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

miramax " disinvited " on - line media from press screenings of scream 3 .
they ostensibly feared that folks like me would write spoiler - filled reviews and post them prior to the film 's february 4th release date - unsound reasoning .
you see , ' net critics established enough to be on any sort of vip list are
professionals - miramax surely knows the difference between a member of the on - line film critics society ( ofcs ) and the type of fanboy who posts spy reports at ai n't it cool news .
no , the ? mini major ' was afraid we 'd let a bigger cat out of the bag than whodunit , that scream 3 is a dismal conclusion to the beloved ( by this writer , at least ) franchise .
something smells rotten in the state of california right from the get - go
:
cotton weary ( liev schrieber ) , the former lover and would - be killer of maureen prescott , sidney 's mother , is juggling phone calls in his luxury car .
( once considered a danger to society , weary now hosts his own talk show , " 100 % cotton " , a clever , if dated , jab at american pop culture . )
of course , a new ghostface dials him up , and , with memories of scream 's unbearably suspenseful prologue in mind , we immediately wonder , where is the killer ?
the backseat ?
the next car ?
thrilling prospects , to be sure , but actually , ghostface is at the weary residence , waiting for cotton 's girlfriend ( kelly rutheford ) to finishing showering .
what 's missing from this sequence , and indeed scream 3 's remaining frights ( most disappointingly , the moment when an ingenue is forced to hide in a wardrobe room filled with ghostface costumes , one of which might spring to life ) , is an elaborate and attenuated payoff .
our other surviving regulars have become estranged .
sidney ( campbell ) is living a paranoid existence of electronic gates and password - protected locks , while dewey ( arquette ) acts as technical advisor on the second sequel to scream 2 's movie - within - a - movie , " stab 3 " , and gale weathers ( cox arquette ) headlines a gossipy news program .
murder reunites them , as knife - wielding ghostface stalks the set of " stab 3 " , imitating its sadistic screenplay - and his / her / their own personal draft climaxes with sidney 's death .
the appeal of ghostface 's villainy is that he /
she
/ they could be your boyfriend , your classmate , your next door neighbour . . . or a combination of people .
scream was the first of its kind : a slasher mystery , with the guessing game not only entailing who will be next , but also who is /
are the perpetrator ( s ) and
what is / are his / her / their motive .
ironic self - reflection aside
, parts one and two stand out in a crowd that includes umpteen friday the 13th and halloween flicks because there 's at last articulate human beings behind the iconic costume .
with scream 3 , the novelty of ghostface 's ever - mutating identity has worn off some , but the character remains conceptually potent .
conceptually .
the execution of ghostface 's master plan this time around is creaky , because screenwriter ehren kruger has invented a new mythology for the world of sidney prescott far afield from what we 'd come to understand in scream and scream 2 .
the movie gets in the silly habit of saying " all bets are off ! " in reference to the " rules " of a trilogy 's third act , but there 's a difference between rule breaking and cheating .
with the departure of kevin williamson , who authored the previous screams as well as a tidy outline for scream 3 ( that , for reasons incomprehensible to me , was ignored , save the notion of " stab 3 " ) , kruger needed to be reined in tighter , and by wes craven .
craven 's direction of scream 3 is lazy in most respects .
how else to explain the jay and silent bob cameo ( the slacker duo of kevin smith movies ) , akin to seeing mickey mouse pop up in mulan and more distracting than funny .
it pains me to write this , but scream 3 's comedy is generally laughless , with the exception of well - timed performances by josh pais ( as a police detective possessed of the same personality he had as a persnickety teacher in craven 's music of the heart ) , jamie kennedy ( resurrecting film geek randy for the sendoff he was denied in scream 2 ) , and parker posey ( through sheer force of will as a b - actress ) .
the visuals are much weaker in part three , as well - the occasional sweeping gesture of peter deming 's camera is a pale imitation of the stalking steadicam craven gave us twice before .
( aside : in the wake of columbine , craven toned down the violence significantly for scream 3-why the sanctimony , when scream and scream 2 are still readily available on video store shelves ? )
finally , marco beltrami 's music cues the suspense too blatantly
- do you recall the tense chase at the college radio station in scream 2 ?
it 's mostly silent .
sting notes are a whole lot more effective if they spring from nowhere ; here ,
they act as the crescendos of an incessantly nerve - jangling score .
i look at scream 3 as coming from an alternative universe , the same place that birthed the godfather part iii and superman
iii - woefully out of synch with its prequels , scream 3 is a nightmare instead of nightmarish , and will likely put the horror genre back in mothballs .
the film unintentionally follows the unspoken rule of a trilogy to a t : ?
part three must disappoint ' .
N

it happens every year -- the days get longer , the weather gets warmer and the studios start releasing their big - budget blockbusters .
this year 's crop already seems inferior to that of past summers , even 1997 's lackluster trio of batman & robin , the fifth element and the lost world .
the marketing blitz in 1998 has been centered on godzilla ( " heeere , lee - zerd , lee - zerd . . . " ) , which does n't make me optimistic about future summers .
godzilla is , of course , based on a series of cult movies ( translation : really bad movies only a few people can tolerate ) from japan that turn up really late at night on ted turner - owned cable stations .
that this big - budget remake wo n't rise above its roots is fairly obvious .
the credits show us the origin of godzilla .
in five words : nuclear explosion creates giant lizard .
sounds like an enquirer headline , does n't it ?
the mushroom cloud is followed by the inevitable " discovery " sequence .
this time , a japanese guy is eating noodles with chopsticks while watching sumo wrestling ( if that ai n't a stereotype . . . )
when he discovers the telltale radar blip .
people die .
cut to our protagonist , played by matthew broderick .
he makes his first appearance wearing headphones , warbling along to " singin ' in the rain .
"
it 's a none - too - subtle sign that he wishes he were in a classier movie .
no dice , bueller .
from the beginning , poor matthew has to do embarassing things like fondle giant earthworms and stand in godzilla 's enormous footprint .
every disaster movie has to have a know - it - all scientist , and this time broderick is it .
as the world 's leading expert on radiated earthworms ( and would n't you love to have that printed on your business card ? ) , broderick is invaluable to the government .
he immediately dispels vicki lewis ' theory that godzilla is a dinosaur because , hey , you ca n't take seriously the intellectual arguments of " newsradio " cast members .
broderick instead hits the nail on the head , announcing godzilla is a radiated lizard .
"
the radiation is n't an anamoly , " he announces , and lightning strikes .
"
i believe this is a mutated abberation , " he continues , and lightning strikes again .
it 's vocabulary lightning , you see ,
activated by words of four syllables or more .
meanwhile , we 're introduced to our new york cast , headed by an ambitious broadcast journalist ( maria patillo ) , broderick 's former love .
gee , what are the odds their paths will cross again at a dramatically important time ?
poor patillo has been trying to get ahead in the news business for years but has been held down by heartless anchorman harry shearer .
italian cameraman hank azaria tells her she 's not ruthless enough : " nice does n't get you anywhere in this town .
it 's dog eat dog .
"
actually , it 's lizard eat city , as godzilla emerges from the atlantic to begin a rampage on the big apple 's core .
the filmmakers provide us with a one - note drunk fisherman who hooks godzilla .
"
i think i 've got a bite , " he announces as a gigantic tidal wave begins rushing toward him .
you can guess what happens next .
similar reactions spring forth as the monster prowls the city .
hearing the rumble of approaching footsteps , one new yorker remarks , " please do n't tell me that 's another parade .
" please do n't tell me that 's the best line you could come up with .
mayor ebert is not pleased . played by the principal from " head of the class , " he continually makes the wrong decision when given an option , and bickers with his assistant gene .
i guess the filmmakers knew they 'd be getting two thumbs down from the critics and did n't even bother to kiss ass .
the problem is , if you 're going to attack siskel and ebert , you should at least make it funny .
dialogue like , " did n't we agree that we were n't going to have any sweets until after the election ?
" followed by , " back off , gene , " just does n't work for me .
other lame running jokes include everyone mispronouncing the broderick character 's last name and frenchman jean reno 's inability to find a good cup of coffee in new york .
there 's even more fun to be had as godzilla progresses .
as the beast heads back into hiding , broderick suggests the military lure it out with food .
cue twelve dump trucks , all dropping fish into a new york intersection .
( broderick :
that 's a lot of fish . )
that ambush fails , but broderick soon figures out why godzilla came to new york by buying $ 50 worth of home pregnancy tests and running lizard blood through them .
yep , godzilla 's with children , which makes you wonder just what kind of creature would be horny enough to have sex with godzilla .
that 's until broderick explains that godzilla reproduces asexually , like linda tripp .
godzilla comes to us from the makers of independence day , so
it has a lot of dumb action scenes , destructive special effects and shallow subplots .
look no further than patillo 's betrayal of broderick
( patillo : what have i done , animal ?
what have i become ? ) and the climactic " godzilla 's nest " sequence in madison square garden .
the main difference is , independence day was about the experience .
it had a real global , patriotic element to it , and some genuinely fun characters .
godzilla has lots of rain and lightning , reptilian action ripped off from jurassic park and endless product placement from the likes of kodak , blockbuster , juicy fruit , swatch , sprint and bumble bee tuna .
yes , bumble bee actually paid to be known as the official tuna of godzilla .
that fact alone is twice as interesting as anything in the movie .
N

the heartbreak kid ( reviewed on aug .
26th/1998 ) starring charles grodin , cybill sheppard , eddie albert in " the heartbreak kid " , charles grodin plays one of the most unbelievably obnoxious characters i 've seen on screen in a long time .
he 's a guy who spends virtually the entire running time of the movie bullshitting his way from one situation to another .
i doubt he ever expressed any genuine feeling at all during the film .
as the film opens , he has just gotten married , and is on the way to miami beach for his honeymoon .
halfway there , he begins to resent his bride .
by the time he arrives at his hotel and has met the cybill sheppard character , he is ready to divorce his wife .
as played by grodin , this character is the type of person that nothing will ever be good enough for him .
the phrase " the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence " was practically written with him in mind .
however , if he finds something he really wants , he will pursue it for as long as it takes .
the only problem is , once he has it , he immediately loses interest .
the end of " the heartbreak kid " is both hilarious and sad for that very reason .
charles grodin is at his smarmy best here , and sheppard is quite appealing as the object of grodin 's desire . however , the real scene stealer is jeannie berlin , daughter of director elaine may , as grodin 's whiny bride .
she owns every scene that she 's in , and makes you almost want to root for what the grodin character is trying to do .
"
the heartbreak kid " was written by neil simon and it shows .
simon loves to deconstruct and analyze human relationships , and he 's at the top of his game here .
as maddeningly obnoxious as the grodin character is , he 's the type of guy that everyone knows .
the character of george costanza on " seinfeld " seems to have been modelled after him .
the only problem with the film is that it 's not that funny , and it 's billed as a comedy . as much as i could see the realism in the characters , it would have been nice to have a chuckle here and there .
"
the heartbreak kid " is not a date movie .
it has an extremely negative view of relationships , so seeing it with a girlfriend / boyfriend , could be hazardus to your health .
P