IT General

The promise of Robert De Niro playing not one but two infamous gangsters might enough to tempt fans of Goodfellas or the Godfather trilogy into seeing The Alto Knights. But be warned. While the promise of double De Niro is tempting, the movie itself is inexplicable. 

On paper, The Alto Knights sounds terrific. The real-life story of Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, two childhood friends turned rival Mob bosses, is peppered with the classic elements of gangster movies, including macho face-offs, sharp-tongued wives, vicious betrayals, a criminal conspiracy, and merciless, violent murder. Who better to draft such an adapted screenplay than Nicholas Pileggi, the author and co-screenwriter behind Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and Casino? And who better to headline than recurring Scorsese collaborator/iconic tough guy Robert De Niro? 

However, director Barry Levinson (Sleepers, Dope Thief) makes some absolutely befuddling choices in The Alto Knights. The potential promised by its talent is squandered in a completely confounding gangster flick. 

Why is Robert De Niro playing two characters in The Alto Knights? 

From the start, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello are depicted as very different kinds of gangsters, though they share a similar origin. These Italian immigrants became friends as young men, hanging around the Alto Knights Social Club in 1910s New York City. Associates of the notorious Lucky Luciano, both made their way in the city through criminal enterprises. However, by the 1930s, it was Genovese who was chosen to run the Family — that is, until a double homicide investigation chased him back to Italy. Before he left, Genovese handed the reins to his trusted friend, Costello, expecting to resume control upon his return.  

However, in the intervening decades, Costello's leadership of the Mob was so successful that on top of him becoming obscenely rich, he'd made enough political connections to achieve a sheen of respectability. In The Alto Knights, Frank is a suave philanthropist who attends glamorous charity balls with his wife, Bobbie (Debra Messing), a chic Jewish socialite, on his arm. Meanwhile, Vito is a more Scorsese kind of gangster — close to the streets, gnawing on a cigar, spitting out threats and curse words with equal ease. His wife is a sultry Italian divorcée (Kathrine Narducci) who runs her nightclub with passion and a big mouth. 

Frank is the kind of smooth criminal De Niro has played before, like in Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, where his affluence and polite veneer hide an ocean of sins. Vito is more mercurial, the kind of primed-for-eruption character De Niro played in Taxi Driver or Goodfellas. So there's a curious experiment in having the octogenarian actor attempt to straddle this range of representation that he's managed across decades, all in one film.

Masterfully applied prosthetics distinguish Frank from Vito, as do the voices De Niro uses for them. Frank is more traditionally De Niro, with a low, husky, alert but world-weary delivery. Vito is higher pitched and sharper in cadence; frankly, it feels like a Joe Pesci impersonation. But there are enough shared physicalities in both stride and facial expressions — especially in a couple of scenes where the characters face off — that this double-casting feels like a stunt that doesn't pay off. It's just obvious it's the same guy, but why is less clear.

Perhaps Levinson couldn't decide which role his Wag the Dog collaborator would be best in and so went for both. Maybe he thought this dual-casting would build a message about these mafiosos, something along the lines of how far they grew apart from their common past — sort of a "there but for the grace of God go I" kind of a thing. However, if that were the case, you'd think Levinson would do the same for the flashbacks, casting the same actor to play both Young Frank and Young Vito. Instead, Luke Stanton Eddy and Antonio Cipriano play these roles, respectively, but even calling them roles feels like a stretch considering their screen time. Astonishingly, The Alto Knights engages less with flashbacks than it does with black-and-white staged photographs intercut with archival B-roll and an egregious voiceover that barrels over everything.

The Alto Knights feels like a gangster movie with zero patience for its own story. 

It is a truth universally accepted that gangster movies are allowed to be long. Goodfellas is two hours and 26 minutes. Casino is two hours and 58 minutes. The Godfather Part II is three hours and 22 minutes. Sure, some might grouse, but overall it's understood: That time is required not only to properly unravel the secretive lives and complicated criminal conspiracies of its anti-heroes, but also to allow audiences to experience the intoxicating confidence of being a mobster. For instance, the Goodfellas' long take winding through the Copacabana on Henry and Karen's first date allows us to walk in the gait of a gangster, experiencing the access, the power, and the thrill. Filmmakers need pace and time to build the intoxicating atmosphere that makes murder feel like an understandable trade-off.

By sharp contrast, The Alto Knights races through its story with a cluttered and haphazard structure that seems to predict audience restlessness, and instead causes it. For instance, the movie opens in medias res, with the 1957 attempted hit on Frank Costello. Then, a voiceover from a calm Frank begins to explain what happened next and why the attempted murder happened at all. While you might be wondering if Frank is telling his story from beyond the grave, Levinson leaps to setting up who Frank and Vito are to each other through boring montages of the aforementioned B-roll and uninspired black-and-white flashbacks. It's a dizzying and dull structure that talks down to the audience instead of welcoming them in.

Voiceover can be compelling in a gangster movie, as Goodfellas proved. But here, it seems De Niro is given a third role — not so much as narrator but as a spackler trying earnestly to patch together the broken bits of this story into something sensible. Levinson's gratuitous use of voiceover papers over decades of important events and grisly homicides with little in the passing visuals to land their gravity.

Worse yet, Levinson — or perhaps Pileggi — becomes fixated on cross-cutting sequences, however unmotivated. Ideally, cutting from one situation to the other and back again would increase tension, showing how one incident will impact the other or paralleling how two characters have a shared point of impending threat. But in The Alto Knights, these crosscuts feel less about their relationships and more like the editor was told to trim 20 minutes from the film, whatever it took. So, gone are breaths, beats, and atmosphere. What's left is a gangster movie that feels forcefully sped up, causing few of its blows to land successfully. Which, considering the failed hit on Frank at the film's start, might be darkly fitting! 

To Pileggi's credit, he crafts monologues that harken back to the greatness of Goodfellas and Casino, elucidating from Frank and Vito's perspectives the self-preservation aspect of the Italian Mafia in America. Surrounded by bigotry and rejection, the Mob was built to protect their own. However, while this argument's weak points have room to be explored in his previous films, The Alto Knights gives little more than lip service to these ideas, leaning hard on De Niro's performance as the movie's structure crumbles around him. He is bolstered by a strong supporting cast, including Messing as Frank's shrewd wife, Narducci as Vito's volatile lover, The Sopranos' Matt Servitto as a frustrated Mob lawyer, Death to Smoochy's Michael Rispoli as a fired-up Frank loyalist, and Shōgun's Cosmo Jarvis as an easily flustered minion of Vito's. However, these engaging performances can't save The Alto Knights from sinking under the weight of Levinson's confounding direction. 

In the long run, The Alto Knights will likely be remembered fondly as a bold risk for its central casting gambit. But considering the masterful storytellers involved here and the muddle of a Mafia movie that came from them, it's impossible to imagine The Alto Knights will be known for much more than its big swing and a bigger miss. 

UPDATE: Jun. 3, 2025, 3:54 p.m. EDT This review of "The Alto Knights" was originally published on March 19, 2025. It has been updated to include the latest streaming information.

The Alto Knights debuts on Max on June 6.

The Life of Chuck is a perfect marriage of Mike Flanagan and Stephen King's talents, but not in the way you might expect. 

Both are living legends of horror, with the former creating a bevy of absolutely haunting miniseries for Netflix, including The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher, while the latter is a prolific, best-selling author whose horrific work has spawned such iconic scary movies as The Shining, It, and Carrie. This is Flanagan's third King adaptation, having tackled the kinky and nightmarish Gerald's Game for Netflix in 2017 and The Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep. Despite their shared taste for the scary stuff, their latest collaboration has much more in common with mainstream King adaptations like Stand by Me and The Shawshank Redemption than any of the above gems.

The star-studded cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tom Hiddleston, Matthew Lillard, and David Dastmalchian as well as previous Flanagan collaborators like Karen Gillan (Oculus), Mark Hamill (Fall of the House of Usher), Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass), Samantha Sloyan (Fall of the House of Usher), Jacob Tremblay (Doctor Sleep), and Kate Siegel (Hush). This dazzling ensemble tells a profound yet joyous tale of life and death, but not to worry — there's a bit of spooky stuff in here too. 

What's The Life of Chuck about? 

For those who haven't read King's novella, this movie's story is a mystery for much of its runtime. That's a thrill so rare I won't be ruining the fun with spoilers. So, let's say this: The Life of Chuck begins in a world plagued by catastrophe. Earthquakes are sloshing off chunks of California into the Pacific. Rampant absenteeism has shattered the reliability of society. And the internet is down, even PornHub. 

Incredibly, Flanagan's adapted screenplay paints a world that feels both terrifyingly familiar to our own, yet also speckled with humor. For instance, Dastmalchian, a character actor who is a gift to the horror genre, pops up to deliver a heart-breaking monologue that's gently studded with a great, humane punchline. The witness to these waves of pain and resilient pleasure is Marty Anderson (Ejiofor), a grade-school teacher who is desperately trying to make sense of this new (lack of) order, but is distracted by the widespread advertisement that is the movie's central mystery. 

Charles "Chuck" Krantz (Hiddleston) stares out from billboards and TV commercials, a thin smile on his face. Next to him is a chipper message thanking this seeming pencil-pusher for 39 great years. It seems to be a retirement ad. But why, as the stars themselves begin to flicker out of existence, does Chuck's face appear in suburban windows in a terrible green glow? Flanagan won't answer this swiftly. Instead, he'll unfurl the life of this mysterious ad man in the two following acts. And in this, he and King explore grief with a defiant joy. 

The Life of Chuck is about life in the face of death. 

In the film's opening act, Ejiofor and a cast of characters, including Gillan as his ex-wife, seek meaning and solace in a world ravaged by loss. There's a grim but beautiful sense of community in this shared agony. The latter acts look to the moments before such loss — the day you had a fateful meeting with a stranger; a school dance that changed your heart forever; the childhood curiosity whose impact wouldn't fully hit 'til years later. 

It's a foolhardy endeavor to try to capture a whole life in one movie; look to so many dull and stodgy biopics as evidence. And yet Flanagan manages it by creating a throughline in these moments of meaning. What were the moments that made Chuck's 39 years great? A thread that leads, in one direction, to the end of the world is followed back to a beguiling dance number, in which Hiddleston wows with a buoyant showmanship. This follows back to a childhood tragedy that connects to a moment of grandmotherly bonding, to an after-school activity, and the kind of epic defining moment of hard-won self-assurance that glows bright even decades later. 

Where some films struggle to slip through time to gesture to a complete story (We Live in Time), The Life of Chuck is elegant in its dance from now to then and way back when. The story is rife with tragedy, including natural disasters, death, and even social anxiety. But it's balanced by the undeniable beauty of unexpected human connections through art and conversation. It's a story that weaves about in such an unconventional way that Flanagan demands the audience's trust and patience. But the payoff is wondrous, delivering the kind of soul-emboldening emotional catharsis of King's most heart-felt films, like Stand By Me, The Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption. Undoubtedly, The Life of Chuck is not just one of Flanagan's best films yet, but also one of the best adaptations of King's work as well. 

The cast of The Life of Chuck is beyond radiant. 

Ejiofor shoulders the first act with eyes alive with curiosity, hope, and fear. Gillan brings a self-assured grit that grounds this dying world. With a gruff voice and a haunted tone, Hamill plays a grandfather instantly familiar as he is both loving and lost. Dastmalchian, Lillard, and Siegel deliver brief but stirring monologues that hit to the core. Sloyan, who was chilly in Usher, is divinely warm here as a grade-school gym teacher. Hiddleston shines as a common man with an extraordinary life, while Cody Flanagan, Benjamin Pajak, and Jacob Tremblay do a superb job of playing Chuck's younger selves, mimicking Hiddleston's physicality while carving out their own magical moments. 

SEE ALSO: Mark Hamill posts gleeful pic of himself sat next to Stephen King, gets a wholesome response

It's incredible. This is a movie that contains so much that it just shouldn't work. It's easy to imagine an iteration that fell too hard into the darkness, or depended too intensely on treacly sentimentality, or relied on its dashing star power to gloss over some underwritten turns. But The Life of Chuck is masterfully told. Like King's most moving adaptations, it doesn't play by standard rules of structure or audience expectations. It demands we follow the winding road through playful dialogue, painful lows, and rollicking highs, to an unknown beyond. It's surprising and upsetting, funny and profound. I laughed hard, cried 'til my eyes ached, and once gasped so loud that I heard it echo across a theater struck silent by a moment both shocking and tender. 

As I write this, The Life of Chuck has no distributor, meaning we don't know if or when it might come to a theater near you. But following a rousing world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which I attended, this awesome adaptation won the People's Choice Award. While it seems certain it will be bought, here's hoping that acquisition will lead to a theatrical release. There are some movies that really deserve to be seen in a big theater, surrounded by people — a community – tied to each other in the heady experience of cinematic art, and The Life of Chuck is one of them. It is glorious. 

UPDATE: Jun. 3, 2025, 4:32 p.m. EDT "The Life of Chuck" was reviewed out of the world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. This review, originally published Sept. 19, 2024, has been updated to include the latest screening information.

The Life of Chuck is now playing in limited release. It opens in theaters everywhere June 13.

There's an earnest thread of hope in Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme, despite its anti-hero being a monument of corruption. Like many of Anderson's movies (The Royal Tenenbaums, Asteroid City, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Fantastic Mr. Fox), his latest film focuses on a deeply flawed father who is determined to better connect to his brood. The biggest obstacle in his mission is always the man himself. But Anderson finds new flair in this film by playing within a new genre: the espionage thriller. 

Anderson has long been condemned by those critics unmoved by the flattened delivery of his ensembles and his cinematic worlds painted in muted hues of pink and yellow, often condescendingly described as twee. Within these pillars of his style, Anderson has been rigorously interrogating toxic masculinity and how it collides with professional ambition and personal relationships. With The Phoenician Scheme, he brings assassins, spies, poisonous gas, gunplay, and explosions into the mix. These pops of blood and violence are more shocking because of how they visually disrupt Anderson's picture-book aesthetic. Yet, the father at the film’s core might be Anderson's most tender yet. 

The Phoenician Scheme is a father-daughter story.  Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda and Mia Threapleton as Liesl in director Wes Anderson's "The Phoenician Scheme." Credit: TPS Productions / Focus Features

Benicio del Toro stars as notorious businessman Zsa-zsa Korda; he has no loyalty to nations, an unfettered ambition for wealth, and a reputation for international scheming and rampant corruption. He also has 10 children, including his eldest and only daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who is preparing to take her vows as a nun. Well, that is unless the irreligious Korda has his say. 

Hated by world governments, spy agencies, and business rivals, Korda has the peculiar accomplishment of having survived a series of assassination attempts, including six plane crashes. Fearing his time may be running out, he reconnects with his estranged novitiate to compel her to leave the church and become the heiress to his fortune. But first, she has to be the assistant in his latest enterprise, "The Phoenician Scheme." 

In explaining this complicated building project of tunnels, trains, and dams, Korda presents a number of various shoe boxes, harkening to Anderson's adoration for a static shot of personal relics. (Later, a so-called family reliquary will also relish the delicate beauty of treasured objects.) He'll take her on a cross-country trip through 1950 Phoenicia, during which they'll meet an array of colorful characters, played by the likes of recurring collaborators Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, and Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as new-to-the-troupe members Michael Cera and Riz Ahmed. 

Though Liesl insists she wants a life of simplicity and devotion, Korda peppers her with a series of elaborate gifts, like a bejeweled rosary. Despite her protests, his effect on her can be seen in her changing appearance. Over the course of their adventure, Liesl's all-white novice uniform becomes peppered with color: red lipstick, green eye shadow, vibrant green tights, and a golden dagger. Her effect on her father is slower to show, but more profound, as he begins to question whether slave labor and man-made famines are not suitable business practices after all, and indeed may be "damnable — to hell!"

Benicio del Toro and Mia Threapleton are terrific together. Credit: TPS Productions / Focus Features

It’s more than a generation gap that lies between the two, as Liesl harbors deep resentments against a father too emotionally guarded to accept responsibility for his shortcomings. This emotional disconnect grounds Anderson’s style of dialogue, which sprinkles abrupt honesty and intellectual curiosity in dialogue delivered softly yet sternly. When Liesl accuses her father of murdering her mother, her tone is restrained yet resolute. In response, he may bluster. But his bellowing is typically reserved for business partners in negotiations, where figures of traditional masculinity in formal finery or athletic gear roar sharp and fast at each other, much like the growling animals in Fantastic Mr. Fox. 

Del Toro manages both modes, the softly grumbling patriarch and the hollering con man, with aplomb. As in The French Dispatch, he brings a bedraggled, world-weary texture to Anderson’s script, which silently speaks of a vulnerability beneath Korda's invincible persona. 

Credit: TPS Productions / Focus Features

Threapleton proves a perfect scene partner for del Toro. With her big eyes and naturally frowning face, she ripples with tremors of emotion, ranging from annoyance to curiosity to protectiveness and love. Like her father, she speaks flatly. So even when she says of a particularly gaudy gift, “I love it,” her lack of enthusiasm amuses. But her swift action of immediately using the item speaks of her sincerity. 

This conflict between the aural and visual plays out in several wonderfully throwback bits of comedy. Anderson harkens back to the era of the Great Stone Face, Buster Keaton, with characters facing off against deadly threats with comic physicality and pouncing into action with exaggerated poses of attack despite stoic expressions. Whether facing down another assassin or chasing a familial foe, the film’s stars have a winsome hilarity. Cera in particular, as a tutor besotted by Liesl, is laugh-out-loud funny.

Michael Cera was born to be in a Wes Anderson movie.  Michael Cera as Bjorn and Mia Threapleton as Liesl in director Wes Anderson's "The Phoenician Scheme." Credit: TPS Productions / Focus Features

As bug expert Bjorn, Cera is on the sidelines for much of the film, perched in the background with a curly wedge of blonde hair and carrying an array of baggage, a constant reminder Bjorn is but another acquisition of Korda's. Until he is not. 

In his pursuit of Liesl, Bjorn reveals another, more swaggering side to himself. It’s an amusing and surprisingly sexy on-screen makeover. Cera plays both versions of Bjorn masterfully. With his gentle Swedish accent, he has a soft silliness as he earnestly speaks about the wonders of insects or gently tempts Liesl with a cold beer. Later, however, he is the rare truly self-confident Anderson character, an eccentric who owns up to his secrets but refuses to shrink from them. Joining with del Toro and Threapleton, Cera engages in a delicate dance of silliness and sincerity, nailing every step.

Of course, a Wes Anderson movie is always stuffed to the brim with terrific actors in quirky roles. The Phoenician Scheme does not disappoint on this front. It’s a thrill to see longtime collaborators like Bill Murray and Willem Dafoe pop up in a black-and-white series of heavenly visions. Recent collaborators like Bryan Cranston and Tom Hanks pop up for a brief yet splendidly entertaining sequence about bruised egos and competing masculinity. Where some Anderson movies have an actor who can’t quite find the tone and so ends up sticking out like a sore thumb, every piece of The Phoenician Scheme ensemble fits into its peculiar puzzle of corruption and family just right. 

Credit: TPS Productions / Focus Features

Out of the Cannes Film Festival, several critics have condemned this film as one of Anderson’s very worst. Sincerely, I cannot connect to that reading. The Phoenician Scheme employs the pillars of style that have long supported Anderson's stories, while diving more deeply into a tale of a big, powerful man who's trapped by his own stodgy view of what being a man means. It is not Korda’s fleet of sons who might save his soul, but one pushy daughter who can’t resist a bit of shimmer. In that, The Phoenician Scheme becomes a charmingly hopeful tale about how even with our flaws we might find love, family, and salvation. 

The Phoenician Scheme is now in theaters.

UPDATE: Jun. 4, 2025, 2:30 p.m. EDT "The Phoenician Scheme" was reviewed out of the Cannes Film Festival. This article, originally published on May 24, 2025, has been updated with current viewing information.

Dangerous Animals has a killer hook: Jai Courtney stars as a deranged serial killer who uses sharks as his weapon of choice.

It sounds bonkers, like something you'd see in an old Batman comic, in an Austin Powers movie, or on late-night TV, back when the ads were all 1-900 numbers. But props to screenwriter Nick Lepard and director Sean Byrne. They bring blood and bite to this funky premise, delivering a movie that's deep in dread, sweat, thrills, and chills. 

Sure, when sharks swim into horror, things can get pretty gnarly. The all-time classic is Jaws, where the gore of chewed-up human remains is balanced with an engaging character-driven drama. Splashier slaughters came from that seminal film's more vicious offspring, ranging from the shark slasher Deep Blue Sea to more realistic thrillers like The Shallows and 47 Meters Down, with the over-the-top Jason Statham adventure The Meg and the proudly trashy Sharknado film series taking a more gonzo approach to the subgenre.

SEE ALSO: Summer Movie Preview: What's coming to theaters and streaming?

Yet, Dangerous Animals isn't of this breed. Instead, sharks in this movie are sort of a bait and switch for something more surprising and far more sinister. 

Dangerous Animals is more serial killer horror than shark creature feature.  Hassie Harrison plays Zephyr in "Dangerous Animals." Credit: IFC Films

Those familiar with Sean Byrne's previous films may not be surprised to discover the sharks aren't the scariest things in Dangerous Animals. No shade to these kings of the ocean. Cinematographer Shelley Farthing-Dawe and editor Kasra Rassoulzadegan masterfully capture and edit shots of sharks swimming with a delicious sense of menace. Some such scenes are so striking in the way they portray the power and size of these creatures that it literally took my breath away. But sharks are not the monsters in this movie. They're just being sharks!

The monster here is Tucker (Courtney), a sun-cooked Aussie who makes a living on the Gold Coast by taking tourists out on his boat to go on shark dives. Sure, many come and go with nothing but a brush with nature and happy memories. But from the film's frightening opening sequence, audiences are made aware of Tucker's dark side. It's not just chum this rugged fellow tosses overboard to the sharks. He feeds them ritualistically, feeling a deep connection to the beasts and taking special pleasure in watching them feast  — on young women, specifically.

SEE ALSO: The angry Australian animal Australians are actually scared of

This is in line with Byrne's brand of horror, which tends to center the terrible things mankind does to its own. The Aussie filmmaker made his debut with 2009's The Loved Ones, which centered on a teen girl taking out her most twisted desires on a kidnapped crush. Then in 2015 came The Devil's Candy, starring Ethan Embry as a family man (and metalhead) who strives to protect his teen daughter from the homicidal urges of a mentally ill (or arguably possessed) old man.

Dangerous Animals feels a natural progression for Byrne, containing the heavy-metal energy of his sophomore film with the sadistic glee of his first. And Courtney proves his pitch-perfect collaborator in making a movie that's unrelentingly twisted and rousingly entertaining. 

Jai Courtney is a rip-roaring force of nature in Dangerous Animals.  Jai Courtney plays a serial killer who uses sharks as a weapon in "Dangerous Animals." Credit: IFC Films

The Australian actor has had a fascinating career, having been floated as a possible predecessor for Bruce Willis in the universally panned A Good Day to Die Hard in 2013. He's appeared in several action franchise movies since then, from Divergent to Terminator: Genisys to 2016's Suicide Squad and its odd 2021 pseudo-sequel. But only the last of these — where he played the wild card DC supervillain Captain Boomerang — gave a sense of the unique dichotomy of Courtney's abilities. 

SEE ALSO: 34 bloody excellent Australian horror movies that'll mess you up (and where to watch them)

Broad-shouldered and handsome, he's a natural fit for the action hero mold. But his performance in David Ayer's Suicide Squad showed Courtney could be funny and get weird with it. It was an exhilarating rush to watch him do just that. In Dangerous Animals, he is unleashed. Forget the serious brooding or dashing swagger of bog-standard leading men. Courtney has something more rare and beguiling, a crooked smile that promises trouble and a wild eye that threatens carnage.

In Dangerous Animals, Tucker's sheer brute force makes him scary. But Courtney, finding the fun in playing such a monster, makes the character instantly iconic. He is so undeniably charming in tourist-pleasing mode that it's easy to see how his prey is lured in. For the free-spirited surfer named Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), the heroine at the heart of Dangerous Animals, he disarms her by offering her a favor — no strings attached. But just as quickly as he can flash his teeth in a smile, he can bite. And this makes Byrne's movie more than just a torrid thriller. 

Dangerous Animals is a mesmerizing horror story about toxic masculinity. 

Tucker loves the sound of his own voice. While keeping women locked away in an effectively sound-proofed cell on his boat, he delivers unwelcomed speeches about the nature of animals. Courtney captures the snarling bravado heard on countless macho podcasts, dropping fun facts about sharks, snakes, and marlins, applying a philosophical varnish to his violence against women. But the visual details of Tucker's ritual, which involves vintage VHS tapes and DIY lures, suggest a more psychological motive rooted in misogyny. And this psychology is just as disturbing as the scenes of violence and slaughter by shark. 

In Dangerous Animals, Byrne and Courtney give us a mesmerizing portrait of toxic masculinity. Tucker compares himself to sharks, because as a man he feels insufficient, especially in the face of women like Zephyr. There's even an implication of impotence that evokes Luis Buñuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, where a man aspires to murder women but never does so by his own hand. Similarly, Tucker uses sharks to commit his crimes.

Terrifying in a real-world sense, Tucker has mastered hiding his rage until he's out on the sea, where there's nowhere to run. The way he can switch from an affable bogan to a snarling beast is riveting, not only for Courtney's quickness but also because this terrible transformation reflects a common fear women have that any random smiling guy on the street might be a monster just beneath the surface. (See the man versus bear debate of 2024.) 

Remarkably, as thematically dark as Dangerous Animals is, watching it is electrifying and wickedly fun. Whether small-talking with a scruffy local, rigging up a victim for feeding time, or dancing around ritualistically to rock music in red underwear, Courtney is a live wire, sparking so intensely that his villain seems capable of anything.

Cheers to Harrison, who matches his energy with a solid disgust as Zephyr. Together, they build a cat-and-mouse tale that is jolting in the way of Byrne's previous films. Just when you think you know where Dangerous Animals is going, it dives even deeper and darker, and you're left catching your breath.

Simply put, Dangerous Animals is a satisfying, sick, and devilishly smart thriller that will excite you in theaters and stalk you on the way home. 

UPDATE: Jun. 3, 2025, 4:19 p.m. EDT "Dangerous Animals" was reviewed out of its World Premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. This review, originally published on May 17, 2025, has been updated to include the latest viewing information.

Dangerous Animals is now in theaters.

Earbuds aren't as straightforward as they used to be. While you can still find wired earbuds that plug in and go (you'll even find a pair on this list), the market is flooded with wireless options. Now, you'll find models with advanced noise cancellation to block out the sounds of busy coffee shops and commutes. Plus, a good pair should have a quality microphone so you can take calls on the go. And the good news is, you have a lot of options for quality earbuds.

Prices on earbuds range anywhere from $10 to $1,000, especially if you're going for professional-grade studio earphones. And if you care about noise cancellation, you can easily spend $300 — that's the price of peace and quiet. And these days, you can get hyperspecialized models like sleep earbuds.

Our top picks for earbuds are the Bose QuietComfort Ultra and Panasonic Technics AZ100s, which provide outstanding sound quality — but keep in mind, both of these models cost $299. While we stand by the value of everything on this list, we know that spending $300 on a pair of headphones is a lot to stomach.

SEE ALSO: I tested the best headphones and earbuds for working out during my daily run

Major shopping events like Black Friday and Prime Day are usually the best time to buy these gadgets; however, good deals pop up year-round, and we're particularly good at tracking them.

So, whether you need a pair of cheap wireless earbuds stat or you're ready to splurge on premium noise cancellers, we found the best earbuds of 2025, all tested and approved by Mashable reviewers.

Types of earbuds

There are two types of earbuds: wireless and wired. While those descriptors are self-explanatory, let's get into the specifics of both.

Wireless

Wireless earbuds connect to devices via Bluetooth for cordless usage. These earbuds range from $20 budget models to high-end models with active noise cancellation. While they don't require a wire to connect to a device, some wireless earbuds still have a wire that might go around the back of the neck to connect the buds.

While earbuds traditionally don't provide the passive noise cancellation of over-the-ear headphones, wireless models often feature ANC, which electronically blocks out background noise. With wireless headphones, you need to consider the battery life. Most models should have an eight-hour or more battery life before they need to be recharged.

Wired

Wired earbuds are the original model: two buds connected by a wire to your audio source. While they once felt high tech, they're pretty basic now. Wired earbuds with active noise cancellation are basically non-existent, and you won't find any on our list.

The biggest positive to wired headphones is that they don't need to be charged. They're a great backup option to keep in your bag in case your usual wireless headphones or earbuds run out of charge.

New additions to this guide

After extensive testing, Mashable Lead Shopping Reporter Bethany Allard rounded up the best sleep earbuds. You can read her full guide, but as of May 2025, we've added the Anker Soundcore Sleep A20 to this guide, which Allard says are the best sleep earbuds for most people.

What are the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds?

If you're just looking for a pair of everyday wireless earbuds, all but one of the models in this guide will check that box. (We also included the Marshall Mode wired earbuds as an option for folks who don't want to worry about battery.) If you're looking for the highest quality wireless earbuds, you can't go wrong with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra and Panasonic Technics EAH-AZ100 earbuds, our most recent recommendation in 2025. Both of these wireless earbuds feature elite noise-cancellation, stellar sound, long battery life, and a comfortable fit for extended wear.

Still, this guide includes several other earbuds we stand behind. Apple users may prefer the AirPods Pro, while shoppers on a budget may prefer buds from Marshall or Anker Soundcore. If you need help picking the perfect pair, read on.

TL;DR: Target is selling the Nintendo Switch 2 online in the "early morning" on June 6. Stop what you're droing and get yours now.

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 at Target Shop Now

The Nintendo Switch 2 has been launched, but it has been predictably difficult to actually get your hands on a console. From June 5, gamers could theoretically purchase the Nintendo Switch 2 for $449.99 and the Mario Kart World bundle for $499.99 — but stock has been hard to find.

Costco was the best place to find stock on June 5, but now it's all about Target. The retailer announced that it wouldn't sell the Nintendo Switch 2 online until the "early morning hours" of June 6. Well folks, that time has come. So stop what you're doing and get your console now.

The Nintendo Switch 2 offers a larger 1080p display for sharper gaming, magnetic Joy-Con 2 controllers, 4K TV compatibility, backward compatibility with most Switch games, and an adjustable kickstand. It's a serious upgrade that Alex Perry says is "awesome" in his day one review.

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Friday, June 6, 2025:

Across"Oh, for heaven's ___!"

• The answer is Sake.

Ending for "cine" and "multi," in movie theater names

• The answer is Plex.

Pelvic bone

• The answer is Ilium.

"This will ___!" ("Unacceptable!")

• The answer is NotDo.

Excited cry from a kid on the [circled letters]

• The answer is Whee.

DownWhat a ballerina might do on one toe

• The answer is Spin.

Permit

• The answer is Allow.

Richards of the Rolling Stones

• The answer is Keith.

Radiate, as energy

• The answer is Exude.

Stooge with a bowl cut

• The answer is Moe.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Mini Crossword.

UPDATE: June 6, 2025, 4 a.m. ET — Target is selling the Switch 2 online in the "early morning" on June 6.

The Nintendo Switch 2 has been launched. Eager players lined up at midnight launch events, and those lucky enough to get a console are already happily playing Mario Kart World and other launch titles.

From June 5, gamers could finally purchase the Switch 2 console for $449.99 and the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle for $499.99 — if you could find it in stock. While Costco had inventory available on June 5, Target is the next retailer with confirmed inventory. Target previously announced it wouldn't sell the Switch 2 online until June 6, so all eyes are on Target for the time being.

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Buy the Switch 2 console at Target $449.99
Release date: June 6 Shop Now

So, where can you buy the Switch 2 online? Check the latest Switch 2 stock at the My Nintendo Store and official Nintendo retailers and smash that refresh button like it's your first time playing Super Smash Bros.

• Buy the Switch 2 at Nintendo

• Buy the Switch 2 at Walmart

• Buy the Switch 2 at GameStop

• Buy the Switch 2 at Best Buy

• But the Switch 2 at Costco

• Buy the Switch 2 at Target (available online June 6)

Every way to buy the Switch 2 online Credit: Nintendo

To avoid hoarding and reselling, Nintendo and retailers are limiting orders per person. That means you'll need to make an account to successfully place an order. We also recommend reviewing our tips for tracking restocks, and in the meantime, try all the links below.

Place an order with Nintendo

You can't simply go to the My Nintendo Store and buy the Switch 2. To order the Switch 2, you need to log in with an active, paid Nintendo Switch Online account. Once you do that, you can choose either a Switch 2 standalone console or the Mario Kart World bundle and then hit the confirm button to "register your interest" in ordering a Switch 2.

Now for the weird stuff. Only Switch Online members who have paid for at least 12 months of service and registered at least 50 hours of gameplay on their Switch consoles can purchase through Nintendo. In other words, you better be a true Switch gamer if you want to buy the Switch 2 this way. If you're eligible and follow these steps, watch your email for an invitation link.

Buy the Switch 2 at Nintendo: Nintendo Switch 2 console $449.99 Learn More Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle $499 Learn More How to order Switch 2 at Walmart

Unlike Nintendo, purchasing the Switch 2 online at Walmart is pretty simple. Technically, Walmart shoppers have been able to preorder Switch 2 consoles on Walmart's website since midnight ET on April 24. In reality, the console has been sold out consistently. However, this week Walmart confirmed that it would have new Switch 2 inventory available online soon, though we don't know exactly when. Our advice? Go to the Walmart Switch 2 listing a few times a day and smash that refresh button.

We'll update this article as soon as we find Switch 2 consoles in stock at Walmart (or anywhere). Walmart also sells a lot of Switch 2 launch titles and accessories.

Buy the Switch 2 at Walmart: Nintendo Switch 2 console $449 Shop Now Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle $499.99 Shop Now How to buy Switch 2 at Target (June 6)

Target stores opened as usual on launch day, and according to a press release, Switch 2 hopefuls were directed to a "designated queuing location" near the entrance. Target workers reportedly gave out reservation tickets to a lucky few. Buyers were whisked off to the electronics department, where they could finally purchase either the Switch 2 or a Switch 2 bundle.

The company said it will start selling it online "beginning early morning" on Friday, June 6.

Buy the Switch 2 at Target: Nintendo Switch 2 console $449.99 Pre-Order Here Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle $499.99 Pre-Order Here How to buy Switch 2 at GameStop

GameStop is the one retailer of the four listed here that's doing things a little bit differently. If you were lucky enough to get a GameStop preorder, you could pick up your console at midnight on June 5. GameStop stores also hosted midnight launch events (though supplies were limited), and gamers can go to GameStop locations to participate in a "Transfer and Trade," where they trade in their original Switch and transfer data to the new console.

You can also try your luck online or sign up to get updates when new inventory becomes available. You can also buy Switch 2 games and accessories at GameStop, including those all-important MicroSD Express cards.

Buy the Switch 2 at GameStop: Nintendo Switch 2 console $449.99 Shop Now Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle $499.99 Shop Now How to buy Switch 2 consoles at Best Buy

Best Buy joined GameStop in hosting Switch 2 midnight launch parties, but the tents and lawn chairs have been packed away by now. If you weren't one of the chosen ones who got a console at these events, you'll have to rely on the Best Buy website. So far, we haven't seen any inventory available, unfortunately.

As a “high-demand item,” Best Buy customers have to follow specific steps to buy a Switch 2 online:

• Create a My Best Buy account and sign in

• Confirm your location

• Add the item to your cart

• Follow the on-screen prompts and check for available inventory

• If you get a Switch 2 console in your cart, you’ll have 10 minutes to complete the purchase

Buy the Switch 2 at Best Buy: Nintendo Switch 2 console $449.99 Shop Now Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle $499.99 Learn More Can you buy the Switch 2 at Amazon?

You'll notice there's one major retailer conspicuously missing so far — Amazon. That's because Amazon is not an official Nintendo retailer, so any Switch 2 consoles you find there are likely listed by resellers of dubious legitimacy. However, Amazon shoppers can preorder some Switch 2 titles ahead of the launch.

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Daemon X Machina Titanic Scion Limited Edition $99.99 at Amazon
Shop Now Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Rune Factory Guardians of Azuma Standard Edition $69.99 at Amazon
Shop Now How to buy the Switch 2 at Staples

As we noted in our Switch 2 preorder guide, select Staples stores will sell the Switch 2 on a first-come, first-served basis starting June 5. Most Staples locations open at 8 a.m., but we recommend showing up bright and early. Staples will also be selling an unnamed Switch 2 game bundle, and we know it's not the standard Mario Kart World bundle. As with other retailers, Switch 2 consoles are currently listed as "Out of stock" at the Staples online store.

Opens in a new window Credit: Nintendo Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle $499.99 at Staples
Learn More How to buy the Switch 2 at Costco

Are you a Costco member? Then you may be able to secure your Switch 2 at the mega-retailer, which has been one of the few retailers with actual inventory available on June 5. Costco members can purchase the Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle online starting June 5, though there's a limit of one console per membership (every seven days). As of this writing, the console and Mario Kart bundle are both sold out.

Opens in a new window Credit: Costco Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle $499.99 at Costco
Learn More Why is the Switch 2 so hard to find in stock?

Simply put, it's a matter of demand far outpacing supply, though tariffs definitely didn't help.

Since opening for preorder on April 24, the Switch 2 has been sold out pretty much everywhere, like the PS5 before it. In fact, so many gamers tried to place preorders on April 24 that they immediately crashed the GameStop, Target, and Walmart websites. That's left many Switch fans wondering how to buy the Switch 2 online. So, if you aren't buying a Switch 2 in person, keep checking this page for the latest stock updates on Switch 2 launch day and beyond.

Still want more information? Our first impressions of the Switch 2 Mashable reporter Alex Perry plays the Switch 2 at a Nintendo event. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Mashable reporter Alex Perry was lucky enough to play the Switch 2 at two Nintendo pre-launch events, and as of this writing, he's hard at work testing his Switch 2 review unit. You can read all about his first impressions and thoughts on Mario Kart World. After playing the Switch 2 for the first time, he had this to say:

From the first second I got to hold a Switch 2 unit, I instantly liked the way it felt in my hands. The 7.9-inch 1080p display (which supports HDR and 120Hz refresh rate) is substantially nicer than the 6.2-inch 720p display on the predecessor console. In addition to a bigger screen, the Joy-Cons also have some added muscle…Doing a cross-country race across Mario Kart World's gorgeous open world without even a hint of loading between tracks is awesome. Seeing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom run at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second is very convincing in person.

You can also read all about the Switch 2 launch titles we're most excited to play.

And if you still haven't secured an order, keep checking this page for updates — and good luck!

Connections: Sports Edition is a new version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.

Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections Sports Edition?

The NYT's latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication's sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

Here's a hint for today's Connections Sports Edition categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Popular MLB teams

• Green: NFL sanctions

• Blue: Baseball player characteristics

• Purple: Popular games

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: An NL Central player

• Green: Football penalties

• Blue: Attributes for a pitcher

• Purple: Sports, with a letter changed

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections Sports Edition #256 is...

What is the answer to Connections Sports Edition today

• An NL Central player - BREWER, CUB, PIRATE, RED

• Football penalties - CLIPPING, FACE MASK, HOLDING, OFFSIDE

• Attributes for a pitcher - COMMAND, CONTROL, STAMINA, VELOCITY

• Sports, with a letter changed - BOILING, BORING, GULF, SKIMMING

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

Curious how the Switch 2 compares to the Switch 1? Tens of millions of gamers are asking the same question.

Nintendo has officially launched its newest home console/handheld hybrid. You're probably wondering what makes it so different from the original Nintendo Switch console.

After the Nintendo Direct Switch 2 livestream ended back in April, I got to spend several hours playing with the Switch 2 and upcoming games like Mario Kart World and Metroid Prime 4. After nearly five hours of hands-on time then, and much more in the time since, I came away very impressed with the Switch 2, but also concerned about a couple of key factors. Let's dig in.

On the surface, Switch 2 seems like a fairly iterative upgrade. Fortunately, that's not really the case.

Still trying to get your hands on the Switch 2? Check out our updated preorder guide, get ready to preorder via Nintendo, and study up on how to track Switch 2 restocks.

SEE ALSO: How to buy Nintendo Switch 2 online: It's all eyes on Target now Switch 2 is a much more premium-feeling device It looks much more professional than the Switch 1. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

First, I want to focus on the hardware and its new features rather than the software.

The first Switch was a godsend in terms of industrial design compared to the Wii U. However, over time, things like the Steam Deck started to make it feel a little bit like a toy. Personally, the Joy-Cons were always too small for me to use comfortably, rendering it a TV-and-Pro-Controller-only machine in my household. Admittedly, it proved to be a fantastic device for children, but I am not a child, at least not physically.

SEE ALSO: Nintendo Switch 2 specs unveiled: Bigger screen, better performance, and more

From the first second I got to hold a Switch 2 unit, I instantly liked the way it felt in my hands. The 7.9-inch 1080p display (which supports HDR and 120Hz refresh rate) is substantially nicer than the 6.2-inch 720p display on the predecessor console. In addition to a bigger screen, the Joy-Cons also have some added muscle. I still would rather use the new Pro Controller (which feels great, but is functionally very similar to the last one), but I played several games using Joy-Cons and didn't have any comfort-related problems for once.

Nintendo crucially maintained the same level of thinness from Switch 1 to Switch 2, so it's in that sweet spot of "just heavy enough to feel premium and just light enough to feel comfortable." I'd also like to shout out the magnetic Joy-Con attachment mechanism, which instantly shut down any skepticism I may have had about its reliability the second I tried it. It smartly requires you to pull a little release trigger on the back to detach Joy-Cons from the unit, so it seems nearly impossible to do unintentionally. Miraculously, though, inserting the Joy-Cons magnetically works like magic. Nintendo absolutely nailed this aspect of the device.

Featured Video For You Nintendo Switch 2: Hands On Switch 2 has more horsepower, and it shows The new Pro Controller feels great. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

It's no surprise that Switch 2 is more powerful than its predecessor, as that console was underpowered when it launched eight years ago. I can confirm that Switch 2 is noticeably more powerful than the original Switch.

SEE ALSO: My day one Nintendo Switch 2 review: It's here, and it's awesome

Doing a cross-country race across Mario Kart World's gorgeous open world without even a hint of loading between tracks is awesome. Seeing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom run at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second is very convincing in person. The Switch 2 can run Street Fighter 6 and Cyberpunk 2077 at levels that at least seem acceptable. It's definitely not a handheld PS5, but Nintendo forcing what is functionally a tablet to run (some) games at 4K resolution or 120 frames per second (Metroid Prime 4 looks unbelievable that way) is a real sight to behold.

Switch 2 vs Switch 1: You can use a Joy-Con as a mouse The new Joy-Cons are very nice. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

One big new thing is that the Joy-Cons have a mode where they double as computer mice. I don't know if you can literally use one on a PC, but the primary experience I had with them was very PC-like. My main exposure to the Joy-Con mouse support was in a brief demo of Metroid Prime 4, where it...basically played like a PC first-person shooter.

The mouse controls are very responsive and feel right. I do think the Joy-Cons are a little weird to hold with one side facing down on a flat surface, as that definitely caused some accidental button presses at inopportune moments. I'm also not sold on this becoming a regular feature in games after the launch window, or even something I personally want to do, primarily because I don't usually keep a flat surface within arm's reach while I play games. But I can confirm that it works precisely as intended, and as an added bonus, you can just lift up the Joy-Con and resume playing Prime 4 with dual-analog stick controls seamlessly without even pausing the game.

Switch 2 vs Switch 1: Nintendo is going all in on social features The fabled "C" button. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

First announced back at the Direct in April, one of the Switch 2's defining features is GameChat. This is basically Discord, but with some Nintendo seasoning. Up to 12 people can be in a room yapping it up at a time, and up to four people can stream a very choppy-looking live feed of their gameplay to everyone else. I've tried a bit of this already, and I can confirm it at least works. GameChat is designed to be used with an open mic attached to the Switch 2 itself, and it does a pretty good job of eliminating unwanted background noise, in my brief experience. However, you can also just use a headset, if you like.

You can even pre-order a Piranha Plant webcam for your Switch 2.

SEE ALSO: Every Nintendo Switch 2 game you can preorder right now Switch 2 vs Switch 1: The battery life is apparently worse vs Switch OLED

Here is the start of the bad news when comparing the Switch 2 and Switch 1.

More horsepower and a better display also mean more drain on battery, which was confirmed by Nintendo, via Kotaku. (Womp, womp.) It has an approximate battery life of 2 to 6.5 hours, depending on what you're playing on it. Compare that to the Switch OLED, which can range from 4.5 to 9 hours, and it's not looking so hot for the new console. Again, this is something that was impossible to test prior to launch, so we'll need to find out for sure now that the console is actually out. But don't expect amazing battery life from Switch 2.

Switch 2 price vs Switch 1: It's a much larger drain on your wallet It still comes with a dock, of course. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable

This is the worst news about Switch 2: It costs $450 to start. There's also a $500 model bundled with Mario Kart World, which actually looks like the more enticing deal because Nintendo has gone wild with game prices this time around. Mario Kart World is a shocking $80 on its own and Donkey Kong: Bananza is $70. There's also a little minigame collection meant to be a tech demo for the console that is, for reasons I cannot fathom, a paid download. Combine all of that with the fact that upgraded "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" versions of old games will come with a price tag for the upgrade, and it feels like Nintendo is nickel-and-diming us a little bit.

I'll grant the company a little bit of grace because of the Trump administration's chaotic tariff policy, but customers who feel the weight of a $500 console purchase justifiably won't give Nintendo the same benefit of the doubt. Regardless of all the upgrades Switch 2 brings, it's $150 more expensive than Switch 1 was at launch. It's not ideal.

UPDATE: Apr. 24, 2025, 3:29 p.m. EDT This story has been updated with additional photos of the Switch 2 and its accessories, as well as new details about the console's social features and preorder launch in the United States.

Elon Musk is contemplating decommissioning SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, responding to President Donald Trump's apparent intent to terminate government subsidies and contracts with the billionaire's companies. It looks like the feud between the former allies has quickly turned vicious.

SpaceX's CEO initially announced that the company would retire its Dragon spacecraft in an X post on Thursday, with Musk sharing a screenshot of a post published on Trump's Truth Social account earlier in the day.

"The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," said Trump in the screenshotted post. "I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!"

"In light of the President’s statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately," Musk wrote on X.

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SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft are a family of vehicles designed to carry passengers and cargo. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has previously relied upon them to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Mere hours prior to Musk's announcement, SpaceX posted on X that it was preparing to launch a Dragon next Tuesday.

For a few hours, it seemed reasonable to assume that this launch would now not go ahead. However, Musk then appeared to quickly walk back his decision. Responding to an X user advising him to "cool off and take a step back for a couple days," the billionaire subsequently stated that Dragon will not be decommissioned after all.

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It's unclear whether Musk's initial announcement was sincere, or whether his apparent about-face might be sarcastic. Musk has a history of making flippant comments online with no apparent regard to their consequences. What is clear is that Musk and Trump's relationship is well past the honeymoon phase, and now looks much more like an ugly divorce.

If Trump does terminate government contracts with Musk's companies, it would deal a significant blow to the billionaire. According to a Washington Post investigation, NASA has invested over $15 billion in SpaceX alone. When put together with Musk's other companies such as EV automaker Tesla, his various businesses have received at least $38 billion in government contracts, loans, subsidies, and tax credits.

Musk and Trump go through messy public breakup Credit: Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images

Musk's relationship with Trump has significantly deteriorated in recent days. The billionaire announced that he was leaving his position as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) last Wednesday, just one day after he criticised Trump's tax bill as undermining its work. The split was presented as amicable at the time, with Trump presenting Musk with a golden key and words of praise. However, their love affair has quickly turned sour.

Musk continued to lambast Trump's bill after his departure from DOGE, arguing that it will increase government debt by trillions of dollars. Strongly disagreeing with the president's characterisation of the proposed legislation as a "Big Beautiful Bill," Musk labelled it a "disgusting abomination" and has been calling for lawmakers to crush it.

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For his part, Trump has claimed that Musk is simply throwing a tantrum because the bill supposedly cut an alleged "EV mandate." The president stated on Thursday that he had asked the billionaire to leave his administration, and that Musk had been "wearing thin."

"I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!" Trump claimed. 

Despite Trump's assertions, he did not abolish any EV mandate as there has never been any U.S. law which makes switching to an electric car mandatory. However, Trump has taken several anti-EV measures since his inauguration, including abolishing incentives encouraging EV adoption, pausing $3 billion in funding for a U.S. charging network, and introducing a $250 annual fee for EV users in his recent tax bill.

Trump's claim about Musk is an interesting contrast to his statements in March, when he praised the billionaire for not complaining about the supposed end of the non-existent EV mandate. The president made the comments while he and Musk co-hosted a Tesla ad on the White House lawn in an effort to boost the company's cratering stock prices.

Tesla's struggling share value has now fallen again amidst Musk's feud with Trump, plummeting more than 14 percent on Thursday to wipe out over $150 billion in value.

"I don’t mind Elon turning against me, but he should have done so months ago," Trump wrote on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Musk went all-in attacking Trump on Thursday, claiming that the president is linked to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and sharing posts calling for him to be impeached. Musk has also hit out at Trump's tariffs on international trade, predicting that they will "cause a recession in the second half of the year."

"Without me, Trump would have lost the election," Musk alleged on X. "Such ingratitude."

TL;DR: Save on an AI stock-picking app that can help you navigate crazy markets and keep your cool — just £50.80 lifetime subscription (reg. £357.85).

Opens in a new window Credit: SSP Software Sterling Stock Picker: Lifetime Subscription £50.82
£357.85 Save £307.03 Get Deal

I was watching this year's earlier market crashes and wondered, ‘Does it make sense to invest right now?’ I’d always been curious about the stock market, at least in terms of how people actually got rich by practically gambling, but I didn’t have a single clue where to begin — let alone how to even buy a stock.

Once I saw a TikTok calling this period a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (take that with a grain of salt), I decided to take my chance. But I needed help researching everything: what stocks to choose and how to track them. That’s when I found Sterling Stock Picker, and made my first investment with their £50.80 lifetime subscription (reg. £357.85).

How I invested my first dollar

My biggest concern wasn’t that the market wouldn’t eventually recover, but that I would choose ‘bad’ stocks due to my lack of experience. Sterling Stock Picker helped me feel calm with the 5-minute questionnaire covering my wants and ability to handle risk.

Then, I started researching stocks with help from AI. I also learned about something called exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are like groups of stocks. I didn’t know what these were at first, so I consulted the AI assistant, Finley AI, and it told me that it’s like putting a stake into a huge nest of companies at once rather than individually.

Once I selected a few ETFs to invest in, I opened a free brokerage account (sadly, you can’t directly invest through Sterling Stock Picker). I purchased my shares and put the information into Sterling Stock Picker so I could view my portfolio with fun graphs and charts and get alerts when prices change — which may help me determine when to sell.

How it’s going

As a total beginner, I won’t offer any formal advice to you other than to do your research and be well-informed — and Sterling Stock Picker is a great tool to do just that.

Get a Sterling Stock Picker lifetime subscription for £50.80 (reg. £357.85).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Unblock YouPorn from France with a VPN. The best service for unblocking porn sites is ExpressVPN.

Pornhub has stopped operating in France after the introduction of age verification laws. Aylo, the company that owns Pornhub, also runs sites such as YouPorn and RedTube. That means YouPorn will also become unavailable to French users.

The reasons for this restriction are complicated, but the workaround is straightforward. If you want to unblock porn sites like YouPorn for free from France, we have all the information you need.

How to unblock YouPorn for free in France

VPNs are tools that can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to secure servers in other locations. This simple process bypasses geo-restrictions so you can access sites like YouPorn from anywhere in the world.

Unblock YouPorn by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in a location that supports access to YouPorn

4. Visit YouPorn

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for unblocking porn sites are not free, but most do offer free-trial peiods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can unblock porn sites like YouPorn without actually spending anything. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you the opportunity to temporarily retain access to YouPorn before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to sites like YouPorn, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for bypassing content restrictions is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for YouPporn?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for unblocking porn sites like YouPorn, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast streaming speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.95 (including money-back guarantee).

Unblock YouPorn for free in France with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Live stream Venezuela vs. Bolivia in World Cup qualifiers for free on SBS On Demand. Access this free streaming site from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Venezuela and Bolivia have looked pretty poor in South American World Cup qualification, but both sides will be looking to end this campaign on a high. There are still a few games left to play and plenty of points available.

If you want to watch Venezuela vs. Bolivia in World Cup qualifiers for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Venezuela vs. Bolivia?

Venezuela vs. Bolivia in World Cup qualifiers kicks off at 6 p.m. ET on June 6. This fixture takes place at the Estadio Monumental de Maturín.

How to watch Venezuela vs. Bolivia for free

Venezuela vs. Bolivia in World Cup qualifiers is available to live stream for free on SBS On Demand.

SBS On Demand is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone can access this free streaming service with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia, meaning you can access free live streams on SBS On Demand from anywhere in the world.

Access a free live stream of Venezuela vs. Bolivia by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

4. Visit SBS On Demand

5. Stream Venezuela vs. Bolivia for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Venezuela vs. Bolivia in World Cup qualifiers without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select World Cup qualifiers before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming sites from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for SBS On Demand?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on SBS On Demand, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Australia

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.95 (including money-back guarantee).

Live stream Venezuela vs. Bolivia in World Cup qualifiers for free with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Live stream Colombia vs. Peru in World Cup qualifiers for free on SBS On Demand. Access this free streaming site from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Colombia need a positive result against Peru in their upcoming South American World Cup qualification fixture. Peru are languishing near the bottom of the standings, so Colombia will be looking at this game as an opportunity to climb towards the top. They are sixth ahead of this round of fixtures, but only three points behind Equador in second.

If you want to watch Colombia vs. Peru in World Cup qualifiers for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Colombia vs. Peru?

Colombia vs. Peru in World Cup qualifiers kicks off at 4:30 p.m. ET on June 6. This fixture takes place at the Estadio Metropolitano.

How to watch Colombia vs. Peru for free

Colombia vs. Peru in World Cup qualifiers is available to live stream for free on SBS On Demand.

SBS On Demand is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone can access this free streaming service with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia, meaning you can access free live streams on SBS On Demand from anywhere in the world.

Access a free live stream of Colombia vs. Peru by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

4. Visit SBS On Demand

5. Stream Colombia vs. Peru for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Colombia vs. Peru in World Cup qualifiers without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select World Cup qualifiers before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming sites from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for SBS On Demand?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on SBS On Demand, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Australia

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.95 (including money-back guarantee).

Live stream Colombia vs. Peru in World Cup qualifiers for free with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Unblock Pornhub from Arkansas with a VPN. The best service for unblocking porn sites is ExpressVPN.

You might think that you can navigate the online world with total freedom, but your access is not always guaranteed. There are restrictions and blockades all over the place, and sometimes your favorite site will be behind a wall.

A number of U.S. states have introduced laws that require visitors to upload ID before accessing pornography sites. As a result, Pornhub has banned visitors from those states from accessing their website. There are complicated reasons for this ban, but the workaround is straightforward. You can secure access to your favorite site in a few simple steps.

If you want to unblock porn sites like Pornhub for free from Arkansas, we have all the information you need.

How to unblock Pornhub for free in Arkansas

VPNs are useful tools that can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to secure servers in other locations. This straightforward process bypasses geo-restrictions so you can access sites like Pornhub from anywhere in the world.

Unblock Pornhub by following these simple steps:

1. Sign up for a VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in a location that supports access to Pornhub

4. Visit Pornhub

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for unblocking porn sites are not free, but most do offer free-trial peiods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can unblock porn sites like Pornhub without actually spending anything. This is obviously not a long-term solution, but it does give you the opportunity to temporarily retain access to Pornhub before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to sites like Pornhub, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for bypassing content restrictions is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for Pornhub?

ExpressVPN is the top choice for unblocking porn sites like Pornhub, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast streaming speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $139 and includes an extra four months for free — 61% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, a one-month plan is available for just $12.95 (including money-back guarantee).

Unblock Pornhub for free in Arkansas with ExpressVPN.

This content originally appeared on Mashable for a US audience and has been adapted for the UK audience.

Dating is a competitive game, and you should do everything you can to give yourself a chance of success. Looking your best and smelling fresh is a good place to start, but nothing shortens your odds of success like signing up to a dating site.

The problem with this tactic is that there are just so many dating sites out there to consider, each with a different set of features that will suit some people better than others. It's difficult to know which site is best for you, and you could easily spend hours researching all of the sites on offer without a definitive answer.

We know that you don't have time for all of that, so we've set out to make things a little easier for you.

What are the benefits of using dating apps?

By subscribing to a dating site, you're shortening your odds of finding a connection. It's as simple as that.

Dating sites and apps let you get your information out there to a massive network of like-minded individuals, and provide the opportunity to test out a potential relationship on an app before actually meeting in real life.

SEE ALSO: Best hookup apps and dating sites to find casual sex with no strings attached

Subscribing to dating apps and sites is also a way less intimidating way of meeting someone compared to a face-to-face situation. If you find the idea of meeting people slightly terrifying, these apps can help you face your fears from the comfort of your own home.

Is online dating worth the hassle?

Sentiments aside, we have some hard data to back our reasoning for Why Online Dating Is Worthwhile™: Statista predicted that the online dating audience will grow to 53.3 million by 2025, compared to 44.2 million users in 2020. A study from Stanford released in 2019 asserted that online dating is officially the most common way for couples to meet, rounding out at nearly 40 percent of couples having first met online.

This pre-pandemic prediction came before the COVID-era dating app sign-ups surge. Though people are eager to get back to doing as many things IRL as possible now, dating apps are still a great place to find someone, whether you want a relationship or are just looking to get nasty.

And yes, though there are algorithms that dictate what profiles pop up on your screen, we firmly believe that the stars aligning still comes into play. After all, the person who signs up on the app and is looking for love at exactly the same time you are is up to fate and the universe, proving that online dating romance is very much alive and well.

Because it's not 2007 anymore, the need for mobile-friendly online dating isn't just a millennial thing — people over 40 don't have time to sit around at their home desktops, either. Dating sites that are older than most members of Gen Z (like Match and eharmony) have been forced to give serious attention to their smartphone counterparts if they don't want to be outgrown.

However, that statistical promise still requires patience and a game plan, the game plan is choosing the dating app with features that best fit your lifestyle — and the lifestyle of the type of person you're looking for. Are you looking for an app strictly for sex or an app more serious than Tinder but less serious than eharmony? Or maybe, you'd just really love to find an app where queer women aren't relentlessly sexualized by creeps and pestered by unicorn hunters.

Should you use free dating apps?

The good news is that there are a lot of free dating sites and apps out there, and the likes of Tinder and Hinge are good examples of free apps with massive networks of users.

The bad news is that a lot of free apps simply don't cut it. You get what you pay for with dating sites and apps, and for the best experience with the greatest possibility of finding exactly what you're looking for, you are going to have to cough up the cash.

You can still find something worth your time with a free app, but if you're looking for compatibility tests, chat rooms, videos, and a greater level of control, we recommend upgrading. Paid sites provide access to premium features that give you the best chance of finding something special.

What is the best dating site?

We're sorry to break it to you like this, but there isn't a single dating site that is better than the rest. Instead, there are a lot of sites and apps with similar features and packages, and the best option for you really comes down to your own set of preferences.

To make the decision process a whole lot easier for everyone, we have lined up a selection of the most popular sites in the dating game, including leading sites like Match, and Eharmony. All you need to do is pick a favourite from the bunch.

These are the best dating sites in 2025.

"I spend every waking hour scrolling, swiping, texting, and it's all just hurtful or meaningless."

In one brief venting moment, over a couple of Gimlets in a crowded Manhattan bar, And Just Like That… Season 3 takes aim at dating in 2025. In episode 2, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her former neighbour Lisette (Katerina Tannenbaum) are catching up in a New York hotspot, when Lisette expresses her frustration at how involved technology is with her dating life.

"It's actually not about him, it's about this," she says, pointing to her iPhone. "My phone is who I am in a relationship with…I'm so sick of it, I'm so done." To drive home the point, Lisette then accidentally tosses her phone across the bar and conveniently hits a handsome stranger, who then buys them both Gimlets, wheels in motion. It's not a subtle message: meeting IRL is the way.

Lisette's not alone at this moment; she's embodying dating app fatigue.

SEE ALSO: Sick of dating apps? Try a dungeon sound bath instead.

"Is it any wonder 79 per cent of Gen Z daters and 80 per cent of millennial daters feel burnt out by dating apps, according to a 2024 study by Forbes Health?" writes Mashable's Rachel Thompson in her book, The Love Fix.

"This is unsurprising given that these apps are now engineered to keep people active on these apps for as long as possible. To the apps, you're at your most valuable when you're an active user — trapped in the revolving door of swiping, matching, chatting. Where's the incentive to make dating apps work better, to allow your most valuable assets to break free?"

Featured Video For You ‘Babes’ and the portrayal of period sex on screen

Lisette even projects assumptions about single women "having it better" when courting in the 19th century — a trend that rears its head every time a new season of Bridgerton lands. When Carrie mentions that her house in Gramercy was built in the 1840s and that she loves picturing the women who lived there before her, Lisette cannonballs into venting about dating in 2025, describing being stood up by a psychiatrist whose text messages are deeply patronising.

"It must have been so much easier to be single back then," Lisette says. "I mean, it's such a messed-up time to be dating."  

"It's no secret that singles have been disenchanted with dating apps lately," Mashable's Anna Iovine writes. "Users complain that apps are copying each other with similar features and encourage bad behavior like ghosting, and they're trying to branch out into IRL activities instead (even dungeon sound baths)."

Sex and the City has long been tentative about tech and dating Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon in "And Just Like That..." Season 3. Credit: Craig Blankenhorn / Max

Sex and the City and And Just Like That… have always dipped a toe in the relationship between sex, dating, relationships, and technology, though the former ended in 2004 before the dating app boom of the 2010s. Sex and the City dabbled in the online dating space in Season 2, episode 12, when Carrie's best friend Stanford (Willie Garson) met user "Bigtool4u" in a chatroom as "Rick9+" then IRL at a bar.

And Just Like That… tried its hand with dating app discourse in Season 1. In episode 7, Carrie, a longtime tech agnostic, tries dating apps for the first time after the death of her husband (her publisher Amanda (Ashlie Atkinson) encourages her to go on a date to give her readers "some element of hope" at the end of her book on grief). Signed up by Seema (Sarita Choudhury) to an ambiguous dating platform, she swipes through a couple of profiles before she matches with 53-year-old widower Peter (Jon Tenney) and goes on a decent date with him (yes, it ends with them puking in the street, but it's still nice).

Here, And Just Like That... missed an opportunity to connect with modern dating as it actually stands, as Carrie's experience really doesn't do justice to the real dating app fatigue users might identify with. Swiping through countless profiles has become synonymous with dating apps, with some apps like Tinder adding swiping limits and others like Bumble prone to cutting you off if they think you're on a swiping frenzy As Thompson writes in her book, "Dating, especially online dating, often feels like a numbers game — with emphasis on 'game.'"

And luckily for Carrie, her experience doesn't include the complex "talking stage," the pressure around meeting up IRL, and the possibility of being ghosted, cloaked, or stood up. It's pretty breezy, right up until they both vomit in the gutter together.

Seema (Sarita Choudhury) has a terrible experience with an IRL matchmaker. Credit: Craig Blankenhorn / Max

Despite flouting real 2025 dating woes, Season 3 of And Just Like That… seems to be actively spurning all forms of digital connection at every turn. In the first episode, Seema quite literally sets her apartment on fire while waiting for a video call from her long-distance partner. But dating IRL doesn't get much easier for our characters — Miranda's (Cynthia Nixon) "dating bingo" goes terribly initially, and Seema's decision to use an in-person matchmaking service is a very disempowering experience for her. 

Entirely defined by Aidan's (John Corbett) set boundaries of communication, Carrie's long-distance relationship is portrayed as awkward and solitary — and mostly played out on smartphone. For the most part, branded with an unattainable "easy breezy" Cool Girl energy this season, Carrie is allowed fleetingly human moments of frustration over Aidan's lack of contact, constantly checking her phone for responses that come in mere emoji form.

"Texting and emojis are not a relationship," Carrie vents to Miranda. "A relationship is standing across from someone and saying, 'What you do think?' and then they say, 'What do you think?'"

Phone sex is deeply unsexy in Season 3, with a cringeworthy scene between Carrie and Aidan in the first episode. Thrown off by her staring kitten, Carrie fakes an orgasm on a call with Aidan and feels uncomfortable afterwards, deeming herself disingenuous. "I faked phone sex…and now I feel dishonest," she says to Miranda and Charlotte. 

Essentially, nobody wins when it comes to technology, sex, and relationships in And Just Like That... Season 3. It's reminiscent of a broader fatigue beyond the show, and may have people throwing their phones across bars just to fuck around and find out.

And Just Like That... Season 3, episode 2 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes out Thursdays.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

To begin.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

START

Hurdle Word 2 hint

Blazing.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for June 6, 2025 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

FIERY

Hurdle Word 3 hint

Huge.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for June 6 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for June 6, 2025 Hurdle Word 3 answer

GIANT

Hurdle Word 4 hint

Marine.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for June 6 Hurdle Word 4 answer

NAVAL

Final Hurdle hint

A twig.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

STICK

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

TL;DR: Live stream Chile vs. Argentina in World Cup qualifiers for free on SBS On Demand. Access this free streaming site from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Argentina are totally dominating the South American World Cup qualification campaign, and they'll be confident of beating bottom side Chile in their next fixture. Chile have only won two games so far, but anything can happen in international competition. They'll need to be at their absolute best to take anything from Argentina, but the passionate home support should help.

If you want to watch Chile vs. Argentina in World Cup qualifiers for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Chile vs. Argentina?

Chile vs. Argentina in World Cup qualifiers kicks off at 9 p.m. ET on June 5. This fixture takes place at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos.

How to watch Chile vs. Argentina for free

Chile vs. Argentina in World Cup qualifiers is available to live stream for free on SBS On Demand.

SBS On Demand is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone can access this free streaming service with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia, meaning you can access free live streams on SBS On Demand from anywhere in the world.

Lve stream Chile vs. Argentina for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

4. Visit SBS On Demand

5. Stream Chile vs. Argentina for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Chile vs. Argentina in World Cup qualifiers without actually spending anything. This clearly isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select World Cup qualifiers before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming sites from around the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for SBS On Demand?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on SBS On Demand, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Australia

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.95 (including money-back guarantee).

Live stream Chile vs. Argentina in World Cup qualifiers for free with ExpressVPN.