instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
" virus " is a monster movie without a monster .
any movie with a hurdle that large to overcome had better be pretty damn good
otherwise .
sadly , " virus " does not deliver , on any level .
the movie opens with the russian space station mir about to transmit something ( we never find out what ) to a big boat with lots of satellites on it .
sudddenly , a wave of colorful lightning comes flying through space , and winds up destroying mir and using it to transmit itself to the aforementioned big boat .
cut to seven days later , we meet donald sutherland and his band of seafaring vultures .
see , they spend all their time sailing around looking for dead - in - the - water ships to rescue , and then collect the reward money .
at least , i * think
* that 's what they do .
along with many other things in the film , their reason for being out in the middle of the ocean is n't really explained .
so , they stumble upon this big boat with lots of satellites on it , and decide to haul it back to russian waters .
the only problem is , the crew starts disappearing one - by - one and turning into borg .
yes , borg .
complete with the red laser beam in place of an eye .
apparently , this alien lifeform can only survive if inside something electrical .
so , it creates make - shift machines and uses humans for " spare parts " .
blah , blah , blah .
i could go on forever describing the ludicrous so - called plot , but i wo n't .
suffice it to say the most original thing about this movie is having donald sutherland play an irish man ( !
) . everything else in this movie has been taken from other ( better ) movies .
for example , many of the machines resemble those found in the little - seen japanese movie , " tetsuo - the iron man " .
and the plot is right out of " aliens " .
the funny thing is , i was actually expecting to enjoy this movie .
i have a soft spot for cheesy monster movies , like last years under - appreciated " deep rising " .
but " virus " , as i mentioned earlier , does n't even have a monster .
it just has a big pile of circuits and wires and expects the audience to fear this ridiculous looking contraption .
" virus " is the type of movie that really makes you wonder what the screenwriter was thinking about when he wrote it .
besides the lame " monster " , it 's chock full of dialogue that no real person would ever say , and situations that no real person would ever allow themselves to get into .
for example , there is a scene late in the movie in which one of the characters actually attempts to * negotiate * with the alien !
now , i do n't know about you , but if i came upon a lifeform that viewed mankind as a virus to be eliminated , i doubt that i would attempt to reason with it .
that makes about as much sense as a baby squirrel calmly asking a fierce predator to spare his life .
finally , " virus " is n't scary .
the least the filmmakers could have done was to make the movie just a little scary .
as it is , it 's about as frightening as a box of cookies .
skip " virus " .
if it 's a cool monster movie you want , rent the far superior ( and the granddaddy of this genre ) " aliens " .
answer:
N

question:
quiz show , an almost perfectly accurate true story , is based upon the events of the popular television show of the mid-50 's , " twenty - one " .
on this trivial game show , contestants were placed in isolation booths and then answered questions corresponding to a category of their choice , on which they wagered an amount of points on .
the game went on until a player reached twenty one points on felt they had earned enough points to win .
but , after ratings began to fall when players were struggling to break the zero mark , the producers decided to fix the game by giving the answers to a contestant before the game began .
quiz show illustrates the true stories of two particular contestants , herbie stempel and charles van doren .
stempel ( john turturro ) , a former g .
i .
and your jewish man raising a family .
stempel has been the reigning champion on " twenty - one " for many weeks and has accumulated thousands of dollars .
in his mind , he is the best thing on television and the people love him .
although , in the mind of the show 's producers , herbie stempel is getting old .
dan enright ( david paymer ) , in particular , feels that the people are tired of seeing a " jewish guy from queens with bad teeth " and that the kids need someone better to look up to .
therefore , they need to find another contestant whom would be a worthy role model and the people will look up to and cheer to win .
someone who can defeat stempel , even if they have to resort to cheating .
enter charles van doren ( ralph fiennes ) , a well - educated professor from a widely recognized family .
van doren had decided to try out for the game show " tic tac dough " because his friends thought he would be good at that sort of thing .
but when albert freedman ( hank azaria ) , enright 's assistant , spots van doren , the two decide that they have found their soon - to - be - ruler of the " twenty - one " kingdom .
van doren is not too keen on the idea of receiving the answers ahead of time , so enright tells stempel that he is going to give the wrong answer , on purpose , in order to lose the game .
after stempel loses the " throne " to van doren , he starts to feel cheated ( which he should ) .
meanwhile , on his own , dick goodwin ( rob morrow ) , a harvard law graduate , has decided to start an investigation on " twenty - one " to try and find out if there have been any wrongdoings .
his investigation yields shocking results and leads to a trial for enright and the others involved .
quiz show is an extremely well done movie , and robert redford 's direction is especially superb
.
the performances turned in by john turturro , ralph fiennes , and rob morrow are very good , although it seems that turturro stands out more than any .
quiz show is also very precise when it comes to explicating the true events that inspired the film .
definitely a film you should not miss .
answer:
P

question:
alexander dumas ' the three musketeers is one of the most often - adapted literary works , and for good reason : the swashbuckler is a legend rather than just a story .
perhaps the musketeer , a new film that " reimagines " the novel in the spirit and style of the matrix , is one adaptation too many .
it 's just awful : spiritless , silly and unforgivably boring , transforming the timeless classic into a mish - mash of old - as - time clich ?
s and incoherent , repetitive action sequences .
this time , d'artagnan is played by calvin klein model justin chambers , who ca n't even pronounce his character 's name .
as a boy , he watched his father get killed by febre ( tim roth ) , a lackey of power - hungry cardinal richelieu .
he vowed to have vengeance .
after undergoing intense training under an expert swordsman , he goes looking for his enemy .
on his quest , he embroils himself in a struggle for control at the highest levels of the french government .
the royal musketeers have lost their gusto , what with their jobs being taken over by the cardinal 's own guards .
only a few loyal swashbuckers remain , among them athos and portos ( who are only figureheads in this movie ) . together with d'artagnan , they fight to extricate the queen ( catherine deneuve ) from the traps that febre and richelieu are trying to plant .
oh , and as an afterthought , d'artagnan falls in love with the poor maid at the local inn ( mena suvari ) .
just thought i 'd mention that .
now , look : i do n't know whose idea this was , but whoever is responsible deserves a severe tongue - lashing .
i have nothing against " modernizing " classic works of literature -
at the very least , they can inspire viewers to actually read the book - but films as dull as this have no positive side effects .
director peter hyams , known for such masterpieces of modern cinema as timecop and end of days , has jettisoned everything that was great about dumas ' masterwork : the sense of excitement , cause , and camaraderie .
instead , we get impressively choreographed but somehow vacuous , uninvolving action sequences that emerge from emptiness and lead to nothing .
when the musketeers finally get to holler " all for one , and one for all , " i could have sworn that was dumas rolling in his grave
that i felt .
maybe the reason for the utter lack of suspense here is the hyams 's tone , which is unreasonably dark and brooding when you consider the reader 's digest condensed version of the story that he gives us .
it 's as though anything that may have been construed as " fun " was purposely expunged from the production .
the joylessness of the proceedings , from the oppressively shady lighting to the mechanical fight scenes , can be felt in every frame .
chambers ca n't act
; suvari , roth and deneuve can , but are n't given the chance .
and when push comes to shove , the use of stunt doubles is distractingly obvious , though at least roth gets to play a villain without having to wear an ape suit .
some movies seem sloppy and careless , clearly made for a quick buck .
with the musketeer we get the sense that it was meticulously crafted to be awful .
the film is intricate , stylish and precise , hitting the wrong note every single time .
answer:
N