PETERSON REVIEWS
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Looking for Answers in ‘The Worst Person in the World’ and ‘KIMI’
Notes on a Best International Film nominee and a new Seattle-shot thriller.
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‘Big Girls Don’t Cry … They Get Even’ Reminds You How Much More Joan Micklin Silver Was Capable Of
This is a pleasant, diverting movie, though it’s distractingly a bit at war with itself.
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‘The Novice’ is an Intense Filmmaking Debut
Plus: HBO Max’s ‘The Fallout’ examines a sensitive subject with empathy and care.
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‘Alone Together’ is a Riveting Portrait of an Artist in Quarantine
Plus: ‘Flee.’
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In ‘Scarecrow,’ the Small Details Count the Most
Photographer turned filmmaker Jerry Schatzberg’s unpolished, expansive direction complements his characters’ dawdling, their ever-changing relationship, and the wide-open possibilities of the road.
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‘Vera Drake’ is Devastating
The arc of ‘Vera Drake’ engenders some thriller-like tension but never rises into the sensationalism it easily could.
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‘Duelle’ Feels Neither Here Nor There
This is a willfully unpindownable gambol of a movie whose mysteriousness and dream-like quality are hypnotic virtues rather than alienating setbacks.
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‘The Package’ Does Exactly What It’s Supposed To
‘The Package’ is all smart and watchable without being transcendent.
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The Exhausting Cleverness of ‘Scream 5’
This nonetheless fun sequel’s nonstop self-awareness can tread into overkill territory.
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Penélope Cruz Gives One of Her Best Performances in ‘Parallel Mothers’
Plus: Vanessa Kirby is the reason to see new VOD release ‘Italian Studies.’
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‘Bacurau’: Thoughtful Thrills
Filho and Dornelles seamlessly prop up fun without curtailing the very-real horrors of colonialism and political malfeasance their story evokes.
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In ‘A Hero,’ A Good Deed Goes Bad
In ‘A Hero,’ an act of good samaritanism slowly morphs into what feels like the onset of a curse.
SEPTEMBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Based on an Article’
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‘Bigger Than Life”s Resounding Anger
By the film’s end, which offers no resounding resolution, you feel practically pummeled by its driving dilemma.
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 