Given the fact that it seems like Hollywood churns out nothing but sequels, you would think the industry would have perfected the genre by now.

Some sequels are pretty darn good, but many believe the perfect movie sequel came out 50 years ago this month.

Of course, we're talking about Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather: Part II. It's not only considered the greatest sequel of all time, it's also considered one of the greatest movies of all time.

So why does Godfather II work, and where so many other sequels fall short?

NPR producer Marc Rivers weighs in.

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At the start of this year Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was facing a crisis. Just a few months before, Hamas had breached Israel's border with Gaza, killing some 1200 people in Israel on October 7th.

As the year ends, Netanyahu is spending some of it in a courtroom to fight corruption charges that have dogged him since 2019. The Israeli Prime Minister has called the charges absurd.

You might think that would be detrimental to his political career, but instead Netanyahu looks stronger than he has since the war began.

This — despite that trial, an international arrest warrant and a grinding war.

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How does fitness and movement change across the lifespan?

According to NPR's Allison Aubrey, who covers health and wellness, the official recommendation is to aim for more than 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity physical activity. That could be running, walking, biking, swimming, or weightlifting.

We meet a group of active older people, who show it's never too late to find movement and exercise that works for you.

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With just a handful of shopping days until Christmas, millions are making last minute online purchases. Unfortunately 'tis also the season for financial and identity theft. We ask an expert how you can avoid the scams.

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Donald Trump becomes the 47th President of the United States in just over a month.

Throughout his campaign, Trump laid out a list. Things he plans to accomplish in a second term — some on day one. They include: closing the border...imposing tariffs... and ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump also campaigned on bringing down food prices...in fact, he told NBC's Kristen Welker, it's the reason he won.

President-elect Trump has a long to-do list for his first days in office. How much of it can he actually get done? A lot says senior Trump advisor Jason Miller.

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For many of us, Christmas songs are dominating our playlists this week. There's the one you start hearing in October, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby," and the Christmas banger that went to number one last year, Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."

Lee, now 80, recorded the song when she was 13. The living legend talked to NPR last year when her song — finally — hit number one. We revisit that conversation.

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The brutal regime of Bashar al Assad fell over the weekend with dizzying speed. Syrians within the country and around the world burst into celebration.

Now, the rebel group Hay'at Tahrir al Sham, or HTS has to govern. They are designated a terrorist organization by the US.

And some worry that HTS could slide into its own kind of autocratic regime.

That fear is not unfounded. Across the Middle East and North Africa, many revolutions have overthrown autocrats, only for those countries to descend back into chaos or a more oppressive rule.

The Syrian revolution began amid a wave of uprisings in the region that led to new, undemocratic regimes. Can Syria avoid a similar fate today?

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FBI Director Christopher Wray announced yesterday that he will resign before President-elect Trump takes office. This comes after Trump announced he would appoint loyalist Kash Patel to lead the Bureau.

President-elect Trump's pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, held several national security positions in the first Trump administration. Since then, he's found money and attention as a pro-Trump influencer promoting conspiracy theories.

What can that tell us about his plans for the FBI?

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One of the triumphs of modern medicine is that children diagnosed with cancer today have an 85 percent chance of surviving at least five years.

That is up from a rate of about 50 percent a generation ago.

But survival brings new challenges.

NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports on the unique needs of young people as part of the series, Life After Diagnosis.

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Five days after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in Manhattan, police arrested 26 year old Luigi Mangione in Pennsylvania. He's facing charges including murder, the illegal possession of a firearm, and lying about his identity.

Authorities believe they have arrested the person responsible for gunning down the CEO of a health insurance company. What have we learned about Luigi Mangione, and his possible motivations?

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