Author Archives: Carol Edwards

Bradley Cooper is the latest Late Show guest to take on Stephen Colbert’s signature Q&A gauntlet, the “Questionert”.

For the right participant, the late night host’s rapid-fire battery of innocent yet piercingly personal questions paints a fuller picture of the answerer than a million bog-standard “So how did you get your start in acting?” press tour questions could ever uncover. Cooper is one such “right participant”; squeezing his eyes shut, the Nightmare Alley star carefully listens to every question and then fires off the first answer that pops into his head.

We learn, for example, that Cooper fears Komodo dragons, loves the classical composer Mahler (even as he admits he’s currently working on a Leonard Bernstein biopic), and — correctly, in this author’s humble opinion — prefers dogs to cats. He’s also got a very specific opinion on his favorite sandwich.

Sometimes a phone can do pretty much everything right and still be sorta hard to recommend. That’s where I’m at with the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE.

Samsung’s latest (the FE stands for “Fan Edition”) is somewhat of reimagining of last year’s Galaxy S21. On paper and, for the most part, in practice, it’s an impressive offer: A bigger screen and bigger battery to go along with a similar triple-camera array and the same premium Qualcomm Snapdragon processor as the S21 for $100 less. Last year’s flagship S21 launched at $800 and the S21 FE retails at $700.

And all of that is fine! It’s good, even. This is a really nice Android phone that’s a better value than the original S21. But the “Fan Edition” part of the name is apt; unless you’re really devoted to Samsung’s product ecosystem, there are better values out there in the world of mid-range Android phones.

A beefy lad

The first thing you’re likely to notice once you get your hands on the S21 FE is that it’s not exactly small. In fact, it’s actually a little bit bigger than the more expensive S21. Sorry if you have small hands — this phone isn’t for you.

Here’s exactly how the specs shake out on the S21 FE versus its older counterpart:

• 6.4-inch AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate vs. 6.2-inch on S21

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G processor in both phones

• Rear triple-camera array: 12MP wide and ultrawide lenses, 8MP telephoto vs. 64MP telephoto lens on S21

• 32MP front camera vs.10MP on S21

• 4,500mAh battery vs. 4,000mAh on S21

• Either 6GB or 8GB RAM vs. 8GB only for S21

• 128 or 256GB storage on both phones

In other words, this is a slightly bigger phone than the S21 with an incredibly high refresh rate, a high-end processor, and slightly altered cameras. You’ll have to spend $770 for the model with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, which makes it only a $30 discount from last year’s 8GB/128GB model. That’s…not a great value, honestly. An extra year (plus the imminent announcement of 2022’s Samsung flagships) would’ve ideally reduced the price just a bit more.

Aside from those differences, the two phones are physically and functionally pretty similar. Like the S21, the S21 FE has a razor-thin bezel around the display with the selfie cam nested in a hole-punch slot at the top center of the screen. All three rear cameras are stacked in a vertical, rectangular bump on the plastic backside of the phone. Power and volume buttons adorn the right side while the bottom features a USB-C port for charging and a SIM slot. And finally, the S21 FE comes in four colors: graphite, lavender, white, and olive.

As I hinted at before, the size of the S21 FE is going to be a turn-off for some people, myself included. I don’t have especially small hands but I still have to two-hand the phone to navigate Instagram and Twitter because the system-level back button is on the bottom right corner of the screen, while many apps put important functions (like Instagram Stories) on the upper left corner. I recently had to replace my iPhone and went with the 2020 SE model simply because it’s smaller than the newer, fancier models.

Tech companies, please give us more phones we can use with one hand.

I also strongly feel that a more budget-friendly take on a flagship should include a 3.5mm headphone jack, but the S21 FE doesn’t have one. People who want cheaper versions of phones may not have expensive Bluetooth headphones and shouldn’t have to buy a USB-C dongle just to use their wired earbuds. There are several ways in which 2020’s Google Pixel 5a is a better value than the S21 FE (and we’ll get to some of them later), but a major one is that Google’s $450 handset has a headphone jack.

Oh, one more thing: Samsung says the S21 FE is capable of fast charging like the other S21 models, but the FE doesn’t come with a charger at all. A USB-C cable is included in the package, but I couldn’t test out the fast charging because I wasn’t going to shell out $50 for an official charging brick from Samsung. Big thumbs down to all of that.

More size doesn’t mean less speed

Samsung may have cut corners to (marginally) downsize the S21 FE’s price, but the good news is that performance didn’t take a hit.

The Snapdragon 888 5G processor from last year’s phones is still here and still provides plenty of juice for all your daily smartphone tasks. I could switch from researching the amusing, extremely southern names of Georgia Bulldogs quarterbacks over the years (shout out to current Bulldogs like Stetson Bennett IV and Jack Vandagriff) to yammering about those names to my friends on Twitter and Discord without a hitch. All the while, I was streaming podcasts from Spotify and occasionally bopping over to YouTube to watch game highlights or other such distractions.

This is admittedly helped by the blazing fast 120Hz refresh rate. Everything just feels so smooth. A couple of other quick things to note about usability: Unlocking the phone via facial recognition and the in-display fingerprint sensor both worked almost flawlessly for me. The fingerprint sensor on the S21 was irksome for our reviewer last year, but not for me this time around.

I sincerely don’t have any complaints about the moment-to-moment process of using the S21 FE. I only wish I could do it for longer without needing to plug in.

Bigger battery, but could be better

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about the S21 FE is its battery life. I can’t directly compare it to an S21 because I don’t have one of those on hand, but the big increase in the spec sheet wasn’t really reflected when I actually used the dang thing.

To be more specific, I got about 12 hours out of a full charge while doing the things I always do on my phone: Streaming podcasts, vomiting my brain’s wastewater out onto my Twitter feed, occasionally watching YouTube videos, reading articles about sports, and chatting with the homies on Discord. This also included a couple of relatively brief (about 45 minutes total) excursions outside into the 5G zone (more on that in a second), which may have put a little more stress on the battery.

I suppose dropping the refresh rate down to 60Hz would save some battery, but why the heck would I do that? The brilliant display is one of the main selling points of this phone. Compromising that just to compensate for a battery that could be better goes against everything I believe.

That’s a tad dramatic, but the point is that there are other Android phones in this price range that can last much, much longer. For instance, Google’s Pixel 6 starts at $600 and can get you through an entire day. You don’t even need to shell out the extra few Benjamins for the Pixel 6 Pro to get a battery that’s easily better than what’s on offer in the S21 FE.

5G still isn’t reliable

As a quick aside, the S21 FE is a 5G-compatible phone and Samsung helpfully provided a 5G-ready SIM card from T-Mobile for testing purposes. As always, the quality of 5G service varies greatly not only depending on which city you’re in, but it’s literally also down to which street you’re on at times. However, T-Mobile is supposed to have the best 5G service around. That was not my experience.

I was able to get some decent download speeds in my Brooklyn neighborhood, topping out at around 300Mbps. That’s fine! The only problem is the network couldn’t sustain that consistently. Trying to watch YouTube videos on the go in 1080p or higher resulted in frequent buffering breaks if I happened to round a corner where the signal wasn’t strong enough.

If, for some reason, 5G is a major selling point of the S21 FE for you, I can’t promise a great experience in that regard.

Capable cameras

I’m not real thrilled about certain aspects of the S21 FE, like the battery life or the price. But Samsung usually doesn’t mess around with its phone cameras, and I’m happy to report that you can still get some really great shots on this slightly downgraded set of lenses.

In particular, I was impressed by the nighttime photography feature. This is standard fare in plenty of phones now, but sometimes post-processing for dark photos makes them look a little too much like they take place in fake daytime instead of capturing the feel of being out in darkness. Nighttime is great. It’s atmospheric. My fellow Michael Mann-heads understand this; Collateral would look like crap if it took place during the day.

Anyway, nighttime shots on the S21 FE look nice.

Of course, portrait mode is here, too, and I’ve got no qualms with how those shots come out on S21 FE. You can adjust blur intensity on the fly to produce just the right bokeh effect for your photos.

The most noteworthy downgrade from the old S21 is that the 64MP telephoto lens was replaced with a measly 8MP one. As a result, highly zoomed in shots don’t look super sharp. You’re allowed to zoom as high as 30x, but I wouldn’t recommend that. Every shot I took like that turned out blurry and ugly.

Just look at what the telephoto lens did to my boy Gengar!

For all the grousing I’ve done about various setbacks with the S21 FE, at least the cameras are still pretty darn good.

For Samsung fans only

On its merits, the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE is a high-performing Android phone that doesn’t cost as much as a flagship, with a solid set of cameras and an excellent display. I’d easily recommend it in a vacuum. Unfortunately for Samsung, we’re not in a vacuum and there are just better values out there for Android lovers.

I just can’t see a compelling reason to go with this phone over either the Pixel 5a or Pixel 6. The former is a massive discount at $450 and has a much better battery, terrific cameras, and the all-important headphone jack. The only downside is the 60Hz refresh rate. If you want a higher refresh rate and don’t care about a headphone jack, the Pixel 6 is only $600 and delivers a 120Hz display to go along with a similarly excellent battery and Google’s great cameras.

The best case I can make for the S21 FE is if you really care about seamless connectivity between your phone and external Samsung devices like the Galaxy Buds 2. However, you can just download the Galaxy Wearable app from the Play Store, so even that is a minor inconvenience at worst.

If you’re a massive Samsung fan and can’t deal with Android phones from other brands, you’ll find plenty to like about the Galaxy S21 FE. Everyone else should get a Pixel.

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Welcome to AirFryDay, where — you guessed it — every Friday Mashable covers the latest trends, dispenses advice, and reviews recipes for your air fryer.

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Let’s get this out of the way: This isn’t really a recipe for an air fryer hot pocket. It’s called that by the recipe creator, but think of it more as a sandwich pocket.

The term hot pocket conjures up images of greasy pepperoni, melty cheese, and a thin, pizza-dough-esque crust. Usually it’s in reference to the brand Hot Pocket, which is owned by Nestle. But this recipe, from Zach Rocheleau on TikTok, delivers a low-cal version of something akin to a Hot Pocket. And that ain’t half bad.

The idea from Rocheleau is simple. Stuff a sandwich with turkey, avocado, cheese, and roasted red peppers, air fry, and enjoy. Here are the basic instructions for making two pockets, which Rocheleau says come in around 300 calories apiece.

Ingredients

• Butter bread — four pieces

• Deli turkey — about four slices

• Avocado — about one-half of an avocado, smashed

• Shredded cheese

• Roasted red peppers

• Egg whites

Directions

1. With a rolling pin or similar tool, roll each piece of bread until it is fully flat and thin.

2. Paint the edges of the bread with egg whites.

3. Put a large pinch of cheese in the center of one piece of bread.

4. Drop two rolled pieces of turkey on top of the cheese.

5. Lay roasted red peppers on top of the turkey until totally covered.

6. Smoosh a large scoop of smashed avocado on top of the ingredients.

7. Brush the top piece of bread with egg whites, then drop it on top of the stacked piece of bread. The egg white side should face down.

8. Pinch the sandwich closed with your fingers then, using a fork, crimp the edges of the bread to create a seal.

9. Brush the outside edges of the sealed pocket with egg whites.

10. Repeat steps 1-9 to make a second pocket.

11. Spray the air fryer basket and pockets with oil or nonstick.

12. Air fry at 400 degrees for about five minutes or until bread is golden brown and toasty.

The details

First things first — here’s how the cooking process looked, overall, for Rocheleau. The TikTok laying out this recipe has racked up some 2.5 million views.

Clearly I understood that this would not be an ooey-gooey hot pocket. Granted, you could likely stuff buttered bread with cheese and pepperoni to achieve that result. But in some ways, this recipe was even better.

It’s so simple! It’s so hard to screw up! It’s tasty! A few things I messed up that didn’t end up mattering:

• I didn’t have a rolling pin but used an empty rice wine bottle.

• I made a huge mess when I brushed my egg whites .

• I cracked the bread open while closing it up, leaving a massive gash.

There’s truly not too much to add to the recipe. It’s not trying to be ground breaking – it’s trying to make lunch easy and healthy.

Here are my ingredients, ready to rock. Pro tip: Squeeze some lime juice into the avocado to keep it from browning if you need to pause for a bit to take pictures.

Here is my bread rolled out. It took barely any pressure to do.

Here are the ingredients all crimped up and with a slightly broken seal that turned out fine. Closing the pocket is relatively delicate work, but the toasting process is forgiving. Rocheleau himself mentioned this will happen and that it is fine.

Here are the hot pockets fully cooked in the air fryer. Easy.

And a cross section.

So, again, not really a Hot Pocket. It’s a little pocket sandwich. And it was good! The turkey and cheese bring the savory while the red peppers and avocado add a bit of freshness.

This recipe takes a good sandwich and contains it, melts cheese, and makes things toasty and crispy. I can see myself using this as a base for lunches in the future. A “hot pocket” or leftover chicken, veggies, and some cheese? Why not.

I definitely recommend this recipe. It’s easy and supremely hard to mess up. After all, what’s not to love about a warm sandwich you can eat on the go?

If you’ve already blown through your Netflix and Hulu libraries, maybe it’s time to give Paramount+ a spin. Since Paramount has been making movies since 1916, its catalog of films is deep. Seriously. Imagine John Wayne Westerns on the same streamer as Sonic the Hedgehog! It’s madness, and we love it. Movies forever!

Below, 14 of our favorite movies from Paramount’s library to watch now on Paramount+.

1. Bridget Jones’s Diary

Bridget Jones’s Diary is a perfect movie, and we’re not hearing any opinions to the contrary, thank you! Renée Zellweger gained 20 pounds to snag the role of Bridget, already a beloved character in the UK thanks to Helen Fielding’s wildly popular Bridget Jones novels. The Brits were in an uproar about an American being cast in a role that was archetypally British, but Zellweger’s performance (and accent!) were so spot-on, the complaints quickly gave way to rave reviews.

The start of a film franchise, and the best movie of the lot, Bridget Jones’s Diary introduces us to an ordinary 30-something woman in London who, after turning 32 alone, vows to lose weight, quit smoking, stop drinking, and find love. Enter Hugh Grant as Bridget’s preternaturally charming boss, and, because this is a Pride and Prejudice adaptation after all, Colin Firth as the man who couldn’t seem more wrong for Bridget (his name is literally Mr. Darcy!!!). Even if you know where this funny and grounded rom-com is going, you’re sure to have a blast along the way.

How to watch: Bridget Jones’s Diary is now streaming on Paramount+.

2. A Quiet Place 

John Krasinski went from actor to celebrated director with this spine-tingling 2018 hit. Starring opposite his real-life wife Emily Blunt, The Office star plays a farmer dedicated to protecting his family from killer creatures that hunt by sound. This clever premise means the movie’s characters can’t scream, because such a sound would definitely be their last. That means your own sounds of terror are weaponized while watching, crashing into the silent soundscape that’s suffocating in tension.

Ruthlessly paced and keenly realized, A Quiet Place is a superbly scary thrill ride. But what makes it top-tier are the poignant performances by Krasinski, Blunt, and their onscreen children, Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe. Together, they make a family-frightening feature that’s perfect for a quiet night at home. And if you dare to double-feature, the spooky sequel, A Quiet Place: Part II, is also available. — Kristy Puchko, Deputy Entertainment Editor *

How to watch: A Quiet Place is now streaming on Paramount+.

3. Flight 

When his plane suffers a mechanical failure that threatens to doom the flight, airline pilot William “Whip” Whitaker manages a miraculous landing that saves the lives of everyone on board. At first, he’s hailed as a hero, but when an investigation into the incident reveals new details, his heroism is called into question. Denzel Washington received an Academy Award nomination for his extraordinary portrayal of a flawed and complex man in this Robert Zemeckis-directed drama. Flight is a meaty and exciting film, a character study that keeps us on the edge of our seats. Just… don’t watch it on a plane, OK? That would not be a smart thing to do.

How to watch: Flight is now streaming on Paramount+.

4. Election

Never forget that Reese Witherspoon wasn’t always America’s beaming sweetheart. In Alexander Payne’s vicious high-school political satire, she’s Tracy Flick, the terrifyingly ambitious overachiever willing to do whatever it takes to win the race for student body president. Matthew Broderick shook off the long shadow of Ferris Bueller to play the embittered teacher who just can’t stand to see her sail to the success she thinks she deserves, and slowly drives himself mad trying to get in her way. More than 20 years (and several bruising election cycles) later, its edges are as sharp as ever. — Caitlin Welsh, Entertainment Reporter *

How to watch: Election is now streaming on Paramount+.

5. To Catch a Thief

An Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece, To Catch a Thief is a half-suspense, half-romance whodunnit against a sparkling Mediterranean backdrop. Cary Grant is smooth as ever as John Robie, a reformed jewel thief now living a quiet life in the French Riviera. But when a string of new robberies puts him under suspicion, he’ll have to find the real culprit before he takes the blame. 

Grace Kelly is literally glowing in this film, playing one of the rich tourists whose belongings were stolen, and her sumptuous Edith Head costumes are truly iconic. To Catch a Thief is one of those gorgeous classics where no one has a job and everyone speaks in witty double entendres. It’s a mischievous, flirtatious movie that makes you want to put on an enormous hat and move to Monaco — which is what Grace Kelly did: It was during the production of Thief that she met her future husband, the Prince of Monaco!

How to watch: To Catch a Thief is now streaming on Paramount+.

6. Hugo

Hugo Cabret (Sex Education‘s Asa Butterfield, but your kids don’t know that!) lives alone in a Paris train station, trying to understand mysteries left behind by his late father (Jude Law), including a robot that can write with a pen. Hugo befriends Isabelle (Chloë Grace Moretz) in a shared thirst for adventure which takes them through her godfather’s past and love for film — slowly but surely piecing together what connects them all to each other. Nothing like getting the youngins hooked on Martin Scorsese! — Proma Khosla, Entertainment Reporter *

How to watch: Hugo is now streaming on Paramount+.

7. Escape from Alcatraz

Based on an audacious real-life jailbreak, this classic action film stars Clint Eastwood as a convict as tough as he is clever. Frank Morris has a long list of offenses and a string of escapes on his record. So as soon as he arrives at a high-security prison, he’s searching for a way out. But the prison’s bars, guards, and regulations aren’t the greatest obstacle.

Alcatraz sits on an island far off the shore of San Francisco. Can Frank and his friends (Paul Benjamin, Jack Thibeau, Fred Ward, and Larry Hankin) make their way to freedom through the freezing waters on a homemade (well, cell-made) raft? Director Don Siegel brings a snarling edge to this tense tale of hardened men, yearning for freedom. — K.P. *

How to watch: Escape from Alcatraz is now streaming on Paramount+.

8. Arrival

This isn’t your run-of-the-mill alien flick. Arrival is a moody, complex science fiction drama where 12 extraterrestrial ships land across the globe… and wait. Countries scramble to make contact, to decipher meaning from the aliens’ presence. Enter Amy Adams as Louise Banks, a linguist assigned to study the alien’s language from their USA parking spot in Montana. The closer she comes to understanding the visitors’ intentions, the more her perception of the world around her begins to change. Arrival is scenic and existential, pairing high-concept philosophical questions with sweeping shots of the Montana plains. It’s suspenseful, provocative, and atmospheric — a winning combination for science fiction. And it goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway, Amy Adams is (as always!) at the top of her game here.

How to watch: Arrival is now streaming on Paramount+.

9. His Girl Friday

This classic screwball rom-com, adapted from the play The Front Page, sees star reporter Hildy Johnson take on one last assignment with her editor ex-husband before she gets out of the game for good to re-marry and retire to a quiet life of motherhood. If you’re a little burned out on contemporary comedy, there’s nothing better for the soul than watching a dame with moxie stalk around in gorgeous skirt suits tossing out rapid-fire banter in a Mid-Atlantic accent, and Rosalind Russell, as Hildy Johnson, does it better than just about anyone. Throw in Cary Grant as the former boss who’s still in love with her — and gives as good as he gets — and this 70-year-old film still crackles with energy and wit. — C.W. *

How to watch: His Girl Friday is now streaming on Paramount+.

10. Life is Beautiful

Looking to cry your face off? Life is Beautiful is here for you. One of the highest-grossing non-English language films of all time, this touching Italian drama, once seen, will sear itself into your memory so you clutch your heart each time you think of it. Roberto Benigni, along with directing and writing the film, stars as a young Jewish father in 1940s Italy. When his family is taken to an internment camp, he shields his son from the truth of the situation by pretending they are in a complex game, where tasks like hiding from the guards will earn him extra points. It’s a deeply affecting film, able to spark laughter and tears in equal measure. If you haven’t seen it, put it at the top of your list — and bring tissues.

How to watch: Life is Beautiful is now streaming on Paramount+.

11. Saint Maud 

In 2020, writer/helmer Rose Glass made a jaw-dropping directorial debut with this riveting psychological horror film. In a squalid seaside town, Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a pious young nurse who is fanatically dedicated to God. Hired as a private hospice caretaker for dying artist Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), Maud develops a dark fascination for her patient’s lust for life, booze, and Sapphic sex.

Their volatile bond is electric with temptation and conflict, which ignites as Maud steps up her quest to save Amanda’s soul. A battle of wills bends into the surreal as visual effects and a sound design reflect the world from Maud’s perspective. Punctuated with goosebump-pumping violence, swaddled in a sophisticated color palette of warmth and rot, and threaded by inky sexual tension, Saint Maud is uniquely intoxicating and unnerving experience that’ll leave you in horrified awe. — K.P. *

How to watch: Saint Maud is now streaming on Paramount+.

12. Mean Girls

There’s a reason why, over 15 years later, we’re still joking “You can’t sit with us!!!” when our friends meet us late for dinner. Mean Girls set the standard for teen comedies in the early 2000s. The Tina Fey-penned flick was a box office behemoth when it debuted in 2004, and it shows no signs of fading out of relevance any time soon. Lindsay Lohan is Cady Heron, a formerly home-schooled teenager with no clue how to navigate the strict and punishing social hierarchy of North Shore High School. Her new friends, themselves social misfits, push her to infiltrate the popular crowd so they can ultimately take down the Queen Bee, a flawless Rachel McAdams. 

Mean Girls is hilarious, endlessly quotable, and a piercingly accurate take on the stakes of popularity in 2000s American high schools. Luckily, since “On Wednesdays, we wear pink” and “She doesn’t even go here!” have firmly taken root in our collective cultural consciousness, we can keep enjoying this gem for decades to come. 

How to watch: Mean Girls is now streaming on Paramount+.

13. Minority Report

All the best science-fiction flicks are based on Philip K. Dick stories. First Blade Runner, then Total Recall, and in 2002, the mind-warping thriller Minority Report. The year is 2054, and America has won the war on crime by instituting the “Precrime” program, which utilizes future-telling technology to arrest people before they actually commit their foretold crime. Precrime Officer John Anderton (Tom Cruise) strongly believes in the power of his department, until his name appears on the arrest list for an upcoming murder. Directed by Steven Spielberg, Minority Report  is a complex science fiction story, a gripping action movie, and a suspenseful mystery film all-in-one.

How to watch: Minority Report is now streaming on Paramount+.

14. The Conversation

Sometimes the difference between life and death can hang on a single word.

No one understands this better than surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), who has been hired to record a conversation between a couple as they stroll around a San Francisco park. A paranoid and isolated man by nature, Harry becomes obsessed with understanding who this couple is and what they meant by what was said.

But in chasing down the motive of his mysterious client, he steps out of the shadows and into an uncomfortable spotlight. That move might be his last. A supremely suspenseful mystery, this classic from writer/director Francis Ford Coppola has wowed audiences, critics, and the Academy, boasting three Oscar nominations, including a nod for Best Picture. — K.P. *

How to watch: The Conversation is now streaming on Paramount+.

*Asterisks indicate the writeup is adapted from another Mashable article.

Bad news for Netflix fans. The streaming service is increasing prices in the U.S. and Canada. 

On Friday, Netflix quietly changed the pricing for all three subscription plans: 

• Basic plan increases $1 per month from $8.99 to $9.99

• Standard plan increases $1.50 from $13.99 to $15.49

• Premium plan goes up $2 from $17.99 to $19.99

According to the company’s website, the new prices will immediately apply to new subscribers. Existing subscribers, on the other hand, will see the price hikes gradually take effect. 

“Current members will receive an email notification 30 days before their price changes, unless they change their plan,” the streaming service says.

The last time Netflix increased prices in the U.S. was in October 2020. Prior to that, the company raised the fees in January 2019. So users might be annoyed with three recent price hikes. The price increases become especially stark if you look at them annually. A premium plan now goes for $239.88 per year while the standard plan costs $185.88 for 12 months. 

Netflix didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But in the past, the company has said the price hikes are needed to fund the original TV shows and movies the streaming service is constantly churning out. 

Netflix is also facing growing competition from other streaming providers including HBO Max, Disney+, and Amazon Video. In last year’s third quarter, Netflix reported having 213 million paying subscribers across the globe. However, user growth in U.S. and Canada has been stagnating at around 73-74 million users in recent quarters.

There’s just nothing that hits quite like great action. That raw, racing adrenaline thrusts you into the place of brave heroes, who’ve made the wild world their playground. Whether it’s tire-squealing car chases, dizzying combat, nerve-shredding escapes, heart-racing explosions, or stunt sequences so audacious they’re absolutely mind melting, we thrill seekers can’t get enough. 

So, to plot your next adventure, we’ve scoured Hulu for highlights that brandish hard-R action, wise-cracking superheroes, muscle-bound kidnappers, crossbow-wielding heroes, spell-casting villains, G.I. Joes, and a couple of nice guys.

Here are the 10 best action movies on Hulu streaming now.

1. Escape from Alcatraz

Based on an audacious real-life jailbreak, this 1979 classic action film stars Clint Eastwood as a convict as tough as he is clever. Frank Morris has a long list of offenses and a string of escapes on his record. So as soon as he arrives at a high-security prison, he’s searching for a way out. But the prison’s bars, guards, and regulations aren’t the greatest obstacle. Alcatraz sits on an island far off the shore of San Francisco. Can Frank and his friends (Paul Benjamin, Jack Thibeau, Fred Ward, and Larry Hankin) make their way to freedom through the freezing waters on a homemade (well, cell-made) raft? Director Don Siegel brings a snarling edge to this tense tale of hardened men, yearning for freedom. *

How to watch: Escape from Alcatraz is streaming on Hulu.

2. Deadpool 

If you’re craving absolutely bonkers humor and brazenly R-rated action, then you’ll want to meet Deadpool. Inspired by Marvel’s manic “merc with a mouth,” this outrageous 2016 action-comedy stars Ryan Reynolds as a superhero whose deadly fighting skills are matched only by his wise-cracking wit, which wounds egos and breaks the fourth wall. He’ll use both to get vengeance against the malicious Ajax (a steely Ed Skrein) and rescue the love of his life (a smirking Morena Baccarin). Directed by Tim Miller, this brash and bold romp boasts balls-to-the-wall action, brutal violence, a banging soundtrack, raunchy one-liners, and an explosive sidekick called Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand). But that’s not all. Paying tribute to its iconically irreverent anti-hero, this superhero movie is also studded with kinky sex, creative curse words, chilling horror, and jokes that bring on blushes, gasps, and guffaws.

How to watch: Deadpool is streaming on Hulu. 

3. Pain & Gain 

Not just a great action movie, this is the best movie that action auteur Michael Bay has ever made. There aren’t giant battling robots or end-of-the-world circumstances. Instead, Bay found enthralling inspiration in a truly bizarre true crime case. This dizzying 2013 thrill ride centers on a trio of muscle-bound meatheads, who saw themselves as cutthroat entrepreneurs. All they had to do was pull off a kidnapping and extortion plot. But when you’re more brawn than brains, things can go from bad to bloody to totally FUBAR very fast.

Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie star as a trio of bodybuilders with crime on their minds. An apoplectic Tony Shalhoub plays their target, a surly sandwich tycoon, while Ed Harris saddles up as the detective hot on their trail. Together, they build barking laughs from this stranger-than-fiction story. But beneath the dark comedy, chase scenes, violence, and mayhem, Bay has bled a robust criticism of American ambition. 

How to watch: Pain & Gain is streaming on Hulu. 

4. The Hunger Games

Based on the bestselling dystopian novels from Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games franchise began with this scorching 2012 release, directed by Gary Ross. Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen, a poverty-stricken teen archer, whose skills are meant for hunting game. But when the tyrannical Capitol demands children compete in a kill-or-be-killed battle royale, her bow and arrow find new targets. Pulled from her humble home, Katniss is pitched into a dazzling realm of glamor, fame, and excess, all leading up to the titular, televised, and terrible Games.

Along the way, she’ll make allies and enemies, wow the judges and audiences with her indomitable spirit, and give hope to a people long oppressed by a cavalier and cruel ruling class. Though violence against children is core to this concept, the PG-13 rated action-adventure skirts blood and blurs blows. So, this selection can work for much of the family. With all four Hunger Games movies currently streaming, you can make it a marathon. May the odds be ever in your favor. 

How to watch: The Hunger Games is streaming on Hulu. 

5. The Warriors 

“Warriors, come out to play-yay!”

This grungy action-thriller movie from 1979 imagined New York City as a turf marauded by fantastical gangs. There’s the Lizzies, the Orphans, the Boppers, the Rogues, the Electric Eliminators, The Baseball Furies, and many more.

After a summit turned assassination in the Bronx, they’re all gunning for the Warriors, a scrappy Coney Island crew that’s been framed. It’s a 27-mile race to safety, where every corner could boast a threat of cops or criminals on the prowl. Shot on the streets and subways of NYC, Walter Hill’s beloved action film brandishes a seedy authenticity, even if its gangland was scratching at Escape from New York extreme. This makes all the chase scenes and brawls all the more thrilling, feeling like the night from hell rolling out before us could be just a train ride away.  

How to watch: The Warriors is streaming on Hulu. 

6. 13 Assassins

Japanese director Takashi Miike had previously won international acclaim for his eye-popping and twisted thrillers, Audition and Ichi The Killer. In this celebrated 2010 film, the distinctive director created a period piece with punch, reimagining Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 samurai drama of the same name.

Set in Japan’s feudal era, this martial arts stunner centers on a motley band of warriors (including Kōji Yakusho, Hiroki Matsukata, and Takayuki Yamada), who will do whatever it takes to assassinate the malevolent Lord Naritsugu (Gorō Inagaki). In a time when computer graphics ruled action, critics cheered the verve and practical effects that Miike brought to his remake. With a grand scale, moody cinematography, and an ensemble that pitches themselves fully into every fray, 13 Assassins is more than action-packed, it’s enthralling cinema.

How to watch: 13 Assassins is streaming on Hulu.

7. Logan

Over a string of X-Men movies, Hugh Jackman sliced and snarled as the ever-healing yet still wounded Wolverine. Then, in 2017, writer-director James Mangold dared to dream where this haunted hero might end up much further down the road.

In Logan, Jackman returns as an older, beaten-down version of the rough-and-tough superhero. He’s covered in scars. His invincibility is fading and he’s flat broke. But when called upon to rescue a young girl (Dafne Keen) from a ruthless band of mercenaries, Logan will rise to play the hero one last time. What he doesn’t see coming is that this kid isn’t some helpless damsel, but a warrior in her own right. Together, they’ll bare their claws in a battle for a brighter tomorrow. Rich with R-rated action, heart-breaking stakes, and sharp social commentary, Logan is a superhero movie that urged audiences to demand more of the genre. 

How to watch: Logan is streaming on Hulu. 

8. The Nice Guys

Long before he was writing/directing daring action movies like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3, Shane Black made his mark on Hollywood by penning the seminal buddy-cop comedy Lethal Weapon. This 2016 action-comedy film is a thrilling throwback to his roots, starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as a mismatched duo determined to solve a twisted mystery.

In 1970s Los Angeles, Holland March (Gosling) is a washed-up private eye that’s got more bruises than bank. Jackson Healy (Crowe) is a rugged enforcer, who has got a soft spot for dames in trouble. So, despite their differences, they’ll team up to track down a mysterious missing girl. Along the way, they cross paths with wild turns, bursts of violence, sultry bombshells, barrages of mayhem, and explosively outrageous humor.

How to watch: The Nice Guys is streaming on Hulu.

9. G.I. Joe: Retaliation 

Science-fiction, action, and military muscle come out to play in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, a sequel that doesn’t care if you saw the first film.

The Hasbro action figures are brought to life by a star-studded cast, which includes Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Ray Stevenson, Adrianne Palicki, and Byung-hun Lee. There’ll be intrigue, bombings, and a bevy of battles, with director Jon M. Chu making the most of every moment. So not only will ninjas battle while suspended down the side of an impossibly steep mountain but also there’s be a punch so powerful that it can bat away bullets. If that’s not enough promise of fun for you, how about the hilarious bonus that is Jonathan Pryce as a villain who gleefully relishes evil overthrows? Okay, how about the Joes have been disavowed, yet need to save America from a Cobra coup?

How to watch: G.I. Joe: Retaliation is streaming on Hulu.

10. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 

Want something exciting with a fairytale flourish? Then you’ll cherish this outrageous R-rated film from 2013, which not only offers action and fantasy but also ghoulish horror.

Directed by Dead Snow helmer Tommy Wirkola, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters re-imagines the classic Grimm tale as one about two vengeance-driven siblings, dedicated to eliminating the magical scourge that makes meals out of children. Wearing matching smirks, Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as the titular brother-sister team. They wield crossbows and firearms with deadly accuracy and gory results. But with a massive coven coming for them, they’ll need killer snares, quirky sidekicks, and some magic of their own. Along with bursts of action, Wirkola unveils a rich treasure trove of creepy witch designs that will have horror fans squealing. So, forget historical accuracy, embrace lunacy, and enjoy a realm where witches rule, trolls drool, and Hansel and Gretel are merciless ass-kickers

How to watch: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is streaming on Hulu. 

*This blurb appeared on a previous Mashable list.

Emily St. John Mandel did not set out to kill 99.99 percent of the human race when she began writing Station Eleven. The 2014 bestseller, on which the acclaimed (and now complete) HBO Max series is based, started as a series of scenes about a traveling band of performers much like her real-life friends from dance theater school in Toronto. She pictured them performing Shakespeare in rural Canada, where she grew up; a hard but good life without many of the comforts of modern technology.

But what would send Shakespearean actors permanently to the woods, performing plays for tech-free towns? Well, the same thing that leads the hero of The Postman (a similar 1985 novel by David Brin, also a 1997 movie starring Kevin Costner) to travel around doing Shakespeare for shanty-town audiences: the end of civilization. Both stories are fundamentally optimistic in their visions of a world rebuilding — but both required their authors to reverse-engineer a backstory of how and why billions of us had died.

The mechanism Mandel happened to choose was a pandemic, unaware that a real one would strike six years after she wrote Station Eleven. (The HBO series was also commissioned long before anyone uttered the words COVID-19.) But audiences are wiser now. We are more aware of how hard it is to kill off that much of our world with a virus, even one that mutates. The faster it kills its hosts, the less it can spread. “The virus in Station Eleven would have burned out before it could kill off the entire population,” Mandel freely admitted toVulture in March 2020.

Given that we’ve logged all the potential civilization-killing asteroids, given that climate change is a persistent, present crisis best represented metaphorically (as in Don’t Look Up), creators are running out of ways to end the world as briskly and cleanly as our apocalypse fantasies seem to demand. Mandel wanted an event that would guarantee a blank canvas, a “20 years after” filled with the joy of everlasting art as much as the sorrow of unspeakable trauma. She may end up as the last writer who could do so in a fashion her contemporaries found believable. Station Eleven could mark the end of the end of the world.

For The Postman, Brin chose nuclear war, the most likely apocalypse anyone could see in 1985; by Mandel’s era, the bomb was pretty much off the table for anyone trying to suspend our disbelief. Not only have we seen more fictional postwar worlds than you can shake a geiger counter at, we’re also more aware now of the ways such an environment would continue to harm us. Even a limited nuclear exchange could blot out the sun, cause widespread famine, and poison the atmosphere with radiation for generations to come.

Pandemics were, in 2014, the most reliable method of clean fictional genocide left standing. Still, few authors have dared to use them to kill off as much of the human race as Mandel does. In my March 2020 survey of the genre, I identified just four — the most famous being Stephen King’s epic The Stand, in which the bio-engineered bug known as Captain Trips kills a mere 99.4 percent of humanity. Only one author has dared to kill a higher percentage of humanity — Mary Shelley in The Last Man (1826) — and she gave her virus seven years to do its job.

Station Eleven‘s Georgia flu is a super-fast-spreading highly mutated virus that somehow manages to kill nearly all 7-plus billion humans in three weeks. Wisely, Mandel didn’t expend much effort explaining how it could do that. She spends only a handful of early chapters in the pandemic era. We see the world collapse from the perspective of Jeevan Chaudhary, who only knows what he sees on TV while locked down in his brother’s Chicago apartment. We suspend our disbelief in large part because news anchors freak out and flee the studio.

Similarly, the HBO version of Station Eleven offers very little information on Georgia flu. Because it jumps around in time even more than the book, and focuses even more on delightful creative distractions (such as young Kirsten writing a play based on the “Station Eleven” graphic novel), the show gives us very little time to consider the believability of its background apocalypse. One TV voice tells us that the virus “doesn’t incubate, it explodes.” But if you’re looking for a true epidemiological nightmare, what you need is a deadly and highly transmissible virus that does incubate for a long time — a month or two, say — so we can spread it far and wide via air travel before anyone starts to show symptoms.

Now that we’ve been through the COVID-19 wringer, one of the least believable aspects of Station Eleven is that so many people instantly trust what experts are saying. In fact, denial has a stronger grip on the human mind than any of us suspected. Jim (Tim Simons, aka Jared in Veep), the hapless business colleague of “Station Eleven” creator Miranda, may be the the most believable character in the show — because when the deadly virus hits his hotel in Malaysia, he responds by playing golf.

On the flip side, we have our experiences with lockdowns, border closings, and other measures that, though imperfect, successfully slowed the spread of COVID and its Delta and Omicron variants (in some countries more than others). The show gives us just one example of a large group of virus-free people who successfully institute a lockdown against Georgia flu: the passengers at Severn City airport. Their self-imposed isolation works, and the solar-powered airport becomes home to the Museum of Civilization.

Surely, though, there would be many more such lockdown locations — probably enough to keep essential infrastructure like electricity and the internet intact (especially in the age of solar panels and wind farms), definitely enough to boost humanity’s survival rate far beyond the 0.01 percent level. Surely communities the world over would do what villages in Sierra Leone did to help contain the Ebola outbreak of 2015: isolate themselves, preventing anyone entering or leaving. We are more resilient, more collaborative, and more willing to stay put for a good cause, than Station Eleven would have us think.

But perhaps the greatest lesson COVID-19 has to teach Station Eleven is that you don’t need to kill 99.99 percent of humanity to create generational trauma. This virus has killed 5.5 million people in two years, which is way less than 0.1 percent of the global population, and we who lived through it will never forget it. It has not provided the blank canvas on which to build a new civilization that we seem to crave. You’ll have to build your geodesic dome-filled intentional community at Burning Man if you can’t find anywhere in the Michigan wilderness to do it. But either way, you’ll still have to deal with the messy, imperfect, capitalism-filled world as it is.

Shudder’s Hellbender is a family affair.

The independent horror film is entirely written, directed, produced, scored, and edited by the Adams family: mother Toby Poser, father John Adams, and daughter Zelda Adams. The three also star in the film, alongside daughter/sister Lulu Adams.

Hellbender tells the story of Izzy (Zelda Adams), a 16-year-old girl whose rare illness keeps her isolated with her mother (Toby Poser). Bored of the woods, Izzy tries to break free of her confines by befriending another girl (Lulu Adams). But a game in which she eats a live worm upends her new happiness. With a violent hunger awakening within her, Izzy must delve into her family’s dark past and uncover powerful secrets.

Hellbender hits Shudder Feb. 24.

Lazzarini Design Studio dreamed up a concept for the ultimate luxury yacht experience in the sky.

Forbes released its list of the top 10 highest-earning YouTube creators and, for the third year in a row, the only woman on the list is a 7-year-old who makes way more than me.

Anastasia Radzinskaya, better known as Nastya, has upwards of 100 million subscribers across her 11 YouTube channels, and Forbes reports she made an estimated $28 million in 2021 through ad revenue and brand deals. Viewers follow along as she learns basic skills, like telling time and making a to-do list, against the highly saturated backdrop of her enormous home. Meanwhile, I write my silly little stories in an apartment the size of her patio.

The no. 1 earner was 23-year-old Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, whose “$456,000 Squid Game In Real Life!” video has racked up 202 million views in less than two months since its release. He reportedly made $54 million. He also spearheaded 2021’s international #TeamSeas fundraiser, which raised more than $30 million to clean up the ocean.

Also on the list is 10-year-old toy king Ryan Kaji, controversial brothers Jake and Logan Paul, variety show pros Rhett and Link, trick shot magicians Dude Perfect, and gamers Preston Plays and Markiplier, who has made the list every year since 2016. The only newcomer to the top 10 is Unspeakable, who makes less expensive MrBeast-esque challenges like “Last to Leave the Pond wins $10,000.”

Forbes notes that the top three earners — MrBeast, Jake Paul, and Markiplier — all made enough that they would have nabbed a spot on the brand’s most recent list of the world’s highest-paid celebrities. It makes you wonder: what will it take for YouTube creators to be considered mainstream celebs? Paul makes 90 percent of his income from boxing, and rarely posts on YouTube anymore. Boxers like Tyson Fury and Canelo Alvarez made the celebrity list, so why not Paul?

It’s also hard to ignore the overwhelming number of white men on the list (Dude Perfect alone has five), a trend we’ve seen every year since Forbes started tracking these statistics. The last time a woman other than Nastya made the list was in 2017, when Lilly Singh clenched the no. 10 spot. In 2018, there weren’t any women on the list at all.