PETERSON REVIEWS
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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.
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The Overpowering Loneliness of ‘Separate Tables’
In ‘Separate Tables,’ carefully tucked-away secrets come to the fore
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Beauty is Pain in ‘Death Becomes Her’
Hawn and Streep are both terrific.
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The Cutthroat Thrills of ‘Murder by Contract’
‘Murder by Contract’ is a lean, no-nonsense movie.
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That Most Important Thing
On ‘Cane River’ and ‘Shirley.’
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‘The Great’ is Great
Though some abbreviation could benefit it.
SEPTEMBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Based on an Article’
ASDFJHGSD
‘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 