Entertainment
Quentin Tarantino Enjoys One Of The Biggest Failures Of The Year
By Matthew Swigonski
| Published
From picking out your favorite type of candy to choosing the perfect toppings for family pizza night, personal tastes are highly subjective, and our movie preferences are no different. Just ask Quentin Tarantino, who has come out and said that he actually enjoyed Joker: Folie à Deux, even finding comparisons to the 1994 film Natural Born Killers.
While it’s not exactly a secret that Joker 2 is considered one of the biggest failures of the year, Quentin Tarantino says that he found the flaws in the film to have endearing qualities that clicked with him more than he imagined.
Quentin Tarantino On Joker 2
While appearing on the October 22 episode of The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast, Quentin Tarantino and his Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avary were sucked into a conversation regarding the box office flop, Joker 2. Despite the universal consensus that the film was an absolute disaster, the iconic filmmaker couldn’t help but view it from a different angle, admiring it for what it really is, a flawed movie that closely imitated the character it was centered around.
“I really, really liked it, really. A lot. Like, tremendously,” Tarantino told The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast host Bret Easton Ellis and Avary.
Appreciates The Flaws
To explain his reasoning, Quentin Tarantino said that he went into Joker 2 “expecting to be impressed by the filmmaking,” but he ultimately began to see the film as much more approachable than he originally envisioned. The Kill Bill director noted that he expected the movie to be “an arms-length, intellectual exercise that ultimately I wouldn’t think worked like a movie,” he told Ellis and Avary. “And I’m just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie.”
Supporting one of the biggest failures of the year isn’t exactly an easy task, but if anyone has enough pull to successfully defend Joker 2, it’s Quentin Tarantino. Granted, he still called the film a “big, giant mess” that was a bit simplistic in its approach, but almost like watching a car crash in slow motion, Quentin Tarantino says that Joker 2 still managed to pull him in, admitting that he “really got caught up into it.”
Enjoyed The Musical Numbers
One of the aspects of Joker 2 that Quentin Tarantino liked the most was probably the one feature of the film that audiences across the globe have panned the most; the musical numbers. He revealed that for whatever reason, the music inside the film caught his attention and never let go, claiming that the more “banal” the song, the more engrossed he felt watching them.
As of October 29, Joker 2 currently holds a dual 32 percent critic and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with many reviews pointing to the film’s odd pacing and uneven musical numbers as the biggest negative.
While Quentin Tarantino seems to be alone in his praise for Joker 2, he says that the film resonates with him on a personal level, which could explain his affection for the movie. He explained that while writing Natural Born Killers, he felt inspired by the film Taxi Driver.
While watching Joker 2, Quentin Tarantino says that the film “seems pretty f***ing indebted to Natural Born Killers, almost as if a torch has been passed between misunderstood films.
Source: The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast
Entertainment
Xiaomis new hyper car concept has the strangest cockpit weve ever seen
Xiaomi likes to bring cars to Barcelona; the company gave us the first glimpse of its SU7 Ultra supercar during last year’s MWC in March.
This year, however, Xiaomi has unveiled something that’s pretty far out there, even by its own standards. Called the Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo, it’s a hypercar that was designed to go really fast while slicing through the air in a way not many cars (or race cars, for that matter) can (Xiaomi says it’s been “sculpted by the wind”).
It feels kinda empty in there.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
The company will bring the concept car to its MWC show floor in Barcelona on March 2, presumably when we’ll learn more about its powertrain, acceleration, battery, and other trivialities. Today, however, Xiaomi was mostly focused on how the air flows through the car, using a variety of wind tunnels and channels (and even a moving part on the car’s bottom) to make it more efficient.
The wheels and wheel covers are special, too.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Even the car’s wheels have special covers that are (somehow) magnetically set in place so they don’t rotate while the car moves, as that would also increase drag.
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I bet your car doesn’t have a cocoon-shaped sofa.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Inside, it gets even nuttier. The seats are out; instead, you sit in a “cocoon-shaped sofa” with an x-wing steering wheel with five tiny displays, some of which apparently double as (contextual?) buttons. Most of the things you associate with a traditional car are gone; instead, it’s you in that sofa-shaped cockpit, that steering wheel, and the road. The car’s a two-seater, so don’t expect to bring your family on a trip in this one.
Fortunately, you might be able to get a cocoon-shaped sofa/cockpit for your home.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
In fact, most people probably won’t be able to afford a car like this, but Xiaomi’s got you covered, as it plans to release a gaming console/cockpit shaped just like the car’s cockpit, so you can race around in your own little cocoon in the relative safety of your home.
We don’t know how fast it goes. We don’t know where the batteries are, given that the car appears to be mostly wind tunnels under that cockpit. We don’t know if it’s ever going to make it to market. But boy, does it all look cool.
We’ll hopefully find out more on March 2 when that show floor opens, so stay tuned for pics and videos.
Topics
Mobile World Congress
Xiaomi
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for March 1, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you’re a frequent flyer.
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:
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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 #994 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Little bite: CANAPÉ, FINGER FOOD, HORS D’OEUVRE, TAPA
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Construction equipment: HARD HAT, LADDER, NAIL GUN, TOOL BELT
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Vacation emoji: AIRPLANE, LUGGAGE, PALM TREE, SMILING FACE WITH SUNGLASSES
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Things you don’t eat that end in foods: COPYPASTA, JOHANNESBURGER, KNUCKLE SANDWICH, LICORICE PIZZA
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 March 1, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’re not on. your best behavior.
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: Dressing down
The words are related to discipline.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe ways to chastise.
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 The Riot Act.
NYT Strands word list for March 1
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Braidup
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The Riot Act
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Scold
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Castigate
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Reprimand
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Admonish
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.
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