PETERSON REVIEWS
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You Can Handle ‘The Truth’
The disconnect between Binoche’s and Deneuve’s characters feels just right for a mother-daughter duo whose relationship has always been lopsided. But it’s too uncluttered and inconsistently introspective to stir.
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A Thousand Stars Burst Open
On ‘The Living End,’ ‘Totally Fucked Up,’ and ‘Mysterious Skin.’
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Playing Your Song
On ‘Intermezzo’ and ‘A Woman’s Face.’
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‘Gaslight’: Bad Love
This movie lays out a specific, common kind of torment that until then had not been so concisely asserted in the popular imagination.
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Smile Now, Cry Later
On Maurice Pialat’s ‘Loulou’ and ‘Police.’
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‘The Comfort of Strangers’ is a Nightmare That Looks Like a Dream
I hate it in movies when at the end, a character wakes up and is relieved to confirm to themselves and us that everything terrible we’ve just seen was a nightmare. Yet if such an epilogue were screwed on The ‘Comfort of Strangers,’ we might some find comfort.
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The Blissful Myopia of ‘Atlantic City’
Despite the overwhelming presences of failure and missed opportunity — like no matter how hard you try, you cannot effectively, cleanly, run away from your past — it still feels, to me, like an optimistic movie.
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On Humphrey Bogart’s Last Move
‘The Harder They Fall’ is a solid, economic thriller.
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Dark Victory
On ‘Da 5 Bloods’ and ‘The King of Staten Island.’
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On ‘The Watermelon Woman’
Notes on Cheryl Dunye’s personal, inventive drama.
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The Good Old Days
‘Where the Boys Are’ and ‘Beach Party,’ reviewed.
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‘Deep Cover’ Challenges Police Procedural Norms
On an invigorating cop noir.
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 