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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A new Romanian film about an underpaid production assistant driving from gig to gig crackles with brains, obscenity, political anger and jokes that will have you laughing out loud. -
Philip Gefter's Cocktails with George and Martha traces the evolution of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? — from Broadway sensation, to Oscar-winning film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. -
Shot entirely in Tokyo, this elegant fable is Wim Wenders' best fiction feature in decades. Although it flirts with glibness, Perfect Days asks questions about how to find joy in imperfect situations. -
The action takes place all in one day, as 7-year-old Sol attends the birthday party of her father, who's dying of cancer. But Tótem isn't really a movie about death; it's about living. -
Set in London, this AppleTV+ miniseries centers on an old murder case that may need to be reopened. Though the show doesn't dig as deeply as it could, the two antagonists crackle with genuine dislike. -
Painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer was born in war-ravaged Germany in 1945. Wim Wenders' new film conveys the beauty, bleakness and moral weight of Kiefer's art. -
Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki's melancholy romantic comedy about two lonely souls trapped in dead-end jobs builds to a gorgeous ending — with a great and revelatory final joke. -
Two lonely souls bond over an injured border terrier with thousands of dollars in medical bills in Colin from Accounts — a bawdy, Australian series brimming with life and honesty. -
Helen Garner, 80, embraces the many-sidedness of life. Her books crackle with curiosity and unpredictability — they win big prizes, kickstart controversies and say things other people rarely dare. -
While the drama of the 1954 film hinged on the high stakes of the Pacific theater during World War II, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial involves an all-volunteer navy and no sea battles.
