PETERSON REVIEWS
space
-
‘A Poet’ is No Redemption Story
Simón Mesa Soto’s tragicomedy, about a failed poet who finds something to live for in a talented young student, seems poised to be conventionally uplifting before taking some knottier turns.
-
The Calculated Cruelty of ‘Salaam Cinema’
Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s not-quite-documentary is revelatory — and gets its hands a little dirty in the process.
-
Next Big Things
Gregory La Cava’s ‘Stage Door’ is often at once hysterically funny and brutally pragmatic about the personal toll a career in entertainment can take.
-
Arrangements
‘Pillion’ and ‘Mistress Dispeller,’ reviewed.
-
Disobedience
John Sayles’ groundbreaking ‘Lianna’ was a landmark — albeit a criminally underseen one — for lesbian representation in cinema.
-
Trouble in Paradise
On the screwball-comedy perfection of 1937’s ‘The Awful Truth.’
-
‘Shoot the Moon’: An Underrated Reminder of Diane Keaton’s Generational Genius
Alan Parker’s 1982 divorce drama is among the genre’s most emotionally evocative works.
-
Short Takes: ‘Wuthering Heights,’ ‘My Father’s Shadow,’ and ‘Nirvanna’
For South Sound: New movies from Emerald Fennell, Akinola Davies Jr., and Matt Johnson, reviewed.
-
The Heart of the Matter
Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Separation’ more than sidesteps divorce-movie expectations.
-
Recent History
‘The Moment’ and ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab,’ reviewed.
-
‘Heartburn’ Sticks Too Close to the Surface
Meryl Streep is lovable as Nora Ephron’s stand-in in the 1986 adaptation of the latter’s same-named novel, but you can’t help but want it to mine its divorce plot more thoroughly.
-
‘Waiting to Exhale’ is Easy to Love
The 1995 dramedy is satisfyingly pessimistic about love and relationships and dead serious about the power of friendship.
NOVEMBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Sibling Bonds’
ASDFJHGSD
‘Visible Secret’ is a Low-Key, Surprisingly Spooky Romantic Comedy
Ann Hui’s 2001 movie posits what a rom-com might look like with a ‘Sixth Sense’-esque underlay.
October 16, 2026
August 19, 2026
May 25, 2026
Smoke and Mirrors
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s inventive documentary isn’t just about the disgraced entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes.
October 19, 2026
Ghost World
Kaneto Shindō’s ‘Kuroneko’ is still forward-looking in its contempt for patriarchal devastation.
October 15, 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
