Entertainment
The Raunchy, R-Rated 2000s Comedy That Won Acclaim By Being Over The Top
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Every now and then, there are movies that bomb at the box office but are still considered absolute masterpieces. One such film is Almost Famous (2000), which impressed every major critic (including Roger Ebert, the original film GOAT) and earned two Golden Globe awards and four Academy Award nominations. The success of the film is as ironic as it is startling: after all, it’s not every day that movies about sex, drugs, and rock and roll bring home the gold.
The secret to this film’s unexpected success is Cameron Crowe, the ambitious director who created what might be the most personal film ever made. The director channeled his own experiences as a Rolling Stone journalist into this movie, including some unforgettable tours with bands like the Allman Brothers. The result is a movie whose nostalgia for a bygone day is impossibly infectious. To see what the hype is about, you don’t need a VIP ticket or backstage pass. All you have to do is stream Almost Famous for free on Tubi!
On The Road Again
The premise of Almost Famous is that a brilliant 15-year-old boy falls in love with rock music, and he ends up interviewing Black Sabbath for Rolling Stone. Impressed by his work, his editor hires him to write a review of Stillwater, the band that was opening for Sabbath. This means hitting the road with the band, where the young writer learns more about these louder-than-life musicians and Penny Lane, the captivating leader of their groupies (though she prefers the term “band-aides”). Along the way, he learns that meeting your heroes can be painful, but not nearly as heartwrenching as falling in love.
The cast of Almost Famous is a veritable “who’s who” of Millennials’ favorite actors, including Zooey Deschanel, Jason Lee, Anna Paquin, and even Jimmy Fallon. There are also some real heavy hitters in the leading roles, including Billy Crudup (otherwise best known for Watchmen) as a tempestuous lead guitarist and Kate Hudson (otherwise best known for How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days) as his adoring groupie. But the biggest revelation of the film is Patrick Fugit (otherwise best known for Gone Girl), making his feature film debut as a young man who’s trying to find himself but keeps getting lost in the music.
More Than A Feeling
Sadly, Almost Famous was a box office bomb when it first premiered. Against a budget of $60 million, the movie earned only $47.4 million. However, it was a critical darling (more on this soon), and the movie soon became a cult hit on home video. While Cameron Crowe never released a follow-up film, he did write the stage musical adaptation of Almost Famous, which premiered in 2018 before later moving to Broadway.
Reviewers took one look at Almost Famous and decided this was one rollicking rockstar of a film. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 91 percent, with critics praising the movie for its easygoing story and ensemble performances from actors such as Kate Hudson and young Patrick Fugit. They also commended the film for its warmth. This is director Cameron Crowe’s love letter to a simpler time, and by the end of this film, you’ll agree with the movie’s implicit argument that it was a far better time.
A Celebration Of A Bygone Era
In many ways, the nostalgia factor is the biggest draw of Almost Famous. As a movie made over a quarter of a century ago, it holds special interest to any film buff wanting to step back into the pre-streaming glory days of ambitious blockbuster dramas. At the same time, the movie is a sloppy love letter to the ‘70s and everything that made that decade so groovy. To his credit, Crowe pulls it off, making this era seem like an impossibly vibrant counterpoint to the dreary drudgeries of the modern world.
Personally, I’m an ‘80s kid who never felt any real desire to live in a different time or place. But the sheer passion behind Almost Famous always makes me wish I could have been like the film’s protagonist: a wunderkind music junkie, coming of age as both a writer and a man on the road trip of a lifetime. He is surrounded by both beauty and fame, tempting him to all manner of sins along the way. However, he is both cleansed and tormented by something far more potent than carnal desire: a profound love of music.
Falling For The American Girl
Needless to say, Almost Famous is particularly perfect for anyone who loves music. If you spend all day with your headphones on, it’s because you understand one of this movie’s most elemental lessons: that nothing captures the beauty and the heartbreak of the human condition quite like a great song. In this film, music becomes a kind of divine force: something that can fill men with inspiration or simply drive them crazy. Either way, they sacrifice themselves on the altar of rock and roll so the rest of us heathens have something to believe in.
Above all else, Almost Famous functions as arguably the best coming-of-age story ever filmed. Our young protagonist experiences what most teenage boys can only dream of: the chance to tour the country in the company of rock stars and the women who love them. Along the way, he gets to make a name for himself by writing for one of the biggest publications in the country. But he soon discovers that what he wants and what he needs are two very different animals and that there is no pain quite as keen as growing up too fast.
Like A Rolling Stone
Too young to be a man and too experienced to be a boy, he finds himself adrift before realizing something profound. Namely, that in writing the story of this up-and-coming band, he is writing his own ticket, crafting a future he is passionate about rather than the one his mother has all planned out. He longs to escape suburban doldrums, transforming himself with a love of writing that will sustain him long after the beer-soaked tour has finally ended. It’s a story of romance, rebellion, and revolution. Honestly, does it get more rock and roll than that?
Almost Famous is offering you a chance to tour with the band, but are you going to take the ride? Even if you don’t have cash, grass, or a$$, this is one occasion when you really can ride for free. All you have to do is snag the remote from your favorite groupie and stream Cameron Crowe’s cinematic masterpiece on Tubi, completely for free!
Entertainment
New Star Wars Movie Failed By Solving Marvel’s Biggest Problem
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Right now, it’s fair to say that Disney is a victim of its own success. The House of Mouse decided to get into the streaming game with Disney+, and they made this new platform the home of all things Marvel and Star Wars. They succeeded in containing the world’s two biggest intellectual properties under one roof, but this came at a cost. The MCU began to suffer under its own weight, and fans began to resent many of the new shows on Disney+. The most common complaint is that most of these series felt like annoying “homework” they had to watch just to understand the next big Marvel movie.
Is that criticism fair? That’s debatable. While some Marvel shows on Disney+ stand alone, some are basically required viewing if you want to follow along with the newest films. However, when watching The Mandalorian and Grogu, I couldn’t help but feel like movie writer Dave Filoni was trying to avoid comparisons to Marvel by creating a movie that required no homework whatsoever. He succeeded in making a movie that fans could enjoy even if they’ve ignored Star Wars for the last two decades. This approach backfired, though. While the latest Star Wars is amazingly accessible, it’s so disconnected from the franchise that it feels completely meaningless.
Way Too Much Homework
Complaints about Marvel TV shows feeling like homework are tied to broader debates about what, exactly, a movie should be. Many like the idea of a film as being a self-contained unit of entertainment unto itself. This is one (admittedly, of many) problem that certain Star Wars fans had with the Prequel Trilogy and the Sequel Trilogy: interesting characters like Count Dooku and Snoke are placed onscreen with no real introduction or fanfare. The assumption made by those in charge of Star Wars (George Lucas and, later, Disney) is that fans could simply get these characters’ backstories in various books and comics and didn’t need to see it onscreen.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe took this idea and made it much, much worse. You had to watch entire films (like the solo Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America movies) to really understand big team-ups like The Avengers. Later, Disney+ became home to shows you had to watch ahead of movies. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness makes no sense without watching WandaVision, for example, and The Marvels makes no sense without watching Ms. Marvel. This led to widespread fan complaints that Disney had basically assigned homework and that we’d need to watch eight hours of a TV show just to understand a movie.
No Homework (And No Meaning)
Initially, this wasn’t really a problem with Star Wars because The Rise of Skywalker was so bad that we went seven years before seeing a new film in the franchise. That meant that various Disney+ shows in a galaxy far, far away could mostly stand on their own. But The Mandalorian and Grogu finally brought Star Wars back to theaters, and we’ll be getting more franchise films (like Starfighter) in the coming years. Mandalorian and Grogu writer and new Lucasfilm President Dave Filoni seemingly tried to avoid the homework problem by making a movie that requires almost no prior Star Wars viewing whatsoever, a decision that became something of a double-edged sword.
On one hand, Filoni made The Mandalorian and Grogu the most accessible Star Wars film since A New Hope. If someone only vaguely remembers an episode or two of The Mandalorian Season 1, they can follow along. They know the title characters, and Din Djarin even gets a new version of his old ship back. Even if you’re a Star Wars fan who never watched the show at all, it’s easy to follow along with the plot. The Boba Fett-looking man and his Baby Yoda sidekick are the good guys, the Stormtroopers are the bad guys, and all you have to do is turn your brain off and watch.
Two Hours Of Your Life You’ll Never Get Back
On the other hand, Filoni’s ultra-accessible writing is a big part of why The Mandalorian and Grogu failed. The movie doesn’t touch on or resolve any of the major plot points from The Mandalorian or advance Din Djarin or Grogu’s characters in any meaningful way. It’s such a disposable plot that if The Mandalorian ever gets a Season 4, you could skip the film entirely before watching the new season. If the show doesn’t get another season, though, this movie is the worst kind of finale for these characters because there are no significant payoffs to ongoing mysteries like Grogu’s past or Din Djarin’s future with the Mandalorians and the New Republic.
All of this underscores how cynical The Mandalorian and Grogu really is. Disney didn’t create this movie to provide an emotionally rewarding sendoff, and they obviously didn’t make it because the writers had a great story to tell. No, the House of Mouse just wanted to put Star Wars back in theaters with a film that would wash The Rise of Skywalker out of our mouths. The idea is to prime audiences for more Star Wars films in the coming years, but the effort backfired. If this is the best thing you can put onscreen today, why would anyone spend good money to see the crap you put onscreen tomorrow?
So, congrats, Dave Filoni (and cowriters Jon Favreau and Noah Kloor): you played yourself. You solved the homework problem that has plagued Marvel by creating the most accessible Star Wars film in half a century. But the result is a disconnected mess, one that pisses off fans of The Mandalorian while making everyone else wonder why this film was even made. At least failures like the prequels and the sequels were trying to tell a meaningful and impactful story. All that The Mandalorian and Grogu is telling us is that Yoda’s admonition of Count Dooku applies very much to Clone Wars showrunner Filoni: “much to learn, you still have.”
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for May 30, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’re dependable.
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: We’ll be there
The words are related to traits.
Mashable Top Stories
Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe positive characteristics.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is Good Friends.
NYT Strands word list for May 30
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Reliable
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Loyal
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Good Friends
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Helpful
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Caring
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Trustworthy
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.
Entertainment
Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 30, 2026
Today’s Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you’re always in a good mood.
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.
Here’s a subtle hint for today’s Wordle answer:
To grin.
Mashable Top Stories
Does today’s Wordle answer have a double letter?
There are no recurring letters.
Today’s Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with…
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter S.
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…
SMILE
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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