Entertainment
Violent, R-Rated Action Thriller On Netflix Is A Neon-Drenched Bloodbath
By Robert Scucci
| Published
2021’s Gunpowder Milkshake gets off on its name alone, but that’s only a hint at what this action thriller is capable of. Playing out like a girl-power version of John Wick, the film follows a secret society of assassins who quickly realize just how in over their heads they are when they mess with the wrong woman. When a job goes sideways, we learn how deep this organization runs and how far they’re willing to go to maintain control. Unfortunately for them, they’ve picked the wrong target this time around.
Gunpowder Milkshake, while a little heavy handed in its messaging, remains a rock solid action thriller with next-level stunt choreography. It’s so much fun that any sense of preachiness quickly takes a back seat to the onslaught of expertly staged carnage delivered by its protagonist and anyone unlucky enough to stand in her way.
It Must Run In The Family
We’re first introduced to a 12-year-old Sam (Freya Allan) in Gunpowder Milkshake when she meets her mother, Scarlet (Lena Headey), at a diner. What Sam doesn’t yet understand is that her mother belongs to a sisterhood of assassins and works for a shadowy organization known as The Firm. Scarlet abruptly leaves Sam behind, prompting The Firm’s HR representative, Nathan (Paul Giamatti), to assume responsibility for her well being.
Fifteen years later, a grown-up Sam (Karen Gillan) is now following in her mother’s footsteps, working as an assassin for The Firm and carrying out hits with ruthless efficiency. She’s clearly good at her job, but cracks begin to form in this working relationship when she’s assigned a mission involving a kidnapped girl named Emily (Chloe Coleman).
Sam is initially tasked with tracking down Emily’s father, who stole a large sum of money from The Firm. What she soon discovers is that the theft was an act of desperation, as he was trying to ransom the money to get his daughter back. Unable to complete the job in good conscience, Sam makes a decision that immediately puts her in direct conflict with The Firm, and one of their most powerful clients.
The organization’s high council meets with Nathan and resolves to eliminate Sam, who not only botched the job intentionally but also destroyed the stolen money before fleeing with Emily. On the run and out of options, Sam turns to Madeleine (Carla Gugino), Florence (Michelle Yeoh), and Anna May (Angela Bassett), members of the sisterhood of assassins who operate out of an armory disguised as a library.
From here, Gunpowder Milkshake becomes a neon-drenched fight to the death between The Firm and the sisterhood. The film makes it clear very quickly that only one side is walking away from this alive.
We Get It, The Firm Is The Patriarchy
Since I’m not a huge fan of heavy-handed messaging, I wasn’t particularly sold on the whole “patriarchy bad” angle the film leans into. The Firm is portrayed as an entrenched power structure that’s controlled things for a very long time and now feels threatened by the sisterhood of assassins. The issue with this framing is that both groups kill an absurd number of people, so claiming moral superiority over an organization that does the exact same thing you do feels a bit disingenuous.
That minor nitpick aside, Gunpowder Milkshake earns serious points for its relentless pacing and inventive fight sequences. I tried counting the body count in real time, but I ran out of fingers and toes fairly quickly and abandoned the idea altogether.
Karen Gillan is an absolute beast once Sam is compromised, and her willingness to fully commit to the physicality of the role deserves praise. Even after being injected with a serum that paralyzes her arms, she tapes guns and knives to her hands and relies on momentum and brute force to take down her targets. Paul Giamatti is reliably excellent as the spineless HR rep who wants to do right by Sam but lacks the courage to stand up to The Firm, adding a welcome layer of dark comedy to the chaos.
All in all, Gunpowder Milkshake is basically a chick John Wick, and I’m completely on board with that. It’s violent, stylish, and knowingly campy at just the right moments, making for a wildly entertaining watch from start to finish. If you’re ready to see what kind of girl power Sam and the rest of her sisterhood are willing to unleash, Gunpowder Milkshake is streaming on Netflix as of this writing.
Entertainment
Meta AI can now animate your Facebook profile picture
Facebook is rolling out a new, Meta AI-powered feature that will allow users to animate their profile pictures.
Was the online public necessarily clamoring for Facebook profile pictures that waved via AI? Well…not really. But it’s here nonetheless.
Users will have access to preset animations that will turn a photo into an AI-powered, GIF-like moving profile picture. Wrote Facebook in a press release:
Mashable Trend Report
“You can now animate your profile picture, turning a still photo into a playful animation in seconds. Choose from preset animations — like natural, party hat, confetti, wave, and heart — to bring your profile picture to life depending on how you’re feeling. We’ll add more animation options throughout the year so you can celebrate and express yourself during seasonal moments and special events.
For the best results, we recommend using a photo that features a single person facing the camera with their face clearly visible, and not holding other objects. You can select photos to animate directly from your camera roll or choose photos you’ve already uploaded to Facebook. Once a photo is animated, you can share it to your Feed and view it on your profile.”
How the animation process looks.
Credit: Meta
Is it the coolest thing to animate your profile picture to make it look like you’re making a heart with your hands? Not really. But honestly, I can imagine a kooky aunt or uncle loving it. And kooky aunts and uncles love Facebook as much as they love AI photos and images.
Facebook also announced it had added a “restyle” feature that uses AI to touch-up or change photos in Stories. So, a normal photo with a friend, for instance, could be reimagined to look like an illustration. The restyle feature has preset options and can also reimagine a photo based on a text prompt.
Entertainment
Bumble quietly removes option for men to message first in Mexico and Australia
The dating app Bumble has been known for “women making the first move” (messaging first) in straight matches since its 2014 launch. Now the company is reversing a more recent change to let men message first — but only in a couple of areas.
Last week, Bumble announced that it’s removing the Opening Moves feature in Mexico and Australia. The feature has been removed automatically for those users.
Opening Moves was introduced in 2024 as a way for men to send the first message to women and was advertised as a way to lessen exhaustion with dating apps. The company’s former CEO Lidiane Jones led the charge after taking over from founder and first CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, who shortly thereafter returned to the CEO role after Jones held the position for only a year.
Mashable Trend Report
While the reputation of dating apps overall has been slipping in recent years due to burnout and bad actors, Bumble has been especially hit financially. The company laid off 30 percent of its workforce last year, and its stock price has fallen 95 percent from its IPO as of this writing.
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Bumble seems to be returning to its original ethos even amid legal challenges. The Observer reported Bumble introduced Opening Moves following lawsuits and legal threats in California, claiming that the app discriminated against men, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Observer states that the company is starting to remove Opening Moves in Australia and Mexico due to lower legal risks in those markets.
“At Bumble, we regularly test and innovate our features to foster healthy, respectful connections while staying true to our women-first mission and prioritizing member safety,” a Bumble spokesperson told Mashable. “Supporting our community as they go from match to message is a key part of that work. As with all testing, we evaluate our learnings before considering a wider rollout, ensuring any changes continue to meet our community’s needs and deliver a positive experience for our members.”
Entertainment
Erupcja trailer: Charli XCX stars in explosive sapphic romance
Charli XCX is going from pop star to movie star with a string of films, including the queer fantasy 100 Nights of Hero, the mockumentary The Moment, and the sapphic romantic drama Erupcja.
Charli XCX co-wrote the script for Erupcja with director Pete Ohs and co-star Lena Góra. Set in Warsaw, the film focuses on two women, a local florist named Nel (Góra) and a tourist named Bethany (XCX), who has repeatedly crashed her love life. But this time, Bethany’s brought her current boyfriend Rob (Will Madden), who is looking for the perfect moment to propose.
In my review out of the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is quoted in the above trailer, I cheered: “Shot with the kinetic yet poised cool of the French New Wave, this Polish production feels timeless. Its scenes play out with enough specificity for audiences to hook in, but enough ambiguity that they can feel like a dream. There’s a touch of fairy tale to that. Ohs keeps his characters curious and fluid, refusing to shove them into easy-to-define roles of hero and villain. Instead, Erupcja embraces the feral nature of love, messy and wondrous…. Erupcja is a thundering rumble of drama and romance, leaving its audience excited and rattled.”
Erupcja opens in theaters April 17.
Meta AI can now animate your Facebook profile picture
Bumble quietly removes option for men to message first in Mexico and Australia
