Pop Culture Happy Hour

Good Fortune

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 07:00:03 +0000

Good Fortune, Keanu Reeves plays a doofy, well-meaning guardian angel named Gabriel who gets a little too involved in the life of a gig worker named Arj (Aziz Ansari). In trying to teach Arj a life lesson, Gabriel grants him the opportunity to swap places with a finance mogul (Seth Rogen). This mostly buddy comedy is Ansari’s feature directorial debut and has a bit to say about wealth inequality and even some musings on what makes life meaningful.

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Black Phone 2 And What’s Making Us Happy

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Black Phone 2, Ethan Hawke returns from the dead as the serial killer who hides behind a demonic mask. It’s four years later, and the siblings (Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw) who survived the Grabber’s killing spree are having a hard time with things. They head off to camp to investigate Gwen's psychic nightmares of the Grabber's early victims.

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Roofman

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 07:00:01 +0000

Roofman, Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst ooze with their signature charm and chemistry. Tatum plays an exceptionally savvy military veteran who robs fast food joints by entering through the rooftops. Eventually he gets caught and sent to prison, but he’s able to escape and hides out in a Toys “R” Us for several months undetected. Obviously, he can only survive on M&Ms and keep up the ruse for so long before the roof comes crashing down on him. Consequences!

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After the Hunt

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 07:00:02 +0000

After The Hunt, Julia Roberts plays a Yale professor who finds herself in a hard place when one of her star students (Ayo Edebiri) makes an allegation against another faculty member (Andrew Garfield). Who’s telling the truth? Who’s the victim? Is there a victim? Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Call Me by Your Name) the film poses a lot of questions. But are any of them answered?

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Kiss of the Spider Woman

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Kiss of the Spider Woman. Set in an Argentine prison, one man (Tonatiuh) tells his cellmate (Diego Luna) the story of his favorite old Hollywood musical, starring the silver screen goddess he worships – that’s J. Lo. The musical is packed with glitz, glamour and songs written by Kander and Ebb, the minds behind Cabaret and Chicago.

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TRON: Ares And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

TRON: Ares is the third film in the franchise, and this time flips the script: Instead of humans entering the digital world, this movie sees human-shaped artificial intelligence programs entering our world. Starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee and Evan Peters, is TRON: Ares an upgrade from the previous movies?

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Most Overused Songs In Movies

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 07:05:03 +0000

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The Lost Bus

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Lost Bus, Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera play a bus driver and a teacher who have to transport more than 20 kids to safety when evacuation orders roll in from a wildfire. Based on the 2018 Camp Fire in California, the movie is a harrowing drama, a climate warning, and a disaster film all in one. It’s streaming on Apple TV+.

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Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Life Of A Showgirl. It touches on her relationship with fiancé Travis Kelce while reflecting on fame, normalcy, the Internet, and a simmering beef with a fellow pop star. We’re unpacking the songs, including “Actually Romantic,” “Eldest Daughter,” “CANCELLED!”, and “Ruin The Friendship.”

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The Smashing Machine And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Smashing Machine. Johnson plays Mark Kerr, a UFC champion who is reeling from his first major loss in the ring and confronting an addiction to painkillers. Directed by Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems), the wrestling drama pulls out all the classic moves in the awards season playbook. We can smell what The Rock is cooking – but is it a hearty meal?

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Brokeback Mountain

Thu, 02 Oct 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Brokeback Mountain hit theaters. The film starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two sheep herders who fall in love in a place and time that keeps them apart. Before its release, Hollywood considered it a huge risk. It went on to be a critical and box office success, but it also made a lot of folks so uncomfortable they made cheap jokes about it for years. Today, its legacy is a tough one to untangle.

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The Lowdown

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Lowdown is a great new FX series starring Ethan Hawke as a freelance investigative reporter with a knack for sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong and getting that nose punched. He gets drawn into the seedy goings-on of one of Tulsa’s most prominent families. Created by Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs), the modern-day Western noir comedy has an excellent ensemble including Kyle MacLachlan, Keith David, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Killer Mike.

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Wayward

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Wayward, Toni Collette plays a deeply creepy woman who runs a facility that promises to fix troubled teens. A cop (Mae Martin) moves to town with his wife, who's a graduate of the facility and an acolyte of its leader. And he starts to think something is very, very wrong. Things are not all they seem in the picturesque town of Tall Pines, but you’ll have to watch to find out why.

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One Battle After Another And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

One Battle After Another is an action-thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor and Sean Penn. DiCaprio plays a washed up ex-revolutionary searching for his missing daughter while raging against the machine. In this case, the machine is unabashedly racist, xenophobic, and corrupt. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the ensemble also includes Regina Hall and Benicio del Toro.

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Showgirls

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Showgirls stars Elizabeth Berkley as a Vegas dancer trying to move up from a seedy club to a glamorous hotel show. Paul Verhoeven’s NC-17 movie was a notorious flop, but it is now considered a camp classic and a window into a moment of moral panic. Showgirls turns 30 this year, so today we’re revisiting our conversation about the film.

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Task

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Task stars Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey in a grim, but stealthily hopeful drama. From the creator of Mare of Easttown, the show is a cat-and-mouse crime thriller about an FBI agent reluctantly dragged back into the field to investigate a series of drug related crimes. The show offers drugs, stolen money, family drama, kidnapping, shootouts, grief, and forgiveness.

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Haunted Hotel

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 12:36:18 +0000

From one of the minds behind Rick and Morty, Netflix’s new animated comedy Haunted Hotel is the perfect mix of fun and creepy to kick off spooky season. Will Forte voices a ghost who previously ran the Undervale, a very, very haunted old hotel. The show follows his attempts to show his family the ropes, vis a vis ghosts, demons, bleeding mirrors, and possession.

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Him And What’s Making Us Happy

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 07:00:03 +0000

HIM, Tyriq Withers stars as a young football player who has a chance to be trained by his idol, played by Marlon Wayans. As they train at a mysterious facility in the desert, it becomes clear early on that greatness might not be worth the price. From director Justin Tipping and produced by Jordan Peele, the film takes some big swings you may not fully see coming.

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Fall Guide

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Knives Out mystery, Guillermo del Toro’s take on Frankenstein, and a new Emma Stone movie. We’ve got a guide of the TV and films we are most excited to see, including Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Bugonia, Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice and The Lowdown.

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The Summer I Turned Pretty

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Summer I Turned Pretty features a messy love triangle, plenty of drama, and a LOT of Taylor Swift songs. The show has become a word-of-mouth sensation, with fans obsessing over whether they’re Team Conrad or Team Jeremiah. Now in its final season, the Prime Video series is based on a series of books by Jenny Han (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, XO Kitty).

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2025 Emmys Recap

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 11:12:13 +0000

This year’s Emmy Awards saw big wins for Adolescence, The Studio, and The Pitt. The telecast was also packed with a couple of surprise wins, a show of undeniable goodwill toward Stephen Colbert, and a tedious recurring bit led by host Nate Bargatze.

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The Long Walk And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The new film The Long Walk is Stephen King meets The Hunger Games. It takes place in a dystopian America in which one young man from each state competes in a televised event in which they must walk at a steady pace … until they can’t. And when they can’t, they’re killed. It stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson and Mark Hamill. (This episode was recorded on September 4, 2025.)

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Great Movies With Silly Plots

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 07:05:00 +0000

The Martian, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

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Watch This: Twinless

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Twinless. They meet in a support group for people who have lost their twin and form an interesting bond, but there’s a lot they don’t know about each other. Directed and written by Sweeney, the film has a wry sensibility, great chemistry, and dares to take some dark turns you probably won’t see coming.

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The Paper

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Paper is a spinoff of The Office, and like its predecessor, it’s a mockumentary about a workplace that's facing financial and cultural headwinds. The Peacock series focuses on a local newspaper in Toledo, Ohio, and stars Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, and Chelsea Frei – and brings back a familiar face from The Office, Oscar Nuñez.

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The Conjuring: Last Rites And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Conjuring: Last Rites winds down the story of the demon-hunting couple loosely based on Ed and Lorraine Warren, played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. They battle one last threat: a house in Pennsylvania that contains a haunted mirror and a terrified family. The Conjuring franchise has generated billions of dollars across many films and spinoffs full of hauntings, demonic possession, and creepy dolls. But does this film have a new story to tell?

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Sabrina Carpenter Man’s Best Friend

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Short n’ Sweet with a new collection of cheeky earworms called Man’s Best Friend, which includes the breakout singles “Manchild” and “Tears.” Carpenter explores many of the same lyrical themes as she has in the past — winking innuendo and wry commentary on being a woman in the dating scene. But she kicks it up several notches while playing around with more retro-heavy sounds.

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The Thursday Murder Club

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Thursday Murder Club is a cozy British mystery set at a posh retirement community. The movie stars Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, and Ben Kingsley as retirees who have formed a club that researches cold cases to pass the time – until a real murder, and a plucky new member, show up on their incredibly bucolic doorstep.

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Caught Stealing

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Caught Stealing, the new grungy, throwback film from Darren Aronofsky. Butler plays Hank, a sad sack bartender at a sticky East Village dive bar in the 1990s. When his British punk neighbor Russ, played by Matt Smith, asks him to cat sit, Hank finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. His life comes apart as the criminal underworld becomes convinced he knows where a huge cache of stolen cash can be found. Will Hank fight back? Can he?

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The Roses And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Roses has been told before. This time around, Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman play a couple whose love curdles into resentment and then hatred. The film features Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon, and is directed by Jay Roach (Meet the Parents, Austin Powers) and written by Tony McNamara (Poor Things, The Favourite).

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Jaws

Thu, 28 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Jaws turns 50 this year. It’s been called the perfect movie, the first blockbuster, and the film that changed why we go to the movies. As it returns to theaters, we head back into the water to revisit the classic creature feature with fresh eyes – lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes.

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Songs For When Your Flight Is Delayed

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

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Watch This: Long Story Short

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Long Story Short is a very funny and surprisingly moving new Netflix animated comedy series from the folks behind BoJack Horseman and Tuca & Bertie. The show follows members of one Jewish family by hopping around in time. We see the three siblings (voiced by Ben Feldman, Abbi Jacobson and Max Greenfield) as kids, young adults and in middle-age, as they start having kids of their own. They deal with all the things families deal with – the ups and downs of romantic relationships, parenting, work and, ultimately, loss – but it’s also very funny.
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Lurker And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Lurker, Théodore Pellerin plays a young retail clerk making his way into the inner circle of a popular rising musician (Archie Madekwe). This friendship is not really built to last and things between them become uncomfortable. Who is manipulating who, and who holds the power, become complicated and painful questions.

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Best John Grisham Adaptations, Ranked

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

The Rainmaker out, so today, we’re ranking the five best John Grisham adaptations – including The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and A Time To Kill. But which one is the very best?

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Our 15th Anniversary Time Capsule

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 09:26:49 +0000

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Highest 2 Lowest

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:32:37 +0000

Highest 2 Lowest reunites him with his favorite leading man, Denzel Washington. The film is based on Akira Kurosawa’s classic High and Low, and it’s a tense story about a very rich man with a very big problem. Part morality play and part action movie, Washington plays a music mogul who confronts questions of responsibility and power when he believes his son has been kidnapped.

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Alien: Earth And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Alien: Earth is a new TV spinoff of the Alien movie franchise, and as one might expect, it has plenty of Facehuggers, chestbursters, and dark metal corridors. The show brings the infamous Xenomorph to our planet – along with a host of other creepy crawly off-world species – and has them tangle with humans, cyborgs, synthetics and something new. The series comes from the idiosyncratic mind of Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) and is airing on FX and streaming on Hulu.

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Bring It On

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Bring It On spawned direct-to-video sequels and a Broadway musical. And with an all-star cast of Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, and Gabrielle Union, the movie remains a quotable classic. But a lot has happened since that might make it feel very timely, or very dated. Bring It On turns 25 this month so today we’re revisiting our conversation about the movie.

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Platonic

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Platonic, Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play former best friends who reconnect years after a falling out. The Apple TV+ show follows their misadventures as they try to navigate their respective midlife crises and become friends again. Platonic is back for a second season, so today we are revisiting our conversation about the series.

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Weapons

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Weapons follows what happens after 17 third-graders get out of their beds on the same night, at the same time, and disappear. The community points fingers at the students’ teacher, played by Julia Garner. The latest film from Zach Cregger (Barbarian), Weapons explores why one student was spared that fateful night. There’s a clear answer – but we guarantee it’s not one you’ll see coming.

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Freakier Friday And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Freaky Friday. They return in the long-awaited sequel, Freakier Friday, which offers twice as many body swaps, fights galore, and a whole lot of jokes about being old and kids these days. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.

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Y2K Pop Culture

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Spice World, Get Over It, Britney Spears’ “Oops… I Did It Again” music video, and Janet Jackson’s “Empty.”

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Together

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 07:00:00 +0000

Together, starring real-life married couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco.

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Wednesday

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 11:50:11 +0000

Wednesday is one of the most popular Netflix shows of all time, and it helped make Jenna Ortega a star. It takes the breakout Addams Family character Wednesday Addams and breaks her out of her home environment. Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) pack her off to their alma mater, the gloomy, gothy Nevermore Academy, and she’s soon drawn into the investigation of a series of grisly murders. Wednesday is about to return for a second season, so today we are revisiting our conversation about the show.

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The Naked Gun And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Naked Gun franchise has always been a rapid-fire delivery system for gags, delivered straight-faced by a cop who doesn't know that anything is funny. In the new Naked Gun movie, that role is handled by the very straight-faced Liam Neeson. With Pamela Anderson as his femme fatale, Neeson tries to save the world from, quite literally, a plot device. And like the original franchise, this Naked Gun is all about a joke pileup.

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The Hunting Wives

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Hunting Wives is a soapy murder mystery full of nudity and intrigue, about a group of Texas women who are up to no good. It stars Brittany Snow as a woman who follows her husband from the East Coast to Texas for a job working for a rich businessman and budding politician (Dermot Mulroney). Sophie is immediately enchanted by his sultry wife, played by Malin Åkerman. If you always thought Desperate Housewives would be better if more of the housewives were having sex with each other, this might just be the show for you.

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Happy Gilmore 2

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Happy Gilmore gave Adam Sandler one of his best-loved movie roles. The rowdy golf comedy gets a belated sequel on Netflix — full of callbacks, flashbacks, fan service, and so many cameos from the golf world and beyond. But how does Happy Gilmore 2 compare to the original?

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Song Of The Summer

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Brat summer and saw the rise of Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, and Sabrina Carpenter. But is there a song of the summer for 2025? Today we're talking about the competing songs of this summer from Justin Bieber, Morgan Wallen, KPop Demon Hunters, PinkPantheress, and more.

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The Fantastic Four: First Steps And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Fantastic Four: First Steps stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn as the famously fractious family with amazing powers who tangle with a godlike being who wants to eat the Earth. We've seen this story before, but the vibe is different this time. It's a brighter, boldly colored retro-future with flying cars, semi-helpful household robots and lots of talk about the importance of family.

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Our Favorite YouTube Channels

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

I Know What You Did Last Summer, some very '90s teenagers are targeted by a killer clad in fisherman's garb and armed with a hook. Nearly 30 years later, a new sequel fires up a very similar plot. The movie includes a new group of young people — including Chase Sui Wonders and Madelyn Cline — and a few key survivors from the first go-'round (Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr.) But does it live up to the legacy of the original?

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Watch This: Sorry, Baby

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Sorry, Baby is a refreshingly disarming movie. The film was written and directed by Eva Victor, who also stars a newly minted professor at the liberal arts college where she received her graduate degree. The school is also where she was once sexually assaulted. The movie takes on a traumatic experience with wry humor and vulnerability — and it announces Victor as a filmmaker and performer to watch.

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Congress has voted to eliminate government funding for public media

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 12:52:48 +0000

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Eddington And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Eddington plunges us back into that familiarly distressing time of the early days of the pandemic. Directed by Ari Aster (Hereditary and Midsommar) Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal star as political rivals in a small southwest town. Their conflict collides with the news of George Floyd's murder, which brings tensions to a full-on boil for the whole community.

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KPop Demon Hunters

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

KPop Demon Hunters is a phenomenon, with a soundtrack that's climbing the Billboard charts, and a fandom rivaling that of just about any K-pop idol. The film is loads of fun, it's packed with some of the catchiest bangers you'll hear all summer. It's about a superstar girl group called HUNTR/X, who also keeps busy protecting humanity against an army of demons.

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2025 Emmy Nominations

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 00:11:54 +0000

Hacks, The Bear, Abbott Elementary, The Last of Us and The White Lotus. There were also some newcomers that got some love as well including The Pitt, Adolescence, The Studio, The Penguin, and Paradise. We'll unpack this year's the notable nominees and make some predictions in the major categories.

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Too Much

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Too Much, the answer is to go to London for work, and meet a struggling musician who happens to be very, very handsome with a life almost as messy as yours. Starring Meg Stalter and Will Sharpe, and co-created by Lena Dunham, it features a cast full of comedy MVPs, a meet-cute, and a very unusual dog.

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Superman And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

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We Rewatch The Movies We Loved As Teens

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:32:32 +0000

Chicago, Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, and The Hunger.

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Love Island

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 20:49:40 +0000

Love Island USA is pure chaos, and admittedly: we love it. It's one of many spinoffs of the long-running British hit series, Love Island — and it might be the closest thing we've got to a watercooler event. The latest season of Peacock's knowingly trashy reality dating show has fired up the group chats thanks to this messy batch of conventionally sexy singles. Sometimes, for better or worse, fans even get to stir the pot and decide who stays or goes.

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Great Songs For Your Next Road Trip

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

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Jurassic World Rebirth And What's Making Us Happy

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 07:00:21 +0000

Jurassic World Rebirth is the latest reboot of the beloved franchise. This time around Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey head to a fresh island of mutant dinosaurs, where they experience a familiar mix of splashy kills and not-so-subtle morality tales. But can the film live up to the magic of the original Jurassic Park?

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Squid Game

Wed, 02 Jul 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Squid Game became a worldwide phenomenon, winning six Emmys and inspiring countless Halloween costumes. The series has now reached its bloody finale. As the current game concludes, more people die and we find out whether Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) and others can finally end the games for good.

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The Bear

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 07:00:01 +0000

The Bear is back for a new season. The FX on Hulu series sees Carmy and Sydney (Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri) trying to get the restaurant they opened together on its feet before they run out of money. Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is thrown by his ex-wife's approaching wedding and what it's going to mean for him. Plus there's scallop drama, secret negotiations, and guest stars both new and old.

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M3GAN 2.0

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

M3GAN spawned memes, made a fortune, and even taught us a lesson about the dangers of outsourcing our humanity to AI. The sequel, M3GAN 2.0, pans out to tell a bigger story about an even deadlier AI killing machine — and brings back the original M3GAN for some hi-tech robot-on-robot violence. Though M3GAN was defeated at the end of the original film, her tech remains — and it's found its way into a rogue AI assassin named Amelia.

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F1 And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

F1 The Movie. The film stars Brad Pitt as a veteran Formula 1 driver and Damson Idris as the young hotshot, who's very talented but a little too cocky. With nine races left in the season, they have to win one, or the whole team could crash and burn.

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Ironheart

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Ironheart is a fun new Marvel series following Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), a brilliant young woman we first met in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. To fund her inventions – including a suit a lot like the one Iron Man used to wear – she falls in with a gang of criminals who rob from the rich led by The Hood (Anthony Ramos). But when her ambitions place the people she loves in danger, she's forced to reckon with her past and her grief. Ironheart is streaming now on Disney+.

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Best Pixar Movies, Ranked

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Toy Story kicked off a historic run of animated films. So now seemed like a good time to discuss the best of the best — YOUR picks for the greatest Pixar films of all time. Thousands of you voted, and we've got the results.

To see our listener's full ranking of Pixar film, check out the list on Letterboxd - at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture

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Elio

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Elio, a lonely kid dreams of being abducted by aliens. And then one day, it happens. Eager to find a place to belong, Elio (voiced by Yonas Kibreab) volunteers to save the aliens from a dangerous enemy. Along the way, he makes a friend and starts to think about Earth a little differently. The film was directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi (Turning Red) and Adrian Molina (Coco).

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28 Years Later And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

28 Years Later takes place in the same world as 28 Days Later, where a deadly virus transformed the citizens of the U.K. into rabid blood-spewing creatures. The new film brings back the original's director and screenwriter, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland. It's set on a small island where a group of survivors (including Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) eke out a modest existence. A desperate expedition reveals new allies and new horrors – because the infected have evolved.

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Watch This: Pee-Wee As Himself

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Pee-Wee As Himself isn't the boilerplate Hollywood profile you think it is. You get the biographical details you expect – how young avant-garde artist Paul Ruebens created the persona of Pee-Wee Herman, and the meteoric rise and fall that followed. But you also get a sense of what it cost Reubens to insist that Pee-Wee wasn't simply a persona, but in fact a real person. It's streaming now on Max.

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The Life of Chuck

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Life of Chuck is a life-affirming film that challenges the cynic in everyone. It has a big cast including Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jacob Tremblay, Mark Hamill, and Nick Offerman. The film was directed and written for the screen by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass).

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Materialists

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Materialists. It stars Dakota Johnson at the center of a love triangle with Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, and is directed by Celine Song (Past Lives).

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How to Train Your Dragon And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:33:22 +0000

Lilo & Stitch has been dominating the box office for weeks now. So it's no surprise that DreamWorks is now getting in on the action with a remake of How to Train Your Dragon. It's full of epic battles, majestic countrysides and, of course, dragons galore.
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Almost Famous

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Almost Famous, writer and director Cameron Crowe looks at the ecosystem surrounding a rising rock band in the early '70s. Starring Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, and many more, the movie is a coming-of-age story that touches on journalism, sex, rock 'n' roll, parenthood, and the perils of trying to be cool. Almost Famous turns 25 this year, so today we are revisiting our conversation about the movie.

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Summer Blockbusters

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Jaws was released in theaters, kicking off the summer blockbuster phenomenon. And you know a summer blockbuster when you see one: It's a film that's hugely popular and as a result, financially successful, and seen by lots of people. But not everyone has seen every last one of them. Today, we fill in some personal blockbuster gaps, and finally see a movie that absolutely everyone saw, except for us — including Armageddon, Beverly Hills Cop II, Ghost, The Fast and the Furious.

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The Phoenician Scheme

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Phoenician Scheme is classic Wes Anderson, complete with a great cast delivering heightened dialogue and stylized cinematography. It stars Benicio del Toro as one of Europe's richest men, an amoral industrialist, who, along with his daughter (Mia Threapleton) and a tutor (Michael Cera), travels to convince his business partners to fund his latest venture. But where does the film rank among Anderson's past movies?

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Ballerina And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Ballerina, starring Ana de Armas. She plays a ballerina-turned-assassin making her way through the international criminal underworld, and crossing paths with some new and familiar faces — including the one and only Keanu Reeves.

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Adults

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 07:00:33 +0000

Living Single, Friends, New Girl and Broad City. Now Gen Z's got the FX/Hulu series Adults. The silly new series is about a group of friends cohabitating in Queens, New York and it makes for fun and possibly all-too-relatable TV fodder.

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Watch This: Mountainhead

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Succession creator Jesse Armstrong is back with Mountainhead, a new movie with characters who are just as wealthy, powerful, and insecure as the Roy family. Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Ramy Youssef and Cory Michael Smith star as four tech moguls gathering for a low-key guys' weekend of poker. But business and unchecked, overinflated egos quickly lead them all down a very dark path.

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Bring Her Back

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Talk To Me was both very good and deeply unsettling. Now its directors (Danny and Michael Philippou) have returned with Bring Her Back, which ups the ante when it comes to disturbing, nightmarish storytelling. The film stars Sally Hawkins as a woman whose grief manifests in terrifying, ugly ways.

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Karate Kid: Legends And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 30 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Karate Kid has been sequelized, serialized, spun off and rebooted, and now it's back, as Karate Kid: Legends. The new film stars Ben Wang as a kid who's mentored by Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio, reprising their roles from the franchise. But at its heart, the movie is about a kid who must train hard, learn life lessons, and kick a bully hard in the face.

In honor of Toy Story's 30th anniversary, we're ranking the Pixar movies. What do you think is the best Pixar feature? Vote now! We'll talk about the results in an upcoming episode.

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Are We In A Media Literacy Crisis?

Thu, 29 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Sinners, our pal Brittany Luse has one question: are we in a media literacy crisis? Difference of opinion is one thing, but it feels like some viewers are missing important clues or misreading the film entirely - and it doesn't stop with Sinners. Today we've got an episode of the podcast It's Been A Minute that explores what this could mean for the way we engage with the world at large.

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Lilo & Stitch

Tue, 27 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Lilo & Stitch is mostly live-action and retells the original Disney animated film's story of two orphaned Hawaiian sisters and the chaotic alien who upends their lives. The movie deviates from the original in many ways, but the central story is a tale of sisterhood and found family with lots of rowdy chaos along the way. The cast includes Maia Kealoha, Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Zach Galifianakis, and Chris Sanders returns as the voice of Stitch.

In honor of Toy Story's 30th anniversary, we're ranking the Pixar movies. What do you think is the best Pixar feature? Vote now! We'll talk about the results in an upcoming episode.

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The Last Of Us

Mon, 26 May 2025 02:01:59 +0000

The Last of Us just ended, and to say the story has gone in some new directions is an understatement. The HBO series starring Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal continues to push forward with its complex story while still and always putting the "ick" in "post-apocalyptic."

In honor of Toy Story's 30th anniversary, we're ranking the Pixar movies. What do you think is the best Pixar feature? Vote now! We'll talk about the results in an upcoming episode.

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Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 23 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise has to save the world (again). But this time, as the movie stresses repeatedly, the stakes are really, really high. Higher than the buildings Tom sprints across or the planes he fights bad guys on. There's an AI that wants to destroy humanity, and Tom and his allies try to pull off the feat of all our lifetimes. Will he? Does it even matter? It's Tom Cruise doing Tom Cruise things in London, the Bering Sea, and beyond.

In honor of Toy Story's 30th anniversary, we're ranking the Pixar movies. What do you think is the best Pixar feature? Vote now! We'll talk about the results in an upcoming episode.

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Post-Credits Scenes

Wed, 21 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Sinners, Pixar and Marvel movies, and more.

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Watch This: Murderbot

Tue, 20 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Murderbot is a very smart, very funny new sci-fi comedy series on Apple TV+. The show stars Alexander Skarsgård as a cyborg who works security for a team of hapless, bumbling scientists exploring a dangerous planet. Murderbot hacked its own system and gained free will – a fact it tries to hide from the team, even as it sardonically judges their naïve and foolhardy actions, and craves nothing more than to be left alone to watch soap operas.

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Friendship

Mon, 19 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Friendship, a deeply strange and intense guy forges a troubled friendship with his new neighbor, a TV weatherman, played by Paul Rudd. The film stars Tim Robinson, an SNL veteran who's best known for his work in TV shows like Netflix's I Think You Should Leave.

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Final Destination Bloodlines

Fri, 16 May 2025 20:57:17 +0000

Final Destination film franchise. Almost 15 years after the last new installment, we're back with Final Destination Bloodlines, a movie all about the fact that you really, really, really can't beat death. It will come for you, and in fact, it may come for your whole family — in the most convoluted, bloody, gnarly ways it possibly can.

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The Star Wars Prequels

Thu, 15 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Star Wars prequels came out, they were polarizing for fans of George Lucas' beloved space opera. The three films - The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith – followed Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader. It's been 20 years since the final prequel hit theaters, so it seems like a fitting time to reevaluate the movies.

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Forever

Wed, 14 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Forever. It's now been reminaged as a Netflix series centering on a pair of Black high schoolers from showrunner Mara Brock Akil (Girlfriends). And it thoughtfully captures the pangs and joys of young romance in a modern context.

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The Jennifer Hudson Show Spirit Tunnel

Mon, 12 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Jennifer Hudson Show, it's almost guaranteed you're going to make your way down the Spirit Tunnel – and possibly go viral. In just a few seconds, these videos can reveal a lot about a celeb's personality and persona: Do they have rhythm? Are they any good at improv? And how famous are they, really? The answers are (sometimes) really surprising!

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Fight Or Flight

Fri, 09 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Fight or Flight finds Josh Hartnett playing a onetime Secret Service agent who is pressured into one more job: fighting off a series of increasingly over-the-top assassins trying to kill a mysterious criminal. And they're all packed onto a plane together. Plus, what's making us happy, including a classic R&B song, a new sports documentary series and a iconic thriller.

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Another Simple Favor

Wed, 07 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Another Simple Favor reunites Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick in a new movie full of murder, deceit, and great hats. Set at a splashy wedding in Capri, it turns out you can't keep a good – or in this case, a very bad – woman down. Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor, Bridesmaids), the film also stars Henry Golding, Allison Janney and Elizabeth Perkins. It's streaming on Prime Video.

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The Met Gala

Tue, 06 May 2025 18:56:23 +0000

It's Been A Minute – they've got a recap of the highs and lows of the night.

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The Four Seasons

Mon, 05 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Four Seasons. It's about a group of couples whose friendship dynamic is rocked by their midlife crises. The impressive cast includes Colman Domingo, Will Forte, and Steve Carell. And while the jokes may not fly quite as fast as they did on 30 Rock, Fey's comedic sensibilities are written all over it.

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Thunderbolts*

Fri, 02 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Thunderbolts* is the latest Marvel movie and this one's a bit more fun than they've been lately. It stars Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour and emotionally broken super-people who've done some very bad things. Will they manage to put their guilt aside and come together to form a rag-tag team of losers who somehow manage to save the day?

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The TV Show I'd Like To Live In

Thu, 01 May 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Game of Thrones, Derry Girls, Parks and Recreation, and Gilligan's Island.

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Why We Love TV Weddings

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Friends, General Hospital, A Different World, Grey's Anatomy, Cheers, Schitt's Creek and more.

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Étoile

Mon, 28 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Étoile is the latest series from Amy Sherman-Palladino, the creator of Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It's about the wacky goings-on between two prestigious but struggling ballet companies, one in New York, and one in Paris. You'll see some of your favorite actors from the Gilmore and Maisel universes all speaking that signature rapid-fire, joke-dense patter. But can a comedy set in the rarified world of professional ballet find its audience – and be funny? Étoile is streaming on Prime Video.

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Summer Guide

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Fantastic Four and Superman. We've got a guide to the movies and TV we're most excited about this summer, including M3gan 2.0, Pixar's Elio, and Mission: Impossible.

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Conclave

Wed, 23 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Conclave. It tells a very fun and very fictional story of the secretive process by which a pope is replaced. It's a twisty political thriller, it's a tense jury drama, and it's got some strong commentary on the state of the Catholic Church. Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini, and it's available to rent or stream at home.

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The Wedding Banquet

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Wedding Banquet has a stellar all-star cast, including Kelly Marie Tran, Lily Gladstone, and Bowen Yang. It's a twisty comedy of errors where proposals, hookups, and harsh words fly. Directed by Andrew Ahn (Fire Island), the film offers a modern take on Ang Lee's classic queer film.

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New TV Comedies You Don't Want To Miss

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

#1 Happy Family USA, The Righteous Gemstones, North of North, and Deli Boys.

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Sinners And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Sinners finds Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers who open a 1930s juke joint. And opening night does not go as planned. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, (Black Panther), the film mixes blues music with classic horror in a standoff between the brothers and their friends on the inside and the bloodthirsty – and growing – menace outside.

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Your Friends And Neighbors

Wed, 16 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Your Friends and Neighbors, a very rich guy reacts to becoming a bit less rich by turning to a life of crime. Played by Jon Hamm, in full charming-but-morally-compromised mode, he starts sneaking into people's and taking their stuff. Part drama and part dark comedy about rich jerks, the series also stars Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn.

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Doctor Who

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Doctor Who brought a lot of change. The Doctor is now played by Ncuti Gatwa, who is Black and openly queer. And it marked the return of the showrunner who birthed the modern era of Doctor Who. The show just returned for a new season on Disney+, so today we're revisiting our conversation about the series.

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Warfare

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Warfare dispenses with a lot of things you've come to expect from Hollywood war movies. It's based on the memories of a platoon of Navy SEALS, and attempts to capture the chaos of one specific Iraq War conflict as accurately as possible. The only thing Hollywood about it is its cast of young actors, including Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter, Kit Connor and D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.

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Drop And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Drop, Meghann Fahy plays a woman whose first date goes off the rails when she starts getting increasingly alarming message drops from someone nearby. And this potentially romantic dinner turns into a life-or-death situation, real quick.

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Pop Culture That Changed Our Minds

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Friday Night Lights, Train to Busan, the poetry of Mary Oliver, and Watchmen.

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Dying For Sex

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Dying For Sex, Michelle Williams stars as a cancer patient confronting the unsatisfying relationships in her life. The series is also a raunchy sex comedy that suggests it's never too late to insist on your own happiness. And it's got a stellar cast, including Jenny Slate, Rob Delaney, and Sissy Spacek.

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The White Lotus

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 20:59:37 +0000

The White Lotus just wrapped up, but not before serving up a tropical buffet of sex, betrayal, violence, revenge, privilege, incest, drugs, death, and spirituality. We finally found out whose dead body was floating in the pond way back in the season premiere. From creator Mike White, this season stars Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Natasha Rothwell, Aimee Lou Wood, Parker Posey, and Lisa of BLACKPINK fame.

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A Minecraft Movie And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

A Minecraft Movie stars Jack Black and Jason Momoa in a goofy and sprawling adventure full of blocky animals and magical macguffins. Directed by Jared Hess (Nacho Libre, Napoleon Dynamite), the film also features Danielle Brooks and Jennifer Coolidge.

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Daredevil: Born Again

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Daredevil: Born Again, Charlie Cox returns as everyone's favorite blind-but-with-heightened-senses Marvel superhero. This time out, he hangs up his horns and throws himself into his career as a lawyer. At the same time, the criminal mastermind Kingpin (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) decides to go straight and run for mayor of New York City. The two men declare a truce, but will it last?

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Survival Of The Thickest

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Survival of the Thickest is about an up-and-coming stylist whose professional and personal ambitions go sideways when she finds herself newly single. With the help of her best friends, she recalibrates her life and steps outside her comfort zone to varying results. It stars the charming comedian Michelle Buteau, who also co-created the show. Survival of the Thickest just returned for a second season, so today we are revisiting our conversation about the series.

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The Studio

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:25:34 +0000

The Studio, Seth Rogen plays a Hollywood studio head desperately trying to do a job he's afraid of failing at every single day. The Apple TV+ series features comedy MVPs like Catherine O'Hara, Bryan Cranston, and Kathryn Hahn, but also cameos from actors and directors playing themselves — including Anthony Mackie, Zoë Kravitz, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese and Ice Cube.

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Death Of A Unicorn And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Death of a Unicorn, Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega star as dad and daughter facing off against some angry-as-hell horned beasts. Like so many creature features, it poses a direct question amid all the chaos and carnage: Who's the real monster here? The film also stars Will Poulter, Richard E. Grant, and Téa Leoni.

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The Residence

Wed, 26 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Residence, a dead body shows up in an awkward location: the White House. A sprawling list of suspects try to outsmart a brilliant detective played by Uzo Aduba. She's joined by a cast that includes Giancarlo Esposito, Ken Marino, Randall Park, Kylie Minogue, and many others.

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Dope Thief

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Dope Thief is a great high-stakes crime thriller to stream now. It stars Brian Tyree Henry as a man running a risky con: Robbing small-time drug dealers by posing as a DEA agent. His luck runs out, however, when he and his buddy-in-crime (Wagner Moura) mess with the wrong house.

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Severance

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Severance (streaming on Apple TV+), we got a blowout finale with answers to mysteries and even more layers of weirdness. The show stars Adam Scott as an employee of a sinister corporation called Lumon. He has undergone a process called severance, which separates your work self and home self.

Listen to Short Wave's episode about Severance.

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Snow White And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney's first fully animated feature film back in 1937. Now, it's getting a hi-tech "reimagining" complete with new songs, seven CGI-rendered dwarfs, and live-action leads. Rachel Zegler stars as Snow White, while Gal Gadot plays the Evil Queen with a magic mirror and terrible intentions.

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Novocaine

Wed, 19 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Novocaine, Jack Quaid plays a sweet, nerdy guy who does not experience physical pain. He falls for a woman (Amber Midthunder) who's determined to get him to leave his safe, risk-averse life behind. That happens in a big and very bloody way when she gets kidnapped by bank robbers, and he sets out to rescue her.

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Oscar-Winner Anora Is Now Streaming

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Anora recently cleaned up at this year's Oscars, winning five awards, including best picture. Directed by Sean Baker, the movie follows an enterprising sex worker (Mikey Madison), who links up with a very rich and very immature young man (Mark Eydelshteyn). Their transactional encounter turns into a quickie Vegas wedding. But her new in-laws are Russian oligarchs, and they'll do everything in their power to put an end to this whirlwind romance. Anora is now streaming on Hulu, so now's your time to catch up with the movie if you missed it in theaters.

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Ayo Edebiri's New Movie Opus

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Opus, Ayo Edebiri plays a journalist who attends a press event at the compound of a reclusive pop star (John Malkovich) who'd been in hiding for decades. And then, things get weird and questions arise.

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Black Bag And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Black Bag is about a group of British spies who discover there's a traitor in their midst. It stars Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. He's a lie detector expert; she's one of his chief suspects. The thing is: They're married.

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On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. It opens with a Zambian woman finding her uncle's body on the road. His death brings the family together from near and far, but also resurfaces old wounds — wounds the elders would much rather ignore. It's a powerful story about the silence that keeps families from breaking, but only in superficial ways, and with devastating consequences.

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Lady Gaga's Mayhem

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

Mayhem, which has already produced three hits — including the chart-topping Bruno Mars duet "Die With A Smile." It's got bangers, it's got ballads, it's Lady Gaga through and through.

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Best Moments In Live TV

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 07:00:59 +0000

The Ed Sullivan Show.

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Mickey 17 And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Mickey 17 is writer-director Bong Joon Ho's follow-up to the Oscar-winning film Parasite. In the sharply satirical sci-fi film, Robert Pattinson is a manual laborer on a spaceship who just keeps dying. But then he gets reprinted – his memories get downloaded into a new body. What could go wrong? The film also stars Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie.

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Terrible But Bingeable TV shows

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 08:00:59 +0000

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Favorite SNL Musical Moments

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Saturday Night Live is celebrating its 50th anniversary — they've mentioned it once or twice. From Lazy Sunday to Domingo to a ton of iconic musical performances, SNL's had a long and fascinating relationship with music. Today, we're talking about some of our favorite SNL musical moments.

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Our 2025 Oscars Recap

Mon, 03 Mar 2025 17:02:36 +0000

Sean Baker's Anora, including wins for best picture and director. The film's star Mikey Madison scored one of the night's few upsets, winning best actress. Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña also took home acting wins. We also recap the hilarious bits from host Conan O'Brien, the long and discursive speeches, and show stopping musical numbers.

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2025 Oscars Guide And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Wicked, The Substance, Emilia Perez, and Conclave. And we watched all the nominated movies so you don't have to. We're making some bold predictions for who will win, plus vouching for who should take home those shiny gold statues.

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Paradise

Thu, 27 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Paradise, Sterling K. Brown plays a Secret Service agent caught up in a web of intrigue after the president of the United States (James Marsden) is assassinated, with no suspect in sight. But at the end of the first episode, we learn this show is about way more than the murder of the head of state. Paradise was created by Dan Fogelman, who created the hit show This Is Us.

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Zero Day

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Zero Day begins with a terrifying moment in which everything in the United States goes briefly offline. Thousands of people die, and even after everything is restored, a widespread panic leads to a government investigation of who did it. With a cast headed by Robert De Niro and Angela Bassett, the show hopes to be a paranoid political thriller for our times.

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Actors Who've Never Been Nominated For An Oscar, But Should Win

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

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The Monkey And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Monkey, Theo James plays a pair of identical twin brothers who get saddled with a cursed wind-up toy monkey that causes people around them to die freakish, gory deaths. It's based on a Stephen King short story, and directed by Osgood Perkins, who made last year's Longlegs.

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Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy

Wed, 19 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Bridget (Renée Zellweger) is dealing with a whole new phase of life, and a new pair of possible love interests.

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We Fantasy Cast The Traitors

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Traitors continues to be a delightful mix of treachery, foolishness, and Alan Cumming's outfits. In the United States, the cast is made up exclusively of so-called celebrities. So today on the show we're fantasy casting who we think should be on the next season of The Traitors.

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Paddington In Peru

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Paddington In Peru, Paddington Bear and the Brown family fly across the globe, into the wilds of Peru, in search of Paddington's Aunt Lucy. Along the way, they meet a not-remotely-suspicious singing nun (Olivia Colman) and a boat captain (Antonio Banderas). The adventure that follows involves lost treasure and narrow escapes — and leads to new revelations about Paddington's past, and a new appreciation for what it means to be home.

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Captain America: Brave New World And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 23:43:58 +0000

Captain America: Brave New World, Cap finds himself battling President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) who is hiding quite a few secrets.

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The Substance

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Substance is a bloody, campy, fiercely feminist body horror film. Demi Moore plays a TV aerobics instructor who learns of a mysterious drug that causes another younger, entirely separate version of herself (Margaret Qualley) to splurt out of her back and assume her consciousness. The movie has earned Moore her first Oscar nomination, and she's the frontrunner in this year's best actress race. So we thought it would be the perfect time to revisit our conversation about the movie.

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Guide To Great Shows On Network TV

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 08:00:28 +0000

St. Denis Medical, Doc, Doctor Odyssey, Matlock and High Potential.

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2025 Super Bowl

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 11:43:29 +0000

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Love Hurts And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Love Hurts, Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan stars as a real estate agent who has remade his life after leaving the employ of his terrifying gangster brother. But when a beautiful and mysterious former associate (Ariana DeBose) returns into his life, everything goes haywire. The movie has hand fighting and a touch of romance--just in time for Valentine's Day.

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You're Cordially Invited

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

You're Cordially Invited, Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon face a mortifying conundrum: Their families' destination weddings have been double-booked for the same weekend. They reluctantly agree to share the venue, but, unsurprisingly, nothing goes smoothly as planned. Directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Neighbors), the movie feels like a familiar throwback to the 2000s.

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2025 Sundance Film Festival: Best Movies

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Bear, a timely doc about the wave of book bans across America, and a bizarro horror comedy starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco.

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2025 Grammys Recap

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 14:53:04 +0000

Cowboy Carter. Kendrick Lamar picked up record and song of the year for "Not Like Us." And Chappell Roan edged out a crowded field to win best new artist.

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Companion And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Companion, three young couples gather at a swanky lake house for the weekend. One of the couples is not like the others – that's because the girlfriend (Sophie Thatcher) turns out to be a companion robot, built to satisfy the boyfriend's (Jack Quaid) every fantasy. Inevitably, things go wrong, which sets off a chain of twists and revelations that comes with a body count.

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Mo

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Mo is about a man who figures out how to get by: how to find work as someone who can't work legally, how to navigate the asylum process as a Palestinian refugee in Texas, and how to care for the people he loves. The show's star and co-creator is the standup Mo Amer. The story dives into immigration, identity, and a family as they work to map out a secure future. Mo just returned for a second season, so in this encore episode, we revisit our conversation about the series.

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Presence

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Presence, a family moves into an old house, and weird stuff starts happening. But what's different about this haunted house story is that the movie told from the point of view of the ghost. We only get glimpses of the family, but gradually we start to piece together their brittle dynamic.

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The Pitt

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Pitt stars ER veteran Noah Wyle. It takes some elements that are common to the medical genre and mixes them with some very contemporary thinking about health care and an inventive structure. Each episode follows one hour in the ER over the course of a very long day – so the layout is less Grey's Anatomy and more 24.

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The Night Agent

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Night Agent, a Netflix spy thriller series full of action and intrigue. Created by The Shield's Shawn Ryan, the series follows Peter and Rose — the agent and the tech expert he's protecting — as they try to uncover a conspiracy that goes right to the heart of the government. The show just returned for a second season, so today we're revisiting our conversation about the series.

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2025 Oscar Nominations

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 22:44:15 +0000

Emilia Pérez, Anora, Wicked, The Brutalist, and A Complete Unknown, then you're in luck. As always, there's an eclectic mix of heavy favorites, left-field surprises, and the dreaded snubs. We give a broad sense of this year's major storylines, while also lamenting a few decisions we found baffling.

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One Of Them Days

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

One of Them Days. The movie is about two best friends in L.A., who endure a wild series of misadventures as they try to make rent over the course of one very eventful day. It's rowdy and profane, but it's also got something to say about gentrification, predatory businesses, and other factors that make it hard to survive and advance in America.

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The Brutalist And What's Making Us Happy

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Brutalist is earning a lot of Oscar buzz. Adrien Brody plays a fictional Hungarian architect who settles in America after his family is torn apart during World War II. It's a three-and-a-half-hour epic with much to say about assimilation, wealth, and the creative process.

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Wolf Man And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Wolf Man starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner. Directed by Leigh Whannell (The Invisible Man), it maintains that sometimes the monster is inside you all along. Plus, we take a minute to remember director David Lynch.

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XO, Kitty

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

XO, Kitty is a spinoff of the hit YA book and movie franchise, To All the Boys I've Loved Before. The show follows the messy adventures of teenage matchmaker Kitty Song Covey (Anna Cathcart), who moves across the globe to be with her long-distance boyfriend in Korea. The show is a mash-up of genres, including rom-coms, Korean dramas, and coming-of-age tales. XO, Kitty just returned for a second season, so in this encore episode, we're revisiting our conversation about the series.

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American Primeval

Wed, 15 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

American Primeval, Betty Gilpin plays a woman determined to get herself and her son across the frontier. But along the way, they find themselves caught up in a brewing war between the federal government and a violent Mormon militia. A gruff guide (Taylor Kitsch) might be of some help, but the land is rife with violent factions with competing claims to the blood-soaked soil.

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The Best One-Hit Wonders

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

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The Last Showgirl And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Last Showgirl, a woman finds herself with few options as she approaches the end of her long career as a dancer in Las Vegas. The film marks a new chapter in the star-crossed acting career of Pamela Anderson. Directed by Gia Coppola, it tells a story about aging, parenthood, the underbelly of show business, and what happens when the world no longer buys what you're selling.

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Hot Moms In Film

Thu, 09 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

The Idea Of You, A Family Affair, Lonely Planet, and Babygirl, just to name a few. But why now? Today we're bringing you an episode of the NPR podcast It's Been A Minute. In this episode, host Brittany Luse sits down with New York Magazine features writer Rachel Handler to unpack what these films say about Hollywood's changing attitudes towards older women and why the category of, quote-unquote, "women's film" still feels behind the times. behind the times.

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Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is the latest film in the beloved stop-motion animation series. This time, clueless inventor Wallace and his long-suffering pooch Gromit are dealing with Wallace's latest invention, a robotic garden gnome. But when an old enemy gets involved, they must face down an army of evil robots and expose the criminal mastermind behind it all.

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Great Movies We Missed

Mon, 06 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

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Nickel Boys

Fri, 03 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Nickel Boys tells the story of two Black boys who form an unshakeable bond at a segregated reform school in the Jim Crow South. It's quite ambitious and unlike other prestigious book to film adaptations you've probably seen — most of it unfolds in the first-person perspective.

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Squid Game

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 08:00:59 +0000

Squid Game became the most popular offering in Netflix's history by combining pitch-black satire of late-stage capitalism with bloody violence. In Season 2, Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) winds up sucked back into the games, where he must fight for his life, try to destroy the system from the inside, and rally new players to his cause.

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2025 Pop Culture Resolutions And What's Making Us Happy

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

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2025 Pop Culture Predictions

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

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A Complete Unknown and What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

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Babygirl

Thu, 26 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Babygirl, Nicole Kidman plays a high-powered CEO who has an affair her mysterious intern (Harris Dickinson). Their affair gets complicated by the many power dynamics involved — not just in the office, but also in a sexual relationship defined by dominance and submission.

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Nosferatu

Wed, 25 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Nosferatu is a Dracula story with a twist. It stars Lily Rose-Depp as a new bride stalked by an evil bloodsucking creature of the night who brings death and terror in its wake. A handful of stalwart men – including her husband, played by Nicholas Hoult – attempt to defend Rose-Depp's virtue and defeat the undead scourge.

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Juror #2

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Juror #2, one guy's experience is worse than most. Nicholas Hoult plays a man assigned to serve on a jury who gradually realizes that the defendant might not be guilty. And he might just know who is. The film also stars Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, and Kiefer Sutherland. It's streaming now on Max.

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Laid

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 08:00:54 +0000

Laid is a very dark rom-com. Stephanie Hsu plays a young woman who discovers that all of her exes have started to die under mysterious, sometimes freakish, circumstances. This causes her to conduct a kind of sexual audit of her life, and she sets out to warn everyone she's ever slept with that they are about to die. It's funnier than it sounds, and makes for a good holiday hangover binge.

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Mufasa: The Lion King And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

The Lion King as a photorealistic blockbuster. This leads us to Mufasa: The Lion King, a new prequel telling the story of Mufasa's rise — as well as the origins of his rivalry with Scar. The film was directed by Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk) and features new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda.

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Best Movies To Watch On An Airplane

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Moana, Jackie Brown, The Holdovers, and The Lion in Winter.

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Bad Sisters

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Bad Sisters made its debut. The show follows four sisters in Ireland who are hell bent on murdering the husband of the fifth sister. Now, the series is in its second season, with more banter, wickedness and secrets. Today we're bringing you an episode of the NPR's podcast Consider This, where host Mary Louise Kelly caught up with creator and star Sharon Horgan to talk all about the new season.

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No Good Deed

Mon, 16 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

No Good Deed, a couple played by Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano, along with several other couples and families, get tangled up in the sale of a home that holds a secret.

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Queer and What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Queer stars Daniel Craig as you've never seen him: as a junkie prowling the streets, hooking up, shooting up and guzzling tequila. He meets a handsome young man (Drew Starkey) he longs to connect with, and they embark on a quest into the jungle in search of a drug that will unite them on a deep, spiritual level. Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Call Me By Your Name), the film is based on a short novel by William S. Burroughs.

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It's A Wonderful Life

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

It's A Wonderful Life is the Christmas movie. George Bailey's story of learning how much you really matter to the world has family, community, an angel, a mean rich guy, and a little kid playing carols on the piano. It has become a staple of holiday viewing, so we thought it was a perfect time to revisit our discussion about the movie.

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2024 Pop Culture Favorites

Wed, 11 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

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Black Doves

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 10:51:58 +0000

Black Doves is a pulpy and stylish British spy show starring Keira Knightly and Ben Whishaw. Knightly plays a politician's wife who's been secretly funnelling information to a mysterious spy network for years, and Whishaw plays her old partner who's been out of the game. But when Knightly's character gets targeted, Whishaw's returns to protect her. It's all set in London at Christmastime, so if you like your holiday cheer spiced with British wit and gunplay, Black Doves may be for you.

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Nightbitch And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Nightbitch stars Amy Adams as an exhausted stay-at-home mom to a toddler. Missing her career and frustrated by her inattentive husband (Scoot McNairy), her woes begin to manifest in a bizarre way: She transforms into a dog at night. She enjoys tapping into her animal instincts. But eventually, she's forced to confront her resentments toward motherhood and the lack of support from her husband.

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2024 Holiday Movie Guide

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Our Little Secret, Meet Me Next Christmas, Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, and The Merry Gentleman.

Check out Linda's full holiday movie guide here.

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Great Movies Under 90 Minutes

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

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The Madness

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 08:00:59 +0000

The Madness, Colman Domingo plays a CNN pundit who witnesses a brutal murder, and then finds himself on the run as he's framed for the crime. What follows is a paranoid thriller full of sinister forces, evil billionaires, underground militias, devious assassins, and lots of red herrings.

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Interior Chinatown

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Interior Chinatown mashes up a whole bunch of genres — including kung fu movies and police procedurals — to explore Asian-American identity in interesting ways. Jimmy O. Yang plays a waiter who dreams of a more exciting life outside his close-knit community. After witnessing a crime, he has a chance to help investigators solve the case — and he soon realizes he's more deeply connected to the mystery than he initially thought. The show was created by Charles Yu, who based it on his own novel.

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Moana 2 And What's Making Us Happy

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Moana, a girl (Auli'i Cravalho) finally gets her chance to see more of the world. And with a whole new batch of songs, in Moana 2, she's older and has a new purpose. With the help of her chicken, her pig, and her demigod pal Maui (Dwayne Johnson), Moana wants to reunite her island with people from across the ocean.

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The Piano Lesson

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

The Piano Lesson, but his influence as producer – and parent – is unmistakable. Denzel's son Malcolm Washington is the director, and his son John David Washington plays one of the leads alongside Danielle Deadwyler and Samuel L. Jackson. It's a story about family, legacy and community. And the hauntings both literal and figurative make a big impression.

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A Man On The Inside

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

A Man on the Inside stars Ted Danson as a lonely widower who's hired by a private investigator to live undercover in a senior living facility. His mission is to find out who stole a precious item from one of the residents. Created by Michael Schur (The Good Place, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), the series is also a tender and poignant depiction of loss, aging, and finding community.

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Wicked And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Wicked is a bold, revisionist take on The Wizard of Oz. It imagines that back in college, the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda the Good Witch of the North (Ariana Grande) were best friends. The sprawling film delivers lavish spectacle, costumes, music, and choreography. But does the long-awaited film live up to the hype?

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Gladiator II

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Gladiator II is a sequel to Gladiator, Oscar-winning swords-and-sandals blockbuster that starred Russell Crowe. It tells a similar tale — a soldier, sold into slavery, becomes a gladiator in the Roman arena. This time out, it's Paul Mescal whose prowess in the coliseum earns him fame that threatens Rome's tyrannical rulers. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film also stars Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington.

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A Real Pain

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

A Real Pain stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin as two very different cousins attempting to reconnect by going on a heritage tour of Poland. As they make their way across the country, they mourn their late grandmother, confront the fractures in their relationship, and reckon with the grief left in the wake of the Holocaust. A Real Pain was written and directed by Eisenberg.

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The Best Movie Musical Numbers

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Wicked hitting theaters, there's never been a better time to debate the best movie musical numbers.

For even more of our favorite movie musical numbers, check out our list at Letterboxd — at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.

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Red One And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Red One, the holiday season comes to an emergency halt when Santa (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped. It's up to his head of security, played by Dwayne Johnson, and a ne'er-do-well played by Chris Evans to save Christmas.
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Say Nothing

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Say Nothing isn't just true crime – it's part of a more complex history. Because this particular woman was kidnapped and killed by members of the Irish Republican Army during the period known as the Troubles. And decades later, one of the women involved in her disappearance still grapples with her memories and whether to tell the truth about what happened.

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Emilia Pérez

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Emilia Pérez is Netflix's new divisive musical about a Mexican cartel boss who disappears from the criminal underworld to create a new life as a woman. But when her love for her kids proves overpowering, she ingratiates herself back into their lives, posing as a distant relative. The movie stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, and Selena Gomez.

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Can't Sleep? Catch Some ZZZs With These Songs

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

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Heretic And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

Heretic, two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) knock on the door of a charming man played by Hugh Grant. At first he seems genuinely interested in learning more, and invites them in. But it quickly becomes clear that this guy doesn't actually want to have a good-faith discussion.

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Tom Hanks Explains How To Deal With Attention

Wed, 06 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

How To Do Everything, a new NPR podcast from the team behind Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! On each episode, Mike Danforth and Ian Chillag offer practical advice for everyday problems — like how to tell if you smell, or how to get close to a panda — with help from celebrity guests. This episode, their guest is Tom Hanks. Mike and Ian also help a listener who's curious about world fame. Plus, a bottoms-up approach to recognizing your family members. Follow How To Do Everything on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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YouTube Rabbit Holes That Are Great Distractions

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

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The Penguin

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 08:00:59 +0000

The Penguin, an unrecognizable Colin Farrell reprises his role as Oswald Cobb from The Batman. This time though, the caped crusader is nowhere to be found. Instead, we've got an unexpectedly fresh take on Gotham, and a crackling turf war involving the vengeful daughter of a crime boss, played by Cristin Milioti.

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Tom Hanks' Movie Here And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Here, a new drama starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright as a married couple whose lives unfold in that living room over the course of many decades. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the film also shows vignettes of other people who lived in the house, and moments throughout history.

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The Diplomat

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

The Diplomat, Keri Russell plays an ambassador who's thrust into an international incident with massive stakes. She's also sorting through a tumultuous marriage with her husband, a hotshot veteran diplomat (Rufus Sewell). The series combines the tension of Homeland with the administrative drama of The West Wing. The Diplomat just returned for a new season, so in this encore episode, we revisit our conversation about the series.

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Conclave

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 10:01:54 +0000

Conclave is a fun and twisty political thriller. Ralph Fiennes plays a cardinal tasked to managing the secretive process in which the pope is replaced. The film offers plenty of scandals, surprises, and dark horses, along with some strong commentary on the state of the Catholic church. Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), the film also stars Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini.

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Agatha All Along

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Agatha All Along is a darkly funny new Marvel show on Disney Plus. It stars the selfish, sardonic and hilariously petty witch Agatha Harkness, played by the great and good Kathryn Hahn. When a mysterious goth teen saves her from a spell she's been trapped in, she assembles a coven of witches so they can together undergo a series of trials that will grant them each what they most desire. The thing is – the other witches hate Agatha's guts, and there's more to this goth kid than meets the eye.

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Venom: The Last Dance And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns for a third time as a sad-sack loser with an alien symbiotic life-form bonded to him. This time out, it's a buddy comedy and road movie, as the two are hunted by another race of aliens. And along the way, they meet some hippies, hit the Vegas strip, and get in a quick dance number.

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Woman Of The Hour

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Woman Of The Hour is not your conventional serial killer movie. It's based on the true story of a serial killer who appeared on The Dating Game in the 1970s. But it's also about the women who became — or almost became — his victims. Directed by and starring Anna Kendrick, it's a tense, thoughtful film that has much to say about the systems that make life easier for dangerous and otherwise crummy men.

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We Watch Classic Movies For The First Time

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Erin Brockovich, Flower Drum Song, Enter the Dragon and Raging Bull.

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Anora

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Anora is a dark rom-dramedy about an enterprising sex worker (Mikey Madison) who links up with a very rich and very immature young man (Mark Eydelshteyn). Their transactional encounter turns into a quickie Vegas wedding. But her new in-laws are Russian oligarchs, and they'll do everything in their power to put an end to this whirlwind romance. Anora is the latest feature from writer and director Sean Baker (The Florida Project). Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.

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Smile 2 And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Smile was a massive hit. Its flashy new sequel Smile 2 finds the franchise's terrifying entity infecting a new host: a pop star (Naomi Scott) who's about to head out on tour after experiencing a trauma. And the movie has a lot to say about the horrors of pop stardom.

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We Live In Time

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

We Live In Time tries to bring something new to that familiar story of the preciousness of life. Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield laugh and cry as a couple trying to make the most of their time together. Director John Crowley (Brooklyn) utilizes an unconventional structure that jumps around from their first meeting to their later crisis and several key points in between.

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The Pop Culture That Scared Us As Kids

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

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Disclaimer

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Disclaimer, Cate Blanchett plays a woman who's terrified after she's sent a novel that's based on a chapter of her past that she's desperate to keep secret. From Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuarón, the series was also stars Kevin Kline, as a man who's also consumed by the events recounted in the book.

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Saturday Night And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 06:00:59 +0000

Saturday Night attempts to capture the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the very first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. Untried producer Lorne Michaels (played by Gabriel LaBelle) and his cast of complete unknowns prepare to make television history. At the same time, network suits breathe down their necks, and just about everything that can go wrong does.

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Pop Culture Pumpkin Spice Lattes: Basic But We Love It

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

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SNL, Late Night, And The Election

Wed, 09 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Saturday Night Live, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and The Daily Show are speaking to the moment.

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A Different Man

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

A Different Man follows Edward (Sebastian Stan), an aspiring actor living with facial disfigurement. He takes an opportunity to try a new procedure and reconstruct his appearance. But then, he encounters a guy with the same condition he once had, and who lives a fun, fulfilling life. To put it mildly, Edward now has some regrets.

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Joker: Folie à Deux And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 04 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to 2019's Joker, which won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar. This new film is a courtroom drama and a romance tossed into a musical blender set to liquefy, as the Joker goes on trial for the murders he committed in the last film and falls in love with a groupie played by Lady Gaga.

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The Wild Robot

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 07:00:59 +0000

The Wild Robot is a gorgeous and moving new animated movie from Dreamworks. It follows a helper robot named Roz (Lupita Nyong'o) who washes up on the beach of a remote island and learns to blend in with the wildlife. After an accident, Roz unexpectedly finds herself the caregiver of a baby gosling named Brightbill (Kit O'Connor) Soon, it's learning lessons about parenthood and sacrifice while teaching the animals to work together.

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Nobody Wants This

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Nobody Wants This, Kristen Bell plays an agnostic podcaster, who meets a rabbi, played by Adam Brody. They like each other immediately, but there are some hurdles for them when it comes to being together. The show offers plenty of romantic comedy banter and good chemistry, as well as some pretty deep questions about faith and compatibility.

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Industry

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Industry was over the top. The drama is about backstabbing, morally compromised investment bankers. But it managed to make its characters even more backstabb-y and ethically dubious than ever before. Frenemies fought hard. Buried vices and addictions came to light. And death hovered over the entire season in shocking fashion.

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Megalopolis And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now, is back with his first new film in over a decade. It reimagines the fall of Rome through a futuristic American city, and has a lot of big and messy ideas about time and the fate of humanity. It's also jam-packed with stars like Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Aubrey Plaza. We try to make sense of it all.

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His Three Daughters

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

His Three Daughters. They play three sisters who are odds with one another, but must gather in their father's apartment when he's dying. As his illness progresses, their own sibling relationships are tested.

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Colin From Accounts

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Colin From Accounts is part raunchy comedy, part romantic comedy, part friendship story, and part very cute dog. It begins with a chance encounter between two strangers (played by Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall) who meet after accidentally injuring an adorable dog. They reluctantly decide to take joint responsibility for the pup, and form a strange bond. The show is about to return for a second season on Paramount+, so we are revisiting our conversation about the series.

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The Substance

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

The Substance is a bloody, campy, fiercely feminist body horror film. Demi Moore plays a TV aerobics instructor desperate to stay in the spotlight. She learns of a mysterious drug she can inject that causes another, younger, entirely separate version of herself (Margaret Qualley) to splurt out of her back and assume her consciousness. They must switch back and forth or very bad bloody things will happen.

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Transformers One And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Transformers franchise has been around for decades, and it's brought us many toys, TV shows and movies. Now, in the new animated film Transformers One, the origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron finally gets told. With a voice cast that includes Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry, the movie hopes to offer a fresh entry point for the long-running franchise.

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My Old Ass

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

My Old Ass, a teenager named Elliott (Maisy Stella) faces this very scenario. Her older self is played by Aubrey Plaza, and she's got some advice to impart. But her younger self may or may not take it.

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Fall Guide

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

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2024 Emmys Recap

Mon, 16 Sep 2024 09:51:41 +0000

Hacks, The Bear, Shōgun, and Baby Reindeer. And if you're nostalgic for shows like Schitt's Creek or Happy Days, the telecast had you covered.

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Speak No Evil And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

Speak No Evil starring James McAvoy. By the time they figure out they are in way over their heads, it's much much too late.

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Rebel Ridge

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Rebel Ridge, Aaron Pierre plays Terry, a young Black man who enters a small Southern town to post bail for his cousin. But when the local cops seize his money, he faces off against the corrupt chief of police (Don Johnson). Things escalate, and soon he uncovers a sinister conspiracy that threatens his life.

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The Front Room

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

The Front Room, a pregnant woman (Brandy Norwood) allows her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) to move in. In a film that's part creepy and part very darkly funny, the two women square off for control of the house and the child on the way.

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The Perfect Couple

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 07:00:59 +0000

The Perfect Couple. Based on the novel by Elin Hilderbrand, the series stars Nicole Kidman as the matriarch of a wealthy Nantucket family that suddenly finds itself in the middle of a whodunit. And in this family, it seems like almost anybody could be guilty.

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Beetlejuice was a hit back in 1988: it delivered both the spectacle and big stars of a major studio film, and the hilarious, weird vision of director Tim Burton. Now he returns with the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — which stars Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Michael Keaton, and Jenna Ortega. But does Beetlejuice Beetlejuice capture any of the original's silly, surreal, singular magic? Should it even try?

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Songs To Boost Your Confidence

Thu, 05 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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Kaos

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Kaos, the Greek Gods are a rich and powerful modern-day family. They're led by an impulsive and deeply insecure Zeus (Jeff Goldblum), who lives on Mount Olympus with his wife Hera (Janet McTeer). But there is a plan to overthrow Zeus that depends on a slew of gods, demigods and mortals working together, whether or not they are aware of the roles they each are playing.

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Reality TV, Romance, And Race

Mon, 02 Sep 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Code Switch that zeroes in on the The Bachelor and Love Island.

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Afraid And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 20:29:02 +0000

Afraid is latest in the well-established genre of "the computer is alive" stories. John Cho plays a dad who has a chance to try out a very advanced AI system at his home — and it does a lot more than talk back.

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The Crow

Thu, 29 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

The Crow, Bill Skarsgård plays a man who gets brutally murdered alongside his soulmate (FKA twigs). He returns to life as an unstoppable figure of vengeance, hunting down their killers. It's not a remake of the 1994 cult classic; the filmmakers are pitching it as a brand new reimagining of the comic book series that inspired the original film. But how does this new movie stack up?

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Sabrina Carpenter's Album Short N' Sweet

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Short n' Sweet, which serves up more catchy silliness and high drama. But does the album keep that "Espresso" magic alive?

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When Celebrities Portray Themselves

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Only Murders in the Building features Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, and Eva Longoria all playing fictional versions of themselves. So we thought it would be the perfect time to talk about about the many ways actors portray themselves on screen, and why it does and doesn't work.

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Blink Twice And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Blink Twice, Naomi Ackie plays a woman who is invited to the private island of a tech billionaire, played by Channing Tatum. He's recently re-entered public life after a scandal and has gathered his friends for a long party. But as the party stretches on, it's clear that something is seriously amiss. Blink Twice is the directorial debut of Zoë Kravitz, and the vibes are definitely pretty weird.

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The Reality TV Shows We'd Actually Win

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Real Housewife. Maybe you could win The Amazing Race. Maybe you could even win the fickle hand of The Bachelor. We're not here to make friends, but we are here to pick the reality shows that we think could thrive on.

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Bad Monkey

Tue, 20 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Bad Monkey, a fishing boat in the Florida Keys pulls in a human arm, and a suspended detective is the only one who can crack the case. Created by Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso) and starring Vince Vaughn, the series is a beachy, sun-drenched comedy-mystery with plenty of twists and turns as well as, yes, a monkey. But does it successfully capture the vibe of Carl Hiaasen's book that it's based on?

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Physical Media We Still Treasure

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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Alien: Romulus And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Alien: Romulus is the latest entry in the venerable Alien sci-fi/horror film franchise, and it leans hard into the horror. The new movie stars Cailee Spaeney as one of a young crew of space miners, along with David Jonsson as her android brother. You'll never guess what species of slimy extraterrestrial evil they encounter. Faces get hugged, chests get burst, and acid blood eats through everything.

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Didi

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Didi is a vibrant coming-of-age dramedy and was a Sundance film festival favorite. It stars Izaac Wang as a 13-year-old just trying to survive the awkwardness of puberty as a Taiwanese-American kid living in the Bay Area. He's got a crush to impress, complicated friendships to navigate, and family members who are sooooo embarrassing. Didi was directed by Sean Wang, who earned an Oscar nomination earlier this year for his documentary short Nai Nai & Wai Po.

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$#@*! Profanity In Pop Culture

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Anchorman to South Park to Shakespeare.

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Hunter Schafer's Movie Cuckoo

Mon, 12 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Cuckoo, Hunter Schafer plays an American teenager who reluctantly moves with her family to a mysterious resort in the German Alps. Her rebellious spirit clashes with the resort's creepy proprietor, played by Dan Stevens. When weird stuff starts happening, long-buried family secrets come to light and the resort's true nature stands revealed.

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It Ends With Us and what's making us happy

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

It Ends With Us was a massive bestseller. And now that book is a movie. Blake Lively stars as Lily Bloom, a woman who falls for a hot neurosurgeon played by Justin Baldoni — who also directs the film. But their relationship is complicated by the return of her old flame (Brandon Sklenar). She also has to reckon with her feelings about her abusive father and the mother who stayed with him.

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Three great fiction audiobooks

Thu, 08 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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Here's why we love the Olympics

Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:36:45 +0000

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Colman Domingo's Sing Sing is a rare empathetic prison drama

Mon, 05 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Sing Sing stars Colman Domingo as the leader of a tight-knit theatre ensemble within one of the most notorious maximum-security prisons in the United States. Most of the cast are alumni of the actual program who had input on the filmmaking process. The movie showcases the ups and downs of putting on a show without being overly sentimental or cliché.

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Trap and what's making us happy

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 20:48:26 +0000

Trap stars Josh Hartnett as a father attending a pop concert with his teenage daughter. But all is not as it appears. It quickly turns out that the entire concert is surrounded by police who are trying to catch a dangerous serial killer in the most difficult way possible. There is a lot going on in this bonkers movie: lots of pop songs, and lots of strange decision-making.

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House Of The Dragon season 2 makes it Rhaen(yra)

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 07:00:00 +0000

House of the Dragon is almost over. The war between two rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty is fully underway, complete with stealth missions, palace intrigue, battle scenes and hot dragon-on-dragon action. But now that the Dance of the Dragons is in full swing, has the Game of Thrones prequel finally hit its stride?

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Time Bandits maps contemporary vibes over a cult classic

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Time Bandits reimagines the 1981 Terry Gilliam film of the same name. A squad of inept thieves — including their sort-of leader, played by Lisa Kudrow — have stolen a map of the universe. They use it to jump through portals to various time periods to steal stuff. One jump takes them into the bedroom of a British kid (Kal-El Tuck), who tags along as they're chased by Taika Waititi's Supreme Being and Jemaine Clement's Pure Evil.

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We're talking songs of the (Brat) summer

Tue, 30 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

everywhere this summer, and why they are so catchy and inescapable.

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Deadpool & Wolverine and what's making us happy

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman finally meet up for their own big movie. Deadpool is still smarmy, Wolverine is still tragic, and they have to get together to save the world. Along the way, Deadpool continues his usual routine of endless wisecracking. The movie is jam-packed with fan service and Easter eggs. But how will casual Marvel fans like the movie?

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In The Decameron, the Black Death makes for black comedy

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

The Decameron, the bubonic plague is ravaging Florence in 1348. A group of rich nobles and their servants decide to retreat to a picturesque villa in the country to wait it all out. The large ensemble includes Tony Hale and Zosia Mamet. Every character is hiding something, and those secrets get revealed — and more than a few uglies get bumped.

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Three great karaoke songs

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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Sunny is a robot buddy comedy about loss

Mon, 22 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Sunny, Rashida Jones stars as a woman living in Kyoto, whose husband and young son go missing in a plane crash. To help console her, her husband's electronics company gives her a robot companion. The show is an interesting mix of styles and genres – it's a buddy comedy, a crime thriller and a drama about loss. But at the center of it all is the mystery of what happened to her husband and son – and why.

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Twisters and what's making us happy

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Twister was one of the biggest disaster movies of the '90s. Now, it's finally got a sequel — one with an all-new cast, state-of-the-art effects, and a whole lot of tornadoes. The new film stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as rival storm-chasers who have a habit of running into tornadoes while everyone else is fleeing. Twisters was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who also directed the Oscar-nominated Minari.

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We unpack the 2024 Emmy nominations

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 23:43:21 +0000

The Bear, which set a new record in the comedy category. And plenty of our favorites also got Emmy nods, including Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Shōgun, Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows. We'll help you unpack this year's the notable nominees and snubs.

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Exploding Kittens is a simple card game turned wild cartoon

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Exploding Kittens has been adapted into a new Netflix animated series. It does plenty of its own world-building: God (Tom Ellis) and the devil (Sasheer Zamata) are sent to earth, where they take the form of talking cats — and meddle in the lives of a struggling family.

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Longlegs is a (satanic) panic

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Longlegs follows FBI special agent Lee Harker (Mika Monroe) tracking a serial killer in the 1990s. If that sounds like familiar ground, consider this – the clues she follows hint at the involvement of the occult in general and Satanism in particular. And the killer in question: Nicolas Cage, uncaged.

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Fly Me to the Moon and what's making us happy

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Fly Me to the Moon stars Scarlett Johansson as a NASA publicist at the height of the space race. She must stage a top-secret fake version of the moon landing as backup, just in case the real attempt fails. No one else at NASA can know about it — especially the upstanding launch director, played by Channing Tatum. The pair clash (and flirt) as they prepare for Apollo 11 to launch.

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Three great sports documentaries

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, The Armstrong Lie, and Athlete A.

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Despicable Me 4 serves up 90 minutes of bankable mayhem

Wed, 10 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Despicable Me 4 is the latest film in an animation franchise that made household names of reformed supervillain Gru (Steve Carrell) and his army of nattering Minions. The franchise has grossed billions of dollars, and the latest movie topped the weekend box office. But are these films growing up with their audience, or continuing to cater to young kids? And does that matter?

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How we entertain and amuse ourselves on a road trip

Mon, 08 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Pop Culture Happy Hour talked all about how to entertain and amuse ourselves in the car way back in 2012. Today, in this encore episode, we're revisiting that conversation.

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MaXXXine and what's making us happy

Fri, 05 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

MaXXXine stars Mia Goth as an adult-film actress who gets her big break in Hollywood, only to be revisited by horrors from her past. Set in 1985 Los Angeles, it's the final film in director Ti West's beloved horror trilogy that began with the movie X. MaXXXine also features performances from Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Debicki, and Giancarlo Esposito.

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Bowen Yang thinks being present is overrated

Thu, 04 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Pop Culture Happy Hour team is off today, so we're bringing you an episode of the NPR podcast Wild Card with Rachel Martin. This episode is an interview with Bowen Yang. He is the first Chinese American cast member on SNL, the co-host the podcast Las Culturistas, and he starred in the rom-com Fire Island. He talks to Rachel about living too much in the present, hard truths from Tina Fey, and why the afterlife should have a rollercoaster.

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Megan Thee Stallion sheds her skin on Megan

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Megan. But she also has fun on playful tracks like 'Down Stairs DJ' and 'Otaku Hot Girl' that are odes to self-pleasure and her anime nerddom.

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Yes, chef: The Bear has a lot going on in its third season

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

The Bear just returned for its third season and it's still one of the most stressful and most interesting shows on TV. Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) are launching their new fine dining restaurant, but he's estranged from some of the people who are closest to him just as he sneaks up on a new level of success. The series is streaming now on Hulu.

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In A Quiet Place: Day One, Lupita Nyong'o makes silence golden

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 07:00:00 +0000

A Quiet Place, aliens kill anyone who makes a sound, forcing humans into a near-silent existence. The new movie A Quiet Place: Day One takes us back to the beginning, but this time through the eyes of a terminally ill cancer patient played by the excellent Lupita Nyong'o.

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Kinds of Kindness and what's making us happy

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Kinds of Kindness is a weird, dark, and bleak film. It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and it re-teams him with Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, along with Jesse Plemons. Each actor plays different characters in three different stories — which all involve someone going to extreme measures to regain something they've lost.

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Lily Gladstone's Fancy Dance is a road trip worth taking

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Fancy Dance offers something all-too-rare on screen: contemporary Indigenous perspectives, front and center. Lily Gladstone plays a woman trying to keep it together under stressful circumstances. Her sister's gone missing, and she steps in to look after her young niece (Isabel Deroy-Olson). The pair take what turns out to be a rocky road trip and a unique bonding experience.

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Will they or won't they? Unpacking TV's eternal question

Tue, 25 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Abbott Elementary, The Bear, Cheers, Grey's Anatomy, Dawson's Creek, and more.

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Is Star Wars' The Acolyte a force to be reckoned with?

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Star Wars series The Acolyte is a murder mystery. Someone is killing great Jedi masters, and while we learn the killer's identity early on, the real mystery driving the series is why they're doing it. It stars Amandla Stenberg as Force-sensitive twins Osha and Mae, and Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae as Osha's former Jedi master. By the time it's finished its eight-episode run, The Acolyte may shed new light on the nature of the Force, and the hidden history of the Jedi.

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Thelma And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Thelma imagines exactly this scenario. The movie stars June Squibb as a woman scammed by someone pretending to be her grandson. She then enlists her old friend (the late Richard Roundtree) to help get her money back.

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HBO's Fantasmas is new and different and uniquely itself

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Fantasmas has a simple plot. Creator and star Julio Torres searches New York City for an earring he lost at a club. In the execution, that quest gets transformed into something epic and surreal and queer in every sense of the word. He keeps bumping into random New Yorkers whose stories play out in a series of sketch-like vignettes. They are played by actors including Emma Stone, Bowen Yang, and Tilda Swinton.

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Bridgerton closes out a crowded third season

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Bridgerton's latest season just dropped on Netflix, and naturally the course of true love continues to not run smoothly. Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) may have finally declared their feelings for each other, but there's still a lot left to figure out. We previously talked about the first part of the third season in May, so today, we're diving in everything that happens in the conclusion.

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It's getting hot. So what's sweatiest movie ever made?

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Do the Right Thing, Dog Day Afternoon, Y tu mamá también, and Body Heat.

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Inside Out 2 And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Inside Out introduced us to the core emotions inside an 11-year-old girl named Riley. We met Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and Anger (Lewis Black). In Inside Out 2, Riley is experiencing puberty and a whole new crop of emotions have popped up. Most notably Anxiety (Maya Hawke) who has literally bottled up Riley's original core emotions and sent them hurtling into the back of her mind, where they plot to get back and set things right.

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Jake Gyllenhaal's Presumed Innocent updates a legal thriller

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Presumed Innocent was a blockbuster legal thriller as a novel, and then a hit movie starring Harrison Ford. Now, Apple TV+ brings back the story of the accuser turned defendant as a limited series. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the lead this time, as a prosecutor who is accused of the murder of the colleague he'd had an affair with. David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies, The Practice, Ally McBeal) created the show.

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Our favorite graduation moments in pop culture

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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Am I OK? is a coming-out movie for adults

Mon, 10 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Am I OK? is a about what happens when you finally come to accept your sexuality much later in life than many do. It stars Dakota Johnson and Sonoya Mizuno as two women in their 30s who have been best friends a long time. But Johnson's character is grappling with the possibility that she's queer – and with the fact that her most treasured friendship is in trouble. Directed by Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne, it's streaming on Max.

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Hit Man And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Hit Man is not about a hired killer. It's about a guy who pretends to be a hired killer. Director Richard Linklater co-wrote this film with movie star of the moment, Glen Powell. Based very loosely on a real guy, Powell plays a mild-mannered professor who also works undercover for the police as a fake hitman.

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Doctor Who is enlivened by its new Black, openly queer star

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Doctor Who is back with a new season. Ncuti Gatwa — who is Black and openly queer — brings a vibrant energy to the story of an alien who travels through space and time in a blue box. The series, now streaming on Disney+, also features the return of showrunner Russell T. Davies, who birthed the modern era of Doctor Who. But what does this mix of new and old mean for the sci-fi institution?

We want to hear your opinions about summer snacks. Are you Team Hot Dog or Team Hamburger? What's better: churro or a funnel cake? Click here to cast your votes. The results will be revealed at a virtual live event for Pop Culture Happy Hour+ supporters on Thursday, June 27th at 6 p.m. ET.

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Clipped recreates an embarrassing NBA scandal

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Clipped tells the story of Donald Sterling, the then-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, who was outed as a racist. Sterling's girlfriend – who was Black and Mexican – secretly recorded their conversations. When those tapes leaked, he was embroiled in a scandal that upended the NBA – an industry that profits off the star power of its majority Black players. The series stars Ed O'Neill and Laurence Fishburne as the owner and the head coach who clashed as it all went down.

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Looking back at The Sopranos, the godfather of prestige TV

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 07:00:00 +0000

The Sopranos changed television. The HBO series was centered on mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a deeply flawed male antihero. That then- innovative approach cast a long shadow on television, but what really set The Sopranos apart was the fact that Tony was in therapy — a genius touch that granted viewers special access to his inner conflicts. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the show's premiere, so we're revisiting our conversation about the series.

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Welcome to Pop Culture Happy Hour

Fri, 31 May 2024 07:00:24 +0000

Pop Culture Happy Hour serves you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, books, videogames and more. Join arts journalists Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, and Aisha Harris — plus a rotating cast of guest pop culture aficionados. The Happy Hour team leaves room at the table for exploring a range of reactions and opinions on every bit of the pop universe. From lowbrow to highbrow to the stuff in between, they take it all with a shot of cheer. Pop Culture Happy Hour+ supporters hear every episode sponsor-free and unlock monthly bonus episodes. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

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Best Fictional Bands And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 31 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Mamma Mia!, Josie and the Pussycats, It's Your Move, and Miami Connection.

We want to hear your opinions about summer snacks. Are you Team Hot Dog or Team Hamburger? What's better: churro or a funnel cake? Click here to cast your votes. The results will be revealed at a virtual live event for Pop Culture Happy Hour+ supporters on Thursday, June 27th at 6 p.m. ET.

Sign up for PCHH+ at plus.npr.org/happyhour to get access to the event.

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We Are Lady Parts rocks with bracing honesty and nuance

Wed, 29 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

We Are Lady Parts is a bold and very funny comedy about an up-and-coming London punk band called Lady Parts. The members of Lady Parts, and its manager, are all young Muslim women, from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Over the course of its first season, each member experiences triumphs and setbacks – including its lead guitarist, who strives to overcome stage fright. The show is about to return for a new season, so today, we are revisiting our conversation about it.

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Terrible but bingeable TV shows

Tue, 28 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

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Why Chris Pine gave up on being perfect

Mon, 27 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Wild Card, and it's a new interview show where the game controls the conversation. Each week, the guest chooses questions at random — about the memories, insights, and beliefs that have shaped their lives. This episode is an interview with the actor Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners voted as their favorite Chris — Chris Pine.

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga And What's Making Us Happy

Fri, 24 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is packed with bone-crunching practical stunts and lots of gnarly, diesel-powered chase scenes. It also shows a commitment to worldbuilding that grapples with themes of feminism, environmentalism, and humanity. Directed by George Miller, the prequel film tells the story of a Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), who was taken from her home as a girl, raised to be a warrior in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and now seeks revenge on an evil warlord (Chris Hemsworth).

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Does The Sympathizer worthily adapt its acclaimed book?

Thu, 23 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

The Sympathizer. It's based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, co-created by auteur director Park Chan-wook, and features Robert Downey, Jr. in four supporting roles. Set during and after the Vietnam war, the series follows a man (Hoa Xuande) juggling a position with the South Vietnamese military and one as a spy for the North Vietnamese. But is it a worthy adaptation?

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Does IF capture the magic of its Pixar inspiration?

Wed, 22 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000

IF, a 12-year-old girl (Cailey Fleming) discovers she can see other people's imaginary friends. It stars Ryan Reynolds, and directed by John Krasinski. It mixes the real world and animation, but does it capture the heart of the Pixar movies that inspired it?

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