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: after watching the first ten minutes of this japanese film , you will never eat a bowl of ramen the same way again .
there is a scene where an old man is teaching a young one how to eat the soupy bowl of noodles , as a master would teach an eager apprentice .
"
you caress the noodles with the chopsticks , " he says , " then put the roast pork on the side of the bowl and apologize to it by saying , ' see you soon . '
" of course , it 's meant to be a parody , but there is an earnestness underneath the silliness that makes you take it with a certain degree of sobriety .
you begin to appreciate the food as not merely something you eat , not something you like , not something you enjoy , but rather something you experience .
experiencing it is a process which engages all of the senses , fulfilling each one on its own terms and weaving them so that the total is a pleasure that is more than the sum of its parts .
trust me , you really want to go find a noodle shop at this point .
juzo itami 's tampopo brings the same sense of the serious parody of food to the forefront by making the story follow the pattern of an american western , set in modern day japan .
a stranger , goro ( tsutomu yamazaki ) , comes into town and finds tampopo ( nobuko miyamoto ) , the proprietor of a small , hole - in - the - wall noodle shop , trying to fend off the insults of the local strongman , pisken ( rikiya yasuoka ) .
goro , to defend the honor of this woman and her noodles , gets into a fight with the ringleader and his henchmen , emerging bloodied , but victorious .
goro finds that tampopo 's ambition is to have a shop that people would flock to from far away , just to eat a bowl of her ramen .
the problem is , her fare is something less than popular , and less than appetizing .
however , goro agrees to help tampopo in her quest , and in the process they seek the wisdom of an elderly noodle expert , enlist the aid of a wealthy patron , and make friends with the former enemy .
this film is filled with many little scenes which are absolute gems .
take , for example , when tampopo tries to buy the recipe for a delicious soup from another shop owner .
the price is too high , but the owner of the store next door will secretly sell it to her for a more affordable sum .
tampopo meets him at his store late at night , and he leads her to a back room .
she protests , thinking that perhaps this man has ulterior motives , but he insists .
just when she is about to bolt for the exit , he shows her a small gap in the wall adjoining his store with the noodle shop next door .
she peers through and takes notes as she watches the cook make the soup for the next day , her face filled with a joy that can be felt by the audience .
this scene , while comical , is very effective at filling the viewer with a sense of trepidation , then of relief and discovery .
there 's also an interesting scene where goro introduces tampopo and her son to a bunch of street people who , despite their economic trappings , are all gourmets and master sommeliers .
we even watch as one of them sneaks into the kitchen of a restaurant and expertly prepares a french omelet .
the scene is meant to bring a laugh , but it also says that no matter whether people are rich or poor , food is something which everyone has in common , and the enjoyment of food is an experience shared by all .
there are also a number of unrelated vignettes appearing throughout the film , which help to illustrate and accentuate the role of food in people 's lives .
a particularly effective one involves a wife and mother being tended to in her home by a doctor .
surrounded by her children , she is obviously in her last hours of life .
her husband comes home , and seeing her worsened condition , demands that she get up and make dinner .
the viewer knows the husband 's intention is not to be mean ; he is desperate for the normalcy of which he and his family has obviously been deprived , and the wife making dinner is an essential part of this .
in a near miracle , the wife drags herself to the kitchen and prepares a quick meal , then brings it to her awaiting family .
as the family eats , she looks on them and smiles . preparing food for her family is a joy and a comfort to her , and for a brief moment , she too enjoys the normalcy .
then she falls over , dead .
for a moment , the family is stunned , but then the father yells at the children , " keep eating !
this is the last meal your mother ever made !
" crying as they do so , the family finishes the meal .
the scene is comical , awkward , moving , and beautiful .
by including the vignettes , itami ran the risk of creating a disjointed film , but surprisingly , they do not interrupt the pacing of the main storyline .
instead , they even help contribute to the idea that tampopo 's goal of being able to serve exceptional food is worthy and even noble .
because the film parodies a western , the construction of the plot is fairly predictable , but is still enjoyable as we watch the familiar way in which the " good guys " come together for the final showdown .
in this case , the showdown is against the ramen .
if they eat tampopo 's ramen , soup and all , tampopo knows she has succeeded .
it 's pretty obvious what the outcome will be , but when a film changes your whole perspective on something you consume every day of your life , you can afford to cut it a little slack .
A:
P