John Powers

Gerardo Naranjo's gripping film about the Mexican drug war is Mexico's submission this year for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Critic John Powers says it deftly illuminates a society plagued with fear.

The Iranian film A Separation won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film on Sunday. Critic John Powers says the remarkable film takes viewers inside a country that is far more complicated and fascinating than news headlines indicate.

At its core, John le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy isn't really about espionage, says critic John Powers. The 1974 novel, adapted for the screen in 1979 by the BBC, is actually about secrets and lies and shifting identities -- which is to say, a metaphor for our own daily lives.