John Powers

Two new documentaries probe the effects of outside influences on third-world countries. In Our Brand is Crisis, the arrival of U.S. campaign consultants threatens the outcome of a Bolivian presidential election. And Darwin's Nightmare is about the devastation of Lake Victoria in Tanzania.

Critic at large John Powers reviews the two-DVD edition of the 1939 classic film Young Mr. Lincoln, directed by John Ford and starring Henry Fonda.

Critic at large John Powers considers Katamari Damacy, a PlayStation game from Japan.

The new film Brokeback Mountain has won critical praise for its portrayal of a love affair in the rugged West.

Two documentaries about nature's pristine complexity are out now on DVD The March of the Penguins and Grizzly Man.

The solo album by John Simon, a record producer who worked with many groups from the late 1960s and early '70s, is being reissued. Among one of Simon's most popular projects was his work with The Band and Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Critic at large John Powers considers the films of Alfred Hitchcock as a new DVD survey of his work is coming out: Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection.

It has been nearly 30 years since Jean-Luc Godard's film Masculin/Feminin debuted. Starring Jean-Pierre Leaud and Chantal Goya, the film captured the spirit of Paris in the late-1960s.

Critic-at-Large John Powers looks at a new Criterion edition DVD of the 1932 Jean Renoir film Boudo Saved From Drowning.

Critic-at-large John Powers says that two current blockbusters, Batman Begins and War of the Worlds, are deeply influenced by America's post-Sept. 11 obsession with terrorism.