Pop Culture Happy Hour
Get obsessed with us. Five 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 with a shot of cheer. Make your happy hour even happier with Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus! Your subscription supports the podcast and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/happyhour
Episodes
December 6, 2023 • 23 mins
Beyoncé's album Renaissance drew on generations' worth of Black and queer dance music — and the subsequent tour packed stadiums with an epic, lavish spectacle. Now, with the new concert film and documentary Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, she's shows the work that went into putting on the tour while also providing a sense of her journey as a highly driven artist.
Mark as Played
December 5, 2023 • 21 mins
What's the best Christmas gift you ever received? You probably didn't have to think about it; you knew it in your bones. Today, we're talking about the actual, tangible gift you found waiting for you under the tree and still think about it from time to time.
Mark as Played
December 4, 2023 • 16 mins
The fun new Australian series 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.
Mark as Played
December 1, 2023 • 21 mins
In the campy film May December Julianne Moore stars as a tabloid fixture who was at the center of a scandal after she sexually abused a minor she later married. Charles Melton (Riverdale) plays her husband and Natalie Portman plays the famous actress who's preparing to play her in a movie decades later. It's directed by Todd Haynes (Carol) and is streaming on Netflix.
Mark as Played
November 30, 2023 • 10 mins
If you travel by plane with any regularity, you've been there: stuck in an airport because your flight is delayed. So we thought it best to give your most stressful travel moments a soundtrack. Today, we're recommending three songs for when your flight is delayed.
Mark as Played
November 29, 2023 • 13 mins
NPR's Books We Love is a roundup of favorite books of the year, sorted and tagged to help you find exactly what you're looking for. Recommendations come in from critics and contributors and today, we're highlighting picks from NPR staff.
Mark as Played
November 28, 2023 • 21 mins
Since the holiday season is upon us, it's time to talk about an action classic that many consider to be a Christmas classic: Die Hard. The Bruce Willis movie turned 35 this year, so today we're bringing you this encore episode about the film that was recorded back in 2018.
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour, or donate to your local NPR station at donate.npr.org/happy
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour, or donate to your local NPR station at donate.npr.org/happy
Mark as Played
November 27, 2023 • 15 mins
It's been said that a dream is a wish your heart makes. But what happens when you entrust your dream to a charismatic but shady leader? That's the premise of Disney's latest animated movie Wish. It's a musical fantasy that stars Ariana DeBose as an idealist who goes head-to-head with Chris Pine's selfish King. There are catchy songs, cute talking animals, and a few heartfelt moments — in other words, the Disney blueprint.
Mark as Played
November 24, 2023 • 33 mins
Regional Mexican music has taken the music industry by storm. Earlier this year, Mexican artist Peso Pluma and band Eslabon Armado made history when their song "Ella Baila Sola" topped the Billboard Global 200 chart. But this musical trend didn't come out of nowhere. In this episode of NPR's Alt. Latino, hosts Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras head to Peso Pluma's performance in Nashville and try to understand the root of the phen...
Mark as Played
November 23, 2023 • 20 mins
Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon is everything an Oscar contender might be: long, epic, morally complicated and expensive. While many movie-goers left theaters moved, others called the film a problematic disaster. Today, we're bringing you an episode of NPR's It's Been A Minute, where host Brittany Luse and guests talk about what Killers of the Flower Moon got wrong and how it fits into a broader history of Native Ameri...
Mark as Played
November 22, 2023 • 14 mins
The delightful Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off starts off in the same way as the 2010 movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World and comic. Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a dim-bulb young Torontonian who falls in love and must fight to win the hand of Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). But in the animated series, the show's focus shifts to Ramona. The show reunites the entire cast of the film including Chris Evans, J...
Mark as Played
November 21, 2023 • 21 mins
In the new film Napoleon, director Ridley Scott tells the story of French leader Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix). It's a lavish war epic that tracks Bonaparte's rise to power through epic military battles, and explores his tumultuous marriage to the love of his life Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby).
Mark as Played
November 20, 2023 • 26 mins
Saltburn is a provocative and fun thriller. Barry Keoghan plays Oliver, an outcast at Oxford University who befriends one of his popular and posh classmates, Felix (Jacob Elordi). When Felix invites Oliver to spend the summer at his family's lush estate, a twisty game of obsession and manipulation ensues. The film is written and directed by Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), and it seems safe to say it will leave audiences in...
Mark as Played
November 17, 2023 • 24 mins
The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes is the latest adaptation in the beloved blockbuster franchise. The new prequel film follows the early life of Coriolanus (Tom Blyth), the man who would one day become the evil President Snow, and Lucy Gray Baird, (Rachel Zegler), the singer who becomes his mentee.
Mark as Played
November 16, 2023 • 17 mins
The underdog sports comedy Next Goal Wins is based on the true story of American Samoa's soccer team and its attempts to improve its status as a worldwide laughingstock. Directed by Taika Waititi, the film stars Michael Fassbender as the real-life coach tasked with helping the team compete in a World Cup qualifying match.
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
Mark as Played
November 15, 2023 • 13 mins
The new Netflix movie The Killer is a stylish new thriller starring Michael Fassbender as a stoic and ruthlessly efficient international hitman. When a hit goes wrong, his very detached and methodical life begins to fall apart. The film from director David Fincher and also features Tilda Swinton.
Mark as Played
November 13, 2023 • 14 mins
The sweeping new Showtime series Fellow Travelers chronicles a relationship between two gay men played by Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey. It spans the McCarthy Era of the 1950s through the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. One is perfectly content to stay in the closet and live a lie, and the other wants more out of their relationship. As the years pass the two men keep coming back together only to find the power dynamic between them shift...
Mark as Played
November 10, 2023 • 24 mins
The new movie The Marvels is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's breezier outings, full of energy and jokes and zappy light powers. Brie Larson returns as Captain Marvel, and sees her teaming up with newer characters, Monica Rambeau (played by Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani). They must team up when their powers become entangled and cause them to switch places whenever they try to use them.
Mark as Played
November 9, 2023 • 15 mins
In the trippy new A24 absurdist comedy Dream Scenario, Nicolas Cage plays a schlubby, unremarkable biology professor. Suddenly and inexplicably, he starts appearing in the dreams of people around the world. This phenomenon brings him a weird and difficult-to-manage kind of fame for a while–until the dreams turn into nightmares.
Mark as Played
November 8, 2023 • 22 mins
The movie Quiz Lady is a fun new take on the classic comedic trope of polar opposites: Awkwafina plays Anne, an uptight, lonely trivia nerd. Her sister Jenny, played by Sandra Oh, is the outgoing, perpetual screw up. Together, they must set aside their differences to try and win a TV game show and save Anne's kidnapped dog.
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
He’s a former Secret Service Agent, former NYPD officer, and New York Times best-selling author. Join Dan Bongino each weekday as he tackles the hottest political issues, debunking both liberal and Republican establishment rhetoric.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.