Entertainment
Raunchy Blockbuster On Netflix Features A Threesome Of Hollywood’s Hottest
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
It’s become increasingly difficult to find a decent action film: the genre has largely been subsumed by superhero slop and direct-to-streaming disasters, both of which combine sexless storytelling with forgettably murky CGI. But over a quarter of a century ago, there was a non-superhero action movie that featured extensive practical stunts and a sexy threesome of Hollywood’s hottest ladies. That film is Charlie’s Angels (2000), and you can now stream this raunchy action-adventure on Netflix.
The premise of Charlie’s Angels is that three women who serve as private investigators for a mysterious millionaire are dispatched to save a software guru who was recently kidnapped. Along the way, they must use all of their skills (which generally combine light spycraft with heavy butt-kicking) to get to the bottom of a mystery that just keeps getting stranger. Before everything is over, the Angels will face love, betrayal, and the one thing audiences can never get enough of: killer action scenes starring impossibly hot women!
The Sexiest Cast In Action History
The cast of Charlie’s Angels is filled with some of Hollywood’s biggest names, including Bill Murray (best known for Ghostbusters) as an assistant to the man who gives the Angels their marching orders. Sam Rockwell (best known for Moon) plays the kidnapped software genius, while Crispin Glover (best known for Willard) plays a mysterious hitman. Meanwhile, Matt LeBlanc (best known for Friends) and Luke Wilson (best known for The Royal Tenenbaums) both play love interests for the Angels, while Tim Curry (best known for Clue) plays the man suspected of kidnapping the software prodigy.
Of course, the hottest actors (in more ways than one) in Charlie’s Angels are the titular gals.
Starting with Cameron Diaz (best known for There’s Something About Mary) as a happy-go-lucky spy who’s a master of disguise.
Drew Barrymore (best known for 50 First Dates) plays a rough-and-tumble rebel who hates to play by the rules.
Finally, Lucy Liu (best known for Kill Bill: Vol. 1) plays a combat expert and all-around perfectionist.
A New Director Makes A Rockstar Entrance
Charlie’s Angels was the feature film debut for McG, and the movie’s financial success helped him cement his reputation as a superstar director. Against a budget of $93 million, the movie earned $264.1 million, which was surprising given that younger audiences weren’t familiar with the iconic ‘70s show of the same name.
Thanks to this beautiful box office, the studio released a sequel. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle reunited McG with the first film’s Angel actors. Years later, there was a reboot directed by Elizabeth Banks and starring an entirely new cast.
When Charlie’s Angels came out, reviewers generally decided it was a solid reimagining of the classic TV show of the same name. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 68 percent, with critics noting that the movie makes up in fun what it lacks in originality. They also praised the film for its unique combination of ironic humor, unapologetic sex appeal, and jaw-dropping set pieces, all of which give this film as much multi-faceted appeal as the Angels themselves.
Violence Has Never Been More Appealing
This is a very fair assessment of Charlie’s Angels: it’s not all that original, owing to the fact that it’s based on a decades-old show and cribs much of its hyperkinetic action aesthetic from ‘90s hits such as Blade and The Matrix. However, this early aughts film successfully synthesizes what worked for those earlier films while adding heavy doses of humor and more than a little cheesecake sensuality. The result is a movie that you can enjoy as an homage to the original series or as a fun action adventure in its own right.
The real magic of Charlie’s Angels comes from the women at the center of this story, each of whom imbues their respective Angel with a distinct personality and style. Other performers might have taken these breezy roles too seriously or gone too far in the other direction and created pure farce. Fortunately, Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu are perfect at riding the line, transforming what could have been a forgettable action film into something that feels both vivid and visceral.
Will you agree that Charlie’s Angels is a raunchy blockbuster worth watching, or would you rather face the wrath of Charlie than watch this film? The only way to find out is to find your remote (hopefully, Bosley didn’t hide it) and stream this sexy throwback on Netflix. Afterward, you may never look at this sexy threesome of Hollywood’s leading ladies the same way, ever again!
Entertainment
Super Bowl fans celebrate and spiral on social media as the Seahawks beat the Patriots
In what will likely go down as one of the least thrilling Super Bowls in recent memory, the Seattle Seahawks finally got their revenge against the New England Patriots, defeating the AFC champions 29–13 to win Super Bowl LX.
The game got off to a sluggish start, with one of the league’s most explosive offenses in Seattle running headfirst into a relentless New England defense. The same stalemate played out on the other side of the ball, as Drake Maye’s Patriots offense struggled to generate any momentum against Seattle’s top-ranked scoring defense. Dubbed the Darkside Defense, a modern successor to the Legion of Boom, the Seahawks held New England to just 13 points, racking up seven sacks (tying a Super Bowl record) and forcing an interception in the process.
As for Patriots fans, the vibes are bleak.
Mashable Trend Report
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And for Seattle fans, the win brought the Seattle Seahawks even more joy. Not only did the franchise secure its second Super Bowl title in team history, but it also avenged one of the most infamous plays in NFL lore.
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Sam Darnold is a Super Bowl champion
The funniest and most satisfying outcome of the win is what it’s done for Sam Darnold’s legacy. Once widely written off as a bust, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback has now won the biggest game of his life. His diehard supporters, who have long and very ironically dubbed him GEQBUS, short for “God Emperor Quarterback of the United States,” are absolutely losing their minds. Over on the subreddit r/the_darnold, fans are firmly on cloud nine, basking in the kind of vindication only a Super Bowl win can deliver.
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Entertainment
Insane, R-Rated 90s Sci-Fi Is A Computer Virus For Your Brain
By Robert Scucci
| Published
I have no issue admitting that when I write movie reviews, I spend some time on Wikipedia and IMDb because I am better with faces than names. I want to make sure I am getting the talent straight when I talk about the characters that talent is portraying, as well as refresh myself on the story. In the case of 1991’s Brain Twisters, however, I had to consult the internet just to figure out what story it was even trying to tell in the first place, because it really does not make any sense at all.
Conceptually, Brain Twisters has a cool R-rated premise, but it limps along like it is aiming for a PG-13 rating. It wants to be sexy, but there is no nudity. It wants to carry itself like a slasher, but there is no real violence. It wants to play out like a sci-fi mystery thriller, but instead feels like a made-for-TV crime drama about a computer program that forces people to go on murder sprees. At least, I think that is what it is going for.
None Of This Makes Sense On Any Level
From what intel I have gathered, I am not alone in my assessment of Brain Twisters. The main story centers on Dr. Philip Rothman (Terry Lenderee), a university professor who runs mind control experiments on student volunteers involving sensory deprivation tanks and a wall of televisions a la A Clockwork Orange. Then a string of murders happens, drawing the attention of Detective Frank Turi (Joe Lombardo), who becomes involved after one of Dr. Rothman’s students, Ted (Shura McComb), commits suicide. This somehow results in a custody battle over his corpse.
Dr. Rothman wants Ted’s head for research purposes, while Detective Frank is more concerned with figuring out whether Ted was involved in the murder of his girlfriend, Denise (Heather Ann Barclay). As the film slowly meanders along, we learn that Dr. Rothman’s experiments are emitting radio waves, or something close to that, which cause his students to kill each other or themselves.
The problem is that Dr. Rothman is apparently unaware of this side effect because the software company financing his experiments never disclosed that information to him. This explanation immediately collapses under scrutiny, since he spends most of the second and third acts behaving in an increasingly unhinged and openly evil manner that suggests he knows exactly what is happening.
Meanwhile, student Laurie Stevens (Farrah Forke) becomes romantically involved with Detective Frank after he cooks her boxed spaghetti, while her promiscuous friend Michelle (Donna Bostany) attempts to seduce Dr. Rothman in exchange for a better grade. That is it. That is the whole movie.
Not Even Charming In A Shlocky Way
When I seek out movies like Brain Twisters, I genuinely try to identify their redeeming qualities. I have devoted an unthinkable number of hours to scraping the bottom of the Rotten Tomatoes barrel and logging onto Tubi in search of hidden or underappreciated gems that were not fully understood at the time of their initial release. More often than not, I am pleasantly surprised, and I report my findings here in case anyone else wants to check out something that was not on their radar but still fits their taste. It ain’t much, but it is honest work.
Brain Twisters, however, has no redeeming qualities, and it rightfully earns its seven percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is barely sci-fi, barely horror, and does not even have enough schlock to give it the kind of B-movie charm that lets you appreciate it as a diamond in the rough. Second-rate production values can be forgiven if there is a compelling story underneath them.The unfortunate truth about Brain Twisters is that there is not.
If you want to see what Brain Twisters is all about, you can stream it for free on Tubi. Or you can jam toothpicks under your fingernails if you are looking for a more productive way to spend your time.
Entertainment
Sigourney Weaver's R-Rated 90s Thriller Is A Disturbing Game Of Cat And Mouse
By Robert Scucci
| Published
1995’s Copycat is one of those movies that should be in heavy rotation if you’re a true crime fan who also enjoys a solid psychological thriller. Like a proto version of Mindhunter, it leans into the lore surrounding heavy hitters like Albert DeSalvo, The Hillside Strangler, David Berkowitz, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Ted Bundy, but every single reference is filtered through the perspective of a strung out criminal psychology expert as she aids two homicide detectives in tracing a copycat killer who mimics the MOs of the serial killers who inspired him.
Through this framework, and with the help of Sigourney Weaver’s on-screen chemistry with Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney, Copycat becomes a fun murder mystery thriller that manages to appeal to both casual moviegoers and true crime buffs alike.
A Killer On The Loose, An Expert Trapped Inside Her Trauma
Copycat first introduces us to the trauma that forces criminal psychology expert Dr. Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) into a reclusive lifestyle. Suffering from agoraphobia and drinking her way through each day, Dr. Helen is the ultimate authority on serial killer behavior. That authority comes at a cost after her dangerous run-in with escaped killer Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.) during one of her lectures, an encounter that forces her to value her safety and privacy above everything else. While she still has a passion for her research and criminal profiling, Dr. Helen suffers anxiety attacks at the mere thought of leaving her luxury apartment, effectively trapping herself inside her own expertise.
When a string of murders begins to plague San Francisco, Inspector Mary Jane “M.J.” Monahan (Holly Hunter) and her partner, Inspector Ruben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney), are tasked not only with finding the culprit behind the slayings, but also with keeping the possibility of a serial killer under wraps in order to avoid sparking unnecessary public hysteria.
This is where the magic really happens in Copycat. Dr. Helen Hudson is a force to be reckoned with. Her pattern recognition and ability to profile on the fly as new evidence comes to light is intimidating to say the least. She initially helps M.J. and Ruben begrudgingly, but soon becomes just as consumed with the case as they are. M.J. is the inverse of Helen in almost every way. She lacks the years of experience needed to draw the same immediate connections, but makes up for it by trusting her instincts and acting decisively when it matters most.
As they work together, M.J., Ruben, and Dr. Hudson realize they are dealing with a serial killer whose MO is defined by the absence of one. Rather than developing his own methodology, the killer meticulously recreates the murder techniques and crime scene imagery of the serial killers he idolizes. By constantly changing his approach, he stays one step ahead of the inspectors hunting him, all while dropping increasingly unsettling hints that Dr. Helen Hudson herself is his ultimate target, for reasons that are not immediately clear.
The Perfect Intersection Of True Crime And Fiction
While Copycat leans heavily into true crime to build its internal logic, you do not need to be a true crime junkie to appreciate what it’s doing. References are limited to the most well-known real-life killers, giving casual viewers enough context to understand the stakes without requiring a post-watch research spiral.
The procedural details the film leans on are delivered in self-contained bursts of criminal profiling that are easy to follow, allowing viewers to simply sit back and watch the mystery unfold. The film never feels like it’s testing the audience or showing off its homework.
In other words, if you’re into shows like Mindhunter but less interested in the kind of granular breakdowns found in something like Last Podcast on the Left, Copycat strikes an ideal balance. It’s a rock-solid thriller that doesn’t require a crash course in the macabre to fully appreciate, and its slow-burn mystery keeps the tension simmering from start to finish.
Copycat is currently streaming for free on Tubi.
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