In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

Q: " dangerous beauty " is a really nothing more than a grandiose soap opera set in venice circa 1583 .
it is beautifully filmed , wonderfully acted , and certainly nothing short of entertaining
,
but it lacks any true fundamental seriousness .
dealing with themes of forbidden love , religious intolerance , subordination of women , sexual freedom , and the roles of pleasure and sin in a high - cultured society , it still feels like brightly lit fluff .
the director , marshall herskovitz , does n't want to follow the dark and dangerous trail this story could lead down , so he opts for a more genial , livelier , and relatively shallow interpretation .
the film takes place during the renaissance , a time when venice was the pleasure capital of europe .
at this time , venice was its own republic , and it thrived on being the central juncture of east - west commerce .
the film is told almost entirely through the viewpoint of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie of venice , so we rarely get to see how the rest of the society lived .
however , there is an abundance of detail concerning the lives and livelihoods of the upper classes , their hedonistic lifestyles and constant merriment .
the story centers on veronica franco ( catherine mccormack ) , a lower class woman who falls in love with marco venier ( rufus sewell ) , the son of wealthy aristocratic parents ( jeroen krabb ? and joanna cassidy ) .
unfortunately , the culture of that time period did not view marriage as an act of love -- rather , it was more like a business transaction , where rich families married their sons and daughters to each other in order to secure power , wealth , and ensure that outsiders could n't get in .
veronica , despite her charm and good looks , is certainly an outsider .
after a short love affair , marco breaks her heart with the news that he can not marry her . however , because she is beautiful and intelligent , veronica has a chance to enter marco 's world , albeit not as his wife .
she decides to become a courtesan -- a class of women who were as well - educated as they were ravishing , and sold their sexuality to wealthy men for the privilege of wining and dining with the elite .
a courtesan was not a mere prostitute ; they were afforded a special place in society , and they were greatly revered , respected , and often envied .
at one point , a character mentions that some rulers obtain more political advice from their courtesans than from their lieutenants .
veronica goes through the transformation with the help of her mother , paola ( jacqueline bisset ) , who was once a famed courtesan herself .
once she enters the lifestyle , veronica finds that it suits her quite well .
she is allowed to read all the books she wants , she is given the opportunity to publish her poetry , and she has the richest and most powerful men in the republic throwing themselves at her feet , including the awestruck marco .
their relationship develops into a playful bantering , with veronica utilizing her newfound power by constantly rejecting marco 's advances .
in many ways , their relationship is sad because marco is married to a women he is unable to love , and veronica is consumed by multiple relationships with men she is unwilling to love .
" love the love , not the man , " as her mother told her . " dangerous beauty , " which was based on a factual book by margaret rosenthal ,
flows along as smoothly and serenely
as the grand canal running through the heart of venice .
it has multiple plot lines -- including veronica 's adversarial relationship with a court poet ( oliver platt ) , her role in obtaining france 's military assistance in venice 's battle against the turks , and even the dreaded shadow of the plague and the encroachment of the spanish inquisition -- yet it is never confusing or overbearing .
much of the film 's success is due to the glowing performance by catherine mccormack in the lead role .
known chiefly for the small part she played as the lover whose murder raised mel gibson 's ire in " braveheart " ( 1995 )
, mccormack shows the true gifts and inarguable talent of a leading lady .
she has the kind of exquisite classical beauty that would be treasured in a courtesan ; her character is intelligent , witty , and both sensual and vulnerable , all of which mccormack easily transmits with a single flash of her eyes .
the rest of the roles are also filled well , including rufus sewell whose performance here and earlier this month in " dark city " have assured him a solid place in hollywood .
he has the same kind of unusual good looks and charm of ray liotta , and he seems perfectly at home in period dramas .
oliver platt plays a variation of the comic relief role that he has come to inhabit like a second skin , although the film deals his character a cheap blow at the end by having him improbably join the inquisition and turn into the bad guy .
platt is a good actor , but he 's just too hard to hate .
jacqueline bisset proves that she is every bit as stirring as she ever was , and even fred ward turns up in a small , but moving performance as marco 's uncle .
" dangerous beauty " is marshall herskovitz 's sophomore directorial effort , after the overlooked 1993 film " jack the bear .
" partnered with edward zwick , herskovitz has spent most of his time as a producer on television ( " thirtysomething , " " my so - called life " ) and in the movies ( " legends of the fall " ) .
his directing style can be best described as transparent -- it never gets in the way of the story , yet it has no discernible flourish or particular distinctions .
he could have approached the film in any number of ways , including overdosing on the sexual aspect , which he wisely avoids .
" dangerous beauty " contains just enough bare flesh and ribald sex to make it appropriately erotic , but not so much that it seems exploitative .
herskovitz is also aided by a strong supporting crew , including the luscious photography by bojan bazelli , whose previous efforts include the highly - stylized thriller " kalifornia " ( 1993 ) and abel ferrara 's dark sci - fi film " body snatchers " ( 1994 ) .
bazelli captures the film in strong , bold colors , and be brings sixteenth - century venice to life in wide , panoramic shots that are often enhanced with digital imagery .
however , the real details are found in the production design by norman garwood ( " brazil , " " the princess bride " ) and the costumes by gabriella pescucci ( " the age of innocence " ) .
the only problem with " dangerous beauty " is that it does n't stick with you .
it 's a good story well - told with interesting characters , but it 's easy to shrug off once you 've left the theater .
the only sequence that has the chance to be truly indelible is veronica being pulled in front of the hypocrisy of the inquisition and threatened with the death penalty for her transgressions , but it never quite comes off because it 's simply too melodramatic and conventional .
herskovitz tries with all his might to make it a nailbiter , but somehow its outcome is a foregone conclusion , and like the rest of the film , it carries no real weight , despite the potential severity of the subject matter .

A: P
****
Q: the camera zooms in incredibly close .
it focuses on the closed eyes of a person presumed dead .
all of a sudden , with a thunderous sound effect and an eerie sounding musical pulse , his eyelids open .
the camera zooms in incredibly close .
it focuses on one of the characters desperately running for her life .
then , with a thunderous sound effect and an eerie sounding musical pulse , she bumps into the killer .
the camera zooms in incredibly close .
it focuses on a door from where seemingly strange sounds emanate .
all of a sudden , with a thunderous sound effect and an eerie sounding musical pulse , the doors swing open to reveal what 's inside .
close - up thrill - shots such as these seemed to elicit more laughter from the audience rather than genuine fear , which is a pretty good sign that you 're not watching the thriller that the director had originally envisioned
.
rather , you adopt the opinion that the characters are so goofy and
so unaware of the trouble that they 're in , that you stop caring
about who lives , who dies and where the story goes .
instead , you become more interested in how the characters get killed off .
the four young teenagers who are the potential sacrificial lambs for this movie are helen and barry and julie and ray - two couples and dear friends to one another .
during the summer just after high school graduation , they take a fateful drive down a dark mountain highway .
suddenly , without warning , their car hits someone whom the teens presume was killed as a result of that collision . fearing jail time and possible manslaughter charges if they confess , they instead decide to dump the body into the ocean and make a pact never to discuss the episode again .
a year goes by and things among the four friends begin to change .
relationships fizzle , future dreams crumble , and attitudes change .
but , they can not forget what they did .
and apparently , neither can someone else .
someone begins to send letters to all four of the teens with the frightening message : " i know what you did last summer .
"
the letter - writer ( a figure in a rubber slicker wielding a large metal hook ) soon makes his presence known and begins to hunt down the four teens .
it 's now up to the four of them to try to figure out who the killer is before it 's too late .
while this movie has some nice visually eerie effects , too much of it 's impact had to be generated with extreme close - ups , while the level of suspense was choppy at best .
there is so much more that this movie could have been , but decided to give us nothing but cheap thrills .
it could have been a clever whodunit , but discovering who ultimately was the killer made me just shrug my shoulders .
it could have explored the changed friendships after a year of adulthood , but seemed to only include that aspect to add 15 more minutes to the film .
it could have given us smarter characters who knew that anytime you 're alone and you see shadowy figures moving about , you do n't walk towards them yelling " hello " .
once you yell " hello " , you can expect an extreme close - up , a thunderous sound effect and an eerie sounding musical pulse .
it 's difficult to be in suspense when you know what 's about to happen .
the only redeeming aspect of the movie is that i now have a neat idea for a halloween costume , but i 'm not sure if the local costume store sells rubber slickers and hooks .
the horror that i experienced from this film is realizing that i actually went to see it .

A: N
****
Q: all great things come to an end , and the dot - com era embodies that perfectly . beneath a mound of bankruptcy paperwork lies the remains of a former dot - com darling , the company kozmo .
com , an online convenience store stocked with ice cream , porn videos , and other basic necessities of a urban dweller , all hand - delivered by couriers within an hour .
designed in 1997 by two college roommates -- joseph parks , a 27 year old goldman sachs banker , and yong kang - kozmo flamed out in three short years , raising more than $ 280 million in venture capital funding and from partnerships with such bigwigs as starbucks and amazon .
com .
by december 1999 , the company boasted 4 , 000 employees in 11 cities , its barking ceo park attracting all kinds of media attention .
the company was set for an ipo in may 2000 . . .
until april 14 , 2000 , the day the stock market took its first big dive , ending the internet era .
by april 13 , 2001 , kozmo was out of money and ceased operations .
unlike the earlier , similar documentary startup .
com , which chronicled the rise and fall of another dot - com , govworks , e - dreams focuses both on its original founders , especially park , and on the common folks that ran the day - to - day operations .
the contrast is amazing , showing how a cult persona can convince anyone that any idea is the next big thing .
the film 's director , wonsuk chin ( too tired to die ) , expertly juxtaposes upper management company meetings with on - the - spot interviews with the bike messengers , general managers , and floor staff that kept kozmo humming .
the film 's images give a backbone to the company and provide an emotional edge to its ultimate demise .
the most satisfying part of the film comes in understanding , to a degree , the expectations of numerous ceos commanding these titanic - type businesses .
in the film 's final interviews with park , we learn what happens when the money dries up and backers do n't return phone calls .
in the end , the name of the game was profit , and if you could n't make money , even the dreamers got the axe .
screened at the 24th annual mill valley film festival .

A:
P
****