Entertainment
Netflix Has The Sexy ‘90s Masterpiece That Revived The Greatest Action Franchise Ever Made
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
In 1989, something stunning happened: License to Kill earned the lowest box office of any James Bond film ever made. While the movie had some very stiff competition (including Tim Burton’s Batman, Ghostbusters II, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), this failure gave the creative team behind 007 pause. They decided to shelve this iconic spy series until they knew how to remake Bond for a modern audience.
That remake came in 1995 in the form of GoldenEye, a movie which featured Pierce Brosnan as the most famous spy in Hollywood history. The film was a critical and commercial smash, ensuring that we got additional decades of world-spanning action and adventure from the man who prefers his martinis shaken, not stirred. If you’re ready to dive into a genuine ‘90s masterpiece and experience one of the best Bond films ever made, you don’t have to contact Q Branch: all you have to do is grab your remote and stream this film for free on Tubi!
The Ties That Bond
The premise of GoldenEye is that nine years after his partner apparently died on a mission gone wrong, James Bond must investigate the criminal mastermind wielding a satellite-powered weapon that can cripple the world with its electromagnetic pulses. The mastermind ends up being his former partner, someone who is now hellbent on rewriting the world in his own twisted image. Now, Bond must team up with a buxom hacker and race against time before he reverts the United Kingdom and other targets back to the technological Stone Age.
The cast of GoldenEye has some of the most beloved actors in Hollywood, including Sean Bean (best known for The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring) as 007’s former partner turned supervillain. Speaking of villains, Famke Janssen (best known for X-Men) is campy perfection as an assassin with killer thighs (literally), and her fellow X-Man Alan Cumming (best known to Marvel fans for X2: X-Men United) is hilarious as a hacker with delusions of grandeur. As for Dame Judi Dench, this is the film she is best known for, and she’s so good in the role of Bond’s boss that she continued to play the part into the Daniel Craig era of Bond films.
Needless to say, the best performance in GoldenEye comes from Pierce Brosnan, whose James Bond is the perfect mixture of previous performers. He has the suave swagger of Sean Connery, the smoldering intensity of Timothy Dalton, and a couple of healthy pinches of Roger Moore’s humor. His 007 captivated the public, and Brosnan helped transform this flailing franchise into an unstoppable box office juggernaut.
A Revival That Impressed Fans and Critics Alike
GoldenEye brought James Bond back in a big way, earning $356.4 million against a budget of only $60 million. This successfully revived 007 after the disappointing box office of 1989’s Licence to Kill, and Brosnan went on to star in three more Bond movies. Afterward, the franchise was reenvisioned into something much more serious, and Daniel Craig played a Bond who was notably cooler and crueler than his martini-swilling predecessors.
When GoldenEye hit theaters, it left professional reviewers both shaken and stirred with its effortlessly cool revival of this ‘60s spy franchise. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has an 80 percent, with critics praising the movie for modernizing the 007 formula without sacrificing any of the sexy violence and stylish action these movies are known for. They singled out Pierce Brosnan for his singularly impressive performance as James Bond, one that would come to define ‘90s action cinema and, in many ways, the actor’s career.
Falling In Love With The World’s Sexiest Franchise
As an ‘80s kid who was more into sci-fi than spycraft, I didn’t watch much James Bond growing up. Seeing GoldenEye in the local theater was my first exposure to the world of 007, and I was instantly hooked. I began renting every Bond movie I could find at the local video stores, and the iconic Nintendo 64 adaptation of the film quickly became my new favorite game.
Speaking for myself, GoldenEye was the perfect entry point for the franchise: it offers all the action and set pieces you’d expect from the best spy films, and the characters (from Sean Bean’s 006 to Izabella Scorupco Natalya) are fully formed and immediately relatable. As for Brosnan, his character is the opposite of relatable as aspirational perfection. He’s the man every man wants to be, and Brosnan’s secret agent is the archetypal embodiment of unrestrained masculinity.
You May Need A Cigarette After Watching
You can enjoy GoldenEye as a joyous love letter to the James Bond franchise, and the passion the filmmakers had for 007 is evident in every frame. Notably, though, the film stands on its own as a breakout ‘90s action blockbuster that has easily withstood the test of time. It remains one of the sleekest and sexiest action masterpieces of the last few decades, and it’s one you’ll want to revisit whenever you need the adrenaline rush that only Brosnan can provide.
You don’t have to break a sweat to obtain that rush, though; all you have to do is stream GoldenEye on Netflix. More than a nostalgic thrill, this movie is perfect for those who appreciate other ‘90s action masterpieces like The Rock and Face/Off. Whether you’re looking for vintage thrills, unforgettable characters, or a bit of both, this is one sexy celluloid adventure you’ll never forget!
Entertainment
YouTube outage cause revealed: What we know
Updated on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 9:15 p.m. ET — As of this writing, YouTube appears to be working again. So far, Google and YouTube have not announced the cause of the outage, or confirmed that the problems are resolved.
Updated on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 9.26 p.m. ET — YouTube has revealed the cause of the outage. In a statement on X, the company said it was due to an issue with their recommendations system, which stopped videos from appearing. “The homepage is back, but we’re still working on a full fix – more coming soon!”
Updated on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 10:19 p.m. ET — YouTube has announced that the issue has been solved.
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Original story follows.
If you can’t watch YouTube videos right now, you’re not alone. A Tuesday evening YouTube outage affected users across the globe, with problems starting around 8:00 p.m. ET. Early reports are sketchy, but here’s what we know.
The platform DownDetector received 837,973 user error reports (and rising) in the U.S. alone, with 46.7 percent of users reporting problems accessing the YouTube app and 21.1 percent reporting problems with the website. Users in Canada, Brazil, the UK, and Germany are also reporting problems. (Disclosure: Mashable and Downdetector share the same parent company.)
Mashable Light Speed
Mashable editors in both the U.S. and Australia were unable to access YouTube’s website and app. Attempts to access the website resulted in a blank black screen with only YouTube’s sidebar and search bar appearing.
The YouTube homepage goes dark…
Credit: Amanda Yeo / Mashable
YouTube acknowledged the outage on X, urging users to check the Google Support page for more information.
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The initial update from YouTube simply read, “Hi everyone, We’re aware some of you are having issues accessing YouTube right now. Our teams are aware, and we’ll provide updates as soon as we have them.”
An additional update from YouTube read, “We are aware of the ongoing issue impacting YouTube homepage, recommendations, search and uploads and are working to fix it. Please follow along in our Community for updates. Our support agents do not have any additional information to share with you at this time.”
YouTube is the largest streaming service by far in the U.S.
At this time, the cause of the outage is unknown. Mashable reached out to Google for more information (YouTube is owned by Google), and we’ll update this story if we receive more information.
This is a developing story …
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for February 18, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you keep up with the latest styles.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that’s captured the public’s attention. The game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
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Yellow: Old-school do’s
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Green: Awesome
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Blue: Cluck
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Purple: Lotion
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: Retro hair directives
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Green: Retro slang for cool
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Blue: Chicken descriptors
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Purple: ___ Cream
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections #983 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Retro hair directives: CRIMP, CURL, FEATHER, TEASE
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Retro slang for cool: BAD, FLY, RAD, WICKED
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Chicken descriptors: BANTAM, CRESTED, FREE-RANGE, LEGHORN
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___ Cream: HEAVY, SHAVING, SOUR, TOPICAL
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today’s puzzle.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for February 18, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’ve been watching the Olympics.
Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Cold competition
The words are related to sports.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe cold activities.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is vertical.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is Zodiac Signs.
NYT Strands word list for February 18
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Luge
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Hockey
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Curling
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Winter Sports
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Bobsled
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Snowboarding
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and if you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now!
Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Strands.
YouTube outage cause revealed: What we know
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for February 18, 2026
