John Powers

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.

In several ways, the age of "infotainment" is foretold in Good Night, and Good Luck, set in the 1950s. The film tells of newsman Edward R. Murrow's fight against Sen. Joe McCarthy -- but it also details "the inherent debasement of mass news in a commercial culture."

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 comments on the history of roles for offbeat women in Hollywood. Powers recently saw the hit film The 40-Year-Old Virgin and got to thinking about the actress Catherine Keener, who co-stars.

While Harry Potter has grown to become a huge a marketing event, the book series is still, at its heart, a literary event. Critic-at-large John Powers considers kids today lucky to have that experience. He compares it to his experiences purchasing and reading the Hardy Boys mysteries as a child.