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Articles by John Powers
Chris Rock returns to directing with the high-powered, if problematic, 'Misty Green'
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She can communicate with ghosts. Here's what she learns from the 'Sad Dead' Original
'My Sad Dead' review: This Spanish-language ghost story is unlike anything else on TV My Sad Dead is about an Argentinian doctor who can speak with ghosts. The Spanish-language miniseries blends creepiness, melancholy, sarcastic humor and political anger unlike anything else on TV. Even if you don't believe in them, ghost stories are eerie. They take place on the threshold between our daily world and a mysteriously unknown realm.
'Diarra from Detroit' uses freewheeling comedy to take us to new places
'Diarra from Detroit' uses freewheeling comedy to take us to new places Few shows announce their roots more clearly than Diarra from Detroit, the smart, deliriously ambitious comic mystery series that's currently in its second season, on Paramount+. Few shows announce their roots more clearly than Diarra from Detroit, the smart, deliriously ambitious comic mystery series that's currently in its second season, on Paramount+. Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Give a little. Get a lot.
The new movie about Anthony Bourdain is none of the things you fear it could be Original
'Tony' review: The new movie tells the story of Anthony Bourdain at age 19 The internationally known chef, writer, and television star died in 2018. Tony, starring Dominic Sessa, tells just a splinter of Bourdain's life — the mid-1970s summer when he was 19. A couple of decades ago, I lived for a year in Singapore. The question I was asked most often was, "Do you know Anthony Bourdain?" He was an idol there. But not only there.
< Will Ferrell brings goofiness to the golf course in 'The Hawk' Original
Transcript DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. In the new TV series "The Hawk," Will Ferrell stars as a zany former golf star who's trying to regain his mojo and regain champion status. Our critic-at-large John Powers says that the show has its flaws, but delivers exactly what you would expect from Ferrell - goofy, good humor that's too wild even to be a parody of the traditional comeback story. Here is John's review.
< An eco-journalist takes on Big Tech in this modern twist on the heist novel Original
Transcript TERRY GROSS, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. The new literary thriller "Cloudthief," by Nathaniel Rich, is about the reaction against Big Tech. In the novel, a struggling eco-journalist and a brilliant young woman decide to rob a data center in Oklahoma. Our critic-at-large John Powers says Rich wraps a smart exploration of our data-dominated society inside an entertaining heist story.
< Colin Farrell plays a P.I. with the strangest of secrets in 'Sugar' Season 2 Original
Transcript DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: This is FRESH AIR. The Apple TV series "Sugar" stars Colin Farrell as John Sugar, an LA private eye with the strangest of secrets. Its second season is currently being released and finds him seeking a missing person in areas of Los Angeles you won't find in the tourist brochures. Our critic-at-large, John Powers, says that "Sugar" has a strange, starry-eyed allure that he found irresistible. JOHN POWERS, BYLINE: Aliens from outer space come in basically two kinds.
'The Devil Wears Prada 2' is a fizzy sequel — with more to say than the original Original
'The Devil Wears Prada 2' is a fizzy sequel -- with more to say than the original Like any good sequel, this movie feels like a reunion. Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep return in a cleverly written film that will delight anyone who loved the 2006 original. Like any good sequel, this movie feels like a reunion. Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep return in a cleverly written film that will delight anyone who loved the 2006 original. Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Give a little.
An off-beat family makes some 'Big Mistakes' in this clever crime farce Original
'Big Mistakes' review: Dan Levy stars in this offbeat family comedy A new Netflix comedy series by and starring Dan Levy is a wild inversion of Schitt's Creek. Where that show started out cartoonish and grew warmer, Big Mistakes is a frolic that grows more hellish. If you ask the psychologists, they'll tell you that humor is a defense mechanism, a buffer between ourselves and the painfulness of reality.
Netflix does Nordic noir right in 'Jo Nesbø's Detective' series Original
Netflix does Nordic noir right in 'Jo Nesbø's Detective' series Murder mysteries are all about the conflict between order and chaos, between the rules of society and the violence that injects havoc into the system. Nowhere does the gap between social order and homicidal mayhem seem any wider than in clean, rational, low-crime Scandinavia. This chasm gives an electric spark to crime stories set there, one that has helped make Nordic noir a juggernaut.
< 'Derry Girls' creator returns with a gleeful riff on the murder mystery Original
This is FRESH AIR. The Netflix series "How To Get To Heaven From Belfast" is a comic mystery about three longtime friends investigating the death of another mutual old friend. The show was created by Lisa McGee, who brought us the cult hit "Derry Girls." Our critic-at-large, John Powers, says he was a bit slow getting to the series, which dropped last month, but he found it such rollicking fun that he simply had to praise it.
'Crime 101' is an old-fashioned heist film that pays off Original
'Crime 101' is an old-fashioned heist film that pays off If there's anything I miss in pop culture, it's the presence of ordinary movies. I don't mean blockbusters like Avatar or cultural events like Barbenheimer or Oscar contenders like One Battle After Another. I'm talking about the routine, well-made entertainments that, for nearly a century, used to open in theaters every week.
'Islands' is a spare and satisfying slow-burn thriller Original
After the apocalyptic death and destruction of World War II, entire nations struggled to start anew amidst the physical and psychological rubble. There was a steady outpouring of stories that took place in settings that were barren, stripped down, inhospitable. The most famous of these was probably Waiting for Godot, whose stage decoration is described thus: "A country road. A tree.
'Hijack' and 'The Night Manager' continue to thrill in their second seasons Original
'Hijack' and 'The Night Manager' continue to thrill in their second seasons When I first began reviewing television after years of doing film, I was struck by one huge difference between the way they tell stories. Movies work hard to end memorably: They want to stick the landing so we'll leave the theater satisfied. TV series have no landing to stick. They want to leave us un-satisfied so we'll tune into the next season.
A critic's year-end 'ghost list' wanders from Italian movie sets to 'Demon Hunters' Original
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.
'Endling' is a shape-shifting debut that takes on heavy themes with humor Original
George Bernard Shaw once said that the privilege of joking in public should only be granted to people who know thoroughly what they are joking about. I thought of his words as I devoured Endling, the virtuosic debut novel by Maria Reva, a Canadian writer who was born in Ukraine and still has family there. Starting out as a straightforward story about a Ukrainian biologist, this witty, shape-shifting book turns into something trickier and more interesting.
This Hollywood memoir is an expertly mixed cocktail of history and family drama Original
I was raised by sensible Midwesterners who believed that no good could come of psychology or introspection. That may be why I get impatient with memoirs that dwell on their writers' inner lives — their agonies, their ecstasies, their heroic self-inventions. Enough with yourself already. What I want are memoirs that go beyond the personal to offer a portrait of something larger: a culture, a historical period, a whole way of living.
After a tragic accident, a widow faces a lifetime of what-ifs
Last week, I had dinner with friends who'd lost everything in the recent LA fires. They spent their days filling out forms, being put on hold and assembling the ordinary stuff they and their kids need to live. By night, they did something different. They played events over and over in their heads, agonizing about what-ifs: What if there'd been less flammable stuff in their yard? What if they hadn't forgotten to save certain important papers?
'The White Lotus' lands in Thailand for its most soul-searching season yet Original
Morgana O'Reilly, Arnas Fedaravičius, Christian Friedel, Dom Hetrakul and Lalisa Manobal play resort staff in Season 3 of The White Lotus. Fabio Lovino/HBO hide caption toggle caption Fabio Lovino/HBO One of the most exquisitely cynical lines in 20th century literature comes in the Italian novel The Leopard. A young aristocrat is telling his uncle, the Prince, why he's joined up with Garibaldi's revolutionaries.
'Landman' drills into the wild West workings of today’s oil industry : NPR
'Landman' drills into the wild West workings of today's oil industry This Paramount+ series, featuring Billy Bob Thornton as a savvy veteran of the oil business, is an old-fashioned soap opera and a breezy portrait of one of the world's most influential industries.
A Mexican drug lord comes out as a trans woman in the freewheeling 'Emilia Pérez' Original
A Mexican drug lord comes out as a trans woman in the freewheeling 'Emilia Pérez' This Spanish-language musical about a cartel boss who undergoes gender-affirming surgery won two big prizes at Cannes, including a shared best actress award for its four women leads.
In 'A Real Pain,' Jewish cousins tour Poland, cracking jokes and confronting the past Original
In 'A Real Pain,' Jewish cousins tour Poland, cracking jokes and confronting the past We live in an era of ceaseless, shocking normalization. Things that were once thought beyond the pale — today’s political discourse, say, or TV ads for ED — are now accepted as routine. These days, it no longer seems bizarre that there’s an industry devoted to taking tourists to Holocaust sites — with fancy food and hotels as part of the package.
A polarizing, provocative French novelist says he’s written his last book
Early in Michel Houellebecq’s novel Submission, its professor hero talks about what makes a writer worth reading: “[A]n author is above all a human being ... and whether he writes very well or very badly hardly matters — as long as he gets the books written and is, indeed, present in them.
'Becoming Karl Lagerfeld' is the smart, dishy backstory of a style icon Original
We live in an age obsessed with self-creation. Our social media-fueled culture is less about changing the world than about shaping how the world sees us. Nobody did it any better than Karl Lagerfeld, who died in 2019 after four decades as a lion king in the fashion world.
You can expect a lot from this freewheeling film about the 'End of the World'
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 toggle caption Unifrance 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.
'Tótem' invites you to a family birthday party — but Death has RSVP'd, too Original
Naíma Sentíes and Montserrat Marañon in Tótem. Limerencia hide caption toggle caption Limerencia Naíma Sentíes and Montserrat Marañon in Tótem. Limerencia There's a scene in the movie adaption of Michael Cunningham's novel The Hours when Virginia Woolf is talking to her husband, Leonard, about the book that would become Mrs. Dalloway. After she tells him she's going to kill off a major character, Leonard asks her why.
'The Brothers Sun' is a freewheeling, messy and quite entertaining comedy-thriller
The jokes and bodies pile up in this eight-part Netflix series about a Taiwanese assassin who travels to L.A. to protect his goofy younger brother and his formidable mother, played by Michelle Yeoh. Copyright 2024 Fresh Air
'The Brothers Sun' is a freewheeling, messy and quite entertaining comedy-thriller
'The Brothers Sun' is a freewheeling, messy and quite entertaining comedy-thriller Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1222734412/1222902047" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> The jokes and bodies pile up in this eight-part Netflix series about a Taiwanese assassin who travels to L.A. to protect his goofy younger brother and his formidable mother, played by Michelle Yeoh.
Wim Wenders' thrilling film about German artist Anselm Kiefer : NPR
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 toggle caption Janus Films 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.
'Colin' the dog brings 2 — no wait, 3 —lonely hearts together in this fetching series
Ashley and Gordon (Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall) bond over an injured border terrier in Colin from Accounts. Lisa Tomasetti/Paramount+ hide caption toggle caption Lisa Tomasetti/Paramount+ Ashley and Gordon (Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall) bond over an injured border terrier in Colin from Accounts.
Australian novelist Helen Garner may be the best novelist you've never heard of : NPR
Helen Garner is an Australian novelist, journalist, diarist and screenwriter. Darren James/Pantheon Books hide caption toggle caption Darren James/Pantheon Books Helen Garner is an Australian novelist, journalist, diarist and screenwriter. Darren James/Pantheon Books I sometimes think that great writers come in two types. The first show very little interest in the everyday world of people and events.
William Friedkin's stodgy 'Caine Mutiny' adaptation lacks the urgency of the original
Back in the 1970s, Hollywood was roused from its torpor by a collection of brilliant, difficult, occasionally berserk filmmakers, including Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman and Elaine May. This crew of easy riders and raging bulls, to borrow from the title of the book by Peter Biskind, pushed movies to the center of American culture. One of the raging-est bulls, William Friedkin, died on Aug. 7 at the age of 87.
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