John Powers

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. The new movie Amazing Grace is about the British abolitionist movement, focusing on the man who led the fight in Parliament. It's a story that can lead to introspection.

The famous, or perhaps notorious, model Anna Nicole Smith died last week, prompting a tsunami of media coverage. Here's a look at the reasons for all the hoopla. One shouldn't be embarrassed about finding her story fascinating.

Actor Alec Baldwin won a Golden Globe last night for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for his role on NBC's 30 Rock.

Fresh Air critic at-large John Powers will talk about the events that defined American culture this year. Highlights include the Borat movie, Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House correspondent's dinner, George Allen's use of a racial slur during the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Virginia, and the rise of YouTube.com as a mechanism for rapid dissemination of information. John Powers is also a critic for Vogue magazine.

Critic at-large John Powers reviews Preston Sturges: The Filmmaker Collection, a new DVD set of classic 1940s Preston Sturges films. Titles include The Palm Beach Story, The Lady Eve and Christmas in July.

The controversial new hit film Borat provides insight into how documentary and reality TV are really made. These programs all shape and color their characters, whether their intention is farce or sober assessment of a serious subject.

Film critic John Powers reviews a new 50-movie DVD collection, Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films. Titles include The Seventh Seal, Pandora's Box, The 400 Blows and The Lady Vanishes.

The hit show 'Lost' began its third season Oct. 4 in a year that has, so far, been dominated by the 'CSI' franchise. The success of these crime shows isn't surprising, says critic at-large John Powers, who finds that the difference between the two kinds of shows says a lot about current TV.

Since the fall of communism, there have been few Eastern European directors who have become as internationally known as Roman Polanksi and Milos Forman. But now from Romania comes Cristi Puiu, whose film The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, premiered at Cannes in 2005 and has been winning awards ever since. Now it's out on DVD. Our critic-at-large says the film does something few movies ever do.

Film critic John Powers reviews the DVD release of Billy Wilder's classic Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.