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: nosferatu the vampyre ( germany 1979 )
a film review by mike watson copyright 1999
mike watson
this extraordinary re - telling of bram stoker 's " dracula " by german filmmaker werner herzog deserves the most prominent of places in cinematic vampire lore .
inspired by f .
w .
murnau 's 1922 silent film of the same name
, herzog 's film is a work of exquisite bleakness , an oddly touching tragedy with a beautiful and uniquely haunting quality that lingers long afterwards .
the original full - length english and german language versions of nosferatu have at last received a video release by u . s .
distributor anchor bay entertainment , and in gorgeous widescreen prints .
until now only a shortened english language version of the film was available on video , and only in europe .
both of these re - releases restore the film to its full length , but viewers should still be wary of the english version due to its often stilted dialogue .
apparently the english dialogue coach herzog had on the set during filming was incompetent , and some of the voices also seem to be dubbed .
the german version with english subtitles remains the definitive one .
everyone knows the story of dracula .
or do they ?
his story has been so bastardised on film over the years that a brief reminder of the basic plot certainly wo n't hurt .
jonathan harker is a young lawyer sent to the gloomy castle dracula in transylvania to do business with a creepy count ( played by klaus kinski ) who wants to buy a house in harker 's hometown .
upon seeing a photo of harker 's wife ( the radiant isabelle adjani ) he instantly falls in love with her .
locking harker up in his castle , he sets off on a long journey to meet this woman whose beauty so bewitches him . upon divining his identity as a vampire , adjani seduces the count and lures him to his death one morning as the sun rises .
that is a story familiar to millions , but herzog has elevated stoker 's tale into the realm of - and i use this term a tad reluctantly - cinematic art .
nosferatu is as much a meditation as it is a film , shot through blue - ish and white filters and peopled with characters who perform as if they were half hypnotised .
the film 's surreal , dream - like quality is utterly mesmerising .
there is much to enjoy , but i 'll limit my praise to a few key points .
holding the film together is kinski 's remarkable performance as count dracula .
past screen portrayals , including bela lugosi 's famous turn , have largely been one dimensional and tended towards camp .
but kinski . . .
oh boy
, this is something far more compelling .
aided by a startling make - up job , he portrays dracula 's vampirism not simply as pure evil
but as some sort of loathsome disease .
this man is dreadfully lonely .
he lives in utter solitude , shunned by the locals for his hideous appearance and reputation for bloodlust .
kinski 's portrayal of the count is both creepy and deeply affecting .
when he dies , you almost feel as if this man 's tortured soul has been freed at last .
then there 's the unforgettable soundtrack , largely composed by german group popul vuh .
it is so eerily beautiful and evocative
that it 's quite impossible to imagine the film without it .
popul vuh are longtime herzog collaborators and play an ancient - sounding kind of spacemusic using piano , chants , and exotic instruments .
when i first saw this film some years ago i was so impressed i tracked down and bought a number of their albums .
the one i still listen to the most is " tantric songs " , from which most of the music in nosferatu is taken .
it 's a testament to the music 's depth that it is as powerful without the pictures as it is with them .
the album is still available on the highly respected ambient and world music label celestial harmonies .
this is a timely re - release by anchor bay .
after francis ford coppola 's unscary and woefully overblown version of bram stoker 's tale in 1992 , it is a joy to go back to herzog 's film and see the amazing things he has done with what is now a century - old story .
to some aficionados , nosferatu is quite simply the greatest vampire film ever made .
without a doubt , it is an unmistakable classic of the genre .
do n't miss it .
A:
P