The Winter Olympics are well underway, and we’ve got thoughts from an avid Olympics watcher and a reporter who’s covering the games in Italy. Whether it’s butt on the couch or feet on the ground – we’ve got you covered. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
America’s Next Top Model has been rewatched in the years since its 2003 premiere, and its handling of race, body image, and other issues has been loudly and heavily criticized. A new Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model interviews the major players including Tyra Banks, J. Alexander, Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker. And it doesn’t let Tyra off easy. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection...
Netflix’s How To Get To Heaven From Belfast is the new series from the creator of the beloved show Derry Girls . It follows three very messy longtime friends working together to solve a mystery from their youth. Part mystery and part comedy, it’s a darkly funny adventure through Ireland and elsewhere, as they elude various pursuers, reopen old wounds, and try to find answers about what has happened to a friend they lost along the way. To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop C...
In Pillion, a.k.a. the “gay BDSM biker movie,” a meek young man named Colin (Harry Melling) meets a handsome, broody biker played by Alexander Skarsgård who brings out his submissive side. They enter into a sub/dom relationship, but the biker remains so mysterious and withholding that Colin starts to want more – endangering the bond the two men share. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Ha...
In the new film “ Wuthering Heights ,” Margot Robbie stars as headstrong and horny Cathy, and Jacob Elordi as brooding and horny Heathcliff. Their love on the wild windswept moors is passionate, doomed and pretty bonkers. From writer and director Emerald Fennell, the film has love, lust, hatred, revenge, and lots of lusty looks in the soaking rain. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of perso...
What’s your favorite movie that started life as a book? And what makes for a great book to film adaptation, anyway? We’ve got some examples of beloved books that made the transition to the big screen, and we’re prepared to discuss and debate why each of them works – and why we believe they’re the best of all time. We talk about: Blade Runner , Little Women , Nickel Boys , and Starship Troopers . For even more of our favorite book to film adaptations, check out our list at Letterboxd — at letterb...
We've all got that one argument we're always making: that non-negotiable stance, that immutable truth we're sticking to no matter what. Today, we're revisiting our conversation about the pop culture hills we'll die on. We discuss: Jacob Elordi, Timothée Chalamet, boss battles in video games, Bryan Adams, and attending concerts. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
This episode recaps Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show, praising its technical brilliance and placing it among the all-time greats. The hosts discuss its profound cultural impact, examining the explicit political statements on unity, decolonization, and the symbolic act of joy as resistance. They also delve into the show's response to prevailing culture wars and the complex relationship between an artist's radical message and a mainstream platform.
Remember Brat Summer? Charli xcx has turned the aftermath of her mainstream success into a movie called The Moment . It’s a hyperpop faux documentary commenting upon the intense response to her album, Brat, and Charli’s fickle relationship with stardom. Can Charli keep the Brat momentum going? Does she even want to? The film also features Alexander Skarsgård, Hailey Benton Gates, and Kylie Jenner. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture Subscribe to Pop Cultur...
Marvel’s new Disney+ series Wonder Man is a sensible buddy comedy where Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays a down-on-his-luck actor (with incredible superpowers) trying to make it in Hollywood, and Ben Kingsley plays his new friend with a dark past. Safe to say it’s not what most Marvel fans are expecting – and that’s a good thing. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to m...
We watched a ton of movies and we’re recommending some of the best things we saw at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. This includes a thrilling adventure starring Ethan Hawke, a quiet romance with Chris Pine, and quite possibly the best documentary we’ll see all year. For a complete list of the movies we loved at Sundance, Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship...
This year’s Grammy Awards featured historic wins for Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar, performances from Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, and occasional chaos. And it was a night of speeches that reflected this moment in America. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
In the new comic horror film Send Help , Rachel McAdams finds out the answer to the age-old hypothetical, “what if you were stranded on a desert island?” — except she’s stuck there with her terrible boss (Dylan O’Brien). The dynamic between them shifts and shifts again as they try to survive long enough to be rescued. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour See pcm.adswizz.com for information a...
Star Trek fans are finally getting something they’ve wanted for a long time, and it doesn’t disappoint. The new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy takes place at the college attended by kids who want to become officers in Starfleet. It stars Holly Hunter as the school’s chancellor, Paul Giamatti as a recurring bad guy, and a roster of hot young cadets who have classes to attend and lessons to learn. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour See pcm.adswizz.com for infor...
The Beauty stars familiar faces from the Ryan Murphy universe, including Evan Peters, as well as new collaborators like Ashton Kutcher. In the show, a genetic biotech serum has been engineered to transform people into ridiculously good-looking supermodels. But there’s at least one problem: Eventually, those supermodels are dying suddenly, horrifically and spectacularly. Is it astute commentary, crass exploitation, or maybe a bit of both? Well, it’s definitely a Ryan Murphy production, through an...
This episode reviews HBO's "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," a medieval buddy comedy set in the Game of Thrones universe but offering a more grounded, character-focused narrative. The hosts praise its stripped-down approach, focus on commoners, and the compelling dynamic between the naive knight Dunk and his precocious squire Egg, discussing how it refreshingly deviates from the epic scale and lore-heavy burden of its predecessors while remaining faithful to the source material.
One Battle After Another earned 13 Oscar nominations - including best picture, best director and a lead actor nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio. In the action-thriller, 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 Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor and Benicio del Toro. Today, we’re revisiting our episode a...
This year’s Oscars nominations are here, and we’re unpacking record-breaking nominations for Sinners , plus nominations for One Battle After Another and Hamnet . And 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. By the way, you can check out our episodes on the nominees here: Bugonia F1 Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle Af...
The Iranian film It Was Just an Accident enters Oscars season with the wind at its back. It won the top prize at Cannes, a raft of other awards and has landed on a lot of top ten lists. The movie bears out those accolades. Directed by Jafar Panahi, it’s a tense, volatile, often darkly funny movie about what happens when a former political prisoner runs into a man he’s almost convinced is the one who tortured him and other prisoners. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/n...
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck share the screen again in new Netflix film, The Rip . Similar to the pulpy, mid-budget cop movies we used to get, The Rip is about a team of cops who are trying to take a huge stash of money from a drug cartel. But that work is not only dangerous, but also complicated as they encounter more money than they expected. The cast also includes Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, and Kyle Chandler. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.a...
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple picks up where 28 Years Later left off – in a world of zombie-like infecteds and vigilantes that turn out to be a murderous cult. Ralph Fiennes returns as Dr. Kelson, who makes an unlikely friend in his medical refuge slash memorial site slash bone temple. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
The panel delves into "Agatha Christie's Seven Dials," a new Netflix series starring Mia McKenna-Bruce as Lady Eileen Brent. While some praise its thoughtful adaptation and charming elements, others critique its genre pivots, pacing, and the original novel's thin mystery. The discussion weighs the show's potential to launch an Agatha Christie universe against its execution, highlighting its strong cast and production value but questioning its overall narrative coherence.
The panel delves into the Apple TV+ series Hijack, starring Idris Elba as a corporate negotiator on a hijacked flight. They discuss the show's ability to maintain tension with constant plot twists, its subversive approach to character motivations, and Elba's compelling, controlled performance. While critiquing some of the less engaging ground-based subplots and the show's sillier elements, the hosts ultimately find it a highly enjoyable and smartly constructed summer thriller.
There have been many TV crossovers over the years, but it’s a tricky balance to get right — for every mashup that feels organic, there are plenty more that amount to little other than weird stunts. So we decided to dream up the ultimate TV crossovers: Gilmore Girls and Nashville , Abbott Elementary and The Leftovers , Only Murders in the Building and Brooklyn Nine-Nine , and The Bear and Happy Endings . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsor...
The new Netflix rom-com People We Meet On Vacation is about best friends Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) who have gone on annual trips together since meeting in college. But there's always been something between them that's not quite platonic, and reconnecting at a wedding just might bring it to the surface. Based on the beloved Emily Henry novel, the movie’s got travel, banter, and even kissing in the rain. But does it capture the charm of the book? Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Let...
What's it like to date a man? Ask Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Dean, or your friends, and you might hear it's a struggle. Today we’re bringing you an episode of NPR’s It’s Been a Minute . Host Brittany Luse and NPR Music Editor Hazel Cills break down a phenomenon called “heteropessimism.” See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
No Other Choice is a new bleak comedy about a man (Lee Byung-hun) at a crossroads. After losing his job at a paper company, he resorts to desperate, unhinged measures to get a new job. He tracks down the other candidates and eliminates the competition, one by one. Directed by Park Chan-wook ( Oldboy , The Handmaiden ), it’s filled with great performances and truly masterful action set pieces. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.adswizz.com for info...
NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour panel dissects the ending of Netflix's Stranger Things after five seasons. Critics praise the ensemble cast and visual spectacle but express disappointment over the repetitive and increasingly outlandish storyline, particularly highlighting plot holes, wasted characters like Linda Hamilton, and the convoluted lore involving the Abyss. They scrutinize the ambiguous ending for Eleven and the excessively long, fan-service-driven epilogue, suggesting the show struggled to provide a satisfying conclusion while managing its expansive narrative.
Hope springs eternal, and that is nowhere more true than in the realm of New Year’s Resolutions. Today, we give ourselves goals for 2026. And because we believe in accountability, we’ll tell you how well we stuck to our resolutions for 2025. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
What does 2026 have in store for pop culture? Today, we’re back for another year of pop culture predictions. We’ll touch on A.I., the future of RuPaul’s Drag Race , and what’s to come for the Law & Order Universe. Plus, we check in on our prognosticating for 2025 and see how things worked out. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
