Entertainment
The Best Disaster Movie In Years Is Dominating On Streaming
By Brent McKnight
| Published
In 2020, normally reliable box office draw Gerard Butler released a flop. Unfortunately, his disaster movie Greenland hit theaters while the real world was already living through a global catastrophe. Audiences stuck at home during COVID weren’t especially interested in watching another story about society collapsing, panic in the streets, and governments struggling to contain mass death. The timing crushed its theatrical potential.
But it found life over time by streaming on HBO, and word of mouth grew to the point that, against all odds, Greenland got a sequel in January of this year. Now both the sequel and the original are topping the streaming charts. Greenland 2: Migration is the most-watched movie on HBO Max this week, and the original Greenland is right behind it at number two.
Before You Watch The Sequel, Watch Greenland
If you go into Greenland, the latest world-threatening disaster opus fronted by Gerard Butler, expecting the over-the-top scene-chomping chaos in the vein of Geostorm, you’ll find something quite different. Sure, the fate of the world is on the line, but the Scottish tough guy isn’t the one responsible for saving the day, and this is much more grounded and straightforward.
Though we’re talking destruction on a potentially global scale, the story is much smaller and personal. Instead of trying to save the world, he’s just trying to save his family. The result is the best disaster movie since the 2015 Danish import The Wave set the high-water mark in that regard, pun very much intended.
Gerard Butler plays John Garrity, an everyman trying to mend fences with his estranged wife, Allison (Morena Baccarin), because every hero in every disaster movie always has an estranged wife, and his moppet of a son, Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd). When a comet with the decidedly ho-hum name of Clarke makes a beeline for Earth in what would be an extinction-level event, he has to find a way to get them to safety.
That’s it. At a basic level, that’s the story. It is, of course, much more difficult than that, and Gerard Butler’s John is thwarted at every turn. In reality, it’s all pretty typical stuff, standard disaster movie fare. Their escape is fraught with obstacles: there’s a lottery to decide who the government saves, the diabetic son loses his insulin, there are problems with the evacuation point, the family gets separated, and so on. There’s nothing particularly inventive, surprising, or even original going on, but while Greenland hits familiar beats, it does most of them really well.
A Series Of Escalating Problems
Chris Sparling’s Greenland script is essentially an escalating series of problems, one piled upon the next. Simple, but effective. And stuntman-turned-director Ric Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen) takes every opportunity to ratchet up the pressure. Again, there’s nothing mind-blowing or innovative, but it’s efficient and generally successful in its efforts to crank up the tension.
Eventually, fire rains from the sky, and exploding planes are everywhere while Gerard Butler hammer-fights in the back of a pickup on the freeway. Scenes like that pepper the movie, highlighting Waugh’s action background.
But for most of Greenland, probably the first two-thirds, the threat of annihilation from above is just that, a threat, looming out there. We get moments and glimpses, often shown via news footage or social media posts, which keep the larger threat a presence while the characters deal with the more in-your-face concerns of the moment. It’s also a handy strategy with the film’s relatively modest $35 million budget.
Gerard Butler’s John and Morena Baccarin’s Allison navigating the human element is where the film is most harrowing during this stage. Waugh and Sparling do a good job of showing the various reactions to the strain of impending doom. Some people pray, some party, some essentially kick off the Purge; there’s both cruelty and kindness as individuals go out of their way to help, while others only look out for number one. If a car pulls over, are their intentions altruistic, or do they have robbery on their mind? Questions like this center and ground the main action, giving every choice and move an urgency.
For the most part, Greenland clips along at a brisk pace, propelled by the moment-to-moment hurdles, it’s one barrier after another. The filmmakers don’t waste a lot of time with the setup; there’s tension in the marriage, the kid has an illness to contend with, there’s a comet, go. Gerard Butler plays a solid, concerned father and husband, Morena Baccarin delivers an equally sturdy, worried wife and mother, and the kid is there, too. The script doesn’t ask much of the actors or require them to stretch in any way, but they do what they need to do and accomplish what they set out to accomplish.
One Disaster After Another
This one-disaster-to-the-next approach to story structure provides enough energy to push Greenland forward. Until it doesn’t. With around 40 minutes left, things hit a deep lull, and the momentum peters out. The story bogs down in the minutiae of the Garrity family drama, which does the film no favors. It’s tedious and bland, not to mention ill-timed in the grand narrative scheme.
When we stop, we realize how flimsy the characters are. It’s forgivable when they rush through one hazard after another, reacting and making split-second choices, but when there’s time to truly look at them, their thinness shows. No one cares why Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin’s characters broke up.
Greenland attempts to work its way out of this pause by ramping up the disaster quotient. This is where we get flaming space debris bombarding our heroes, apocalyptic chaos, and what amounts to a car chase with comet chunks. But even though they up the ante in this regard, the plot rehashes what came before; the characters do things they’ve already done, and this repetition feels stale. Even with cataclysmic explosions, fireballs from the heavens, and all manner of end-of-the-world pandemonium, the film kind of limps to the finish line.
With Greenland, Ric Roman Waugh, Gerard Butler, and company deliver precisely the movie they promise. Big and booming, there’s plenty of bombastic thrills and brink-of-annihilation action, with just enough human connection to keep viewers engaged. It never veers from the disaster movie template, but everything it does, it does well, and should more than sate those looking to watch the world crumble on screen.
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for May 17, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:
-
Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
-
Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
-
Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
-
Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
-
Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 17 Pips
Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5. 6-4, placed vertically.
Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally; 4-2, placed vertically.
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. 4-3, placed horizontally.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-5, placed horizontally; 6-4, placed vertically; 4-3, placed horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 17 Pips
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 5-1, placed vertically.
Mashable Top Stories
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed horizontally; 2-4, placed vertically.
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 5-1, placed vertically.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-1, placed vertically; 2-4, placed vertically.
Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. 2-6, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (5): Everything in this space must be greater than 5. 6-0, placed horizontally.
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 6-0, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 6-1, placed vertically; 3-1, placed vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 17 Pips
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-2, placed vertically.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 2-4, placed vertically.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-4, placed vertically; 6-2, placed vertically; 2-5, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically; 6-5, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 4-1, placed vertically.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 2-5, placed vertically.
Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 6-5, placed vertically.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-4, placed vertically.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-5, placed vertically.
Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically; 1-6, placed vertically; 0-6, placed vertically.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
Will Ferrell confronts his look-alike during his SNL monologue
Saturday Night Live had its Season 51 finale over the weekend as former cast member Will Ferrell hosted the show for his sixth time.
However, before Ferrell could come out and perform his hosting duties, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers attempted a coup. Smith came out first to open the show, hitting the stage and acting as if he were Ferrell. There’s been a long-running joke that Ferrell and Smith, the drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, bear a striking resemblance to each other, and SNL continued the gag on its final show of the season.
Shortly after Smith thanked the audience, Ferrell came out dressed exactly like Smith, claiming the drummer had attacked him backstage as part of his takeover attempt.
Ferrell convinces Smith to get off the stage but the former SNL cast member acts as if the whole ordeal has thrown for a loop and has trouble getting back to his duties as host. Ferrell decides to take questions from the audience, and the first question is from a very casual audience member – Sir Paul McCartney.
The legendary musician believes that Ferrell is actually the imposter Smith and demands Ferrell leave the stage and get back to his drum set, where he belongs.
Entertainment
Ghost of Jeffrey Epstein visits Trump in the SNL season finale cold open
Just because it’s the middle of Spring doesn’t mean we can’t get a little parody of “A Christmas Carol” on Saturday Night Live in May.
In the season 51 finale of SNL on Saturday, President Donald Trump, played by cast member James Austin Johnson, falls asleep in the Oval Office. However, Trump is soon visited by the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein, played by host Will Ferrell.
Ferrell’s Epstein gives Trump a look into the future, offering the president a peek at what his cabinet members, past and present, will be up to, ostensibly, after they leave their positions. The cold open also features Ashley Padilla as former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Colin Jost as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Aziz Ansari as FBI Director Kash Patel.
Pitt adds Bryant transfer G Timofei Rudovskii
Japan leaves injured Kaoru Mitoma off World Cup roster
