In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
Example: 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 )
Example solution: N
Example explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Problem: swashbuckling adventure that can be enjoyed by both children and adults .
steven spielberg may not have directed ( he only executive produced ) but his touch certainly is evident in this movie .
and he knows a money making winner when he sees one .
the mask of zorro has the hallmarks of a blockbuster : big action , funny comedy , and the pacing of a rollercoaster .
hopkins plays
don diego de la vega , otherwise known as zorro .
a fighter for the people , he is eventually captured by don rafael montero ( stuart wilson ) , who also , unintentionally , kills his wife .
the film cuts to twenty years later , where vega still wants to montero dead .
however , he 's far too old now , and trains up thief alejandro murrieta ( banderas ) to become the new zorro .
banderas motive ?
to avenge the death of his brother , who was killed at the hands of captain love ( matthew letscher ) who rather tastefully keeps the head in a jar , in one of the more graphic scenes in this family movie .
with the scene set , the movie goes on full blast , with sword fights a - plenty and witty one liners .
banderas and hopkins have a marvellous chemistry as the two zorro 's , playing each other off with ease .
hopkins seems to come off a little better , but banderas does some excellent work .
as the bad guys , wilson and letscher seem one dimensional , but they go through the bad guy shtick in an above average way
.
the audience does hate them , which ca n't be bad .
catherine zeta - jones also pops up as hopkins daughter , and although she provides little more than the usual female lead ,
she delivers a charming , but one note , performance .
the chemistry is excellent between banderas and jones .
there 's a delightful little scene where banderas and jones have a sword fight , and every swipe an item of clothing gets slashed , until jones clothes fall off all together .
the director , fresh from the enjoyable goldeneye ( 1995 ) handles the film perfectly .
the action is well done and fast paced , the comedy put across well .
the cast help a lot , but the direction is still outstanding .
although the film is very long , the plot keeps chugging along , and there 's barely a dull moment .
however , the film is a little over indulgent , and it could have been trimmed .
it manages to hold the attention , thankfully , and the adventure and charm holds right up to the last reel
.
screenwriters john eskow , ted elliot and terry rosio have unfortunately written an cliched and one dimensional script .
although they 've bought zorro up to date with big explosions and wild action , the plot itself is barely existent .
there 's lots of little sub plots hanging around , but there 's nothing substantial to bring them all together .
the main story seems to be the fact that rafael wants to ' buy ' california using gold stolen from the guy he 's buying the land off .
this sets up for a temple of doom type plot where we see peasants slave driven into getting the gold from little mines .
however , this does n't seem to appear until nearly over a hour into the film , so the film is never quite sure where it 's going .
in the end however , zorro provides action and comedy in spades .
it suitable for everyone , so put the guilt behind , and put some more money into spielbergs bank account .
you wo n't regret it .
Solution: P