PETERSON REVIEWS
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‘Absence of Malice’ is an Inert Journalism Drama
On the one hand the narrative is uninvolving; on the other Sally Field’s character is such a reckless reporter that you spend most of the movie mad that she hasn’t been fired.
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Paul Newman is ‘Nobody’s Fool’
The movie would not be nearly as moving without Newman’s performance at the front.
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The Unsentimental Journeys of ‘Return to Seoul’ and ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’
Two new movies steeped in chaos, country-hopping, and characters with a knack for leaving disaster in their wakes.
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‘Tokyo Fist’ Comes at You Fast
Shinya Tsukamoto’s boxing movie turns genre norms on their head.
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Jane Fonda Gives One of Her Best Performances in ‘Moving On’
‘Moving On’ doesn’t really know what to do with itself, but it does prove how difficult it is to put Fonda and Tomlin together in a movie and come up with a bad time.
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Paul Newman Gives One of His Best Performances in ‘The Verdict’
The intensity of ‘The Verdict’ reverberates even more because its quest for justice, if everything goes right, doubles as a type of salvation for its lawyer protagonist.
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The Great Show Accusations True at SZA’s Climate Pledge Concert
The singer-songwriter brought her inexhaustible confessionals to Seattle Thursday night.
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The Irreverent Charm of ‘Shaolin Soccer’
Its original blend of slapstick comedy, martial-arts thrills, and the underdog-centric sports movie immediately wins you over.
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Paul Newman is Woefully Miscast in ‘Somebody Up There Likes Me’
Newman tries his best, but flounders, in a role better suited to the recently departed James Dean.
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‘Scream 6’ is a Cut Above ‘5’
Plus: ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,’ one of 2022’s best movies, is finally available to rent.
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‘Bend It Like Beckham’ Earns Its Clichés
Gurinder Chadha never offers any surprises in this comedy about a young Indian woman who dreams of professional soccer playing, but it’s so warm and spirited that it doesn’t matter.
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‘The Longest Yard’ Understands Burt Reynolds’ Appeal
‘The Longest Yard’ is best enjoyed for the way it complements the platonic ideal of a star persona whose at-one-time refreshing irreverence would only retain its freshness a little while longer.
SEPTEMBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Based on an Article’
ASDFJHGSD
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 