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TL;DR: For a limited time, get the Portable Handheld Pocket 4-inch Screen LCD Microscope for only $82 — that's an 18% discount.

This isn't the average microscope you used in science class. The Portable Handheld Pocket LCD Microscope with a 4-inch Screen is designed to provide a clear display of the micro-world so you can easily view your subject.

At the heart of this microscope, its impressive 4-inch LCD screen provides a clear display of the micro-world directly at your fingertips. Say goodbye to squinting through traditional eyepieces — this microscope offers a viewing experience that is both comfortable and immersive.

Equipped with a powerful 2,000mAh rechargeable battery, this handheld microscope allows you to take your exploration on the go. Another great feature is its jaw-dropping detail, thanks to its high resolution and magnification capabilities. Featuring a 2MP camera and 1080FHD picture quality, this microscope brings the smallest specimens to life with impressive clarity. Plus, with 80x more magnification and built-in 8 adjustable LED lights, you can delve deeper into the micro-world than ever before.

Designed for ultimate portability, this 7-inch x 5-inch microscope weighs less than half a pound and comes with a convenient wrist strap and carrying bag. Whether you're hiking through nature or conducting experiments in the lab, this microscope is always ready to take with you on your adventures or assignments.

With the included microSD card, you can take snapshots or record videos of whatever you observe, and easily transfer them to your computer for further analysis as it's compatible with both PC and Mac. Simply connect it to your computer via USB and download the necessary software. 

The great aspect about this microscope is, it’s ideal for both children and adults. Children can go on exciting adventures in nature, and adults can use it for certain tasks such as coin inspection or soldering.

Get the Portable Handheld Pocket LCD Microscope with 4-inch Screen at its discounted price of $81.99 (reg. $100) for a limited time.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Mesay Portable Handheld Pocket LCD Microscope with 4-inch Screen $81.99 at The Mashable Shop
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TL;DR: This lifetime cloud storage plan is only $139.97 with coupon KOOFR until March 3.

Keeping all your files in order is practically a job of its own, whether you're actually at work or just keeping up your files from school or managing your house. Important text documents, pictures, and videos all have to go somewhere, and if you don't have a large enough central file storage, that means spreading them out and potentially losing some of them. 

If you want to keep all your important files in one place, get some cloud storage that actually has room for all of them and doesn't depend on another monthly bill. Koofr has a 1TB lifetime cloud storage plan that you can use to keep all your important files together in one secure location, and you can get it for only $139.97 for just a little while longer. 

1TB cloud storage for life

This cloud storage gives you 1TB to use as you please. Access it across devices, including your mobile, PC, or even WebDav platform. Koofr doesn't just give you tools to store all your files. When you have that much storage space, managing your files is important too. That's why Koofr comes with tools like the Duplicate Finder and a customizable link appearance to keep your files easy to navigate and always accessible. You can even set up encrypted file transfers and storage for that extra layer of protection.

Some cloud storage services cost every month. With Koofr, you pay for it once and it's yours. There aren't any hidden fees or recurring costs. You can even share access to files with others who don't have a Koofr account. 

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Grab a Koofr Cloiud Storage 1TB lifetime plan for $139.97 with coupon code KOOFR until March 3 at 11:59 p.m. PT. 

StackSocial prices subject to change. 

Opens in a new window Credit: Koofr Koofr Cloud Storage: Lifetime Subscription (1TB) $127.99 at The Mashable Shop
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A film that's as much about its own gimmick as what that gimmick represents, Aaron Schimberg's A Different Man casts Sebastian Stan as Edward, a man with pronounced facial differences that he eventually sheds through a miracle cure. However, when a now traditionally handsome Edward is cast in a play about his own life, the thorny question of artistic representation is broached in discomforting and hilarious ways.

However, the film doesn't just draw attention to its decision to cast a pretty Hollywood face as a man with neurofibromatosis. That would be too easy an escape hatch, and too superficial a character study. Instead, it further complicates its questions of optics and politics by having a real actor with the same condition as Edward play a significant role in the film: Adam Pearson, who is known for appearing in Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin, after which he became a public advocate against "disfigurement stigma." Pearson also starred in Schimberg's 2018 film Chained For Life.

Pearson’s charismatic arrival, as a man who threatens to usurp the role of Edward from himself, sends Edward down a surreal emotional spiral. This on-screen clash of fiction and reality not only forces a strange, poignant self-reflection — for Edward, and for the film as a whole — but it also creates an fascinating meta-text that tells its own story about the actors in the film. It's as much a tale of outward appearance as it is inner anxieties, a balance Schimberg strikes in careful ways as he crafts a stunning, distinctly New York comedy-drama about seeing oneself.

What is A Different Man about? Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, and Adam Pearson star in "A Different Man." Credit: Berlinale Film Festival

As Edward mopes around his apartment building, avoiding interactions as best he can, neighbors and various handymen alternatingly stare and offer polite but forced nods, as though it takes them special effort to avoid mentioning his differences. Edward is an actor, and not an altogether terrible one, though his roles are limited — not only by his appearance, but by his utter lack of self-confidence. Edward is halfway between invisible and hyper-visible; some don't see him as fully human or as a viable romantic interest, while others stop and stare. He exists in limbo, trudging along day by day in his cramped, dilapidated New York apartment, which Schimberg and cinematographer Wyatt Garfield capture with a sense of grimy texture.

When Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), an attractive wannabe playwright from Europe, moves in next door, Edward's prospects finally seem to change. After an initial skepticism, she takes a curious interest in him, and even offers to write a play for him to star in. However, his lack of conversational skills can't help but create an awkward dynamic whenever they chat, as though he were some pet project for her to foster. Whatever the reality, Edward's hunched-over body language and mousey demeanor hint at a kind of emotional impenetrability, as though he'll read the worst in any situation because it's the treatment he's come to expect.

However, when a radical medical procedure verging on sci-fi body horror promises him a new life, Edward takes advantage of it in a very literal way, using his new face to start a brand new life and "killing off" the old Edward as though he were a fictional character. Time goes by, and he finds professional success in real estate — a forward-facing career — as a handsome man named Guy. But upon discovering Ingrid has written a play about his life, his curiosity gets the better of him, and he auditions with the help of a flimsy prosthetic mask.

Although Ingrid intends to cast someone with facial differences in the role, which she insists she didn't base on any real person, Guy's performance convinces her that he’s a miraculously a perfect fit, despite the fact that he doesn't have any facial differences. He embodies all of Edward's gestures and his physical and emotional  anguish, even in scenes where Ingrid imagines conversations and inner monologues that don't match what we’ve seen unfold between them in previous scenes, back when Guy was still Edward. The play, it seems, is born from Ingrid’s limited, patronizing perspective on Edward. The more this stage production goes on, the more Edward is forced to reckon with the past, and with realizations the film presents through stark, unsettling zooms into his bewildered expression. Despite having a new face, he may still be the same lonely, miserable person on the inside; perhaps now more than ever, since now he has no one with whom he can share the truth about who he once was.

Sebastian Stan delivers an impeccable performance.

As an actor playing two versions of a character, and subsequently playing a third, fictitious version — one he can't play too well, lest he be found out — Stan is shouldered with a monumentally complex task. The prosthetics used to craft his differences allow him to emote within reason, but posture and movement are the tools through which he constructs Edward. 

Not only does Stan perfect the ticks and eccentricities of a decidedly average actor (i.e. the real Edward pre-procedure), but when he's reborn as Guy and cast as Ingrid's conception of Edward, he crafts a sense of metamorphosis and regression. As the traditionally good-looking Guy playing this Edward, he delves deep into the vulnerable anxieties the character had begun to suppress as part of his new life, if only to try and bring some amount of honesty to a role he believes is dishonest. 

These multi-layered complexities yield fascinating scenes of rehearsal and rewriting, bringing to the fore the film's innate question of whether people far outside Edward's physical and emotional experience are capable of telling his story. Ironically, the side the movie seems to come down on is a hesitant "maybe not," at least as far as Ingrid is concerned. But Schimberg is not Ingrid, and he's under no delusions of passing off Edward as a work of pure imagination.

This is largely because to anyone who's seen Pearson before — whether in a movie, a TEDx Talk, or his numerous wrestling game show appearances — it's clear that Edward, played by Stan, is distinctly modeled off Pearson, and the story practically exists so that he can show up in some capacity. The very knowledge that Pearson is involved with the film, and that Schimberg has worked with him before, colors A Different Man in a new light, and brings a wholly external context to Stan's performance. 

Of course, even without this knowledge, this context remains discomforting. Either way, Stan is playing a man he theoretically shouldn't be, the same way Guy wearing prosthetics to play Edward ought to be seen as ill-advised to those around him (due to the problematic nature of "performing" physical disability and of robbing a disabled actor of a rare opportunity). However, Guy's in-world explanation for Ingrid as to why he's able to so deeply tap into the character of Edward is illuminating too. He concocts a lie about having once been best friends with someone with facial differences, which he claims not only gives him license to tell this story but allows him to tell it intimately and empathetically.

This is likely akin to Schimberg's own reasoning too. Having become friends with Pearson after their collaboration on Chained For Life — a film that embodies similar debates — he has made an entire movie "about" him in numerous ways, treating him as both concept and human being... But who does Pearson play in the movie? Well, that's an entirely different delight.

While watching the film, one might be inclined to believe it features the best work of Stan's career; it even won him Berlin Film Festival's Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance. However, even this praise is designed to be second-guessed at the back of one's mind, since his role is one that projects a life of awkwardness and isolation onto Edward from people outside his experience — another idea the movie self-reflexively lampoons through debates between Guy and Ingrid. And just when it seems like this moral conundrum is one the film might avoid, it crafts an explosive alternative.

All of a sudden, Pearson shows up as an eccentric man named Oswald, an equally curious actor who stumbles upon Ingrid's production. From the moment he appears, he delivers a performance so radical in its conception that he fundamentally changes what A Different Man is even about.

Adam Pearson is the film's not-so-secret weapon.

Between films like The Elephant Man and Schimberg's Chained for Life, facial differences on screen have been tied closely to pity and moroseness, an idea with which A Different Man constantly toys via Edward's story. However, for anyone familiar with the real Pearson — as Schimberg no doubt is — he appears to be fairly upbeat and well-adjusted, despite speaking about the bullying in his past. The film's plot is about a character with the same condition as Pearson, but Edward's reality doesn't seem to match Pearson's in the slightest. So, in order to further highlight this disconnect, Schimberg writes Pearson a role that swings toward a completely different extreme that vastly reimagines the type of roles that ought to be available to actors regardless of differences, facial or otherwise.

The moment Oswald appears, he passive aggressively comments on Ingrid's casting choice with his posh enunciation — Oswald, like Pearson, hails from London— a small detail that yanks the film in an even more head-spinning direction. Oswald is everything Edward wishes he could be: a brash playboy who reads people like a book, wears ostentatious shirts, and worms his way into social and professional circles with ease.

Pearson plays the role with slick, effortless panache. Each moment he's on-screen is incredibly exciting; Oswald swallows every scene whole, practically sapping Edward's energy as he's forced to confront an uncanny reflection of himself who represents truths he might not want to face. Is this who Edward could've been all along? And, more importantly, is the lie he's living worth it?

The more these questions torture Edward, the more surreal A Different Man becomes. Its very premise starts to feel like a fever dream, buoyed by escalating interpersonal tensions as Oswald forces his way into a consulting role on the play. Slowly but surely, he begins imposing his own, supposedly more "authentic" vision of Edward’s life on Edward's own story, until the question of whether or not Oswald should simply replace Guy in the play becomes unavoidable. The concept of authenticity is so stretched and contorted by these developments that it becomes thematic taffy, with no distinct or solid form.

However, as A Different Man piles layer upon layer of confounding complication, it remains emotionally true to itself, which is to say, both to Edward's increasingly paranoid self-reflection, and to Schimberg's scrutiny of his own work (both this film, as well as Chained For Life). The film neither shies away from its innate surrealness, nor hesitates to get its hands dirty when it comes to real and vital conversations on whose stories can and should be told (and more importantly, how), even though it reflects each of its thoughts on the subject through a funhouse mirror.

By grounding its story in a character drama first and foremost, A Different Man anchors its many plot zig-zags, and its anxieties about its own existence, to a tangible emotional reality. Schimberg walks a razor-thin line between sincere self-critique and gaudy exploitation, and in the process, practically erases the boundary between them. The end result reveals uncomfortably funny new modes of on-screen representation, expressed in ways both innovative and exciting. 

A Different Man was reviewed out of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction, and sometimes it's just far more fascinating. If you're in the mood for a documentary that'll get your pulse pumping, your heart aching, or your mind running, you'll want to check out Prime Video.

Now streaming on Prime Video is a wealth of mesmerizing true stories, ranging from personal tales of trials and triumph to harrowing crime investigations to quirky and heart-warming explorations of unique creative vision.

Whether you're in the mood for something educational, emotional, or just downright wild, this list of top-notch documentaries has got you covered.

SEE ALSO: The 25 best documentaries on Disney+ 1. Man on Wire Credit: ©2008 Jean-Louis Blondeau / Polaris Images / Magnolia Pictures

Depicting the high wire artist Philippe Petit's mind-boggling 1974 walk on a wire between the Twin Towers in NYC, this doc from filmmaker James Marsh uses rare video footage of Petit's prep along with recreations of the event and current-day interviews with everyone involved to craft a heart-racing heist film. Winning every award within reach, up to and including the Oscar, the film memorializes not just Petit's stunt but also those buildings, and the legend of their monumental status. — Jason Adams, Contributing Writer

How to watch: Man on Wire is now streaming on Prime Video.

2. Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters

The same man who gave us the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park gave us the holographic chess game in Star Wars, the killer bugs in Starship Troopers, and the terrifying Enforcement Droid in RoboCop. That man's name is Phil Tippett, and those are just four of the special effects wizard's credits that this 2019 documentary on the man features. It's all covered in the run up to the long, long, long-delayed release of his stop-motion surrealist masterpiece Mad God — mostly because Tippett could never bring himself to stop tinkering with it – which also gets a lot of much deserved love here. Anyway, we love it when behind-the-scenes cinematic craftspeople of note get their proper due, and Tippett's one of the most deserving there ever was or will be. A magician. — J.A.

How to watch: Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters is now streaming on Prime Video.

3. Living With Chucky

The Child's Play franchise — meaning the slasher films starring Chucky the murderous doll that began in 1988 right up through the TV series that's currently in its third season — has been in the hands of the same people the entire time, save one spin-off reboot that we will not discuss. Namely, creator Don Mancini and his crew of delightful wackadoos. That's given the franchise not just a thematic throughline that the other '80s slasher franchises have lacked, but an actual personal one, since decades of relationships have bloomed behind the scenes. 

And that's the juice that this 2022 doc thrives on. For example, director Kyra Elise Gardner quite literally grew up with Chucky; her dad Tony has been working on make-up and puppeteering for all things Child's Play for decades. That personal touch gives this doc a sweetness and an intimacy, and maybe those are not the words you'd typically associate with a killer doll, but here we are. — J.A.

How to watch: Living With Chucky is now streaming on Prime Video.

4. Dior and I

While a look behind the scenes at the staging a fashion show can often induce terror, director Frédéric Tcheng's 2014 look at the first haute couture collection of Raf Simons for the legendary house is so awash in beauty that you hardly even notice any of that. Narrated via excerpts of Dior's autobiography, which was unpublished and only discovered at the start of the film's production, Dior and I is as intimate and exquisite as the garments themselves. — J.A.

How to watch: Dior and I is now streaming on Prime Video.

5. Jiro Dreams of Sushi Credit: Magnolia Pictures

David Gelb's 2011 doc trains its eye on sushi chef Jiro Ono, the then-85-year-old owner and sushi master behind Sukiyabashi Jiro. This tiny sushi bar only has ten seats and is based inside a subway station in Tokyo, and yet it's the first sushi restaurant to ever receive three stars from Michelin. (It's since lost its stars due to its reservation policy.) Given the fact that Jiro has been making sushi since he was seven years old, and he opened Sukiyabashi Jiro in 1965, you can assume he knows a thing or two about fish. 

The film also gets to know Jiro's two sons, one of whom started his own sushi restaurant nearby, and the other who still toils under his father, preparing to take over when he passes. This portrait of lifelong obsession manages to capture that ineffable something we all long for — to live the life we were made for, to discover the thing we were destined for, and to find what looks like peace through it every day. — J.A. 

How to watch: Jiro Dreams of Sushi is now streaming on Prime Video.

6. The Queen of Versailles Credit: Photo by Lauren Greenfield / Magnolia Pictures

Movies like Saltburn have proven that the time has definitely arrived for mid-aughts nostalgia. And there might be no better time capsule of that decade than this 2012 doc from Generation Wealth filmmaker Lauren Greenfield. Like one of the decade's celebrity-driven reality series (think The Osbournes or anything involving Paris Hilton) sharpened into a hari-kari sword, The Queen of Versailles wades into the nouveau riche cesspool of Westgate Resorts' owners Jackie and David Siegel's lifestyles of the rich and gaudy. 

Watching them build their obscene Florida mansion in 2008 — which Jackie, with typical understatement, has dubbed "Versailles" — as the economy crashes around them is certainly a metaphor for American excess, as are the piles of feces left behind by their army of toy dogs. A guilty pleasure writ large, magnified by the subjects' total inability to solve their own problems (or keep a pet lizard alive). — J.A.

How to watch: The Queen of Versailles is now streaming on Prime Video.

7. One Child Nation

In China between the years 1979 and 2015, the government had a one-child policy; because of the surging population, families were "encouraged" to only have a single child. In Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang's 2019 documentary, they interviewed both the enforcers of that policy and the enforced-upon, and a picture of genuine horror emerges. 

The propaganda from the era seems downright goofy, but it had a chilling effect. Infanticide and human trafficking ran rampant. But the most moving parts of the doc are the ones seen from the ground level, especially from within Wang's family, where her own mother speaks of the terrible decisions she had to make. — J.A.

How to watch: One Child Nation is now streaming on Prime Video.

8. Nelly and Nadine

Looking for blossoms of hope within tales of the Holocaust can sometimes feel like a fool's errand, but Magnus Gertten's 2022 documentary about a love affair between two women who met in a concentration camp somehow manages that moving feat. Sylvie Bianchi spent most of her life too afraid to look into her grandmother Nelly's letters about her time in the female-only Ravensbrück camp. Once Sylvie does look into Nelly's letters, she discovers a a secret love story between her grandmother and another woman named Nadine. Somehow, these two women managed to find love amid all the horror, and years later they reunited and ran off to Venezuela to be together. It's astonishing stuff, and a reminder of how facing the worst imaginable thing will make the beauty in life shine all the brighter.  — J.A. 

How to watch: Nelly and Nadine is now streaming on Prime Video.

9. Blackfish Credit: Photo by Suzanne Allee / Magnolia Pictures

Blackfish focuses on the awful tale of Tilikum, a male orca whale driven to extremes of aggression by his captivity at SeaWorld. Filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite's incendiary documentary paints a horrifyingly vivid portrait of the reality behind those charming tourist attractions and the cruelty of keeping these intelligent creatures in captivity. Within just three years of the film's release, all such shows were phased out completely, so successful was the film at exposing the truth behind these alluring tourist attractions. — J.A.

How to watch: Blackfish is now streaming on Prime Video.

10. Gimme Danger

Gimme Danger is the definitive document of punk rock's origin point. The Stooges were so far ahead of their time they'd made three records and broken up before anybody could even realize what they'd done. Jim Jarmusch spent about ten years working on the doc, which comes to a head with their 2010 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And everybody still alive to tell the wild tale happily tells their version of it. Of course it's Iggy, who's spent several decades hogging the spotlight, who walks away with the show yet again. — J.A.

How to watch: Gimme Danger is now streaming on Prime Video.

11. Silver Dollar Road

After 2016's I Am Not Your Negro and 2021's Exterminate All the Brutes, it's safe to say that director Raoul Peck is one of the greats working today. 2023's Silver Dollar Road, which is based on the 2019 ProPublica article "Kicked Off The Land" by Lizzie Presser, triple underlines that statement. The film tells the ongoing multi-generational story of the Reels family, whose prime slice of waterfront property in North Carolina became the focus of some greedy real estate developers. In just 100 minutes, it manages to be both a beautiful portrait of a loving family and an infuriating excavation of American institutionalized racism at work. — J.A.

How to watch: Silver Dollar Road is now streaming on Prime Video.

12. Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

Based on the juicy and sordid autobiography of infamous Hollywood hustler Scotty Bowers, this 2017 documentary from director Matt Tyrnauer leaves it up to us the viewers to decide how much of Bowers's fiction is fact and how much is, you know, fiction. However, his gossip is so good that it's a great time either way, whether you truly believe it or not. 

Bowers tells of his post-military sojourn to Los Angeles in the 1940s, where he became a full-service gas station attendant — emphasis on "full service." His story goes that all the guys who worked there were sex workers who fully serviced the rich and famous, both men and women, though it's mostly the former tales he's telling. A lot of Scotty's stories, like all the stuff about super-agent Henry Willson's stable of pretty boy actors like Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, have been confirmed elsewhere, but we'll probably never know how much is the true true. — J.A.

How to watch: Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is now streaming on Prime Video.

13. Val Credit: Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Val Kilmer is one of the greats, without question. He's played Batman and The Doors frontman Jim Morrison. His performance in Tombstone as Doc Holliday is a frequently quoted cult hit that's inspired any number of memes. And he's Hollywood's best Moses to date, with his star turn in The Prince of Egypt, an animated retelling of the Passover story from 1998, far exceeding that of Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments.

In Val, the famed actor who largely fell out of public view in the mid-2010s as he battled throat cancer, bares his whole self. Kilmer himself created many of the home movies and behind-the-scenes clips featured in this Amazon Original documentary, and they're weaved together here to paint a picture of his life and career. Featuring narration from Kilmer's son Jack and words written by the actor himself, Val is about as personal as a biographical documentary can get. — Adam Rosenberg, Video Game Reporter

Where to watch: Val is now streaming on Prime Video.

14. Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown Credit: Simon Pietri / Shutterstock

Released in 2014, the same year the late Chadwick Boseman starred as the Godfather of Soul in the biopic Get On Up, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown plays like a fitting companion piece. But with an accomplished documentarian like Alex Gibney at the helm, Mr. Dynamite more than stands on its own.

Highlighted by a wealth of rare archival materials showing the funk and soul superstar during his early days, the film chronicles Brown's career from his time playing for Black audiences when the American Civil Rights movement was still taking shape, all the way into his mainstreamed blockbuster success. While Mr. Dynamite's largely uncritical look falls short on chronicling Brown's later years, there are more than enough archival materials and fascinating revelations to sustain this two-hour trip through music history. — A.R.

Where to watch: Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown is now streaming on Prime Video.

15. The Imposter

Bart Layton's retelling of the extremely curious 1997 case of the French conman Frédéric Bourdin presents us with one of those true stories that seems too baffling to believe – indeed, when the 2009 horror film Orphan stole this documentary's big revelation, it came to be considered one of the greatest horror movie twists of all time! But the twist is indeed based in truth, as Bourdin was able to impersonate a missing Texan boy and “happily reunite” with the boy’s family, even though he was several years older, had a French accent, and didn’t much look like the boy at all. The power of belief is a powerful force indeed. — J.A.

Where to watch: The Imposter is now streaming on Prime Video.

16. Koyaanisqatsi Credit: Ire Prods / Kobal / Shutterstock

This one is definitely a vibe – Godfrey Reggio's experimental 1983 documentary Koyaanisqatsi (which translates to "life out of balance" in the Hopi language) is 86 minutes of non-narrative, dialogue-free images of the natural world and the technological world interacting, all set to the smooth tunes of Philip Glass. Gorgeous images of the desert meet terrifying footage of atomic bombs detonating. Buildings are collapsed, and crowds of city people pulse in slow motion.

The first and best-known of Reggio's "Qatsi" trilogy of films – followed by Powaqqatsi in 1988 and Naqoyqatsi in 2002 – Koyaanisqatsi was almost impossible to see for a couple of decades, so definitely seize the chance to immerse yourself in this tone poem of cinema distilled to its most basic essence while you've got it. — J.A.

Where to watch: Koyaanisqatsi is now streaming on prime Video.

17. The Howlin' Wolf Story

Chester Burnett, the Howlin' Wolf himself: Hear that voice once, and you'll never forget it. Burnett's raspy, tortured growl is the sound of a freight train moaning at midnight, and it's just one piece of the portrait painted in filmmaker Don McGlynn's The Howlin' Wolf Story.

The legendary Chicago bluesman left an indelible mark on culture and rock music specifically, as the originator of what are now bona fide blues standards, like "Spoonful" and "Smokestack Lightnin'." This documentary recounts Burnett's early days spent learning under Charley Patton, his travels with Robert Johnson, his impact on the Rolling Stones (and music in general), and the larger-than-life energy he brought to every stage he set foot on as the Wolf. — A.R.

Where to watch: The Howlin' Wolf Story is now streaming on Prime Video.

18. No No: A Dockumentary Credit: Ray Stubblebine / AP / Shutterstock

No No: A Dockumentary has one hell of a powerful hook: Dock Ellis, the late Major League Baseball pro who is its subject, once pitched a no-hitter as a Pittsburgh Pirate while tripping his face off on LSD.

Wild as it is, that incident is, of course, just a moment in a much larger and more complex life. Director Jeffrey Radice assembles his picture of Ellis from interviews with friends, family, and former teammates, bolstering the production even further with a generous helping of archival materials — including words from Ellis himself.

No No is a thorough look at the man behind the moment. The documentary anchors itself in that moment only to highlight and heighten the life that led to and followed it. We come away with a deeper understanding of who Ellis was, the various forces that shaped his life, and the highs and lows that characterized his journey. — A.R.

Where to watch: No No: A Dockumentary is now streaming on Prime Video.

19. Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles

Even if you know every word to Broadway bangers like "If I Were a Rich Man" and "Tradition," there's still a good chance you don't know the full history and impact of the play from which they hail: Fiddler on the Roof. Well, Jews and goyim alike should settle in for Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles, because it's a thoroughly enjoyable look at one of Broadway's all-time greats.

This documentary from Max Lewkowicz examines the 1964 musical from Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics), and Joseph Stein (book) and the difficult road it took to reach the stage. Fiddler on the Roof's provocative setting and themes — the story is set against the backdrop of early 20th century Russia, a time when the local Jewish population faced intense persecution — as well as its full-force dive into Jewish culture made it a tough sell initially.

The doubters were ultimately proven wrong, as Lewkowicz's documentary illustrates. With more than 3,000 performances — the first Broadway show to hit this milestone — and an equally captivating 1971 film adaptation from director Norman Jewison, Fiddler on the Roof left its mark and then some. Featuring interviews and insights from luminaries like Lin-Manuel Miranda, Harvey Fierstein, and Jewison himself, Fiddler is must-watch material for any fan of Broadway past and present. — A.R.

Where to watch: Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles is now streaming on Prime Video.

SEE ALSO: The best 90s movies on Prime Video for when you want to get nostalgic 20. Good Night Oppy Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video

No matter how much you thought you wanted the titular star of Pixar's animated masterpiece WALL-E to be real, it's guaranteed to only be a fraction of how badly Good Night Oppy director Ryan White and his cast of NASA nerds wanted WALL-E to be real, because they set out with this movie to anthropomorphize the dickens out of their Mars rover called Opportunity. (Or "Oppy" for cutesy short.)

While it is at times a bit much — like when listening to these serious scientists insist their hunk of metal doo-dads they've shipped 230 million miles away totally has a personality — Good Night Oppy doesn't lack for celestial splendor. And making the little can-do robot at its center the audience stand-in does often result in a true sense of the enormity of this mission, and the odds they all faced, both real and imagined. — J.A.

Where to watch: Good Night Oppy is now streaming on Prime Video.

21. Stories We Tell

Sarah Polley began acting when she was four years old, which is a story she tells with typical intelligence and emotional precision in her 2022 memoir Run Towards the Danger. But a full 10 years earlier, she told us a totally different story with her film Stories We Tell – the one about her parents, the secrets of her own birth (from an affair that her mother had), and about the ways her family processed and didn't process this discovery over the years.

The less said beforehand with regardsto this movie's unfolding mysteries, the better, but just let it be said you absolutely will not see where Polley is taking you. And if we're being absolutely forced to exist without her acting on-screen, this is further proof (alongside her other directorial efforts, Away From Her, Take This Waltz, and Women Talking) that she's got more than enough magic to share from behind the screen. — J.A.

Where to watch: Stories We Tell is now streaming on Prime Video.

22. Judy Blume Forever Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video

We personally have been celebrating "the year of Judy Blume" for decades. But it's hard to not make the case that 2023 – with the delightful adaptation of Blume's book Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and this documentary both hitting screens – is a real big year for Blume-heads. And Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok's film on the author is thankfully attuned to Blume's endurance as much as her legacy, and so we get to hear as much on her thoughts about the world today as we do her career past. Seeing as how she's been on the front-lines of book bans and censorship for decades, there's no better authority. – J.A.

Where to watch: Judy Blume Forever is now streaming on Prime Video.

SEE ALSO: How 'Judy Blume Forever' uses animation to illustrate taboo topics 23. Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World Credit: Jim Wells / AP / Shutterstock

Music is awash with secret histories like the one explored in Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World. The documentary from co-directors Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana takes a look at the impact indigenous populations in America had on popular music.

In fact, that title speaks very directly to one of those impacts: "Rumble" is a 1958 instrumental from Link Wray, the famed Shawnee singer/songwriter and guitarist. You probably know it. Wray's signature electric guitar distortion drives the mellow, meandering track that anyone who has seen Pulp Fiction will recognize in seconds.

We also learn how "Rumble" is essentially the origin story for one of the most potent devices in any rocker's toolbox: the power chord. But Wray isn't the only focus. We meet Jesse Ed Davis, a legendary studio guitarist whose contributions on notable albums from John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison forever enshrined him in the highest pantheon of rock godhood. Influential artists like Buffy Sainte-Marie, Mildred Bailey, Redbone, even formative blues legend Charlie Patton, who is believed to have been part-Cherokee, all share the spotlight. — A.R.

Where to watch: Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World is now streaming on Prime Video.

24. Between Me and My Mind (2019)

It's difficult to describe the appeal of a band like Phish. Like all the best examples of art in its many forms: You either get it, or you don't. Director Steven Cantor's "slice of life" look at Phish frontman Trey Anastasio isn't going to turn any doubters into true believers, but it does offer a glimpse into the life of the guitarist and singer who fuels many of the band's creatively playful and often deeply nerdy antics.

While the film centers itself in a particular moment — a busy period in which Anastasio is finishing up the solo album Ghosts in the Forest as he prepares for Phish's 2018 run of New Year's Eve concerts at Madison Square Garden — it's not all about the music. This is a family affair that presents viewers with a glimpse into the subdued rocker's home life and off-stage history. Through that lens, we learn much about the way Anastasio thinks and approaches his work.

Just like Phish itself, you either get Between Me and My Mind, or you don't. For those who get it, the documentary is as thorough a look at the Phish frontman as any fan has ever seen. — A.R.

Where to watch: Between Me and My Mind is now streaming on Prime Video.

25. The Booksellers

If your toes curl during the scene in Beauty and the Beast where the Beast shows Belle his enormous library and she spins around so we can stare at the shelves of books going up, up, up into the rafters, then have we got the documentary for you! D.W. Young's 2019 doc (executive produced and narrated by Party Girl star and librarian icon Parker Posey) takes us into the world of rare and antiquarian book shops and book dealers in New York. Speaking with the people who run famed institutions like the Strand and the Argosy, as well as erudite authors and personalities like Fran Lebowitz and Gay Talese, you can practically smell the bookshop smell — you know, that sweet musty something — wafting off your screen as you watch. It'll make your best Belle fantasies come roaring back. — J.A.

Where to watch: The Booksellers is now streaming on Prime Video.  

26. Welcome to Chechnya Credit: Courtesy of HBO

Focusing on LGBTQ refugees escaping from Chechnya, where they've been subject to government-sanctioned torture and murder, How to Survive a Plague filmmaker David France's harrowing 2020 doc follows its subjects' flight from their homeland using a wealth of modern tech, including cell phones and GoPros.

But it's the film's usage of AI technology, in order to disguise the refugees' faces and preserve their anonymity, that proved revolutionary, showing that AI can actually be used for good in some instances (rather than to just obliterate all artists' well-being, as has been the case as of late). But that tech still never manages to outshine the very human and very scary stories at the film's heart — one which has only felt closer to home with time — and which should shake any decent person to their core. — J.A.

Where to watch: Welcome to Chechnya is now streaming on Prime Video.

SEE ALSO: 67 essential LGBTQ films to stream this Pride Month 27. Time

Documenting Sibil Fox Richardson's 20-year battle to get her husband Rob out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary for a crime that he very much did commit, filmmaker Garrett Bradley pieced together Time using home movies that Richardson herself filmed over the years. What the two summon forth is a devastating critique of the prison industrial complex and the state-sanctioned gears that grind up families. Because, as the film's moving footage attests at every turn, Rob's guilt is not who he is, not as a man or a husband or a father. We are all so much more than the mistakes we make, and the system as it's designed is blind, cruel, and indifferent. Rob was granted clemency in 2018, 21 years after he was convicted as a first-time felony offender to 60 years in jail, with no possibility for parole or probation. — J.A.

Where to watch: Time is now streaming on Prime Video.

UPDATE: Feb. 28, 2024, 11:33 a.m. EST This list was updated to reflect the current streaming options.

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The beauty of science fiction is how it can take shape in endless ways on screen. When you look at the types of sci-fi narratives that filmmakers have explored in movies, it's hard to deny the fact that it’s one of the most unique, versatile, and exciting genres of all time

Whether you want to be transported to a world of futuristic innovations, a dystopia where the fate of the planet depends on an intergalactic mission, or a small town where a mysterious outbreak unleashes ghastly monsters, sci-fi has you covered. We've rounded up the very best sci-fi movies you can enjoy on Netflix, from heroic YA thrillers to grounded dramas, political take-downs to wacky spins on superhero tropes, and all with varying degrees of imaginative science fiction.

1. The Platform Credit: Netflix

If you like scathing social commentary and twisted horror with your sci-fi, The Platform is just the thing. This Spanish anti-capitalist parable takes place in a vertical prison facility where inhabitants are staggered across 300 levels. Each day a platform full of decadent food is lowered from top to bottom, allowing prisoners to eat as much as they want. But the food doesn’t get replenished, leaving the middle and lowest rungs of people — some elderly and young children — without any sustenance. Locked up and starving, many are forced into cannibalism to survive. 

SEE ALSO: How eat-the-rich comedies changed during COVID

A horrific and bleak commentary on class, wealth inequality, and the prison industrial complex, The Platform is a testament to the power of sci-fi to reflect the horrors of the realities around us. Also, while the food does look delicious in this movie, definitely avoid eating while watching. — Oliver Whitney, Freelance Contributor

How to watch: The Platform is now streaming on Netflix.

2. The Wandering Earth

Disaster movie fiends, may I introduce you to the ultimate bonkers space disaster film? In this Chinese sci-fi epic, the Earth is in big trouble, so much so that to avoid total climate annihilation from an aging sun about to engulf our planet, a group of astronauts are tasked with flinging the planet into another solar system. Not insane enough? Now the planet is on track to collide with Jupiter.

Take the extreme doomsday chaos of a Roland Emmerich film, the emotional weight of a planet-saving mission and glorious visuals of Interstellar, and the racing suspense of Gravity, and you get one hell of a sci-fi film. It's no wonder The Wandering Earth became one of the highest grossing Chinese films in the country's history. — O.W.

How to watch: The Wandering Earth is now streaming on Netflix.

3. Psychokinesis

In Psychokinesis, Train To Busan director Yeon Sang-ho takes an alternative approach to the superhero narrative — in place of the usual explosive world-saving, he tells an intimate story about a father, his daughter, and a group of business owners fighting corruption. 

Seok-heon (Ryu Seung-ryong from Miracle in Cell No. 7) has been an absent father for years. But just as his estranged daughter Roo-mi (Shim Eun-kyung) hits her absolute lowest, a supernatural force, shot down to Earth via a comet, zaps into the spring water he happens to be sipping. In time, Seok-heon notices he's developed a strange power to control things with his mind. After reconnecting with Roo-mi, whose restaurant has been shuttered by a violent gang of developers, he decides to use his powers to help her and her fellow neighbors fighting to gain their storefronts back. 

Psychokinesis feels so refreshing in the age of superhero glut by grounding the supernatural in small-scale emotional storytelling, and minimizing its use of CG to a handful of set pieces that slowly build in visual grandeur. This is the type of superhero origin story we need more of. — O.W.

How to watch: Psychokinesis is now streaming on Netflix.

4. What Happened To Monday Credit: Netflix

If you've ever found yourself craving more ruthless, ass-kicking action from Noomi Rapace — a natural wish after watching Prometheus or the original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy — then What Happened To Monday is everything you could hope for. It’s a futuristic action extravaganza with B movie sci-fi thrills, and instead of one Rapace, you get seven.

The Swedish actress plays seven identical twin sisters in a dystopian world where having more than one child is outlawed due to overpopulation. To keep his septuplet granddaughters a secret from the fascist government, Willem Dafoe's grandpa names each of the girls after a day of the week, corresponding to the one day they can go out in public under a singular identity. But after Monday goes missing, the sisters must launch their own investigation, which leads them to the evil machinations of Glenn Close's mad scientist politician. What begins as an entertaining display of Rapace in multiple roles, Orphan Black-style, soon catapults into action madness full of energized fight sequences. — O.W.

How to watch: What Happened To Monday is now streaming on Netflix.

5. Oxygen

In this survival thriller, Mélanie Laurent suddenly wakes up inside a cryogenic pod. She has no idea who she is, where she is, why she’s there — and she only has 90 minutes of oxygen left. Struggling to solve all of these mysteries with nothing but the pod's A.I. robot assistant, Laurent's anonymous protagonist begins recalling fragmented memories to piece together her past. The rest of the plot is best left unsaid, but if you're a fan of contained sci-fi thrillers that do a lot with a little, Oxygen will satisfy. It's both a strong acting showcase for Laurent in essentially a one-woman show, and it emphasizes the emotional and suspenseful power of POV cinematography, which French director Alexandre Aja, most known for his horror films like High Tension and Maniac, has utilized well in the past. — O.W.

How to watch: Oxygen is now streaming on Netflix.

6. Sleight

Sleight is just the film for those who prefer a touch of sci-fi in a dramatic story grounded in reality. In this feature debut from J.D. Dillard (Sweetheart, Devotion), Jacob Latimore's Bo is a young man raising his sister (Storm Reid) alone in Los Angeles. His passion is performing street magic, but his main hustle is pushing drugs for a dealer at night. Where the sci-fi comes in is Bo's arm, which has an electromagnetic implant that allows him to pull off his secret tricks, making anything with metal float or fly across the air.

Ultimately, Sleight is a simple story about a young man trying to survive in a dangerous, violent situation — and the film does get quite violent at times. But with a cyborg as our main protagonist, the story gets a more elevated and suspenseful touch. It's a reminder that science fiction can coexist in, and help us manage, the harshness of the world we encounter every day. — O.W.

How to watch: Sleight is now streaming on Netflix.

7. Okja

Few filmmakers have taken on the behemoth of capitalism with as much wit, style, and enthralling storytelling as South Korean master Bong Joon-ho. The Parasite and Snowpiercer filmmaker once again explores the evils of corporate greed and class inequality in Okja, the most heartbreaking film about a giant pig you'll ever see. 

SEE ALSO: Bong Joon-ho's 'The Host' is the perfect companion to 'Parasite'

Part adventure buddy comedy, part sci-fi fantasy, and part a takedown of the meat industry, Okja tells the story of farm girl Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun), her best friend Okja (a genetically modified "superpig" that resembles a cuddly hippo), a CEO supervillain (Tilda Swinton), a kooky zoologist (Jake Gyllenhaal), and a band of anarchists. Okja perfectly blends the comedic histrionics of chase sequences with an incredibly sweet but heartbreaking tale of rebellion, and has a whole lot to say as well. A warning: You may leave this movie a vegetarian. — O.W.

How to watch: Okja is now streaming on Netflix.

8. I Am Mother Credit: Netflix

I Am Mother is another addition to the post-apocalyptic genre where robots reign and humanity is scarce. We meet an A.I. robot named Mother (voiced by Rose Byrne) who, while overseeing a bunker of human embryos, has decided to raise one, a girl named Daughter (Clara Rugaard). Now a teenager, Daughter has learned everything from her robotic caregiver, including the fact that all humans have gone extinct. But suddenly one day a stranger arrives (a delightfully badass Hilary Swank doing her best Sarah Connor) who will soon disprove everything Daughter has come to know.

Though there are dozens of sci-fi films with similar narratives, I Am Mother surpasses genre expectations with a refreshing mix of tautly directed suspense, surprising twists, and a small but mighty all-female cast. — O.W.

How to watch: I Am Mother is now streaming on Netflix.

9. Project Power

In Project Power, a new drug has just been introduced on the streets of New Orleans that gives people superpowers for five minutes; think Limitless meets X-Men. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's local cop teams up with Jamie Foxx's Art, the initial test subject of the Power pill, and a young dealer (Dominique Fishback, easily the film's standout) to track down the military distributor behind the drug. 

While Power Power's story veers into overcomplicated and often silly territory, what's most fun about the sci-fi action hybrid is the uniqueness of the powers on display. Everyone reacts differently to the pill, from getting bulletproof skin to Hulk-like strength, and becoming a human torch to growing bendable rubber bones. Directing duo Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman definitely deliver on the zaniness of all that could happen when superpowers go awry. — O.W.

How to watch: Project Power is now streaming on Netflix.

10. Bird Box

Director Susanne Bier's Bird Box doesn't work particularly well as a horror movie; the protagonists aren’t likable enough to care about, and the scares are decidedly lame. But as a sci-fi concept, the apocalypse arriving as a swarm of invisible monsters, who, when seen, drive their victims to horrible deaths by suicide, is appetizingly intense. (That's what landed this movie on our best monster movies list!)

SEE ALSO: Here's why we didn't see the monsters in 'Bird Box'

Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, and the rest of Bird Box’s stellar cast lead a devastating journey through this demonic, post-apocalyptic world, combining the thriller, action, and sci-fi genres. The result is an adequately complex imagining of how the world would contend with such creatures, and, though its relatively low-tech, manages to keep itself grounded in tense realism. — Alison Foreman, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: Bird Box is now streaming on Netflix.

11. See You Yesterday

Eden Duncan-Smith is C.J. Walker, a gifted high school science prodigy who ventures to build a time machine after her brother is killed by the police. With the help of her best friend, she tries to save her brother's life — but she'll soon learn that changing the past doesn’t come without consequences. 

Written by Fredrica Bailey and Stefon Bristol, and directed by Bristol, this science-fiction adventure is the perfect combination of teenage hijinks and emotional depth. We're on one hell of a ride, but we never forget the stakes these young characters are facing. It's captivating, fun, and a much-needed fresh take on a classic genre. Science-fiction films that center Black lives and Black stories have long been a rarity, but with more A+ entries like See You Yesterday, they'll hopefully become the norm.* —Kristina Grosspietsch, Freelance Contributor

How to watch: See You Yesterday is now streaming on Netflix.

12. Code 8

Code 8 imagines a world where people with superpowers exist, but after spurring on a second industrial revolution they've been replaced by automation and relegated to the bottom rung of society. That's the reality Connor Reed (Robbie Amell) is living as an "Electric" powered individual who just wants to make enough money to help his terminally ill mom (Kari Matchett).

Out of options and presented with an unexpected money-making opportunity, the good-hearted Connor reluctantly turns to crime. This stylish Canadian crowdfunded feature directed by Jeff Chan lands a little on the nose at times, but an intriguing premise and strong central cast — which also includes Stephen Amell and Sung Kang — keeps things moving at an entertaining clip. — Adam Rosenberg, Senior Reporter

How to watch: Code 8 is now streaming on Netflix.

13. Space Sweepers Credit: Netflix

In Space Sweepers' not-terribly-distant future of 2092, Earth has become a polluted wasteland while the wealthiest and most powerful individuals live in a utopian, corporate-owned orbital space station. The story follows a crew of space sweepers, Earth-dwellers who scrape out a living by cleaning up orbital trash and selling it. Their tough but peaceful existence is shattered one day when, mixed in among the trash, they find a little girl named Dorothy (Park Ye-rin) who, it turns out, may be an android fitted with a powerful bomb. But the plan they hatch to ransom Dorothy off to the terrorists who are looking for her goes awry as she spends more time aboard the ship. It's not the most original story in sci-fi history, but gorgeous visuals, a strong cast, and careful plotting combine to make this two-plus hour journey — billed as the first space blockbuster from Korea — breeze by. — A.R.

How to watch: Space Sweepers is now streaming on Netflix.

14. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

If you've ever wondered what E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial might have been like with more mischievous claymation animals, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon might be for you. The Aardman Animation film drops an adorable baby alien named Lu-La into Mossy Bottom Farm, where she becomes fast friends with the equally playful Shaun — but needs him to grow up just a little bit so she can get back home.

Silly, sweet, and soothing, Farmageddon is a galactic trip the whole family can enjoy. — Angie Han, Deputy Entertainment Editor

How to watch: A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is now streaming on Netflix.

15. Advantageous

Jennifer Phang's Advantageous may involve some fantastical inventions, but the principles and problems that shape its universe are firmly rooted in our own. Jacqueline Kim stars as Gwen, a single mother who loses her job after her employer decides to replace her with a younger, more racially ambiguous spokesmodel. In desperation, she considers a procedure that would transfer her consciousness into a more acceptable new body — but that comes at great cost.

Combining thoughtful analysis of race, gender, and class with a touching story of a mother's love for her daughter, Advantageous is the kind of low-key sci-fi that may inspire you to look a little deeper at the world already around you. — A.H.

How to watch: Advantageous is now streaming on Netflix.

16. The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Take your typical family road trip comedy, toss in a robot apocalypse, and top it all off with a heavy smattering of meme-worthy filters, doodles, and GIFs, and you might end up with something like The Mitchells vs. The Machines: a truly fun-for-the-whole-family feature that hinges on whether an artsy teen (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) and her Luddite dad (voiced by Danny McBride) can set aside their differences long enough to save all of humanity from being launched into space by Siri Pal.

Come for the jokes about our impending AI-led dystopia, stay for the heart-tugging moments of Mitchell family bonding. Seriously, we might never hear T.I. and Rihanna's "Live Your Life" without tearing up ever again.* — A.H.

How to watch: The Mitchells vs. The Machines is now streaming on Netflix.

17. Meg 2: The Trench

The amount of actual science in this franchise wouldn't fill up one of those little plastic buckets that we all used as kids to build sand castles on the beach. But no matter – call their genre "fi-sci" instead and just get on with it, because watching Jason Statham fight giant prehistoric sharks is what we've come for, and watching Jason Statham fight giant prehistoric sharks is what we get. And befitting the title, now there's more than one!

SEE ALSO: 'Meg 2: The Trench' review: Ben Wheatley hates you

This, the second riveting chapter in the deeply serious story of Jonas Taylor (Statham), former rescue diver turned ecological avenger, sees him heading back down into the deepest depths of the Mariana Trench for reasons far too stupid to explain. Just know it's all build-up for a bonkers second half where Jonas and his ragtag team of science buds must stop enormous sharks and their new giant octopus bestie from decimating a Pacific resort literally called Fun Island. — Jason Adams, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: Meg 2: The Trench is now streaming on Netflix.

18. Pacific Rim Credit: Legendary Pictures / Kobal / Shutterstock

The year is 2020, and the shit has totally hit the fan. But no, this isn't a COVID documentary. It's Guillermo del Toro's 2013 kaiju action epic Pacific Rim, which smashed together everything we love about the genre while giving us Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba glaring at one another a lot to boot. So, basically, perfection. 

When giant monsters start pouring out of an interdimensional rift deep in the ocean one day without any notice, all of humanity comes together to build a fleet of giant robots, dubbed Jaegers, which we use to whoop their interdimensional asses. And that's about all the set up you need. Cue city-stomping fight after city-stomping fight. — J.A.

How to watch: Pacific Rim is now streaming on Netflix.

19. Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

Considered an official part of the Godzilla canon (as it was produced by Toho), this 2017 animated flick sends us 20,000 years into the future, where a group of human refugees has been trying to find a distant planet to colonize after that pushy jerk Godzilla went and took over all of Earth. Unfortunately, the humans haven't had much luck on that front, so they head back to our little blue dot hoping that enough time has passed that maybe the big lizard's had his fill. One guess as to the answer to that! They find a world radically altered thanks to the big G's radioactive presence, but they attempt to make one last stand for humanity's sake. And shit gets real dark!  — J.A.

How to watch: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters is now streaming on Netflix.

20. Gravity

Although Alfonso Cuarón's 2013 outer space masterpiece loses some of its impact when watched at home on a smaller screen and not in 3D IMAX where it belongs, there are still plenty of reasons to beam yourself up there from your couch. You don't win seven Oscars (out of ten nominations) without something worth recommending. 

Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is on her very first space mission when she gets stranded 900 miles above Earth, courtesy of space debris ripping apart her ship. Although Bullock's co-star is none other than George Clooney himself, as a veteran astronaut on his last trip before retiring, Gravity works because Bullock makes it work. Her — excuse the pun — star power glides this thing from tense set piece to even tenser set piece as Ryan tries to figure out some way, most of them utterly ridiculous, to get herself safely back onto land. — J.A.

How to watch: Gravity is now streaming on Netflix.

21. Don't Look Up

Director Adam McKay used to only make delightfully goofy movies like the Anchorman franchise and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and we were all the better for it. Then in 2015, he decided he was a serious political satirist so he made The Big Short, followed by Vice in 2018, and we were all the worse. It was only when he let pure goofiness seep back in again with his 2021 apocalypse comedy Don't Look Up that he finally got the balance right. 

Don't Look Up is mostly the story of an astronomy professor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his best student (Jennifer Lawrence) trying to convince a government run by a Trump-esque egotistical monster (Meryl Streep) that there is a comet headed straight at Earth, to little avail. It's merciless in mocking politics and the media, but it also makes time for Meryl Streep to have a tramp stamp, and for this we are grateful. That's fair and balanced! — J.A.

How to watch: Don't Look Up is now streaming on Netflix.

22. Looper

Before Rian Johnson pissed off a bunch of Star Wars fans with The Last Jedi (which remains the only truly interesting film of the recent trilogy) and was forced to take refuge inside the whodunit machinations of his Benoit Blanc mysteries, he was nerd royalty thanks to his lo-fi 2012 time travel flick Looper. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (who'd worked with Johnson previously in Brick) and Bruce Willis as the same guy at different ages, Looper is an enjoyable mind-bender. As per usual with time travel plots, it's sort of pointless to sum up in a sentence or two; the tangled complications are the most fun part of it. So, just sit back and let Looper wash over you. — J.A.

How to watch: Looper is now streaming on Netflix.

23. Cowboys & Aliens

In 2011, in between James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Iron Man movies, Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and director Jon Favreau teamed up to make this hella goofy summer movie spectacle about — you guessed it — cowboys fighting aliens. And damn if it didn't flop really hard. But it's totally harmless as far as big dumb summer movie spectacles go. I mean, at least it's no Wild Wild West. Thirteen years later, it feels almost novel to contemplate a big summer movie spectacle that wasn't based on a previous IP. I feel, dare I say, nostalgic for the days of Cowboys & Aliens? How did we get to this place? If nothing else, Daniel Craig looks wildly hot in those chaps. — J.A.

How to watch: Cowboys & Aliens is now streaming on Netflix. 

24. Elysium

Following the surprise success of District 9, Neill Blomkamp's 2013 follow-up Elysium could be considered emblematic of "the sophomore slump." Hollywood tossed him tons of money and movie stars (Matt Damon! Jodie Foster!), but the results were decidedly mixed. 

However, Elysium is an interesting mess, and well worth a look back at, as these things usually end up being in retrospect. Set in 2154 (which seems generous given the state of things here in 2024), its narrative about the wealthy escaping into outer space, leaving the poor to rot on an overpopulated and starving planet, sure feels timely. — J.A.

How to watch: Elysium is now streaming on Netflix.

25. They Cloned Tyrone Credit: Netflix

They Cloned Tyrone is a sci-fi comedy from first-time feature director Juel Taylor starring John Boyega as a drug dealer named Fontaine who, along with his pals Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) and Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), uncovers a secret underground laboratory beneath the local chicken joint. As Fontaine, Yo-Yo, and Slick Charles discover, scientists have been conducting nefarious experiments on the denizens of The Glen, the primarily Black neighborhood Fontaine et al call home.

A dark satire of race relations à la Get Out, They Cloned Tyrone uses sci-fi tropes and a hefty dose of Blaxploitation to make its points. It's sharp and funny, and it should've gotten far more attention in 2023. – J.A.   

How to watch: They Cloned Tyrone is now streaming on Netflix.

SEE ALSO: We need to talk about 'They Cloned Tyrone's ending 26. Resident Evil

Before Milla Jovovich and director Paul W.S. Anderson made an interminable number of these movies, there was the tremendously entertaining 2002 original, which remains one of the best video game adaptations ever made. Jovovich plays Alice, a woman who wakes up with no memory inside of a decrepit mansion full of zombie-like monsters.

As Alice stumbles upon some other folks, they all manage to fight their way through the mystery of the place and unravel Alice's past, which all involves a diabolical corporate entity called Umbrella. Yadda, yadda, yadda — it's simple and scary, and Jovovich proved herself an immediate action star. Plus, it has a few action scenes that still kill, like the hallway full of lasers. — J.A.

How to watch: Resident Evil is now streaming on Netflix.

27. Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire

Your mileage will certainly vary on this, the first half of Zack Snyder's hyper-massive space opera Rebel Moon. Yes, it rips off Star Wars ten ways from Sunday with its tale of lowly farmers starting a rebellion against a militaristic space regime. Yes, it only starts getting interesting in the last half-hour of its nearly three-hour runtime. Yes, it's bloated and derivative and more concerned with constantly looking "cool" than it is "telling a story" or "developing characters." 

And yet! Having gone in with basement-low expectations, I didn't hate it. It's got a supremely gorgeous cast, and Snyder still knows how to frame beautiful people to their best effect. Truthfully, he can frame most anything to beautiful effect. Plus, it's got Jena Malone as a gigantic spider lady! So, yes, it's basically an extended — way, way extended — series of team-building exercises, ending right when the real story is about to happen. But I'd still rather rewatch this than I would any Transformers movie. Slap that on your poster! – J.A.

How to watch: Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire is now streaming on Netflix.

28. Vivarium

Although he's only made three feature-length films to date, Irish director Lorcan Finnegan has already proven to be an interesting one. This 2019 slow-burn suburban nightmare is the one that really sealed the deal on his status as one to watch. Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots as a childless couple on a real estate hunt that turns into a sort of Talking Heads/M.C. Escher-esque nightmare, Vivarium has a whiff of The Truman Show and a wallop of Cube about it. But it's also its own weird little thing: fascinating, funny, and stylish. — J.A.

How to watch: Vivarium is now streaming on Netflix.

29. Ready Player One

Being a Steven Spielberg movie comes with a lot of expectations, and those expectations quadruple when it's a science-fiction movie he's delivering. When Ready Player One came out in 2018, it kinda hit those expectations like a brick wall. But I suggest a revisit — it's much better than you remember it being, especially now with VR headsets starting to trickle into our daily existence.

Based on Ernest Cline's 2011 novel of the same name, Ready Player One is stuffed to the gills with mind-bending set pieces that only Spielberg could bring to life. In the year 2045, a teen orphan named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is trying to solve three riddles set within a full immersive virtual reality called OASIS. The prize for doing so is total ownership of OASIS, so he's got some competition. Anyway, it's basically Willy Wonka, just with lots of CG car races and Mark Rylance in a white fright wig. It's truly a ton of fun. – J.A.  

How to watch: Ready Player One is now streaming on Netflix.

30. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2024 Oscars, this beloved sequel to Into the Spider-Verse dives us back into the trippy world of the Brooklyn spider-boy Miles Morales and his many, many, many spider-pals. We head with Miles even deeper into the multiverse and make our way to the Spider Society's HQ, where every iteration of Spider-Man hangs out together. 

SEE ALSO: 'Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse' review: This is what animation was made for

But they've all got the same big problem to face — a dastardly foe named The Spot who has accidentally (then purposefully) started collapsing entire realities one by one. Will Miles save the universe? And more importantly, will he and Spider-Woman Gwen make their whole thing work? And even more importantly, is Oscar Isaac (who voices Miguel O'Hara, leader of the Spider Society) somehow even sexier as a cartoon? — J.A.

How to watch: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is now streaming on Netflix. 

Asterisks (*) indicate the entry comes from another Mashable streaming list.

UPDATE: Feb. 29, 2024, 3:30 p.m. EST This list has been updated to reflect the latest Netflix offerings.

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TL;DR: Stream the Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics in the NBA for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The NBA is coming to the BBC, with some absolutely massive games lined up for everyone to enjoy. And we do mean everyone, because fans from around the world can take advantage of this free coverage with a VPN.

If you want to watch the Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics?

Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics starts at 3:30 p.m. ET on March 3 (8:30 p.m. GMT). This game takes place at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

How to watch Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics for free

Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics will be broadcast live on BBC Three. You can also live stream this game for free on BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming service with a VPN. These powerful tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can access BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world.

Access BBC iPlayer to stream the NBA by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

4. Visit BBC iPlayer

5. Stream Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) £82.82 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but leading VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can gain access to BBC iPlayer without committing with your cash. This is not a long-term solution, but it does give you time to watch Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for BBC iPlayer?

ExpressVPN is the best service for unblocking BBC iPlayer, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 94 countries including the UK

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A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for £82.82 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Watch Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: A five-year subscription to AdGuard VPN is on sale for £39.57, saving you 86% on list price.

Unless you're living completely off the grid, we all have an online presence. And with that presence, there comes risk and vulnerability. If you don't already have a virtual private network (VPN), it should shoot to the top of your list. Using a VPN helps keep you safer online and less vulnerable to the shady stuff that we all know happens there.

For a limited time, you can get a five-year subscription to AdGuard VPN for just £39.57.

SEE ALSO: The best VPN deals in February 2024

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This offer gets you connected to AdGuard VPN on up to 10 devices at the same time but is only available to new users. With updates included, you'll have access to all of its super-fast servers in every location. It also comes with unlimited data for streaming and downloading. Plus, it's compatible with all platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and Google Chrome.

Keep yourself and your family safe and protected online while home or away. Get this five-year subscription to AdGuard VPN for just £39.57, with no coupon needed.

Opens in a new window Credit: AdGuard VPN AdGuard VPN (5-Year Subscription) £39.57 at the Mashable Shop Get Deal

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for March 2'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.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.

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 used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.

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:

A concrete jungle.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There are no letters that appear twice.

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter U.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. What's the answer to Wordle today?

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 Wordle #987 is...

URBAN.

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.

Reporting by Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

Connections is the latest New York Times word game 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 March 2'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.

Tweet may have been deleted

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.

Tweet may have been deleted

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.

Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Fed

• Green: Technical terms for poetry

• Blue: To hint at something

• Purple: K as a symbol

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Intelligence Operative

• Green: Units in Poetry

• Blue: Express Indirectly

• Purple: What "K" Might Mean

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 Connections #265 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Intelligence Operative: AGENT, ASSET, MOLE, SLEEPER

• Units in Poetry: FOOT, LINE, METER, VERSE

• Express Indirectly: COUCH, IMPLY, INTIMATE, SUGGEST

• What "K" Might Mean: KELVIN, OKAY, POTASSIUM, THOUSAND

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.

Is this not the Connections game you were looking for? Here are the hints and answers to yesterday's Connections.

Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, and Stellan Skarsgård break down their prep for Dune: Part Two.

Dune: Part Two is now in theaters.

All right, you want the best of the best? Then we're gonna give it to you.

After scouring Netflix for the best thrillers, best action flicks, best romantic comedies, best horror movies, best family films, and more, it's finally time for us to narrow down our streaming suggestions to the best movies, period. That's right — it's superhero sagas vs. biopics vs. war dramas vs. musicals vs. comedies vs. so much more. This is the ultimate film list for when you have no idea what you want to watch outside of the general concept of an excellent movie that delivers top-tier performances, a killer script, and an engaging world.

Without further ado and in no particular order, here are the 25 best movies now on Netflix.

1. My Best Friend's Wedding Credit: Moviestore / Shutterstock

Few '90s rom-coms are better than this one directed by P.J. Hogan, in which a messy love triangle finds Jules (Julia Roberts) trying to sabotage her best friend Michael's (Dermot Mulroney) wedding when she realizes she's in love with him. The whole thing hinges on a pact the two friends made years ago, promising they'd marry each other if they were both still single by 28, an absolutely wild age to agree to such a thing. With only days before the wedding, Jules pushes her way into Michael and Kimmy's (Cameron Diaz) life to try and break them up. This movie's got Rupert Everett as gay BFF icon of the '90s George, an entire restaurant breaking into a sing-along of "I Say a Little Prayer," and Julia Roberts stealing a bread truck. My Best Friend's Wedding is perfect, always satisfying comfort food. — Oliver Whitney, Contributing Writer

How to watch: My Best Friend’s Wedding is streaming on Netflix.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Five years ago we got what remains one of the best superhero movies of all time with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. That's an incredibly hard act to follow, and yet the sequel to Miles Morales's journey, Across the Spider-Verse, is absolutely fantastic. 

SEE ALSO: 'Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse' is full of glorious Easter eggs. Here are 13 of the best.

In the second part of the Spider-Verse saga, Miles is grown up, but he's struggling to balance his life as Brooklyn's web-slinger with his studies and being a good son to his parents. After a visit from Gwen (Spider-Woman in her universe), Miles becomes tangled up with a daunting new villain, a whole new team of Spider-Peoples, and a mission that could change the fate of the multiverse. I know, I know, we're all a little burnt out by the overabundance of multiverse narratives these days, but Across the Spider-Verse manages to inject its story with some truly clever world-building. The newest characters are a blast, with a killer voice cast that includes Issa Rae, Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya, Karan Soni, and Greta Lee, among other fun cameos. The action set pieces are exhilarating and funny, and the animation is somehow more dazzling than the first film. We can only hope the third Spider-Verse film is half as good as the first two. — O.W.

How to watch: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is streaming on Netflix.

3. Paddington Credit: Moviestore / Shutterstock

The truth is, you haven't known joy until you've experienced Paddington, one of the most charming movies imaginable. It's well agreed upon that the titular Peruvian-British bear, voiced oh-so-sweetly by Ben Whishaw, is the epitome of cuteness. You could watch Paddington on mute and, by the laws of nature, melt into a puddle over his marmalade-smeared little face. This isn't just a movie about gushing over cute animals, though, but one that gently tells a story about British colonialism, immigration, and xenophobia through the wacky adventures of a bear on the run. 

After Paddington's jungle home in "Darkest Peru" is destroyed by an earthquake, the young bear arrives in London on a cargo ship. A British family takes pity on the lost little orphan and invites him to stay for a night. But things turn complicated for the red-hatted bear when Nicole Kidman's evil taxidermist sets out to hunt him down and stuff him. Dark, silly, and visually inventive, Paddington is there whenever you’re having a rough day and need a joyous pick-me-up. — O.W.

How to watch: Paddington is streaming on Netflix.

4. May December

On its surface, the latest from Todd Haynes (Carol, Velvet Goldmine) may seem like a thinly veiled reexamination of a true crime tale that had '90s tabloids absolutely obsessed. Screenwriter Samy Burch uses this familiar framework to construct a story that not only delivers a dishy parody of a melodrama, down to a string-zinging score and comically banal dialogue about hot dogs. She's also built a keen device to evaluate our obsession with true crime, for better or for ghoulish.

In May December, Julianne Moore plays a wife and mother who has a shameful (and criminal) past, which involves how she met her current husband (Charles Melton). When a TV actress (Natalie Portman) wants to turn their lives into a movie, old wounds are reopened. Beneath the blistering domestic drama, Haynes and Burch weave in a sharp and sophisticated humor that invites audiences to bark with laughter, even as their jaws drop in shock.* — Kristy Puchko, Film Deputy Editor

How to watch: May December is streaming on Netflix.

5. Everything Everywhere All at Once Michelle Yeoh kicks butt in "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Credit: A24

Want a movie with a little bit of everything? Then you can't beat the 2023 Oscar winner for Best Picture. Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh stars as a disgruntled laundromat owner who's at her wit's end between her obligations as a boss, wife, mother, and daughter. And just as she's braced to deal with a tax auditor with a surly attitude (Academy Award winner Jamie Lee Curtis), a dashing version of her husband (Academy Award winner Ke Huy Quan) bursts onto the scene from a parallel universe to loop her into a quest to save all existence. Packed with absolutely bonkers action, outrageous jokes, dizzying style, and performances as silly as they are deeply poignant, The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once is the kind of movie that'll have you laughing, crying, gasping, and maybe even reconsidering your life up to now. — K.P.

How to watch: Everything Everywhere All at Once is now streaming on Netflix.

6. Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is never a bad decision for a movie night when you’re itching for suspense and action. There’s nothing quite like the first installment of the franchise, which perfectly weaves the wonder of witnessing live, giant dinosaurs right in front of your face...with the utter horror of witnessing live, giant dinos right in front of your face. Spielberg whips us from the awestruck wonder of walking among these ancient monsters to total action-packed chaos as everything goes haywire on Isla Nublar. Every set piece is pounding with adrenaline, from the iconic T-Rex Jeep chase to the kitchen sequence to Laura Dern fighting off a raptor. Ultimately, it’s Spielberg’s fine attention to detail that makes Jurassic Park such a masterwork, forever etching those sequences into our mind. You will never look at a glass of water or a spoonful of Jell-O the same after Jurassic Park.* — O.W.

How to Watch: Jurassic Park is now streaming on Netflix.

7. The Woman King Credit: Sony

The Oscars might have missed the boat on Gina Prince-Bythewood's relentless action thriller about a real-life group of female warriors (led by a remarkably buff Viola Davis) fighting slavers in 1800s Africa, but that doesn't mean you should do the same. Looking like no other action movie ever made, this collective of kick-ass women (including a stellar Lashana Lynch and Thuso Mbedu among their ranks) will have you leaping off your sofa and cheering as they slice their way through jungle and clay and mankind alike. — J.A.

How to watch: The Woman King is streaming on Netflix.

8. Phantom Thread 

If Daniel Day-Lewis is really and truly permanently retired from acting (and let's hope he's not, for acting's sake), then he went out on a darn high note with this profoundly romantic anti-romance from director Paul Thomas Anderson. DDL's persnickety couture bastard Reynolds Woodcock (a name the director and his star came up with as a gag, which stuck) and his right-hand sis Cyril (Lesley Manville, who will go right through you) have the disgustingly wealthy eating out of their satin-lined gloves when the film begins.

SEE ALSO: Why has 'Phantom Thread' given us so many great memes?

So, how does a stumbling bumbling nobody waitress named Alma (Vicky Krieps in a blow-the-doors-off performance) flip their entire pristine world upside down with nothing but a well-calculated blush and a basket of mushrooms? That's the stuff of romance, in all of its violent, push-pull swirl. And Phantom Thread captures the dunderheaded swoon of that first blush, plus all of the fallout that necessarily falls after in order to keep that flame forever burning. — J.A.

How to watch: Phantom Thread is streaming on Netflix.

9. Hunt for the Wilderpeople

This 2016 adventure about bad egg Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) and his curmudgeonly foster father Hec (Sam Neill) is the kind of eccentric delight that writer/director Taika Waititi specializes in (this time co-writing with Barry Crump, who wrote the book it's based on). 

After losing his foster mother, Ricky flees into the forests of New Zealand, pursued by Hec, only to learn that the older man also feels no need to return to civilization. Together they become the wilderpeople, living off the land and evading capture from authorities, including Thor: Ragnarok's Rachel House. Wilderpeople is equal parts stirring, hilarious, and absurd — a story of found family and adventure that can be loved by all.* — Proma Khosla, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: Hunt for the Wilderpeople is streaming on Netflix.

10. Da 5 Bloods

Mashable's Adam Rosenberg reviewed Da 5 Bloods in summer 2020, writing: "In the midst of widespread IRL social upheaval that many hope will finally start to undo the trauma wrought by centuries of deeply embedded prejudice, this new movie delivers a powerful sense of perspective." Spike Lee's war film, a keenly impactful meditation on systemic racism, stars Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, the late Chadwick Boseman, and more. — Alison Foreman, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: Da 5 Bloods is streaming on Netflix.

11. The Mitchells vs. The Machines Credit: 2021 SPAI

Take your typical family road trip comedy, toss in a robot apocalypse, and top it all off with a heavy smattering of meme-worthy filters, doodles, and GIFs, and you might end up with something like The Mitchells vs. The Machines: a truly fun-for-the-whole-family feature that hinges on whether an artsy teen (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) and her luddite dad (voiced by Danny McBride) can set aside their differences long enough to save all of humanity from being launched into space by Siri Pal.

Come for the jokes about our impending AI-led dystopia, stay for the heart-tugging moments of Mitchell family bonding. Seriously, we might never hear T.I. and Rihanna's "Live Your Life" without tearing up ever again.* — Angie Han, Deputy Entertainment Editor

How to watch: The Mitchells vs. The Machines is streaming on Netflix.

12. The Power of the Dog Credit: Kirsty Griffin / Courtesy of Netflix

The Power of the Dog is a masterful Western from director Jane Campion, who made history as the third woman to win the award for Best Director. Benedict Cumberbatch dazzles with quiet menace as cowboy Phil Burbank, while his co-stars Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst, and Kodi Smit-McPhee also deliver award-worthy performances. A gorgeous film layered with subtle dangers, The Power of the Dog is proof that it's Campion's world. We're all just living in it.* — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: The Power of the Dog is streaming on Netflix.

13. Crimson Peak 

Justice for Crimson Peak! Those of us who love Guillermo del Toro’s camp gothic romance really love it, and we will defend it with our last heaving guttural ghostly gasp. From those balloon-sized, puffy-shouldered nightgowns that Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska) sports while running up and down hallways and staircases and staircases and hallways while clutching candelabras, to Tom Hiddleston's heaving buttocks, to fresh and inventive ways of smashing a dude's face in, Crimson Peak is peak del Toro. Total goth nirvana. Make like Jessica Chastain, and stab, stab, stab this beauty into your heart today! — J.A.

How to watch: Crimson Peak is streaming on Netflix.

14. Okja Credit: Jae Hyuk Lee / Netflix / Kobal / Shutterstock

Fall under the spell of Parasite director Bong Joon-ho once more with Netflix's Okja. When a terrible fate befalls a genetically modified kind of "super pig" named Okja thanks to the evil Mirando corporation, Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) will stop at nothing to save her friend and take down Mirando's CEO Lucy (Tilda Swinton). — A.F.

How to watch: Okja is streaming on Netflix.

15. Marriage Story

Yes, interpretations of Noah Baumbach's Academy Award-winning film have varied substantially among audiences. But, for the most part, critics agree that the character-driven divorce film saga represents a resonant and important viewpoint in modern relationships. Career-best performances from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver will turn you into a sobbing puddle while Baumbach's artful narrative-building slowly makes you whole again. — A.F.

How to watch: Marriage Story is streaming on Netflix.

16. tick, tick... Boom!

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s feature directorial debut packs a potent musical theater punch from every angle. He brings to life the selective reality and theatrical phantasmagoria of Rent writer Jonathan Larson’s life and career, based on an autobiographical show from 1992.

Miranda, whose In the Heights was spectacularly adapted for film by Jon M. Chu, proves as adept at moving from stage to screen as he does sucking the marrow of his medium. Andrew Garfield fully inhabits Larson, from voice to body to towering, buzzing hair and a frenetic urgency to create — to write, to sing, to matter, as Larson so clearly did to legions of dreamers who followed.* — P.K.

How to watch: tick, tick...Boom! is streaming on Netflix.

17. Monty Python and the Holy Grail Credit: Moviestore / Shutterstock

There are tons of great Monty Python films to pick from (including Life of Brian, which is also streaming on Netflix), but The Holy Grail holds a special place in our hearts. It's endlessly quotable, stupidly funny, and captures everything that made this comedy team spectacular. Not to mention it forever changed how we see coconuts, swallows, hamsters, and elderberries. — A.F.

How to watch: Monty Python and the Holy Grail is streaming on Netflix.

18. Frances Ha 

When Frances Ha (a never-better Greta Gerwig), during an ill-planned jaunt to Paris, gives a speech to a group of strangers over dinner about that thing, you know, where you see somebody who perfectly understands you across a room during a party? That’s when the movie gets its hook into me. And when what Frances described plays itself out perfectly at the end of Noah Baumbach’s black-and-white 2012 masterpiece, with her forever bestie Sophie (Mickey Sumner) spotting her across a room and smiling with all the communication in all the world passing between them? That’s when I am dragged into this perfect movie’s loving embrace all over again. And again. And again. 

It's been about a decade since its release, and Frances Ha was already a bit of a time capsule of a precise moment and place in time when it came out. Still, the low-fi indie timelessly transcends those specifics, capturing something ineffable about friendship and self-actualization in the smallest, sweetest, clumsiest of increments. — J.A.

How to watch: Frances Ha is streaming on Netflix.

19. Roma Credit: Netflix

The first foreign-language film to win an Oscar for Best Director, Alfonso Cuarón's Roma greets viewers at the intersection of personal reflection and cinematic excellence. The black-and-white film follows live-in housekeeper Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), an Indigenous woman who works for an affluent family in Mexico City, finding a sense of humanity that is uniquely memorable. — A.F.

How to watch: Roma is now streaming on Netflix.

20. Farha

Based on a real Palestinian girl's story, Darin J. Sallam's debut feature film follows 14-year-old Farha (Karam Taher), who dreams of moving from her Palestinian village into the city so she can go to school instead of getting married. But it's 1948 in Palestine, just as the first Nakba, or "catastrophe" in Arabic, was taking place, and far more horrifying things are about to interrupt Farha's hopes.

Instead of trying to show the expansive historical details of the Nakba, Sallam’s Farha presents everything through the eyes of its young protagonist. We follow Farha as she's forced to separate from her family and best friend as Israel's militia arrives to wreak havoc in her village. Though an incredibly difficult film to watch, it's also a powerful film that tells a rare story of Palestinian history and perseverance through the vantage point of an innocent child. — O.W.

How to watch: Farha is streaming on Netflix.

21. I'm Thinking of Ending Things Credit: Mary Cybulski / Netflix

Emotional demolitions expert/filmmaker Charlie Kaufman destroys audiences once more in the mind-boggling I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Adapted from Iain Reid's novel of the same name, this cryptically titled psychological thriller follows a woman, played by Jessie Buckley, and her boyfriend, played by Jesse Plemons, on a disturbing visit to his parents' remote farmhouse. What follows? Well, that depends on who you ask.

A transfixing meditation on art, existence, value, authorship, isolation, and more, I'm Thinking of Ending Things is a truly one-of-a-kind experience as profound as it is disquieting. You may not have a great time in this house of abstract horrors (especially when Toni Collette is on-screen doing those classically terrifying Toni Collette things), but it will be a lasting one.* — A.F.

How to watch: I'm Thinking of Ending Things is streaming on Netflix.

22. RRR 

Put on your dancing shoes and prepare to punch a tiger in the face, because S. S. Rajamouli's three-plus-hour action epic is here to pound you into submission, and you'll be smiling for every second of it. Making Zack Snyder's grandiosity look like a flea circus, RRR (which stands for "Rise Roar Revolt") tells the simple and modest tale of two revolutionaries (played by human supermen N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan) in 1920 who become friends, enemies, friends again, and on and so forth, until they storm and spin and punch and slash their way across half of the British army.

RRR features about a dozen action scenes that should rank among the most phenomenal spectacles ever put on screen (I'm particular to the fight that nearly burns down an entire jungle, myself), but we all know it's the "Naatu Naatu" dance competition that keeps the boys and girls coming back for more. — J.A.

How to watch: RRR is streaming on Netflix.

23. Catfight

If you loved Killing Eve, you gotta watch Catfight, a movie where two women spend the entire film trying to kill one another. Sandra Oh stars alongside the late Anne Heche in this deliciously nasty black comedy about two former college friends who hate each other and reunite by chance. 

Veronica (Oh) is a miserable trophy wife; Ashley (Heche) is a pissed-off, struggling artist, and both women are raging, toxic jerks. When they meet in a stairwell at a party, years of bottled-up rage explodes, and the two viciously punch, kick, and strangle the hell out of each other. Cut to two years later, when one of them wakes up from a coma. Yes, Catfight is incredibly dark, bubbling with crude humor and gnarly violence, and may not be for everyone. Yet there's something exhilarating about watching female characters — especially with the tremendous duo of Oh and Heche, who fight, yell, and insult with such ferocity — get a chance to unleash their rage in ways male characters have done for decades. — O.W.

How to watch: Catfight is streaming on Netflix.

24. It Follows

Sex kills in It Follows, literally. In David Robert Mitchell's fantastic indie horror film, Maika Monroe's Jay becomes the latest target of a mysterious and invisible entity after she has sex with her boyfriend (Jake Weary). Now she has to have sex with someone else to pass on the curse; until then, she'll be stalked by random strangers who are trying to kill her. A minimalist horror premise, It Follows works so well because it refrains from explaining too much and instead relies on creating a total atmosphere of paranoia. It's a masterclass in suspenseful, style-soaked filmmaking, using creeping zooms and 360-degree POV pans to ratchet up the psychological anxiety, plus a synth-heavy score that evokes the dread of vintage John Carpenter. Beware, you will leave this movie doing a double take at every shadowy corner. — O.W.

How to watch: It Follows is streaming on Netflix.

25. Nimona Credit: Netflix

Nimona transports audiences to a futuristic medieval world where knight Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed) is on the run for a crime he did not commit. However, it's his label as a "villain" that brings shapeshifter Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz) into his life. More comfortable as a shark than a human girl, Nimona is a delightfully deviant fiend who wants nothing more than to stick it to the all-powerful Institute. She and Ballister make quite the odd pair — she wants to wreak havoc, he just wants to clear his name — but together, they may just defeat an evil lurking in their kingdom.

Between some electrifying fight scenes and its graphic animation style, Nimona is a blast of a viewing experience. But its message and LGBTQ visibility is what truly sets it apart. Not only is Ballister's relationship with knight Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang) a key element of the film, but Nimona's own fluidity and negotiation of her identity calls to mind transness in a meaningful, important way.* — B.E.

How to watch: Nimona is now streaming on Netflix.

Need even more streaming recommendations? Mashable Streaming Guides can help. You can find:

• Best thrillers on Netflix

• Best action flicks on Netflix

• Best romantic comedies on Netflix

• Best horror movies on Netflix

• Best family films on Netflix

• And even the most ridiculous teen dramas. Seriously, we have ALL the streaming advice.

Asterisks (*) indicate the entry comes from a previous Mashable list.

Opens in a new window Credit: Netflix Sign up for a Netflix subscription! Shop Now

Good news, iOS users in the EU!

Apple has announced that it's reversing its previously announced decision to no longer support home screen web apps, also known as Progressive Web Apps (PWA), on the iPhone. As of Friday, March 1, 2024, EU users will continue to be able to install and use home screen web apps on iOS going forward. 

SEE ALSO: Apple EV car killed: 5 reasons the rumored project was scrapped

The home screen web app feature allows users to install certain websites as standalone apps on their iOS devices. This allows users to have quick access to websites, as well as other app functionalities, that may not have an iOS application.

Certain developers and users in the EU who had installed the most recent beta version of iOS were surprised to find that it removed home screen web app capabilities. But they can soon expect an update which restores the feature on their devices. Apple says iOS 17.4, which will be released in early march, will return the functionality to those users.

Why did Apple remove home screen web apps in the EU to begin with?

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is a new EU regulation that requires companies like Apple to open up their core platforms in order to spur competition in markets where big tech has overwhelming power and influence.

For example, under the DMA, Apple has been forced to allow alternative marketplaces to compete with the App Store when it comes to distributing apps on the iPhone.

Apple is currently preparing for the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to officially go into effect in the EU this month. Along with the required App Store change, Apple has made other tweaks as mandated by the DMA. However, Apple's interpretation of these new regulations has resulted in the company making controversial decisions which have sparked criticism from other big tech companies. 

Meta, Microsoft, Spotify, and others have blasted Apple for its DMA-inspired app distribution scheme. For instance, developers balked when they learned that they may actually end up having to pay Apple more to put their app in an alternative marketplace than they would have if they just continued to operate within the official App Store. 

Tweet may have been deleted

Microsoft and Meta have both lobbied to the EU to take action against Apple's new policies, arguing that Apple's "malicious compliance" does not uphold the actual intent of the DMA regulations.

When it comes to home screen web apps, Apple previously claimed that the DMA would force Apple to alter its home screen web app rules as well. The company said that due to vulnerabilities and potential malicious uses, it was going to kill off the feature.

"Previously, Apple announced plans to remove the Home Screen web apps capability in the EU as part of our efforts to comply with the DMA," Apple said in their new statement regarding the reversal of their decision to discontinue PWAs on iOS. "The need to remove the capability was informed by the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps to support alternative browser engines that would require building a new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS."

"We have received requests to continue to offer support for Home Screen web apps in iOS, therefore we will continue to offer the existing Home Screen web apps capability in the EU," the statement from Apple continued. "This support means Home Screen web apps continue to be built directly on WebKit and its security architecture, and align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS."

Apple's recent response is remarkable as the company previously stated that its decision to just remove home screen web apps was because it had "very low user adoption." Apparently, the blowback was significant enough for the company to reconsider.

So, Apple has officially reversed course on one unpopular decision that it once claimed was necessary due to the new EU regulations. Time will tell if Apple will decide – or be forced — change its unpopular alternative marketplace policies too.

RIP to Facebook's News tab. My friend's moms loved you so much.

Next month, Meta will get rid of Facebook News, its news hub located in the platform's bookmarks section, in the U.S. and Australia. It already got rid of Facebook News in the UK, France, and Germany, and this move should come as no surprise to anyone who's been following Meta's continued attempts to distance its platforms from politics and news.

The company said it's getting rid of the tab to "focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform, including short-form video." That's right folks, no more news on Facebook so the platform can spend more time and money on Reels.

SEE ALSO: Why you might not see news on Facebook or Instagram in Canada

 "We know that people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content — they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions and interests," Meta said in a blog post. "As we previously shared in 2023, news makes up less than 3 percent of what people around the world see in their Facebook feed, and is a small part of the Facebook experience for the vast majority of people."

You'll still be able to view links to news articles and follow news publishers on their Facebook pages and accounts. But the news tab garnered millions of dollars in content deals for publishers, which will all be going away. As the blog post said, there will be no new commercial deals for news, and it won't offer any "new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future." 

If you, for some reason, want to download your Facebooks News data, visit your Facebook information in your profile settings.

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, just became a slightly safer space for its transgender users – even if Elon Musk would prefer his right-wing fans not pay too much attention to it.

On Thursday, tech news outlet Ars Technica noticed that the Musk-owned social media platform quietly added new rules to its "Abuse and Harassment" policies. Under a newly added section titled "Use of Prior Names and Pronouns," X added policies that protect the site's transgender users from misgendering and dead naming harassment. 

SEE ALSO: On Threads, users say they're flooded with pro-life and transphobic posts

The new X policy reads as follows:

"We will reduce the visibility of posts that purposefully use different pronouns to address someone other than what that person uses for themselves, or that use a previous name that someone no longer goes by as part of their transition. Given the complexity of determining whether such a violation has occurred, we must always hear from the target to determine if a violation has occurred."

Basically, these new rules discourage targeted harassment of individual transgender users by using incorrect pronouns or addressing them by their former name prior to their transition. It should be noted that X is not prohibiting this type of content outright, just making it harder to find. 

These new policies aren't perfect but they are certainly welcome additions to X. GLAAD's senior director of social media safety Jenni Olson told Ars Technica that while the self-reporting mechanism required by the targeted user is not ideal, X's specificity in discouraging anti-trans harassment by explicitly creating rules around deadnaming and misgendering is a step in the right direction. 

Previous transgender protections removed by Musk

This rule change is an uncharacteristic move for the platform under Musk.

X, then known as Twitter, used to have policies in place prohibiting deadnaming and misgendering of users on the platform. 

Those rules read as follows:

"We prohibit targeting others with repeated slurs, tropes or other content that intends to degrade or reinforce negative or harmful stereotypes about a protected category. This includes targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals. In some cases, such as (but not limited to) severe, repetitive usage of slurs, or racist/sexist tropes where the context is to harass or intimidate others, we may require Tweet removal. In other cases, such as (but not limited to) moderate, isolated usage where the context is to harass or intimidate others, we may limit Tweet visibility as further described below."

Then, in April of last year, just months after Musk acquired the platform, those anti-trans harassment rules were quietly removed from Twitter's policies.

Further signaling support for the right-wing audience Musk has cultivated over the past few years, the X-owner even went so far as declaring the terms "cisgender" and "cis" to be slurs that sometimes even appear with a warning label on the platform.

Musk receives backlash from the right-wing

X's new rules discouraging harassment of trans users are a bit weaker than the guidelines it had in place last year. Most notable is the fact that these hate posts won't be removed nor will users be suspended for publishing them. X will just limit the visibility of this type of content so fewer users see it in their feeds. 

Also, interestingly, the new policy doesn't use the terms "misgendering" or "deadnaming," even though it does describe what the terms are.

It's unclear exactly why X has somewhat reversed course. Since Musk has taken over X, the company has lost significant advertising revenue due in part to hate speech permeating on the platform. The move to make X a marginally safer place for even more of its users is also a likely move to make it a safer place for advertisers to spend their money.

However, Musk's right-wing fanbase have already voiced their disapproval of these new rules.

For example, the owner of the anti-LGBTQ account "Libs of TikTok" Chaya Raichik tested out the new rules by purposefully misgendering transgender influencers and celebrities in a post and telling users to find her on her other account if she gets suspended over it.

"You're not going to get suspended," Musk replied.

Tweet may have been deleted

Raichik responded by complaining that she will still get "shadowbanned" and lose visibility. When Raichik asked why there needed to be a change, Musk said that the new rules were "just about the repeated, targeted harassment of an individual or person."

Tweet may have been deleted

But, these assurances from Musk were not enough. Right-wing X users continued to complain that their anti-trans harassment wouldn't be promoted on the platform.

And it appears the right-wing blowback may work, as Musk has already signaled he may relent.

Replying to a user complaining about the new policy leading to "censorship," Musk replied:

"Looking into it."

Tweet may have been deleted

Ready to get a headstart on all your spring cleaning? You're going to need a great vacuum. As of March 1, you can save up to 27% on select Bissell vacuums and carpet cleaners at Amazon.

Bissell vacuum and carpet cleaner deals Best upright vacuum deal Bissell CleanView Swivel Upright Bagless Vacuum $106.44 (Save $12) Get Deal Best carpet cleaner for pets deal Bissell SpotClean Pet Pro Portable Carpet Cleaner $128.64 (Save $46.45) Get Deal Best carpet and upholstery cleaner deal Bissell Little Green Multi-Purpose Portable Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner $98 at Amazon (Save $25.59) Get Deal

Spring is finally on its way, and you know what that means: tidying up the house you've left languishing since the dead of winter. Empty those dustbins, change those sheets, and most importantly, vacuum all those nooks and crannies! While you're at it, vacuum the whole house. Spring cleaning is serious business.

Because it's serious business, you'll want to make sure you have a great vacuums and other cleaning tools to handle it all. And now's a great time to buy one, because over at Amazon, you can save up to 27% on some of Bissell's best-selling vacuums and carpet and upholstery cleaners.

Whether you want to bring home a new upright vacuum or you need to give your carpets and furniture some special TLC, there are a few great deals you won't want to miss out on. Who said spring cleaning had to cost you an arm and a leg, anyway?

Best upright vacuum deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Bissell CleanView Swivel Upright Bagless Vacuum $106.44 at Amazon
$118.44 Save $12.00 Get Deal

The Bissell CleanView Swivel Upright Bagless Vacuum offers powerful suction with a triple-action brush roll to hoover up pet hair, dirt, and other debris, whether it's in the path of your vacuum or hidden along the edges and in the corners of your room. It can even loosen pet hair (and human hair) that clings stubbornly to carpet. Vacuum full? Just empty the dirt tank with one button press, and you can get back to vacuuming the rest of your home.

Best carpet cleaner for pets deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Bissell SpotClean Pet Pro Portable Carpet Cleaner $128.64 at Amazon
$175.09 Save $46.45 Shop Now

Pets are adorable, but they make pet messes. If you find yourself routinely cleaning up after your best furry friend, the Bissell SpotClean Pet Pro Portable Carpet Cleaner is a great option to keep your house as clean as you can, or at least until you replace your carpets. It's a spot and stain cleaner you can use across your carpets, upholstery, and even your car. Its tough scrubbing action and suction means you can work out new and old stains, dirt, and other issues with your carpet as long as you're willing to scrub. It has a stain tool, stain trapper, and trial size of special cleaner for pet messes to help you get started.

Best carpet cleaner and upholstery deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Bissell Little Green Multi-Purpose Portable Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner $98.00 at Amazon
$123.59 Save $25.59 Shop Now

The Bissell Little Green Multi-Purpose Portable Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner can handle a variety of messy situations with gusto, thanks to its self-cleaning hose and spraying crevice tool. You can clean out all those hard-to-reach areas, like the nooks and crannies of your couch that haven't seen a thorough cleaning in ages. Or the inside of a pet carrier that your furry friend has gotten sick in (don't ask). With a 48 oz. tank, you'll be able to clean for a while, and you can take it throughout your home to hit small spots with a cleaning burst or park it in one place for an all-over scrub.

40% OFF: Deep clean without breaking the bank! Shark upright and stick vacuums are up to 40% off at Amazon.

Our top picks: Best deal overall Shark NV352 Navigator Lift Away Upright Vacuum $149.99 at Amazon (save $50) Get Deal Best runner-up deal Shark HS152AMZ UltraLight Pet Plus Corded Stick Vacuum $149.99 at Amazon (save $100 ) Get Deal Best budget deal Shark NV105 Navigator Light Upright Vacuum $137.65 at Amazon (save $12.34) Get Deal

Having a reliable vacuum is pretty much non-negotiable, especially if you have pets. (I have two beagles, and I vacuum twice a day, every day.) But with the prices of vacuums nowadays, finding one that fits your budget without sacrificing quality can be difficult.

SEE ALSO: The best robot vacuums for every budget

Fortunately, retailers like Amazon and other online stores often offer sales and deals on vacuums, making it easier to find a high-quality Shark vacuum at an affordable price. With spring right around the corner, we've noticed several spring cleaning sales popping up on Amazon, with discounts of up to 40% off Shark vacuums.

Here are our top picks for the best Shark vacuum deals you can find on Amazon this week:

Best Shark deal overall Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Our pick: Shark NV352 Navigator Lift Away Upright Vacuum $149.99 at Amazon
$199.99 Save $50.00 Get Deal Why we like it

You can get a Shark NV352 Navigator Lift Away Upright Vacuum for just $149.99 at Amazon.

This vacuum has powerful suction and a Lift-Away feature that gives you the option to turn your upright vacuum into a portable canister vacuum. It's also great for deep-cleaning carpets or tidying up hard floors with its brush roll shut-off feature.

With swivel steering, pet hair pickup attachments (like an upholstery tool), and a crevice tool, you can clean your entire home with this versatile vacuum.

Best runner-up Shark deal Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Our pick: Shark HS152AMZ UltraLight Pet Plus Corded Stick Vacuum $149.99 at Amazon
$249.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Why we like it

You can get the Shark HS152AMZ UltraLight Pet Plus Corded Stick Vacuum for the same price as the above model.

This corded stick vac is ideal for pet owners who need a lightweight and compact vacuum. It's only 10 pounds, features a removable hand vacuum that weighs around three pounds and has powerful suction to tackle pet hair and dander.

With a removable dust cup, pet crevice tool, pet multi-tool, and swivel steering, this Shark vacuum is a solid choice for pet parents who are fed up with constant shedding.

Best budget Shark deal Opens in a new window Credit: Shark Our pick: Shark NV105 Navigator Light Upright Vacuum $137.65 at Amazon
$149.99 Save $12.34 Get Deal Why we like it

If you're on a tight budget, the Shark NV105 Navigator Light Upright Vacuum is a top-notch vac at an affordable price.

This upright vacuum has over 4,500 Amazon reviews with an average 4.5-star rating. It can easily clean carpets, hardwood, tile, and vinyl floors thanks to its powerful suction and brush roll shutoff feature that allows you to switch between different floor types in seconds.

It also includes a duster, crevice, and upholstery tool to get those hard-to-reach areas.

More deals on Shark vacuums:

• Shark NV360 Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe Upright Vacuum — $169.99 $219.99 (save $50)

• Shark NV501 Rotator Professional Lift-Away Upright Vacuum — $219.99 $299.99 (save $80)

• Shark NV752 Rotator Powered Lift-Away TruePet Upright Vacuum — $269.99 $319.99 (save $50)

Overview Best for iPhone users Apple AirPods Pro (Gen 2) $189 at Amazon (Save $60) Shop Now Most affordable Panasonic RP-HJE120 In-Ear Stereo Earphones $9.99 at Amazon (Save $1) Shop Now Best earbuds with a built-in remote Apple EarPods Headphones with Lightning Connector $15.99 at Amazon Shop Now Most secure fit Power Beats Pro Wireless Earbuds $249.95 at Amazon (Save $50) Shop Now Best earbuds for audiophiles Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 $279.95 (Save $91.96) Shop Now Best budget sports earbuds Stiive Bluetooth Sports Earbuds $19.99 at Amazon (Save $1) Shop Now Best for commuters Samsung Galaxy Pro Earbuds $199.99 at Amazon (Save $40) Shop Now

Sure, they're small, but that doesn't mean earbuds are a purchase to be taken lightly.

You've probably been listening to music on the go for most of your life. So you know that finding a good pair of earbuds is actually pretty tricky. (I've gone through more in my lifetime than I can count.)

SEE ALSO: The best wireless earbuds: Our top 8 picks for the best sound on the go

Does that mean all earbuds are crap? No. It's simply not true that bass, noise cancellation, and crisp sound can only be found in fancy over-ear headphones. Some of us prefer our headphones to be a little more inconspicuous and portable.

Since it's always good to get a personal recommendation, we did some research and pulled out the best earbuds on Amazon. You'll find earbuds that require a headphone jack or the beloved dongle, wireless Bluetooth earbuds that still have a connecting cord, and the truly wireless earbuds that are as discreet as you can get. Whatever your preference and whatever your price range, you're sure to find some that don't suck.

Earbuds versus earphones: What’s the difference? 

The difference between earbuds and earphones is actually pretty simple. Earphones typically fit over your ear — if you've seen the AirPods Max, you've seen what a typical pair of over-ear headphones look like. Earbuds actually fit inside of your ear, like the Powerbeats Pro or AirPods Pro. 

You can find fantastic versions of either style; your choice will just come down to personal preference. Earphones typically aren't as harsh on your ears, featuring soft earcups to prevent soreness, but earbuds are a lot more compact and funnel audio directly into your eardrums. Earbuds can usually get a better seal for enhanced noise-cancelation, too. 

Ready to shop? Read on below for the best earbuds on Amazon.

Best for iPhone users: Apple AirPods Pro (Gen 2) Opens in a new window Credit: Stan Schroeder / Mashable Apple AirPods Pro (Gen 2) $189.00 at Amazon
$249.00 Save $60.00 Shop Now

Read our full review of Apple AirPods Pro (Gen 2) earbuds.

Who it's for:

Anyone that owns an iPhone will appreciate Apple's flagship wireless earbuds, which offer impressive value even considering the relatively high price tag. There are cheaper AirPods available in 2024, but if you care about stellar sound, these are the best earbuds on Amazon for the money.

Why we picked this:

The latest Apple AirPods Pro have some modest improvements over the original Pro model, but the addition of USB-C charging justifies the upgrade in our opinion. And in terms of performance, these earbuds are still the gold standard for Apple customers. They offer impressive battery life, improved active noise cancellation, sweat and water resistance, and all-day battery life (and then some).

Battery life: 30 hours | Active noise cancellation: Yes | Microphone: Yes

Most affordable: Panasonic RP-HJE120 In-Ear Stereo Earphones Opens in a new window Credit: Panasonic Panasonic RP-HJE120 In-Ear Stereo Earphones $8.99 at Amazon
$9.99 Save $1.00 Shop Now Who it's for:

If you're not looking for over-the-top sound features and just need a pair to get the job done, these are for you.

Why we picked this:

You shouldn't pick a pair of earbuds simply because of an attractive low price, but that's not to say that quality earbuds can't be 10 bucks. The Panasonic RP-HJE120-PPK In-Ear Stereo Earphones have a super comfy ergo-fit bud that's said to conform to the shape of your ear. If you're not looking for over-the-top sound features and just need a pair to get the job done, these are for you — though some customers also mention that their noise blocking and bass clarity is pretty impressive for such a low price.

Battery life: n/a | Active noise cancellation: No | Microphone: No

Best earbuds with a built-in remote: Apple EarPods with Lightning Connector Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple EarPods with Lightning Connector $15.99 at Amazon
Shop Now Who it's for:

They're a classic for a reason. The earbuds were literally built for your iPhone. Plus, unlike your average pair of $16 earbuds, they do come with an integrated microphone for phone calls.

Why we picked this:

If you want Apple Air Pods but aren't sure you're ready for the commitment yet, the classic Apple EarPods with Lightning Connector are a great, inexpensive substitute in the meantime. These wired, lightning connector earphones were designed by Apple for your Apple device. They work with all devices that have a lightning connector and support iOS 10 or later. This includes iPod touches, iPads, and iPhones.

The Apple EarPods don't have the traditional circular bud design, but the style is actually built around the shape of the ear. Although it depends on the person, they're supposed to be more comfortable than other earbud-style headphones. There were also engineered to increase sound output and decrease sound loss. In layman's terms: the've got great, crisp sound while limiting outside noises.

The most impressive feature of the EarPods is the built-in remote. With the touch of a button, you can change the volume, pause, play, rewind, and skip audio and video, and answer or end calls.

But, don't expect these buds to last a while (only a couple of months). Too many bumps to the old lightning jack and these buds will become super glitchy. If you want a pair of earbuds with great remote-controlled features that you know will work with your Apple device, these pair are for you. We recommend getting them directly from the Apple store because unfortunately there are a lot of scams out there.

Battery life: n/a | Active noise cancellation: No | Microphone: Yes

Most secure fit: Power Beats Pro Wireless Earbuds Opens in a new window Credit: Beats Power Beats Pro Wireless Earbuds $199.95 at Amazon
$249.95 Save $50.00 Shop Now Who it's for:

These earbuds combine Beats quality sound with convenience and comfort. While they work particularly well with iPhones and other Apple products, anyone can appreciate the comfortable fit and big sound.

Why we picked this:

Beats is known for its quality sound and high performance. Of course, these earbuds are no different, bringing you the same sound that you love and your playlist deserves while also offering quality comfort. 

Designed for those on the move, the Power Beats Pro totally wireless earbuds are both sweat and water resistant. And with nine straight hours of listening time these earbuds will last long after you leave the gym. Plus, with the charging case you get up to 24 hours of listening.

Battery life: 24 hours | Active noise cancellation: No | Microphone: Yes

Best earbuds for audiophiles: Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 Opens in a new window Credit: Sennheiser Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 $187.99 at Amazon
$279.95 Save $91.96 Shop Now Who it's for:

For music lovers and people who appreciate strong ANC and ambient sound passthrough, these earbuds are our top pick for sound quality.

Why we picked this:

Are you or a loved one a passionate (at times annoying) audiophile? With the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 Earbuds you won't be complaining about glitchy sounds or subpar bass anymore.

These buds are superior when it comes to customizing your audio experience. You can tailor your earbuds to your specifications by downloading the Sennheiser Smart Control app. They have so many customizable features with the built-in equalizer and pre-sets, like Bass Boost and Sound Personalization. There's even a guided listening test to perfect your earbuds.

The Adaptive Noise Cancellation mode lets you block out noises for a more immersive music experience -- without the distractions. But, in case you're worried about being too distracted by your music, Transparency Mode keeps you grounded in the real world. You can specify the sounds you want to be alerted to in noise cancellation mode like traffic or alarms.

Many audiophile reviewers love the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 Earbuds for its incredible play time and impressive, customizable features. If you want earbuds with supreme sound that feel uniquely yours, the iconic Sennheiser's are just what you're lookin for.

Battery life: 28 hours | Active noise cancellation: Yes | Microphone: Yes

Best budget sports earbuds: Stiive Bluetooth Sports Earbuds Opens in a new window Credit: Stiive Stiive Bluetooth Sports Earbuds $18.99 at Amazon
$19.99 Save $1.00 Shop Now Who it's for:

If you need a pair of wireless earbuds for the gym that you can afford to lose, then these affordable buds are a smart pick thanks to IPX7 waterproofing. Sweatproof and equipped with a comfortable ear hook, these little guys are great for vigorous workouts.

Why we picked this:

Hey gym addicts: The Stiive Bluetooth Sports Earbuds are a sweat-resistant, durable pair of earbuds great for all your gym needs.

With the ear-hook and earbud design, you won't have to worry about your earphones falling out during your most strenuous workouts like running, cycling, lifting, and more. They come with four eartip sizes (XS, S, M, and L) to better fit your ear.

These workout headphones can withstand sweat or rain because of the buds' nano-coating protective tech. Not only do they have authentic sound and bass but, these buds also has a CVC6.0 noise-canceling microphone which helps filter out background noise and capture your voice when answering calls.

For a pair of earbuds under $20 with great sound, a secure fit, and sweat-proof design, the Stiive sports earbuds are a great value for gym bros that want to listen while they workout.

Battery life: 16 hours | Active noise cancellation: No | Microphone: No

Best for commuters: Samsung Galaxy Pro Earbuds Opens in a new window Credit: Samsung Samsung Galaxy Pro Earbuds $159.99 at Amazon
$199.99 Save $40.00 Shop Now Who it's for:

Samsung's earbuds have everything commuters need for the trek to and from the office (and are great all-rounders in general).

Why we picked this:

The top-of-the-line model from Samsung’s lineup of great quality earbuds, these buds offer a ton of features in two little packages. They’re especially great for taking calls on the go, thanks to call settings including voice detection and background noise reduction that kicks in when you start talking. If you’re just listening to music, a more thorough noise cancellation feature also kicks in to help you tune out when you’re listening to your favorite playlist.

One of our favorite features is Ambient Sound mode, which is a four-level system that lets in different levels of ambient noise from your immediate surroundings, which is great for keeping a bit safer while listening to music and walking or running city streets. 

Plus, if you’re a Samsung Galaxy owner, you can pair the two together for cross-device coordination.

Battery life: 24 hours | Active noise cancellation: Yes | Microphone: Yes

Overview Best overall Sony WH-1000XM4 $348 at Amazon Shop Now Best for Apple users Apple AirPods Max $479.99 at Amazon (Save $69.01) Shop Now Best for style Beats Studio3 $169 at Amazon (Save $180.95) Shop Now Budget pick Sony WH-CH510 $49.99 at Amazon (Save $10) Shop Now

Even though wired headphones have "It" girl status with Gen Z, some of us prefer our headphones to be wireless with Bluetooth connectivity. Plenty of devices don't even have headphone jacks anymore, so going wireless is honestly the easier choice. You don't have to carry around any extra dongles to plug your headphones into your phone.

If you prefer over-ear and on-ear style headphones to earbuds, this is for you. You don't have to worry about headphones being true wireless, because unlike earbuds, headphones don't need to be attached by any unnecessary cords — they're true wireless by nature.

SEE ALSO: The best wireless earbuds: Our top 8 picks for the best sound on the go

Headphones create a natural seal over your ears to block out exterior noise, so even if they aren't noise canceling, they will still do a decent job preventing unwanted sound from interfering with your music or podcast.

We rounded up our favorite wireless headphones based on our own reviews and customer reviews. They range in quality, features, and price, so there's a little something for everyone.

Best overall: Sony WH-1000XM4 Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Sony WH-1000XM4 $348.00 at Amazon
Shop Now Who it's for:

If you have the budget, Sony's XM line offers the best mix of stellar noise-cancellation, comfort, and all-day battery life. Keep in mind there is a newer model available, the XM5 headphones. However, these offer only small improvements, so we recommend saving $50 on the XM4 generation.

Why we picked this:

The Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones have superior sound quality and noise cancellation. They're comparable to the Sennheiser PXC 550-II headphones, but have a more stylish look in our opinion — the ear cups are less bulky. 

One stand-out feature these Sony headphones have is that they can pick up when you speak or someone is speaking to you and they automatically pause your music. To be honest, this can get a little annoying if you're somewhere surrounded by people talking or you just talk to yourself a lot. But luckily you can turn this feature off in the app.

Battery life: 30 hours | Colors: Black, navy, white | Noise cancellation: Yes

Best for Apple users: Apple AirPods Max Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple AirPods Max $479.99 at Amazon
$549.00 Save $69.01 Shop Now

Read our full review of the AirPods Max headphones.

Who it's for:

Price may be a deterrent, but the AirPods Max are a great pair of headphones for Apple fanatics. Your music has never sounded better, and the immersive spatial audio is incredible for movie buffs.

Why we picked this:

AirPods Pro do a decent job blocking out noise, but they can't compete with the noise cancellation or comfort of the AirPods Max. The sound quality of AirPods Max also outshines the earbuds. The audio is immersive, bass is thumpy, and music won't flatten at high volumes.

Aesthetically, the AirPods Max look cool, but they're massive if you have a smaller head, and they are heavy and uncomfortable for people who wear with glasses. Controls are housed in a Digital Crown, which is like the little wheel on the side of an Apple Watch. You can raise/lower volume, play/pause/answer calls, skip and rewind tracks, and trigger Siri.

We don't love the price, however. Even when they're on sale, they cost well over $450, but you're paying a premium for sound quality and the ineffable Apple cool factor.

Battery life: 20 hours | Colors: Black, navy, silver, mint, red | Noise cancellation: Yes

Best for style: Beats Studio3 Opens in a new window Credit: Beats Beats Studio3 $349.95 at Amazon
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Read our full review of the Beats Studio3 headphones.

Who it's for:

These Beats have smooth Bluetooth connection and Apple's powerful W1 chip. For the price, they also have a very impressive battery, with enough juice for listening to your music all day long even with ANC engaged.

Why we picked this:

A few years ago, the Beats Studio3 headphones got an upgrade with Apple's W1 chip, which boosts the Studio3's Bluetooth and battery performance. The Bluetooth improvements allow for a smoother connection (for Android and iOS), so there shouldn't be any signal drops. 

Adaptive noice cancellation technology helps quiet the outside world, while audio calibration keeps things clear. The battery will last you about 22 hours with noise cancellation turned on, and up to 40 hours with ANC turned off. 

Battery life: 40 hours | Colors: Black, navy, silver, red | Noise cancellation: Yes

Budget pick: Sony WH-CH510 Opens in a new window Credit: Sony Sony WH-CH510 $49.99 at Amazon
$59.99 Save $10.00 Shop Now Who it's for:

There's no noise cancellation, but for the price, these are quality headphones with a strong battery.

Why we picked this:

If you're OK with forgoing noise cancellation, the Sony WH-CH510 wireless headphones can save you some serious cash. These affordable headphones are best for casual listening and won't blow you away with ultra-impressive sound quality, but they are still Sony, so the sound quality isn't bad by any means. 

The headphones can get a little uncomfortable after extended wear, and they're on-ear headphones, so your ears may get sore. Even as on-ear wireless headphones, they do create a decent seal for your music. 

Battery life: 35 hours | Colors: Black | Noise cancellation: No

Now that the weather's starting to warm up, it's time to get out there and get moving. Be sure to record those runs and workouts with a fitness tracker that you can save on right now.

Best Fitness Tracker Deals Best Apple fitness tracker deal Apple Watch Series 9 (45mm, GPS) $379 at Amazon (Save $50) Get Deal Best Fitbit fitness tracker deal Fitbit Charge 6 $129.95 (Save $30 at Amazon) Get Deal Best Garmin fitness tracker deal Garmin Forerunner 745 $349.99 at Amazon (Save $50) Get Deal

Whether you're dedicated to mapping your runs or checking to see if you're getting the right amount of sleep, a fitness tracker is a helpful tool for getting in shape or maintaining a routine. The only rub? Sometimes, the trackers with more features can be a bit spendy.

But we're here to help. As of Feb. 29, you can save on a number of great fitness tracker models on sale today. From one of our favorites, the Apple Watch Series 9, to robust picks from Fitbit and Garmin, you can get one of these options for a little less cash.

Check out some of our picks for the best fitness trackers on sale now.

Best Apple fitness tracker deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Apple Watch Series 9 (45mm, GPS) $379.00 at Amazon
$429.00 Save $50.00 Get Deal

We love the Apple Watch Series 9 so much, we named it one of our favorite fitness trackers. It's the perfect choice for anyone who already heavily relies on Apple products. Powered by the A15 bionic chip and a 64-bit dual-core processor, it comes with a wide variety of fitness-focused sensors, including ways to track your workout with heart rate zones, power, elevation, and more. While it's currently without the blood oxygen sensor it launched with due to a patent dispute, it's still very much worth picking up.

Best Fitbit fitness tracker deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Fitbit Charge 6 $129.95
$159.95 Save $30.00 Get Deal

The Fitbit Charge 6 brings with it a slew of new features from its previous iteration. It offers real-time heart rate monitoring, oxygen saturation sensors, stress and sleep managements scoring, 40 exercise modes, support for Google Maps to track your runs, and much more, all in an aesthetically pleasing package. Plus, when you buy one at Amazon, you get a free six-month Premium Membership that opens up additional workout options to fill out the rest of your fitness journey.

Best Garmin fitness tracker deal Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon Garmin Forerunner 745 $349.99
$399.99 Save $50.00 Get Deal

The Garmin Forerunner 745 is one of our favorite running watches. It comes with a wide variety of granular tracking features that really break down what you're accomplishing with each session, including stride length, balance, and cadence. It can also track your intensity minutes while you exercise as well as your training load and blod oxygen saturation. It looks great on the wrist with its large round screen, too.

When it comes to playing music on the go, sometimes you need more than just your trusted pair of headphones, especially if you want to share your music with others. In these cases, you need a portable Bluetooth speaker for the job.

Today's best portable Bluetooth speaker deals as of Mar. 1: Best portable speaker for surround sound Bose SoundLink Revolve+ $229 (save $100) Get Deal Best portable speaker for camping Tribit Wireless Portable Speaker $47.99 (save $32) Get Deal Best portable speaker for biking Bose SoundLink Micro Bluetooth Speaker $99 (save $20) Get Deal

As of today, Mar. 1, Amazon is running several deals on portable Bluetooth speakers across brands including Bose and Tribit. The sale includes the powerful Bose SoundLink Revolve+ speaker, which has hit its second-lowest price on record according to Amazon price tracking site camelcamelcamel. Today's deals also include budget-friendly speakers, like the Tribit Wireless Portable Speaker that's been marked down to just $47.99.

These are all limited-time deals, so we recommend taking advantage of them today.

Best portable speaker for surround sound Opens in a new window Credit: Bose Our pick: Bose SoundLink Revolve+ $229.00 at Amazon
$329.00 Save $100.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Once you're used to the surround sound experience, there's no going back. If you've equipped your home with top-notch sound, chances are you want that experience when you're listening to your favorite music outdoors, too. That's why we recommend the Bose SoundLink Revolve+. Whether you take it out to the patio, pool, or your favorite picnic spot, this powerful portable speaker produces 360-degree sound. It's as durable as it is powerful, too. With a water-resistant build and 17-hour battery life, the speaker is ready for whatever your adventure holds.

Best portable speaker for camping Opens in a new window Credit: Tribit Our pick: Tribit Wireless Portable Speaker $47.99 at Amazon
$79.99 Save $32.00 Get Deal Why we like it

At just $47.99, the Tribit Wireless Portable Speaker is the most budget-friendly speaker on this list. However, there are plenty more reasons to love this speaker besides its low price. It's small enough to put in your pocket, so packing it up with all your gear for a long weekend of traveling or camping is a no-brainer. Plus, it's waterproof, so a drop in the pool or an unexpected rain storm isn't going to hurt anything. We also love that it has a 12-hour battery life—exactly what you need to make it through a day. Today's sale marks its new lowest price, so it's a fantastic time to buy.

Best portable speaker for biking Opens in a new window Credit: Bose Our pick: Bose SoundLink Micro Bluetooth Speaker $99.00 at Amazon
$119.00 Save $20.00 Get Deal Why we like it

Listening to a favorite song while you're out biking can make your ride that much more enjoyable. However, wearing headphones can be a serious safety risk. That's why we love the Bose SoundLink Micro Bluetooth Speaker. While this micro speaker is fit for any occasion, it's especially helpful when it comes to biking. With a tear resistant strap, you can affix it to your bike's handlebars and enjoy your music without cutting yourself off from the environment around you. It's waterproof, so it's prepared to handle the elements. Plus, you can even take calls. While its battery life is a bit shorter at 6 hours, the speaker's power and features make it an excellent buy.