Is there any feeling that comes close to watching the first kill in a horror movie? The slow build, the tight frame, the creepy music and finally — YIKES.

Buckle the heck up, because you will not know peace for the next two hours. Netflix’s Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is like getting on your favorite rollercoaster — you might know the bumps, turns, and drops, but you’re in for the ride because you just know it hits.

Based on the Fear Street novels by R.L. Stine, the movie saga tells the story of Shadyside, a positively Stephen King-esque town plagued by centuries of random murder that may or may not be caused by a dead witch’s curse. Part 1 is written by Leigh Janiak and Phil Graziadei, with story by both writers and Kyle Killen. Janiak will direct all three films; Part 2: 1978 drops on July 9 and Part 3: 1666 on July 16.

Part 1: 1994 introduces us to the Shakespearian conflict between Shadyside and Sunnyvale, the polished Eagleton to Shadyside’s bloody Pawnee. At the center of that conflict are Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), Shadyside exes who reconnect at a vigil after the first spate of murders. Along with Deena’s brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) and best friends Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger), they make up the core squad of Fear Street 1994.

Sam (Olivia Welch) and Deena (Kiana Madeira) put their past aside to escape a bloodthirsty killer in “Fear Street Part 1: 1994.”
Credit: netflix

Fear Street may disappoint horror purists, but there’s something deeply satisfying about its formula. We recognize the buildup and beats, the pops of humor (“Did they get back together?” Simon asks as Deena and Sam run by, shrieking and covered in blood), and the horny interlude. It’s the perfect tone for the kind of horror movie that doesn’t terrify but constantly entertains. The pacing results in a one-hour-47-minute runtime that feels as rich as a film twice that length, yet flies smoothly toward its bloody final act.

A cast of relative unknowns, unencumbered by the baggage of recognizable faces, gives Fear Street the edge needed to become a classic Netflix cult hit.

It’s serendipitous that the film opens in a mall with Maya Hawke from Stranger Things, a show that draws on artistic and narrative influences of the 1980s the way Fear Street honors I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, and other ’90s horror hits. The young cast deliver solid performances of recognizable teen archetypes, feeding off the ensemble’s energy while giving each other plenty of moments to shine (there is not nearly enough Darrell Britt-Gibson, but when is there ever?).

A good script doth not a horror movie make, as connoisseurs of the genre know; but it doesn’t hurt. 1994 plays to predictable horror elements but with a tight structure and fresh vision. Despite the size of Stine’s sprawling texts, the film artfully weaves in new storylines and mythology, enticing viewers to piece together Shadyside’s haunting history.

The warm palette of Caleb Heymann’s cinematography pops, and Marco Beltrami and Marcus Trumpp’s score bolsters everything along with copious ’90s needle drops.

With Janiak helming the entire trilogy and working with a largely overlapping cast and crew, Fear Street will have the kind of cohesive vision that few film anthologies enjoy. The weekly drops make it the closest Netflix has ever come to dabbling with appointment TV, building anticipation between each installment. We’re only getting started, but we can’t wait to go back to Shadyside.

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is now streaming on Netflix.

If you game on the go but want more control over the experience than you can get with your phone’s touchscreen, you’re in luck. iOS 13 (or later) lets you connect a Playstation controller to your iPhone via Bluetooth pairing.

While you can also do this with an iPad and some Xbox controllers, we’re focusing on how to pair your PS4 DualShock controller with your iPhone.

Here’s how to connect

1. Go to the Settings menu on your iPhone.

2. Tap “Bluetooth” to get into the Bluetooth menu. It might already be on, but if it isn’t, turn it on now by clicking the toggle switch at the top of the screen. It’ll be green when Bluetooth is turned on.

3. Keep the Bluetooth menu open so you can see when the controller shows up and pair it.

4. On your PS4 controller, press the Playstation and Share buttons at the same time. Hold them down until the light on your controller starts to flash.

5. You should see “DUALSHOCK 4 Wireless Controller” pop up in the Bluetooth menu on your iPhone under other devices. Click that to pair your controller.

6. Your controller is paired when the light on the back stops blinking and turns a reddish pink color.

If you want to pair your PS4 controller with an iPad instead, follow the same steps.

How to disconnect

To disconnect your controller after you’re done playing, follow these steps:

1. If your phone has face ID enabled, you can get to the Control Center by swiping diagonally across your screen from the upper right to lower left. On a touch ID phone, swipe up from the bottom of your screen.

2. Press and hold the Bluetooth icon.

3. A menu will come up. Find the icon that says “Bluetooth: On,” then press and hold it.

4. Your available devices will come up, including your DualShock controller. Press the controller name to disconnect.

You can also navigate into the Bluetooth menu from Settings, the same way you did when you paired the controller in the first place. Once there:

1. Find “DUALSHOCK 4 Wireless Controller” under My Devices and click the small ‘i’ icon next to it.

2. Press Disconnect

Troubleshooting

If you’re still having problems connecting your controller, Apple recommends trying the following:

• Unpair, then pair again. If that still doesn’t work, get more info on connecting Bluetooth accessories to your iPhone here.

• If your DualShock 4 controller connects, but you still see a “connection unsuccessful” message, try pressing the Playstation (PS) button and waiting for it to connect.

• Make sure you don’t have a bunch of other devices already connected, as there are limits to how many devices you can have paired at once.

And that’s it! Game on.

I loved my Pixel camera — until it went berserk on me at the most inopportune time.

I was struck by the Pixel camera curse, like so many others who’ve shared their tales of woe on message boards and within app reviews. We all bought Pixels because of the hyped camera tech, and then hated Google because of its camera fails — and the tech giant’s reluctance to publicly admit to a widespread issue.

The curse unfurls like this: Your camera works fine one moment, but the next time you try to take a picture, the camera app crashes. You try again and get a pop-up that says “Something went wrong / Close and open the Camera app and try again.” Except closing and opening the app doesn’t do anything. Neither does force quitting. Neither does restarting your phone. Neither does factory resetting your phone. You can sometimes get the front camera to work to take a selfie, but the error message taunts you on screen as you snap your sad face. (You can see me pout in the corner of my phone below; it was the last selfie I took on my Pixel.) Some adventurous tinkerers have taped a magnet next to the rear camera, which seems to fix the issue sometimes, but they then have to live with an ugly magnet taped to the back of their phone. Not ideal.

The “Something went wrong” error message taunts me whenever I try to use the camera app on my Pixel 2.
Credit: Brittany Levine Beckman / mashable

This camera curse has afflicted Pixel 2, Pixel 2 XL, Pixel 3, Pixel 3XL, Pixel 4, and Pixel 4a owners, according to online comments. Initial reports of camera crashes appear to have surfaced in 2019 and the complaints continue to this day, with frustrated users taking to the camera app’s review section to vent. The latest upset customer posted a one-star review on June 23: “I can’t use my rear facing camera. Please fix!! My phone is 6 months old and I’m definitely feeling frustrated with my choice because a big reason I got my Google pixel 4a was for the camera.” The camera app for the device that’s been hailed as one of the best camera phones of the year currently has 3 stars out of 5.

Whether the problem is due to a software or hardware issue — or a software issue that caused a hardware issue by overheating the phone like some armchair experts conjecture — has been debated online since people started carping about the curse. Google claims there are no known app or operating system software issues causing Pixel cameras to go on the fritz. Instead, Google tells Mashable the problem could be due to wear and tear or drops over time.

But that reasoning isn’t up to snuff for customers, some of whom had their cameras crash as soon as a month after they bought a Pixel. For others like me, the malediction descends upon you after a year or two. (And my phone doesn’t have a scratch on it.)

Those lucky to have encountered the curse less than a year into owning a Pixel have been well taken care of. The Pixel’s one-year warranty means those favored customers just ship their hexed phones back to Google and get a free (most likely refurbished) replacement. But if you’re outside the warranty window, you’re out of luck in the free department. You can get a broken Pixel repaired by a Google partner. I was given a $120 estimate for a fix, which is twice as much as the phone is worth if I tried to sell it on eBay. A Google customer service rep also suggested I could trade in my phone to buy a new one, but the trade-in would get me at most $21. Google says anyone experiencing this issue should contact customer support for help, but in my experience, you won’t get far if you’re seeking a comped replacement out of warranty.

The estimate I received when I attempted to trade-in my Pixel 2 on Google’s website.
Credit: Screenshot: Google

The camera on my Pixel 2, which I raved about taking exceptional photos of the Northern Lights in 2019, stopped working while I was covering the reveal of BMW’s new electric SUV recently. Although I initially bought my Pixel in 2017, Google has sent me two replacements over the years after bricking incidents. The first time my Pixel bricked was right before I got on a flight in 2018; I lost all access to my boarding pass information. The second was a year later in 2019 when I was on vacation in Hawaii (no photos of turtles and sandy beaches for me during that trip). The Pixel has cruelly nailed the dramatic timing of its torture. When my camera stopped working in early June, I’d had the phone for almost two years.

Sadath Ahmed, an engineer in Dubai, was struck by the curse seven months after his warranty on his Pixel 2 XL ended. He bought the new phone in 2019 and a year and a half later, when he was trying to take a picture of the sunset, the camera app crashed. He explains in a Reddit DM that he got the same black screen I experienced after the first crash. He tried the magnet hack, but after a few days the trick lost its magic. Any photos he took were blurry until the camera just stopped working once again. He used his camera-less phone for four months and then bought a used Pixel 2 for $50 as a temporary stopgap. He’s eyeing an iPhone for his next purchase, but for now, the used phone gets him through the day.

“I think they should first acknowledge that there is a widespread issue and help customers get the camera fixed,” says Ahmed about what he considers an appropriate response from Google.

Muhammad Irtaza, an engineering student in Pakistan and another cursed Pixel owner, agrees.

“Google fails to acknowledge this issue which is, in simple terms, pathetic for a company as big as this.”

“There are dozens of articles and posts on Reddit, the Google support site, and countless other forums, yet Google fails to acknowledge this issue which is, in simple terms, pathetic for a company as big as this,” Irtaza writes in a Reddit message.

The camera crashed on his used Pixel 3 five months after he bought it, while he was snapping a pic of an indoor plant. He also tried the magnet trick, but its enchantment lasted just a few seconds before the camera crashed again. He says the camera problems vanished after he updated to the latest Android 12 Beta. He reverted back to Android 11, Google’s current mobile operating system, a few weeks later and the camera was still functioning properly.

“But it makes the phone overheat like crazy. I can’t leave the camera on for more than 5 minutes,” he adds. So he bought a new Pixel 4XL, which he says has been “phenomenal.”

“This has somewhat restored my faith in the Pixel line, but I cannot and will not recommend the Pixel to any of my friends and family since I’ve read about the Pixel 4 battery issues as well. I don’t have those problems, thankfully, but I believe it’s just a matter of luck,” he adds.

I used to tell everyone who complained about their iPhone to get a Pixel. I trumpeted the Pixel line to one of my oldest friends who got a Pixel a few years ago. While she hasn’t experienced the camera issue, she has had other headaches, like screen glitches. Yet she still stuck with Google, moving on to the Pixel 4a and now the Pixel 5, mostly because of the camera’s acuity (and all the pre-installed G Suite apps.)

Before the camera crash, my phone’s battery life was dwindling. I’d have to charge it every five hours or so, which wasn’t a huge deal because of fast charging and being stuck at home not far from an outlet during the pandemic. To be fair, a limp battery seems to be par for the course after owning any phone for a year or two. I ditched my iPhone 6S and bought the Pixel 2 because the iPhone’s battery life was laughable two years in, and this was before Apple set a temporary $29 fee for battery replacements on the 6S (it now costs $49).

After a few days of steaming over my cursed Pixel camera, I was lured by Apple’s sorcery and bought a bright red iPhone 12 mini.

It takes superb photos.

Sony’s new flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1 III, has been announced in April, but the company didn’t share exact pricing and availability.

Now, we know both. The Sony Xperia 1 III just went up for pre-order in the U.S., with a price tag of $1,299.99. It will be available for purchase in stores on August 19.

The price tag might make you gasp in amazement, given that Sony’s smartphones aren’t exactly as popular as the ones from Apple or Samsung, which offer their flagships at significantly lower prices (both the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Galaxy S21 Ultra cost $1,199). However, in recent years Sony phones have become niche products, aimed at users who want the absolute best camera they can get in a phone.

Sony Xperia 1 III is the first smartphone with a variable telephoto lens.
Credit: sony

And Sony Xperia 1 III does deliver something unique: a triple 12-megapixel rear camera with a main sensor, ultra-wide sensor, and a periscope camera with a variable telephoto lens, meaning the camera can switch between 3x and 5x optical zoom. The camera also boasts a 3D time-of-flight sensor, burst mode that allows it to take 20 stills per second, as well as real-time tracking, which uses AI to keep the focus on moving subjects.

Other specs of note include a 6.5-inch, 120Hz, 4K HDR OLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip, 12GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, a 4,500mAh battery with wireless charging, front-facing stereo speakers, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Sony has also put up its other new phone, the Xperia 5 III, up for pre-order in some markets. Engadget says it costs £899 ($1,239) in the UK, where it will arrive in September, but U.S. pricing hasn’t been announced yet.

The Sony Xperia 5 III (pictured) is a smaller phone than the Xperia 1 III, but its camera system is pretty close to the one on its bigger brother.
Credit: sony

It’s a smaller device than the Xperia 1 III, with a 6.1-inch, 120Hz HDR OLED display, and comes with less RAM (8GB), though it has the same battery capacity at 4,500mAh (no wireless charging, though). The rear camera system is nearly the same, though it lacks the 3D iToF sensor and real-time subject tracking.

I’m old enough to remember when we used to joke about how phones kept getting smaller. Now, in an era where screen sizes are ballooning to tablet-like proportions, the ASUS Zenfone 8 is going in a different direction.

ASUS managed to jam some flagship-esque specs into the diminutive new Zenfone 8, which launches in the U.S. this summer. For a $629 starting price, you get 5G speeds and a 5.9-inch 120Hz display. Combine that with acceptable cameras and a couple of neat (though non-essential) ASUS-specific features for battery maintenance and gaming, and the Zenfone 8 could be an enticing value for Android devotees who want to venture outside the Samsung safe zone.

Smaller is better

The hole-punch selfie cam allows the screen to take up most of the phone’s body.
Credit: molly flores / mashable

The only visually distinctive thing about the Zenfone 8 is its relatively small size compared to flagships from other companies. With a 5.9-inch display, it’s smaller than the base iPhone 12 (6.1-inch) and Samsung Galaxy S21 (6.2-inch). The iPhone 12 mini still wins this competition with a tiny 5.4-inch screen, but the Zenfone 8 strikes a nice size balance where it feels substantial without feeling large. It’s very comfortable in my hands, though obviously your mileage may vary in that regard.

It’s available in either black or silver, so folks who want a flashy, colorful phone should probably look elsewhere. The rest of the physical design is functionally boring for the most part: volume and power buttons on the right edge, a USB-C charging port at the base, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the phone. Two rear cameras (a 64MP main lens and a 12MP secondary lens) sit in a rectangular bump on the back, with a 12MP selfie cam in a hole-punch style on the front.

I’m conflicted about the headphone jack here. On one hand, it’s great to have a headphone jack on any new smartphone, but on the other hand, plugging headphones into the top of a phone can be just a little awkward. I’ll give ASUS points for including one at all, I guess.

The Zenfone 8 doesn’t have the largest display, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in quality. A full HD 1080p resolution combined with a 20:9 aspect ratio produces a sharp image with plenty of screen real estate to work with, especially considering the 90 percent screen-to-body ratio. By far my favorite part of the display, though, is the 120Hz refresh rate. That’s twice what you get in even the most expensive iPhone model on the market right now. Even basic tasks like web browsing and scrolling through Twitter are so much smoother-looking with a refresh rate that high. Overall, this is an excellent display for a sub-$700 phone.

Kind of a weird place for a headphone jack.
Credit: molly flores / mashable

“Great for the price” also applies to some of the rest of the guts powering the Zenfone 8. Here’s what’s on offer:

• 2.84GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G processor

• 8 or 16GB RAM

• 128 or 256GB storage

• 4,000mAh battery

Pairing one of Qualcomm’s newest smartphone processors with a good amount of RAM (no matter which configuration you get) is a heck of a value for what you’re paying. Those storage sizes are also competitive with the iPhone 12 and Galaxy S21, while the battery size is slightly larger than the former and the same as the latter.

Last but not least, ASUS included both face unlocking and an in-display fingerprint sensor for security. Both take about 30 seconds to set up and seem to work exactly as intended. Even in low light, face unlocking worked just fine for me. I’m also happy the fingerprint sensor is nestled in the display rather than on the back of the phone — a recent trend I’m not especially fond of.

Plenty of pep

USB-C charging is convenient, to go along with nice battery life.
Credit: molly flores / mashable

ASUS isn’t reinventing the wheel with the Zenfone 8. Roughly 90 percent of the time, it’s a fairly standard Android phone without much in the way of manufacturer-specific bloatware or gimmicks. That said, the ASUS-specific additions here are largely smart (or at least easy to ignore) and overall performance is strong.

Pairing a new processor with a high refresh rate makes everyday activities like web browsing and social media feel snappy and responsive. Apps load quickly, with nary a hitch when rapidly switching between them or opening and closing new ones. And while it’s not a gaming powerhouse on the level of the ASUS ROG 5, the Zenfone 8 includes the same Game Genie interface you’d find on its gaming-focused sibling. Swipe it in from the left side of the screen as you game and you can adjust the refresh rate, see how hot the phone is running, and a handful of other nice gaming perks.

I tested the phone’s gaming capabilities using Genshin Impact, an open-world game with console-quality visuals that wound up as one of our favorites of 2020. The Zenfone 8 is able to hit 60 frames per second if you toggle it in the options menu, though the game warns of possible overheating if you do that. It definitely got hot for me after playing it that way for just a minute or two. Thankfully, the Zenfone also runs Genshin at a stable 30 frames per second by default.

If my words don’t convince you of the Zenfone 8’s performance prowess, the Geekbench benchmarking software might. I ran a CPU test (which simulates everyday tasks to evaluate the phone’s performance) that gave the Zenfone 8 a single-core score of 1123 and a multi-core score of 3439, both of which were above the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. That phone starts at $1,199, for context. Tough to find any performance complaints here, especially given the price.

Oh, and the battery is solid, too. A single charge got me through roughly 24 hours of regular web browsing, watching YouTube videos, idly scrolling through Twitter and Instagram, and apartment hunting on Facebook before I needed to plug the Zenfone 8 in again. Nice. I should note, however, that I couldn’t test the Zenfone’s 5G capabilities or 5G’s impact on battery life because I don’t have a 5G SIM card on hand.

There are a couple of nice Zenfone-exclusive features here, though one of them isn’t nearly as cool as it could be. There are a litany of battery modes you can choose in the settings menu, giving the user a pretty significant amount of control over how much juice the Zenfone 8 uses. “High Performance” unleashes the beast with a full 120Hz refresh rate and no restrictions, while “Ultra Durable” bumps the refresh rate down to 60Hz, cuts down on 5G connectivity, and puts the phone to sleep faster. You can also adjust all of those settings individually to set up a battery mode that works exactly to your liking.

That’s a really excellent feature that, thankfully, more casual users can ignore completely. Zenfone 8 also gives you the ability to customize what the phone’s power button does with a double tap or long-press, which is a sweet bonus. I set it so a long-press takes a screenshot, eliminating one of the more cumbersome aspects of modern smartphones.

The light blue power button can do more than you think.
Credit: molly flores / mashable

Unfortunately, the one feature I really wanted to like wound up being the least useful. Swipe downward from near the bottom of the screen to activate “One-Handed Mode,” which simply reduces the window size of whatever app you have open, leaving blank space at the top of the screen. You can go into the settings and adjust how much the phone resizes apps for one-handed mode, but it’s all kind of for naught because most apps are simply not designed for use with the bottom of the screen cut off. You can’t switch to different tabs in Twitter or Instagram, for example, because the bottom section of the app disappears.

But even with an underwhelming one-handed mode, I’m happy with the Zenfone 8’s performance profile overall. Despite costing less than other prominent flagships, you don’t really feel that as you use it. It’s hard to ask for more than that.

You can adjust how much of the screen gets cut off in one-handed mode, but it never truly feels useful.
Credit: screenshot: mashable

Oh yeah, it has cameras, too

One clear disadvantage the Zenfone 8 has compared to more expensive flagships is the fact that there are just two cameras on the back as opposed to three or four. Put simply, an iPhone 12 Pro will probably be a better fit for amateur photographers, but you can still get some nice shots out of the 64MP main lens and 12MP secondary lens on the Zenfone 8.

For instance, you can get up close and personal to capture fine details on small objects like flowers using just the default photo mode. Portrait mode also does its job, adding a nice bokeh effect behind the subject of a shot.

Portrait mode in action.
Credit: alex perry / mashable

I got this with the default lens.
Credit: alex perry / mashable

Zenfone 8 also has a night mode that works fairly well, though it sometimes makes nighttime shots look a little too fake. Part of that is probably that New York is intensely light-polluted, but some of my test shots came out looking more like daytime photos rather than keeping nighttime ambiance. Still, they do look nice.

No night mode

Credit: alex perry / mashable

Night mode

Credit: alex perry / mashable

A quality Android alternative

ASUS may not have quite as big a brand footprint in the U.S. as Samsung, but the Zenfone 8 is seriously worth considering for Android fans who are looking for an upgrade without breaking the bank. It brings to the table a very good display that does a lot at a relatively small size, flagship-level performance, a rock solid battery, and even decent cameras. The best part is you can get all of that for less than $700.

Of course, nothing is perfect. Nighttime photography can be a little too blown out, while the headphone jack’s placement on top of the phone is less than ideal. I love the idea of one-handed mode, but most major apps just don’t play nicely with it. At least one or two more interesting color options would also be nice, but that’s small potatoes compared to everything else.

All in all, this is a likable little Android phone. Using it is like watching a little guy absolutely kill it on the bench press at the gym. It may not look like much, but there’s a nice amount of horsepower under the hood at an agreeable price.

The Fourth of July is here and holy crap we’re bulldozing through summer like…well…a bulldozer dozing a bunch of dirt. I know that wasn’t the best sentence, but take it easy on me: It’s so hot out I can hardly think and similes are hard.

So, anyway, another week down, folks. And to celebrate this (U.S.) holiday weekend, we collected a bunch of dumb and funny tweets. We do this every week, but still, maybe really enjoy it this weekend. Regardless, here they are: the 15 best tweets of the week.

1. Oh man, I hope this is the entire movie

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2. Why does it look like that? Because it certainly does.

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3. Obligatory dril tweet

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4. A perfect way to remember

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5. cat war. Cat War. CAT WAR.

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6. This little stinker knew complete destruction was imminent. You can see the Grim Reaper in this child’s eyes.

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7. Most men you have met believe this

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8. Tony Soprano is BACK, bring on the deli meats

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9. Another great Sopranos joke, this one about young Tony

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10. A beautiful ballad

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11. Simply showing respect to an all-time great article

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12. I feel ya… I certainly feel ya.

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13. SURPRISE! Another Sopranos joke

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14. What I wouldn’t do for such an email

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15. And finally, this:

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Remember when Dwight dressed as the Joker for Halloween in an episode of The Office? Then Kevin dressed as the Joker for Halloween? Then Creed dressed as the Joker for Halloween, too?

That genuinely put a smile on my face.

In the latest episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Office stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey chatted all about the Season 5 episode, “Employee Transfer,” which features the memorable Halloween-themed cold open in which all three Jokers appear.

Curious why the cold open was all-in on Halloween but the rest of the episode wasn’t, however, Fischer and Kinsey reached out to episode writer Anthony Ferrell to get the inside scoop.

What’s up with the Halloween teaser?

“The show was initially — the entire episode was supposed to be Halloween. So everyone was in their costumes for the entire episode. Andy was a kitten initially, I think. And the whole B-story with Dwight being in the Cornell sweater, that was his costume — an accidental costume, initially. And that’s where that story came from,” Ferrell explained.

“So costume-wise, we had a thing where once we decided we were going to just put the Halloween stuff in the cold open, we rewrote the cold open. And that was mostly led by [writers] Lee [Eisenberg] and Gene [Stupnitsky]. And that’s where the idea for the three Jokers came from.”

Ferrell shared that the Joker was a super popular Halloween costume in 2008. TBT. And while the Joker trio was brilliant, in the DVD commentary Ferrell explained that the writers felt the costumes would distract from the episode’s storylines, so that’s why they’re only seen up top.

In case you wanted a costume refresher, Kinsey gave a gorgeous rundown.

“So per the script, here are some details: Stanley, in the script, is wearing a Creature from the Black Lagoon rubber mask with his regular suit. Creed, per the script, is an amazing Joker from Batman, whereas Kevin is a ‘lame Joker.’ And in the script it says Dwight is also a Joker,” Kinsey explained.

“Kelly is Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City. Ryan is Gordon Gekko from Wall Street… Oscar is Uncle Sam. Meredith, a cheerleader. Phyllis is Raggedy Ann. Andy, per the script, it says he’s dressed as a cat with whiskers on his face. [And] Angela has brought back her cat costume,” Kinsey continued.

Who does that leave? Jim, who’s simply wearing a name tag that says “Dave.” And Pam, who’s at corporate dressed as Charlie Chaplin. 

OK. OK. Back to the three Jokers. 

To take things a step further Fischer reached out to the show’s new wardrobe designer, Alicia Raycraft, who took over for Carey Bennett in Season 5.

“She said that with this episode, she had to really ride the line of designing wardrobe, but also making sure that the costumes look like things that we could have put together ourselves,” Fischer explained. “The script said that Creed’s joker was supposed to be the best version of the Joker. Kevin’s was supposed to be lame.”

“And they’re The Dark Knight Joker,” Kinsey confirmed.

Fischer said that to prepare, Raycraft made a shopping list and set out to get Creed a killer, accurate costume, and to buy Kevin some regular-looking clothes that had light Joker vibes.

“But for Dwight, she said they went with a nod to the Jack Nicholson version of the Joker,” Fischer said.

Though there wasn’t much Halloween in this Halloween episode, you have to admit, the cold open really raised the bar for TV costumes.

Be sure to listen to the full podcast episode for more behind-the-scenes stories from “Employee Transfer.”

You can stream episodes of The Office on Peacock and follow along with the podcast every week on Earwolf, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

The premise of The Tomorrow War is that in the year 2022, time travelers come from the year 2051 to tell us of a war against invading aliens — one so catastrophic, humankind is on the verge of extinction. But that’s not the implausible part. Nor is it the desperate travelers’ plea, that the people of 2022 jump to 2051 to help replenish dwindling human forces.

No, what had me recreating the white guy blinking GIF was what comes next: The people of 2022 just agree to it immediately. Via a montage, we’re told that this message from the future was not just believed (they don’t have conspiracy theories or critical thinking a year from now?), but taken so seriously that all the governments of the world banded together to send their military forces into the future. Then, when too many of those soldiers died, this world government instituted a global draft to enlist civilians to send into the future.

By the time Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) — former U.S. soldier, current high school science teacher, and this film’s protagonist — is drafted, this has been going on for a year. Protests have only just begun around the world, led by folks tired of seeing only 30 percent of the conscripted come back alive, typically with life-altering injuries or intense PTSD.

It’s odd that people in this universe haven’t started pushing back sooner, considering what we see of the intake process. Dan is plucked from his everyday life with just a few hours’ notice, forced to undergo a painful procedure with no explanation, and told unceremoniously the exact time and date of his death in the future.

Dan’s conscription is such devastating news that his wife (a frustratingly underused Betty Gilpin) proposes they run away, consequences be damned. Dan himself entertains the idea of turning to his estranged father (J.K. Simmons, actually outdoing Pratt in the muscles department) for help. But there’s no good way out, so off Dan goes to report for duty in the moderately distant future.

In patches, The Tomorrow War can be serviceable. Zach Dean’s script grasps at poignancy in its exploration of parents, children, and the futures we fight for, and occasionally it even reaches it. There’s a bittersweet scene early on, where Dan’s teenage students bemoan the pointlessness of studying at all when they know they’re mostly going to be wiped out in a few decades. Later we see that dilemma played out in the character of Dan’s commanding officer (Yvonne Strahovski), who was just a kid when it all began.

Strahovski almost entirely shoulders the emotional weight of the movie. With a twitch of her lip, you see simultaneously the vulnerable girl who was robbed of a future, and the determined woman who’ll do anything to preserve what’s left of it.

KEITH POWERS and YVONNE STRAHOVSKI stars in THE TOMORROW WAR
Credit: Frank Masi / Amazon Prime 

There’s also some funny stuff involving Sam Richardson as Charlie, an affable but woefully underprepared scientist who’s drafted alongside Dan. Lines like “I’m just glad Will Smith wasn’t alive to see this” — in response to another, much tougher character growling “Welcome to Miami” at the sight of the destroyed city in 2051 — aren’t that incredible, but Richardson’s guileless, off-the-cuff delivery made me giggle out loud. Whenever he’s around, which is not nearly often enough, The Tomorrow War levels up into a surprisingly entertaining action-comedy.

Alas, The Tomorrow War is still mostly a movie that revolves around Dan doing heroic things like running from explosions and leaping from falling buildings and shooting aliens. (The aliens look just like the monsters from Cloverfield, and Stranger Things, and A Quiet Place and Underwater and oh my god can we please start designing some different monsters already.) The action calls to mind earlier films like Starship Troopers and Edge of Tomorrow and War of the Worlds, with no distinctive flair of its own.

And Pratt, who’s carved out a comfy niche playing wise-asses and goofballs in blockbuster movies, seems bland in the more intellectual and reserved character of Dan. It’s a disappointing reunion for Pratt and director Chris McKay, who last worked together on the bouncing ray of sunshine that was The Lego Movie.

That The Tomorrow War is trying to deliver more than just lizard-brain thrills only makes it more frustrating.

That The Tomorrow War is trying to deliver more than just lizard-brain thrills only makes it more frustrating. On one level, there’s something sweet about this wildly optimistic presumption that humankind would unite and rally in the face of dire warnings about future catastrophe. On the other hand: Really? It’s hard to look at the way we as a species have dealt with, say, COVID-19 or climate change, and not think we’ve proven ourselves to be godawful at reacting in the present to impending issues for the future.

It’s not that sci-fi action movies need to seem realistic. But The Tomorrow War‘s view of human nature feels so jarringly out of touch, it’s easy to get stuck in disbelief and hard to take anything else that happens all that seriously.

Underlying this rah-rah go-team attitude is an unexplored assumption that while humankind might be worth saving, individual human lives come cheap. The conscripted soldiers from 2022 are nothing more than cannon fodder. They’re deployed into battle with a few days’ training if they’re lucky, or a couple hours’ if they’re not, and armed with little more than machine guns they barely know how to use.

It’s no wonder the vast majority die during their weeklong deployments. But rather than question whether this is really and truly the best use of precious resources, present and future leaders can only think to throw more bodies at the problem.

That part, at least, fits with what we know of the real world: Powerful people ignoring the devastating consequences their decisions might have on the powerless. But the film itself doesn’t seem to notice this injustice, or consider any other way the people of Earth might go about this crisis. Or wonder how anyone other than Dan and his family — whose every tearjerking memory, painful decision, and cathartic heart-to-heart is excavated for emotional impact, while every other character gets a few lines of backstory at most — might be affected by it.

For a film so eagerly invested in the future, The Tomorrow War doesn’t seem to care all that much about the present.

The Tomorrow War is streaming on Amazon Prime.

The first reviews are in, and the new Tesla Model S Plaid is a verified speed demon.

Looking at early reviews of Tesla’s newest car — a revamped Model S sedan with three electric motors and more powerful acceleration — publications are mostly impressed, despite doubts about a redesigned steering wheel and gear selector.

The first 25 Plaid cars were delivered at a Fremont, California launch event last month where CEO Elon Musk first showed off the $130,000 vehicle. In the weeks since, the speedy EV (it goes from 0 to 60 mph in under two seconds) has been tested and scrutinized.

MotorTrend has published four separate reviews for the Plaid: one solely about the yoke steering wheel; another was a speed test; a third was a look at the new interior, with a second backseat screen and new user interface on the now-horizontal touchscreen up front; and finally, a how-to guide about launching the car to record speeds.

The Plaid passed the speed test, hitting Musk’s promised 0-to-60 time of just under two seconds.

As for the steering wheel, MotorTrend called the video-game redesign “cool,” but ultimately the “yoke is hit and miss” when it comes to, well, actually steering the car.

Yoke life.
Credit: tesla

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal called the Plaid a “technical tour de force,” praising its quickness and silent ride. It’s power and thrust ruined (in a good way) reviewer Dan Neil.

“…the Plaid sometimes had a melancholic effect on me,” Neil wrote. “Man, nothing will ever feel fast again.”

Car and Driver recommends saving your money and sticking with the revamped Model S, which is still nearly $80,000 to start without the expensive Plaid features. It has better range than the performance Plaid: 405 miles on a single charge compared to Plaid’s 390-mile range.

“The 1020-hp Plaid model sounds compelling, but its six-figure asking price represents diminishing value—unless you must have a car with the performance of a Top Fuel dragster,” reviewer Drew Dorian wrote.

Meanwhile, “E for Electric” host Alex Guberman looked beyond the frighteningly fast speeds and put the automatic gear shifter to the test. With the Plaid, for the first time Tesla removed the gear selector — although there are touchscreen and physical button controls as back-up.

He was surprised how quickly he adjusted to the lack of gear stalk, and how well the car predicted whether he wanted to reverse, drive, or park based on the position of the car, and whether or not the driver has buckled up.” (Tesla had always had a more traditional gear stalk on the right side of the steering wheel.)

Edmunds wasn’t as jubilant about the Tesla variant as the many YouTube influencers in the EV space, but it still gave the Plaid high marks despite the high price. Overall the car data firm gave the newest Tesla an 8.1 out of 10. Like Car and Driver, the review recommended the Long Range “regular” Tesla Model S.

As Edmunds put it: “So is the updated Model S one of the best EVs around for 2021? We’d say so.”

Looks like all that extra speed justifies the Plaid’s eye-popping price tag, but maybe not enough to make it the all-around best EV available.

Photographer Lior Patel uses the power of drones to capture surreal footage of more than a thousand sheep.