No One Knows about Persian Cats, which won the Special Jury Prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival, has now opened in theaters across the U.S. Critic John Powers says that Bahman Ghobadi's film — about outlaw musicians in Iran — is a reminder of the liberating potential of rock.

Guest film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum reviews "The Truth About Cats & Dogs."

After decades of dogs ruling popular culture — there are three canine stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame — there's been a revolution. Thanks to a tsunami of cute viral videos, our feline comrades are now in the catbird seat, from those ubiquitous Hello Kitty stores to surprise bestsellers like Takashi Hiraide's exquisite, sneakily profound novel The Guest Cat.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the book "It Happened in the Catskills," an oral history of the resorts that made up what was known as the Borsht Belt.

Book critic John Leonard says that leading feminist author Margaret Atwood can be alternately lyrical and severe. Her latest novel, Cat's Eye, is a dark look at a painter's fraught friendships with other women.

Film Critic Stephen Schiff review "Casualties of War," the new film by director Brian De Palma and starring Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox.

Critic Ken Tucker reviews Alysssa Milano's exercise video Teen Steam, which is geared toward teenage girls; adults caught watching it can't help feeling faintly unclean, he says. He also recommends new releases of Withnail and I and Rambo III.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews two new CDS by Aimee Mann, the soundtrack for "Magnolia," and Michael Penn, "MP4."