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Maggie Smith poses for a photo on Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 in London. Smith turns 87 on Dec. 28.

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony-winning actor Maggie Smith played everything from wistful ingenues in Shakespeare to Harry Potter's Prof. McGonagall and the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey. She died Friday at age 89. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP hide caption

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Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Obituaries

Sharp-tongued, indomitable, and beloved actress Dame Maggie Smith dies at 89

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony-winning actress Maggie Smith played everything from wistful ingenues in Shakespeare to Harry Potter's Prof. McGonagall and the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey.

Remembering Maggie Smith

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'Megalopolis' is a sprawling megalopo-mess

Adam Driver in Megalopolis. Courtesy of Lionsgate hide caption

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Courtesy of Lionsgate

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Megalopolis' is a sprawling megalopo-mess

Francis Ford Coppola, the legendary filmmaker behind The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now, is back with his first new film in over a decade. It reimagines the fall of Rome through a futuristic American city, and has a lot of big and messy ideas about time and the fate of humanity. It's also jam-packed with stars like Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and Aubrey Plaza. We try to make sense of it all.

'Megalopolis' is a sprawling megalopo-mess

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Nathalie Emmanuel as Julia Cicero and Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina in Megalopolis. Photo Credit:

Nathalie Emmanuel and Adam Driver star as Julia and Cesar in Megalopolis. Lionsgate hide caption

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Lionsgate

Review

Movie Reviews

Whatever you’ve heard about 'Megalopolis,' see this gutsy Coppola film for yourself

Francis Ford Coppola's epic draws parallels between the U.S. and ancient Rome. Forty-some years in the making, it's got wild sex, startling violence, horse-drawn chariots and even nightclub unicorns.

Megalopolis

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The host of a TV fitness show tries to defy aging in The Substance.

The host of a TV fitness show tries to defy aging in The Substance. Metropolitan Films hide caption

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Metropolitan Films

Review

Movie Reviews

See 'The Substance' and 'A Different Man' together for a major makeover meditation

Two new films seem to be in dialogue: In The Substance, Demi Moore is a Hollywood star chasing eternal youth. The dark comedy A Different Man centers on a New Yorker with a rare genetic condition.

See 'The Substance' and 'A Different Man' together for a major makeover meditation

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'His Three Daughters' puts three acting dynamos in one apartment

Natasha Lyonne in His Three Daughters. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'His Three Daughters' puts three acting dynamos in one apartment

Elizabeth Olsen, Carrie Coon, and Natasha Lyonne are often the best thing about their projects, and they're all together in the moving new Netflix film His Three Daughters. They play three sisters who are odds with one another, but must gather in their father's apartment when he's dying. As his illness progresses, their own sibling relationships are tested.

'His Three Daughters' puts three acting dynamos in one apartment

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Uzo Aduba arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Sunday, March 10, 2024, at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Aduba dedicates her new memoir to her mother, Nonyem Aduba. "My self-talk, the way that I motivate myself into pursuing this business ... is built out of language that my mother had given me," Aduba says. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP hide caption

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Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Author Interviews

Uzo Aduba thanks her mom: 'I didn't know how many prayers she sent up to heaven for me'

The Orange Is the New Black actor grew up the daughter of Nigerian immigrants in a predominantly white Massachusetts suburb. She looks back on her mother's influence in the memoir, The Road Is Good.

Uzo Aduba

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'I didn't want it to end.' Why director Todd Phillips came back with another 'Joker'

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga star in Joker: Folie à Deux. Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. hide caption

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Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros.

Movie Interviews

'I didn't want it to end.' Why director Todd Phillips came back with another 'Joker'

After the 2019 Joker wrapped, Phillips knew he wanted to do more with Batman's archnemesis. Joker: Folie à Deux is a musical sequel, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga.

Fresh Air for Sept. 23, 2024: ' Joker: Folie à Deux' director Todd Phillips

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Demi Moore's 'The Substance' will get under your skin

Demi Moore in The Substance. Christine Tamalet/MUBI hide caption

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Christine Tamalet/MUBI

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Demi Moore's 'The Substance' will get under your skin

The Substance is a bloody, campy, fiercely feminist body horror film. Demi Moore plays a TV aerobics instructor desperate to stay in the spotlight. She learns of a mysterious drug she can inject that causes another, younger, entirely separate version of herself (Margaret Qualley) to splurt out of her back and assume her consciousness. They must switch back and forth or very bad bloody things will happen.

Demi Moore's 'The Substance' will get under your skin

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Gary Oldman talks Slow Horses and the art of flatulence

US actor Gary Oldman attends the red carpet event to celebrate Apple TV+ Emmy nominees at Mother Wolf in Los Angeles, September 15, 2024. (Photo by Unique Nicole / AFP) UNIQUE NICOLE/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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UNIQUE NICOLE/AFP via Getty Images

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Gary Oldman talks Slow Horses and the art of flatulence

This week, Gary Oldman joins us to talk Slow Horses, the Emmy Awards, and the fine art of flatulence with Karen Chee, Brain Babylon, and Peter Grosz.

Gary Oldman talks Slow Horses and the art of flatulence

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'Transformers One' is an animated origin story with a light touch

Chris Hemsworth voices Orion Pax/Optimus Prime in Transformers One. Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Paramount Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Transformers One' is an animated origin story with a light touch

The Transformers franchise has been around for decades, and it's brought us many toys, TV shows and movies. Now, in the new animated film Transformers One, the origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron finally gets told. With a voice cast that includes Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry, the movie hopes to offer a fresh entry point for the long-running franchise.

'Transformers One' is an animated origin story with a light touch

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The delightful 'My Old Ass' seeks wisdom from hindsight

Maisy Stella as Elliott in My Old Ass. Marni Grossman/Amazon MGM Studios hide caption

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Marni Grossman/Amazon MGM Studios

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

The delightful 'My Old Ass' seeks wisdom from hindsight

What would you do if you met your future self, who's a couple of decades older and maybe a little wiser? Would you freak out? In the delightful new movie My Old Ass, a teenager named Elliott (Maisy Stella) faces this very scenario. Her older self is played by Aubrey Plaza, and she's got some advice to impart. But her younger self may or may not take it.

The delightful 'My Old Ass' seeks wisdom from hindsight

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The movies, TV and music we're excited about this fall

Colin Farrell in The Penguin. Macall Polay/HBO hide caption

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Macall Polay/HBO

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

The movies, TV and music we're excited about this fall

Fall is beginning, and it's the perfect time to talk about all the great things we're excited to watch and listen to between now and the end of the year. Today, we're offering up a guide to spotlight some of the movies, TV, and music we are looking forward to this fall.

The movies, TV and music we're excited about this fall

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Casa Bonita opened Lakewood, Colo., in 1974.

¡Casa Bonita, Mi Amor! follows Trey Parker and Matt Stone as they renovate a dilapidated, inauthentic, 1970s Mexican restaurant. The labor of love becomes a money-pit as they chase the landmark's former glory. Paramount hide caption

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Paramount

Review

Movie Reviews

'South Park' creators renovate a beloved restaurant, and find nostalgia is pricey

A new film follows Trey Parker and Matt Stone as they renovate a dilapidated, inauthentic, 1970s Mexican restaurant. The labor of love becomes a money-pit as they chase the landmark's former glory.

Parker & Stone

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Critic Anton Ego tastes the ratatouille that makes him melt.

Critic Anton Ego tastes the ratatouille that makes him melt. Pixar Animation Studios hide caption

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Pixar Animation Studios

Analysis

Analysis

Critics often slam movies. Sometimes the movies slam back.

Ian McKellen plays a brutal theater critic in a new film. That sent our own film critic back into the archives, musing about portrayals of critics on screen.

CRITICS IN MOVIES

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Natasha Lyonne, left, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon playsisters who come together in the final days of their father's life in His Three Daughters.

Natasha Lyonne, left, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon play sisters who come together in the final days of their father's life in His Three Daughters. Sam Levy/Netflix hide caption

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Sam Levy/Netflix

Review

Movie Reviews

A dying father brings 'His Three Daughters' together, in a sharply written film

Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon play estranged sisters saying farewell to their terminally ill dad. It's a familiar plot, but writer-director Azazel Jacobs manages to sidesteps cliché.

A dying father brings 'His Three Daughters' together, in a sharply written film

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Ian McKellen, left, plays a powerful and reviled theater critic in

Ian McKellen, left, plays a powerful and reviled theater critic in The Critic, alongside Gemma Arterton, in the role of an actress who was once one of his targets. Sean Gleason/Greenwich Entertainment hide caption

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Sean Gleason/Greenwich Entertainment

Movie Interviews

Ian McKellen relishes Machiavellian role in new film 'The Critic'

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with actor Ian McKellen about his starring role as a powerful London theater critic who savages "bad performance" in Anand Tucker's new film The Critic.

THE CRITIC

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Never visit James McAvoy's house, and other lessons of 'Speak No Evil'

James McAvoy in Speak No Evil. Susie Allnutt/Universal Studios hide caption

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Susie Allnutt/Universal Studios

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Never visit James McAvoy's house, and other lessons of 'Speak No Evil'

Never visit your weird new friends at their enormous isolated country estate. That's a basic rule that an American family fails to follow in the new horror thriller Speak No Evil starring James McAvoy. By the time they figure out they are in way over their heads, it's much much too late.

Never visit James McAvoy's house, and other lessons of 'Speak No Evil'

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'Rebel Ridge' serves up revenge with restraint

Aaron Pierre in Rebel Ridge. Allyson Rigg/Netflix hide caption

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Allyson Rigg/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Rebel Ridge' serves up revenge with restraint

In Netflix's new film Rebel Ridge, Aaron Pierre plays Terry, a young Black man who enters a small Southern town to post bail for his cousin. But when the local cops seize his money, he faces off against the corrupt chief of police (Don Johnson). Things escalate, and soon he uncovers a sinister conspiracy that threatens his life.

'Rebel Ridge' serves up revenge with restraint

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Strong performances highlight the scary (and funny) 'The Front Room'

Brandy Norwood in The Front Room. A24 hide caption

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A24

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Strong performances highlight the scary (and funny) 'The Front Room'

Maybe you think you've seen every scary mother-in-law fiction has to offer — you absolutely haven't. In the new movie The Front Room, a pregnant woman (Brandy Norwood) allows her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) to move in. In a film that's part creepy and part very darkly funny, the two women square off for control of the house and the child on the way.

Strong performances highlight the scary (and funny) 'The Front Room'

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