John Powers
Stories
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'Derry Girls' creator returns with a gleeful riff on the murder mystery
In the hilarious Netflix series How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, three women learn that a long estranged school friend has died in a suspicious manner — and take it upon themselves to investigate.
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This quiet epic is the top-grossing Japanese live action film of all time
The Oscar-nominated Kokuho tells a compelling story about friendship, the weight of history and the torturous road to becoming a star in Japan's Kabuki theater.
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'Crime 101' is an old-fashioned heist film that pays off
Chris Hemsworth stars as a virtuoso jewel thief, and Mark Ruffalo plays the detective tracking him down in Crime 101. This thriller is a deliberate throwback — and also a lot of fun.
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'Islands' is a spare and satisfying slow-burn thriller
A washed-up tennis pro gives lessons at a fancy hotel in the Canary Islands. But when he meets an elegant woman with an unlikable husband, things take a noirish turn.
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'Hijack' and 'The Night Manager' continue to thrill in their second seasons
Idris Elba returns as the world's most unlucky traveler in Season 2 of the Apple TV series Hijack. And Tom Hiddleston is back as a hotel worker/intelligence agent in The Night Manager on Prime Video.
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A critic's year-end 'ghost list' wanders from Italian movie sets to 'Demon Hunters'
Critic-at-large John Powers gives his due to the movies, TV and books he wasn't able to cover earlier in the year, including La Grazia, Andor, Mississippi Blue 42 and the documentary Mr. Scorsese.
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Let 'The Secret Agent' fill you in on what it's like to live under a dictatorship
A research scientist is on the run from hitmen in this thrilling film. Set in 1977 Brazil, The Secret Agent captures the daily realities and surreal absurdities of life in an authoritarian state.
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Still thinking about the Louvre? 'The Mastermind' is about a museum heist gone awry
An unemployed cabinet maker robs the local art museum — then finds himself plunged into a world of cops and gangsters and life on the run. The Mastermind is a sad movie that gets stronger as it goes.
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'Blue Moon' is an aching comedy about a genius on the slide
Ethan Hawke stars as lyricist Lorenz Hart on the night his former writing partner, Richard Rodgers, debuts his hit musical Oklahoma!. Blue Moon offers a canny take on professional jealousy.
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Every moment pops in the nuclear thriller 'A House of Dynamite'
A single nuclear warhead, of unknown origin, is heading toward the U.S. mainland in Kathryn Bigelow's new Netflix film. It's an unnerving scenario — but it's also thrilling to watch.
