PETERSON REVIEWS
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Odds & Ends: November 2023
Notes from the last month.
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The Bold and Bawdy Sex Comedy of ‘Vixen!’
Russ Meyer’s commercial breakthrough is a fascinating nexus point in his career.
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Self-Discovery and False Starts in ‘Dishonored Lady’
Hedy Lamarr is great in a movie about a woman trying to turn over a new leaf thwarted by her past.
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‘May December’: A Sly, Shivery Age-Gap Melodrama
Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, and Charles Melton are all at the top of their game in Todd Haynes’ latest.
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‘Secretary’ is a Transgressive, Darkly Funny Romantic Comedy
Maggie Gyllenhaal is terrific in her breakthrough role.
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Hedy Lamarr is Wickedly Good in ‘The Strange Woman’
In the vein of the previous year’s ‘Leave Her to Heaven,’ the fun of ‘The Strange Woman’ is primarily found in our desire to see its villainess get away with her crimes.
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Family Feasts
On ‘Saltburn’ and ‘Thanksgiving.’
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The Stylish Sensuality of ‘Story of O’
Just Jaeckin’s follow-up to the infamous ‘Emmanuelle’ is even better than the movie he’s most associated with.
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‘Samson and Delilah’ is a Silly, Pretty-to-Look-At Epic
It’s impossible to take Cecil B. DeMille’s biblical epic seriously outside its aesthetic pleasures.
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Celebrating 30 Years of ‘Guyville’ with Liz Phair
The singer-songwriter played an anniversary show commemorating her debut album, ‘Exile in Guyville,’ at the Moore Theatre last night.
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‘The Killer’: A Cutthroat, Cool-to-the-Touch Thriller from David Fincher
Plus: ‘All of Us Strangers’ is a rare misfire from Andrew Haigh.
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‘Shortbus’ is a Bruising Sex Comedy
John Cameron’s Mitchell’s 2006 dramedy famously pushes the envelope, but it’s not shocking for the sake of being shocking.
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 