Teacher: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? If you are still confused, see the following 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 )
Solution: N
Reason: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").

Now, solve this instance: frequency n . ,
the number of times a specified phenomenon occurs within a specified interval as the number of repetitions of a complete sequence of values of a periodic function per unit variation of an independent variable ?
etc do n't worry .
when watching the thriller frequency , you wo n't have to know what the heck frequency means .
the premise , although it may sound complex , is very basic on the big screen .
a new york cop , john , ( jim caviezel ) finds a radio in his house , which allows him to communicate with his new york firefighter father , frank , ( dennis quaid ) who died thirty years ago .
immediately john warns his father that he will die trying to stop a fire in an abandoned warehouse .
when frank takes his advice and survives the accident he was n't supposed to , the two eventually realize that by changing that one moment in the past , they have created a whole new future in which a serial killer murders john 's mother and nine other women .
it is now up to john and frank to use their special connection and save thirty years ago to make present time a better place .
( i told you that was n't confusing ? ) .
overall , i was very pleased with frequency .
it 's occasional sappy moments perfectly synchronized with its suspenseful serial killer scenes .
i usually do n't buy those cheesy
" i love you dad " segments in movies , but this one surprisingly satisfied me .
maybe because the plot is so creative and universal that i believed that this is how most people would act when talking to a dead relative .
frequency 's creepy premise left me thinking once the film ended ,
what if ?
what would i do ?
would i help my own family or save a historical figure from being assasinated ? or stop some kids from shooting other kids ? or buy stock from yahoo ! ?
( a character in the film does the latter with humorous consequences ) .
frequency also reminded me of the fantastic back to the future .
both share that " change the past slightly , and you 'll change the future heavily " warning .
the changes between the present and the past , such as different newspaper headlines or people disappearing and reappearing in photographs , are very similar .
both are also wonderful feel - good family films that can attract to a number of generations .
the only difference worth noting is that frequency 's final scene does n't set up a possibility for a lucrative sequel already in the making .
there are some problems with the film though .
first , there is a major flaw in the story towards the end that is somewhat distracting ( email me if you have seen the movie and want to know what i think it is ) .
the plot must have confused even the filmmakers who frequently ( no pun intended ) switch from 1969 to 1999 while telling the story .
another problem is that the supporting cast , including noah emmerich and andre braugher , are underused .
while in the film , which is not enough , the aforementioned actors steal every scene they are in .
frequency was a pleasant surprise for me and the audience i saw it with who cheered at the end .
even if you know what is going to happen or if you think the preview ruined the movie for you , like it almost did for me , check this movie out .
you may be surprised as well .
Student:
P