PETERSON REVIEWS
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‘Urban Cowboy’ is a Country-Fried Cash-in
James Bridges’ handsomely shot 1980 drama is fairly openly indebted to 1977’s ‘Saturday Night Fever.’
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Memory and Family Are Not to Be Trusted in ‘Romería’
Now playing on The Criterion Channel, Carla Simón’s elegant new movie fictionalizes her genealogical history with productive reticence.
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The Perennially Relevant ‘Ladybug Ladybug’
The frustrations at the heart of Eleanor and Frank Perry’s 1963 Cold War drama have barely faded.
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Stepping Up
‘American Doctor’ and ‘Mad Bills to Pay,’ reviewed.
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The Meticulous Empathy of ‘Descendant’
In 2019, a sunken slave ship was discovered, after years of speculation, in Alabama’s Mobile River. A great 2022 documentary, ‘Descendant,’ powerfully probes the aftermath.
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‘Sherman’s March’ is Pretty Exhausting
It’s easy to see why Ross McElwee’s 1986 documentary was so influential. It can also be enervating.
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‘The Hamptons’ is a Compulsively Watchable Nightmare
Barbara Kopple’s 2002 documentary saps the mythic vacation destination of any romanticization.
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The Triumph and Tragedy of ‘The Joy Luck Club’
Wayne Wang’s 1993 adaptation of the homonymous Amy Tan novel was a breakthrough that deserved to trigger more of an industry ripple effect than it ultimately did.
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What This Northwest ‘Drag Race’ Alum Has Planned for Her Seattle Tour Stop
For 425: Bosco wasn’t originally going to bring her new show to her adopted hometown. Here’s why that changed.
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‘The End of Oak Street’ is Entertainingly Derivative
Plus: The much-delayed Looney Tunes comedy ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ is, for the most part, worth the wait. (For 425)
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Love Letters
‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,’ ‘A Sad and Beautiful World,’ and ‘Cactus Pears,’ reviewed.
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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.
SEPTEMBER 2026
The Theme is ‘Based on an Article’
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The Goofy Alarmism of ‘High School Confidential!’
The infamous 1958 high-school drama epitomizes product-of-its-time silliness.
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 