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John Powers John Powers is the pop culture and critic-at-large on NPR's Fresh Air with Terri Gross.
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John Powers

A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

Merritt Wever and Toni Collette play two detectives investigating a series of sexual assaults in the Netflix show Unbelievable. Beth Dubber/Netflix hide caption

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Beth Dubber/Netflix

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Pop Culture

A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

Fresh Air

Few things haunt a critic more than loving something and not being able to share it. This year, Fresh Air critic John Powers circles back to Unbelievable, Atlantics, Where the Light Falls and more.

A Critic Returns To The Books, TV, Music And Movies He Didn't Get To In 2019

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Movie Reviews

'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire' Paints A Picture Of Forbidden Love

Fresh Air

Writer-director Céline Sciamma's gorgeous new costume drama centers on the relationship between a young female artist and the woman she's been commissioned to secretly paint.

'Portrait Of A Lady On Fire' Paints A Picture Of Forbidden Love

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TV Reviews

Back For Season 3, 'The Crown' May Just Be The Most Delicious Series On TV

Fresh Air

The new season of the Netflix's wonderfully entertaining historical soap opera carries Queen Elizabeth II's story into the mid-1960s and '70s, when Britain's post-war afterglow has faded.

Back For Season 3, 'The Crown' May Just Be The Most Delicious Series On TV

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'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan' Offers A Dose Of Retro Heroism In Its 2nd Season

John Krasinski is a smarter-than-thou Jack Ryan — a more righteous than lovable ex-marine who works as a financial analyst for the CIA. Jonny Cournoyer/Amazon Studios hide caption

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Jonny Cournoyer/Amazon Studios

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TV Reviews

'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan' Offers A Dose Of Retro Heroism In Its 2nd Season

Fresh Air

John Krasinski stars as a more righteous than lovable ex-marine working as a financial analyst for the CIA. Season 2's plot line seems to have been ripped from (a casual glance at) the headlines.

'Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan' Offers A Dose Of Retro Heroism In Its 2nd Season

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TV Reviews

Energetic And Ambitious, 'Watchmen' Taps Into A Slew Of Today's Anxieties

Fresh Air

Rather than rehash the 1980s superhero comic, series creator Damon Lindelof preserves the original's mood, themes and tricky structure — but uses them to tell an engrossing, totally new story on HBO.

Energetic And Ambitious, 'Watchmen' Taps Into A Slew Of Today's Anxieties

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Book Reviews

Racial Tensions Complicate The Search For A Missing Child In 'Heaven, My Home'

Fresh Air

Attica Locke's new novel centers on a black Texas ranger's effort to find the vanished son of a white supremacist. Heaven, My Home offers an unsettling American spin on a complicated crime story.

Racial Tensions Complicate The Search For A Missing Child In 'Heaven, My Home'

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Movie Reviews

The 'Hustlers' Grab Back In This Crime Story With A Feminist Twist

Fresh Air

Inspired by an article in New York magazine, Hustlers is a giddy, energetic film about a band of New York strippers who start ripping off their rich, finance-world clients.

The 'Hustlers' Grab Back In This Crime Story With A Feminist Twist

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Work Cultures Clash When A Chinese Company Reopens An 'American Factory'

American workers Jill Lamantia and Bobby Allen struggle to adapt to the expectations of Chinese management in the documentary American Factory. Steven Bognar /Netflix hide caption

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Steven Bognar /Netflix

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TV Reviews

Work Cultures Clash When A Chinese Company Reopens An 'American Factory'

Fresh Air

A new film chronicles what happens when a Chinese billionaire reopens a former General Motors plant in Ohio. John Powers says it's an old-school observational documentary in the very best sense.

Work Cultures Clash When A Chinese Company Reopens An 'American Factory'

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The Beekeeper Of 'Honeyland' Knows All Too Well: Respect Nature, Or Get Stung

Beekeeper Hatidze Muratova lives in a ruggedly mountainous area of Macedonia. She has a simple rule: When you harvest honey, you only take half — and leave the other half for the bees. Neon hide caption

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Neon

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Movie Reviews

The Beekeeper Of 'Honeyland' Knows All Too Well: Respect Nature, Or Get Stung

Fresh Air

Hatidze Muratova lives in a remote area of Macedonia and has one simple rule: When you harvest honey, you take half — and leave the other half for the bees. An elegant new documentary tells her story.

The Beekeeper Of 'Honeyland' Knows All Too Well: Respect Nature, Or Get Stung

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TV Reviews

'Succession' Season 2 Is A Cleverly Plotted Portrait Of Privilege

Fresh Air

The superbly acted HBO series is a darkly funny riff on King Lear. Members of a family struggle for control of a media empire — and not one of them is likable, but all of them are fun.

'Succession' Season 2 Is A Cleverly Plotted Portrait Of Privilege

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TV Reviews

'London Kills': A Cop Series That Keeps You Coming Back For More

Fresh Air

Acorn TV's new series follows a Scotland Yard team led by a detective whose wife has gone missing. London Kills combines the reassuring closure of a network cop series with a strong forward momentum.

'London Kills': A Cop Series That Keeps You Coming Back For More

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Imagining A Dismal Future, 'Years And Years' Says Plenty About The Present

Emma Thompson plays Vivienne Rook, a plain-speaking businesswoman turned populist politician, in the HBO series Years and Years. HBO hide caption

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HBO

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TV Reviews

Imagining A Dismal Future, 'Years And Years' Says Plenty About The Present

Fresh Air

The six-part BBC series airing on HBO follows one British family over the course of 15 years of upheaval, beginning in 2019. The unsettling show imagines the dismal future that liberals fear.

Imagining A Dismal Future, 'Years And Years' Says Plenty About The Present

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With 1 Huge Lie Revealed, 'Big Little Lies' Season 2 Takes A Slow-Burn Strategy

Season 2 of HBO's Big Little Lies finds the so-called Monterey Five (Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern) dealing with the emotional aftermath of the killing that concluded Season 1. HBO hide caption

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HBO

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TV Reviews

With 1 Huge Lie Revealed, 'Big Little Lies' Season 2 Takes A Slow-Burn Strategy

Fresh Air

Meryl Streep joins the Big Little Lies cast as the mother of the man killed at the end of Season 1 — complicating things for the Monterey Five, who are still processing the aftermath of the death.

With 1 Huge Lie Revealed, 'Big Little Lies' Season 2 Takes A Slow-Burn Strategy

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Movie Reviews

'Booksmart' Tweaks Convention By Offering A Gentler View Of High School

Fresh Air

Olivia Wilde's lighthearted, female-centric film charts the adventures of two brainy best friends who embark on a quest to reframe their high school identities 24 hours before graduation.

'Booksmart' Tweaks Convention By Offering A Gentler View Of High School

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'Fleabag' Returns For A Raunchy 2nd Season — And Quits While It's Ahead

In Fleabag, the show's creator and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge stars as a young Londoner struggling to make sense of sex, family and life itself. Steve Schofield/Courtesy of Amazon hide caption

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Steve Schofield/Courtesy of Amazon

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TV Reviews

'Fleabag' Returns For A Raunchy 2nd Season — And Quits While It's Ahead

Fresh Air

Phoebe Waller-Bridge pulls off the rare feat of taking a hugely successful show and making it much better. In Season 2, her character falls for a foul-mouthed Catholic priest.

'Fleabag' Returns For A Raunchy 2nd Season — And Quits While It's Ahead

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