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Pop culture in high spirits
Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein.
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Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein. Ken Woroner/Netflix hide caption

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Ken Woroner/Netflix

Review

Frankenstein is the monster (movie) Guillermo del Toro was born to bring to life

Guillermo del Toro has said it was his lifelong dream to make his own version of Frankenstein. That dream has now been realized — and then some.

Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in Black Phone 2.

Ethan Hawke as The Grabber in Black Phone 2. Sabrina Lantos/Universal Pictures and Blumhouse hide caption

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Sabrina Lantos/Universal Pictures and Blumhouse

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In ‘Black Phone 2,’ The Grabber is dialed in

Grabbers gonna grab, even from beyond the grave. In 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.

Black Phone 2 And What’s Making Us Happy

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Channing Tatum in Roofman.

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Paramount Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Channing Tatum charms his way into big trouble in ‘Roofman’

In the new movie 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!

Roofman

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Andrew Garfield as Hank and Julia Roberts as Alma in After the Hunt.

Andrew Garfield as Hank and Julia Roberts as Alma in After the Hunt. Amazon MGM Studios hide caption

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Amazon MGM Studios

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Julia Roberts shines in the muddled 'After the Hunt'

In the new movie 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?

After the Hunt

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Jennifer Lopez in Kiss of the Spider Woman.

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Roadside Attractions

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Kiss of the Spider Woman' features great drama and meh music

Jennifer Lopez stars in the new film adaptation of 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.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

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Greta Lee in TRON: Ares.

Greta Lee in TRON: Ares. Leah Gallo/Disney hide caption

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Leah Gallo/Disney

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Reality bytes in ‘TRON: Ares’

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?

TRON: Ares And What's Making Us Happy

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An unknown number of people sitting in a dark theater. There is a projector screen in front of them with a man and woman at a conference.

What songs do you dread hearing while sitting in a movie theater, because they've become cliches? MediaProduction/Getty Images hide caption

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MediaProduction/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Most overused songs in movies

Some great songs are so overused in movies, they’ve become cliches. Everyone’s mileage is bound to vary, but we’re rounding up a few songs we love that need to be retired and suggesting a few worthy replacements.

Most Overused Songs In Movies

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America Ferrera and Matthew McConaughey in The Lost Bus.

America Ferrera and Matthew McConaughey in The Lost Bus. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Matthew McConaughey drives ‘The Lost Bus’ through a raging fire

In the new movie 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+.

The Lost Bus

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Taylor Swift’s new album is The Life Of A Showgirl.

Taylor Swift's new album is The Life Of A Showgirl. Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott hide caption

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Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Taylor Swift re-enters her banger era in ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

Taylor Swift just dropped her new album 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.”

Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl

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Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine.

Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine. Eric Zachanowich/A24 hide caption

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Eric Zachanowich/A24

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

‘The Smashing Machine’ lets ‘The Rock’ cook, and it smells like awards season catnip

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt star in the new sports biopic 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?

The Smashing Machine And What's Making Us Happy

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Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain.

Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain. Focus Features hide caption

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Focus Features

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Looking back at ‘Brokeback Mountain’

This year marks 20 years since 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.

Brokeback Mountain 20th Anniversary

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Ethan Hawke in The Lowdown.

Ethan Hawke in The Lowdown. Shane Brown/FX hide caption

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Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

We're high up on 'The Lowdown'

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.

The Lowdown

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Toni Collette as Evelyn Wade in Wayward.

Toni Collette as Evelyn Wade in Wayward. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

A creepy reform school will get under your skin in ‘Wayward’

In the new Netflix series 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. 

Wayward

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Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another.

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

‘One Battle After Another’ is revolutionary — and revelatory

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.

One Battle After Another And What's Making Us Happy

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Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls.

Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls. Murray Close/United Artists/ Supplied by Online USA, INC./Getty Images / Handout hide caption

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Murray Close/United Artists/ Supplied by Online USA, INC./Getty Images / Handout

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Revisiting 'Showgirls', 30 Years Later

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.

Showgirls

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Mark Ruffalo in Task.

Mark Ruffalo in Task. Peter Kramer/HBO hide caption

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Peter Kramer/HBO

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In ‘Task’, Mark Ruffalo pursues his quarry

The new HBO series 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.

Task

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Will Forte voices Nathan in Haunted Hotel.

Will Forte voices Nathan in Haunted Hotel. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

‘Haunted Hotel’ is so funny it's spooky

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.

Haunted Hotel

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Marlon Wayans in Him.

Marlon Wayans in HIM. Universal Pictures hide caption

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Universal Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Body horror and elite athletes make a grisly pairing in ‘Him’

In the new horror film 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.

Him And What’s Making Us Happy

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Josh O'Connor and Daniel Craig in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.

Josh O'Connor and Daniel Craig in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

The movies and TV we’re excited about this fall

The fall of 2025 is shaping up to have something for everyone with a fresh 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.

Fall Guide

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