John Powers

Several recent DVD releases feature great black entertainers of the 20th century. For classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz, his favorites feature the great tap dance team of Harold and Fayard Nicholas.

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.

This year's Sundance Film Festival has been a haven for stars -- and those who would like to be stars. Critic-at-large John Powers discusses the festival's scene -- and its movies. Among the standouts: Wrist Cutters: A Love Story and Old Joy.

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.