PETERSON REVIEWS
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‘When Night is Falling’: Silly and Sensual
Patricia Rozema’s 1995 romantic drama’s self-seriousness sometimes induces laughter, but its endearingly earnest celebration of fantasy makes it (just barely) work.
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Average Joes
Greg Berlanti’s ‘The Broken Hearts Club’ feels like a classic hidden in plain sight.
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A Different Angle
On Isaac Julien’s slippery, thoughtful ‘Looking for Langston.’
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Emily Blunt Gives One of Her Best Performances in ‘Disclosure Day’
Plus: ‘Stop! That! Train!’ is a delightful spoof comedy slightly sabotaged by a special-effects controversy. (For 425)
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‘The Stroll’ is a Stirring, Deeply Personal Documentary
Homing in on a segment of the Meatpacking District that once was the stomping grounds of trans sex workers, the 2023 documentary powerfully builds on the experiences of subject and co-director Kristen Lovell.
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Self-Discoveries
André Téchiné’s ‘Wild Reeds’ is a beautifully shot, emotionally intelligent coming-of-age movie.
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Acting Out
‘Forastera’ and ‘Scary Movie,’ reviewed.
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Glamour Girls
On ‘The Queen,’ Frank Simon’s flawed but essential 1968 documentary.
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‘Backrooms’ Does More Than It Needs to
Kane Parsons’ adaptation of his popular web series is best when it leans into its mysteriousness.
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The Sledgehammer-Force Provocations of ‘Bamboozled’
Spike Lee’s 2000 TV satire has a reputation as a failure. It doesn’t deserve it.
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‘Breaking News’: Great Action Filmmaking with Pointed Critiques
Johnnie To’s 2004 thriller hosts both exemplary action sequences and sharp indictments of the police and media.
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‘Quiz Show’ Thoughtfully — and a Little Misleadingly — Revisits an Industry-Changing Scandal
Robert Redford’s fact-based drama looks at vintage game-show deception with some truth-smudging of its own.
OCTOBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Thrills and Chills’
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The Surprising Sensitivity of ‘The Leopard Man’
This proto-slasher from 1943 takes pains to show that its victims are more than their fates.
August 19, 2026
May 25, 2026
May 13, 2026
Strong, Stoic Types
Director-star Paul Newman’s 1971 treatment of Ken Kesey’s ‘Sometimes a Great Notion’ perceptively observes the corrosiveness of toxic masculinity.
August 7, 2026
Working Girls
‘Broken Mirrors,’ Marleen Gorris’ 1984 follow-up to her still-transcendent feminist drama ‘A Question of Silence,’ expands on its predecessor’s themes while dramatically improving on its writer-director’s aesthetic command.
July 9, 2026
Found Connections
Donna Deitch’s ‘Desert Hearts’ was a breakthrough for lesbian representation in cinema. It also achieves another rarified thing: Characters who feel like they exist outside a screenplay’s bounds.
June 30, 2026
