Glen Weldon
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.
Over the course of his career, he has spent time as a theater critic, a science writer, an oral historian, a writing teacher, a bookstore clerk, a PR flack, a completely inept marine biologist and a slightly better-ept competitive swimmer.
Weldon is the author of two cultural histories: Superman: The Unauthorized Biography and The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Slate, McSweeney's and more; his fiction has appeared in several anthologies and other publications. He is the recipient of an NEA Arts Journalism Fellowship, an Amtrak Writers' Residency, a Ragdale Writing Fellowship and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Fiction.
-
This year marks 20 years since Brokeback Mountain hit theaters. The film starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two sheep herders who fall in love in a place and time that keeps them apart. -
The Lowdown is a great new FX series starring Ethan Hawke as a freelance investigative reporter with a knack for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong and getting that nose punched. He gets drawn into the seedy goings-on of one of Tulsa's most prominent families. -
The new HBO series Task stars Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey in a grim, but stealthily hopeful drama. From the creator of Mare of Easttown, the show is a cat-and-mouse crime thriller about an FBI agent reluctantly dragged back into the field to investigate a series of drug related crimes. The show offers drugs, stolen money, family drama, kidnapping, shootouts, grief, and forgiveness. -
From one of the minds behind Rick and Morty, Netflix's new animated comedy Haunted Hotel is the perfect mix of fun and creepy to kick off spooky season. -
Glen Weldon shares his favorite series this fall, and details on the HBO Max show Task, Netflix's Long Story Short, and Apple TV+'s Pluribus.
-
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. -
Have you ever found yourself completely caught up in a film only to find, after the lights come up, that the story didn’t make any sense, yet you loved it anyway? Today, we’re talking about great movies with silly plots – including The Martian, The Incredible Mr. Limpet, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. -
Dylan O'Brien and James Sweeney star as unlikely friends in the new movie Twinless. They meet in a support group for people who have lost their twin and form an interesting bond, but there's a lot they don't know about each other. -
It's a blockbuster! It's a flop! It's NPR staffers talking about movies with superheroes in em! -
Every era gets the Superman it needs. James Gunn's version — sincere, inspiring and idealistic — will make you want to cheer.
