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P.O.V. - A Cursed Film [2012] P2 [2007] Pacific Rim 2: Uprising [2018]
The Pack [2010] The Pact [2012] The Pact II [2014]
The Pale Door [2020] Palm Springs [2020] The Panama Deception [1992]
Paranormal Activity [2007] Paranormal Activity 2 [2010] Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night [2010]
Paranormal Activity 3 [2011] Paranormal Activity 4 [2012] Paranormal Activity 5: Marked Ones [2014]
Paranormal Activity 6: Ghost Dimension [2015] Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin [2021] Parasite [2019]
Parasyte: Part 1 [2014] Parasyte: Part 2 [2015] Parker [2013]
Passengers [2016] Patient Zero [2018] Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank [2022]

Parasite [2019]

aka Gisaengchung

            
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A family facing financial destitution cons their way into the lives of a wealthy family and we get to watch everything fall apart. This is an excellent, well presented drama with some brilliant moments of dark humor, a few good twists to mix things up and, even though I knew something extremely dramatic was going to happen, the climax was darker than I expected. That being said, it was way too long and, although an exceptional drama, I didn't find it to be any more exceptional than many ...it just didn't grab me that well, especially for a 'best film of the year' favorite.

Palm Springs [2020]


            

Three attendees at a wedding find themselves stuck in an infinite time loop which repeats the day over and over again. A somewhat zany romantic comedy that is truly funny. The characters are colorful and extremely likable from the moment you meet them, the writing is superb in that it doesn't waste time getting to the jest of it and moves along at a nice brisk pace. The dialog is honest, intelligent and, at times, down right hilarious. My wife and I had to back track a couple times as we missed something by laughing so hard. ...and it never got sappy. Quite fun!

The Pale Door [2020]


            
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A wild west gang robs a train they think is loaded for a big payday but, even though it's protected by a squad of Pinkerton detectives, all they find is a trunk with a young woman in it. Despite the un-authentically low-budget look of the film, and the somewhat sub-par acting, this loose variation of From Dusk Till Dawn was generally entertaining until the overly sentimental and maudlin last 30 minutes sapped what little energy the film had left. By the time they finally got around to its predictable ending, I really didn't care anymore. Few good moments.

Parasyte: Part 1 [2014]

aka Kiseijuu

            

Parasitic creatures are taking over humans by infecting their brain but one teen stops the assault resulting in the parasite just taking over his hand. This symbiotic relationship is the heart of this story as 'Migi', the parasite, wants to joins it's kind and the teen wants to save humanity. Delving into compassion, sentimentality and the like attempting to define what's human, makes an excellent backdrop for some gnarly monster effects and good action. Although it got redundant at times, it never failed to entertain and the sequel ought to be great!

Parasyte: Part 2 [2015]

aka Kiseijuu: Kanketsuhen

            

While the parasytes are establishing their foothold on earth, our hybrid hero gets really sappy and maudlin. After a pretty descent setup in Part 1 (above), I was expecting an explosive Part 2. Unfortunately, any excitement or energy it had was continually knocked out of it with these incredibly long scenes of philosophizing about human and alien nature all the while trying to suck all of our sympathy out of us to the point of, "Oh, come on!". And it got worse as the film went on ...the last half was so excruciatingly sentimental, I wanted to scream. What a pity!

P.O.V. - A Cursed Film [2012]

aka POV: Norowareta firumu

   

Two girls, who run their own little talk show, show some fan submitted videos of ghosts filmed at one of the girl's school. They decide to investigate and things get strange. This was a weird little film that was more entertaining then say an episode of Ghost Hunters but ultimately, like said show, nothing really happens. There's a few cheap spooks and the false ending was a nifty twist but I would have enjoyed seeing something a bit more sophisticated than just one spook after another.

Pacific Rim 2: Uprising [2018]


         

10 years after shutting down the initial invasion of the Precursors, and their creatures, the Kaiju, the human controlled robots, the Jaegers, are brought back into action to fight drone Jaegers and then a super Kaiju. This is a perfect example of writing, directing, editing and spec fx coming together in just the right way to present an explosively exciting roller coaster ride while still finding ways to interject good character development and tell a story. Great escapist entertainment from start to finish.

Passengers [2016]


            


Huge settings and masterful sci fi special effects punctuate this simple romance of passengers aboard a starship that are woken up 90 years to soon. Entertaining but it's really just a variation of a pretty standard romance story with some action, adventure and danger thrown in. Well done, though.

The Pact [2012]


            
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An eerie little mystery with paranormal overtones and disappearing family members. It's a slow, methodical journey of a women trying to figure out what happened to her sister and her cousin in the house of her recently departed mother. Even though it's very slow, they did an excellent job of maintaining an extremely heightened level of tension keeping me intensely involved throughout. Excellent story with some spine tingling moments and characters that seemed very real and genuine. Nice job!

The Panama Deception [1992]


         

A documentary about the real reasons we invaded Panama in 1989. Some of the comments I've read from the naysayers labeling this as pure propaganda seem to nit pick details about silly things that don't matter and completely miss the point. The point is unmistakably clear. With the full collaboration of the press, we invaded a country in full violation of World Law, killing thousands of civilians to "restore democracy" (of which they never had in the first place) solely to eliminate their military and regain control. Could have been better but it makes its point.

Parker [2013]


            

A professional thief offers to lead a state fair heist. Once it's over, they ask him to work on another job. When he refuses, they leave him for dead. They should make sure. This was a generally enjoyable film that I just had a couple problems with. I know the cinema human can sustain far more damage than a real human and still function but this was seriously over-the-top in that respect. Also, I never felt any chemistry between Statham and Lopez ...in fact, the movie probably would have been better if they had just written her out.

Paranormal Activity [2007]


            
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A man uses a camera to record what may be paranormal activity going on in his house ...even though he doesn't believe it. This film is proof that you don't need a huge budget of special effects to make a scary movie. Reminiscent of one of the scariest films ever made, The Haunting, only sounds (including subsonic), a few cheap practical effects, and the disintegrating psyche of the characters involved makes this one an uncomfortably creepy ride. I wasn't thrilled with the boyfriend for being such a skeptical jerk but overall, good flick for late at night.

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night [2010]

aka Paranomaru akutibiti: Dai-2-sho - Tokyo Night

        

A brother must take care of his sister, who's just returned home from a vacation where she's had a accident and broken both legs, and they begin to experience hauntings similar to the first film. The US has been pretty big on remaking Japan horror movies so it's only fair they do the same. However, about halfway through this one, I learned this wasn't being presented as a remake but rather an actual sequel to the first film. In that, they didn't do a bad job. I think there was far more down time than the first but they managed to maintain that creepy sense of dread.

Paranormal Activity 2 [2010]


            
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A family, the mother of which is the sister of the girl in the first film, sets up CCTV cameras in their home after an apparent break-in and records some spooky stuff. With the timing of events split in two, this is mostly a prequel that takes place within the month prior to the first film but ends as a sequel. Both are prequels to the unofficial Japanese film, Tokyo Night. Does well to maintain the level of creepy although the impact isn't as great ...probably because it's no longer new. But it is exceptional at bridging the two stories together. Good stuff!

Paranormal Activity 3 [2011]


            
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This one takes us back 18 years prior to the first two films and chronicles the events surrounding the sisters when they were kids ...and their imaginary friend, Toby. Just as creepy as the previous films, I'm not really sure what the attraction is. They're extremely slow paced. In fact, down right uneventful for semi-long periods of time. Maybe it's the insidious nature of the haunting coupled with the voyeuristic viewpoint. Whatever it is, it keeps me glued to the screen in a constant state of dread. The twist ending of this one was quite a bit different and brutal.

Paranormal Activity 4 [2012]


         
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The first true sequel, this one takes place about 5 years after the others where a new family becomes unwittingly involved in previous events. Although it did a fair job of maintaining that intense Jack-in-the-Box feel, it started getting a bit long in the tooth after awhile and the characters were more annoying than usual. The infrared tracking lights were very cool and I wish they would have done more with the gimmick. The last half hour certainly paid off for the sometimes suspenseful, sometimes frustrating wait to get there. A lesser effort overall but, I'm still a fan.

Paranormal Activity 5: The Marked Ones [2014]


         
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Seemingly unconnected to the previous films, at first, this one involves the slow possession of a young man while his family and friends try to figure out what's wrong with him. As an individual film, it's not a strong entry in the franchise ...although it still holds up rather well. But, it's obviously clear that all the films are firmly in the same universe and probably should be rated on how well it fits in. In this case, the film does a very interesting job of weaving itself into the current time line and hits us with another slam ending that all the films are noted for. Nice!

Paranormal Activity 6: The Ghost Dimension [2015]


            
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A family is haunted by a demon when they move into a house built over the site of the house from 1988 in PA3. They also find a camera that films ghostly activity making this film far more active than the slow-burn, wait-for-it style of the previous films. It's not as insidious and relies more on jump scares but they were done effectively, it has some really clever moments involving a time shift and, watching all the films in order, I found that this one did a good job of bringing everything full circle with an ending that was, once again, excellent.

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin [2021]


            

A girl, with film crew, goes to an Amish farm to discover her roots. The Paranormal Activity films are all connected in some way ...except this one. I think they used the name to grab viewers like me who watched it as a sequel. Surprise! Be that as it may, it's still a rather good, hand-held camera creepfest despite those moments when I was wondering who was holding the camera. It may be slow paced for some but it kept me interested and involved with a couple jump scares to grab ones attention. The climax is terrifying and worth getting to. Not bad. I had fun with it.

The Pact II [2014]


         

It appears a Judas Killer copycat is on the loose and a comic book artist and trauma scene cleanup girl begins having paranormal visions of the murders. This is a fairly worthy follow-up to The Pact. Camilla Luddington's performance is good as a girl who is smart and doesn't scare easy and Patrick Fischler's performance as an FBI Profiler was just plain creepy. As usual, the ending left us with a handful of ambiguities ripe for another sequel. Not a lot of scares and nothing really new here but it was an enjoyable watch.

The Pack [2010]

aka La meute

            
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A young woman and a hitchhiker stop at a saloon in the middle of nowhere. When the hitchhiker disappears in the bathroom, the woman decides to investigate. Bad idea! Just when you think you're watching a film that's reminiscent of Frontier(s), it takes a sharp left placing it in a category all its own. This French film is visceral, perverse, savage, and brutal with no humor and no happy endings. If you like well made extreme horror, this movie definitely fits the bill but you better have the stomach for it. Good job!

Patient Zero [2018]


            

A strain of rabies has taken over nearly every human on the planet. A small scientific research center attempts to find patient zero in hopes of developing a cure. Most of the movie is talking. That in itself isn't so bad as the writer has a knack for decent dialogue. But, after a whole lot of philosophizing with an infected human, we have a big action scene culminating in an anti-climactic ending that was pretty lame. With all that talk, I figured there would be a resolution of some kind but, nope ...nothing's resolved. Mildly entertaining.

P2 [2007]


         
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A psychotic security guard terrorizes a woman in a parking garage on Christmas Eve. I defy anyone to say they don't feel some anxiety walking though an empty parking garage. So, I expected this film to be quite a thriller. What I got was frustrated as I'm forced to watch a woman running around aimlessly trying to avoid a stupid psycho in one contrived scene after another. She only defends herself in the last 15 minutes. Ample fire axes and hoses in the garage but no fire alarms? Seriously?? Dumb movie.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank [2022]


            

A clueless dog is forced into the position of samurai for a town full of cats ...and they're powers that wish to destroy him. My wife and I found this film to be quite entertaining and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny. The characters were a joy to watch and provided with plenty of personality by an all-star cast of voices. Being the engine behind this, Mel Brooks pulled out a hefty bag of tricks that included Blazing Saddles tropes, constantly breaking the fourth wall and a parody of toilet humor using toilet humor that was a riot. The low IMDb rating confounds me. Fun!

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