John Powers John Powers is the pop culture and critic-at-large on NPR's Fresh Air with Terri Gross.
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John Powers

John Powers

Pop Culture Critic, Fresh Air

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.

Story Archive

Friday

Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones play rival storm chasers in Twisters. Universal Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures & Amblin Entertainment/Universal Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures & Amblin Entertainment hide caption

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Universal Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures & Amblin Entertainment/Universal Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures & Amblin Entertainment

'Twisters' swirls an old-fashioned rom-com into an effects-happy action movie

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Wednesday

'Green Border' is the strongest movie this critic has seen all year

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Friday

Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld (Daniel Brühl), left, meets and falls in love with Jacques de Bascher (Théodore Pellerin) in Becoming Karl Lagerfeld. Caroline Dubois, Jour Premier/Disney hide caption

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Caroline Dubois, Jour Premier/Disney

'Becoming Karl Lagerfeld' is the smart, dishy backstory of a style icon

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Thursday

Enea Sala (center) plays the young Edgardo in Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara.
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Anna Camerlingo/Cohen Media Group

'Kidnapped' tells the historical horror story of an abducted Jewish child

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Friday

Remembering filmmaker Roger Corman, king of B-movies

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Wednesday

Arthur Hughes plays the title character in Hulu's four-part series, Shardlake. Martin Mlaka/Hulu hide caption

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Martin Mlaka/Hulu

Beautifully acted 'Shardlake' brings 500-year-old Tudor intrigue into the present day

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Thursday

Part satire, part tragedy, 'The Sympathizer' will reward your full attention

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Friday

Ewan McGregor proves exceedingly appealing as 'A Gentleman in Moscow'

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Thursday

Angela (Ilinca Manolache) is an underpaid production assistant on a film about workplace safety in Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. Unifrance hide caption

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Unifrance

You can expect a lot from this freewheeling film about the 'End of the World'

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Thursday

'Love Lies Bleeding' is a pulpy noir that delivers all the thrills

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Monday

Bloomsbury Publishing

Dishy-yet-earnest, 'Cocktails' revisits the making of 'Virginia Woolf'

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Wednesday

Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho) sits with his niece Niko (Arisa Nakano) in Perfect Days. MASTER MIND Ltd hide caption

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MASTER MIND Ltd

How to have 'Perfect Days' in a flawed world — this film embraces beauty all around

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Monday

Frantz Fanon biography chronicles the life and legacy of a revolutionary icon

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Thursday

Naíma Sentíes and Montserrat Marañon in Tótem. Limerencia hide caption

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Limerencia

'Tótem' invites you to a family birthday party — but Death has RSVP'd, too

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Tuesday

Cush Jumbo stars as June Lenker in Criminal Record. AppleTV+ hide caption

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AppleTV+

High-power detectives clash over a questionable conviction in 'Criminal Record'

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Thursday

'The Brothers Sun' is a freewheeling, messy and quite entertaining comedy-thriller

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Thursday

Anselm offers both a thrilling portrait of Anselm Kiefer at work and, with the aid of terrific archival footage, lets us see what infuses his work with such intensity. Janus Films hide caption

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Janus Films

'Anselm' documentary is a thrilling portrait of an artist at work

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Monday

Two lonely souls (Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen) come together in Fallen Leaves. Malla Hukkanen/Sputnik hide caption

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Malla Hukkanen/Sputnik

Sentimental but not soppy, 'Fallen Leaves' gives off the magic glow of a fable

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Wednesday

Ashley and Gordon (Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall) bond over an injured border terrier in Colin from Accounts. Lisa Tomasetti/Paramount+ hide caption

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Lisa Tomasetti/Paramount+

'Colin' the dog brings 2 — no wait, 3 —lonely hearts together in this fetching series

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Thursday

Helen Garner is an Australian novelist, journalist, diarist and screenwriter. Darren James/Pantheon Books hide caption

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Darren James/Pantheon Books

This Australian writer might be the greatest novelist you've never heard of

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Friday

Lance Reddick, Dale Dye and Kiefer Sutherland in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. Marc Carlini/Paramount+ with Showtime hide caption

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Marc Carlini/Paramount+ with Showtime

William Friedkin's stodgy 'Caine Mutiny' adaptation lacks the urgency of the original

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Tuesday

Inspector Brian Boyce (Hugh Bonneville) tracks down the thieves in The Gold. Sally Mais/Tannadice Pictures/Paramount+ hide caption

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Sally Mais/Tannadice Pictures/Paramount+

What happened to 'The Gold'? This crime saga is focused on the aftermath of a heist

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Monday

2 smart, entertaining films revisit the horror of Pinochet's 1973 coup in Chile

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Wednesday

Lars Mikkelsen stars as real estate baron Holger Lang in Season 3 of the Danish thriller Face to Face. Viaplay hide caption

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Viaplay

'Face to Face' is a murder mystery that lives up to the tradition of Nordic Noir

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