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PODCAST

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Get obsessed with us. Four days a week, 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

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

40:01

2024 Pop Culture Favorites

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/12/11

We check out a lot of things in a given year: Lots of movies, TV shows, and music. Today, we are highlighting some of the best pop culture moments we enjoyed the most in 2024.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.Subscribe to NPR Plus at plus.npr.org or make a gift at donate.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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16:48

Black Doves

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/12/09

The new Netflix series 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

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25:47

Nightbitch And What's Making Us Happy

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/12/06

The new movie 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. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.Subscribe to NPR

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21:00

Interior Chinatown

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/11/29

The super-meta Hulu series 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

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23:18

Emilia Pérez

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/11/13

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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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9:27

Can't Sleep? Catch Some ZZZs With These Songs

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/11/11

There are songs you want to groove to, and songs you want to pump up to. But sometimes, you just want something for the come down at the end of a long day. If you're having trouble sleeping in silence, or are just looking for some new songs to throw into your bedtime rotation, we've got you covered. In this encore episode, we are recommending three great songs that will help you fall asleep.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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22:07

Tom Hanks Explains How To Deal With Attention

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/11/06

Today, we're bringing you an episode of 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

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24:10

YouTube Rabbit Holes That Are Great Distractions

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/11/05

Elections can be pretty stressful. And it never hurts to have some emergency distractions on hand if you just need to shut down for a while. One of our favorites is YouTube: a place for the good, the bad, the bizarrely detailed, and the wildly specialized. Today, we're talking about our favorite YouTube rabbit holes that are great distractions.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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25:36

The Penguin

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/11/04

In the HBO new series 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. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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22:13

Conclave

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/30

The new movie 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.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at

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19:40

Agatha All Along

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/29

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

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18:09

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

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/25

In 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.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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24:51

We Watch Classic Movies For The First Time

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/22

We've all been there. A major movie is mentioned, you shrug, sheepishly, and someone says, "I can't believe you've never seen that!" Today, we make a dent in our own lists of classic films we somehow had not yet gotten to, including Erin Brockovich, Flower Drum Song, Enter the Dragon and Raging Bull.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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19:33

Anora

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/21

The new movie 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

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22:53

Smile 2 And What's Making Us Happy

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/18

The horror movie 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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18:27

We Live In Time

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/17

Two people meet, they fall in love, and someone gets sick. The new film 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.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at

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21:08

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

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/04

The new film 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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19:23

The Wild Robot

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/02

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.Learn more about sponsor message choices:

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18:23

Nobody Wants This

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/10/01

In the new Netflix series 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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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24:47

Industry

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2024/09/30

The latest season of HBO's 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. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy

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