Tag: Review
-
Gene Kelly and Judy Garland Are Off the Charts in ‘The Pirate’
Vincente Minnelli’s ‘The Pirate’ is one of the oddest movies to come out of MGM’s musical golden era; it’s also among the most fun and boundary-pushingly playful.
-
Struggling to Care About Billy Liar
It’s a mostly effective study of a young man who craves artistic success but isn’t willing to put in the work to make it happen, but it’s not very good at actually pulling us in.
-
Short Takes: ‘Sick,’ ‘Broker,’ and ‘Women Talking’
A slasher, a road movie, and a stagey drama.
-
‘Cover Girl’ Doesn’t Quite Know What to Do with Its Stars
There are a handful of moments in this hit 1944 musical where Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly remind you of their greatness, but they’re largely underserved by Charles Vidor’s static direction.
-
The Cautious Optimism of ‘The Big City’
‘The Big City’ is blunt about the professional and personal difficulties that come with shifting tides.
-
‘Secret Defense’ is a Spellbinding Revenge Drama
Jacques Rivette takes a revenge plot and, subversively, is most interested in the mundane everyday details that would in most other movies be incidental.
-
‘Outlaws’ is a Bad-Wig Crime Thriller
This Spanish drama has all the charge of a crime-doesn’t-pay TV movie.
-
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ is a Stunning Achievement — and a Bit of a Bore
James Cameron’s long-delayed follow-up to 2009’s ‘Avatar’ doubles down on visual spectacle and inert drama.
-
‘À Nos Amours’ is One of the Great Coming-of-Age Movies
Where other directors might moralize or condescendingly diagnose, Maurice Pialat delicately and sensitively handles the emotional complications of a teenage girl’s budding sex life.
-
Sally Field and Burt Reynolds Are Dynamite Together in ‘Smokey and the Bandit’
Jackie Gleason’s cigarette-voiced villain performance is a highlight, too.
-
‘Hanna’ Should Have Stayed a Pitch
Joe Wright’s pivot to action filmmaking has flashes of intrigue but is mostly a slog.
-
The Quiet Menace of ‘La Cérémonie’
Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert make for an unsettling pair in Claude Chabrol’s excellent psychological thriller.
Peterson Reviews 