PETERSON REVIEWS
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‘The Big Red One’: The Glory of War
‘The Big Red One’ has the look and feel of a far more romantic movie but is perhaps even more pessimistic than its more conventionally pessimistically-presenting counterparts.
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‘The Bad News Bears’ is a Terrific Sports Comedy
Especially first-rate are the scenes featuring just Walter Matthau and Tatum O’Neal, who, while also being the most well-drawn characters in ‘The Bad News Bears,’ have a funny, jagged onscreen relationship.
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‘Birds of Prey’: A Major Step Up from Its Predecessor
It’s one of the more invigorating DC-sanctioned superhero features in a while.
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The Horrors of Self-Optimization in ‘Seconds’
On Frankenheimer’s excellent black comedy.
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‘The Last of Sheila’ is an All-Time-Great Whodunit
On Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins’ assiduously crafted mystery film.
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Chic Thrills
Notes on ‘The Unfaithful Wife,’ ‘Le Boucher,’ ‘Just Before Nightfall,’ ‘Violette Nozière,’ and ‘Betty.’
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‘The Rapture’ is an Essential Movie About Religion
It’s a shame for ‘The Rapture’ to continue going on little seen: It’s one of the most unforgettably tantalizing movies about religion I’ve seen.
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‘Babette’s Feast’: Excellent Gastro-Cinema
It’s a lyrical testament, both narratively and visually, to the often transcendental power of cuisine.
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On ‘Miss Americana’
This Taylor Swift documentary summons a surprising amount of sympathy.
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‘Infernal Affairs’: A Cop Thriller with a Smart Premise
Ambition is like a poison in ‘Infernal Affairs.’
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On ‘Watchmen’
Notes on Damon Lindelof’s great miniseries.
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‘The Beast with Five Fingers’: Look, One Hand!
To watch or read a whodunit is to know, with certainty, that the conclusion of its story will come with the unmasking of someone (or someones) as a villain. The fun of ‘The Beast With Five Fingers’ is the muddying of the cliché.
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 