John Powers
Racial Tensions Complicate The Search For A Missing Child In 'Heaven, My Home'
Attica Locke's new novel centers on a black Texas ranger's effort to find the vanished son of a white supremacist. Heaven, My Home offers an unsettling American spin on a complicated crime story.
The 'Hustlers' Grab Back In This Crime Story With A Feminist Twist
nspired by an article in New York magazine, Hustlers is a giddy, energetic film about a band of New York strippers who start ripping off their rich, finance-world clients.
Work Cultures Clash When A Chinese Company Reopens An 'American Factory'
John Powers reviews 'American Factory' the first in a series of documentaries for Netflix by Barack and Michelle Obama.
The Beekeeper Of 'Honeyland' Knows All Too Well: Respect Nature, Or Get Stung
I'm not sure that any creature is more marvelous than the honeybee, with its highly evolved social organization, its ability to create honey, and, of course, the stinger that causes us to take heed whenever we hear buzzing. The pain it threatens makes it easy to think you need an almost-monastic devotion to become a beekeeper.
'Succession' Season 2 Is A Cleverly Plotted Portrait Of Privilege
The superbly acted HBO series is a darkly funny riff on King Lear. Members of a family struggle for control of a media empire — and not one of them is likable, but all of them are fun.
With 1 Huge Lie Revealed, 'Big Little Lies' Season 2 Takes A Slow-Burn Strategy
Critic at large John Powers reviews the second season of the HBO series about a group of entitled women in Monterey, California. He says the new season is "steeped in shame, anger and melancholy."
'Booksmart' Tweaks Convention By Offering A Gentler View Of High School
Olivia Wilde's lighthearted, female-centric film charts the adventures of two brainy best friends who embark on a quest to reframe their high school identities 24 hours before graduation.
'Fleabag' Returns For A Raunchy 2nd Season — And Quits While It's Ahead
When Lena Dunham's Girls appeared seven years ago, it cleared the path for a parade of smart, provocative television shows about smart, provocative young heroines.
The best of the bunch may well be Fleabag, the hilarious, raunchy and unexpectedly touching Amazon series by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the British writer and actress who created the terrific TV adaptation of Killing Eve and was recently asked to punch up the script of the new James Bond movie.
'VEEP' Draws To A Close, Its Freewheeling Cynicism Still A Delight
Everyone is either a fool, a knave or a monster in HBO's hilariously scabrous political satire starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. After seven seasons, Veep ends its run with its sharp teeth fully intact.
'Game Of Thrones' Keeps Its Finger On The Pulse As It Enters The Home Stretch
Over the years, the HBO series has risen from being a nifty potboiler to a timely expression of a zeitgeist that contests everything from gender roles to climate change to immigration.