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Paris je t'aime Tony Pisarenkov   Landmark E St. Theatre, Washington, DC   07 June 2007 A set of 20 five-minute vignettes, each by a different director, each taking place in a different neighborhood of Paris and, Paris being what it is, dealing with love in some form on some level. Plays surprisingly well as a whole, and many of the miniatures are microcosms of great or almost-great filmmaking in their own right.

Pat and Mike Julie Gephart   Basic cable   23 August 2003 My second outing with Hepburn and Tracy, and this time it was all about sports instead of politics. Hepburn plays a mean game of golf, but let’s be honest – nobody’s anxious to see a play-by-play of all 18 holes. Still, this movie earns some extra points for presenting a woman in a shockingly advanced light for that era.

Paths of Glory Ray Hunley   Netflix DVD   13 September 2005 Three French soldiers are scapegoated and court-martialed after an ill-advised raid on a German position fails during WWI. Kirk Douglas Plays the colonel trying to save his men from their fate in this Stanley Kubrick effort.

Patton Ray Hunley   Netflix DVD   06 June 2005 GCS shows us a passionate and complex GSP as he wreaks havoc on the Axis at the end of WWII.

Paycheck Kristin Schrock   Showcase Cinemas Milford   26 December 2003 This felt more like a Sci-Fi movie of the week. The dialogue was stilted, the anvils heavy, and the plotting mechanical. La'Fleck discovers something DISASTROUS but has his memory erased. He has to piece the puzzle together to save the world. Literally. His pre-memory wipe self mails post-memory wipe self a package with all the pieces he'll need. It's the only fun to be had here as it is interesting to try to figure out how each item will be utilized. I'll say this, La'Fleck was very good in Going All the Way.

Personal Velocity Kristin Schrock   DVD   13 July 2003 ABennett says I have an unnatural attraction to Parker Posey. I can't really comment on that. But she never disappoints. This movie is an adaptation of three short stories, so it's sort of just three vignettes. Three different women try (and sometimes succeed) in changing their lives. Subtle and nearly perfect portrayals. My only qualm is that since they're adapted from short stories, the movement in character is so slight that I'm not sure it lends itself well to a movie.

Persuasion A Bennett   Owned VHS   12 February 2003 This subtle Jane Austen adaptation about second chances, and the long, hard winters of the soul that bring parted hearts again to such opportunities, is entirely without the crackling wit and spry vitality of her earlier work. It's a mature departure, and well worth the trip. However, do not be distracted by the VHS box and its swoony cover. Those nubile lovebirds are not even represented in the film.

Phone Booth Steve Gadd   Reston Town Center Cinema   18 April 2003 You know the whole plot -- some jerk is held hostage in a Manhattan phone booth by a psycho sniper. It keeps your attention to the end, but you remember it more for the gimmick than anything else.

Phone Booth Kristin Schrock   DVD   06 September 2003 I picked this one up because I thought it would be a fun-bad movie. And it wasn't that great, but I had expected it to be worse. Which was kind of disappointing in a way. But in the end, it was kind of stupid. But, you've got to love the Velvety Sutherland.

Phone Booth Mike Gadd   Taped off of HBO free preview weekend   27 March 2004 Not bad at times, not much to recommend otherwise. Why did Mr. Sniper Sutherland keep cocking the gun even though he only shot it once? Felt bad for the pizza dude.

Pi Steven Krise   eddie   06 November 2006 Nico Tavernise was the ant wrangler.

Pieces of April Kristin Schrock   DVD   03 April 2004 A surprisingly affective movie. Katie Holmes (the bad daughter) invites her family to one last thanksgiving (her mother is dying of cancer). Her stove breaks and she has to scatter to cook the turkey. A bit predictable, sometimes funny, and a surprisingly sad/bittersweet ending. Often times the family dynamics were too familiar to be funny. Keep the tissues handy for the ending. Patricia Clarkson, you are my hero.

Pink Flamingos Tony Pisarenkov   DVD at home   01 July 2006 If something like this can put someone on the map, anything can. But is it a map onto which one would want to be put? For John Waters, the answer is a resounding "yes."

Pirates of the Caribbean Mike Gadd   Regal Cinema in Martinsburg   14 August 2003 Not a bad movie. Certainly entertaining most of the time. I'm going to have to get over the fact that I'm going to see Frodo, Legolas, and Aragon in other movies where they dress funny. And why does Legolas suddenly look like Doogie Howser? Was it the wispy mustache? I didn't quite understand Johnny Depp's pirate. He's supposed to be the dastardly captain of the Black Pearl? Why the jazz hands all the time? It was fun seeing scenes set up the same way they are on the ride at Disneyworld. Nice job on the special f/x editing with the skeletons showing up in the moonlight.

Pirates of the Caribbean Julie Gephart   Airplane   19 December 2003 I’m not cool enough to call it “The Pirate Movie,” especially since I didn’t pay to watch it. United Airlines thought to distract us from the fact that we were sitting on the runway for an hour by starting the movie, and it sort of worked. The movie was fun, but it probably lost a little something on the five-inch screen.

Pirates of the Caribbean Steve Gadd   DVD   12 May 2004 Entertaining as promised.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl A Bennett   AMC 20 Newport-on-the-Levee I ordered a Dasani   12 July 2003 Sword fights. True love. Legolas in boots. Pirates. Treasure. Curses. Weirdly well-done special effects. Locations and sets that seem real. Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush proving that good (and in Depp's case, exciting) acting can elevate a script and make a film memorable. Oh, yes, and Johnny _Depp_. Some critics have panned his turn as Captain Jack Sparrow as indulgent and weird. And I say to those people; go home and read your new update to the tax code, or watch a rare German underground arthaus film and discuss it with the rest of your stuck-up cadre of elitists. *Whatever*. It's a _pirate_ movie. To be watched by people who want to have a good time. We can solve the existential crisis of Western Literature later. Right now, let us enjoy some adventure, some slippery characters, and some unironic humor and universal goodwill. And some handsome Johnny Depp in eyeliner--the fey-ist of the fey--who still, in old cinema style, gets the girls.

Planet of the Apes (2001) Julie Gephart   Mysteriously free HBO   01 January 2003 It gets two points exclusively for makeup, because this was a film I truly and actively hated from start to finish. I never saw the original, so I don't know how much of the horrendous plot and characterization was inherited and how much was new to this version. I may have shouted insults at the television more than once, all alone in my apartment.

Platoon Julie Gephart   Basic cable   09 December 2003 Starring: 90% of all male actors who were alive 1986, from Johnny Depp to Tony Todd. Not that you would know, since every scene consisted of a big bunch of men dressed all alike in the dark with their faces blackened. Me watching this movie: “Is that one Charlie Sheen? Hey, did he get shot? Wait, is that Charlie Sheen? Which one is that? Now who is this guy? Hey, who just got blown up? Who’s in the bushes! Was that Charlie Sheen?”

Playing by Heart Julie Gephart   Basic cable   17 January 2004 This has the honor of being the only movie I ever saw with Kristin, long ago in the theater. It starred… everybody. No, really, every star in Hollywood. Yes, him. Yes, and him too. Yep. Yep. Uh huh, her too.

Please Believe Me (1950) A Bennett   TiVo'd TCM - I've missed you, sweet channel...   21 July 2004 Young woman from UK is left 50k acres of property by her Texas penpal in his will. Crossing the Atlantic to claim the bequest, she is pursued by 1.) a flat-broke gambler pressured by the mob to wed her in order to satisfy his debts, 2.) a notoriously wealthy cad, 3.) said cad’s lawyer attempting to keep his client from incurring further breach-of-promise suits. Each falls in love with her. She, inexplicably (though perhaps not, it’s 1950, after all) falls for the distrusting, bullying lawyer. Then again, he is the only of the three able to support her financially and possibly stay faithful to her at the same time. Upon arrival in America, it is discovered her inherited ‘wealth’ is 50k acres of worthless brush. At this point I predicted oil would be struck, but no. A pleasant, if not laugh-out-loud funny romcom, starring Deborah Kerr on an oceanliner a decade before meeting Cary Grant in “An Affair to Remember”. Then, if you recall, she had the sense to choose the charmingly breezy cad. Also, she lost the use of her legs. Surely that wasn’t related.

Polyester Tony Pisarenkov   DVD at home   23 September 2006 The slog through the John Waters box set continues.

Possession A Bennett   DVD - 2003 Jeremy Northam Film Festival   15 February 2003 I am probably just "touched by academe"-enough to believe that a literary mystery, based on scholarly research, could probably be a pretty engaging film. This film, however, with its missed chances, lackluster screenplay and mis-matched present-day couple fails to accomplish any level of intrigue or suspense as they uncover (read: mostly find and then talk about, lite on the research) a famously married 100-year dead poet's possible affair with a lesser-known colleague. Nancy Drew is more compelling. Perhaps Carolyn Keene (may he/she rest in peace) should have been given a go at the script. Also, there was a great deal of mistreating historical artifacts, mostly perpetrated by an American. Untenable, that. Northam, as always, a pleasure to watch no matter what surrounds him, or what period-piece set design and costuming may or may not weigh him down. This time, without mustache.

Possession Kristin Schrock   DVD   16 February 2003 I hated this book with the fire of a thousand suns. So I didn't have high hopes for the movie, even with Neil LaBute directing. It wasn't terrible. It wasn't great. Jeremy Northam had some floppy hair.

Prancer Julie Gephart   Basic cable   23 December 2003 Christmas movie starring an ugly, ugly kid, and that’s all it takes to make me hate it.

Praying Mantis Julie Gephart   Mysteriously free HBO   14 January 2003 Unintentionally hilarious 1991 movie starring Jane Seymour In Bad Wigs. BadWigJane lures men into marriage and then kills them on their wedding night because she has daddy issues or something. The best part was when Dr. Quinn costar Chad Allen demonstrated that apparently his cuteness alone was enough to allow him to shrug off the poison that had killed so many others, or at least that's the most plausible explanation I could come up with. You never see Chad Allen around anymore, and more's the pity, I say.

Primer Steve Gadd   DVD   05 June 2005 This movie, something of a vanity project for writer / director / actor / producer / editor / composer Shane Carruth, keeps you wondering what is going on from beginning to end. Unfortunately, the plot is so opaque that by the end you are helplessly lost. Thankfully, IMDB forum members have watched it six or seven times and wrote up handy plot guides to spell out the timeline. It's actually a very clever film and very well done on a low budget. It uses a hackneyed scifi plot element but expertly avoids the pseudo-technical mumbo jumbo that is usual in the genre.

Primer Ray Hunley   Netflix DVD   23 August 2005 Huh?

Prizzi's Honor Julie Gephart   Basic cable   31 March 2004 I don't as a rule enjoy mafia movies, but this one just kept showing up in TiVo's Award Winners list until I had to record it. I was delighted to find that I didn't have to take the mobsters seriously, as it turned out to be a dark comedy, and it kept me guessing about the outcome to the final moments.

Psycho Beach Party Kristin Schrock   DVD   21 September 2005 A spoof of 50/60's Beach movies, specifically Gidget. Much more entertaining and funny than it has any right to be--mostly due to the talents of the lead, Lauren Ambrose (of Six Feet Under fame).

Pulp Fiction Steve Gadd   Basic Cable   26 September 2004 I think this will be the last time I watch a movie on TV. Toward the end, the movie seemed to be interrupting the commercials. To make time, major scenes were deleted, seemingly at random. Oddly, the "Elvis or Beatles" videocamera interview between Mia and Vincent was retained despite being cut from the theatrical release. And of course, this film particularly suffers from dirty-word dubbing, though this adds some entertainment as well: "We' have to be talkin' 'bout one charmin' mighty-friendly pig."

Punch-Drunk Love Kristin Schrock   DVD   03 August 2003 I'm not exactly sure what to make of this. It's interesting. Adam Sandler actually portrays a believable character whose loneliness is almost too much to bear. Is it possible that he's actually an actor? There's a wonderful scene where Barry (that's Adam Sandler) is in the grocery store and he sort of begs the products, "Just tell me what I need," as though he could buy something to fill the void. And I love Phillip Seymour Hoffman who only gets a small role here that mostly involves a lot of yelling and swearing. However, despite the fact that Barry has some problems, the film wants us to believe that falling in love will make everything better.

Punisher Kristin Schrock   DVD   08 January 2005 So John Travolta kills the Punisher's family. His entire family. We're talking aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews. Dude, it's harsh. So, of course, John Travolta gets punishment. I enjoyed this movie immensely--even with John Travolta as the bad dude. I'm not even sure why--could be that the Punisher is oddly compelling. Could be that it's not trying to be slick or particularly clever. I'm kind of hoping they make a sequel.