Detailed Instructions: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
See one example below:
Problem: 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 )
Solution: N
Explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Problem: this film is based on the campy tv show from the 1960 's under the same appellation .
mind you , most people ( including yours truly ) who will see this movie will not have seen any episodes from the original series .
the movie is really a stand alone in that regard .
the family robinson .
. .
lost in space .
plot : set in the year 2058 , the family robinson is chosen to sail out into space in search of other planets that might contain the natural resources earth needs in order to survive its future .
a colonization process , if you will .
they are joined by able pilot west ( leblanc ) , and evil uninvited stowaway ( oldman ) , who does not want to see the trip conclude on a successful tip .
eventually , their trek goes awry , and all are " lost in space " .
"
how do get back to earth ?
" is the question that infests the rest of this sci - fi epic .
critique : this film reminded me a lot of the fifth element ( 6 . 5/10 ) from the summer of 1997 .
it 's a film with a lot of flash , but very little actual substance .
admittedly , there is n't an annoying character like chris tucker from the other film , but this film does run a little too long , and did lose me in regards to its complex time - travel / multi - dimensional story line .
having said that , the special effects in this movie were amazing , and the overall look and feel were also way above average .
you really felt like you were in the future , and riding through space with these poor souls .
unfortunately for this chosen family , their 10-year old son is the smartest one in the group , and the father is too wrapped up in his work to notice the rest of his family ( ever heard that one before ?
yawn ! ) .
the acting is ok , and i was especially surprised at the solid performance by tv friend 's matt leblanc who shows us all that he 's definitely more than just a pretty face .
on the down side , the family riff - raff that cuts through most of the picture is lame and time - consuming ( even though
we got ta give them credit for " trying " to develop characters in a sci - fi pic ) , the story line is hard to follow , the evil character in the movie actually tells people that he 's " evil " , and the movie goes on for about 20 minutes too long .
on the slick side , many of the special effects are really cool
( the sequence in which the family is " paralyzed " during the hyper - drive is awesome , and the animated monkey that joins the family halfway through the flic is mucho cool ) , the credit presentation at the end of the film is slamming , and
the adventures that they fall into are somewhat thrilling
( i will also admit that " somehow " they got me to semi - tear up near the conclusion of this picture . . . .
very odd . . . . . ) .
overall , if you 're a big sci - fi fan , check this movie out for the special effects and challenging narrative , and if you 're not , i would still suggest seeing this movie , but then you could probably wait until it comes out on video so that you forward past some of the boring parts .
little known facts : this film will always be remembered as the movie that knocked titanic ( 7/10 ) out of the top spot at the box - office after 15 straight weeks at number one .
garry oldman is british , and was once married to uma thurman for about six months .
mimi rogers was tom cruise 's first wife .
Solution:
P