We debate the best movies to watch on an airplane

By Linda Holmes,

Stephen Thompson, Glen Weldon, Aisha Harris, Liz Metzger, Mike Katzif, Jessica Reedy

Published December 19, 2024 at 8:43 AM EST

Auli'i Cravalho voices Moana in Disney's 2016 Moana. — Auli'i Cravalho voices Moana in Disney's 2016 *Moana*.

Watching a movie on a plane can be a great way to pass the time if you're traveling for the holidays – particularly if you're going a long way. But picking the right movie can be very tricky. Today, we're debating the best movies to watch on an airplane, and making recommendations, including Moana, Jackie Brown, The Holdovers, and The Lion in Winter.

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Linda Holmes

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.

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Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

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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.

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Aisha Harris

Aisha Harris is a host of Pop Culture Happy Hour.

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Liz Metzger

Mike Katzif

Jessica Reedy

See stories by Jessica Reedy