PETERSON REVIEWS
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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.
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‘Hard Boiled’ is John Woo At His Best
Woo is a giddy showman who makes a strong case for the wonders of habitual slow motion and weapons that go off with such bluster that they double as fog machines.
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‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ and ‘Cruising,’ Reviewed
Two neo-noirs from William Friedkin.
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‘Love Jones’ Deserves More
Theodore Witcher’s 1997 rom-com shouldn’t be relegated to cult-classic status.
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‘Chungking Express,’ ‘Happy Together,’ and ‘The Grandmaster,’ Reviewed
Three key collaborations from Wong Kar-Wai and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai.
OCTOBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Thrills and Chills’
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Sin and Vice
On ‘The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh,’ ‘Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key,’ and ‘All the Colors of the Dark,’ an informal trilogy from Sergio Martino starring Edwige Fenech.
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
