Pop Culture Happy Hour - Fall Guide

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

The fall of 2025 is shaping up to have something for everyone with a fresh Knives Out mystery, Guillermo del Toro’s take on Frankenstein, and a new Emma Stone movie. We’ve got a guide of the TV and films we are most excited to see, including Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Bugonia, Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice and The Lowdown.To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Murder mysteries, monsters, new works from some of our favorite creators. The fall of 2025 is shaping up to have something for everyone. Whether you can find it on the big screen or the small screen, whether it's truth or fiction, the time between now and the end of the year is packed with stuff we're excited to see. I'm Stephen Thompson. And I'm Linda Holmes. And today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're offering up a guide to some of the movies and TV we are most looking forward to this. fall. Joining us today are our co-hosts, Aisha Harris. Hello, Aisha. Hello. I don't know if I'm

ready for fall yet, but here we are. Here we are indeed. And Glenn Weldon, hello, Glenn. Good to see you, buddy. Hey, friend. All right. So this one doesn't need a ton of setup. I will mention, because it's going to come up, that Aisha and I are just back as we tape this from the Toronto International Film Festival. Other than that, I want to dive right in. We are just going to share some of the stuff we're most excited about that's coming out this fall. We hope you'll be looking forward to these things as much as we are. Stephen, I'm going to start with you. What are you excited about this fall?

Well, I'm going to take, you know, first pick as a big fat pitch down the middle. And I'm going to say that I am excited about the movie, Wake Up Dead Man, a Knives Out mystery. Now, Linda, you and I have watched Knives Out movies together before. I remember sitting next to you in the theater at a screening of Glass Onion, the most recent Knives Out movie. And I feel like you and I were just like thrumming with happiness. Yes. Every single second of that movie, Ryan Johnson has overseen the Knives Out series. They are Benoit Blanc mysteries. Daniel Craig, who's just gobbling scenery in the best possible way. These are kind of

calling back to kind of classic cozy mysteries where there's a room full of suspects and and our detective is going to pound the table until that detective gets at the truth. But these movies have been so much more than that. I mean, I love Knives Out and Glass Onion so, so much. But one of the things I loved especially much about Glass Onion was how much it was more than just a cozy mystery. It was also a commentary on society that greatly spoke to the present moment. This movie is promising to be set in a church. And the cast looks fantastic.

Josh O'Connor, who is so great in challengers as in this. Andrew Scott, who is phenomenal in. everything he touches. Carrie Washington, Kaylee Spaney, who's terrific in Priscilla. It's just a bunch of terrific actors across,

you know, multiple generations who are in the best hands imaginable. And I know at least one of you just saw this movie. Please tell me, I mean, even if you didn't like it.

I'm going to love it. I don't care. I'm going to love it. So I saw this one in Toronto at the film festival. I enjoyed it a great deal. Spoiler, you're going to enjoy it. And this one,

you know, when Ryan Johnson introduced this movie, he talked about Edgar Allan Poe, which means it is more melancholy. It is a little less joky, but it's still funny, right? It still has plenty of jokes. But it also has a kind of a sadness at the core of it that I think has been present in the other films as well. But the performances in this are really, not only is Daniel Craig still terrific in these, but Josh O'Connor is really a wonderful, you know, if Ana de Armas was, his kind of partner in Knives Out, and Janelle Monet was kind of his partner in Glass Onion.

Josh O'Connor is his partner here, but there's a lot of emotion in that relationship. There's a lot of this young priest thinking about his relationship with God. So it has a different tone to it, but I think you're still going to absolutely love it. And whatever else these movies are, they have now become, with this third installment, a great Thanksgiving tradition. Go back to the place you grew up, stuff your face. go out to the movies with your siblings, your nieces and nephews, because you know that a Knives Out film is going to be the consensus choice, not the compromise choice.

Everybody's going to be happy. It's totally worth the risk of running into someone from high school. That's how strongly I feel about it. So that is Wake Up Dead Man, a Knives Out mystery, which will be in select theaters on November 26th, and then it will stream on Netflix on December 12th. Thank you very much for that one. Stephen Glenn, you have a lot.

a pick that is a very Glenn pick, just as the last one is a very Stephen pick. Hit me. All right. This is Bagonia, which is the latest film from Yorgos Lanthamos. And as you mentioned, he's officially my jam. I have a weird critical relationship with his stuff, though, I realize because even when I don't like a Yorgos Lantamos film, I still kind of love it, just on principle, right? Just for existing, just for being out here in these streets. For people who may not know, you know, the favorite, poor things. Dog tooth. Yes.

The lobster, yes. Killing of a sacred deer. Killing of a sacred deer. One of the films I did not like, but yet I love. So this is something he's never done before, which is why I'm actually excited about it. This is a remake of a 2003, very culty, sci-fi, dark comedy from Korea that is hugely violent called Save the Green Planet. And as we tape this, I think the only place he can see it is on canopy. I am just fascinated to see a film that chaotic and broad and frenetic.

and violent is going to look like once it gets filtered through the Lenthamos aesthetic, which, I mean, it's none of those things. It's cool. It's chilly. It's distant. It's that flat effect. That's what he's bringing. But in this film, Jesse Plemons

plays a beekeeper who, with his cousin, kidnaps and tortures a pharma CEO played by Emma Stone because they're convinced that she is an alien bent on destroying the world. This is going to hit different no matter how it goes, not just because the sensibility, of this film is going to be different. But in the original 2003 movie, the CEO was a man.

And here it's a woman, and not just any woman, but Emma Freakin Stone, right? I mean, look, let's stipulate that Aloha was not a good movie. And she probably shouldn't have done it. But that doesn't mean I want to sit and watch her get electrocuted for two hours, right? I mean, that's the thing. I don't know. I'm going to be there because I think Lanthamos is a consistently surprising filmmaker. And now that I say that, a lot I realize that consistently surprising.

is kind of a contradiction in terms. But it's true. It opens in limited release on October 24th. Yeah, well, this movie is also known to many people as the movie that Emma Stone cut her hair for. Sure. Well, Emma Stone, anytime she's working with your August Lantamos, and now this is, I don't know, which it's been a few times now. At least three. She does have to transform in a way for these performances. And I'm with you there, Glenn. I love some of his movies and I'm a little cooler on some of his movies. And so I just, I just, definitely excited to check this out. We'll see. Yeah, I hear you. I'm cautiously optimistic about this. We shall see indeed. So that is Bogonia directed by, as we've mentioned, Yorgos Lanthamos. We're going to kind of continue our parade of high-powered directors. And I'm actually going to pop back over to Stephen to hear about your second pick. Absolutely. I went with Frankenstein as interpreted by Guillermo del Toro, who has worked. on many, many, many, many great and classic films, your Pan's labyrinth, up through your

Pinocchio that won an Oscar in the last few years. And, you know, Guillermo del Toro has a very distinct vision. His movies look amazing. And they are not afraid to delve into dark topics. And to me, I think he is better suited to the story of Frankenstein, frankly, than he was to the story of Pinocchio. And having him tackle Frankenstein with Oscar Isaac, as the doctor who creates a creature played by Jacob Allorty, because when you want a hideous beast, your thoughts immediately turn to the face of Jacob Allorty, who in kind of Tom Hardy fashion, remember when Tom Hardy was in like a string of movies where they always covered his face? One of the worst things that it could ever happen to me as a viewer was for that. Not your favorite phenomenon. Yeah, no, not at all.

Here Jacob Allorty plays the Frankenstein monster. One thing I actually like about that casting is it uses. a Lordy's height. The trailers are not really revealing, you know, exactly how he's going to look. But I do feel like somebody here has maybe seen this movie. Yes, I did get a chance to see this at Tiff. And Guillermo talked about, right before the screening happened, he talked about how this was like kind of a lifelong dream of his to make this. And it really does make so much sense because he is someone who has spent his whole life humanizing monsters. And this is the ultimate monster, right? Like the, well, him and Dracula, I guess. And look, there are a lot of

ultimate monsters, but he is like one of the big ones. And I will say, I won't spoil what Allurdy winds up looking like in this, but he proved to me in this movie, not that he hasn't in other films, but this was to me like, oh, this guy has got juice. He has, it's a physical performance, but it's also an emotional performance, and he is totally up to the task. Oscar Isaac is also very fun. Stephen, I think you will not be disappointed about this movie. I really loved it. It's beautiful.

And full disclosure, I've not read the original Mary Shelley book that it is based off of. I have seen the 1931 version, and it goes in a completely kind of different direction from what we're used to seeing on screen, at least. That's all I will say. By the end of it, I was just very, very moved. Great. I am excited to see this, too. Again, that is Frankenstein. It'll be in select theaters, as they say, on October 17th and streaming on Netflix on November 7th.

Thank you very much, Stephen Thompson. Continuing with our fancy pants director section. I mean, that's what it is. Let's just call it what it is. It's true. Aisha, you are shouting out a movie here that you saw in Toronto and I did not see because you got in line early enough and I did not. Barely, barely.

This is one of the movies. where they somehow was very surprised they underestimated the fervor for this. And I don't know why, because this is Pak Chanuk's latest feature, probably best known for Old Boy, Handmaiden, Favorite of Film Cinephiles and also of anyone who loves dark, dark, dark, dark, movies. His latest is no other choice. And this is an adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's novel, The Axe. This is a movie that I am so glad I got a chance to see.

It is very relevant for our times. It stars E. B. Young Hun as a man who's devoted to his entire career to this company that specializes in producing paper. And he's fired. And then he has a really hard time finding a new job in the industry. Already parallels to lots of industries that are crumbling around us and all these feelings of like, what have I done with my life and how do I restructure it? What he decides to do is he decides to do is he decides. to track down some of the other men who are up for the same job at a different company and figure out how to get rid of them and eliminate the competition. It is a dark, dark movie. It's

macab. But it's also like very farcical and light. It's much lighter than his previous film, the police noir decision to leave, which came out a few years ago. At the risk of doing like a very lazy comparison between two of the most prominent South Korean filmmakers working right now, it also reminds me a bit of Bong Joono's parasite, how far we're willing to go when we are feeling desperate to keep our lifestyle or to achieve a different kind of lifestyle. And the ending is about as bleak and relevant as you can get with this subject matter. But I loved it. I'm just very excited for my people to see it so we can talk about it. But Glenn, you're a fan of hits, right?

Yeah. I think we talked about decision to leave together. I love decision to leave. I didn't know if I understood it, but I think I loved it. the book, at least, is not like, eat the rich the way parasite is. The book is about middle class on middle class violence. So I guess it's the same message, but a different approach. But yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. It's not about that. But it is kind of dealing with the same idea of like how far you're willing to go to at least keep your status in a way. That also kind of feels like this is all coming from the fact that the people who make these decisions, they don't have to care about who you are. Oh, man. It's a same message. Yeah, same message. Anything to get more Donaldy Westlake books into theaters.

Those are nasty, puppy little gems, those books. So yes, I'm looking forward to this. And it's actually been confirmed as South Korea's entry for the international feature, the Oscars. So I would not be surprised if we see it there next year. But it's going to be in limited theatrical release December 25th and then wide in January. And that is no other choice. So excited for it. All right.

Thank you very much, Aisha Harris. I am now going to hop in here and give my first pick, which is something that I dearly loved that I have seen. There are eight episodes I have seen five. It is called The Lowdown. It's an FX show, so it will be streaming after FX on Hulu. It premieres on FX on September 23rd. So this is created by Sterling Harjo, who made Reservation Dogs, which was a very, very beloved show. wonderful sense of place. Ethan Hawk in this plays a guy who calls himself a truth storian. He's sort of a

freelance reporter of a kind who also owns a bookstore. He lives in Tulsa and he's kind of a citizen journalist rabble rouser constantly getting himself into and out of trouble. He has a daughter who loves him very, very much. Ethan Hawk has an entrance at the beginning of this show, the first time you see him, that is one of my favorite. It just feels like an appropriately iconic entrance for who they want this character to be. He is ambling down the sidewalk in Tulsa, you know, hat, vape pen. It is so lived in from the second that you see him. I have to mention, I also just saw Ethan Hawk in Toronto in a film called Blue Moon that I know Aisha really also liked, where he plays Lorenz Hart, who was a Broadway,

and Great American Songbook, Lyracist, who worked extensively with Richard Rogers, before Richard Rogers worked with Oscar Hammerstein. Hawk is playing the polar opposite of this swaggering kind of cowboy type. And if you watch these two performances together, you will understand why he is currently just the absolute superstar of my brain and appreciating kind of culture. But the lowdown is funny. It is exciting. It is plot-driven, but also character-driven. And a lot of it is just the pure pleasure.

And this was kind of true of Reservation Dogs, too, I think. It's just the pure pleasure of a beautifully rendered place and community of people. This is another thing that Keith David is in. Keith David is suddenly in a bunch of stuff. Keith David is in it, and I'm so delighted to see him. Kyle McLaughlin is in it. Gene Triplehorn is in it having a great time. Killer Mike.

Killer Mike is in it. Killer Mike. Tim Blake Nelson is in it. Tracy Letts is in it. Everything about this screams should be awesome. And I'm just saying like it's that good. It's maybe going to be, you know, my favorite thing this year besides the pit, which is, you know, already pretty well established as my favorite thing of the year. The lowdown, again, coming to FX on September 23rd, it'll be streaming after that on Hulu.

the next day. I'm so glad you called that out because every time I see it on the schedule, or I see any of the key art, I think, I just lump it in with the yellow stones and landmands of the world. Oh, no, no, no, no. And I think it's not for me. I'm so glad you called it out. You got to remember, it's the reservation dogs, guys. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is very much more, you know, Ethan Hawk is really playing a gadfly. He's playing a professional pain in the to people in power. And that is not what Yellowstone is, you know, at all. It is the fall of Ethan Hawk. I'm so excited for him. Yay. That is the lowdown. After the break, we're going to talk about even more things we're looking forward to this fall. So stick around. Hey, before we get back to

the show, if we've ever helped you win a group chat debate, find a hit series before everyone else, or pretend you saw that movie, you definitely didn't. I would never do that. I would never do that. I have done that. us is solid. Leave the show or review wherever you listen to podcasts. It really does help people. Find us. It helps us make the show better for you. We really appreciate it. Leave that review. Thank you so much. Okay. Ayesha, what is your next pick? My next pick is Hedda, the new film from the director, Nia Dacosta. I think most people were probably familiar with her for her film Candyman and she also did the Marvels. But here she is going in a complete sort of opposite direction of either of those and also her debut Little Woods, which is a really lovely gem if you have not seen that film. But here she's adapting Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gobbler.

And she swings for the rafters here. Ibsen's play was produced at the end of the 19th century. Here she transports the story to mid-century England. And she casts none other than Tessa Thompson in the lead as Hedda. she's reuniting because Tessa Thompson was also in her debut feature, Little Woods, and also had a part in the Marvels. Thompson is playing that very delicious role of a woman who wants so many things, but also is very unsatisfied.

And I think that I need to see Tessor Thompson in pretty much anything that's a period piece. I'm not a big period piece person, but her best roles for me have been when she gets to play a character in the past. I loved her in passing. is fantastic in that. I loved her in Sylvie's love, which was like a really beautiful movie, like Rom Dramedy. And she plays this role so deliciously, so lovely. But then there's also a gender swap going on here. Mina Haas plays Eileen, who in the original play is a man. She's Hedda's former lover who is now the professional rival of Hedda's husband. So there's a lot of

attention there. And it looks beautiful. Cinematographer, Sean Bobbitt, is, is working working here and it is like a gorgeous, sumptious, like, beautifully shot movie. It all takes place mostly over the course of one evening, giant dinner party. It is just so catty and delicious and Hedda is evil. And I'm still processing it after having seen it, but it's probably one of my favorite things out of the Toronto Film Festival. Like, it's just, I loved it. And I am so curious to hear what everyone thinks about this. I do feel as though we're going to be talking about this for a while now. There's a lot to chew on with this movie. It's such an interesting choice for Nia da Costa because, you know, her last movie was the Marvels. And Linda, we like that movie a lot more

than most people did. Yeah, I really like that movie. Yeah. Her next one was another genre piece. It's the 28 years later sequel coming out next year, the Bone Temple. Yeah. I know this play from my years in the trenches as a theater critic. I've seen several versions. And among the theater cognoscenti, there is a term of art that we apply to this particular Ibsen play, which is a bummer. Hyper mega bummer. I'll be interested to see, don't tell me, but how much adaptation goes into this adaptation. I'll be interested to see that.

So that is Nia da Costa's Heda, which, you know, in kind of the running theme of many of these films, it will be in select theaters on October 22nd and then streaming shortly after that on Prime Video on October 29th. We should mention, of course, that Amazon supports NPR and pays to distribute some of the of our content. And also a prime video superstar is our next film, which is Glenn's pick. Glenn, what did you choose? This is the documentary John Candy, colon, I like me, which is going to be streaming on Prime starting on October 10th. It is, of course, a documentary about the late great comedian John Candy. Now, somebody who's lived a life like John Candies, you could make a lot

of different documentaries. You could come at it from a lot of different angles. I am not convinced that this movie is going to be the documentary that I'm hoping for, because the one I'm hoping for is one that focuses on his early life and career, you know, finding the second city and making those friendships with the folks he would go on to make SCTV with, focusing on the craft of sketch comedy and his characters and more candy, the artist, the comedian, less candy the public persona, less the sad clown, John Candy. Since making this pick, I've seen the trailer, this thing is definitely skewing sad clown. This is definitely coming for your heartstring. and yanking away at them, and that's fine.

That's a choice. Yeah. It's a tip off in the subtitle. The subtitle comes from a very good monologue he delivers in the film planes, trains, and automobiles. But look, the interviews are with people I love and respect. Catherine O'Hara, Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy. Also, Dan Aykroyd is interviewed. But they do really seem to be focused on his addictions, his impulses, the stuff that drove him to an early grave.

But it's directed by Colin Hanks, and that's a good thing because Colin Hanks, directed a documentary about the rise and fall of Tower Records that I remember liking a lot called All Things Must Pass. You know, at the end of the day, I'm going to quibble with the tone, some of the choices, but I would never quibble with this subject. Candy was a hugely talented writer and performer. That's October 10th on Prime. John Candy, I like me. Glenn, I have such good news for you. The good news I have for you is that this may not be the movie that you want.

But the movie that you want is one that did play at the Toronto Film Festival, which is a film called, you had to be there, which is about the 1972 Toronto production of Godspell. I've heard of this. Yeah. Which starred Martin Short, Eugene Levy, eventually Dave Thomas, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Paul Schaefer was the musical director. This is before any of these people are famous. This is the movie that you want. I don't think it has distribution yet, but I have seen it.

It is life-affirming and wonderful. And John Candy pops up in it once. or twice in archival footage because he was adjacent to all these folks. But I am delighted to tell you, your SCTV movie of your dreams is also available. It's wonderful. It's warm and sweet and great. I am going to wrap things up with my second pick. You know, we've been lucky enough to talk about a lot of things that either somebody here has seen or that we know a lot about. I am picking something that I know very little about and have not seen. And that is the upcoming TV show. pluribus. And this show was created by Vince Gilligan, who made Breaking Bad and also worked on

the X-Files, a bunch of other stuff. The star is Ray Seahorn. And Ray Seahorn was the second lead of Better Call Saul. She played Kim. She kind of went from being something of a side character to really the co-emotional core of that show, I would say, over the course of its run. So it is not surprising at all that Gilligan kind of has now made this vehicle for her. Very, very little is known about this show, except the tagline is that the most miserable person on earth must save the world from happiness, which sounds like a Glenn Weldon description

if whenever there was one. I don't know very much about it. But my trust in this particular creator and actor is so deep that I am. pretty confident that I'm very excited to see it. It is going to be coming to Apple TV on November 7th. When has Vince Gilligan let me down? You know? Yeah. I am so, so curious, just like you, Linda. It's not that often that I'm able to truly say I'm fully bought in based exclusively on, you know, the names of the people involved. A long time as a critic

will cure you of the idea that your most favorite people cannot make something. that you think is a bust. But I'm excited about this. So that is pluribus coming to Apple TV, November 7th. That does bring us to the end of our fall guide, Aisha Harris, Stephen Thompson, Glenn Weldon. Thank you so much for being here. I was a joy to chat with you about your great choices. Thank you, Linda. Thank you. All right. This episode was produced by Liz Metzger and Mike Katzif, another two of our great choices and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy, always a brilliant choice. Hello, come in, provides our theme music. Great for any season. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes. We will see you all next time.