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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Jerzy Skolimowski's thrillingly imaginative new film, EO, follows a former circus donkey on a journey across modern Europe. It's a strange, haunting epic that couldn't feel more of our moment. -
Argentina, 1985 is a true-life portrait of a country struggling to reckon with its past. Decision to Leave is a thrillingly well-made murder story that crackles with originality.
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A writer dies under suspicious circumstances, leaving the last chapter of his new mystery novel incomplete. PBS' new MASTERPIECE Mystery! series is based on the bestselling novel by Anthony Horowitz.
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The epic action-picture bromance makes the case for returning to theaters — it reminds us that movies are always more thrilling when they're part of a collective experience.
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Ramy Youssef's comic-drama about Muslim life in America aims higher than almost anything else on TV. In its new season, Ramy grows increasingly unlikable and his family appears to be falling apart.
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There's nothing mythic about this series, which acts as a sequel to Paul Schrader's hit 1980 movie. This American Gigolo relies too much on people caring about a film that was made four decades ago.
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Set in 1989 Germany shortly before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, this series centers on a cocky female assassin and puts a playful spin on the end of communism.
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Bianca Stigter's documentary, Three Minutes: A Lengthening, brings the past to life with an almost archaeological gaze.
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Set in Oklahoma's Native American territory, the show blends satire, pathos and tribal lore — not to mention American Indians' tragic history — into a series that is fresh, funny and heartfelt.
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Neil Patrick Harris plays a gay New Yorker whose long-term relationship abruptly ends. While it's tempting to criticize Uncoupled for being superficial, that would be missing the point — and the fun.
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Set in a sandwich shop in Chicago, this sharply written eight-part series is stingingly accurate about restaurant work — the merciless stresses, oversized personalities and battlefield camaraderie.
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Kingston burst onto the scene in 1976 with The Woman Warrior and then kept writing. Critic John Powers says that, like James Baldwin, she's managed to shift American culture and remain relevant.
