PETERSON REVIEWS
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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.
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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.’
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 