gotten him back into real movies again , as he gives a fun and sincere performance .
the film is dedicated to him , and he will surely be missed .
reed 's death presented the filmmakers with an obvious problem , as he still had scenes to be completed . rather than recast the role ( and end up reshooting a great deal of footage ) , a digital version of oliver reed was created at a reported cost of 2 million dollars .
ironically , that was probably more money than reed ever earned for a single film .
anyway , this digital effect is only used in one scene that i am aware of ( for about twenty seconds ) and if you are n't looking for it you wo n't even be able to tell .
some of the other digital effects are less convincing however .
. .
and like i always say , noticable digital effects take me out of a movie immediately .
it 's sad that such a good film has these distractions .
movies like the fall of the roman empire and spartacus seemed to do okay without the use of computer effects .
keep in mind that gladiator is based on real people and real events , but is entirely a work of fiction .
however it 's a work of fiction that 's great entertainment , and
another film to add to the list of damn fine flicks released in 2000 a .
d .
[EX A]: P

[EX Q]: toward the bottom of the ' 80s action movie barrel lies action jackson , the only movie in hollywood history to show sharon stone and vanity topless within a span of ten minutes .
this carl " apollo creed
" weathers vehicle features the traditional cop vs .
evil establishment crook , and relies on all the ' 80s trappings , from the token heroin addict who needs a fix to the shouting superior officer .
somewhere in between come the explosions and boobs , although there is a curious lack of exploding boobs .
weathers is action jackson , a detroit cop known for all sorts of crazy vigilante techniques .
speaking of one past criminal apprehension , jackson 's superior yells , " you tore his arm off !
" jackson replies , " he had a spare .
"
jackson has been busted down to a desk job because of past problems with auto manufacturer dellaplane ( craig t . nelson ) and now has to act as department liaison to a dinner honoring nelson .
after hearing what jackson thinks of him , stone says , " i take it
you 're not one of dellaplane 's friends . "
" not unless they changed the definition , " jackson glowers .
and of course it turns out stone is mrs .
dellaplane .
faux pas , jackson . .
.
not everything is happy in motown ; people are being killed and dellaplane has evil plans for the awa .
it 's all up to jackson to stop it , and his only lead lies in vanity ( not his own ) .
wherever she left off with prince in terms of exchanging sexual favors for career advancement she picks up in action jackson .
she plays the heroin addict and chanteuse in dellaplane 's nightclub .
after singing one particularly sultry number for him , she saunters over and complains , " i expected a standing ovation .
"
he responds , " you 're getting one , " and it 's damn clever because he 's sitting down at the time .
prince would n't even let out an innuendo that lame
and he 's the king of the horndogs .
. .
or at least the prince .
it 's a testament to the ' 80s that sharon stone is killed off within the first 30 minutes but vanity survives the whole movie .
action jackson is another variation on the " unlikely partners " buddy action flick , with jackson lugging junkie vanity around .
this leads to some of the worst paired acting of the me decade , and with the dialogue they 're given , there 's not much room for improvement .
my favorite is when vanity , feeling the effects of drug withdrawal , says , " i feel like my teeth are hollow , my gums are made of dry rubber and someone 's trying to start a bonfire in the back of my bloody head .
"
jackson 's response is , " i think i felt that way once .
they called it love .
"
you 'll understand when i say watch this at your own risk . serving the world for nearly 1/25th of a century !
[EX A]: N

[EX Q]: dora ( fernanda montenegro ) sits behind a make - shift desk at rio+s major train station .
she , in her colorful demeanor , offers a service that is unheard of in the states .
she writes letters for the illiterate , who pass through , to try to find lost relatives , find love , or search after lost debts .
she+s
quirky , she+s elderly , she+s caring .
totally trustworthy , right ? not a chance .
once home , she never sends these letters , saving money on postage , and relishing in the drama contained therein with her neighbor irene ( mar ?
lia
p ? ra ) .
one of the letters is sent by a young mother with her nine - year old son , looking for their father .
shortly thereafter , she gets hit by a bus , and the son is orphaned .
days go by , and the boy , named josu ?
, roams around the station , hungry , desperate , and somewhat clueless to his predictament .
through a series of circumstances too precious to elaborate upon , dora somehow takes a responsibility in trying to find josu ?
+ s father .
this means leaving the security of rio , traveling to the outskirts of brazil , where unpaved roads , religious devotees and the poverty - stricken become commonplace .
films like this remind me as to what i enjoy about some foreign films .
it is an opportunity for me to get a fresh breath in another part of the world , so distant from my own .
it does so entertainingly , and so heart - wrenchingly
.
and yet , it+s backdrop is merely that .
the focus is on the minute transformation of dora , of how she learns to love this little kid , without being cloying or sentimental .
the most interesting backdrop is the amount of religious dedication is in the film .
dora being an amoral scam - artist , could care less about the amount of bickering between the candle - lighting of the catholics versus the bumper - sticker mentality of the evangelicals .
but neither side is trivialized .
she even begins to develop an affection for a non - drinking evangelical , who sees the problems with dora , if not initially .
fernanda montenegro surprisingly got an oscar nomination for this very delicate performance , but the true marvel is that of vinicius de oliveira , who plays josu ? .
he , like the discoveries of j ?
r ?
mie renier
( _ la promesse _ ) and giorgio cantarini
( _ life is beautiful _ ) , prove that the true acting discoveries may be outside of the united states .
he is a natural , and never once grating .
send a memo to jonathan taylor thomas .
[EX A]:
P