Mashable

SAVE $295: As of Jan. 12, Tonal is offering a sweet deal for the new year: For a limited time, you can get free delivery and installation for the fitness mirror, which will save you around $295.

Opens in a new window Credit: Tonal Tonal (with smart accessories) $3,995 at Tonal (save $295) Get Deal

The beginning of a new year can be a prime time to set goals and start forming the right habits to achieve them. What those goals entail is entirely up to you, but one that comes up often is focusing on fitness. That's a great goal, but it can be hard to know how to get started if you're not already an experienced gym-goer.

In our opinion, one great way to start is by picking up a fitness mirror — the best ones can pretty much act as an entire home gym, saving you the money and time you'd be spending with a commercial gym membership. One of our favorite fitness mirrors, Tonal, just so happens to be offering a great deal for the start of 2024 — for a limited time, you can get free delivery and installation when you snag one of the luxury devices, saving you about $295 off of your purchase (and when you're spending almost $4,000, every penny counts).

SEE ALSO: The best workout recovery devices to keep you in the game longer and without injury

Once Tonal is installed in your home, you'll have access to a wide selection of guided workouts that focus on cardio, strength, mobility, and beyond. If you add on the smart accessory bundle (which we recommend), you'll also be able to challenge yourself with weightlifting exercises. Deputy Shopping Editor, Jae Thomas, really enjoyed their time with Tonal, noting its real-time form feedback, high production value classes, and quality of the strength and weightlifting program as highlights. While Tonal is a steep investment, you do have the option to finance one for yourself to ease some of the upfront cost.

SAVE $100: Today, Jan. 12, you can save over 14% when you preorder The Nimble Device from Nimble Beauty, taking the price down to $599 from $699.

Opens in a new window Credit: Nimble Beauty The Nimble Device $599 (save $100) Get Deal

Anyone who values a good manicure knows that going to the salon can get expensive, but while doing it yourself at home might save you some money, it doesn't always turn out exactly as you hoped. Now, there's a way to get a professional quality manicure right at home (that doesn't involve you having to watch endless TikToks to up your skills).

Meet The Nimble Device, the first-ever manicure robot that just made its debut at CES 2024, where Mashable contributor Cecily Mauran got to test it out. As of today, Jan. 12, you can preorder The Nimble Device from Nimble Beauty and save $100. This brings the price down from $699 to $599. While the sale price is still undeniably an investment, it has the potential to save regular manicure-getters money in the long run. For a limited time, Nimble Beauty is also including the Bestsellers Polish Bundle with your order, which has a $50 value. If you want to be among the first to experience The Nimble Device for yourself, this is a smart time to buy.

Mauran shares how The Nimble Device measured up in her review. "Since there was high demand to test out Nimble, I was only able to get one nail painted. But within minutes, I got polish and a topcoat, and my nail was fully dry," she writes. "If you're like me and struggle with painting your dominant hand, and just want a convenient and clean paint job, Nimble is precise and on par with the pros."

Make The Nimble Device yours when you preorder today from Nimble Beauty.

Samsung is about to launch new smartphone flagships, and we're so here for it.

The company's first Galaxy Unpacked event of the year is scheduled for Wednesday, January 17. The live stream, which will be available on Samsung's website, starts at 1 p.m. ET.

Let's take a quick break here and note that this is very early in the year for a Samsung phone unveiling. The company typically launches its Galaxy S series smartphones in very late January or February, with last year's Galaxy S23 having arrived on February 1.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy S24: Release date, price, Ultra features, and more

Officially, we know nothing about what's coming, except that there's going to be a lot of talk about AI (the event's tagline is "Galaxy AI is coming."

Samsung Galaxy S24

However, it's not that hard to guess that the star of the show will be Samsung's new smartphone flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S24.

(Side note: Can you believe we're already at number 24? Samsung launched the first S smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S, back in 2010, but it skipped some numbers, jumping from S10 to S20 in 2020.)

We're probably getting three new Galaxy S variants: The Galaxy S24, the Galaxy S24+, and the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

SEE ALSO: 3 Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra leaked features that beat iPhone 15 Pro Max

Rumors say the design won't change that much. The biggest change across the range might be a flatter display with slimmer bezels for the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

In terms of specs, once again, don't expect massive changes. We're talking slight improvements to the displays and cameras, though the new phones will very likely get the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. One particularly interesting rumor says that the entire Galaxy S24 line will start with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM.

Finally, when it comes to pricing, we expect the prices to remain the same as last year.

Artificial intelligence

This year's event will be just as much about software as it is about hardware. More specifically, Samsung will make some artificial intelligence announcements, and will be positioning the new phones as "AI phones."

This will surely apply to camera tech, and Samsung has already teased that "zoom with Galaxy AI is coming."

SEE ALSO: Pre-pre-order the new Samsung Galaxy S24 and get a $50 credit ahead of the big reveal

But the company is likely to integrate its own upcoming generative AI model, the recently announced Gauss AI, into the phones. From what we can tell at this point, it will be similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and will consist of three parts: Gauss Language, Gauss Code and Gauss Image. Details are scarce at this point, but given the emphasis Samsung has put on the AI side of things, we expect these phones to be a good deal smarter than before.

Something other than phones?

Sometimes, Samsung uses the Galaxy S24 launch event to showcase new devices that aren't phones, such as laptops, fitness trackers, or tablets. This year, there's chatter about new Galaxy Book Pro laptops as well as a new Galaxy Fit 3 fitness tracker. As always, take all these predictions with a grain of salt until Samsung gives the official word.

Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon is not just a brilliant film, but a brilliant adaptation, too.

The film takes on journalist David Grann's nonfiction book of the same name, which explores the organized murders of the Osage people from 1921 to 1926. This string of murders, committed so the white perpetrators could gain access to the oil-rich Osage victims' wealth, became known as the Reign of Terror.

SEE ALSO: 'Killers of the Flower Moon' review: Martin Scorsese's compassion makes us complicit

While local law enforcement unsurprisingly did nothing to stop the murders, the FBI — then in its early days — sent agents to Oklahoma to investigate. Grann spends much of Killers of the Flower Moon examining their involvement, subtitling the book: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. He dives into the state of the young bureau under J. Edgar Hoover, as well as the background of former Texas Ranger Tom White (played in the film by Jesse Plemons), who became instrumental in solving the case.

Scorsese and his co-screenwriter Eric Roth omit almost all of that.

Instead of focusing primarily on the FBI's role in the Osage murders, Scorsese and Roth make the marriage between Osage woman Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone) and white rancher Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) the heart of the film. The shift's effect is twofold. It expands on a relationship that Grann leaves mostly a mystery in the book, giving the Osage more of a voice in the story in the process. It also alters the way we perceive the murders themselves. Grann presents them as a mystery to be solved, but Scorsese gives us the killers from the jump, getting us up close and personal with the evil that motivated the Reign of Terror.

Killers of the Flower Moon is not a whodunnit. Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio in "Killers of the Flower Moon." Credit: Apple TV+

Where Grann's book plays out like a real-life whodunnit, with White and his men scrambling to find the criminals at the heart of the Osage murders, Scorsese wastes no time in revealing the scheme's mastermind and his accomplices. They are William Hale (Robert de Niro), so-called "King" of the Osage Hills; his nephews Ernest and Byron Burkhart (Scott Shepherd); and a massive web of co-conspirators, including doctors and outlaws.

Originally, Scorsese intended Killers of the Flower Moon to lean further into the FBI aspect of Grann's book, with DiCaprio taking on the role of White. But in an interview with The New Yorker's Richard Brody, Scorsese revealed several reasons why this approach wouldn't work for the story he wanted to tell.

For one, the identities of the murderers would be far too obvious. "[The FBI agents] come in from Washington, and the moment they get off that train, the moment they enter that town, you look around and you see Bob De Niro, you see so-and-so — 'I know who did it.' The audience is way ahead of us," Scorsese told Brody.

That approach would also make the film more of a police procedural, with the FBI searching for answers throughout the Osage Nation just as they do in the second section of Grann's book. "In the book, it works," Scorsese said in The New Yorker. "But a police procedural, for me, I’ll watch it, but I can’t do it. I don’t know how to do it. I don’t know how to do the plot."

Shifting away from the FBI and police procedural stylings allows Scorsese to work in more familiar territory for him. He often places audiences in the point of view of criminals, from the gangsters of Goodfellas to the white collar crooks of The Wolf of Wall Street. Here, we experience much of Killers of the Flower Moon through Ernest's eyes — and the effect is sobering.

In following Ernest, Scorsese makes us live beside the callous greed behind the Osage murders. We watch backroom deals with hit men and insurance fraud schemes meant to profit off Osage deaths. We see a total disregard for human life in the pursuit of more money. And we always, always know who's to blame. No shadowy, murderous figure pulling the strings here, just men on the screen who we've been following for hours.

Making matters worse is the fact that these murderers couldn't be more obvious in their intent. Ernest has a full-on shouting match in the middle of the street about a proposed murder. Kelsie Morrison (Louis Cancelmi) can barely hide his plans to kill his adopted children in order to gain their headrights. There's a sickening casualness to their actions, a feeling not only that they're invincible, but that they're simply going through the motions in order to get the money they think they're owed.

Only Hale manages to put up a non-suspicious front — at least in public. In private, we see his true views of the Osage: That they're just obstacles on the way to getting more money. That knowledge about Hale, which we don't get until later in Grann's book, makes every instance where he grieves the dead or offers assistance with the investigation sting even more. The same goes for Ernest's marriage to Mollie, one of the few places where Ernest appears to experience even a shred of remorse about his relentless quest for riches.

Killers of the Flower Moon centers on a doomed marriage. Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in "Killers of the Flower Moon." Credit: Apple TV+

In de-centering the FBI, Killers of the Flower Moon moves its attention to Mollie and Ernest's marriage. Mollie's trust in Ernest, and his subsequent betrayal of that trust, plays like a microcosm of the larger conflict of the film. People like Hale gained the trust and friendship of members of the Osage Nation, even getting to sit in on meetings where the Osage discussed how to deal with the murders. But Hale and his co-conspirators were wolves in sheep's clothing, using that trust for their own gain.

With Ernest and Mollie, though, Scorsese also explores the confounding love the two share, even as Ernest systematically murders Mollie's entire family. In his meetings with the current-day Osage tribe, which dramatically shaped Killers of the Flower Moon, Scorsese learned from descendants of families like the Burkharts that Mollie and Ernest really were in love. As Scorsese told Brody in The New Yorker interview, a guiding question for the film became, "How did Mollie stay with Ernest?" Did she know what he was doing, and was she deceiving herself of the fact? Did she think their love could overcome his crimes? These are ideas that Grann's book doesn't grapple much with, leaving space wide open for Scorsese to delve deeper into Mollie's character.

Focusing on Mollie and her family also helped bring the Osage perspective more to the forefront of the film. In various interviews, including one in Rolling Stone exploring his collaboration with the Osage Nation, Scorsese discusses how the Osage were concerned that this crucial part of their history would not be done justice, that they would be portrayed as victims in the background of a white savior narrative. Expanding on Mollie's role is one of many ways in which Scorsese endeavors to surface the Osage perspective, with others including working with Osage language and clothing consultants behind the scenes. The film even interrogates the notion that White and his men are white saviors come to rescue the Osage from their tormentors. When White first arrives, the Osage tribe asks him why the U.S. government hasn't intervened until now — is the government truly concerned? Or is it just now getting involved because the Osage paid them?

As in Grann's book, Killers of the Flower Moon brings its history to the present. Lily Gladstone and Martin Scorsese while shooting "Killers of the Flower Moon." Credit: Apple TV+

Grann's book is divided into three parts. Part one covers the Reign of Terror, as well as the history of the Osage tribe's forced move to Oklahoma. Part two introduces the FBI and Tom White and ends with Hale's conviction. Part three, titled "The Reporter," follows Grann's personal journeys to Oklahoma to conduct research between 2012 to 2015. There, he speaks to Burkhart descendants and other members of the Osage tribe. His research also leads him to discover hundreds of murders that the FBI never investigated, meaning hundreds more Osage families who never received any kind of justice.

Story-wise, Scorsese and Roth only adapt the first two sections of Killers of the Flower Moon, reframing or omitting certain elements to better suit the film's project. However, the third section of the book still comes through thematically in the film's very last scenes.

In one of Killers of the Flower Moon's final sequences, we see a J. Edgar Hoover approved-radio show telling the story of the Osage murders, decades after they occurred. Performed by an all-white cast, the radio show is flippant in its treatment of the murders we've spent the last three hours watching, speaking to the erasure of the true horrors of the Reign of Terror in American (specifically, wealthy white American) culture. The only moment of solemnity comes when Scorsese himself takes the stage, reading Mollie's obituary.

SEE ALSO: Let's talk about 'Killers of the Flower Moon's ending

As with Grann's present-day investigations, Scorsese's cameo reads like the storyteller behind Killers of the Flower Moon bearing witness to the history he's entrenched himself in. The Reign of Terror is not taught widely in schools, nor is it a commonly known moment in American history. There is regret in Grann's writing about this failure to fully bring to light the vast conspiracy to murder the Osage, and to preserve these memories in American culture. There's a similar regret in Scorsese's voice as he reads Mollie's obituary.

Yet despite this regret from Grann and Scorsese, both their versions of Killers of the Flower Moon end on more of a hopeful note for the Osage tribe of today. The very last shot of Scorsese's film is an overhead view of the present-day tribe, dancing in a circle around a group of drummers. It's an image of a culture enduring, even after concentrated attempts to stamp it out both from people like Hale and from the U.S. government itself.

Similarly, Grann spends part of the final section of his book speaking with descendants of Osage murder victims and learning about how they remember the murders and how they continue to live today, even with those unspeakably painful memories. Upon one his first visits to Osage county, he quotes Osage historian Louis F. Burns, who wrote in the preface of his History of the Osage People that even when "only shreds and tatters remained" of the Osage, "these remnants turned to the present" and sought to rise "from the ashes of their past."

Killers of the Flower Moon is now streaming on Apple TV+.
David Grann's book Killers of the Flower Moon is available for purchase on Amazon.

UPDATE: Jan. 11, 2024, 5:34 p.m. EST This article was originally republished for the theatrical release of "Killers of the Flower Moon." It has been republished for the film's streaming debut.

Mashable film editor Kristy Puchko speaks to Poor Things screenwriter Tony McNamara about the creativity of literary adaptations, and Bella's (Emma Stone) flawed humanity.

Poor Things is now in cinemas.

The line between straightforward drama and riotous satire blurs in The Book of Clarence, the second feature film by The Harder They Fall's Jeymes Samuel (stage name: The Bullitts). The English singer-turned-filmmaker sinks his teeth into an ambitious inquiry of faith and morality, with an imagined tale of a wannabe thirteenth Apostle in 33 A.D., who decides to become a new Messiah.

The result is hilarious, romantic, deeply introspective, and surprisingly spiritual for a film that balances an atheistic approach to faith with a distinctly Christian worldview. Though let it not be said that The Book of Clarence is at all agnostic in presentation. It looks simultaneously backward and forward, recalling the Biblical epics of Hollywood's Golden Age, while taking a transformative approach to its ecclesiastical tale.

SEE ALSO: 25 best movies of 2023, and where to watch them

With a mostly-Black ensemble, the film acts implicitly (and through one hilarious punchline, explicitly) as a corrective to history’s numerous whitewashed Bible films. Samuel further unfurls this racial dynamic into a larger, all-encompassing saga about not just modern Blackness and state oppression, but the modern conundrum of faith, topics it covers while delicately balancing deft visual comedy and emotional sincerity.

Who is Clarence in The Book of Clarence? Credit: Legendary Entertainment / Moris Puccio

After its Ben-Hur inspired opening titles, The Book of Clarence fittingly begins with a chariot race, in which Mary Magdalene (Teyana Taylor) overtakes best friends Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) and Elijah (RJ Cyler) on the streets of Jerusalem. The film has its farcical elements, but this opening scene isn’t one of them. Rather, it seeks to establish a straightforward approach to character — the film introduces most relationships through movement, tone, and body language, not just dialogue — as well as a matter-of-fact-ness surrounding the idea that the no-good, street level hoodlum Clarence is a Biblical Forrest Gump, intersecting with key figures in the life of Jesus Christ (Nicholas Pinnock), and speaking to them with a mix of medieval “Ye Olde” English and modern AAVE. 

Clarence, a known troublemaker, is an atheist, while his estranged, pious twin brother (also played by Stanfield) happens to be the Apostle Thomas. However, the rift between them doesn’t come down to their faith in God, but their faith in each other — or lack thereof — in terms of their personal convictions. Thomas believes the wayward Clarence will never amount to anything. Clarence, meanwhile, holds Thomas’ blinkered dedication to Jesus against him, because it means turning his back on their ailing mother (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), with whom Clarence maintains a friendly, heartfelt dynamic. 

Credit: Legendary Entertainment / Moris Puccio

As it happens, Clarence is also deeply in love with Varina (Anna Diop), the sister of one of his creditors: the vengeful Jedediah the Terrible (Eric Kofi-Abrefa). Between a brother he resents (and hopes to one-up) and a love interest one degree away from a dangerous man who wants him dead, Clarence cooks up a scheme to get in Jedediah’s good graces. But when his attempts to become Jesus' 13th Apostle fail, he tries the next best thing: conning his way into Messiah status by manufacturing miracles, in order to earn not only respect, but enough contributions to settle his debts.

There’s a depth to Clarence that Stanfield conveys through his eyes alone. The character is always thinking, considering his next move, and reflecting on his social and moral status. As the film goes on, everything he wants, whether marriage, respect, or freedom from debt, all appear possible if he decides to tidy up his act and be a better, more responsible man. However, while the most obvious path in such stories certainly lies before him — embracing faith and finding God — The Book of Clarence isn’t concerned with a solution this simple. Clarence always sticks to his atheistic guns, because Samuel’s story isn’t about a man finding faith. Rather, it’s about a man working within the same spiritual and ethical framework as those seeking religious salvation. It’s a story about what it takes to become a better person, and the way it’s told is both dazzling and tongue-in-cheek.

The Book of Clarence is a visually-inspired comedy. Credit: Legendary Entertainment / Moris Puccio

Generally, modern Hollywood comedies take a risk-free aesthetic approach, between flat lighting that conveys little, blocking that conveys even less, and framing geared towards having comedians improvise dialogue. The Book of Clarence shatters that mold completely, by drawing on the classical formalism of the epics on which it riffs (you’re likely to find homages to William Wyler and George Stevens alongside modern tricks like Snorricam).

The film also has no qualms about magical realism, despite its focus on a nonbeliever. On the streets of Jerusalem, hashish gets you high — literally. It makes you float like a hot air balloon. Enlightenment arrives cartoonishly, in the form of glowing white light above your head (lightbulbs haven’t been invented yet), while poetic flirtation, during which couples gaze longingly at one another, is so intoxicating that it changes the color of one’s eyes. Even Jesus is imbued with supernatural abilities akin to Neo from The Matrix (his physical presence, however, is so otherworldly as to be overwhelming; Pinnock conveys an elegant sense of love and wisdom through his gaze).

SEE ALSO: The truth behind the heroes and villains of 'The Harder They Fall'

Despite the movie often breaking the immersion of its antiquated dialogue — at one point, Joseph calls Clarence a “dumbass” — it never turns its back on its visual palette, courtesy of cinematographer Rob Hardy. It’s a gorgeous looking movie, with the warmth and flicker of candle lights illuminating interior scenes, and gentle, soft-focus close-ups capturing Clarence and Varina’s stolen moments of intimacy.

The humor is also punctuated by sudden movements of the frame; it’s a consistently watchable film. That might sound like backhanded praise, but The Book of Clarence is the kind of movie you could watch on mute — which is to say, really watch and understand through its visuals alone. Of course, the precision of its filmmaking would amount to little if what the camera was capturing weren’t so daring and fascinating in the first place.

Jeymes Samuel crafts a smart and rigorous satire. Credit: Legendary Entertainment / Moris Puccio

Like his first film, the revisionist Western The Harder They Fall, Samuel remixes the myth and history with one eye on the present. With an all-star cast of Black actors from various countries — England’s David Oyelowo plays a sarcastic, short-tempered John the Baptist; French star Omar Sy plays Clarence’s loyal warrior sidekick Barnabas — the film’s casting is deeply political, though not merely through its optics. The characters’ accents run the gamut from American and English to Jamaican and West African (some of the actors are Nigerian and Senegalese), and Samuel is hardly subtle about his social commentary about modern Blackness as a western construct, and the experiences that bind it. 

Featured Video For You 'The Harder They Fall' puts a new spin on the old Western

Whenever Roman guards enter the picture, all played by white actors, the racial dynamic becomes overt through both dialogue and action. They behave as historical oppressors would, but some of their specifics are modulated to match how American police officers might behave, like throwing a spear at an unarmed character running away before claiming self-defense — which ultimately leads to a moving subplot about Black resilience in the face of adversity.

This is, however, arguably the meta-textual theme as well. In The Book of Clarence, the suffering of Christ-like figures (whether Clarence or Jesus himself) comes laced with contemporary commentary through fleeting but memorable lines of dialogue — most notably, from Clarence’s mother, who sees the bigger picture of the danger her son is in. If to suffer is to be Christ-like, then how does one confront the notion of an entire people being forced to suffer under the boot-heels of white supremacy? 

Credit: Legendary Entertainment / Moris Puccio

Like Jesus, Clarence draws the ire of Roman governor Pontius Pilate (James McAvoy) for his claims of divinity, and the story takes on additional layers the more Clarence’s tale begins to resemble the Bible. While there was no historical or Biblical equivalent to Clarence, Thomas is believed, by some, to be the brother of Jesus — perhaps even his twin — making Samuel’s choice of family connection especially meaningful, as though he had created Clarence as a stand-in for Jesus himself, and for Messianic ideas he wished to explore.

By having two simultaneous Jesus stories unfolding at once, The Book of Clarence is able to confront and reckon with two different paths to scrutinizing morality — religious and non-religious — while presenting a divine and supernatural version of Jesus (as has appeared in numerous films) alongside a a corruptible Messiah with human foibles. While the movie’s version of Jesus has a powerful, all-knowing, all-loving aura, Clarence struggles on a daily basis with the question of whether he can transcend his selfishness despite not believing in God.

The film’s very premise represents a modern crisis of faith in the face of oppression (fewer Black Americans, for instance, have identified as religious in recent years), and Samuel creates dueling embodiments of Jesus by employing a long-held debate about his divinity as though it were a narrative prism. The Book of Clarence uses the dilemma between believing in Jesus, the divine prophet, and Jesus the mortal man — believing in scripture or history — to split the very concept of Jesus in two, but without ever presenting them as mutual exclusives.

It's a stunning reconciliation of ideas usually at odds, taking the form of a knee-slapping historical comedy that proves utterly absorbing and emotionally moving in its finest moments. The Book of Clarence is a farce that takes itself seriously, using clashing questions of belief to turn the well-tread cinematic spectacle of Jesus’ life into a powerful, multifaceted tale of spiritual crisis. 

How to watch: The Book of Clarence is now showing in theaters.

One of the most anticipated films this year, Killers of the Flower Moon has finally hit cinemas, and it feels like a mammoth achievement. Martin Scorsese's violent and propulsive historical saga is adapted from David Grann's 2017 nonfiction book exploring the conspiracy behind the murders of numerous Osage tribespeople in the 1920s. But the film adaptation remixes Grann's structure, taking a handful of intriguing stylistic liberties. Perhaps the most intriguing flourish is its epilogue, which features a powerful cameo from Scorsese himself. 

These murders have featured in major Hollywood films before, but only as a backdrop, such as in Mervyn LeRoy's The FBI Story in 1959. With his epilogue, Scorsese offers salient commentary on how mainstream entertainment has — to ensure white comfort — frequently sanitized such brutality against Native Americans, and how this specific tale has been reduced to an oft-forgotten footnote in the pages of white supremacy. 

The events have been fictionalized in numerous novels, but it wasn't until Grann's book that their full scope had been explored. In adapting this story, Scorsese and co-screenwriter Eric Roth refuse to sand down its sickening details, preventing white and other non-Native viewers from being lulled into distant sympathy. After its plot is wrapped up and its killers are caught and convicted, the film remains open-ended in a way, letting its historical wounds linger and fester without bookending them with the traditional closing text of a Hollywood biopic. 

Instead, Killers shifts its mode of storytelling. It takes what appears to be a sharp left turn on paper, but this climax proves powerful in execution, fitting perfectly with Scorsese's ambitious mission statement about our collective culpability in American white supremacy, and the erasure of Native suffering from the public consciousness.

SEE ALSO: 'Killers of the Flower Moon' review: Martin Scorsese's compassion reveals our complicity What happens at the end of Killers of the Flower Moon? Credit: Apple TV+

After Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) testifies against his uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro) — the kingpin behind a serial murder plot to acquire oil rights in Oklahoma — he's confronted by his wife about his own role in the conspiracy. Specifically, Mollie (Lily Gladstone) confronts him about what, if anything, he had been mixing into her insulin shots, strongly implying that she knows he was behind the prolonged illness that nearly took her life.

Despite being given the chance to come clean, Ernest maintains his innocence in a scene where both his festering guilt and Mollie's overwhelming despondency at having been betrayed are nauseating to watch. But as Mollie walks away from Ernest one last time, the scene transitions abruptly to its surprising epilogue. It's set several decades later and features none of the film's main characters.

Where outro text cards might ordinarily provide contemporary context, mentioning what became of each character after the film's conclusion, Scorsese instead dramatizes this concept with a pointed purpose, as if to scrutinize the very idea of "closure" offered by biopics about historical suffering. Where convention might have dictated a touching crescendo, the musical outro to Mollie and Ernest’s final scene is brazen and adventurous.

Instead of fading out, the film transitions suddenly to the 1950s, as an episode of the J. Edgar Hoover-endorsed radio drama True Crime Stories — a fictitious version of shows like The Big Story (1947-1955) and This Is Your FBI (1945-1953) — is being recorded on a theater stage. As a narrator creates a framework and foley artists provide impromptu sound effects, a series of white voice actors (played by the likes of filmmaker Larry Fessenden and Jack White of the White Stripes) step up to a microphone to perform cartoonish versions of characters with whom we've spent the last three hours and change. This also includes caricatured impersonations of Native Americans, as the show dramatizes events that followed Hale's trial. 

SEE ALSO: How is 'Killers of the Flower Moon' different from the book?

A well-dressed live audience sits before the performing, laughing and cheering; it's a fun night of casual entertainment. Behind the actors, and the show's orchestra of live musicians, an enormous logo for Lucky Strike looms large. The famous cigarette company is the show's sponsor and its raison d'être; to its corporate executives, how these events are portrayed likely isn't important, so long as the show's version of Ernest mentions their brand. 

However, when it comes time to conclude Mollie's story, and the show's narrator mentions her remarriage and her death from diabetes in 1937, her obituary is read aloud by Martin Scorsese himself. From the moment Scorsese appears on screen — shot from a rear angle that highlights his distinct, bespectacled silhouette, as though he were announcing his own arrival — the vibe of the scene shifts dramatically. The snappy, mile-a-minute delivery gives way to a more thoughtful and considered delivery, as the musicians' operatic score and the audience's raucous response is replaced by the reflective silence between Scorsese's words.

After he reads out Mollie's obituary, he makes one departing observation: "There was no mention of the murders."

This line harkens back to the final scene minutes before, between Ernest and his uncle Hal, who attempts to convince his dubious nephew of the futility of testifying in the name of justice for Native Americans. "There might be a public outcry, for a while," Hale whispers. "But then you know what happens? People forget. They don't remember, they don't care. They just don't care. It's just going to be another everyday common tragedy."

Hale, though he represents the uncompromising evil of white supremacy, is correct. The Osage murders would go on to become a historical curio at best to most non-Native Americans. If anything, that a fictitious 1950s radio show would dedicate a whole episode to the killings, racist caricature and all, is an optimistic concoction. The events would appear on a radio broadcast in the '30s (G-Men, later known as Gang Busters) while Mollie was still alive, but after her passing, none of the FBI-centric radio series in the 1940s and '50s would include it in their lineups, as though it had never happened. Even by the time of Mollie's death — a mere decade after the trial — her place as a survivor of one of American history's darkest chapters fails to warrant a mention in her own obituary, as Scorsese reminds us.

However, in its closing shot, the film jumps forward even further in time. Rather than ending on the dour note of historical erasure, as though this were the end of the Osage's story, it pulls out slowly from a close up of a beating drum to an overhead angle of the tribe in modern day, dancing, chanting, and thriving. It's a cinematic celebration of their cultural defiance and spiritual endurance in the face of rampant suffering so often struck from the public narrative. The film wrestles with this dynamic — the opposing forces of historical erasure and course correction — throughout several scenes, culminating in its climactic cameo.

What does Scorsese's cameo in Killers of the Flower Moon mean? Credit: Apple TV+

Scorsese has a tradition of cameos in his films, which dates back to his very first film from 1967, Who's That Knocking at My Door?, in which he plays an uncredited gangster. Across his nearly 20 self-directed cameos, the famed filmmaker usually plays someone interacting with or observing the main characters. In two specific cases — Hugo and The Age of Innocence — that sense of observation becomes distinctly artistic and cinematic, since in both films he plays an early 20th century photographer preserving the characters on film. If you have a keen ear, you might hear his familiar voice in Killers of the Flower Moon's Washington, D.C. scene, when the Osage are posing for a picture. He's directing them to look to the camera. But in the epilogue, Scorsese turns the camera on himself for a distinctly reflective purpose.

By filtering the history of Native genocide and Osage betrayal through the lens of Mollie and Ernest's marriage, Killers of the Flower Moon becomes a dramatic exploration (and exposé) of the collective culpability of white supremacy in the United States. Although only a handful of the film's white characters actually carry out the murders of Native Americans, nearly everyone outside the Osage tribe grants permission to these actions in some way, and ends up benefiting from them. Some provided cover and alibi, looking the other way when necessary, while others indirectly aided the conspiracy with lies and scams of their own. Through his own on-screen presence, Scorsese seems to subtly ask what his own role in this historical hegemony might be, especially against the backdrop of American entertainment 

Throughout the film, Scorsese and his Native cast — comprising the likes of Gladstone, Cara Jade Myers, William Belleau, and Tantoo Cardinal — create deeply human portraits of the Osage people. There's a tragic irony to the epilogue being purposefully turned into racist caricature within the radio show performed by a white cast. But here, Scorsese is mindfully illustrating how history and its tragedies are rewritten by those in power, in this case the white colonizers who benefitted by every disenfranchisement of the Native Americans. Such stories are often sanitized for easy enjoyment, either by downplaying the effects of this disenfranchisement and denying Native characters their full humanity (through broad stereotypes like the silent, honorable Native), or by subverting their place in this dynamic altogether, through repeated depictions of Native tribes as inhumane savages who victimize "innocent" white settlers — a common dynamic in Hollywood Westerns. 

By recognizing this grim tradition of misrepresentation in its epilogue, Killers of the Flower Moon aims to be a corrective force in this ongoing tradition. It might be the first time many American viewers will have even heard about these murders, despite them having been depicted on screen as far back as the trial itself, in the lost and largely forgotten Tragedies of the Osage Hills by Native filmmaker James Young Deer. Just as the moving image can manipulate a country's self-mythology — archetypes like the heroic cowboy and the "noble savage" have been culturally entrenched for decades — it can also illuminate its real history. For instance, recent HBO shows like Watchmen and Lovecraft Country lead to many American viewers learning of the Tulsa "Black Wall Street" Massacre of 1921. Fittingly, the characters in this film also learn about these Tulsa riots through cinematic news reels, hinting at Scorsese's awareness of cinema's place in the public conversation, and people's understanding of the world. 

By making himself the focus in these concluding moments, at a time that coincides with his own childhood and his development as a storyteller — his first short film, Vesuvius VI, was made the same year as The FBI Story — Scorsese re-introduces the question of cinematic culpability. By turning the lens on himself, he transforms this grappling with cinematic history into a personal act. It becomes a vital call to action, demanding a deeper self-assessment by non-Native artists (especially white artists) of their place in this storytelling lineage, and in existing capitalist systems. He recognizes the place of mass entertainment in preserving the past — and in erasing it.  

The epilogue of Killers of the Flower Moon challenges a history of erasure.  Credit: Apple TV+

 Right from its first few scenes, Killers of the Flower Moon portrays the erasures experienced by the Osage tribe — the erasure of its culture and traditions, and the erasure of the Osage people from mainstream American life — using flourishes which draw from literary and cinematic sources. Its opening images, shot in color and widescreen, depict a funeral for a ceremonial pipe rather than a person, symbolizing the loss of Native culture to colonialism; these are taken not from Grann's book but from the novel A Pipe for February by Osage author Charles H. Red Corn, which focuses on the same events. Soon after, when the tribe discovers oil underneath their land, the visual language Scorsese uses to denote their wealth and prosperity is that of early silent cinema, between 4:3 black-and-white footage and inserted title cards.

Coupled with this retro aesthetic, their lavish appearances — from opulent jewelry and flapper outfits, to expensive cars and recreational planes — likens the film's wealthy Osage characters to the larger-than-life stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. This serves a dual purpose: Not only does it quickly tell us about their position in society and the reverence with which their riches were looked upon, but it also acts as an imaginary cinematic corrective. It depicts the film's Native actors as a fixture of the early days of American cinema, a place they were often denied. Scorsese introduces this idea of an alternate cinematic history, only to suddenly interrupt this escapist imagery with stark, violent portrayals of numerous unsolved Osage murders. The last remnants of this black-and-white footage, depicting smiling characters who are soon killed without remorse, ceases to be celebratory. It becomes an obituary in and of itself. 

Scorsese's cameo appearance, in which he mentions this erasure, crystalizes the movie's purpose; the director even stands on a stage in front of a microphone as though he were reading from a personal manifesto. His directing prowess has no shortage of critical appraisal, but his place as an actor within his own work is an underrated facet of Scorsese's filmmaking. Some might call director cameos excessive or self-aggrandizing; in Hitchcock's case, they were usually Easter eggs. For Scorsese, these appearances serve a conversational function, but perhaps none more so than in Killers of the Flower Moon.

In concept, the idea of a director centering himself during a film's emotional denouement echoes the prototypical image of an ego-driven auteur. However, there's a knowing and mournful humility to Scorsese's performance here, which warps the film's most farcical scene into its most poignant. 

His delivery of Mollie's obituary is a vulnerable lament, from a now-80-year-old filmmaker in the twilight of his career, as though he regrets being unable or unwilling to do more for her and for the Osage tribe — who have now embraced him as "Uncle Marty" — during the preceding years. This is precisely why Killers of the Flower Moon stands as a necessary work in the conversation on American history, cinematic or otherwise. It's not only a reflection of past horrors, but an effort to re-align those horrors with a more detailed understanding of our place within them, as individuals and as a people. 

Killers of the Flower Moon is now streaming on Apple TV+.

UPDATE: Jan. 11, 2024, 5:26 p.m. EST This article was originally published for the theatrical release of "Killers of the Flower Moon." It has been republished for the film's streaming debut.

The Sphere caught many CES 2024 attendees' eyes as it glittered in the Las Vegas night like a shiny marble. When I visited the world's largest spherical arena, I happened to be lugging around my iPhone 14 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Wouldn't it be a great idea to test both cameras' capabilities in capturing The Sphere? That's what I wondered, and that's what I did. I took pictures of the structure, outside and inside, with both phones' wide lenses.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon/RapidTables

Given that the iPhone 14 Plus sports a mere 12 megapixel wide lens and the Galaxy S22 Ultra offers a 108 megapixel version, the latter seems like the clear winner.

But not so fast.

The iPhone 14 Plus' wide-lens aperture is superior (f/1.5 trumps f/1.8 because a smaller f-stop number infers better light gathering). Plus, the size of the iPhone's pixels appears to be larger and better.

So how does this all translate to actual photos?

The Sphere (outside)

On its vast outside, The Sphere boasts a gigantic, eye-catching display that sometimes advertises brands. At the time I was at the Sphere, it was blasting a Samsung Galaxy ad, aiming to get us pumped for the upcoming Unpacked event.

Here's what happened when I used my iPhone and Android to snap a photo of the Sphere:

Left: Outside of the Sphere (iPhone) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon Right: Outside of the Sphere (Android) Outside of the Sphere (iPhone) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

I asked Jason England, Tom's Guide's Managing Editor of Computing and an expert in mobile devices, to give me an analysis on the photos. Long story short, England prefers the Galaxy S22 Ultra in this round.

"When it comes to nighttime photography, Apple's approach is to try to balance all the light sources, translating into a flatter photo," England said. "However, I prefer Samsung's here as there's more depth and dimension to the shot of the sphere and surrounding lights."

Winner: Android

The Sphere (inside)

Inside was Darren Aronofsky's "Postcard from Earth," an immersive, multi-sensory experience splashed across the venue's bowl-like insides. I snapped multiple pictures showcasing different parts of the "Postcard" experience.

Earth Left: Inside The Sphere (iPhone) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable Right: Inside The Sphere (Android) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

A gorgeous image of the earth appeared — and in this shot, England preferred the iPhone.

"There is a better balance of color across the iPhone's picture," he said. "Samsung's computational photography seems to take the dominant color of a scene (i.e., blue in this case) and alter the hue of the entire shot with it. This explains the cooler hue of the planet that virtually eliminates the green of the land."

Winner: iPhone

Flowers Left: Inside the Sphere (iPhone) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable / Darren Aronofsky Right: Inside the Sphere (Android) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable / Darren Aronofsky

England gave another win to the iPhone here, for this flower shot. "Samsung's focus on boosting vividness means more intricate details on the flowers are lost," he said. "The iPhone's balanced palette, on the other hand, keeps the veins' clarity for the flowers."

Winner: iPhone

Church Left: Inside the Sphere (iPhone) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable / Darren Aronofsky Right: Inside the Sphere (Android) Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable / Darren Aronofsky

But it wasn't all bad news inside for Android, which England felt delivered the better photo of this virtual church.

"The snapper in the S22 Ultra does a good job of balancing the various light sources in the church and preserving the detail, whereas the darker areas on the iPhone's picture remove the intricacies in the shadows."

Winner: Android

Final thoughts

It looks like the phones are tied here, with Android winning the outside round and Apple winning inside. Of course, this is just England's perspective: check out the photos and decide for yourself.

As for my thoughts: There's a reason why I had two phones in hand. Both the iPhone 14 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra have strengths and weaknesses. If I want to take pictures of things —product shots, must-see attractions — I reached for my iPhone. To my eyes, the photos are more true-to-life, capturing minute, rich details that the naked eye doesn't notice.

However, if I want to take selfies, or other people-based photos, I opt for the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The iPhone 14 Plus photo software tends to oversharpen faces, but the Galaxy S22 Ultra appears to smooth out flaws and bring out subjects' undertones.

Your megapixel mileage may vary.

When you start working out, it often feels like the hardest part of making a fitness routine work is finding a way to stick to it. It’s easy to stay motivated for a week — maybe even a few — but eventually the initial sheen of fitness progress starts to fade. It’s that moment, though, that can be pivotal in your fitness journey. Ultimately, the choice to stick to a fitness routine will be up to you, but the Whoop 4.0 puts all the tools at your disposal to make creating and committing to a workout schedule as simple as possible. 

You’ve most likely seen ads for the Whoop 4.0 on Instagram — they’re the sleek posts featuring a fitness band that doesn’t have a screen. Like most products heavily advertised on Instagram, I assumed the product was a lot of chic pictures without much substance, but the Whoop 4.0 packs a hell of a punch. Everything works through its accompanying app, which, yes, does require a subscription (an annual membership is $239). The band records metrics to measure your sleep, your heart rate, your recovery, and your calories burned. It also offers features like a daily journal to track your wellness habits, workout coaching, and a community function in which you can compare progress with others. 

SEE ALSO: The best fitness trackers for keeping up with your goals

There is a lot to learn about the Whoop 4.0 and the way it tracks your fitness. Essentially, it measures strain and recovery, and recommends a level of exertion based on those scores. Strain is a number between zero and 21 that’s triangulated by several thoroughly confusing factors meant to indicate how hard your body and mind have been working. Recovery, on the other hand, is a number based on the quality of your sleep, determined by a series of biometrics. 

Your strain score represents your body’s total daily exertion. Credit: Whoop The recovery score measures how your body is adapting to the stress of training or workouts, lack of sleep, illness, or your menstrual cycle. Credit: Whoop

If this sounds confusing, that’s because it is. The Whoop 4.0 was a great workout partner, but understanding how to use it, and how to digest its metrics was akin to taking the SAT. I read paragraph after paragraph of small text in the app, trying to gain an understanding, only to then watch an explainer video and walk away more confused than when I started. In practice, the fitness tracker isn’t hard to use, but to get a sense of what each metric really means, you’ve got to get deep in the weeds. 

The Whoop 4.0 is different on purpose

First and foremost this thing doesn’t have a screen. That’s intentional, according to Whoop’s website, so that you can focus on performance instead of a watch face. It was actually nice not to have something flashing, buzzing, or beeping on my arm during my workouts, but when I went for distance runs, it meant that I had no way of knowing how far I’d run. I was forced to keep the app open on my phone, which was a bummer.

Wearing the tracker at night gives you an analysis of your sleep cycles. Credit: Whoop Whoop tracks your stress levels throughout the day. Credit: Whoop

The Whoop 4.0 purports to be about a more holistic version of fitness, which is why, in addition to tracking how you put your body under stress or strain it also offers a daily habit journal. If you’re consistent with it, the app will offer insights into how your habits affect your sleep and workouts. I found it helpful to note down things like my diet, how working from home affected my mood, or even check in about if I felt “in control of my life,” though it was hard not to feel at least a little judged by the phrasing. Other habit-tracking options, like the option to notate if I had masturbated that day, for instance, felt downright weird and intrusive — it’s not immediately clear where this data is going, and it felt a bit like talking to a personal trainer who was being uncomfortably nosey.

Some of the differences are better than others

Eventually, I gave in to working within the mysterious confines of the strain and recovery metrics, and I enjoyed it for the most part. If the app told me I should go my hardest during a workout that day, I did, and if it told me I needed to recover I took the day off. It was hard to determine what exactly was a high-strain workout — a Crossfit class that left me literally weak in the knees registered as a 12.3 strain, while a mile run came in at 8.1. 

With the help of the habits journal I began to see the extreme effect drinking had on my sleep quality, which helped me plan my week much more efficiently. I started to notice habits that affected my mental health and how alert I felt as well. I didn’t miss the step tracking, or live heart rate monitoring that many other fitness bands put front and center, because I was, as advertised, much more focused on my workouts. The Whoop, for its part, was a silent companion while I was at the gym, ready to regale me with data whenever I chose to open the app.

The Whoop has a unique charging situation: Instead of plugging in, you charge a battery pack that slides over the device on your wrist. That means there’s no break in its recording data, but it also means that you’re now keeping track of charging two separate things and that the Whoop itself charges at a snail's pace. Whoop advertises between four and five days of battery life, but I found it to be more like three to four days of battery. It doesn’t seem like a big difference, except that competitors are offering closer to a full seven days of battery for devices, and charging a device twice a week is one more thing to think about. 

Is Whoop 4.0 worth it?

This is a fitness band that is built to create a workout routine that will stick. While competitors seem more interested in weaving in movement and activity throughout the day — going for a light walk around the block for instance — the Whoop 4.0 is about building serious, effective, and rigorous workouts that will definitely challenge you. 

Were there a few functional downsides? Sure. The app, through which everything runs, was pretty laggy. Connecting to that band to update metrics took a while, which could be annoying at times. The battery, too, presented challenges. Dealbreakers? Certainly not, but they’re small missteps in design that add up in the user experience. They don’t dim the shine of the fantastic, if not initially confusing, spread of metrics and coaching offerings the Whoop 4.0 features.

Jon Hamm clearly knows dick. From king dick Don Draper on Mad Men to that cult leader dick on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt to that dick who left Kristen Wiig standing on the side of the road in Bridesmaids, his dicks have always been where it's at. And Hamm is serving career-best dick on the fifth and currently airing season of Noah Hawley's anthology series Fargo. 

Hamm's Golden-Globe-nominated performance as Sheriff Roy Tillman, a sneering libertarian maniac who terrorizes his entire town — up to and very much including his own family — is so reprehensible a man that the word "dick" doesn't even begin to cover it. But it's a good start! 

Hamm has long been relied on to play a captivating cad. Don Draper looked great (understatement, that) and he occasionally lightened up, and the others were chaotically funny enough to lure us in. But with Fargo, Hamm has resolutely cast aside his charms. To flatly call Tillman toxic masculinity made manifest would undersell that toxicity. But Hamm never does. Whether he's threatening a random healthcare worker with blackmail or chaining his ex to a bed — so he can go toss a dead body down a well — he's leaning all the way in here. And it's some of his finest work, utterly noxious though it may be.

Step aside, Jon Hamm's nipple rings!  Credit: Michelle Fay / FX

There was no way to anticipate this at the season's start. All of the press stories that surrounded the premiere episode gleefully focused on Hamm's hot-tub nude scene, and the prosthetic nipple rings he's seen rocking therein. But it turns out we were too busy staring at Hamm's bared butt to notice the great big dick standing right in front of us, warning us to hate him. All of that only became clear as Tillman's utter humorlessness and his raging ego took center stage. This surly sheriff has no wit and no style. One loses count of the number of times he uses the word "subservient." He is an ugly ruin of a man, out to ruin everything within reach. 

By the penultimate episode of Season 5, seeing all of the horrific things he's done, there's no mistaking his menace. Nor is there any mistaking what it's done for the show itself. Season 5 has turned out to be a spectacular return to form for the series, the best the show's had to offer since the second season back in 2015 (aka the one where Kirsten Dunst met Jesse Plemons and they gave us relationship goals for life). Hamm's malignant performance as Sheriff Tillman isn't the only cause of that reinvigoration — the rest of the cast top to bottom is on fire, too. But his performance is so fearless and fearsome that it demands celebrating.

Jon Hamm makes Fargo Season 5 a high point for the franchise.  Credit: Michelle Fay / FX

Like a severed leg jiggling in a wood chipper, the previous season of Fargo, which aired in 2020, made us fear there might be nowhere left for the show to go. But it turns out Hawley had an ace up his sleeve, one we'd stopped daring to even dream about. With Season 5 he decided to finally tackle the Coens' original 1996 film — which this anthology series has purposefully avoided before now (save a few subtle Easter eggs). 

But Hawley's no fool. He knows that a beat-for-beat reenactment of that masterpiece would be pointless. It's too ingrained in our cultural memory. So, he smartly turned that recognition against us, weaponizing it. Where the Coens managed to find enough sweetness in their Midwestern melange to keep up with the sour, Hawley submerges it all in a poison that feels more appropriate to our darker moment in history. And every wrench he tosses into the works keeps uncovering blacker depths.

So instead of a clueless housewife getting snared by her shitty's husband's ransom plot, Hawley delivers an extremely-not-clueless housewife who's got her own secret life (not to mention her own badass set of survival skills) this time around. Juno Temple stars as Dot, though that isn't her real name. Turns out "Dot" has been on the run from her abusive ex for years — an abusive ex who also happens to be a sheriff. And a dick. And who is played by Jon Hamm. 

Fargo Season 5 is the Jon Hamm vs. Juno Temple show. Credit: Michelle Fay / FX

That's not to say that Fargo's fifth season is a two-hander. Outstanding support comes from Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dot's rich-bitch mother-in-law (who finally uncovered some hinted-at depths in the most recent episode), Dave Foley as her eye-patched fixer, Richa Moorjani as the Gunderson-esque townie law enforcement, and Joe Keery as the Sheriff's shitbag son, Gator. 

But all of those characters work in service of pushing Dot and Roy toward their presumed big showdown. Lord knows what twists Hawley still has up his sleeves for the finale. The seventh episode, which hinged on a real rug-puller of a dream sequence, was particularly devastating, with its brutal cut from a scene of female empowerment to an 18-wheeler literally crashing through it. All this underscores how badly we want to see Sheriff Roy get his comeuppance, while also making sure the show never loses sight of how we live in a world where these kinds of bad people may never get their just desserts.  

Jon Hamm creates a Trump analog with Tillman.  Credit: Michelle Fay / FX

It's telling that Hawley set this story in 2019, sickeningly square in Trump Country. And wherever the finale lands us, it's clear that Hawley's vision of this place is a far, far darker one than even the Coens — bathing the snow in arterial spray — could manage in the Clinton years of '96. Gone is the plucky Margie Gunderson wondering what the world's come to over a little bit of money. Now, it's Sheriff Tillman standing over a man he's in the middle of murdering asking, "If you're so smart, why are you so dead?" The show isn't quite having an ACAB moment (we do have a couple of decent police officers on the scene). But if it doesn't quite want to show that all cops are bastards, all of the bastards on the show are cops. And that's a long way off from where the Coens ended their tale.

"Minnesota Nice" — defined by the show during the premiere as "an aggressively pleasant demeanor…no matter how bad things get" — has curdled into full-on aggression. And nowhere is that more evident than it is in Hamm's hands. He speaks every line curtly, as if every huffed syllable is meant to be the final say. An implied fist hits with every punctuation. He keeps his eyes set staunchly to piggish taunt. Any sparkle that Don Draper might've had is D.O.A. here, where his demeanor only stinks of straw and muck and cold, unspeakable things on the bottoms of his boots. 

Yet for all the villain's macho posturing, Hawley keeps triumphantly finding fresh ways to humiliate Sheriff Tillman. There's a gem of a scene where Jennifer Jason Leigh cuts him straight down to nothing ("You're fighting for your right to be a baby"). Later, he gets hilariously upstaged during a live debate for his reelection that, with its satirical image of half a dozen morons prattling arrogant gibberish, dials the Trump factor up to 20. 

Through Hamm's arc, Hawley makes clear the true battle here: In one corner you have a world capable of joy, while on the other stands a man so dead inside that he wants to twist the world to match. Hawley winds that tension of Tillman's twisted quest so tight that at times it's nigh tough to breathe. It's like Joe Pesci's "How am I funny?" moment in Goodfellas magnified —Hawley is showing us how the clowns have turned on us, and how we've all been shell-shocked into traumatic silence. But maybe — just maybe — through Dot's relentlessness, he offers a hint of hope by suggesting what we have to do about such bullies.

Fargo Season 5 is now streaming on Hulu.

A chill hits your bones mere frames into True Detective: Night Country.

I'll credit some of that creeping cold to the show's location: Ennis, Alaska, 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle. There's nothing there but vistas of crisp, cold blue, extending as far as the eye can see. Even if you're watching Night Country draped in blankets in your warmest room, one look at the infinite ice is enough to make your breath catch in your throat and fog in front of your face.

SEE ALSO: 38 TV shows we can't wait to see in 2024

But more chilling still is Night Country's opening scene. The sun, which is setting for the last time before weeks of endless night, passes behind a calm herd of elk. As the sun disappears beyond the horizon, the elk sniff the air, perk up their ears, and charge off a cliff en masse. What led to this leap into the abyss? Was it some kind of group madness? Or did something — some unknown, unseen force — drive them to it?

That tension between madness and the supernatural, the maybe-real and maybe-paranormal, is what drives True Detective's extraordinary fourth season. Yes, you can certainly expect several of the hallmarks of the much beloved Season 1: A tortured pair of detectives with a contentious relationship, a deeply atmospheric murder case, and even hints at the occult. But in the hands of new showrunner Issa López — who has taken the reins from show creator and exec producer Nic Pizzolatto — True Detective: Night Country leans harder into horror, a choice that perfectly suits its icy, pitch-black setting. That, coupled with two powerhouse leads in Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, makes for a gripping season of television that pays tribute to the True Detective that came before — but more importantly, paves the way forward into something new.

What is True Detective: Night Country about? Jodie Foster and Finn Bennett in "True Detective: Night Country." Credit: Michele K. Short / HBO

Every detective story needs a case, and True Detective: Night Country's is a doozy. As the long night falls over Ennis, eight men working at the remote Tsalal Arctic Research Station go missing. When they do turn up, they're miles out on the ice, fully naked, and frozen together in a grotesque "corpsicle." Grim stuff, with no answers in sight.

The bizarro nature of the case leads Ennis Police Chief Elizabeth Danvers (Foster) to label it a "shitbowl." But that doesn't stop her from seeking out who might be responsible, especially when evidence found at Tsalal links back to a cold case from six years ago: the murder of Iñupiaq activist Annie Masu Kowtok (Nivi Pedersen).

SEE ALSO: 'True Detective: Night Country' trailer teases Jodie Foster and Kali Reis hunting a serial killer

Also on the hunt for answers is trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis). She carries the weight of Annie's unsolved murder with her, even after her dogged pursuit of justice led to her demotion. While Navarro's relationship with Danvers may have soured years ago, the two resolve to work together one last time to understand what, exactly, happened at Tsalal.

True Detective: Night Country gives us two astounding new leads in Danvers and Navarro. Jodie Foster and Kali Reis in "True Detective: Night Country." Credit: Michele K. Short/HBO

The core of True Detective has always been the relationship between its leading detectives: the long nights spent obsessing over a case, the conversations and secrets shared over car rides. That's no different here, with the prickly dynamic between Danvers and Navarro blazing at the heart of Night Country's frigid story. On the basest levels, you can draw a line between this pair and that of True Detective's very first season: Much like the philosophical musings of Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) often ticked off realist Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson), so too do Navarro's more spiritual leanings grate on straight-shooter Danvers. But make no mistake, these women are not rip-offs. They're wholly their own.

Danvers gets on the nerves of seemingly everyone she meets, from a mining bigwig whose husband she slept with to subordinates like police officer Hank Prior (John Hawkes). That suits her just fine: If she doesn't like you, she doesn't give a damn what you think of her. Things get trickier with people she cares more about, like her stepdaughter Leah (Isabella Star LaBlanc) or officer (and Hank's son) Peter (Finn Bennett). How can she let people in when she's too busy barreling across the frozen wastes in search of killers? Foster, phenomenal as always, brings a gritty intensity to Danvers, along with a wry streak of humor that lends a dark season a tad of levity.

SEE ALSO: 'A Murder at the End of the World' review: An ice-cold whodunnit with techno flair

In her first TV role, former boxer Reis matches Foster beat for beat, with a powerful screen presence that grips you tightly every second she's on camera. Her Navarro is a fierce fighter with a vulnerable, spiritual streak. She can't stand by while women, especially Indigenous women, are hurt and ignored by the Ennis community — a trait that sometimes drives her to make impulsive, not-quite-legal decisions. She also has a conflicted relationship with God and the possibility that there is more to life than just our world. With a troubled family history, including her sister Julia's (Aka Niviâna) ongoing struggles with mental illness, and visions calling to her from across the ice, Navarro sometimes feels caught between the real and the supernatural. Just like True Detective: Night Country as a whole.

True Detective: Night Country is a hypnotic ghost story. Kali Reis in "True Detective: Night Country." Credit: Michele K. Short / HBO

True Detective is no stranger to flirting with the paranormal, albeit to varying degrees, depending on your interpretation. But López, known for her horror film Tigers Are Not Afraid, positions us squarely in the realm of ghost stories. Whispered voices issue cryptic warnings. Apparitions guide characters closer to answers. The dead may not always be gone.

Ennis functions as the perfect location for this strangeness to play out. Self-described as "the end of the world" and shrouded in nonstop darkness for months of the year, the town is as close as True Detective can get to the barrier between Earth and whatever lays beyond. For some residents of Ennis, any ghostly happenings are just a part of living there. Survivalist Rose Aguineau (Fiona Shaw) calmly tells people that she gets visits from her late husband. At one point, a resident simply says, "This is Ennis, man. You see people sometimes."

So, are the ghosts just a part of living in the night? Or are they as real as the snow that crunches below Danvers and Navarro's boots? True Detective: Night Country leaves you enough wiggle room to make the call for yourself, forgoing easy answers in favor of deep, dark atmosphere.

All this talk of ghosts doesn't mean True Detective: Night Country steers clear of real-world evils and issues. Night Country is as much a portrait of an embattled isolated community as it is a ghost story. Many of the people of Ennis, especially the Indigenous community, protest the mining operation polluting their water. That same operation fights back with the argument that there would be no town without their presence, even though the Iñupiaq were here long before Ennis. Elsewhere, characters like Leah and Navarro grapple with how to engage with their Iñupiaq identity. And when it comes to the case, Danvers, Navarro, and especially Peter find themselves sacrificing their personal lives for their work too many times to count.

These are all-too-real concerns that are often augmented by the madness of the long night. And while it's quite a bit to juggle, the season's six-episode run is lean and mean enough that this puzzle never outstays its welcome or overspills its bounds. Night Country is a riveting, pensive addition to the True Detective canon, one that invites you deep beneath the ice in search for even a glimmer of light.

True Detective: Night Country premieres Jan. 14 on HBO/Max at 9 p.m ET/PT.

TL;DR: As of January 12, get this Wireless Car Display with Apple CarPlay & Android Auto Compatibility and Phone Mirroring for only $99.99 — you'll save 28%.

If you are thinking about trading your older car in just to get an infotainment hub like the newer ones, hold that thought. If your vehicle is in good shape, with many miles left to offer, this wireless car display may be a smarter option. And it's on sale for just $99.99 (reg. $139) through January 14.

The seven-inch HD display has a vibrant touchscreen for easy, safer control. And it's made to be easy to install, with a plug-and-play design that can quickly be attached to any smooth surface in your car, like your dashboard or windshield.

This useful piece of tech features Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. Enjoy the modernity of seamless integration of your iPhone or Android phone with your car's display. Access Siri or Google Assistant, make calls, send messages, and enjoy your favorite music playlists, all without taking your eyes off the road.

Since you can use voice commands and operate your navigation apps like Google Maps or Waze through this car display, you'll have an enhanced GPS experience whether commuting to work or on a family road trip. It also features screen mirroring capabilities, as well as built-in speakers, and comes with all you need to install it, including mounts, brackets, cables, and a user manual.

Don't discard a perfectly good vehicle because of a lack of connectivity. Elevate your driving experience with this feature-packed wireless car display.

Get the 7-inch wireless car display with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility while it's on sale for just $99.99 (reg. $139) until January 14 at 11:59 p.m. PT, with no coupon codes needed.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: RochasDivineMart 7-inch Wireless Car Display with Apple CarPlay & Android Auto Compatibility and Phone Mirroring $99.99 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal

TL;DR: As of January 12, get the PowerBand Apple Watch Band with Built-In MagSafe Charger for $34.97 — a 30% discount.

Our smartwatches have become a major part of our lives. With staying connected being a must these days, our Apple Watches allow us an easier way to do that without being tethered to a phone or laptop. The only thing is that we have to remember to keep them charged, or they become just a bracelet.

Don't let a lack of battery power slow down your day. Pick up the PowerBand and get an Apple Watch band and a way to charge it in one. This innovative idea eliminates the need to keep a charger and cable with you to charge your watch. It has a sleek, seamlessly integrated MagSafe-compatible charger built into the band, as well as a flexible and durable USB connector that tucks away when not in use. 

When you want a charge, simply plug the USB connector into a compatible outlet or laptop port. Then, fit your Apple Watch onto the tiny magnetic charger on the band and let it power up.

The band itself is made from breathable, lightweight nylon for comfort. It's also adjustable via the two pull tabs. Plus, the elasticity means it can form to your individual wrist size.

This PowerBand is compatible with all Apple Watch series. Don't miss the chance to grab this handy Apple Watch band while it's on sale.

Get the PowerBand with a built-in MagSafe-compatible charger for just $34.97 (reg. $49.99) until January 14 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: WonderCube PowerBand: Apple Watch Band with Built-In MagSafe Charger $34.97 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal

TL;DR: As of January 12, get the Nix Mini 2 Color-Matching Sensor for only $59.97 — a 39% discount.

Whether you're a designer, artist, or simply someone with an eye for detail, color is likely a significant part of your world. If the sight of a random shade of blue gets your creativity flowing, knowing what that color actually is would be incredibly valuable. You can easily unlock the power of color-matching knowledge with the Nix Mini 2 Color-Matching Sensor, which is on sale through January 14 for just $59.97 (reg. $99).

All you need to do is scan any surface, and the Nix will match it to any of over 100,000 brand-name paints. So, if you're out at a restaurant and you really love the color of the chairs, simply grab your Nix Mini 2 and see what it's called. It can even match sRGB HEX, CMYK, and LAB colors.

A significant benefit of this Bluetooth tool is that it's super small, so it can be easily stashed in your bag, backpack, or tool kit. Bring it with you on your travels to find inspiration on the road, or keep it in your pocket at work for easy access to instant, accurate readings.

You get lifetime access to the Nix Paints and Nix Digital Android and iOS apps. Use the app to save and store scanned and favorite colors. You'll even be able to share and send to family, friends, clients, or colleagues quickly and efficiently.

This color-matching sensor is a small investment that could make a big impact on your creative endeavors. And this is the last call to buy it at this reduced price.

Get the Nix Mini 2 Color-Matching Sensor for just $59.97 (reg. $99) when you order by January 14 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Nix Sensor Nix Mini 2 Color-Matching Sensor $59.97 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal

The best ways to watch 'Self Reliance' at a glance: BEST OVERALL Hulu monthly subscription Free one-month trial, then $7.99/month Get Deal BEST BUNDLE DEAL Disney Duo Basic Bundle (Hulu and Disney+ With Ads) $9.99/month (save $5.99/month) Get Deal BEST FOR T-MOBILE/SPRINT CUSTOMERS Hulu Basic (with ads) free with select plans as of Jan. 24 (save $7.99/month) Get Deal BEST FOR STUDENTS Spotify Premium for Students with Hulu free one-month trial, then $5.99/month (save up to $12.99/month) Get Deal BEST LONG-TERM DEAL Hulu (with ads) annual subscription $79.99/year (save 17%) Get Deal

Originally set to hit Hulu back in September, then pushed back to November, Jake Johnson's feature-length directorial debut Self Reliance is finally gracing us with its streaming presence this month.

The film, which originally premiered back in March 2023 at the SXSW Film Festival, centers around Tommy (Johnson), a middle-aged man stuck in a bit of a rut. Recently dumped by his girlfriend and living with his mom, Tommy is propositioned with an adventure that'll change his life by none other than Andy Samberg. "From its hook, it is outlandish, hilarious, and mind-bending," Mashable's Kristy Puchko writes in her review of the film.

It took awhile, but Self Reliance is finally available to watch at home on Jan. 12. Here's what you need to know to tune in.

Is Self Reliance worth watching?

"One of the delights out of SXSW 2023," per Mashable's film editor Kristy Puchko, Self Reliance was written and directed by lovable New Girl actor Jake Johnson. He's also the star of the film. Ambitious much?

As it turns out, Johnson's pretty good at pulling triple duty. The film isn't perfect — it loses its footing in the third act, as Puchko politely put it — but it's still "an enthralling and wildly fun directorial debut." Audiences seem to largely agree, considering it's earned an 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes as of the time of writing. Sure, the end could be sharpened a bit. But overall, "it's undeniable that Self Reliance still hits its mark."

Check out the official trailer below to get a glimpse at the twisted tale:

What streaming service is Self Reliance on?

Self Reliance makes its streaming debut exclusively on Hulu on Jan. 12, after quite a few delays and pushbacks. If you're already a Hulu subscriber, you're good to go. Just sign into your account on Jan. 12 (or anytime after) and Self Reliance will be waiting for you to click play. Not a subscriber? Read on to find out the best ways to sign up for free.

Can you watch Self Reliance for free?

Hulu still offers a generous one-month free trial, which is now a rarity in the streaming world. The bad news is you can only access that free trial if you've never subscribed to Hulu before or if you're a returning customer who hasn't recently subscribed (check eligibility and terms to see if you qualify). If you do qualify for the free trial, you'll have plenty of time to watch Self Reliance and other Hulu exclusives for free. If not, there are still a few other ways to score a free or discounted subscription. Here's what you need to know.

Best for most people: Hulu 30-day free trial Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Hulu (With Ads) Free 30-day trial, then $7.99/month Get Deal

An entire month of free streaming? In 2024, it seems almost impossible to come across. But thankfully, Hulu is still keeping its trial period for newbies alive. As the streamer puts it, "You wouldn’t buy a new car without test driving it first, so that’s why Hulu offers free trials to new and eligible returning subscribers." Bless you, Hulu. If you're new to Hulu or coming back after a long break, you can take advantage of a 30-day free trial (which is valid for both the No Ads and With Ads plans) around the time of the Self Reliance release date. That will allow you to watch Jake Johnson's feature-length directorial debut and plenty more on Hulu.

Once your trial is up, you'll have to dish out either $7.99/month for the With Ads plan or $17.99/month for the No Ads plan to keep your subscription going. Otherwise, cancel before your trial ends to call it quits.

Best for T-Mobile customers: Hulu (With Ads) monthly subscription Opens in a new window Credit: Sprint / T-Mobile Hulu (With Ads) Free with Sprint Unlimited plans (save $7.99/month) Get Deal

Former Sprint Unlimited customers (now T-Mobile) can unlock free access to Hulu's With Ads plan — so long as your account remains active and in good standing. (If you choose to switch plans or cancel, your subscription will be suspended.) T-Mobile customers on the Go5G Next plan can also enjoy free access to Hulu as of Jan. 24. Sure, you'll have to wait a bit longer to watch Self Reliance, but it'll be worth the $7.99/month in savings.

Best for students: Spotify Premium for Students with Hulu Opens in a new window Credit: Spotify / Hulu Spotify Premium for Students with Hulu Free one-month trial, then $5.99/month (save up to $12.99/month) Get Deal

Students hoping to watch their favorite grouchy-yet-adorable New Girl character conquer the film world have a couple great options. Our personal pick is signing up for Spotify Premium for Students. Not only can you kick things off with a free one-month trial, but you'll also unlock access to Hulu with ads for no cost. In other words, you can watch Self Reliance and other Hulu exclusives, plus listen to all your favorite tunes ad-free for an entire month without spending a dime. Even better, following the trial period, you'll only have to pay $5.99/month for both Spotify Premium and Hulu with ads. The only requirement is a .edu email address that can be verified through SheerID.

Another option is to open a Hulu student account on its own, which doesn't offer a free trial, but only costs $1.99/month. The same .edu email address rules apply.

Other ways to watch Self Reliance

If you're ineligible for any of the free options, you can still save some money a couple of ways. You could commit to a full year and save about 16%, rather than paying monthly. Or you could bundle your Disney+ account with Hulu and ESPN+ and save over 40%. These options certainly aren't as good as the free ones, but they'll still help you keep more of your hard-earned cash.

Best for long-term viewing: Hulu (With Ads) annual subscription Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu Hulu (with ads) Annual Subscription $79.99/year (save 16%) Get Deal

Hulu will knock 16% off your subscription cost if you sign up for a year of streaming upfront, rather than paying monthly. That drops the $7.99/month cost down to $6.67/month for a total of $79.99 for the year. The good news is you'll have plenty of time to watch Self Reliance, plus re-watch Jake Johnson in every episode of New Girl. Win-win.

Best bundle deal: Disney Duo Basic or Trio Basic Bundle (With Ads) Opens in a new window Credit: Hulu / Disney+ Hulu + Disney+ (with ads) $9.99/month or $14.99/month (save up to 44%) Get Deal

The Disney Bundle remains one of the best streaming deals you can get your hands on. For just $9.99/month, you can unlock access to all of the content on Disney+ and Hulu — just $2 more than paying for Hulu on its own. If you're a sports fan as well, you can add ESPN+ into the mix and pay just $14.99/month, which saves you over 40% each month. If you're just looking to watch Self Reliance and be on your way, it's probably not your best option. But for those looking to get the most bang for their buck when it comes to streaming, this is your best bet.

Though superhero obsessives argue otherwise, there is much more to Martin Scorsese's filmography than his gangster movies. He's made mesmerizing and moving music documentaries, like No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, Shine a Light, and Personality Crisis: One Night Only. He's offered sweeping epics like the sprawling 19th-century romance The Age of Innocence, and the rapturous biopics Kundun and The Aviator. He's made daring comedies with The King of Comedy and After Hours. And yes, his "gangster movies" — Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed, The Irishman, and arguably The Wolf of Wall Street — are damn fine cinema. (Period.) But with Killers of the Flower Moon, one of the greatest American filmmakers to ever live has bested even himself by twisting his previous modus operandi in crime dramas to demand more of his audience. 

Scorsese has long been a master of creating compelling criminals on screen, inviting audiences into the vicarious thrill of being a made man or a Wall Street titan or even a devil-may-care ex-con hellbent on revenge (Cape Fear). With Killers of the Flower Moon, he once more embeds us with criminals at the story's core. But this time, we are not to revel in their cavalier violence or be wooed by their merciless pursuit of wealth and power. Instead, we are made complicit in their ruthless conspiracy of genocide.  

What's Killers of the Flower Moon about? Credit: Apple TV+

Based on the David Grann non-fiction book of the same name, Killers of the Flower Moon delves into a series of murders during the 1920s of Osage tribe members. It's a true story not particularly well known outside of Oklahoma, where the murders took place, or by non-Native Americans.

A Native American tribe that had survived being kicked across the nation by "the great white father" — white colonialists turned governmental forces — the Osage people were eventually cast to a reservation in Oklahoma. They accepted this land in part because it seemed such a desolate space they were sure to be left alone at last. Then they struck oil. 

As these Native American families were made wealthy by the find, white men gathered to find ways to wheedle money out of the newly minted millionaires. Killers displays how they managed to do this via conservatorships, predatory business practices, and literal grave-robbing. Among the most heinous of these methods was a conspiracy that led to dozens of homicides. 

Scorsese and co-screenwriter Eric Roth make a dramatic change from Grann's book, not in content but in approach. Rather than laying out the crimes and the ensuing FBI investigation, Killers embeds us with the criminals from the start — like many a Scorsese movie before it. However, the criminals here are not chaotically compelling anti-heroes like Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle The Wolf of Wall Street's Jordan Belfort, or Goodfellas' Henry Hill. It's made clear early on that these are cowards and con men who deal in conspiracy, corruption, and white supremacy.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro bring two historical criminals to vivid life. Credit: Apple TV+

While the film begins with the Osage tribe, who in a solemn funeral ritual recognize their way of life is being lost amid the pressure to assimilate, Killers of the Flower Moon most closely follows a wolf in sheep's clothing. Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a slow-witted but greedy veteran who rolls into Osage territory looking for a leg up from his affluent cattle rancher uncle, William "King" Hale (Robert De Niro). 

By bringing together two of his most lauded recurring players/muses, Scorsese might have shaped Ernest and King as a pair of swaggering rogues as he had in his past collaborations. Instead, he pushes each actor out of their niches. DiCaprio sheds his posh posturing, slumping his shoulders and slapping on a set of crooked teeth, a jutting jaw, an accompanying scowl, and a haircut that looks like a punishment. Meanwhile, De Niro's signature snarl and intense gaze have been shelved in favor of a jolly grin, open arms, and a bouncy Southern drawl. These transformations are thorough and treacherous. 

On their surface, Ernest seems a genial fool, and King appears to be a sophisticated and caring benefactor, just as he's seen by the Osage community with whom he does business and socializes. But no sooner has Ernest set himself down in one of King's polished chairs that the conspiring begins — a casual conversation about hopes of wealth and women becoming something slick with suspicion and devilish schemes. By binding us to Ernest, Scorsese gets audiences up close and uncomfortably personal with King's poisonous influence, which turned a gold-digging buffoon into a duplicitous killer. 

Where many of Scorsese's past crooks and criminal protagonists have been charming or cool or at least having an enviable blast in their decadence, Ernest is none of the above. He's presented as a grimy thief, a petty brat, and a moron with no gift for the long view. Even the romance that might humanize him — with Mollie, a lovely but embattled Osage woman played by Lily Gladstone — serves to villainize him, as each moment of wooing is undercut by his naked pursuit of her family's money. 

It's not that Ernest is devoid of charm. Despite his goonishness, he beguiles Mollie with his feral moxie and earnest — though inconsistent — tenderness. Yet this too serves to sicken us, because as she trusts him, we — bound to his shoulder — know what he's up to and what horrors he is capable of. In Killers of the Flower Moon, we are not the enraptured audience to an American folk hero, winning us over with his gift of gab and flashy lifestyle. We are silent witnesses to the hushed racism, vicious murder plots, and blooming cover-ups of a classless moron and his double-talking uncle. Scorsese isn't just ushering us into the backrooms of the criminal world, he is exposing how the insidiousness of white supremacy in America makes all those who do nothing to actively fight it complicit in its evils. 

Killers of the Flower Moon respects the Osage people without pretending at their perspective.  Credit: Apple TV+

While the FBI arrives in the form of former Texas Ranger Tom White (Jesse Plemons, with a thrumming certainty), this adaptation doesn't play as a white savior tale. For one thing, these white hats come in far too late for their eventual efforts to be cheered. Even the Osage characters within the film rightly sneer at the body count that had to be met before government intervention. For another, the Osage culture has a bigger role than the FBI in Killers' story. 

Throughout the film, elements of Osage life and culture are woven in, creating a balance to Ernest's deadly opportunistic perspective. Some scenes include conversations in the Osage's mother tongue. While some are subtitled — like conversions between Mollie and her mother — others are not, leaving those who don't speak the language out of translation, urged to recognize they are an outsider. Rituals of marriage, child-naming, and remembrance are showcased with a respectful eye, giving time and space to these moments of joy and loss, complete with ceremonial garb, song, and speeches. Though Ernest is studying their culture as part of his aim to seduce Mollie, these speeches and ceremonies are not explained as they normally might be to outsiders. Scorsese is content to give them space to exist without the pressure to appease a non-Native American audience's curiosity. 

In sharp contrast to these ceremony sequences are abrupt scenes of death. Osage men and women are slaughtered by white men with ruthless efficiency, their bodies discarded like trash. Every killing scene is shocking, especially as they frequently jump in after a sequence of quiet conversation. Scorsese is not making a spectacle of the violence, but instead illustrating how these deaths came out of nowhere and ice cold. Your breath may catch in shock because a scene of a young mother cradling her child outside her pretty home shouldn't end the way this one will. 

Lily Gladstone holds her own in Killers of the Flower Moon.  Credit: Apple TV+

Personalizing the story of these murders is Mollie Burkhart, who is also a central figure in the book, as her family figured on both sides of the killers and the killed. Opposite DiCaprio and De Niro, Gladstone is a rock, standing firm and not to be outshone by these A-listers. Her performance is one of keening and personal agony, but also of joy and steely resilience. While Ernest may be a fool, Mollie isn't. Her slight smirk and playful side-eye show that she understands a lot about his motives from the jump. But how could anyone predict how deep a betrayal this suitor with the foolhardy grin could muster? 

Hanging thick over Killers of the Flower Moon is fear for Mollie. Bound to Ernest in even his secret sins, the audience knows better than she what could become of her. Tension burns from this place, torching our nerves as we watch helplessly and terrified for her. But Gladstone doesn't play Mollie as some wilting flower or tragic victim. She has a wry tsk for Ernest's most naked flirtation. She has a snarled huff when her mother plays favorites. She has a delicate touch with her children and a yearning one for her lover. While Mollie is not the center of this film, neither is she cast to its edges. Mollie Burkhart stalwartly joins the ranks of Scorsese women — like Karen Hill, Countess Ellen Olenska, and Ginger McKenna — who will not be conquered by volatile men and are enthralling in their own fullness. 

Martin Scorsese delivers a riveting and unflinching film about American evils.  Credit: Apple TV+

At 80, Scorsese is still challenging himself and his audiences to understand America through its criminals. Who do we hold as folk heroes over villains? Which victims will be remembered over scorned or outright overlooked? Whose stories need telling? 

For Killers of the Flower Moon, Scorsese consulted with Osage people to better comprehend their perspective. Within the film, there are several sequences where tribe leaders are given the opportunity to directly communicate their feelings, their memories, and their desires. Mollie's story invites outsiders more deeply into this experience. But Scorsese does not go so far as to center his story in the Osage perspective, because while this film esteems the tribe, it is not solely for them. The Osage people know this horror story. Killers of the Flower Moon is speaking chiefly to those who do not, and more specifically those who might today apply its lessons of the dangers of complacency and complicity to white supremacy. 

In a jarring but brilliant epilogue, Scorsese brings himself into the narrative, delivering a brief but deeply moving speech. It's maybe 30 seconds of the movie, but it speaks volumes of his intentions. 

It is not enough for us to look back on the past. We must interrogate it rigorously. Scorsese has done so with Killers of the Flower Moon, looking not only at what happened but also how it was handled by the powers of government and media. Through his lens of the coward Ernest Burkhart, Scorsese demystifies the crime and its crafters, revealing them to be craven and callous killers, never as clever as they esteemed themselves to be. But more than this condemnation, through binding his audience to their pursuit and injecting himself in a key cameo, Scorsese challenges viewers to recognize what part they play with their own silence day to day. 

In the end, Killers of a Flower Moon is an astonishing accomplishment and easily one of the best films of the year. Yet it is not the definitive take on the Osage murders, and Scorsese knows it. His brilliant film refuses to close the book and instead dares us to read deeper. 

How to watch: Killers of the Flower Moon is now streaming on Apple TV+.

UPDATE: Jan. 11, 2024, 5:19 p.m. EST This article was originally published for the theatrical release of "Killers of the Flower Moon." It has been republished for the film's streaming debut.

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: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for January 12 SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer and hints for January 12

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Friday, Jan. 12, 2024:

AcrossSpelling competition

• The answer is bee.

Soccer highlight

• The answer is goal.

A gift ...

• The answer is knack.

... and a curse

• The answer is oath.

The "I" in F.W.I.W.

• The answer is its.

DownPier group?

• The answer is boats.

Per person

• The answer is each.

Yellowstone National Park is known for having herds of this animal

• The answer is elk.

Pesky insect

• The answer is gnat.

Decorative pond fish

• The answer is koi.

You know when a movie features a line like "What's a shark doing on a plane?" it's destined to be a banger, and Claudio Fäh's No Way Up seems destined to fit the watery bill.

The story follows – wait for it – a group of passengers who are trapped in a plane that's crash-landed underwater, on the edge of a ravine, with sharks circling.

Does it sound absolutely ridiculous? Yes. Do we want to watch it ASAP? Also yes.

No Way Up is in theatres from Feb. 16.

WhatsApp stickers are about to get more fun – and personal. The Meta-owned messaging app is rolling out a new feature on iOS that will let users create, edit and share their own stickers.

Previously, stickers were discovered and shared via third-party providers or a person's phone gallery. Now, users can create stickers within the app or edit existing stickers, with the help of a suite of editing tools. The tools include text, drawing, and the ability to overlay other stickers. Custom-made stickers are automatically saved in a user's sticker tray once sent.

SEE ALSO: WhatsApp adds cute lil' button that lets you chat with Meta AI

The feature is already available on WhatsApp Web and will be rolling out on iOS 17+ in the coming days. On older versions of iOS, WhatsApp users can edit existing stickers but won't be able to make new ones.

Here's how to do it.

Total Time

• 3-5 minutes.

What You Need

• iPhone
• WhatsApp app.

Step 1: Open your sticker tray on WhatsApp, by clicking on the sticker icon on the right of the text box.

Step 2: Select "Create Sticker" and choose an image from your gallery.

Step 3: Customize your sticker.

You can choose a cutout, add text, draw, or overlay other stickers to create your custom design.

Tesla is reportedly giving all workers in its US factories a pay rise. This is undoubtedly good news for said workers, though it's unlikely the company is doing this out of the goodness of its heart.

Bloomberg reports that Tesla announced a "market adjustment pay increase" for its US workers via a flyer posted in its Fremont, California factory. It isn't clear exactly how much the pay bump will be, however it will impact production associates, material handlers, and quality inspectors. 

Tesla shares fell by over 3 percent apparently in response to the news, though the electric vehicle company had already been on a downswing. Shares were also impacted by car rental company Hertz announcing on the same day that it would sell around one third of its electric vehicles, opting for combustion engines instead. 

SEE ALSO: SpaceX responds to unfair dismissal charges, calls watchdog unconstitutional

This unexpected pay raise for Tesla workers comes only a few months after the United Auto Workers (UAW) union successfully negotiated agreements with leading auto manufacturers Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. The three companies agreed to a 25 percent increase in workers' wages after a six week strike — the longest US auto strike in over two decades.  

With that situation resolved, the UAW has turned its attention toward getting Tesla workers unionised as well. While there have been previous attempts to organise Tesla workers in the US, the company remains the only car manufacturer in the country to not have a union. The success of the UAW strike may inspire some Tesla workers to revisit the idea of collective bargaining — or at least explore job opportunities at unionised competitors.

Tesla's "market adjustment" is likely a response to this, aimed at bringing its salaries more in line with its competitors while attempting to convince workers that they don't need their own union in order to get a better deal. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Both Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk don't have the greatest history with unions. In 2018, the billionaire implied that Tesla workers would lose their stock option benefits if they unionised, and accused the UAW of wanting to divide people into a "2 class 'lords & commoners' system." These statements caused reasonable concern regarding union busting at Tesla, compelling the company to explicitly deny that Musk was threatening to take away employee stock options if workers organised.

"He was simply recognizing the fact that no UAW-represented automakers provide stock as compensation, which has particular relevance given that UAW organizers have consistently dismissed the value of Tesla equity as part of our compensation package," claimed Alexandra Veitch, Tesla's senior director of government relations and policy at the time.

Interestingly, Tesla skipped its formerly annual distribution of merit-based stock options to employees last December. It's unclear whether this was an aberration or a permanent change in how Tesla compensates its workers. Either way, it doesn't look great in light of the company's previous emphasis on the importance of its workers' stock options.

Over 30 Tesla workers were reportedly fired last February after attempting to unionise, though their complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) was later dismissed. The NLRB also recently ruled that Tesla's clothing policy was unlawful because it implicitly prohibited workers from wearing union apparel.