PETERSON REVIEWS
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Doing Too Much
On Ken Russell’s ‘The Boy Friend,’ ‘Lisztomania,’ and ‘Gothic.’
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Bifurcated Romantic Drama ‘Paris Blues’ is More Interested in the Less-Interesting Couple
‘Paris Blues’ has gusto musically and visually; the performances frequently spark. But this is a film whose boldness only comes in glimmers.
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A Star is Not Born in ‘Smithereens’
On Susan Seidelman’s devastating 1982 comedy.
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‘Thirteen’: Rebel Girls
‘Thirteen’ is ultimately about as thick-stroked and (perhaps inadvertently) fear-stoking as an after-school special, just better-acted and more idiosyncratically made.
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2020 Vision
On ‘Palm Springs,’ ‘Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga,’ and ‘The Old Guard.’
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‘Under Capricorn’ is Hardly the Fiasco It’s Been Made Out to Be
Alfred Hitchcock long insisted that 1949’s inconsistent period melodrama ‘Under Capricorn’ — which lost money, which got bad reviews upon release, which sat between commercial letdowns ‘Rope’ and ‘Stage Fright’ — was a failure.
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The Purgatorial Drama of ‘My Brother’s Wedding’
I was less compelled by the plot’s movement than I was by how Burnett captures the dynamic between family members.
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Darkness and Cold
On ‘The Leopard,’ ‘The Train,’ and ‘The Swimmer.’
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‘Starship Troopers’ is Classic Paul Verhoeven
On Verhoeven’s 1997 masterpiece.
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A Couple of Reasons to See ‘The Stud’
Though neither one exactly speaks to the quality of the movie itself.
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Introspection
On ‘Stromboli’ and ‘Journey to Italy,’ two crucial collaborations between Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini.
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Every Star of the Month
The people on whom Peterson Reviews has trained its gaze over the years.
MARCH 2026
The Theme is ‘Acting’
ASDFJHGSD
‘Notting Hill’: A Star-Crossed Romance
Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant do wonders to soften — but not completely distract from — the contrivances of Roger Michell’s romantic comedy.
February 4, 2025
November 6, 2025
October 27, 2025
Disobedience
John Sayles’ groundbreaking ‘Lianna’ was a landmark — albeit a criminally underseen one — for lesbian representation in cinema.
February 25, 2026
Trouble in Paradise
On the screwball-comedy perfection of 1937’s ‘The Awful Truth.’
February 23, 2026
The Heart of the Matter
Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Separation’ more than sidesteps divorce-movie expectations.
February 16, 2026
Peterson Reviews 