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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Our Oscars Preview

Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) and Rose Maxson (Viola Davis) in <em>Fences.</em>
David Lee
/
Paramount Pictures
Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) and Rose Maxson (Viola Davis) in Fences.

We talk about movies often on Pop Culture Happy Hour, which means we've already devoted shows to most of the best picture Oscar nominees (see the bottom of this post).

The Oscars will be handed out Sunday night, so this week we asked Bob Mondello to join us as we bat cleanup (that's a thing, right?) and focus on those best picture contenders we haven't yet discussed: Fences, Manchester by the Sea, Lion and Hacksaw Ridge. Along the way, we check in on the state of the buzz shaping up around La La Land, Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Arrival and Hell or High Water.

We then move on to talk about some of the down-ballot races that look interesting: acting, animated feature, documentary feature, original song and more. We also name the films and performances that we would have nominated, were we a 6,687-member body of artisanal-kale-chomping Hollyweird phonies and hangers-on. Which we are avowedly not.

Reminder: We'll be live-blogging the Oscars on Sunday night, starting with the red carpet at 6:00pm ET. Find us at oscars.npr.org.

We conclude, as we do every week, with What's Making Us Happy: Stephen's excited about a new animated series on the Cartoon Network, based on a film series he loves very much; I shout-out a wholly different new animated series on the Cartoon Network; Bob loves a new play that's touring the country, and Linda wishes to direct your kind attention to a new series on the streaming service SeeSo that involves three brothers known for making goofs and japes on a hilarious and popular podcast.

Find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter: the show, Linda, Stephen, me, Bob, producer Jessica, and producer emeritus and pal for life Mike.

Oh and SAVE THE DATE, ye Midwesterners!

Pop Culture Happy Hour LIVE (feat. Sam Sanders) is happening on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12th at Chicago's Harris Theater!

Tickets don't go on sale until March 8th, but watch our feeds for more info, all you toddlin', broad-shouldered, hog-butchers-for-the-world, you!


Here's a few links to past Pop Culture Happy Hour episodes that feature full discussions about the other Oscar nominees:

Arrival

Hell or High Water

Hidden Figures

La La Land

Moonlight

Feature Documentaries and Iran's The Salesman

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Glen Weldon is a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. He reviews books, movies, comics and more for the NPR Arts Desk.

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