Pop Culture Happy Hour

Forgotten Island is a wonderful new animated feature from the team that brought you Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. We’re introduced to childhood friends Jo (H.E.R.) and Raissa (Liza Soberano). One is a free spirit, the other an aspiring scientist, and they’re both getting ready to go their separate ways. But during their last night together, they’re transported to a magical island. The film is full of mythological creatures and fantastical settings, but it’s also rooted in friendship and memory.

If you’re looking for more animated epics, check out these episodes:
Nature needs a little help in the inventive Pixar movie ‘Hoppers’
'The Wild Robot' is grand and gorgeous, with big feelings
'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie' remembers every Nintendo moment ever

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The Love Hypothesis brings the beloved trope of fake dating to the world of science and academia – but does it bring a fresh take to the bestselling book by Ali Hazelwood? The new Prime Video movie follows Stanford graduate student Olive (Lili Reinhart). Her best friend Anh (Rachel Marsh) is holding back from pursuing a guy because she thinks Olive is interested in him. Olive wants Anh to follow her heart, so she lands in a fake-dating situation with a notoriously harsh post-doc Adam (Tom Bateman), who for reasons of his own agrees to be her pretend boyfriend. 

If you’re looking for more romantic comedies, check out these episodes:
Olivia Wilde is a problematic dom in 'I Want Your Sex'
‘Office Romance’ stars J.Lo as a CEO with a bad case of Brett Goldstein
‘You, Me & Tuscany' has got us lost in the pasta sauce

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The new docudrama Primetime is a weird and highly fictionalized account of the meteoric rise of To Catch a Predator. Robert Pattinson plays host Chris Hansen, who is struggling to get bigger ratings. Hansen and his team work with local law enforcement to drag the accused sexual abusers of minors before the camera and arrest them. But does director Lance Oppenheim’s highly stylized approach work, or leave viewers feeling empty? 

If you’re looking for more dramas loosely inspired by real people, check out:
‘Tony’ is a biopic that cooks
In 'Marty Supreme,' Timothée Chalamet is good at being supremely annoying
‘Blue Moon’ will bewitch, bother and bewilder you

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Jay-Z has been everywhere lately. It’s been 30 years since his acclaimed debut Reasonable Doubt, and he celebrated with a series of concerts at Yankee Stadium. And now there’s the HBO docuseries, JAŸ-Z In 8, in which Jay-Z dissects his catalog with producer Rick Rubin. The series hopes to further cement his legacy as one of the most revered lyricists of our time. But Jay-Z (or JAŸ-Z, as he’s styled it lately.) has always been a polarizing figure, both in his personal life and as a business mogul. So what does this series accomplish?

Looking for more episodes about music? Check out these:
Ariana Grande stares down the public eye in 'Petal'
It's time to talk about how y'all act at music festivals
Most overused songs in movies

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This fall, there’s a lot of movies and TV on tap for you to see. And we're as excited for all of it to arrive as you are. So we’ve got a guide to what’s worth keeping on your radar, including Wicker, Wildwood, Wild Horse Nine, Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother and Avatar: Seven Havens.

Looking for more buzzy movie recommendations? Check out these episodes:
‘Resident Evil' is a grisly, funny fight to survive
‘Coyote vs. Acme’ is as looney as it needs to be 
‘The End Of Oak Street’ is a prehistoric good time

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