John Powers

Two summer movies — The Proposal and The Ugly Truth — perpetuate misogynist stereotypes of rabid career women in need of a man. What does it mean that they were created by women?

John Powers reviews a luminous cinematic memoir by the 81-year-old French director Agnes Varda. Like all Varda's films, The Beaches of Agnes brims with its creator's independence and vivacity.

When it came out in 1961, Alain Resnais' Last Year at Marienbad perplexed and excited audiences with its surrealistic storytelling. John Powers has a review of the film's Criterion Collection re-release.