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Users in the United Kingdom will soon be able to purchase an ad-free version of Instagram and Facebook.

Subscriptions will start at £2.99/month on the web or £3.99/month on iOS and Android. The exact timeline of the change is unclear, Meta writing in a statement that it would become available "over the coming weeks." The price is for each Meta account, meaning the purchase should cover a user's Insta and FB, if they use both platforms.

"The UK’s more pro-growth and pro-innovation regulatory environment will mean more choice for users, continued free access to Facebook and Instagram for those who prefer that option, and ongoing support for businesses who rely on our personalised advertising tools as an engine of growth and productivity," the company wrote.

SEE ALSO: Meta just launched Teen Accounts globally. Experts say the safety tools don't work.

The move from Meta is in response to UK regulatory efforts and guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The idea is that people should have the ability to opt-out of their data being used in ads. The ICO said it welcomed the change.

"This moves Meta away from targeting users with ads as part of the standard terms and conditions for using its Facebook and Instagram services, which we've been clear is not in line with UK law," the office wrote in a statement. “People must be given meaningful transparency and choice about how their information is used."

SAVE $350: As of Sept. 26, get the Roborock Qrevo S5V robot vacuum and mop for $549.99, down from its usual price of $899. That's a discount of 39% and the lowest price we've seen.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Roborock Qrevo S5V robot vacuum and mop $549.99 at Amazon
$899.99 Save $350 Get Deal

Let's face it: No one actually enjoys vacuuming. But it's a necessary evil if you want to keep a clean home. Luckily, we live in the future, and we can have robots handle that task and many others. All you need is a good robot vacuum and you can automate that cleaning responsibility so all you have to worry about it is a great-looking home. Thanks to this Amazon deal, you can score a great one right now on the cheap.

As of Sept. 26, get the Roborock Qrevo S5V robot vacuum and mop for $549.99, down from its usual price of $899. That's $350 off and a discount of 39%. It's also the lowest price we've seen.

SEE ALSO: If you have pets, this Shark robot vacuum is a must-have — and it's $320 off

This robot vacuum and mop combo comes with an all-in-one smart dock that also include warm air drying. That means it can vacuum your floor, head back to the base to empty itself, and then tackle mopping and drying your floors after completion while you get on with your life. With 12,000Pa of suction, it can power through dirt, pet hair, and other debris so you don't have to, across carpets, rugs, hardwood floors, and more.

It has a zero-tangle system to help make sure no hair gets caught up in its rushes, and when it's time to mop, it has spinning heads that extend to reach hidden corners and hard-to-reach areas. It also has light sensors to help it navigate, so it's not constantly bumping into obstacles, all supported by LiDAR navigation and floor mapping with 360-degree scanning.

If you want a robot vacuum and mop that can do it all, this is it and then some. But be sure to get yours fast, as this is a Lightning Deal and will likely sell out fast.

Xiaomi's newest flagship makes the iPhone 17 look like yesterday's news.

No, not the Xiaomi 15T Pro that just came out, though that one seems good, too. I'm talking about the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, the latest and greatest from the Chinese tech firm. This new ultra-powerful flagship has a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset and a massive 7,500mAh battery, but the real selling point is that there's a second display on the camera plateau itself on the phone's backside. A visual effects artist recently showed us how cool an iPhone with a rear display could look, but Xiaomi went ahead and made it a reality.

On top of that, Xiaomi is clearly taking a direct shot at Apple by skipping from the Xiaomi 15 to 17 and calling it the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max. In fact, the new Xiaomi flagship even looks like something Apple could (or perhaps should) have designed.

Credit: Xiaomi

In a press release announcing the flagship, Xiaomi wrote:

Xiaomi 17 Pro and Xiaomi 17 Pro Max introduce a revolutionary dual-screen design that blends sophisticated aesthetics with intuitive, intelligent functionality. The Dynamic Back Display enhances lifestyle and efficiency under various scenarios: customizable watch faces, AI wallpapers, virtual pets, dynamic information notifications, sticky notes, and so much more.

Of course, there's just one problem: The Xiaomi 17 Pro Max is likely not coming to the United States anytime soon. Xiaomi typically prioritizes the Chinese market for these sorts of things. Still, it's cool to look at and yearn after.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. SEE ALSO: Xiaomi 15T Pro review: Predictably good

That little 2.9-inch display has a 120Hz refresh rate and can be used to calibrate selfies taken from the rear camera, interact with apps, or even to play mobile games. That huge battery is probably necessary, considering the phone has a pair of 120Hz displays, if you also include the 6.9-inch front panel. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is also the most powerful Android chipset in the world right now. In fact, there isn't a single commercially available smartphone in the U.S. that uses it yet. The upcoming OnePlus 15 will be the first to reach North America, most likely in November.

As for the rest of the specs, the new Xiaomi flagship has three 50MP cameras on the back and a 50MP lens on the front, for good measure. It also contains up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage.

Not everyone likes the camera plateau on the new iPhones, but if they had screens on them, maybe that would change.

Calibre has officially released version 8.11.1, and the biggest feature is a brand-new tab in the e-book viewer's dictionary lookup panel that lets you talk to an AI about the e-book. This should give you a quick, contextual answer, summary, or explanation without having to leave the application.

One way to make your Microsoft Workbook easier to navigate is to include a table of contents. However, you could go one step further and create a table of contents containing linked thumbnails of the worksheets in your workbook.

Toni Collette is a queer icon in that she's a cinematic diva that LGBTQ+ audiences have long worshipped. Be it her offbeat humor in Muriel's Wedding, her maternal intensity in Hereditary, or her smoking hot party girl theatrics in Velvet Goldmine, we're obsessed. So when Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko sat down with the cast and creator of Netflix's new queer drama Wayward, she asked Collette about being an icon.

"I have been told this from time to time," Collette said in a group interview with co-stars Sarah Gadon and Mae Martin, "What an honor!"

From there, Martin, who also created Wayward, dug into what it means to have a mini-series with queer characters in which their gender identity or sexual orientation isn't an issue. In Wayward, Martin stars as Alex, a trans man who's recently moved with his wife, Laura (Gadon), back to her former home in Tall Pines, Vermont.

SEE ALSO: 'Wayward' review: Toni Collette stirs tension in gnarly Netflix mini-series

There, the local reformatory school, Tall Pines Academy, is run with an iron fist by a beguiling matriarchal figure named Evelyn Wade (Collette, of course). Twisted practices within the school have besties Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind) and Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) desperate to get out. But for all the behaviors this reform school is looking to break its students from, queerness isn't among them. So, bi Leila can explore new romances with relative freedom. Likewise, Alex and Laura are embraced by the cheery townspeople of Tall Pines. In fact, Laura's pregnancy has not only the expecting parents excited, but also Evelyn, and everyone else in town.

While creating the mysteries and drama of Wayward, Martin offers LGBTQ+ representation without falling into the tropes of conflating queerness with tragedy through painful coming-out stories or harmful homophobia. They said of this, "I mean, in my life, I feel like my queerness is one of the least interesting things about me, probably. I always want to reflect that," adding, "If you break people's walls down, then they can really relate to other aspects of the character's lives. Then you can kind of secretly sneak in your subversive stuff."

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For Martin's onscreen role in Wayward, they said, "I think for my character, Alex, being in this town that is so progressive and welcoming on the surface, I'm really interested in how desperate he is to be accepted and belong and how badly he wants that heteronormativity and what he's willing to sacrifice."

Collette added that the queer content in Wayward "is not sensationalized. Everyone is just a person making their way, no matter what their preferences are or who they identify as."

In a separate interview with Alyvia Alyn Lind and Sydney Topliffe, the former spoke to how it was "awesome" to play a bi girl for whom sexuality was an element of but not an issue for the character. "It's not her main struggle," she explained, "It's not the reason that she's having problems in her life. She has a lot of problems in her life, but none of them really stem from that. It's not her trauma."

Lind continued, "I had a conversation with GLAAD recently, just about the statistics of bi representation in TV, and it's very unrepresented. So getting to play the character was just so incredible."

Wayward is now streaming on Netflix.

SAVE $17: As of Sept. 26, the Fire TV Stick HD is on sale for just $17.99 at Amazon. That's just shy of 50% off its list price of $34.99 and its lowest price on record.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Fire TV Stick HD $17.99 at Amazon
$34.99 Save $17.00 Get Deal

If you're still rocking an old, non-smart TV, you can easily turn it into a smart one with a streaming stick (so long as it has an HDMI port). These compact devices plug directly into any TV and instantly put thousands of shows and movies at your fingertips. That means you can also bring it along on your travels and pick up exactly where you left off on whatever you're watching. There's plenty of streaming gadgets to choose from these days, but we recommend checking out the Fire TV Stick HD while it's on sale for half price.

As of Sept. 26, the Fire TV Stick HD Is on sale for only $17.99 at Amazon. That's just shy of 50% off its list price of $34.99 and matches its best price ever, which it hit just once before (last Black Friday). It's also $7 cheaper than it was just last week when we featured it.

The Fire TV Stick HD is Amazon's most basic streaming device, but that doesn't mean it's not capable. Just plug it in and instantly start streaming millions of movies and TV shows in full HD. Log in to all of your favorite streaming apps like Peacock, Disney+, Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, and of course, Prime Video, and you'll have access to everything all in one place. The voice-enabled remote lets you press and ask Alexa anything — to search and launch shows, to check the weather, to dim the lights in your smart home, to stream music, and much more.

If you're looking for your first streaming device and don't want to spend a ton of money, the Fire TV Stick HD is your best bet — particularly while it's on sale for under $20.

SAVE 58%: As of Sept. 26, you can get the Shark AV2501S AI Ultra Robot Vacuum on sale for $229.99, down from $549.99, at Amazon. That's a discount of 58%, or a savings of $320. It's also the lowest price we've seen on this model since November 2024!

Shark AV2501S AI Ultra Robot Vacuum with HEPA Self-Empty Base $229.99 at Amazon
$549.99 Save $320 Get Deal

We test a lot of robot vacuums, so it's a big deal when one really impresses us. When our tech editor, Timothy Beck Werth, reviewed the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1, he said it "put the competition to shame" and was "one of the best robot vacuums we've tested." While this deal is for the vacuum-only model in the same AI Ultra lineup, it shares many of the same smart features that he loved — and right now, it's on sale during what Amazon is calling a "trending Prime deal," if you can believe it.

SEE ALSO: Target announced dates for its fall Target Circle Week. Duh, it's during Prime Day.

That's right: Prime Day round two is right around the corner, and Amazon's already discounting tons of items, including the Shark AV2501S AI Ultra Robot Vacuum. You can currently get it for $229.99, down from $549.99. That's a $320 price cut and the lowest we've seen it go for since last November.

The standout feature here is what Shark calls "Matrix Clean Navigation," which forces the vacuum to clean in a precise grid, making multiple passes over dirtier areas to ensure a deep clean. Combined with its 360-degree LiDAR vision, it can accurately map your home and avoid objects, so you don't have to tidy up before you tidy up.

It's also a great option for pet owners. The powerful suction is designed to pick up pet hair from all floor types, and the self-emptying base makes this hands-free cleaning even easier. When it's done cleaning, it returns to its base and automatically empties everything into a bagless bin that can hold up to 30 days of debris.

Android Auto has made it easier to interact safely with phone features, which is why most people use it for maps, navigation, or making phone calls. But that's not all it can do. If you want to improve your commute or road trips, you'll want to check out these awesome Android Auto apps.

SAVE $25: As of Sept. 26, get the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for $24.99, down from its usual price of $49.99. That's a discount of 50%.

Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K $24.99 at Amazon
$49.99 Save $25.00 Get Deal

Fall is finally here, and if that means sitting on the couch, curled up in a blanket with some hot tea and a good movie, now's a good time to make sure your streaming situation is good to go. Why not add a streaming stick to your TV? You can get one now at an excellent price thanks to this Amazon deal.

As of Sept. 26, get the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K for $24.99, down from its usual price of $49.99. That's $25 off and a discount of 50%.

SEE ALSO: What's new to streaming this week? (Sept. 26, 2025)

This streaming stick is as easy as plugging it into your TV's HDMI port and starting to watch. It offers 4K quality with Ultra HD and support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos audio so you can feel like you're in the middle of whatever you choose to watch.

Use the included Alexa voice remote to search across 1.8 million movies and TV shows, or sift through your favorite streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+, and more. Plus, you can play Xbox games without having a console thanks to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud gaming option.

Plus, this model improves over the prior Fire TV stick with zippier performance and additional features. So if you were chugging along with an old release, now's the time to grab a new one just in time to take in the latest fall TV shows and all the movies coming down the pike.

Grab this stick for half off or get a couple to put away for the holidays. Being able to watch your favorite content in an easy, streamlined way is always a good idea.

I was at a funeral a few months ago when something was said to me that threw my status as my family's perennial singleton into sharp relief.

I was holding my cousin's new baby when a relative called out, "Get a good look at this. Because it'll be the last time you ever see Rachel holding a child."

My aunts, uncles, cousins, and even family friends turned their heads to do precisely as they'd been instructed: have a good gawp at me. Someone even took a photo to memorialise this moment.

SEE ALSO: The history of the single positivity movement goes back further than you think

It was the first good laugh I'd had during what had been an otherwise upsetting day.

That was the umpteenth time that day I'd had a comment about my absence of a partner. "Are you not married yet?" one relative asked me during the wake. "They haven't made the man for Rachel," someone else interjected. "Is that so?" I retorted.

This year, I'm celebrating 10 years of being single. A decade since I broke up with my last serious boyfriend and never looked back. This time has been an invaluable period of learning and personal growth.

That may well sound trite, but I've been reflecting on the knowledge this decade has brought me; the hard lessons reaped in moments of painful heartbreak, the experiences that brought with them unparalleled insights about myself. It's hard to distill 10 years of being boyfriend-free into one article, but I thought I'd share some of the most meaningful lessons I've learned during this time.

Some people are uncomfortable around single-by-choice women

The first lesson I learned is twofold.

The moment at the family funeral is one of innumerable interactions I've had the displeasure of enduring. In learning that my protracted singledom leaves some people scratching their heads, I also developed strategies for deflecting those comments and feeling decidedly unbothered by them. Need I remind these people that they were the ones instructing me to "D-U-M-P" the last time I had a boyfriend. Like seriously, what do you want from me?

SEE ALSO: It's time to reclaim singledom as a symbol of power

It's not just my extended family. I've noticed friends attempting to explain my status as an unattached human, inserting their own narrative each time. "I think I've figured it out," one friend informed me. "You just text guys without ever going on dates with them."

"You're so weird," another friend told me. "It's just not a priority for you right now, that's all," another concluded. The latter statement is closest to the truth. But, why is my lack of boyfriend something that requires an explanation or excuse? When was the last time you heard a couple explaining why they're not single?

When was the last time you heard a couple explaining why they're not single?

I've become very skilled at deflecting the inane questions about my singledom with vaguely witty quips. "I've actually opted for a life of feminist separatism!" is my current favourite. But mostly I just laugh loudly and drink my wine.

During a recent family gathering, a younger female relative brought up the comments I get about my lack of boyfriend. "Does it not make you really angry? Because it annoys the hell out of me." The truth is, it really doesn't. "Oh I honestly couldn't give a fuck," was my reply.

Perhaps the absence of a boyfriend makes my family and friends uneasy. Perhaps they ponder how this peculiar anomaly ended up in their family. But the only opinion I care about on this particular subject is my own. And frankly, I feel chill as fuck about being single.

There is no 'if' and 'when'

For much of my teens and twenties I told myself I’d go on a date once I’ve lost weight. I'd feel good about myself once I shed a few pounds. When I'm thin, I’ll be desirable and therefore "girlfriend material".

I, like many women and girls, ingested the patriarchal idea that to be desirable means to be thin. I have battled the perilously close relationship my weight and self-worth have had since girlhood. At school, I longed to switch places with someone else. I looked at other girls in my year who carried themselves with an air of confidence. I longed to be them. I yearned to know what it felt like to like the skin you're in. But the truth is, those girls may well have been fighting their own inner battles.

Those thoughts didn't go away. They got louder, more difficult to drown out. Sometimes they quietened down, but there was always a low hum thrumming in the background. I tried to address them in the worst way possible — by limiting my food intake. But the self-worth I had promised myself never arrived. I waited for it but it never came. I realised the change didn’t need to come from outside — it wasn’t the flesh on my body that needed to change, but the thoughts within it. My relationship with food is better now. But from time to time those thoughts rear their heads.

Loving yourself is hard. But it's the most important relationship any of us will ever have.

A few months ago, I uttered some of those thoughts aloud to two of my dearest friends. That since adolescence I'd been promising myself a life that could only be unlocked if I looked a certain way. Like a video game with a level I just couldn't get to. "Man, the patriarchy has really done a number on us," one friend replied.

"One day," my other friend cut in. "You will look back at photos of yourself and realise just how hot you once were." When she said this, I started to cry. I'd already experienced the beginnings of that during one meandering down memory lane. I'd looked through photos of myself from several years ago and felt unspeakably sad that I hadn't realised how lovely I had looked.

Like Lizzo said: "It's so hard trying to love yourself in a world that doesn't love you back."

Loving yourself is hard. But it's the most important relationship any of us will ever have.

Alone time is a precious commodity

An older man once told me to make the most of my writing career while I'm young and child-free. "Because once you have kids, you won't have time." I wondered if he'd ever say that to a male journalist.

Speaking of gender and writing, a recent Guardian piece — entitled "A woman's greatest enemy? A lack of time to herself" — really crystallised everything I've felt as a woman with a desire to write.

"A few months ago, as I struggled to carve out time in my crowded days for writing, a colleague suggested I read a book about the daily rituals of great artists," writes Brigid Schulte in the piece. "But instead of offering me the inspiration I’d hoped for, what struck me most about these creative geniuses – mostly men – was not their schedules and daily routines, but those of the women in their lives." Schulte concluded that in order to create, long stretches of alone time are vital, but "that’s something women have never had the luxury to expect."

SEE ALSO: How to move on after a situationship ends

Since I started writing creatively during my childhood and adolescence, I have struggled with a feeling of antsy nervousness that someone was going to come along and tell me to get up and make myself useful. Even when you have two feminist parents, it takes decades of work to unlearn the socially imposed idea that writing time is a guilty pleasure — time you've stolen from other more deserving tasks.

I am not very good at multitasking. I am prone to distractions. I am, in short, a writer. In order to get any writing done outside of my 9-5 workday, I basically need enormous swaths of uninterrupted creative alone time. My weekends and evenings are spent writing, punctuated with coffee or drinks with friends. As a writer, I find that aloneness is key. Both in terms of having space to think and plan, as well as unbroken periods of free time to just sit and write the damn thing.

NO. TIME. Credit: vicky leta / mashable

As my friend pointed out, I have prioritised writing above all else in my life — with the exception of my immediate family. But that often feels like it has come at a cost. Broken friendships. Cancelled dates. Endless guilt and feelings of complete selfishness.

Corollary statement: I know it's possible to do both. There are women writers in loving relationships. I just haven't yet figured out how to do both.

The reality for me, at least, is that I find dating one enormous distraction. One that I tend to dip my toe in and out of when I have the time and energy. Maybe I'm selfish. Or maybe I'm just doing what male writers have been doing for centuries — maybe even millennia.

But avoiding distraction is not always easy, and it teaches you some brutal lessons.

SEE ALSO: Access to this intuitive writing app is on sale for 50% off Some people mean more to you than you do to them

A man I used to love came to stay at my flat three months ago. What ensued was probably one of the worst things I've ever put myself through.

We'd had a fling three years ago. But that fling was re-flung one or two more times after the first fling ended. I fell in love. I usually preface that sentence with "stupidly," but I know it didn't feel stupid at the time. Those feelings, it would appear, were not returned. Against the advice of my friends and family, I said yes to seeing him during a visit to London. In hindsight, I should have heeded their warnings.

As we sat drinking wine in the wee small hours, he veered the conversation in the dangerous territory of his love life. "The thing is, I'm just really difficult to love," he told me. I — a person who had, unbeknown to him, loved him once upon a time — told him he wasn't. He snapped at me: "you don't know my experience." Perhaps not, but I do know my own.

Sometimes you feel things. Sometimes other people don’t. Don’t take it personally.

What happened next sparked an epiphany. He reeled off the important romances he'd had in recent years. My name was notably absent from the list. "Before my ex, there was no one for three years."

I nodded and made all the right noises, but my head was quietly totting up the maths. In this equation, the answer was clear: I was "no one". What had been a fallow period of unromance for him had been a phase of unparalleled heartbreak and self-torture for me.

Later, I cried down the phone to a friend as he slept peacefully on the sofa downstairs. It was a moment of realisation that I had lived an alternate reality in which I'd deluded myself that I'd mattered to someone. The truth of the matter was that I didn't make the cut of memorable romances.

Realising that he'd meant a lot more to me than I had to him was a necessary realisation, albeit a painful one.

Sometimes you feel things. Sometimes other people don’t. Don’t take it personally.

When to dump him

A few days ago I was rooting through my old things at my parents' house when I found my old diary from the year I turned 21 — which coincided with my last serious relationship.

Several pages into the diary, I came across an entry dating back to 2009, around the time I decided to end things with my last boyfriend. "Had, at this stage, decided that I needed to dump Nick," I wrote. "What a bore. Don't understand why I hadn't done it already??!"

If you'll excuse the unabashedly heartless tone of the writing (I was 21), I think I might have been onto something. Not that I took that lesson remotely to heart back then, of course. Nope, it's taken me 10 years of lingering too long in toxic situationships and turbulent casual flings to finally get the hint: you should have dumped him a long time ago.

There was the guy who was so emotionally abusive that I used to throw up after I spent time with him. That same guy who would shake his head at me when I asked a question and say my name in admonishment. That same guy who would shush me and roll his eyes at me. Needless to say, I never want to see or hear from him ever again.

There was the guy in another city who invited me to come stay with him for a few days who casually dropped in one evening that he had a girlfriend — only after we'd slept together, of course! There was even a guy this summer who didn't listen when I said I wasn't free for a date that very afternoon, who promptly showed up at my house declaring "I've come to collect you, let's go!" Sorry, what?

If there's one thing you learn from a decade of dating, it's boundaries. Boy, do I have some serious boundaries now.

Being single has taught me to be kinder to myself. Credit: vicky leta

These men all outstayed their welcomes in my love life. The one blessing is that I now know what I will and will not put up with. I know the red flags. I know the things to be wary of. And crucially, I know when to utter those delicious three words: "We are done."

Life, as we all know, is brimming with lessons. Some of those lessons are harder than others.

There have been the lightning-flash epiphanies that arrived at my lowest ebbs. Moments like the time I stood crying on a New York City sidewalk, I made a promise to myself about how I should be treated by future men in my life. There have also been more gradual educational opportunities — things that have taken years to figure out, and others I'm still working on.

Most important of all, this decade of being single has taught me to be kinder to myself.

Knowing when to silence the inner critic, how I deserve to be treated, that my value lies not in whether or not I have a partner, that alone time is precious. These are the pieces of wisdom I will carry with me for decades to come.

Featured Video For You 'I was cloaked.' What it's like to be blocked and stood up by your Hinge date.

This article was first published in 2019 and republished in 2025.

Every year, thousands of exciting new consumer products are shown off at IFA in Berlin, which makes it hard for anything to catch the eye of the media or the public, but Arzopa managed to stand out in the already-crowded world of portable monitors with some truly impressive examples, and a few interesting digital frames to top it all off.

South Korean filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho first caught international attention in 2016, when he unleashed the unique zombie horror of Train to Busan upon the world. From there, he built out his zombie-infested franchise with the animated prequel Seoul Station and the souped-up action movie Peninsula. For his latest, The Ugly, Yeon leaves the monsters behind, but he's created a chilling thriller all the same. 

Like Train to Busan, his latest centers on a father and child. But rather than the workaholic businessman learning to dedicate himself to his love-starved young daughter (specifically so she won't be turned into a literal ankle-biter), The Ugly explores the relationship between another single, hardworking father and the grown son following in his footsteps. However, the lessons learned from this family story are less hopeful than those from Train to Busan.

So, brace yourself.

SEE ALSO: NYFF 2025 preview: 14 films you'll want to see for yourself (and how) What's The Ugly about? 

Yeon adapted his own debut graphic novel, Face, for the screenplay, which centers on Dong-hwan (Park Jeong-min), a fortysomething Korean man who works with his blind father, Yeong-gyu (Kwon Hae-hyo), a renowned engraver. His whole life, Dong-hwan has been at his father's side, watching how he overcame adversity and the mockery of others to become not just a success in his business but also a celebrity, heralded by newspapers as a "living miracle" for his engraving skills. 

Actually, Dong-hwan is pretty over all this fawning, which is where The Ugly begins. A TV producer named Su-jin (Han Ji-hyeon), seemingly the latest in a long line, is pestering Yeong-gyu for an interview and B-roll footage, when Dong-hwan gets a very strange phone call. The authorities have found a pile of bones buried on a mountainside. The ID card found with them suggests they belong to his mother, Young-hee, who ran off four decades ago. 

With the help of the story-hungry Su-jin, Dong-hwan seeks to understand not just what befell his mother, but also who she was — and if she was ugly.

The Ugly calls into question what "ugly" means. 

All Dong-hwan knows about his mother is that she left him and his father. Whatever else might have been shared has been unspoken between them. But with the confirmation of her death, others in her life have plenty to say. Long-lost family members, former co-workers at a clothing factory, and her old boss are all quick to agree on one thing: She was ugly. 

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Masquerading as a writer for the TV documentary, Dong-hwan is able to get an unfiltered view from these strangers, who readily compare his mom to a monster in her appearance and giggle over her nickname, Dung Ogre. They recount stories meant to illustrate what a mess of a person she was. But with each one, Dong-hwan instead sees a woman who pointed out the ugly truth, even when it made her unpopular. 

Yeon Sang-ho withholds a key detail to keep viewers on their toes. Credit: Well Go USA

In seeking to know his mother, one thing Dong-hwan wants deeply is to see her. He was so young when she died that he has no memory of her. His father, being a blind man, has no photos of her. And even her family insists she was camera-shy because "she was ugly." A photo of her would be a way to properly remember her at her funeral, where her remains are just bones. But more than that, it would be a way for her to become real to Dong-hwan. 

Yeon illustrates Dong-hwan's journey to understand his mother by presenting flashback scenes that reflect his perspective, not that of the story's teller. What I mean by this is, even when stories are told from those who despise her and call her "ugly," Yeon never shows her face. Either it's obstructed by the long, lanky dark hair that hangs down from her head and onto her shoulders, or it's just out of frame. Whether or not she is ugly is not a question we are invited to answer in these scenes. Instead, we are urged to judge her by her actions — as her son does. 

Yeon Sang-ho delivers a twisted crime tale. 

The answers to the murder mystery are not wildly surprising. But to Yeon's credit, they are well charted. With each interview, Dong-hwan plays detective, piecing together who could have possibly wanted his mother dead. The reveals are satisfyingly gut-wrenching. 

Beyond that, however, in seeking her, he comes to better understand his father too. Through old stories unearthed, he sees how his father and mother responded differently to challenges. And so, now more than ever before, Dong-hwan is left to wonder who he resembles. It's a point brought up by the TV producer Su-jin, who says early on that Dong-hwan looks like his dad. But "resembles" takes on a deeper meaning as he learns ugly truths. In what ways is he like his dad and like his mom? This question becomes the one that will stick with you. 

In the end, The Ugly is a stirring thriller, bolstered by dark twists, and paid off with a final scene that plays like a monkey's paw curling. What if what you want is ultimately what you get? Can you handle it? 

The Ugly is now playing in theaters

UPDATE: Sep. 26, 2025, 9:17 a.m. The Ugly was reviewed out of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

With your Amazon Fire TV Stick connected to your television, you can use your Firestick remote to turn your TV's volume up and down. You can also use it to power your TV on and off, meaning one remote handles everything. Here's how to configure that feature in settings.

Scarlett Johansson gives audiences a terrific gift with Eleanor the Great by offering June Squibb a role worthy of her talents.

The 95-year-old Academy Award–nominated actress who thrilled this critic last year with the pitch-perfect action-comedy Thelma brings her wonderful moxie to the title role, delivering a performance that is side-splittingly funny and tear-jerkingly poignant. 

While the premise of this movie will raise eyebrows, Squibb's approach to the material is flawless. Her comedic timing is deliciously sharp, whether dressing down a rude grocery store employee or backhand complimenting her onscreen daughter (Jessica Hecht). It's the kind of shrewd humor mastered by tough-as-nails grannies, and memorialized in The Golden Girls. 

SEE ALSO: 'The Thursday Murder Club' review: 'Only Murders' fans, brace for your new cozy crime fixation

Yet beyond these biting barbs, Eleanor is also thrilling for how she refuses to be ignored. She'll push back against those condescending strangers — always younger — who write her off as some dotty ol' biddy. And she won't flinch to make others uncomfortable when it comes to expressing herself, even in grief. 

Now, how she goes about that is certainly the film's most challenging element. But through Eleanor's misadventures, Eleanor the Great becomes a beautiful — albeit bumpy — comedy about the agony and ecstasy of love and grief. 

What's Eleanor the Great about? 

After a social mishap, 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein (Squibb) lies about being a Holocaust survivor. But in the screenplay by Tory Kamen, the how and why of this shocking act are pretty compelling. For one thing, she's not doing it to gain anything — except a way to remember her late best friend. 

You see, Eleanor the Great begins with Eleanor and Bessie (Rita Zohar), besties for decades who have supported each other through marriage, children, grandchildren, and widowhood, eventually moving to an apartment in Florida where they were roomies for 11 years. And then, Bessie died.

Alone and yearning for connection, Eleanor moves back to New York City, where her daughter Lisa and grandson Max (Will Price) live. But their bustling schedules mean she's still alone. In search of community, she stumbles upon a support group of Holocaust survivors at the Manhattan Jewish Community Center. Eleanor wasn't one, but Bessie was. To share Bessie's stories as if they were her own with the group allows Eleanor a space to remember the friend she misses. But this deception grows deeper when a journalism student named Nina (Erin Kellyman) asks to profile Eleanor. As the two women grow close, it's harder and harder to admit their bond began over a lie — especially when Nina's dad, a newscaster named Roger (Chiwetel Ejiofor), gets involved. 

Eleanor the Great revels in the beauty of friendship and the value in grieving. 

Missing Bessie, Eleanor makes some shocking choices to forge a new friendship with Nina. But by Eleanor's sharing her grief — even masked as it is through Bessie's stories — she gives Nina a space to speak about her own, as Nina lost her mother just six months earlier. Obviously, they're going through different kinds of mourning, but just having someone who will let you talk and cry makes a big difference.

Even with our best friends, grief can be hard to talk about, which Eleanor the Great recognizes. Sure, friends want to be supportive. But grief is big and scary and reminds us of death. So, we push it away as best we can, even when it means pushing away those we love. 

But grief is an ocean, and we're all flowing toward it. We cannot escape it. Staying afloat in it is exhausting, and it can feel at times as if you'll drown in it.

The Greatest Generation, of which Squibb, Eleanor, and Bessie, are a part, lived through the horrors of World War II. Then they were basically encouraged to buck up and carry on. I saw this in my own grandparents, some who fought in the war, some who faced world-rattling deaths at home. They put a wall around the pain of these times, and even as I became an adult, I only got brief glimpses into their experiences with such grief. I saw them tremble, swallow it, and barrel on, over and over. And now they're gone, and I contain an ocean for all of them.

Eleanor, however, rejects this attitude of silence, and so becomes the ear Nina needs, and vice versa. The tears they spill remembering those they loved and lost are hard. But within this crying, they also revel in those people, those personalities, and those quirks. There's a deep joy in that, and that would be lost if we didn't brave the tears. 

Eleanor the Great is a solid New York City story with a wobble at the end.

Like Mikey Madison in Anora, Eleanor the Great is a character-centered comedy in New York City that depends intently on the resilient lead shouldering the world around them. And Squibb does this with seeming effortlessness. (Also, both movies have pivotal scenes in Coney Island.) In this portrayal, she not only gives another entertaining and deeply funny turn, but also commits to cinema another aspirational take-no-shit granny. She reminded me of my own, and that too made me cry, because I miss her. But like the women in this movie, it's a pain and a pleasure to remember the incredible lady I lost. 

To Johansson's credit, the movie — while leaping locations, delving into flashbacks, and handling several sensitive topics — flows well, carried by the screen presence of Squibb and her terrific grandma-granddaughter chemistry with Kellyman. They share a love and respect that never fumbles into the pitfalls of ageist assumptions of either the elderly or the young. 

However, the final act gets away from Johansson, as it veers from a fairly grounded film into the treacly sentimentality of a Hallmark movie. A climactic news report feels convenient and unconvincing, considering how everything that's come before felt more or less feasible. It feels like Johansson and/or Kamen felt that after such a shocking lie, scads of sugar needed to be poured on the ending to help the movie's medicinal message go down. It's not enough to ruin the experience, but it undercuts Eleanor to make so much of the conclusion about someone else's idea of her. 

This qualm aside, I loved Eleanor the Great. As someone grappling with grief, I could relate to the heroines' yearning to discuss it and fear doing so would isolate them. I cried with them and laughed with them. In the end, I was a mess. But my heart was also full, thanks to Eleanor, which was pretty great. 

Eleanor the Great is now playing in theaters.

UPDATE: Sep. 26, 2025, 9:12 a.m. Eleanor the Great was reviewed out of the Toronto International Film Festival.

One Battle After Another is sure to be one of the most critically heralded movies of the year. On paper, that might seem obvious. This film is written and directed by 11-time Academy Award nominee Paul Thomas Anderson, maker of Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, Inherent Vice, Phantom Thread, and Licorice Pizza. True to Anderson's form, it boasts a compelling ensemble cast that includes big names like Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, and Teyana Taylor, as well as incendiary new talent Chase Infiniti. And on some level, it's inspired by a dense novel, Thomas Pynchon's Vineland. But don't let the wild praise make you think you know what to expect.

Ferocious, funny, and jam-packed with provocation, One Battle After Another is a film so explosive in its ideas and execution that I doubt any one review can encapsulate all it's got going on. So, allow me to use my review to stress this: Whatever you're anticipating from Anderson's latest, this movie is more.

Believe the hype: One Battle After Another is a banger.

One Battle After Another is a blistering ensemble effort.  Teyana Taylor and Leonardo DiCaprio in "One Battle After Another." Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

One Battle After Another's posters and first trailer might have you thinking this movie is centered on DiCaprio's character. However, the thriller begins with a bang in the form of Perfidia Beverly Hills (Taylor), a radiant and robust revolutionary with rebel squad the French 75.

The first act follows Perfidia closely, as she and her team storm an immigrant detention facility to free its prisoners. From there, she gets involved with two very different men, in mood and politic. The first is Pat "Ghetto Pat" Calhoun (DiCaprio), a bomb-maker whose enthusiasm for the cause is as explosive as his handiwork. The other is Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Penn), a military man who is repulsed by Perfidia's principles but turned on by everything else about her. 

This gnarly triangle of love, sex, and transgression plants a seed that leads to Perfidia getting pregnant, resulting in a daughter named Willa, who'll never know her mother. A pivotal act pitches Pat and the baby into hiding, with the help of fellow revolutionary Lady Champagne (a scorching Hall).

Act 2 picks up 14 years later, when Lockjaw is freshly motivated to recover the missing father-daughter duo. So, the bulk of the film becomes a fight for Willa (Infiniti). Lockjaw is chasing the teen down for his own nefarious means; Pat (who is living under the alias Bob) is desperate to save her from the fiend who took her mom away. But Willa is no damsel in distress. A Black American woman, educated to understand — at least in part — the mission of her parents, she's a warrior born and raised. In that, she becomes more of a protagonist than her dad, Pat.

Teyana Taylor is in the role she was born to play; Chase Infiniti is a star.  Teyana Taylor as Perfidia Beverly Hills in “One Battle After Another." Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

One Battle After Another takes a big risk by cutting Taylor out of the film at the end of the first act. This actress/singer/songwriter/choreographer is so dynamic onscreen that she commands not only these violence-loving white men, but also the audience's complete attention. Brandishing an automatic weapon and a big, round pregnant belly, she is a fearless force to be reckoned with. And once the plot veers away from Perfidia, we experience a hint of the loss her family feels. We share an ache for her to return and be complicated, powerful, and glorious in her wrath and principle.

Essentially, Taylor's character casts a long shadow over the film's second act. Yet, within Willa's intense coming-of-age arc, Infiniti grows beyond this shadow. At a glance, Willa begins as a pretty average American girl, dressed in a bouncy taffeta skirt, white tee, boots, and a leather jacket. She's stylish but not standout, and she shoulders a familiar Gen Z frustration with her father's "polite" confusion over they/them pronouns. Mostly though, she's annoyed that he's dedicated to live as a reclusive pothead, requiring her to be a grown-up before her time.

Chase Infiniti and Regina Hall get tense in "One Battle After Another." Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

This father-daughter conflict blooms as military forces invade the school dance. In the blink of an eye, Willa must make the leap from average teen to on-the-run rebel, as the storming government forces have no mercy for this child. Infiniti's own eyes powerfully show the shock of this forced transition in close-up. As she's bounced from a van to a safe house — where the legacy of her mother is muddied — Willa struggles to grasp all the ways her world is being turned upside down, not because of any choice she made, but because of the war and the identities she was born into. And as the film barrels into its climax, Infiniti evolves this pathos into action with a jaw-dropping execution. 

One Battle After Another is a rollercoaster of a thriller.  Benico del Toro strategizes in Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another." Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

I kid you not, though this movie is nearly three hours long, I'd have believed you if you told me it's 90 minutes. While Anderson is known for a meaty runtime, he has rarely crafted so propulsive a plot line that the film just races by. This is all the more impressive considering the sprawl of characters, arcs, drama, comedy, and politics that come into the mix. 

Without getting into spoilers, Anderson's execution of fight scenes offers a mix of slapstick and heart-wrenching relentlessness. Reflecting how violence works in so much of American media, it is used here both as comedic entertainment and gut-punching dramatic impact. Yet the most thrilling sequence is a car chase in the climax that puts us in the seats of both the pursued and the pursuing. The result is truly that of a rollercoaster, making this critic's stomach flip. But unlike a theme park attraction, there's no promise of how this ride may end. So as our vision is taken up by another hill ahead, with no idea what comes with the fall to follow, a mounting fear sets in, which Anderson pays off masterfully.

While Anderson is known for a meaty runtime, he has rarely crafted so propulsive a plot line that the film just races by.

Beyond the action, Willa and the other Black revolutionary women of the film ground One Battle After Another's drama. Denied the privileges of the white men who are their allies or foes, their stakes in this rivalry are more starkly captured. It's beyond pride. Their bodies, regarded as political, are the frontline of their war. By contrast, the white men who are rivals here are portrayed as clowns.

Sean Penn is funny and terrifying; Leonardo DiCaprio is a terrific clown in One Battle After Another. Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor face off in "One Battle After Another." Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Col. Lockjaw is a man of ruthless ambition. Specifically, he aspires to be in the secret society of white nationalists called the Christmas Adventurers. Loosely inspired by Vineland, One Battle After Another veers more closely to the tradition of media like The Adventures of Superman's "The Clan of the Fiery Cross" and the Coen Bros' O Brother, Where Art Thou? in terms of making a mockery of such dangerous and demented white power groups as the KKK. Surrounded by preppy, rich, and powerful white men, Lockjaw has conversations that are equal parts repellent and hilarious for their sheer outrageousness, like the earnest use of the phrase "semen demon."

In this realm, Lockjaw is an admired tough guy, and Penn pursues that vision by bulking up like an action figure and carrying himself in a stiff physicality that suggests not so much discipline as crippling repression. Forced into a box of his own making, Lockjaw is vicious, vengeful, and violent, but also a laughable fool, and the remnants of the French 75 will let him know it.

DiCaprio as Pat (or Bob) is Lockjaw's foil though he, too, is a buffoon. As teased in the film's trailers, years in hiding have been spent getting stoned. So when called upon to recall access codes from 14 years before, he is absolutely at a loss. Scrambling for help, Pat races to Willa's martial arts instructor Sergio St. Carlos (a sublimely stoic yet serenely funny Benicio del Toro). Together, they make a dazzling comedy duo of the Goofus and Gallant variety.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a terrific clown in "One Battle After Another." Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Fans of The Wolf of Wall Street will giddily recall DiCaprio's physical comedy from the quaaludes sequence as he fumbles and bumbles trying to get to the extraction point to reunite with his daughter. Yet these scenes are not just comic relief that masterfully balance the chest-gripping tension of Willa's thread of escape. Considering Anderson's own life, there's a self-reflective vulnerability here.

With his partner Maya Rudolph, he has four children, making him a white father to Black daughters. So, it's easy to imagine that in Pat, as with Daniel Day-Lewis's Reynolds Woodcock in Phantom Thread, there's a personal inspiration point, where the filmmaker is grappling with balance between self and family. Where in Phantom Thread it's one of work and home life, specifically quality time with his wife, One Battle After Another explores the fear of being too self-involved or out-of-touch to be the father a Black daughter needs in a space where her very existence is deemed political by those in power.

All of this to say, One Battle After Another delivers on the trailers' promise to be a wildly funny thrill ride, rich in star power. But true to Anderson's signature, it's also probing depths both political and personal, raw and ruthless. Alongside Sinners, it will undoubtedly be declared one of the best films of the year, not only for what it brings to cinema in terms of spectacle and spirit, but also what it has to say about America today.

One Battle After Another will be in theaters on VistaVision, 70mm film and IMAX nationwide on Sept. 26, 2025.

Paul Thomas Anderson's new film One Battle After Another is gearing up to be one of the most talked-about movies of the year. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, it is already garnering much excitement leading up to its theatrical release on Sept. 26. Part of the excitement is that it marks Anderson's first time working with both Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro; most of the stellar cast are also working with Anderson for the first time. In fact, One Battle marks Chase Infiniti's feature film debut.

Mashable reporter Ty Cole had the opportunity to sit down with most of the cast — DiCaprio and del Toro, as well as Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and the scene-stealing Infiniti — to discuss the making of One Battle After Another.

DiCaprio took Ty through the premise of the film: "Just the sheer premise of an unexpected, flawed protagonist, that his past comes back to haunt him as he's trying to raise a daughter. He's trying to connect with her... You come into this slice of life of him getting stoned, watching TV, getting into an argument with his daughter, and then his sort of political ideology and his past comes back to haunt him, but he can't remember the password to save his only child."

When asked what it was like firing a huge machine gun while wearing a massive pregnant belly, Taylor exclaimed, "I was able to rest my gun up on the belly and feel like Tony Montana!" She also went on to describe how the belly itself was actually quite high-tech. "[Paul] wanted me to really feel like I was pregnant, so the belly was heavy... We had to scan my whole body to get that belly. The stomach was high-tech, for sure."

Infiniti shared the biggest lesson she has learned from working with such an experienced cast: "More than anything, the film taught me how to trust myself more. As an actor, you have to trust yourself and trust that the people around you who are leading you and supporting you throughout everything, they've got you. Throughout filming, I learned that I could trust myself more and I could push myself in ways that I never even imagined."

When asked what is the one battle he is tired of fighting, DiCaprio responded, "Our inability to communicate with one another."

One Battle After Another will be in theaters on VistaVision, 70mm film and IMAX nationwide on Sept. 26, 2025.

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No, your friends have not joined the Marvel superhero squad, nor have they become professional footballers. The images they are uploading on their social media handles are all AI-generated.

SAVE $700: As of Sept. 26, the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus portable power station is on sale for $1,499 at Amazon. This is $700 off its list price of $2,199.

Opens in a new window Credit: Jackery Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus $1,499 at Amazon
$2,199 Save $700 Get Deal

Whether you want it for your next camping trip or as backup power around the house, a portable power station is worth picking up. Ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, Amazon is offering some excellent discounts on quite a few models. The Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus has even dropped by $700.

This discount has dropped the price of the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus to $1,499. If this offer has caught your eye, you'll want to be quick to jump on it as Amazon currently has it marked as a limited-time deal. It may not stick around at this price for long.

SEE ALSO: How to sign up for Amazon Prime ahead of Prime Big Deal Days

The Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus features up to 3,000W capacity that can power a wide variety of devices. 10, in fact. It comes with five AC outlets, one car port, two 100W PD USB-C ports, and two QC3.0 USB-A ports. On top of that, it has a perfectly portable design with a little handle and wheels to help you move it around.

Act fast to score $700 off the Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus at Amazon. And as mentioned before, there are plenty of other portable power station deals to explore right now at the retailer. This offer on the Jackery HomePower 3000 portable power station is another that's definitely worth a look.

While the move to flat-panel TVs has mostly been great (though tube TVs still have some advantages), one area where things have taken a nosedive is in sound quality. Most flatscreen TVs today have tinny, weak sound that's frankly unusable.