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.
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
