Pop Culture

Captain Ryan Clark (Hugh Laurie) spends a lot of time looking aghast in HBO's Avenue 5.

Arts

Star Boors: Humanity Is Cruising For A Bruising In Sci-Fi Comedy 'Avenue 5'

5:00am January 19, 2020

by Glen Weldon

It takes HBO's space-cruise comedy (from the creator of Veep and The Thick Of It) a while to find its footing — but that's understandable, given how wonky the ship's gravity turns out to be.

Beyoncé Teams Up With Adidas For Brand Relaunch

6:03pm January 18, 2020

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with fashion writer Marjon Carlos about Beyoncé's athletic clothing collaboration, Adidas x IVY PARK.

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In writer/director Makoto Shinkai's latest animated feature, Hodaka (voiced by Kotaro Daigo, L) meets Hina (voiced by Nana Mori, R), a girl who can stop the rain.

Arts

Who'll Stop The Rain? She Will: 'Weathering With You'

5:01pm January 16, 2020

by Ella Taylor

Makoto Shinkai's latest animated feature doesn't live up to his hit Your Name, with which it shares many plot similarities. But it speaks to anxieties about climate change in a captivating way.

"Polly want a movie!": Dr. John Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) and parrot (voiced by Emma Thompson) are lost at sea in Dolittle.

Arts

'Dolittle' Does A Lot, All Of It Terribly

5:00pm January 16, 2020

by Scott Tobias

Robert Downey Jr.'s first post-Marvel-Universe foray "is a not a film. Dolittle is a crime scene in need of forensic analysis. Something happened here. Something terrible. Something inexplicable."

Cho Yeo-jeong stars in Parasite, which earned six Oscar nominations, including best picture.

Arts

The Oscar Nominations: In With The Old, And 'Congratulations To Those Men'

11:24am January 13, 2020

by Linda Holmes

From South Korean director Bong Joon-ho to Netflix's Martin Scorsese, from men who drive fast to men who are sad clowns, plenty of men cleaned up at this morning's Oscar nominations. Some women, too.

Coma Unto Me: Pope Pius XIII (Jude Law) lies between life and death in the world's most stylish hospital in HBO's The New Pope.

Arts

Meet 'The New Pope,' Same As 'The Young Pope'

9:26am January 12, 2020

by Glen Weldon

It's got a new title and a new lead actor, but everything else about writer/director Paolo Sorrentino's series — a soapy, deeply weird peek under the papal robes — remains intact.

New York Museum Separates Meghan And Harry From Wax Royals

6:10am January 10, 2020

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to take a step back from royal duties. As Buckingham Palace sorts out details, Madame Tussauds in Manhattan removed them from the royals display.

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Violinist Rose (Freya Tingley) frets in The Sonata.

Arts

Horror Film 'The Sonata' Is Tuneless And Off-Key

5:01pm January 09, 2020

A young violin virtuoso inherits a spooky mansion — and a Satanic piece of music — in this "dreadfully dull" film.

Three Christs, No Waiting: Joseph (Bradley Whitford), Leon (Peter Dinklage) and Clyde (Walton Goggins) in Jon Avnet's film.

Arts

'Three Christs': A Too-Simple Film About The Messiah Complex

5:00pm January 09, 2020

Loosely based on the story of real-life psychiatrist who treated three patients who believed themselves to be Jesus, Jon Avnet's film clings to glib Hollywood cliches about mental illness.

Esports Posts Its First $1 Billion Year

4:25pm January 08, 2020

Esports — competitive video gaming — raked in more than $1 billion globally in 2019, according to analytics company Newzoo. Remer Rietkerk, Newzoo's head of esports, speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro.