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Pop culture in high spirits
'May December' shines a glaring light on a dark tabloid story

Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in a scene from May December. Francois Duhamel/Netflix hide caption

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Francois Duhamel/Netflix

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'May December' shines a glaring light on a dark tabloid story

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.

'May December' shines a glaring light on a dark tabloid story

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Three songs for when your flight is delayed

When you're stuck at the airport, you need the right soundtrack. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption

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Alex Wong/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Three songs for when your flight is delayed

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.

Three songs for when your flight is delayed

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2023 Books We Love: Staff Picks

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2023 Books We Love: Staff Picks

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.

2023 Books We Love: Staff Picks

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Yippy-ki-yay, it's 'Die Hard' season again

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Yippy-ki-yay, it's 'Die Hard' season again

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.

Yippy-ki-yay, it's 'Die Hard' season again

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Disney's 'Wish' conjures up familiar dreams

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Disney's 'Wish' conjures up familiar dreams

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.

Disney's 'Wish' conjures up familiar dreams

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Alt.Latino: Peso Pluma and the rise of regional Mexican music

Alt.Latino has a special three-episode series exploring the rise of regional Mexican music. Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption

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Alt.Latino: Peso Pluma and the rise of regional Mexican music

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 phenomenon.

Alt.Latino: Peso Pluma and the rise of regional Mexican music

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It's Been a Minute: Pressing pause on 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

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It's Been a Minute: Pressing pause on 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

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 Americans on screen.

It's Been a Minute: Pressing pause on 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

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'Scott Pilgrim Takes Off'—and levels up

Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Michael Cera return as the voices of Ramona Flowers and Scott Pilgrim in Netflix's Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. COURTESY OF NETFLIX hide caption

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'Scott Pilgrim Takes Off'—and levels up

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, Jason Schwartzman, and Aubrey Plaza.

'Scott Pilgrim Takes Off'—and levels up

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'Napoleon' has big battles and a complicated marriage

Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon. Aidan Monaghan/Apple hide caption

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'Napoleon' has big battles and a complicated marriage

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).

'Napoleon' has big battles and a complicated marriage

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'Saltburn' basks in excess and bleak comedy

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MGM and Amazon Studios

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'Saltburn' basks in excess and bleak comedy

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 heated debate.

'Saltburn' basks in excess and bleak comedy

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What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening

Isa Briones, left, Will Price, Miles McKenna, Zack Morris and Ana Yi Puig in Goosebumps. David Astorga/Disney hide caption

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David Astorga/Disney

What's Making Us Happy: Recommendations From 'Pop Culture Happy Hour'

What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening

Each week, guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: the Goosebumps TV series, New Blue Sun from André 3000, and Matt Rogers' Christmas album.

'The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes' is two movies in one

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'The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes' is two movies in one

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.

'The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes' is two movies in one

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'Next Goal Wins' roots for the underdogs

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'Next Goal Wins' roots for the underdogs

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.

'Next Goal Wins' roots for the underdogs

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In 'The Killer,' there's a method to his badness

Michael Fassbender in The Killer. Netflix hide caption

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In 'The Killer,' there's a method to his badness

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.

In 'The Killer,' there's a method to his badness

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'Fellow Travelers' is a queer love story with highs, lows, tops, and bottoms

Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer in Fellow Travelers. Ben Mark Holzberg/Showtime hide caption

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'Fellow Travelers' is a queer love story with highs, lows, tops, and bottoms

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 shifting back and forth.

'Fellow Travelers' is a queer love story with highs, lows, tops, and bottoms

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'The Marvels' is a light comedy about light powers

Iman Vellani, Brie Larson, and Teyonah Parris in The Marvels. Laura Radford/Marvel Studios hide caption

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'The Marvels' is a light comedy about light powers

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.

'The Marvels' is a light comedy about light powers

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In 'Dream Scenario,' Nicolas Cage gets a dream role

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A24

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In 'Dream Scenario,' Nicolas Cage gets a dream role

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.

In 'Dream Scenario,' Nicolas Cage gets a dream role

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Sandra Oh and Awkwafina are perfect opposites in 'Quiz Lady'

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20th Century Studios

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Sandra Oh and Awkwafina are perfect opposites in 'Quiz Lady'

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.

Sandra Oh and Awkwafina are perfect opposites in 'Quiz Lady'

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'Rap Sh!t' is still musing on music and art of making it

Aida Osman and KaMillion star in the Max series Rap Sh!t. Erin Simkin/Max hide caption

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'Rap Sh!t' is still musing on music and art of making it

The Max series Rap Sh!t feels like a comedy for The Moment. Created by Issa Rae, the show focuses on Shawna and Mia (played by Aida Osman and KaMillion), two aspiring rappers from Miami, and documents the challenges they face as young women trying to break into the music industry. The show is about to return for a second season, so today we're revisiting our conversation about the series.

'Rap Sh!t' is still musing on music and art of making it

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