Entertainment
The Extremely Graphic, R-Rated Sci-Fi That The 1990s Forgot
By Robert Scucci
| Updated
If you have memories of watching 1992’s Fortress, can’t remember the name, and try describing it to your friends, they’ll probably assume you imagined the whole thing during a fever dream while home sick from school on a random Tuesday. Fortunately, you’re not insane, and what you’re remembering is a real B-movie blockbuster starring Christopher Lambert, Loryn Locklin, Kurtwood Smith, and a whole slew of colorful inmates that look and act the part. It’s a gritty cyberpunk prison break, chock-full of explosions, government surveillance drones, intense staredowns, and intestinators. More on those later.
Fortress was a financial success, earning $65 million against its reported $15 million production budget. It was enough to spawn an equally ill-fated sequel in 2000, but that’s chump change compared to The Fugitive, which pulled in nearly six times the box office during the same month. Financials aside, Fortress wasn’t exactly a critical darling upon release, and still sits in the trenches with a punishing 38 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
While Fortress is very much a real movie that exists and is readily available for streaming, its reputation may deter you from hitting play, which is a shame. It’s one of the strangest movies of the 90s to try and capture a mainstream audience, and for that reason alone makes it worth your time.
A Retro-Futuristic Jailbreak Plot
Set in the year 2017, Fortress introduces us to our hero, John Henry Brennick (Christopher Lambert), and his wife, Karen (Loryn Locklin). While attempting to cross the US border into Canada, the couple is apprehended when it’s revealed that Karen is pregnant, something that’s strictly forbidden in this dystopian hellscape. Under no circumstances is a couple allowed to have a second baby, even if their first one dies, which is exactly the situation John and Karen find themselves in. They’re not technically contributing to the overpopulation problem when you look at the numbers, but the law is the law, and they’re living in a tyrannical police state that doesn’t mess around.
In the future, according to 1992 logic, prisons are run by the Men-Tel corporation, and inmates are subjected to slave labor to keep the prison-industrial complex alive and well. John is thrown into one such facility, known as the Fortress, where he’s introduced to a ragtag group of inmates, including by-the-books longtimer Abraham (Lincoln Kilpatrick), disgraced technical wizard D-Day, young cutup Nino Gomez (Clifton Collins Jr.), resident bully Maddox (Vernon Wells), and his mean-mugging right-hand man Stiggs (Tom Towles).
Each inmate in the Fortress is fitted with a stomach-annihilating implant known as an intestinator, which will blow out their insides if they step out of line. Literally. Controlling the entire operation behind closed doors is Poe, the forever scowling and morally bankrupt prison director portrayed by Kurtwood Smith.
Unbeknownst to John, though he won’t stay in the dark for long, Poe also has Karen in custody in another section of the prison, with plans to incinerate her unborn child once it’s brought to term. He’d terminate the pregnancy sooner, but in this future abortion is illegal, and child murder is the workaround. Determined to reunite with his wife and become a father again, John Henry Brennick rounds up the troops and starts plotting his escape, despite pushback from Abraham, who is a little close to parole for comfort.
There are brawls, mind-wiping gyrospheres, laser cages, and moving platforms in the Fortress, all monitored and controlled through the Zed-10 computer system. Poe, who has disturbing intentions toward Karen, stands as the immovable link between salvation and certain death, and John Henry Brennick is up for the challenge, consequences be damned.
Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die
Fortress always felt destined to be a forgotten relic, but it might have had a different fate with more star power attached. The script was reportedly written with a more traditionally jacked action star in mind, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, but director Stuart Gordon wanted an everyman, which brought Christopher Lambert into the equation. And when it comes to a singular lead role, there can be only one!
While a megastar like Schwarzenegger might have put more asses in seats, it’s hard to imagine Fortress with anyone else leading the charge. Lambert’s intense gaze doesn’t just look into your soul, it looks through it. For what is essentially a B-movie with a disproportionately large budget, it feels right just the way it is.
Fortress is dystopian, campy, and incredibly violent, striking a strange balance between too weird for mainstream audiences and not weird enough to fully cement itself as a cult classic. It also embodies all of the tried-and-true action tropes that critics had by 1992 grown tired of, becoming just one of hundreds of action thrillers making their rounds, all trying to do the same thing.
Still, it deserves a second look because its ambition outweighs its reputation, and it’s a solid popcorn flick whether you remember it or not. As of this writing, Fortress is streaming for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for April 5, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you love old-school detectives.
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:
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Yellow: Atomic structure terms
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Green: Parts of a Sherlock Holmes costume
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Blue: Things to flip
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Purple: Starting with synonyms for “Slush”
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 #1029 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Atomic structure terms: ELECTRON, NUCLEUS, ORBIT, SHELL
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Parts of a Sherlock Holmes costume: DEERSTALKER, MAGNIFYING GLASS, PIPE, VIOLIN
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Things to flip: COIN, LIGHT SWITCH, PANCAKE, THE BIRD
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Starting with synonyms for “Slush”: GOOGOL, MUSHROOM, PASTEURIZE, PULPIT
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
Musical Baseball Feud Started Between Teams On Opening Day
By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
Baseball’s opening weekend started on March 25, 2026, with teams all over the country showing off their newest players alongside longtime fan favorites. One player, Edwin Diaz, switched teams over the winter during the offseason, transferring from the New York Mets to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Dodgers’ production staff wasn’t going to let the Mets forget it.
Diaz is a closing relief pitcher, meaning he would get called in toward the end of the game. Since relief pitchers come from the bullpen, which is often in the outfield, it takes a minute or two to make the hike across the field to the pitcher’s mound. Almost every player has some clip of music the stadium plays when they come out to the field or up to bat, but relief pitchers have a unique opportunity to really draw the moment out since they can play a couple of minutes of a walk-on song.
Since his time on the Seattle Mariners in 2018, Diaz’s walk-on music has been the song “Narco,” by Timmy Trumpet. Its distinctive opening bars are used by other players around the league as they come to bat, but the song’s piercing trumpet melody was highlighted by Diaz’s long walk across the field. When Diaz joined the Mets in 2019, he switched to another song, but it didn’t vibe for him, and he had a bad season.
In 2020 he switched back to “Narco,” and it became his trademark as he rose to prominence as one of the sport’s most distinguished and feared relief pitchers. SNY director John DeMarsico, in charge of the Mets broadcasts at that time, filmed numerous takes on his entrance to the field, one notable one inspired by the movie Raging Bull. Unannounced, the broadcast failed to switch to commercial when they were supposed to so they could highlight Diaz’s majestic trot onto the field.
It became such a phenomenon that in 2022, Timmy Trumpet himself offered to come play “Narco” live during Diaz’s entrance.
This spectacle was a big hit with Mets fans, but was widely ridiculed by fans of other teams, notably rivals such as the Yankees, Braves, Phillies, and Dodgers. The Mets were criticized for making a big deal out of the song, as well as pouring so much attention and cinematic artistry into the show.
After missing the 2023 season, Diaz returned to the Mets to pitch for 2024 and 2025, both seasons resulting in heartbreak with a near-miss to the World Series followed by a terrible season in which the team dropped in a freefall from first to last. Many players whose contracts were under free agency jumped ship; Diaz ran to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He made his debut on March 28, 2026, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and sure enough, “Narco” was his walk-on music. This is hardly remarkable in itself; players usually take their walk-on songs with them from team to team. What was remarkable was the Dodgers’ presentation.
The team made no attempt to hide their show being a pale imitation of the Mets’ show, complete with a live but inferior trumpeter. As much ridicule as the Mets faced for the spectacle they made of Diaz and his entrance music, the Dodgers used the song, and the opportunity, to rub his loss in their faces. Diaz would go on to close the game for the Dodgers, striking out two during the eighth inning; the Dodgers did not need to play the bottom of the ninth.
By mimicking DeMarsico, who was released from SNY for “creative differences,” the Dodgers did manage to show that the director’s impact is still felt on a sport whose administrators want homogeneity. Rob Manfred, the Commissioner of Baseball, stated last season that he expects to have all regional baseball broadcasts under one banner by 2028. SNY was the most obviously distinct broadcast due to DeMarsico’s creativity, but other holdouts include the Dodger, Yankee, and San Francisco Giant broadcasts, each of which are directly owned by team interests.
It also put a spotlight on DeMarsico’s absence from the Mets. The SNY broadcast is noticeably absent the tricks and techniques the former director used to enhance the game, such as the “PitchCom Robot” and split-screen shots of the pitcher and batter as they face off.
The Dodgers, unlike the Mets, have been highly praised for the show and its inclusion of a live trumpeter, seeming to forget that the man who wrote the song already performed it for Diaz when he was a Met. This is pretty typical, though. The Mets don’t usually receive favorable commentary from MLB, while the Dodgers are one of its flagship teams.
So, the season started with a mic-drop from the Dodgers that was definitely meant for Mets fans. Team rivalries are one thing, but should be settled on the field, not with the baseball equivalent of an epic rap battle. Though it would be poetic justice if the Mets responded by knocking the Dodgers and Diaz out of the postseason and finally winning a World Series while blaring “Narco” all over the stadium.
Entertainment
Wordle today: Answer, hints for April 5, 2026
Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you’re diplomatic.
If you just want to be told today’s word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today’s Wordle solution revealed. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
Where did Wordle come from?
Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once.
Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.
What’s the best Wordle starting word?
The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.
What happened to the Wordle archive?
The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website’s creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.
Is Wordle getting harder?
It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn’t any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle‘s Hard Mode if you’re after more of a challenge, though.
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Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
A messenger.
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Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
There are no recurring letters.
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Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter E.
The Wordle answer today is…
Get your last guesses in now, because it’s your final chance to solve today’s Wordle before we reveal the solution.
Drumroll please!
The solution to today’s Wordle is…
ENVOY
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle 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? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.
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 Wordle.
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