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: carolco pictures and dutch director paul verhoeven ( robocop ) came together to create the 1990 mega hit that is total recall .
the film is a masterpiece of sets , action , and special effects . action and science fiction
just do n't get any better than this !
the story involves a construction worker named douglas quaid ( arnold schwarzenegger ) who lives on earth with his beautiful wife lori ( sharon stone ) .
quaid is obsessed with mars and decides to go with the second best choice ; a brain implant ( fake memory ) of a two week vacation on mars .
while being implanted a memory cap is triggered and the doctors realize that quaid 's memory has previously been erased .
now the people who did it are after him .
quaid must find out who he really is and why these people want him dead .
the plot unfolds at a rapid pace explaining itself through great action , special effects , and twist after mind - boggling twist .
it grabs you and never lets go !
this film is a winner from beginning to end .
the plot is superb ; combining the best elements of science fiction and psychological mystery to create a rip - roaring saga .
schwarzenegger gives his best performance ever , and the supporting cast is good too .
the action and stunts are terrific .
the sets are huge and elaborate with a lot of attention payed to detail .
the music and sound effects are perfect for the film and really add a certain level of impact to the action .
the make - up effects by rob bottin ( the howling , the thing , and robocop ) are top notch , not to mention extremely outlandish .
the visual effects by dream quest ( the abyss ) and industrial light and magic ( star wars trilogy , jurassic park , and terminator 2 ) are phenomenal !
the visuals had such a state of the art " slickness " that they won an oscar .
of course the film is n't always realistic ; it 's more fiction than science .
for example , it is true that a body wo n't explode in the vacuum of space but in total recall they do .
who cares ?
it 's a movie .
movies are supposed to entertain .
and in my opinion this film achieves an entertainment level in film that is so terrific , it may be impossible to beat .
Student:
P