John Powers
John Powers is the pop culture and critic-at-large on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He previously served for six years as the film critic.
Powers spent the last 25 years as a critic and columnist, first for LA Weekly, then Vogue. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Harper's BAZAAR, The Nation, Gourmet, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.
A former professor at Georgetown University, Powers is the author of Sore Winners, a study of American culture during President George W. Bush's administration. His latest book, WKW: The Cinema of Wong Kar Wai (co-written with Wong Kar Wai), is an April 2016 release by Rizzoli.
He lives in Pasadena, California, with his wife, filmmaker Sandi Tan.
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Chris Hemsworth stars as a virtuoso jewel thief, and Mark Ruffalo plays the detective tracking him down in Crime 101. This thriller is a deliberate throwback — and also a lot of fun. -
A washed-up tennis pro gives lessons at a fancy hotel in the Canary Islands. But when he meets an elegant woman with an unlikable husband, things take a noirish turn.
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Idris Elba returns as the world's most unlucky traveler in Season 2 of the Apple TV series Hijack. And Tom Hiddleston is back as a hotel worker/intelligence agent in The Night Manager on Prime Video. -
Critic-at-large John Powers gives his due to the movies, TV and books he wasn't able to cover earlier in the year, including La Grazia, Andor, Mississippi Blue 42 and the documentary Mr. Scorsese.
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A research scientist is on the run from hitmen in this thrilling film. Set in 1977 Brazil, The Secret Agent captures the daily realities and surreal absurdities of life in an authoritarian state. -
An unemployed cabinet maker robs the local art museum — then finds himself plunged into a world of cops and gangsters and life on the run. The Mastermind is a sad movie that gets stronger as it goes. -
Ethan Hawke stars as lyricist Lorenz Hart on the night his former writing partner, Richard Rodgers, debuts his hit musical Oklahoma!. Blue Moon offers a canny take on professional jealousy.
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A single nuclear warhead, of unknown origin, is heading toward the U.S. mainland in Kathryn Bigelow's new Netflix film. It's an unnerving scenario — but it's also thrilling to watch. -
Ethan Hawke plays a bookstore owner who moonlights as a muckraking reporter in Tulsa, Okla. Though The Lowdown occasionally meanders or misfires, every episode of the FX series is bracingly alive. -
A new eight-part series by MUBI chronicles the ferocious rise of the Italian dictator. While the show is a bit too eager to make Mussolini entertaining, the story it tells couldn't be any more timely.
