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Hafsa Fathima

Friday

'Deadpool & Wolverine' is a feast of inside jokes

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Marvel's Deadpool & Wolverine. Jay Maidment/20th Century Studios/Marvel hide caption

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Jay Maidment/20th Century Studios/Marvel

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Deadpool & Wolverine' is a feast of inside jokes

In the highly meta Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman finally meet up for their own big movie. Deadpool is still smarmy, Wolverine is still tragic, and they have to get together to save the world. Along the way, Deadpool continues his usual routine of endless wisecracking. The movie is jam-packed with fan service and Easter eggs. But how will casual Marvel fans like the movie?

'Deadpool & Wolverine' is a feast of inside jokes

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Thursday

In 'The Decameron,' the Black Death makes for black comedy

Zosia Mamet and Saoirse-Monica Jackson in The Decameron. Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix hide caption

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Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'The Decameron,' the Black Death makes for black comedy

In Netflix's weirdly compelling dark comedy The Decameron, the bubonic plague is ravaging Florence in 1348. A group of rich nobles and their servants decide to retreat to a picturesque villa in the country to wait it all out. The large ensemble includes Tony Hale and Zosia Mamet. Every character is hiding something, and those secrets get revealed — and more than a few uglies get bumped.

In 'The Decameron,' the Black Death makes for black comedy

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Monday

'Sunny' is a robot buddy comedy about loss

Rashida Jones in Sunny. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Sunny' is a robot buddy comedy about loss

In the new Apple TV+ series Sunny, Rashida Jones stars as a woman living in Kyoto, whose husband and young son go missing in a plane crash. To help console her, her husband's electronics company gives her a robot companion. The show is an interesting mix of styles and genres – it's a buddy comedy, a crime thriller and a drama about loss. But at the center of it all is the mystery of what happened to her husband and son – and why.

'Sunny' is a robot buddy comedy about loss

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Friday

'Twisters' has us spiraling

Glen Powell in Twisters. Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal hide caption

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Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Twisters' has us spiraling

Twister was one of the biggest disaster movies of the '90s. Now, it's finally got a sequel — one with an all-new cast, state-of-the-art effects, and a whole lot of tornadoes. The new film stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as rival storm-chasers who have a habit of running into tornadoes while everyone else is fleeing. Twisters was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who also directed the Oscar-nominated Minari.

'Twisters' has us spiraling

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Wednesday

We unpack the 2024 Emmy nominations

Jeremy Allen White in The Bear. FX hide caption

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FX

Pop Culture Happy Hour

We unpack the 2024 Emmy nominations

The nominations the Emmy Awards were just announced, and it was a good day for The Bear, which set a new record in the comedy category. And plenty of our favorites also got Emmy nods, including Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Shōgun, Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows. We'll help you unpack this year's the notable nominees and snubs.

We unpack the 2024 Emmy nominations

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Tuesday

'Exploding Kittens' turns a simple card game into a wild cartoon

Tom Ellis as Godcat and Ally Maki as Greta in Netflix's Exploding Kittens. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Exploding Kittens' turns a simple card game into a wild cartoon

The best-selling card game Exploding Kittens has been adapted into a new Netflix animated series. It does plenty of its own world-building: God (Tom Ellis) and the devil (Sasheer Zamata) are sent to earth, where they take the form of talking cats — and meddle in the lives of a struggling family.

'Exploding Kittens' turns a simple card game into a wild cartoon

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Monday

'Longlegs' is a (satanic) panic

Maika Monroe in a scene from Longlegs. Neon hide caption

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Neon

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Longlegs' is a (satanic) panic

They're calling it the scariest movie of the year. The new horror film Longlegs follows FBI special agent Lee Harker (Mika Monroe) tracking a serial killer in the 1990s. If that sounds like familiar ground, consider this – the clues she follows hint at the involvement of the occult in general and Satanism in particular. And the killer in question: Nicolas Cage, uncaged.

'Longlegs' is a (satanic) panic

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Wednesday

'Despicable Me 4' serves up 90 minutes of bankable mayhem

Steve Carell voices Gru in Despicable Me 4. Universal Pictures hide caption

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Universal Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Despicable Me 4' serves up 90 minutes of bankable mayhem

Despicable Me 4 is the latest film in an animation franchise that made household names of reformed supervillain Gru (Steve Carrell) and his army of nattering Minions. The franchise has grossed billions of dollars, and the latest movie topped the weekend box office. But are these films growing up with their audience, or continuing to cater to young kids? And does that matter?

'Despicable Me 4' serves up 90 minutes of bankable mayhem

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Sunday

Books

NPR staffers share their favorite fiction of 2024 so far

NPR staffers recommend five of this year's new novels for summer reading: "The Ministry of Time," "The Familiar," "Come and Get It," "Memory Place," and "Sex, Lies and Sensibility."

NPR staffers share their favorite fiction of 2024 so far

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Friday

'MaXXXine' closes a grisly trilogy in style

Mia Goth and Halsey in MaXXXine. Justin Lubin/A24 hide caption

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Justin Lubin/A24

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'MaXXXine' closes a grisly trilogy in style

The new movie MaXXXine stars Mia Goth as an adult-film actress who gets her big break in Hollywood, only to be revisited by horrors from her past. Set in 1985 Los Angeles, it's the final film in director Ti West's beloved horror trilogy that began with the movie X. MaXXXine also features performances from Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Debicki, and Giancarlo Esposito.

'MaXXXine' closes a grisly trilogy in style

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Tuesday

Yes, chef: 'The Bear' has a lot going on in its third season

Jeremy Allen White in The Bear. FX/Hulu hide caption

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FX/Hulu

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Yes, chef: 'The Bear' has a lot going on in its third season

The Bear just returned for its third season and it's still one of the most stressful and most interesting shows on TV. Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) are launching their new fine dining restaurant, but he's estranged from some of the people who are closest to him just as he sneaks up on a new level of success. The series is streaming now on Hulu.

Yes, chef: 'The Bear' has a lot going on in its third season

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Monday

Is 'The Acolyte' a Star Wars Force to be reckoned with?

Amandla Stenberg as Mae in The Acolyte. Lucasfilm Ltd./Disney+ hide caption

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Lucasfilm Ltd./Disney+

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Is 'The Acolyte' a Star Wars Force to be reckoned with?

The new Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte is a murder mystery. Someone is killing great Jedi masters, and while we learn the killer's identity early on, the real mystery driving the series is why they're doing it. It stars Amandla Stenberg as Force-sensitive twins Osha and Mae, and Squid Game's Lee Jung-jae as Osha's former Jedi master. By the time it's finished its eight-episode run, The Acolyte may shed new light on the nature of the Force, and the hidden history of the Jedi.

Is 'The Acolyte' a Star Wars Force to be reckoned with?

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Thursday

HBO's 'Fantasmas' is new and different and uniquely itself

Julio Torres stars in Fantasmas. HBO hide caption

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HBO

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

HBO's 'Fantasmas' is new and different and uniquely itself

The brilliant and idiosyncratic new HBO series Fantasmas has a simple plot. Creator and star Julio Torres searches New York City for an earring he lost at a club. In the execution, that quest gets transformed into something epic and surreal and queer in every sense of the word. He keeps bumping into random New Yorkers whose stories play out in a series of sketch-like vignettes. They are played by actors including Emma Stone, Bowen Yang, and Tilda Swinton.

HBO's 'Fantasmas' is new and different and uniquely itself

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Tuesday

'Bridgerton' closes out a crowded third season

Luke Newton in a scene from the series Bridgerton. Liam Daniel/Netflix hide caption

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Liam Daniel/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Bridgerton' closes out a crowded third season

The second half of Bridgerton's latest season just dropped on Netflix, and naturally the course of true love continues to not run smoothly. Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) may have finally declared their feelings for each other, but there's still a lot left to figure out. We previously talked about the first part of the third season in May, so today, we're diving in everything that happens in the conclusion.

'Bridgerton' closes out a crowded third season

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Friday

'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

Amy Poehler as Joy and Maya Hawke as Anxiety in a scene from Inside Out 2. Pixar hide caption

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Pixar

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

Pixar's Inside Out introduced us to the core emotions inside an 11-year-old girl named Riley. We met Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and Anger (Lewis Black). In Inside Out 2, Riley is experiencing puberty and a whole new crop of emotions have popped up. Most notably Anxiety (Maya Hawke) who has literally bottled up Riley's original core emotions and sent them hurtling into the back of her mind, where they plot to get back and set things right.

'Inside Out 2' is a Pixar sequel worth celebrating

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