Entertainment
Clint Eastwood's Most Underrated Film Is Finally Getting The Respect It Deserves
By Britta DeVore
| Published
When it comes to creatives who dip their toe into acting and directing, there’s almost no better man for the job than the legendary Clint Eastwood. From the Bradley Cooper-led American Sniper to the heartfelt performances between Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in Invictus, the star-turned-filmmaker has certainly made a name for himself behind the camera. One standout in his catalog is 1986’s Heartbreak Ridge, a war drama that often flies under the radar compared to his more celebrated work.
While he’s great at giving visionary direction to some of Hollywood’s biggest names, there’s nothing like a Clint Eastwood-led movie directed by the man himself. From Gran Torino to Million Dollar Baby, the man has a knack for seamlessly moving from the director’s chair to under the bright lights. Almost two decades into his filmmaking career, Eastwood delivered Heartbreak Ridge, a film centered around the life of a hardened Marine nearing the end of his service.
Creative Liberties Were Taken
In the 1986 flick, Clint Eastwood stars as a U.S. Marine who is getting ready to celebrate his well-earned retirement. Before he can kick back, relax, and go fishing, the tough-as-nails Marine is handed a platoon of unruly recruits who he needs to get battle ready if they have any hopes of surviving the 1983 American invasion of Grenada. With a well-formed cast, Heartbreak Ridge also starred the likes of Academy Award-nominee Marsha Mason (Cinderella Liberty), Everett McGill (Quest for Fire, Dune), and Mario Van Peebles (New Jack City).
In the script’s original draft, the leading character was not meant to be a member of the Marines but was instead a soldier in the United States Army. Unfortunately, when Eastwood and the rest of his team approached the Army for their help and support in making the movie as real as possible, they turned the project down because the character was an alcoholic divorcee. Picking up the pieces and starting at square one, the film’s creatives moved on to the Marines, who, after some cajoling, agreed to help shape the leading characters.
With the Marines behind them, the crew was allowed to roll cameras in California’s Camp Pendleton, giving the training scenes a real-life edge. Unfortunately, when the final product came out, the branch of the U.S. armed forces was less than pleased with the way Clint Eastwood and the rest of the cast and crew behind Heartbreak Ridge depicted them. Essentially, they didn’t appreciate some of the creative liberties taken to make the film more dramatic and give the characters a fully fleshed-out story.
A Critical And Commercial Success
Although the film wasn’t a hit among the Marines, audiences and critics enjoyed Clint Eastwood’s latest action-centered war epic, raking in a whopping $121.7 million at the worldwide box office against its $15 million production budget. An industry standout, the title would also nab a nomination for Best Sound at that year’s Academy Awards.
Heartbreak Ridge landed in theaters in 1986, the tail end of a decade that would be rounded out by the director’s Charlie “Bird” Parker biopic, Bird. Blasting off into the 1990s with guns blazing, Clint Eastwood continued his upward trajectory as a Hollywood star and filmmaker with The Rookie, Unforgiven, and The Bridges of Madison County, to name a few. As we know, Eastwood’s star has only continued to shine over the years, with his directorial credits well over 40.
Not Presently Streaming, But Available On Demand
As of late, things have been quiet for Clint Eastwood, as the last picture he starred in and directed was 2021’s neo-western drama, Cry Macho. Since then, the icon has released Juror No. 2, which was widely reported to be his final film. With almost seven decades in the industry, Eastwood has become a household name, either starring in or backing a project in every genre, with a movie out there for everyone. The recipient of 11 Academy Awards, it’s clear that the star’s impact on the world of film has been noticed by his peers and fans alike.
As for Heartbreak Ridge, the film isn’t currently on a major streaming platform, but it is available on-demand if you’re looking to check it out. You can rent or purchase it through platforms like YouTube, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango at Home to see why it remains one of Clint Eastwood’s most notorious war-centered features.
Entertainment
Marvel Icon Punished For Having A Huge Bulge
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Have you played Marvel Rivals? If you can get over the fact that it’s basically a reskinned version of Overwatch, it’s a lot of fun. This is a hero shooter where you take control of a character from the wide world of Marvel. There are a variety of team-based multiplayer modes; this variety, along with the fact that the game is free-to-play, keeps players coming back for more. How do the developers make money, though? Simple: they charge players for “skins” which completely change the look of the character. Many skins are modeled after famous outfits from the comics, and others are modeled after character designs in the MCU.
Whatever their original inspiration was, though, all of these skins have one thing in common: they are way hornier than you’d expect them to be. There are plenty of revealing outfits that pair perfectly with thirsty character designs that players can’t stop drooling over. Unfortunately, players recently discovered that the game had gone a little too far with Captain America’s latest summer skin. You see, the skin gave Cap a bulge so big that it messed up some of his in-game animations. This caused the Chinese developer to do the unthinkable: they shrunk Captain America’s penis, and they waited until the Fourth of July to do it!
The Battle Of The Bulge
Every year, Marvel Rivals developer NetEase Games releases skimpy summer swimwear outfits for various characters. This may seem like just a cheap way to appeal to gooner gamers, but it’s arguably a throwback to the ‘90s, when Marvel similarly appealed to horny comic book nerds with thirsty swimsuit specials. Captain America got an especially scandalous skin this summer, one that was basically short shorts and a skimpy tank top that showed off his hairy, muscled chest. Normally, fans would be panting about Cap’s thick legs and arms, but this skin made them fixate on something else: the comically huge bulge of the character’s penis.
Seriously, this thing wobbled with its own physics. While fans were both excited and scared (scaroused, if you will), some wondered if Captain America having such a huge package was an accident. Like, maybe the character model got tweaked in such a way that its pelvis was extending outward, giving the appearance of a much larger bulge. At any rate, it definitely seemed to be a mistake. In the game, Cap has an emote that echoes the recording in Spider-Man: Homecoming where he pulls out a chair and then sits in it. Previously, players activating this emote with the summer skin encountered a bug: Cap’s big, floppy unit clipping right through the chair!
Now, without making any kind of official announcement, NetEase games seems to have fixed the issue. While Captain America still has an impressive bulge, it’s not as obscenely huge as it once was. Furthermore, it no longer clips through the chair when players use the aforementioned emote. All’s well that ends well, right? Sort of. While the timing could be a coincidence, many players couldn’t help but notice how the Chinese developer waited until Independence Day to shrink Captain America’s weiner down to size. Do y’all really think this will even slow down an aroused Cap, though? It’s like the man says: he can do this all day!
Entertainment
Raunchy Cameron Diaz Comedy Now On Netflix Reminds Us How Good We Used To Have It
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Cameron Diaz rode the romantic comedy train until the very end. She was the breakout star of There’s Something About Mary and then kept cranking out romantic comedies for over a decade, ending with 2014’s Sex Tape opposite her Bad Teacher co-star Jason Segel. Now on Netflix, the comedy isn’t the best she’s ever done, but it does stand out as ever since, Hollywood has become allergic to the thought of a mid-budget sex romp comedy. No one’s approached YouPorn for product placement ever since.
Cameron Diaz And Jason Segel Have No Idea How The Cloud Works
Sex Tape is a different type of romantic comedy. Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel play Annie and Jay, a married couple who still love each other, but the days of spontaneous sex marathons are behind them. That leads to the idea of filming a sex tape with the goal of hitting every single position from the Joy of Sex. It works, except Jay isn’t able to delete the video afterwards. Every iPad he’s given away for Christmas has synced to the Cloud and since he set them up, his videos are accessible from each and every one of them.
That kicks off a race against time to remove the video from all of the iPads, though they admit what happened to their friends, Robby and Tess (Rob Corddry and Elle Kemper), who decide to tag along since they have nothing better to do. Sex Tape rapidly devolves from there into doing cocaine with Annie’s boss (Rob Lowe) and breaking into the YouPorn headquarters complete with a cameo from Jack Black. Despite the premise, if you enjoyed Game Night, Sex Tape hits similar beats and jokes.
The Last Comedy Diaz Made Before Her Hiatus
The outlandish plot and the audience’s waning appetite for comedy didn’t hurt Sex Tape at the box office. A production budget of $40 million was tripled during its run, and that’s not including the DVD/Blu-Ray sales of over $7 million, both of which were pushed with an “Unrated” cut of the movie. Coming in fourth in its opening weekend meant losing to Planes: Fire and Rescue, which likely stung a little. Diaz and Segel’s second outing together has been a streaming staple ever since ensuring that they’ve had the last laugh.
Sex Tape was one of Cameron Diaz’s last projects before a nearly decade-long hiatus from Hollywood. From 2015 to 2022, Diaz focused on other projects, including her businesses, raising children, and writing a book. She came back alongside Jamie Foxx in the Netflix original Back in Action, followed by the AppleTV original Outcome with Keanu Reeves in 2026. In 2027, Diaz returns to her most successful role: Princess Fiona in Shrek 5.
Romantic Comedies Have Gone Extinct
Her bread and butter, the romantic comedy, no longer exists on the big screen. It used to be that a great comedy would permeate the culture and be quoted nonstop for months, if not years. Social media has shortened the lifespan of every movie. Movies aren’t quoted as often, they don’t stick around as long with all of their best scenes and moments being spoiled all over our feeds as soon as they hit theaters. Hollywood needs to redesign the romantic comedy and the more action focus of Sex Tape combined with Diaz’s nudity was the last gasp of relevancy for the genre.
Anyone who wants a throwback to Hollywood comedies can check out Sex Tape on Netflix. Maybe someday studios will take another crack at them.
Entertainment
I found the best robot vacuums for every floor, budget, and level of laziness
Read my full review of the Narwal Flow 2.
The Narwal Flow 2 is the robot vacuum to splurge on if you take the cleanliness of your hard floors seriously — it takes a certain confidence in cleanliness to walk around in bare feet at home. Between the sturdy XL roller and hot water mopping, the Flow 2 has the elbow grease to soak up large liquid spills and melt away sticky or greasy droplets without smearing.
If your household is prone to spills, perhaps from kids, pets, or frequent guests, the Flow 2’s accurate obstacle and mess detection technology will come to the rescue for those big in-the-moment messes.
If you’ve sworn off mopping robot vacuums after a cheap one streaked your floor with dirty water, a roller mop robot vacuum should be your next move. The Narwal Flow 2 is my top recommendation halfway through 2026, mostly because it never really missed a spot in the several months that I was testing it.
Roller mop robot vacuums mitigate smearing in a few ways. The bath towel-like material is already thick and absorbent, and constantly rinses itself to keep the spill from being dragged across a clean floor. If the roller gets too soiled during a bigger cleanup, the Flow 2 automatically returns to the dock mid-cleaning to wash the mop with hot water. The Flow 2’s roller actually has flat sides like a conveyor belt, which Narwal says gets more direct surface coverage than the sliver of a cylindrical roller mop hitting the floor at any given point.
In my testing, the Flow 2 consistently mopped up spills of various consistencies, from true liquids like red wine and milk to sludgier splatters like pancake batter, chunky pasta sauce, and most impressively, globs of dried syrup. The Flow 2 is one of just a few robot vacuums that mop with hot water, making it able to dissolve the syrup without leaving the floor sticky. Hot water loosens the bonds that make grease slimy and hard to lift off hard surfaces with force alone, so the Flow 2 handles oily or greasy liquids better than robots mopping with room temperature water. During dry vacuuming, the Flow 2 did a commendable job with cat hair and small debris on rugs and kibble, cat litter, dirt, and crushed dried flowers on hard floors. I appreciate that the app allows up to three cleaning passes in the same session.
The Flow 2 is also such a thorough cleaner simply because it knows what kind of mess it’s dealing with — its AI spill detection is the most intuitive I’ve seen in 2026. The Flow 2 snaps a “before” photo when it approaches a mess that’s bigger than a few crumbs or a single droplet. After cleaning the rest of the area, the Flow 2 comes back to the dirty area for intensive zone cleaning. My Narwal app was also full of photos of extension cords, phone chargers, shoes, and random cat toys that the Flow 2 saw in my apartment while cleaning, even if the object wasn’t directly in the way. No one has time to tidy up before sending their robot vacuum out every single day, so it’s comforting to see such direct proof that the Flow 2 is, in fact, reacting to obstacles in real time.
Adrian Del Castillo belts 3-run homer to power Diamondbacks past Brewers
Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto dominates skidding Padres
