Part 1. Definition
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
Part 2. 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 )
Answer: N
Explanation: The phrases used in the review convey a negative sentiment (e.g. "presents it in a very bad package").
Part 3. Exercise
the film " magnolia " can be compared to a simple flower as its title and movie poster suggests .
the dozens of characters introduced and developed are like the petals on the flower .
they all come from the same stem and as the flower begins to develop they grow farther and farther apart .
the numerous characters in the film are all closely connected no matter how different they are from one another socially .
from a humiliated but kind cop to an aging game show host , each one of these characters is suffering the same kind of pain .
they are each seriously lonely and seek the perfect companion to end this loneliness .
whether this companion is a distant family member or a spouse , each character begs for one and spends the whole film searching for the perfect one .
" magnolia " is a clever , well thought out film from prodigy director - writer paul thomas anderson of " boogie nights " fame .
the detailed character analyses and the powerful script make " magnolia " memorable .
however , what really is impressive is that even though there are tons of characters in several unrelated stories , the film is never confusing .
anderson 's control over transitioning from one story to another story is masterful .
he also knows exactly when to cut to another subplot since not one of " magnolia 's " scenes drag on too long .
any three hour film that does not deliver even one uninteresting scene is definitely worth recommending .
from the fascinating beginning to the risky yet surprisingly satisfying ending the film just does n't get boring
.
it is obvious that anderson put a lot of time into connecting each subplot .
this is the ultimate game of six degrees of separation .
every character is connected to every other character by at the most two degrees .
for example , cop john c .
reilly is connected to game show host phillip baker hall through hall 's daughter melora walters who once went on a date with reilly .
the fact that each character is so different from the others yet so similar shows that there are universal pains that all classes , races , and genders suffer .
anderson 's explanation to prove this point is both accurate and convincing .
the only mistake anderson made in trying to connect his characters was by making his actors all sing an aimee mann song simultaneously .
this was foolish not only because it was unbelievable and hilariously erroneous but also
because it had a broadway musical feel to it and this movie is about as far apart from your typical broadway musical than you can get .
the performances in " magnolia " are perfection .
this is a classic example of flawless casting and flawless ensemble acting .
anderson allows many of hollywood 's best supporting actors to blossom at what they do best , character acting .
all of the main characters in each story are perfect because they are able to reveal more emotions and attitudes in their brief time on the screen then most movie stars can do in a feature length film .
worth noting is tom cruise , who stepped out of his usual superficial starring role and into a funny but depressing
tour de force performance .
he was probably noticed more than the other actors in the film by award givers because his role here is so much different and impressive than those in the past ( however any actor in this film could be nominated for best supporting actor without any complaints )
the only problem i had with the acting was that a few of the characters felt seriously edited down such as melinda dillon 's character as phillip baker hall 's wife .
she seemed to be thrown in towards the end
and i felt very little sympathy for her because i had not seen her enough earlier in the film .
" magnolia " uses several effective metaphors to describe its characters .
anderson has the talent to make the audience sympathetic towards numerous people in only a few hours .
to see that anderson is able to perfectly portray
this many different types of people shows that he has a keen sense of diversity .
diversity is what makes a director successful for a long period of time .
i predict a lot of diversity and success from anderson in the future .
Answer:
P