The Pop Culture Happy Hour team is off today. So we're bringing you a very special holiday extravaganza from NPR Music's All Songs Considered podcast. In this festive episode, All Songs' annual celebration of the season returns with a trip to a snowy cabin in the woods – as they attempt to throw a party for the ages. Eggnog will be had, plenty of delightful holiday music will be played – and some special guests might just drop by, including Carly Rae Jepsen, Robert Glasper, and Olivia Rodrigo.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Color Purple was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, then it was a movie, and then, a Broadway musical. Now it's a movie adaptation of the musical. In the new film, Fantasia Barrino plays Celie, who survives the abuse by the men in her life and longs to be reunited with the sister who was taken from her. The film also stars Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson. Directed by Blitz Bazawule, The Color Purple is in theaters on Christmas Day.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour, or donate to your local NPR station at donate.npr.org/happyLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In American Fiction, Jeffrey Wright stars as an author who finds that the books he loves to write aren't selling. What is selling is books by Black authors that he finds reductive and drowning in stereotypes. So, he sets out to write the ultimate Black novel under a pseudonym, with all the tropes and simplifications he thinks publishers expect. But his life gets very complicated when it turns out that he's right. The cast includes Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, and Tracee Ellis Ross. It's the directorial debut of Cord Jefferson, a writer whose credits for television include Watchmen, The Good Place and Station Eleven.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Netflix film Maestro is an Old-Hollywood style biopic about the composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Bradley Cooper directed, co-wrote, and stars in the film as Bernstein. It examines Bernstein's life through the lens of his complicated marriage to his wife played by Carey Mulligan. And of course, there are many scenes in which we watch Cooper passionately conducting orchestras of both the work of classical composers as well as Bernstein's own music.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour, or donate to your local NPR station at donate.npr.org/happyLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Maybe you're at school and need to concentrate while hitting the books. Maybe you're trying to get work done and need some sounds to drown out distractions. When silence isn't cutting it, sometimes you need music that'll fill your head without distracting you with words. Today, we're recommending three great songs to help you study.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple has been adapted a few times. Next week, a new version based on the Tony-winning musical hits theaters. The 1985 film is remembered as a fan-favorite centering Black women's lives, but this acclaimed adaptation was received quite differently among female viewers and male viewers. Today, we revisit our episode about the original film from our three-part documentary series Screening Ourselves, which explored films through the lens of representation – and misrepresentation – on screen.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The story of Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory has been told and retold, both in the classic Roald Dahl children's books and in two hit films. Now, in the new movie musical Wonka, Timothée Chalamet takes on the iconic role. In this prequel, Wonka arrives in the big city with dreams of opening a chocolate shop, but his plans are complicated by a host of corrupt villains. Wonka is directed by Paul King, who also directed the Paddington films.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The lovely new animated film The Boy and the Heron is the first film in 10 years from visionary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro). The heron in question is part-heron, part-man who serves as a guide for a boy as they navigate a realm somewhere between life and death. The English dubbed version features the voices of Robert Pattinson, Mark Hamill, and Florence Pugh.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Taylor Swift has had a very big year. Her career-spanning Eras Tour is on pace to become the biggest and most lucrative concert tour in history, and the subsequent concert film set box office records. She's been streamed on Spotify globally more than any other artist in 2023, and was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year. Today, in honor of her birthday, Taylor Swift is releasing The Eras Tour film digitally, so we thought it was the perfect time to revisit our conversation about what made the tour such a juggernaut.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhourLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As we come to the end of 2023 we find ourselves in the familiar position of wrapping up the year. From the sublime to the slightly ridiculous we're talking about our favorite TV, movies, memes, and music from this year. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour, or donate to your local NPR station at donate.npr.org/happy Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Last month, a civil lawsuit was filed against rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs by his ex-girlfriend and former protégé Cassie Ventura. She alleged to have suffered years of emotional and physical abuse during the course of their relationship. Diddy denied the allegations and settled the suit quickly, but other damning claims have resurfaced in its wake. His reputation seems to have been tarnished — at least for the moment. And it has us wondering: Is this a crucial turning point for a long-awaited reckoning within the music industry? Or merely a blip in the routine of business as usual?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the wild and wonderful new film Poor Things, Emma Stone plays a woman brought back to life from the brink of death. She's a clean slate, unconcerned with the bonds a repressive society tries to put on her. The film reunites Stone with director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favorite) and shares that film's darkly comedic sensibility, but it's even weirder.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour, or donate to your local NPR station at donate.npr.org/happyLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What would the end of the world actually look like? That's the creeping fear behind the new Netflix movie Leave The World Behind. The movie stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali, in a story about strangers who are alone together as things get eerie out in the world. The film was written and directed by Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot).Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The new film Priscilla tells the story of Elvis Presley's wife, but it's not a by-the-book biopic. Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, the movie shows how Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) and Elvis (Jacob Elordi) first meet, fall in love, get married, and eventually split in the early '70s. But it's also a moodier look at the way Priscilla is walled off, isolated from family, and kept at a distance from his life of superstardom.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Golden Bachelor is the latest show in ABC's long-running Bachelor franchise, in which the bachelor is a 72-year-old widower named Gerry Turner. Gerry's potential matches are also significantly older than the usual crop, so the priorities are a little different. But the weird dates, the awkward conversations, and the fixations on who has kissed remain.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the new movie Five Nights At Freddy's, Josh Hutcherson plays Mike, a down-on-his-luck security guard who winds up getting hired to keep an eye on a family-friendly theme restaurant that's gone out of business. It also happens to be haunted by murderous animatronic mascots. The film is based on the hugely successful video game series, and now it's a box-office sensation.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Britney Spears just released one of the most hotly anticipated celebrity memoirs of the year. The Woman In Me details her meteoric rise to fame, her family history, and her 13-year-long conservatorship. Today we're bringing you a special episode of It's Been a Minute, where host Brittany Luse and her guests discuss all the juicy, strange, and sad highlights from the new book.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the funny, melancholic and weirdly moving new film, The Holdovers, Paul Giamatti plays a widely disliked teacher at a prestigious New England boarding school in 1970. He's forced to look after the boys who can't go home for the Christmas break, including one kid (Dominic Sessa) who's a particular pain in the butt. The film is directed by Alexander Payne, and also stars Da'Vine Joy Randolph as the school cook, who's spending the first Christmas without her son.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's weird, it's funny, and it's very, very naked. The title of the dating show Naked Attraction tells you everything you need to know. A single person is presented with six entirely naked strangers and whittles them down to one person they want to go on a date with. The long-running U.K. dating show has recently found success in the U.S after streaming on Max. There's some controversy and consternation, but do a bunch of naked bodies really merit all this chatter?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

With HBO's The Gilded Age, creator Julian Fellowes basically airlifts Downton Abbey's soapy plots, ball gowns, sneering servants and quippy old ladies out of Yorkshire and plops them down in the Manhattan of 1882. The series stars Christine Baranski, and Cynthia Nixon, plus a sprawling cast of socialites, servants, and members of the working class. The Gilded Age is about to return for a second season, so today we're revisiting our conversation about the series.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The bingeable new Netflix series Bodies has a great hook: The same murdered corpse turns up in the same London location in four different periods. The four detectives assigned to the cases are played by Kyle Soller, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Amaka Okafor and Shira Haas. What each of them doesn't know is that their investigations are inextricably linked to the same dark secret that can change the world forever.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Kelsey Grammer is back as Frasier Crane. After nine seasons on Cheers and 11 more on the spin-off Frasier, the snobby psychiatrist joins the long list of characters rebooted for the streaming age. In the new Frasier series on Paramount+, Dr. Crane returns to Boston with a new supporting cast and a new set of challenges. But what made the original series so watchable, and how does the new show stack up?Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The compelling new film Killers of the Flower Moon is a sweeping three-and-half-hour-long crime saga, romance and Western. Directed by Martin Scorsese, it's told through the lens of a marriage in 1920s Oklahoma. It stars Lily Gladstone as an Osage woman and Leonardo DiCaprio as the low-level white thug who professes to love her. But he continues to do the bidding of his uncle (Robert De Niro), who's stealing from and murdering her people.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Bad Bunny is one of the biggest stars in music. His previous album Un Verano Sin Tí topped the Billboard charts, won a Grammy, and helped him become most streamed artist on Spotify for a third straight year. Now he's back with a supersized new album, Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va A Pasar Mañana. The record finds him wrangling with the trappings of fame amid the sounds of trap and electronic music, and the reggaeton sounds that helped make him an icon.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the complex and compelling French film Anatomy of a Fall, a husband is dead and his wife is the chief suspect. The investigation and trial expose the many rifts in their marriage, as the couple's young son yearns to understand what happened and why. Directed by Justine Triet and starring Sandra Hüller, the film won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Sometimes there's a time and place for a long movie — whether it's because you've got an afternoon off, or you just aren't in the mood to flip from one entertainment to another. Martin Scorsese's latest movie Killers of the Flower Moon clocks in at over three hours, so today we're recommending other great movies over three hours long.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Netflix movie Fair Play stars Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich as a couple that's young, in love, and hot for one another. At least until one gets a promotion over the other at the hedge fund where they both work, and things get tense at home and in the office. Can their relationship withstand the pull of cutthroat ambition and male ego, or is their stock doomed for a free fall?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The new Netflix horror miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher makes for a terrifically spooky October binge. It cleverly reimagines and remixes several works by Edgar Allan Poe in a modern setting. Created by Mike Flanagan, the series follows doomed siblings Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell), and the dark secrets that even their unimaginable wealth and privilege can't manage to keep buried.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy