Entertainment
Scarlett Johansson’s R-Rated Sci-Fi Thriller Is Sexy, Kinetic, And Brutal
By Robert Scucci
| Published
By now, the myth that we only use 10 percent of our brains has been proven false, but when it’s used well as a movie trope, I’m willing to embrace the lie. In the case of 2014’s Lucy, they refer to potential brain usage as “cerebral capacity,” allowing Scarlett Johansson to lean into the idea that if she’s able to tap her full potential, the world as we know it would be forever altered. Often compared to 2011’s Limitless, Lucy occupies similar thematic territory to the Bradley Cooper-starring film. The distinction that needs to be clocked, however, is how reaching full cerebral capacity is handled.
Limitless tells a story about how one man’s endless cognitive abilities can only serve him so much if he becomes hooked on a substance that’s difficult to synthesize, potentially leading to his downfall. Lucy, on the other hand, takes a more global approach to its storytelling, suggesting that humanity operates at 10 percent cerebral capacity because mankind isn’t meant to see, hear, feel, and experience so much. Too much of everything happening all at once could send us back to the stone age because the entirety of the universe is beyond the reasonable scope of human comprehension.
Lucy grapples with this notion of evolution through its titular protagonist, who, once she passes a certain threshold of sensory perception, realizes that no human being should possess that much mental power because it’s simply too much to handle. What’s more, if that kind of cognizance falls into the wrong hands, there’s no telling how damaging it could be to our species.
From Drug Mule To Singularity
Scarlett Johansson’s Lucy finds herself in a predicament when her boyfriend sets her up in what is, by all measures, a nightmare scenario. He forces her to unknowingly deliver a briefcase full of a synthetic drug known as CPH4 to a South Korean drug lord named Mr. Jang (Choi Min-sik). Mr. Jang’s full intentions aren’t made clear at first, but we do know that he’s trying to transport the highly potent and extremely valuable drug all over Europe, sewing bags of the substance into the stomachs of his couriers so they can smuggle it across various borders undetected. What Mr. Jang doesn’t plan for, though, is Lucy getting kicked in the stomach, causing the bag to rupture and leak into her body.
Suddenly supercharged by the drug, Lucy quickly realizes that it’s made her super intelligent. From this point forward, we get scene breaks that reveal what percentage of her brain she’s using as she seeks answers about her condition, leading her to Professor Samuel Norman (Morgan Freeman), who’s devoted his life to studying the potential of the human brain. This all seems convenient, but junk science aside, it tracks. Lucy’s physicality, and the choices she makes, work in lockstep with her increased brain power as more of the drug titrates into her system.
Professor Norman has no clue what will happen when Lucy’s cerebral capacity hits 100 percent, but he’s willing to risk everything to help her find out since she’s already well on her way to reaching that target anyway. As they grapple with the science and its global implications, Mr. Jang closes in on Lucy, who’s hightailing it to Paris in a last-ditch effort to procure more bags of CPH4. Possessing superhuman abilities at this point, anybody who gets in Lucy’s way is pretty much signing their own death notice as her intelligence, awareness, and reflexes continue to increase exponentially.
Along the way, there are philosophical debates in Lucy. The running theme is that human beings only use a fraction of their brain because there’s no reasonable way to live with infinite knowledge of the totality of everything. At least not at this current phase in our species’ evolution. Lucy knows this, because she knows everything, and it’s up to her to figure out how to pass her knowledge on before she collapses under the existential weight of knowing everything about everything.
Similar To Limitless, But Stays In Its Own Lane
The best part about Lucy is how every single story intersects. Much of the first act highlights Lucy coming to terms with what’s happening to her. All of the junk science necessary to tell the story is laid out by Morgan Freeman’s Professor Norman. We literally get the lecture hall treatment as he discusses his research to his class, then we get smash cuts back to Johansson leveling up, realizing that Professor Norman’s research is instrumental to her evolution, forcing her to track him down and allowing the stories to intersect.
While these threads converge, we’re met with B-roll of nature, the animal kingdom, and the universe, allowing viewers to subconsciously absorb the implied scope of what 100 percent cerebral capacity in a human being would mean.
Once things really get cooking, there’s plenty of stylized action to keep the story engaging because Lucy becomes a powerful being, possessing telekinetic abilities that play well off her antagonists when they realize what kind of power they accidentally unleashed. With a flick of the wrist, several armed henchmen get tossed into the ceiling, for example. It’s a lot of fun to watch Scarlett Johansson shift from a damsel in distress to the ballsy heroine whose brain possesses magnitudes of information that could explain the very origin of intelligent life as we know and presently understand it. It’s even more fun when she has to make crucial, split-second decisions in order to subdue the very dangerous people who are trying to capture her.
The question, though, is what she’s going to do with that information. Will she go on the ultimate power trip, destroying everything in her wake? Or will she use her powers to educate the masses, allowing humanity to reach its next evolutionary step? You can find out by firing up Lucy on Netflix. If you’re worried about this movie insulting your intelligence, don’t. None of this is real. But it’s still fun to play pretend every once in a while.
Entertainment
How to watch Verona vs. AC Milan online for free
TL;DR: Live stream Verona vs. AC Milan in Serie A for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
Serie A showcases a number of interesting matchups this weekend, including Verona vs. AC Milan. These teams are at either end of the table, so most fans will be expecting a comfortable victory for the visitors. There’s always the possibility that the slim chance of survival will drive Verona on to do something special at the Marcantonio Bentegodi.
If you want to watch Verona vs. AC Milan in Serie A for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
When is Verona vs. AC Milan?
Verona vs. AC Milan in Serie A kicks off at 9 a.m. ET on April 19. This fixture takes place at the Marcantonio Bentegodi.
How to watch Verona vs. AC Milan for free
Verona vs. AC Milan in Serie A is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.
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BBC iPlayer is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Verona vs. AC Milan for free by following these simple steps:
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Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
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Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
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Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK
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Visit BBC iPlayer
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Live stream Verona vs. AC Milan for free from anywhere in the world
$12.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee)
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Verona vs. AC Milan without committing with your cash. This isn’t a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to live stream select fixtures from Serie A before recovering your investment.
What is the best VPN for BBC iPlayer?
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on BBC iPlayer, for a number of reasons:
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Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
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A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).
Live stream Verona vs. AC Milan in Serie A for free with ExpressVPN.
Entertainment
Meta finally adds direct messages to the web version of Threads
Meta is adding a feature to the web version of Threads that, honestly, probably should’ve been there a while ago.
As spotted by Engadget, Threads executive Connor Hayes posted an image showcasing a new redesign for the web browser version of the Twitter-like social network. It’s a pretty substantial redesign, including a bunch of new elements on the left sidebar such as the ability to easily switch between different feeds. Eagle-eyed viewers will also undoubtedly notice the addition of a direct message inbox. That feature has been available in the Threads mobile app since last June, but web users have been without it for almost an entire year. That, seemingly, will change soon.
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Hayes’ post didn’t include a specific timeframe for when this new redesign will go live, so don’t get too excited just yet if you’re a web-based Threads user who wants to send and receive DMs. The only hint Hayes gave is that users can expect to see some of these updates “in the coming weeks.”
Longtime social media users might find it strange that there has been such a massive gulf in feature availability between the mobile and web versions of Threads, but it makes a certain amount of sense. Threads has actually become pretty popular, but largely on mobile. X is still the preferred microblogging service on web browsers, at least going by user count. Meta is just operating where its bread is buttered. At least now web users can rest assured that they haven’t been forgotten.
Entertainment
At BookCon 2026, Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid and show creator Jacob Tierney sit down to talk about instant chemistry and whats next for the show
The first panel at BookCon drew lines of fans an hour before its start. Fans have shown up in style. I spotted dozens of iterations of t-shirts with the faces of actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storie plastered on them. Boston Raiders, Montreal Metros, and New York Admirals jerseys are in abundance, too. 3,000 fans are here, waiting to see Rachel Reid and Jacob Tierney in conversation for the first time.
But while this may be the first public conversation between the Heated Rivalry author and show creator on a grand stage, it’s clear that these two have been in perfect sync since their first Zoom call. Moderated by former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Versha Sharma, Reid and Tierney took to the stage at BookCon for a session called “Game Changing TV: Heated Rivalry.” The conversations spanned across their entire collaboration, from their very first DM to the music that makes the show, to how their lives have changed since the show aired.
Tierney, whose knack for comedy shines through, discussed how the show moved at a lightning pace. The adaptation kicked off in August 2023, with the first episode airing on November 28, 2025. Heated Rivalry’s inception and creation happened at lightning pace for television. Tierney, who was the co-creator and director of Letterkenny, said that, rather than the show being slowed down by roadblocks, at every turn it appeared to accelerate instead. The show was sold to HBO before it was even finished, with episode six only finishing four days before it aired.
Reid, who has penned six novels in the Game Changers series, has been involved in the journey since the beginning, first meeting Tierney over Zoom. The author said that throughout the process, she felt respected and involved in reading script drafts and audition tapes.
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While the show’s leads, Hudson Williams, who portrays Shane Hollander, and Connor Storie, who portrays Ilya Rozanov, weren’t physically present at the panel, both asked questions on behalf of the pair. Storie’s question was apt, asking the pair what made them such a mutually good fit for this adaptation. The pair said that their visions have felt instinctively aligned, with Reid noting that, as she wrote the infamous kiss between Scott and Kip depicted in episode 5 of Heated Rivalry, she had an image of the cinematic version, which Tierney was able to bring to life.
The show, which has become known for its intimate and plentiful sex scenes, is not there just for the sake of it. Tierney said he wanted to make a show with queer joy and a horny show at that, but more so, sex is a vehicle for the show’s characters to be honest and vulnerable with each other.
Music also came up, with the show’s needle drops, including Tatu’s “All The Things She Said” and Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe in Anything,” having a renaissance two decades after their release. There’s no formal equation to the music; instead, they let the songs be like casting the right actor, with Tierney noting that songs should serve a “specific task.”
Tierney is in the midst of writing season two of Heated Rivalry, which takes on Reid’s sequel, Long Game. The writer and director called Long Game “an emotionally sophisticated book” and said that parts of Reid’s Role Model will find their way into season two. For Reid, a new book in the Game Changer series, Unrivaled, is due for a 2027 release. The author is still in the writing stage, mentioning that while she felt pressure writing Long Game, the previous book in the series, Unrivaled presents a whole new challenge because of the show’s massive popularity.
Fans in the room seemed alight, hearing first-hand from the author and creator of Heated Rivalry, basking in an hour dedicated to a show that set the internet and book world ablaze. Moderator Versha Sharma ended on the sentiment that the whole room could agree on: “Rachel Reid’s universe is the world as it should be.”
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