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

[EX Q]: a cop with a troubled personal life .
a ruthless villain .
a friend of the cop .
a _ dead _ friend of the cop .
a quest for vengeance .
a new partner .
a romantic interest .
a chase scene .
a chase scene
_ in san francisco _ .
a woman in peril .
a confrontation .
an explosion .
the end . yawn .
yawn .
yawn .
the preceding has been the plot of approximately twelve thousand and six action films ; this one just happens to be called metro .
i have learned to expect little from films like metro , and consequently i am bored by them more often than i am genuinely disappointed . with eddie murphy on board , however , you hope for something extra , some kind of spark .
when a film makes watching eddie murphy a tedious experience , you know it is doing something terribly wrong .
murphy stars as scott roper , a hostage negotiator for the san francisco police department who is exceedingly good at his job .
with his personal life , he is considerably less successful , facing an unhappy ex - girlfriend named veronica ( carmen ejogo ) , a gambling problem and a mountain of debt .
then his professional life gets a jolt as well when a friend and colleague ( art evans ) is murdered while investigating suspected jewel thief michael korda ( michael wincott ) .
finding korda becomes very personal to scott , and he joins with new partner kevin mccall ( michael rappaport ) to foil korda during an attempted heist .
but all is not well even with korda in jail , as scott , veronica and kevin all continue to face life - threatening danger .
metro ( the title , in case you are wondering , means absolutely nothing ) is so badly put together that even the most casual viewer may notice the miserable pacing and stray plot threads .
in the first place , korda 's rage over being discovered before he can make his big score is rendered completely pointless when he proceeds to hit the target anyway ( and , incidentally , to screw it up ) .
a reference to payoffs in the police department , followed by a conspicuous decision to keep scott off the korda case and a couple of pointed glances , is dropped abruptly with no resolution after about forty - five minutes ; even the relationship between scott and new partner kevin is so perfunctory , with kevin disappearing entirely after taking a bullet for scott , that you may yearn for bickering buddies .
worst of all is a plot structure which places the main villain ( the always menacing michael wincott ) behind bars for far too long , leaving a lot of time to kill with the tedious reconciliation of scott and veronica .
you ca n't blame murphy for being unable to muster any enthusiasm for the scenes with his bland leading lady , but he should have known better than to take this role at all .
scott roper exists in an uncomfortable middle ground between the kind of street - wise fast - talker murphy has built a career on and an actual three - dimensional character , and murphy is never able to reconcile the two .
the script seems to have been doctored for him , with a gambling problem turned into a bit of character color and his supposed inability to form relationships turned into a cause for gags rather than actual conflict , yet there is still too little comedy for murphy to work with .
for much of the film , he walks around with an intense frown , and it is over 90 minutes into metro before you hear that trademark laugh for the first time .
murphy is stranded with too few solid punch lines , and nearly all of the ones he does have bounce of ejogo and fall to the ground limply
.
i suppose i should give director thomas carter credit for taking the obligatory san francisco car chase ( how much do you want to bet on the likelihood of seeing a car soar over a hill ? )
and doing a few interesting things with it .
as vehicles are sent flying and passengers sent sprawling by a runaway cable car , it is possible at least for a moment to take some pleasure in a goofy spin on a familiar situation .
carter does an even better job by taking that old suspense stand - by -- the medicine cabinet mirror which will close to reveal a killer standing behind someone -- and using it to defuse tension not once , but
_ twice _ .
the fact that carter was able to demonstrate even that much recognition of cliches , and a willingness to subvert them , makes his involvement in the rest of the disaster
that is metro all the more puzzling .
an action film like this plods so relentlessly and obviously from point a to point b to point c that you might find yourself shouting out " point c ! " while they 're still getting to point b , or getting up with the rest of the audience after the big explosion which signals that nothing else of any consequence is going to happen .
[EX A]: N

[EX Q]: steve soderbergh 's " sex , lies , and videotape , " which won the grand prize at the cannes film festival in 1989 , arguably began the resurgence of independent films .
made on a shoestring budget of $ 1 . 2 million , with then relatively unknown actors , it is a provocative , thoroughly original drama .
the film mostly focuses on the four central characters , all in their late 20's - early 30 's .
ann ( andie macdowell ) , an unfulfilled housewife , is married to john ( peter gallagher ) , an insensitive lawyer , who , unbeknownst to her , is having an affair with her younger sister , cynthia ( laura san giacomo ) .
complicating matters even worse is graham ( james spader , who won best actor at cannes ) , john 's old college buddy , who comes to stay at their house .
ann is absolutely won over by him , even though she clearly has stated that she has very little interest in sex .
that is the set - up for the last hour of the picture , and since the film is entitled , " sex , lies , and videotape , " it is best to keep the rest of the story developments at bay so that they will come as a genuine surprise .
director steven soderbergh has proven to be a wildly offbeat filmmaker , ranging from the independent , to the mainstream ( 1998 's " out of sight " ) , to the downright kafkaesque ( 1997 's " schizopolis " ) .
he is the type of director who obviously takes a lot of chances , and believes in the work that he does , and , " sex , lies , and videotape , " is probably his most confident , and maybe even best , to date .
the performances are superb from all four leads , but macdowell stands out in what is probably the main character .
she is always a very winning actress , but this is probably her most three - dimensional role that she has had ( with a close second being altman 's 1993 mosaic , " short cuts " ) .
the other parts are perfectly cast as well , from spader 's ominous graham , to gallagher 's self - involved john , to giacomo 's outspoken cynthia .
the final act of the film , especially , comes right out of left field , and turns out to be both shocking and oddly touching , and it would be criminal to give away the film 's secrets .
suffice to say that , through one powerful sequence , ann is able to somewhat come out of her shell , and john learns a valuable lesson about honesty , as well as deception .
the film has one fault , however .
the characters are almost all emotionally cold and isolated from one another , and often unlikable .
if there had been a few extra scenes with gallagher , it probably would have helped , since his relationship with macdowell is n't quite as explored as i would have liked .
"
sex , lies , and videotape , " although minorly flawed , is still easily a brave and adult motion picture that is far more mature and honest about its subject matter than the usual film .
soderbergh clearly knew what he was doing while he was making it , and the final product certainly proves this .
[EX A]: P

[EX Q]: three things i learned from " being john malkovich " : when getting on the elevator for your first day of work on the 7 1/2th floor of a building , always bring your crowbar ; do n't stand in the way of your wife 's actualization as a man ; and , whenever entering a portal into the mind of another human being , wear old clothes , because , hey , it 's muddy in there .
" being john malkovich " is the most original film to come down the pike in a very long time .
wildly surrealistic , yet presented in a down - to - earth , funky style ,
this is the kind of movie that sticks in your head .
after savoring the sheer inventiveness of the storyline , you roll around the wealth of ideas contained within it .
from the ethics of relationships and politics of immortality to the very nature of identity itself , there 's a lot to think about here .
just do n't forget to have fun .
clearly , all parties involved in the making of the film certainly did , starting with writer charles kaufman .
"
i wrote ' being john malkovich ' without an outline , " he explains in the press notes , " blindly , with no sense of direction or purpose .
it 's important to me that i do n't have a map before i start .
this allows me to surprise myself , stay engaged , discover things , and , hopefully , allow the unconscious to surface .
"
spike jonze ( mark wahlberg 's na ?
ve buddy in " three kings " ) takes it from there .
the white - hot director of the beastie boy 's " sabotage , " an award - winning parody of ' 70s tv cop shows , as well as numerous other music videos and commercials , eschews typical mtv flash for his feature film debut .
jonze wisely realized that a storyline this unusual is most effectively presented in a low - key style .
his flat , matter - of - fact approach works perfectly .
and then there 's the cast .
john cusack plays control freak craig schwartz , a street performer who periodically gets decked by parents objecting to his remarkably expressive , but decidedly erotic puppet shows .
over the years , his marriage to obsessive pet store employee lotte ( cameron diaz ) has devolved .
once passionate lovers , the two are now little more than courteous roommates .
financially strapped , craig takes a job as an entry - level file clerk at lestercorp , located on the 7 1/2th floor of a manhattan building . navigating around dr .
lester ( orson bean ) ,
his 105 year - old boss and floris ( mary kay place ) , lester 's dotty secretary , craig tries to settle into his new position , but two things keep him distracted .
first , there 's the beautiful and imperious maxine ( catherine keener ) , who delights in tormenting craig over his obvious lust for her .
and then there 's the hole behind the file cabinet , which turns out to be a portal into the mind of actor john malkovich .
craig learns that anyone who enters the portal gets whooshed into the subconscious of malkovich , where they can experience life from his point of view ( with enough concentration , you can even influence his actions ) .
after 15 minutes , the visitor gets ejected and unceremoniously dumped in a ditch on the side of the new jersey turnpike .
then things get a little weird .
by the way , if you 're concerned that i gave away too much of the plot , rest assured - - i barely scratched the surface .
one of the most satisfying aspects of the fable is that kaufman is not content to simply milk laughs from his bizarre set - up .
instead , he crawls into the dark premise as completely as craig crawls into malkovich , rummaging around and toying with the various philosophical implications of compromising another person 's identity .
he also examines the consequences of the malko - visits to craig , lotte , maxine and , of course , john malkovich himself .
the performances are superb .
malkovich ( best known to mainstream audiences for his work in " dangerous liaisons , " " in the line of fire , " and as head psychopath in the guilty - pleasure " con air " ) tweaks his own image in a dandy self - deprecating turn .
far from his effete , vaguely reptilian persona , this malkovich is just another schlub , drinking with his pals and trying to get laid ( incidentally , charlie sheen also plays himself in a hilarious parody of his well - earned bad boy reputation ) .
as always , john cusack nails his part , handily pulling viewers along even as craig 's actions become unconscionable .
the big surprises come from catherine keener and cameron diaz , both playing against type .
kenner , usually cast in icy subordinate roles , is terrific as a highly intelligent , extremely manipulative femme fatale .
cameron diaz , barely recognizable under a mess of brown , curly hair
, sheds her perpetually sunny smile and draws big laughs as a woman thrown into extreme sexual confusion after taking a ride in malkovich .
" being john malkovich " stumbles towards the end , as jonze and kaufman try too hard to resolve the various subplots .
additional characters and increasingly complex explanations lead to a cluttered finale .
regardless , this contemporary " alice in wonderland " is a real treat .
i enjoyed watching " being john malkovich , " but only later , after reflecting on the film , did its resonance fully hit me .
at one point , craig says , " do you know what a metaphysical can of worms this portal is ? " truer words were never spoken .
[EX A]:
P