In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
--------
Question: here is a film that is so unexpected , so scary , and so original that it caught me off guard and threw me for a loop .
okay , it is n't quite original ,
considering it is a sequel to the box office hit species , but
it certainly is smart .
most films of this genre are reminiscent of those cheesy b - horror films from the 50s and 60s , and some even become them .
however , as we learned with the 1995 small - budget horror / sci - fi film , sometimes expectations can be shattered .
a lot of criticism has gone against this film ( from what i have read so far , anyway -- yep , all two reviews ) , and it makes me wonder why these types of films are automatically dismissed as gory , laughable pieces of trash .
but , the thing is , it is n't .
it 's well made , well acted , and quite intelligent .
i can see most of the critics now complaining about the level of gore or the level of sexuality in the film .
but the species series is n't about the lack of these elements .
it 's about how much it can get into one film .
and yet , behind it all , it has this basic premise that allows it to get away with doing so .
species ii begins in the present day , though it seems to be an alternate universe .
many films ( especially sci - fi ones ) create similar timelines as our realistic one , but change it to fit the film 's needs .
species ii begins with the arrival of an american spacecraft , the excursion , landing on the surface of mars .
aboard is patrick ross ( justin lazard ) , a very bright and very handsome astronaut .
patrick is the son of senator ross ( james cromwell ) , who just wants patrick to succeed .
well , it would seem that he has succeeded .
landing on the surface of mars , he is the first human being to ever do so .
of course , he is n't the first ever .
about a billion years ago , an alien species supposedly landed on mars and destroyed the perfect living conditions that were able to sustain life .
now , of course , the red planet is cold and rocky .
no life lives on it .
that is , no visible life .
patrick , upon leaving the spacecraft and landing on the red soil , collects samples from the ground .
he takes them aboard , and puts them in storage .
unfortunately , one of the samples contains a form of life , and it gets loose when it is heated aboard the ship .
just prior to heading back to earth , this life form creeps along the floor and inhabits the earthlings .
they pass out for approximately seven minutes , and then shrug it off as nothing , because they ca n't even remember .
they blame it on a technical malfunction .
back on earth , patrick begins to have strong urges to mate with as many women as possible .
as we know from the original , this is because the alien wants to breed and take over the planet .
however , the children that are bred are half - human , as their father is .
patrick is really looking for another alien to breed with , and he finds it in eve ( natasha henstridge ) .
eve was cloned from dna taken from sil , the original alien .
however , this time around , most of her " alien " urges have been either decreased dramatically , or lie dormant .
the project is led by dr .
laura baker ( marg helgenberger , reprising her role from species ) , and her motives seem respectable .
since she was involved with the original alien attack , she wants to learn how to stop the alien should it come again .
and it has .
story - wise
, species ii is much stronger than its predecessor , but it is also much stronger than , say , aliens
( hey , i love the film , but you ca n't tell me it was strong on story ) .
what surprised me the most with this film was the incorporation of historical facts into the screenplay .
in my search for extraterrestrial intelligence course in college , we learned about a piece of rock from mars which landed in one of the poles .
this piece of rock contained fossils which may have been proof of life on mars ( later , it was proven that it was not a living creature that created it ) .
the script uses this effectively , but also manages to provide a well - balanced plot .
beginning with the first man on mars ( something i have always dreamed of seeing ) , i was hoping that the film would turn this element into a useful starting point for the movie .
and it does it quite well .
the characters are all smart , and they know what to do and what not to do .
the only character that seems a little cliched is the general ( george dzundza ) , and yet
, he remains logical in everything he does .
there are the obvious flaws of course , mostly lying in the technical aspects .
the special effects are only mediocre , and some are just plain bad .
but for the most part , they remain believable
( i even noticed a homage to the alien series when the mothers gave birth to alien children ) .
also , the most realistic ones are usually the goriest , ranging from people being torn open , or someone 's head being blown off .
however , some plot elements also may elicit laughs from the audience , including a menage a troi that is all but necessary .
many people dislike the species series because all it is is an excuse for sex , nudity , and gory violence .
however , i tend to disagree .
what were the alien films about ?
and , if an alien species ever did come to earth , and their sole purpose was to destroy us , would n't you mate as quickly as possible with as many people as possible ?
my only gripe with this is during the scene where patrick goes searching for a mate in a grocery store .
i did n't realize that aliens were that picky on choosing women to mate with
( i just assume it is his part - human side looking for the most beautiful one ) .
the acting is quite good for this kind of film .
it is a vast improvement over the first film , at least .
the acting is the key element to this film : if it was bad , it would have lowered itself into camp ; if it was good , it would have asked for comparison with films like aliens .
okay ,
so it is n't that good .
george dzundza is probably the most obvious mistake on casting , as his over - the - top impersonation of a general makes him annoying and distracting .
natasha henstridge is limited this time around , as she is usually enclosed in a cage .
however , she does manage a very impressive performance with this aspect hindering any of her talent .
oh yeah ,
and she 's quite fun to just plain watch .
marg helgenberger is immensely better this time around , and her performance is probably the best in this film .
michael madsen is so - so , but he is n't annoying ,
and he soon becomes rather appealing
( with his nice cynic personality ) .
james cromwell has a small part , but he makes it much better than what it could have been with a more incapable actor .
as i say , any film with james cromwell dramatically increases in likeability .
mykelti williamson gives an enjoyable performance , and he gives the film a more down - to - earth feel .
and , of course , justin lazard .
lazard has so far been ridiculed for his performance ,
but i think he is effective .
sure , he is wooden , but is n't that what his character is like ?
the moment when he touches the glass separating henstridge from him was extremely well done , due to the couple 's acting .
species ii is rated r for strong sexuality , sci - fi violence / gore and language .
this is definitely an r rated film that young kids should not see .
more than likely , they would probably have nightmares and never have sex for the rest of their lives .
hell , i do n't even know if i will .
what is sure to be a critically lambasted film turns out to be the surprise film of the year .
i probably wo n't see another film where i was expecting so little and got so much for quite a while .
director peter medak has crafted a very suspenseful , and sometimes very scary movie out of a mediocre series .
medak has also mastered the wonderful " jump !
" moments , and has probably the second scariest moment i have ever seen on film ( scream still has the first ) .
strong acting , smart dialogue , intelligent plotting , and a sure - handed director , species ii is exactly what these films should be : entertaining .

Answer: P

Question: if i were one of those arrogant critics who thinks his review has some great impact on the success or failure of certain films , i might say that i review movies that do n't look particularly good because i 'm doing a service to my readers by warning them against seeing it .
if that were true , i could put a banner at the top of my site that reads : " shay casey : seeing bad movies so you do n't have to .
"
but i know that 's bunk
- you're going to see whatever movies you want to no matter what i say .
so i have to tell the truth : every once in a while
i get a nasty , masochistic urge to see a bad movie .
you know the feeling , when you 're sick of seeing all these damn academy award contenders and you want to see something you can have a ball trashing mercilessly .
sometimes i think that 's why anyone goes to see pauly shore movies , ever .
admit it : sometimes you like seeing bad movies .
so do i .
so i saw " supernova .
"
truth be told , " supernova " was n't quite as bad as i thought it might be .
maybe i just felt sorry for the actors , or maybe i thought it could have been decent if the studio had n't started tinkering with the director 's ( walter hill ) final cut , causing him to want his name removed .
maybe i 'm becoming a softy .
in any case , i did n't find " supernova " as bad as the advance buzz would have me believe .
but it 's still bad .
the film takes place aboard the medical space vessel " nightingale .
"
the crew includes captain a .
j . marley ( robert forster ) , his new second officer nick vanzant ( james spader ) , head medical officer kaela evers ( angela bassett ) , medical technicians yerzy penalosa ( lou diamond phillips ) and danika lund ( robin tunney ) , and computer technician benj sotomejor ( wilson cruz ) .
there are some attempts at " characterization , " but all that means is that nick has a shady past involving a drug addiction , which puts kaela on edge , yerzy and danika have a relationship that requires them to make kissy - faces at each other every five minutes , and benj ( apparently gay ) is in love with the computer ( apparently female ) .
do n't expect any more explanation , because you wo n't get it .
anyway , the crew gets a distress call from a location deep in space to which a failed mining operation had been sent .
during the dimension jump ( i think that 's what it 's called , but do n't hold me to it )
, the captain is killed and the man who sent the distress signal ( peter facinelli ) is brought on board .
he calls himself troy larson , making him the supposed son of a man kaela once had a relationship with .
then a bunch of really predictable stuff starts happening .
have you seen " alien ?
" have you seen " event horizon " ( a lame movie in its own right ) ?
good .
then you 've seen " supernova .
" post - production cuts or not ,
there is nothing original about this screenplay , and nothing unpredictable either . after all , no one 's going to think for a second that troy wo n't turn out to be a villain .
but the bigger problem with " supernova " is that it can ' t just stick to the simple plot it 's afforded .
numerous re - writes ( the script may be credited to three people , but it 's a gross underestimate ) have crammed this lean 90-minute film with tons of extraneous plot threads that all remain underdeveloped
.
was there something about a limping robot shaped like a fighter pilot ?
did the ship 's computer learn something about humanity ?
what was that glowing lava lamp artifact troy brought on board with him ?
and just what does the film 's title signify , if anything ?
as far as i can tell , it refers to a very small plot detail that is n't developed , just like the rest of these unnecessary story elements .
character relationships in this film also make very little sense .
for some reason , every person in this film keeps having sex .
we get an unusually early sex scene between phillips and tunney within the first 10 minutes .
bassett and spader 's characters start off hating each other .
fifteen minutes and one bottle of pear brandy later , they 're engaging in some hanky - panky .
when troy the creepy stranger shows up on the ship , of course both female crew members will fall in love with him .
every single shift in character interaction happens extremely suddenly , which is only one of the many obvious clues to how much this film has been cut .
the most prominent example , however , may be the fact that when the film starts , there are no opening credits !
furthermore , the end of the film looks like they took what were originally intended to be the opening credits and spliced them in right before the real end credits .
maybe that 's why the film 's title is mentioned twice during the end credits , right between james spader and robert forster .
right after you get over the shock of not being told what movie you 're seeing ( lest you decide to walk out upon making that discovery ) , you might notice that the movie seems to have dropped you right in the middle of a scene , with little - to - no introduction to any of the characters or situations .
the rest of the movie feels like they skipped over the middle stuff in the character changes ( you know , where they explain things ) and just went from point
a to point b . point
a : danika is thoroughly enamored of yerzy and is ready to have his baby .
point b : tunney is now shagging troy and yerzy is unusually obsessed with the lava lamp thing .
does n't make sense .
since i did n't understand anything about these characters ' motivations , did i care when troy abruptly starts murdering them one - by - one ( and he does , knocking off three of them in about 10 minutes ) ? not a whit .
it 's a shame , because this cast contains a lot of talented actors looking for something to do .
they do n't find it .
bassett and spader
say every line in the same monotone voice with the same blank expressions on their faces . sexual tension ? more like constipation .
maybe they 're just embarrassed at having to utter such howlers as " this thing was made by someone more powerful than god and a whole lot less nice .
" not that we ever find out who that is , mind you .
the climax of their relationship ( taking place in a transport pod ) is probably the film 's biggest forehead - slapper .
as troy , peter facinelli inhabits the most obvious villain in history that no one ever suspected .
he 's awfully one - note , but it 's not as if he 's given any more notes to work with .
the rest of the cast does even less .
tunney stands around looking cute , then scared .
phillips broods .
cruz flirts with the computer .
then they all die and a star blows up or something , but i really was n't paying much attention by then .
" supernova " is pretty awful , but i 'm cutting it a little slack merely because i expected less than what i got .
that 's it .
if you expect it to be good ( for whatever reasons you may have ) , you 'll probably hate it more than i will .
even the special effects are fairly unimpressive , nothing you have n't seen before , and suffice to say the script is n't going to save the film
.
honestly , though , what do you expect from a film with about a dozen writers and a director who had his name removed and replaced with a pseudonym ?
it usually results in a bad movie , and that 's what " supernova " is .

Answer: N

Question: these days , we are witnessing the deluge of films based on old , cult tv shows .
most of the times , the fans of these shows shudder thinking what could hollywood hacks of the present do with the memories of their past .
but , some five or six years ago , there were n't that many movies and the trend did n't look that depressing .
so , the people who , like the author of this review , grew up watching flintstones , popular 1960s animated series about " modern stone age " family , were n't particularly worried when the word came about live action remake .
after all , the producer behind the project was steven spielberg and , if anything else , at least the special effects would be good .
the plot revolves about flintstones , family set in fictious stone age " town " of bedrock , whose members enjoy the lifestyle of 1950s middle class america .
fred flinstone ( john goodman ) works in the quarry , and one day he helps his best friend and neighbour barney rubble ( rick moranis ) and his wife betty ( rosie o'donnell ) to adopt a baby .
to return the favour , barney switches his results of aptitude test with fred , and , based on that , fred gets well - paid job in management .
but , of course , this is just a sham - corrupt official cliff vandercave ( kyle maclachlan ) and his sultry secretary sharon stone ( halle berry ) need a scapegoat for their embezzlement scheme .
in the meantime , fred 's wife wilma ( elizabeth perkins ) must face her mother ( elizabeth taylor ) who ca n't stand fred .
on the superficial level , the flintstones did the excellent job in bringing the animated series to life .
computer effects are flawless , and the costumes , settings and other details are authentic for all the fans of the show .
unfortunately , problems with this film start with inadequate casting - rick moranis is too thin for the role of barney , while the cartoon betty used to be much skinnier than rosie o'donnell .
but the greatest problem of all is plot , or to be precise , the lack of plot .
some thirty six screenwriters made sure that the plot of the film is lame , original characters one - dimensional , and many elements of the story , like embezzlement and inter - office politics , totally incomprehensible for the little children , the main targeted audience of this film .
result is almost unwatchable mess , occasionally saved mostly by excellent acting ( elizabeth perkins was right on mark as wilma ) and one of the classic example of mortal hollywood disease known as " high concept " .
after great hype , movie quickly sank into oblivion and the fans of the show returned to the animated version .
all in all , film is n't that bad , but only the hard core fans and nostalgics can find more than guilty pleasure in it .

Answer:
N