John Powers

The 1993 documentary The War Room, which offered a verity look behind the scenes of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, has just been released on Criterion Blue-ray and DVD. Critic-at-large John Powers explains why the film was revelatory -- and why it could never be made today.

An absorbing new documentary by Danish director Lise Birk Pedersen charts four years in the life of Masha Drokova, who became famous as the girl who publicly kissed Vladimir Putin. Critic John Powers says it "offers a fresh glimpse into how Putin's Russia actually works."

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.