PETERSON REVIEWS
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‘The Pornographers’ is an Amiable Dark Comedy
Shōhei Imamura’s dark comedy has a lot more on its mind than just sex for money.
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Old Friends, Together Again, in ‘Past Lives’ and ‘The Blackening’
Celine Song’s acclaimed feature debut and an inspired horror comedy, reviewed.
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‘Primal Fear’ is Glossy Garbage
‘Primal Fear’ is cheaply fun, but some of that fun is weighed down by thoughts of the better movie it could have been.
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Things Fall Apart: Two by Uli Edel
Two by Uli Edel.
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Turbulence
Two ‘90s gems — ‘Drylongso’ and ‘The Doom Generation’ — are restored and as invigorating as ever.
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‘Runaway Bride’: A Match Made in Hell
It’s hard to buy that someone who’s nationally humiliated you could be your soulmate, and ‘Runaway Bride’ isn’t charming enough to do any convincing otherwise.
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‘The Cotton Club’ is Slight But Beautiful to Look At
Even the encore cut of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1984 box-office flop feels dramatically hollow.
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‘8 Million Ways to Die’ is an Uneasy, But Engaging, Neo-Noir
The movie always feels uncomfortable. Its attempts to be a labyrinthine mystery, a squalid noir, and a somewhat serious study of alcoholism’s destructiveness all have a similar quality to walking around in clothes that don’t fit.
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Reality Bites in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ and ‘Reality’
A dazzling animated movie and an acting showcase, reviewed.
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‘8MM’ is Almost Comically Grim
‘8MM’’s portrayal of the underground-porn world conversely has the texture of one imagined by a well-off 60-something who wouldn’t know much about that kind of thing.
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Short Takes: ‘The Little Mermaid,’ ‘You Hurt My Feelings,’ and ‘Master Gardener’
Disney, Nicole Holofcener, and Paul Schrader.
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‘Wendy and Lucy’ is a Moving — and Harrowing — Survival Drama
Williams isn’t given a lot to say, but her performance emits her character’s unspoken convictions in a way that tells us everything we need to know about a tenacious young woman struggling to maintain that tenacity.
SEPTEMBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Based on an Article’
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In ‘Menus-Plaisirs – Les Troisgros,’ It’s All in the Process
Revisiting Frederick Wiseman’s 44th documentary, which trains its gaze on the Troisgros family and its various culinary pursuits.
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
Peterson Reviews 