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
This $10 upgrade transforms your PC — but it’s only on sale until midnight
TL;DR: Upgrade a PC affordably with this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro license, on sale for just $9.97 (reg. $199) through tonight at midnight.
Want to get the feeling of a new computer without having to shell out all the money for one? A new operating system gives your device a whole new feel, and if you’ve got a PC lying around, it could probably use this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro upgrade. If you act fast, you can get it for only $9.97 through tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Windows 11 Pro breathes new life into an old computer, extending its lifespan for less than the cost of your lunch. Unlike older operating systems, this one was made with the modern professional in mind.
Mashable Deals
Rest easy knowing Windows 11 Pro is filled with features that can improve your workflow — from an easy-to-use interface that enhances usability to snap layouts, seamless redocking, a more powerful search experience, and improved voice typing.
Take advantage of unique professional tools like Azure AD, Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, and BitLocker device encryption. Then take a break and check out the impressive gaming experience offered by DirectX 12 Ultimate graphics.
Windows 11 Pro includes Copilot, Microsoft’s very own AI-powered assistant, which can assist you with a wide range of tasks. Get some help kickstarting your writing process, summarizing web pages, changing your settings, or even opening your apps.
You can also enjoy improved cybersecurity with Windows 11 Pro, as it adds biometric logins, encrypted authentication, and enhanced antivirus protection.
Mashable Deals
Get your PC a Microsoft Windows 11 Pro license for only $9.97 tonight through midnight.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Entertainment
3 AdultFriendFinder red flags — how to avoid scams on AFF
Depending on who you ask, AdultFriendFinder is either the Wild West of hookup sites, an “anything goes” paradise for adult fun, or a total scam replete with bots, fake profiles, and inactive accounts.
After months of personal testing, I can confidently say which AFF you experience ultimately boils down to how you use the site. If you approach it naively, without a strategy, you’re probably going to have some frustrating experiences. On the other hand, if you exercise a modicum of caution and common sense, you’ll discover a huge, fun, and kink-friendly community.
Here are three red flags to look out for as you use AFF, to help you spot potential scammers and separate the authentic users from the fake profiles.
Hookup apps for everyone
AdultFriendFinder
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readers’ pick for casual connections
Tinder
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top pick for finding hookups
Hinge
—
popular choice for regular meetups
Credit: AdultFriendFinder
Unverified accounts
AdultFriendFinder already offers a fantastic first step in combatting fake profiles that they call ConfirmID. Once you’ve created an account, you can, at any time, upload a clear scan of a government-issued ID card and then, using a webcam, undergo a quick face verification scan to confirm that you are indeed the person identified in the government document.
This step strikes the perfect balance between not being onerous enough to annoy the average user but still requiring enough effort to deter scammers, who notoriously go after the low-hanging fruit.
Mashable Trend Report
Once you’ve completed the ConfirmID sequence, you’ll be rewarded with a verification badge on your profile, and we strongly recommend that you limit your one-on-one interactions on the site to other verified users.
Perfect profile photos
Alright, admittedly this one requires some personal judgment, as everyone should strive to upload good, high-quality photos of themselves to dating websites. But if every photo looks like it belongs in a magazine, or if the person in the photo looks a little too good to be true, you should exercise caution.
In the age of generative AI and filters, it’s trivially easy to create a fake photo or series of photos, so you should also be on the lookout for what isn’t in the photos. Are there recognizable local landmarks (clubs, restaurants, well-known parks, or street corners) in the photos, or are they all equally generic?
Over-eager chatters
Ever since chat bots became a thing, dating sites have become plagued with them, and as AI improves more and more, it’s not always easy to know, right away, if the “person” you’re talking to is really human. One dead giveaway, though, is how much they chat and how quickly they reply.
Real people go off on tangents, employ non sequiturs, and sometimes stumble with awkward questions or comments. Chat bots, on the other hand, are typically always chipper and extremely fast-talking, so much so that a paragraph-long answer can come back to you in seconds.
They also almost always have an agenda, too, whether that’s directing you to click on a link (“Follow my Instagram profile”) or getting you to divulge some potentially compromising bit of personal information about yourself.
Entertainment
SNL opens with another Pete Hegseth press conference
Saturday Night Live returned from a brief hiatus Saturday with a cold open depicting a joint press conference between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, with “Master of None” creator Aziz Ansari playing the latter.
Colin Jost’s Hegseth hit the familiar beats at the podium — performative machismo, military bravado, and repeated jabs at the secretary’s well-documented drinking habits. This time, Hegseth arrived at the mic hauling an oversized pitcher of scotch, which he assured the room was his one for the day. He then fielded questions from the press about the administration’s handling of U.S. strikes on Iran, dismissing each reporter with the particular brand of smug confidence that has become central to Jost’s portrayal of the character.
Ansari’s Patel proved to be the sketch’s standout, arriving to defend his tenure at the FBI and proceeding to do so poorly. The bit’s centerpiece involved Patel simultaneously denying and admitting that he had locked himself out of his work email for 36 hours after forgetting he had changed his password to “kashmeoutside69.”
Funnily enough, Patel was reportedly locked out of his FBI email in real life and believed, at least momentarily, that he was being fired. As the sketch demonstrated, the distance between SNL’s Cold Open and the actual news cycle has rarely felt smaller.
This $10 upgrade transforms your PC — but it’s only on sale until midnight
Wild D Jonas Brodin out for Game 1, F Joel Eriksson Ek also ailing
