PETERSON REVIEWS
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The Coming-of-Age Horrors of ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ and ‘How to Have Sex’
New movies from Zelda Williams and Molly Manning Walker, reviewed.
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‘Notting Hill’: A Star-Crossed Romance
Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant do wonders to soften — but not completely distract from — the contrivances of Roger Michell’s romantic comedy.
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‘The Story of a Three-Day Pass’: An Early Triumph for Melvin Van Peebles
Van Peebles would only get bigger — and bolder.
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Small Gestures, Big Problems in ‘Charulata’
On Satyajit Ray’s masterful romantic drama.
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‘The Crime is Mine’: Murder is Their Business
François Ozon’s frothy screwball comedy homage harkens back to the heightened style of 2002’s ‘8 Women.’
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A Doomed, One-Sided Love in ‘Senso’
On Luchino Visconti’s sumptuous, devastating melodrama.
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‘Go Fish’: A Heartfelt, Pioneering Romantic Comedy
Rose Troche’s breakthrough was a milestone for lesbian representation.
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‘Mystic Pizza’ is an Essential Coming-of-Age Comedy
Roger Ebert now-famously predicted that the film’s three leads would soon become movie stars; the promising ebullience of their performances still shines through.
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Odds & Ends: January 2024
Notes from the last month.
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‘The Car’ is About What You’d Expect
A hybrid of ‘Christine’ and ‘Jaws,’ this thriller about a self-driving car that hits the gas only so that it can kill people isn’t necessarily bad, but it doesn’t do anything that interesting with its premise, either.
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On Steve McQueen’s So-Called Vanity Project
Notes on ‘Le Mans.’
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‘Death Race 2000’ is a Tongue-in-Cheek Dystopian Thriller
The performers — particularly the in-on-the-joke cool Mary Woronov and the comically always-fuming Sylvestor Stallone — know precisely what kind of movie this is and seem to be luxuriating in the material, just as we are.
MARCH 2026
The Theme is ‘Acting’
ASDFJHGSD
‘Hollywood Shuffle’ Cuts Deep
The movie established director-actor-co-writer Robert Townsend not only as an astute critic but a limber comedy performer in the improv tradition.
February 4, 2025
November 6, 2025
October 27, 2025
Disobedience
John Sayles’ groundbreaking ‘Lianna’ was a landmark — albeit a criminally underseen one — for lesbian representation in cinema.
February 25, 2026
Trouble in Paradise
On the screwball-comedy perfection of 1937’s ‘The Awful Truth.’
February 23, 2026
The Heart of the Matter
Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Separation’ more than sidesteps divorce-movie expectations.
February 16, 2026
Peterson Reviews 