Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man is the third installment in the Knives Out franchise. Daniel Craig returns as detective Benoit Blanc -- with a cast of suspects that includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington and Thomas Haden Church. This time out, the mystery gets ecclesiastical in nature, involving the murder of Josh Brolin’s fire-and-brimstone priest at a small church. <a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/"target="_blank" >Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture</a> Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

<description>Netflix’s &lt;em&gt;Wake Up Dead Man&lt;/em&gt; is the third installment in the &lt;em&gt;Knives Out&lt;/em&gt; franchise. Daniel Craig returns as detective Benoit Blanc -- with a cast of suspects that includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington and Thomas Haden Church. This time out, the mystery gets ecclesiastical in nature, involving the murder of Josh Brolin’s fire-and-brimstone priest at a small church.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/"target="_blank" &gt;Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and What’s Making Us Happy

In Netflix’s Jay Kelly, George Clooney plays the aging movie star Jay Kelly. His longtime manager (Adam Sander) and publicist (Laura Dern) struggle to manage Jay on a trip through Europe as he deals with the difficult relationship he has with his two grown daughters. From director and co-writer Noah Baumbach, the film is an exploration of regret and missed opportunities. <a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/"target="_blank" >Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at </a><a href="http://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture"target="_blank" >letterboxd.com/nprpopculture</a> Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;In Netflix’s&lt;em&gt; Jay Kelly&lt;/em&gt;, George Clooney plays the aging movie star Jay Kelly. His longtime manager (Adam Sander) and publicist (Laura Dern) struggle to manage Jay on a trip through Europe as he deals with the difficult relationship he has with his two grown daughters. From director and co-writer Noah Baumbach, the film is an exploration of regret and missed opportunities.&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/"target="_blank" &gt;Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture"target="_blank" &gt;letterboxd.com/nprpopculture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

Jay Kelly

‘Tis the season you’ll find plenty of good holiday movies – films that can be counted upon to deliver warmth and cheer. And bad holiday movies? They can be fun in their own way. So we’re debating: what’s the worst Christmas movie of all time? We’ll talk about Love Actually, Jingle All The Way, I Believe In Santa, and Scrooge & Marley. <a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/"target="_blank" >Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at </a><a href="http://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture"target="_blank" >letterboxd.com/nprpopculture</a> Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;‘Tis the season you’ll find plenty of good holiday movies – films that can be counted upon to deliver warmth and cheer. And bad holiday movies? They can be fun in their own way. So we’re debating: what’s the worst Christmas movie of all time? We’ll talk about &lt;em&gt;Love Actually&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Jingle All The Way&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;I Believe In Santa&lt;/em&gt;, and &lt;em&gt;Scrooge &amp; Marley&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/"target="_blank" &gt;Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture"target="_blank" &gt;letterboxd.com/nprpopculture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

The Worst Christmas Movies

In Netflix’s The Abandons, Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey play two steely matriarchs that face off on the American frontier. But don’t let the spurs and cowboy hats fool you. At its heart, the new Western series is a sudsy nighttime soap. But is that a good thing? Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;In Netflix’s &lt;em&gt;The Abandons&lt;/em&gt;, Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey play two steely matriarchs that face off on the American frontier. But don’t let the spurs and cowboy hats fool you. At its heart, the new Western series is a sudsy nighttime soap. But is that a good thing?&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

The Abandons

In the new film Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Josh Hutcherson returns as the protagonist trying to survive in a haunted children’s restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The creepy animatronic robots remain, and the sequel adds fresh lore and extends the action beyond the original abandoned restaurant.<a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/"target="_blank" >Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at </a><a href="http://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture"target="_blank" >letterboxd.com/nprpopculture</a>The first-ever NPR Pod Club Awards are coming up, and YOU get to crown the winner of the People’s Choice Award. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/13/g-s1-97569/favorite-podcast-awards-voting"target="_blank" >Vote for Pop Culture Happy Hour here!</a> Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

<description>&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;In the new film Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Josh Hutcherson returns as the protagonist trying to survive in a haunted children’s restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The creepy animatronic robots remain, and the sequel adds fresh lore and extends the action beyond the original abandoned restaurant.&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;&lt;a href="https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/"target="_blank" &gt;Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href="http://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture"target="_blank" &gt;letterboxd.com/nprpopculture&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p dir="ltr"&gt;The first-ever NPR Pod Club Awards are coming up, and YOU get to crown the winner of the People’s Choice Award. &lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/13/g-s1-97569/favorite-podcast-awards-voting"target="_blank" &gt;Vote for Pop Culture Happy Hour here!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and What’s Making Us Happy

Get obsessed with us. Four 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

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