From a perceived Barbie snub to the notching of a few significant historical firsts, this awards season has magnified the flaws in how art is celebrated and valued.

Warner Bros.' decision to cancel Coyote vs. Acme disappointed some cast, crew and fans — and had many wondering why a studio would shelve a project it had spent millions of dollars to make.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed is the first to stand trial in a case reexamining the movie industry's safety standards. Actor Alec Baldwin's criminal trial will start in July.

This year's crop of Oscar nominees for the best international feature adopt vastly different approaches to tell their disparate stories. There's a couple that tackle the specter of fascism, one about the plight of migrants and one about an infamous real-life plane crash and its aftermath. Also there's one about a guy who cleans toilets.

This year's Oscar nominees for best original song are headlined by two songs from Barbie: one from Billie Eilish, and the other from Ryan Gosling. But there's also an intriguing mix of tracks from Jon Batiste, the Osage Tribal Singers, and Becky G — with an assist from perennial Oscar nominee Diane Warren. Today, we get into what we think will win, what should win, and what criteria should we use when we judge original songs in movies?

Armed with sandworms and big screen spectacle, the science fiction epic stormed the North American box office this weekend earning $81.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

You know that scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts is eating a croissant that is suddenly a pancake? Continuity issues like that crop up all the time. Whether you let it distract you is your call.

Does climate change exist? And does a character know it? Barbie, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One and Nyad met the criteria for a new challenge inspired by the famous Bechdel Test.

Dune: Part Two is a more exciting and eventful journey than Dune: Part One. But even here, the high points are over too soon, and the movie quickly moves on.

It's been more than 30 years since a horror movie won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Should the Oscars rethink its approach?

The sci-fi film Dune: Part Two is out in theaters now. The movie takes place on the harsh desert planet, Arrakis, where water is scarce and giant, killer sandworms lurk just beneath the surface. But what do planetary scientists and biologists think about the science of these worms, Arrakis and our other favorite sci-fi planets?

Today on the show, Regina G. Barber talks to biologist (and Star Trek consultant!) Mohamed Noor and planetary scientist Michael Wong about Dune, habitable planets and how to make fantasy seem more realistic.

Want more of the science behind your favorite fictional worlds? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Dune: Part Two is a sweeping, soaring space epic and this year's first big movie. Starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, and directed by Denis Villeneuve, the film delivers plenty of spaceships and big explosions like any good sci-fi blockbuster should. But it also tackles themes of rebellion, religion, and the use and abuse of political power.

Mel Brooks' satirical Western got mixed reviews when it opened in February 1974, but it became the year's biggest box office hit.

From war to injustice and religious extremism, the documentary finalists are thematically harrowing stories from around the world. Each is a triumph of storytelling and craft.

Villeneuve remembers watching the 1984 movie version of Frank Herbert's 1965 sci-fi novel Dune and thinking, "Someday, someone else will do it again" — not realizing he would be that filmmaker.