Author name: Shannon Garcia

the-physics-of-ugly-christmas-sweaters

The physics of ugly Christmas sweaters

knitting, materials science, Physics, Science, ugly Christmas sweaters / /

In 2018, a team of French physicists developed a rudimentary mathematical model to describe the deformation of a common type of knit. Their work was inspired when co-author Frédéric Lechenault watched his pregnant wife knitting baby booties and blankets, and he noted how the items would return to their original shape even after being stretched. With a few colleagues, he was able to boil the mechanics down to a few simple equations, adaptable to different stitch patterns. It all comes down to three factors: the “bendiness” of the yarn, the length of the yarn, and how many crossing points are in each stitch.

A simpler stitch

A simplified model of how yarns interact

A simplified model of how yarns interact Credit: J. Crassous/University of Rennes

One of the co-authors of that 2018 paper, Samuel Poincloux of Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan, also co-authored this latest study with two other colleagues, Jérôme Crassous (University of Rennes in France) and Audrey Steinberger (University of Lyon). This time around, Poincloux was interested in the knotty problem of predicting the rest shape of a knitted fabric, given the yarn’s length by stitch—an open question dating back at least to a 1959 paper.

It’s the complex geometry of all the friction-producing contact zones between the slender elastic fibers that makes such a system too difficult to model precisely, because the contact zones can rotate or change shape as the fabric moves. Poincloux and his cohorts came up with their own more simplified model.

The team performed experiments with a Jersey stitch knit (aka a stockinette), a widely used and simple knit consisting of a single yarn (in this case, a nylon thread) forming interlocked loops. They also ran numerical simulations modeled on discrete elastic rods coupled with dry contacts with a specific friction coefficient to form meshes.

The results: Even when there were no external stresses applied to the fabric, the friction between the threads served as a stabilizing factor. And there was no single form of equilibrium for a knitted sweater’s resting shape; rather, there were multiple metastable states that were dependent on the fabric’s history—the different ways it had been folded, stretched, or rumpled. In short, “Knitted fabrics do not have a unique shape when no forces are applied, contrary to the relatively common belief in textile literature,” said Crassous.

DOI: Physical Review Letters, 2024. 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.248201 (About DOIs).

The physics of ugly Christmas sweaters Read More »

the-20-most-read-stories-of-2024-on-ars-technica

The 20 most-read stories of 2024 on Ars Technica

2024, Features, RECAP, Staff / /

Ars looks back at the top stories of the year.

Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

Hey, look at that! Another year has flown by, and I suspect many people would say “good riddance” to 2024.

The 2020s have been quite the decade so far. No matter what insanity has transpired by a particular December 31, the following year has shown up and promptly said, “Hold my beer.”

The biggest news at Ars in 2024 was our first site redesign in nearly a decade. We’re proud of Ars 9.0 (we’re up to 9.0.3 now), and we have continued to make changes based on your feedback. The best kind of feedback, however, is your clicks. Those clicks power this recap, so read on to learn which stories our readers found especially compelling.

20. NASA is about to make its most important safety decision in nearly a generation

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, seen docked at the International Space Station through the window of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, seen docked at the International Space Station through the window of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. Credit: NASA

In June, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were sent into space for a mission slated to last a little over a week. Six months later, they are still orbiting this terrestrial ball.

The two retired naval test pilots were the first people to catch a ride to orbit on the Boeing Starliner. Unfortunately for them (and Boeing), Starliner developed problems with its propulsion system.

Figuring out how to get them back down to Earth was arguably the biggest safety decision NASA has had to make in decades. Stephen Clark unpacked the situation, looking at how NASA’s culture of safety has evolved since the Challenger accident.

19. macOS 15 Sequoia: The Ars Technica review

Credit: Apple

One constant in our year-end recaps is operating system reviews. During 2024, Apple’s annual macOS release was the sole OS review to hit the top 20.

Touted as “the AI one,” most of the Apple Intelligence features didn’t show up until macOS 15.1 was released. The overall verdict on Sequoia? 2024’s installment of macOS was a solid update. Andrew Cunningham liked the new window tiling, mostly unchanged backward compatibility, and all of the minor but useful tweaks to many of the built-in apps.

18. What we know about the xz Utils backdoor that almost infected the world

Credit: Getty Images

xz Utils is a popular open-source data-compression utility for *nix OSes. In late March, one developer floored developers everywhere when he revealed a backdoor in the utility. The malicious code planted in versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1 targeted encrypted SSH connections.

Thankfully, the malicious code was caught before it was merged into Debian and Red Hat. Years in the making and described the “best executed supply chain attack” by one cryptography engineer, the effort came thisclose to success. Dan Goodin explains what we know and how this might have happened.

Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images | NASA

One of the problems humankind faces as we climb out of Earth’s gravitational well is cosmic radiation. On a long voyage to Mars, the crew will need to be protected against solar storms and other space radiation. Right now, ensuring that level of protection would require tons of shielding material, but that may change.

Active shielding was proposed in the 1960s, but the initial research didn’t result in any working prototypes. Now, the ESA and NASA are looking at magnetic fields and electrostatic shields to protect space travelers. Researchers have built and tested small-scale models of their electrostatic shields, and the ESA is working on superconducting magnets.

16. I added a ratgdo to my garage door, and I don’t know why I waited so long

Photograph of a ratgdo

Messing around with the electronics in our dwellings is part of the Ars DNA. In 1998, we were overclocking our Celerons. In 2024, we’re messing with our garage door openers.

Senior Tech Editor Lee Hutchinson hates looking out the back window to see if he remembered to close his garage door, so he stuck a Raspberry Pi out there that would email him every time the garage door opened or closed. Unfortunately for Lee and his Raspberry Pi, Houston is hot and humid for approximately 10 months out of the year, so his tiny computer gave up the ghost after one 98° day too many.

Instead of using the MyQ app that came with his garage door opener, he grabbed a ratgdo—a tiny little board with built-in Wi-Fi that gets wired into the garage door opener’s terminals. The result? A daily experience of the magic of functional home automation.

15. Boston Dynamics’ new humanoid moves like no robot you’ve ever seen

Credit: Boston Dynamics

Moves like Jagger? Not quite, but the latest Atlas robot from Boston Dynamics moves like it could bust a move out on the dance floor.

This Atlas uses electricity instead of hydraulics. While the old Atlas was capable of lifting heavy objects and traveling across all kinds of terrain, the heavy and complicated hydraulics made it massive. The all-electric version can move in ways that its predecessor couldn’t, as there are no hydraulic lines to worry about. As a result, the Atlas has an uncanny range of motion.

Hyundai was the first company to test Atlas in a manufacturing environment.

14. Unpatchable vulnerability in Apple chip leaks secret encryption keys

Credit: Aurich Lawson | Apple

Even though CPU manufacturers have been baking security features into their silicon for some time, malicious actors and researchers keep poking and prodding, looking for security flaws. A group of researchers found a dreaded unpatchable vulnerability in Apple silicon, one that doesn’t even require root access.

The attack, dubbed GoFetch, works against classical and hardened encryption algorithms and can extract a 2048-bit RSA key in less than an hour. It takes advantage of the chips’ data memory-dependent prefetcher, which optimizes performance by reducing latency between the CPU and RAM. Since you can’t patch silicon, the only solution is adding defenses to cryptographic code, and those come with performance penalties.

13. Air Canada must honor refund policy invented by airline’s chatbot

Depending on how you feel about interacting with actual humans for customer support, the rise of AI customer-service chatbots has been either a boon or a curse. An example of the latter comes courtesy of Air Canada.

Jake Moffatt had to fly from Vancouver to Toronto for his grandmother’s funeral, so he asked Air Canada’s chatbot to explain the airline’s bereavement policy. The chatbot gave Moffatt incorrect instructions, telling him that he could be reimbursed for a reduced bereavement rate up to 90 days of the ticket being issued. Unfortunately for everyone involved, this was not the policy of Air Canada.

The airline refused to honor the policy spelled out by its chatbot, at least until Moffatt took them to small claims court and won. When we last checked, the chatbot was no longer active.

12. In rare move from printing industry, HP actually has a decent idea

Someone touching a piece of paper that's sitting in a printer

There are some days that I long for my old Stylewriter printer. It was slow and dumb as a rock, but it more than adequately performed the function of putting ink on paper. I now have a multifunction printer/scanner/fax that suffers print quality problems partly because of how little it’s used. It might be different if I wanted to spend over $300 for a set of HP-branded toner cartridges instead of roughly $80 for generic ones, but I’d rather live with faded printouts.

HP has rightfully been the target of ire from consumers, and as Scharon pointed out, that company has been a major cause of broken trust between printer OEMs and consumers. So we were all surprised when HP came up with an idea that could simplify and speed up some print jobs. Having a new feature that would improve the printing feature is so much better than, say, using DRM to ensure third-party products don’t function correctly with HP printers.

11. It turns out NASA’s Mars helicopter was much more revolutionary than we knew

Credit: NASA/JPL

Ingenuity made its first flight on Mars in April 2021. Seventy-two flights and nearly three years later, the small helicopter made its last flight. As Eric Berger noted, Ingenuity stood out from other NASA hardware in two ways. First, it proved that powered flight on other worlds was a possibility. Despite Mars’ very thin atmosphere, the copter was able to zoom around on its carbon fiber blades.

More importantly, Ingenuity was built with commercial, off-the-shelf hardware. The success of its mission has opened the door to other possibilities, like flying a nuclear-powered drone through the thick, nitrogen-heavy atmosphere of Titan.

10. After Russian ship docks to space station, astronauts report a foul smell

Credit: NASA



Around these parts, the usual response to a foul smell is a glance in the dog’s direction. But when you’re in a tiny space station orbiting the Earth, a bad odor is particularly worrying, as astronauts on the International Space Station found out in November.

When the Russian cargo craft docked with the ISS, the Russian cosmonauts that opened the hatch were greeted by a wave of stink. The “toxic” smell was so bad that the Russians immediately shut the hatch.

Ultimately, the astronauts crewing the ISS were not in danger, and after some extra air scrubbing, the hatch was opened and the supplies unloaded.

9. What I learned when I replaced my cheap Pi 5 PC with a no-name Amazon mini desktop

Two cheapo Intel mini PCs, a Raspberry Pi 5, and an Xbox controller for scale.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

Two cheapo Intel mini PCs, a Raspberry Pi 5, and an Xbox controller for scale. Credit: Andrew Cunningham

One of the fun things about working at Ars Technica is watching Andrew Cunningham stretch the limits of obsolete or inexpensive hardware and software. His attempt to use a Raspberry Pi 5 as a daily-driver desktop had mixed results, but that didn’t stop him from trying out a couple of sub-$200 PCs from Amazon.

Andrew ultimately settled on the $170 Bostgame B100 and $180 GMKtec NucBox G2. Both of them used Intel Processor N100 quad-core chips and could run Windows 11 along with some Linux distros. If you’re curious about what it’s like to use a tiny, inexpensive desktop for your daily computing needs, check out Andrew’s write-up.

8. Users ditch Glassdoor, stunned by site adding real names without consent

Complaining about your employer online is a time-honored tradition. Frustrated workers vent all over the Internet, but the hub of employee griping has historically been Glassdoor. That changed for a lot of folks when Glassdoor inexplicably decided to link real names to formerly anonymous accounts.

When Glassdoor acquired the professional networking app Fishbowl in 2021, every Glassdoor user was also signed up for a Fishbowl account. The big difference is that Fishbowl requires identity verification, so Glassdoor changed its terms of service to require the same.

“Since we require all users to have their names on their profiles, we will need to update your profile to reflect this,” a Glassdoor employee wrote to a user named Monica, reassuring her that “your anonymity will still be protected.” Monica did not trust the company’s assurances that it would go to court to “defeat requests for user information,” instead requesting that Glassdoor delete her account entirely. She wasn’t the only one.

7. What’s happening at Tesla? Here’s what experts think.

A coin with Elon Musk's face on it, being held next to a Tesla logo

Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images | Beata Zawrzel

Tesla is responsible for two things: making electronic vehicles a realistic option for most drivers and helping make founder Elon Musk the world’s richest person. But after years of astronomical growth, Tesla has been on a downward slide. The Chinese market has gotten much tougher for Tesla—and everyone else—due to Chinese OEMs churning out low-cost BEVs. There have been safety problems with Tesla, and the company’s once legendary profit margins have crated to below industry average.

What’s going on? Our crack automotive reporter Jonathan Gitlin talked to some experts to see if Tesla was primed for a turnaround or if its slump was indicative of more troubles to come.

6.The Starliner spacecraft has started to emit strange noises

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is seen docked at the International Space Station on June 13.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is seen docked at the International Space Station on June 13. Credit: NASA

It all started with some weird sounds. “I’ve got a question about Starliner,” astronaut Butch Wilmore radioed down to Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston in late August. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker… I don’t know what’s making it.”

While that space oddity turned out to be just a weird anomaly, it may have helped prepare Wilmore and fellow astronaut Suni Williams for the bad Starliner news that followed—and an extra-long stay in orbit.

5. Here’s what it’s like to charge an EV at Electrify America’s new station

A row of EVs charging at EA's flagship location in San Francisco

Credit: Roberto Baldwin

I’ve been an EV owner for five years. During that time I’ve been exposed to just about every facet of EV ownership, including charging on road trips. With the right combination of apps (shoutout to PlugShare) and planning, road trips should be problem-free. But sometimes chargers are few and far between, out of service, crowded, or just plain janky.

Out of all the charging networks—and I’ve tried almost all of them at some point—Electrify America has been the most reliable for me. Their new flagship charging station is a far cry from their outposts typically located at the far end of a giant parking lot connected to a Walmart or Meijer. Instead of aimlessly wandering the aisles of a big-box retailer, drivers can chill in a well-appointed and secure space while their cars are topped off with electrons.

Want to increase EV adoption? Get more of these working, secure, and well-lit stations up and running ASAP.

4. Dell said return to the office or else—nearly half of workers chose “or else”

Signage outside Dell Technologies headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, US, on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023.

Ars has been all about the remote workforce since our launch in 1998. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, remote work became a thing for millions of workers. Some companies have adapted nicely to this new reality, realizing that their employees could do their jobs just as well from the comfort of their homes while pocketing some savings from a reduced office footprint.

Others have been less sanguine about remote work. Some have tried luring workers back to the office with perks, while others—like Dell—have been more coercive in their approach. The PC manufacturer told employees who stayed remote that they would be giving up on promotions or changing roles within the company. Internal tracking data showed that almost half of Dell’s workforce simply shrugged and stayed remote, consequences or not.

3. What I learned from using a Raspberry Pi 5 as my main computer for two weeks

The Raspberry Pi 5 inside its official case.

Credit: Andrew Cunningham

The Raspberry Pi 5 inside its official case. Credit: Andrew Cunningham

We read about Andrew’s experience with a pair of sub-$200 desktop PCs, but this story is what started it all. The spec sheet looked promising enough, with support for two 4K displays running at 60 Hz and space for an internal PCIe SSD, but the experience was not what he’d hoped.

Andrew’s time using the Raspberry Pi 5 as his daily driver started out disappointing, but once he reset his expectations, he ended up pleasantly surprised by the experience.

If you’re looking for the cheapest mini desktop PC possible, you’ll want to look elsewhere, but if you want to see how far along Arm Linux has come, read Andrew’s article.

2. What happens when an astronaut in orbit says he’s not coming back?

The STS-51-B mission begins with the liftoff of the Challenger from Pad 39A in April 1985.

Credit: NASA

The STS-51-B mission begins with the liftoff of the Challenger from Pad 39A in April 1985. Credit: NASA

Being strapped into a small space and thundered into space aboard a giant rocket has to be an incredibly stressful experience. But sometimes the stress doesn’t end with a successful launch. We don’t often get to peer behind the curtains and get a glimpse of the mental state of an astronaut, so when we do, it’s jarring.

“Hey, if you guys don’t give me a chance to repair my instrument, I’m not going back,” said astronaut Taylor Wang during a Space Shuttle mission in 1985. The first Chinese-born person in space, Wang was heading up an experiment on the behavior of liquid droplets in microgravity. When it didn’t work at the outset, Wang asked permission to troubleshoot it and make repairs. When Mission Control denied his request, he uttered that chilling sentence.

1. The surprise is not that Boeing lost commercial crew but that it finished at all

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is lifted to be placed atop an Atlas V rocket for its first crewed launch.

Credit: United Launch Alliance

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is lifted to be placed atop an Atlas V rocket for its first crewed launch. Credit: United Launch Alliance

Not only has there been a lot of Boeing on this top 20 list, there has been a lot of Boeing in the news all year. And most of that news has been bad.

Eric Berger dives deep into the development of Starliner, outlining the problems and setbacks that plagued its development, trying to answer the big question of how a company like Boeing, which had been at the acme of crewed spaceflight for decades, fell so far behind competition that didn’t even exist 20 years ago?

Thank you for making Ars a daily read during 2024. May you and those you love have a happy and safe holiday season.

Photo of Eric Bangeman

Eric Bangeman is the Managing Editor of Ars Technica. In addition to overseeing the daily operations at Ars, Eric also manages story development for the Policy and Automotive sections. He lives in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, where he enjoys cycling, playing the bass, and refereeing rugby.

The 20 most-read stories of 2024 on Ars Technica Read More »

$2,100-mechanical-keyboard has-800-holes,-nyc-skyscraper-looks

$2,100 mechanical keyboard has 800 holes, NYC skyscraper looks

Keyboards, mechanical keyboards, Tech, Wireless keyboards / /

What’s interesting about the typing feel of this keyboard is the use of low-profile keycaps despite the keyboard supporting full-height mechanical switches. I’m curious if the pairing results in the keycaps feeling too thin or unstable while typing.

Other Icebreaker specs include a “silicone dampener integrated into the bottom lid both supporting the PCB and doubling as non-slip feet,” per Serene.

The Icebreaker's underside.

The keyboard’s underside. Credit: Serene Industries

There’s also a 4,000 mAh battery and “1/4-20” threads for professional accessory mounting, such as Picatinny rails.” One could also use the threads for mounting the keyboard onto monitor arms and hand grips.

And like many high-priced keyboards to come out in the past couple of years, the Icebreaker includes a rotary encoder dial. The dial is programmable, like the rest of the keyboard’s keys, with the Via configurator.

The Icebreaker starts at $1,500 with a clear-colored base, hot-swappable switches, and USB-C cable connectivity. It goes up to $2,100 if you get in black and with Bluetooth connectivity or Hall effect switches, which actuate through the use of magnets. Notably, the Bluetooth version of the keyboard only seems to have one Bluetooth channel, compared to cheaper wireless keyboards that let you pair and toggle across multiple, simultaneously paired devices.

The lavish side of mechanical keyboards

Ultimately, the keyboard’s unique construction, design cues, and lack of mass production contribute to a four-figure price tag that’ll shock those not accustomed to the overly luxurious side of mechanical keyboards. Agarkov told Null Society that one of the biggest challenges with making The Icebreaker was “balancing the design with practical considerations.”

“For instance, the keyboard is intentionally heavy and large, which, funny enough, was a point of confusion for the manufacturers,” he added.

As you may have determined by now, The Icebreaker’s price is more about style and clout than advanced features or high-end typing. In fact, you don’t even get a numpad or switches at this price. For comparison, Angry Miaom is no stranger to outrageously priced keyboards, but as of this writing, its only keyboards with MSRPs over $1,000 are split keyboards:

Angry Miao AFA Blade Limited Edition keyboard kit.

Angry Miao’s Afa Blade Limited Edition keyboard kit costs $2,049 and uses aluminum, stainless steel, glass, carbon, and aluminum alloy. Credit: Angry Miao

Still, The Icebreaker is an example of how dedicated, artistic, and daring mechanical keyboard enthusiasts can be and how much time, effort, and expense can impact crafting a one-of-a-kind keyboard that’s sure to get people talking.

In the world of mechanical keyboards, unreasonable luxury is par for the course. For the avid collector out there, The Icebreaker can make for one expensive trophy.

$2,100 mechanical keyboard has 800 holes, NYC skyscraper looks Read More »

film-technica:-our-favorite-movies-of-2024

Film Technica: Our favorite movies of 2024

Best of 2024, culture, Features, Film Technica, films / /

lighting up the silver screen

This year’s list features quite a bit of horror mixed in with the usual blockbuster fare—plus smaller hidden gems.

Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

Editor’s note: Warning: Although we’ve done our best to avoid spoiling anything too major, please note this list does include a few specific references to several of the listed films that some might consider spoiler-y.

This was the year that Marvel Studios hit the pause button on its deluge of blockbuster superhero movies, after rather saturating the market in recent years. It proved to be a smart move: the only Marvel theatrical release was the R-rated Deadpool & Wolverine, a refreshingly irreverent, very meta take on the genre that delighted audiences and lit up the global box office. Perhaps audiences aren’t so much bored with superhero movies as becoming more discriminating in their choices. Give us a fun, fresh take and we’ll flock back to theaters.

Fewer superhero franchise entries meant there was more breathing room for other fare. Horror in particular had a stellar year, with numerous noteworthy offerings, touching on body horror (The Substance), Satanic Panic (Late Night with the Devil), psychological horror (Heretic), hauntings (The Oddity), a rom-com/revenge mashup (Your Monster), an inventive reimagining of a classic silent film (Nosferatu), and one very bloodthirsty child vampire with a wicked sense of humor (Abigail). Throw in a smattering of especially strong sequels (Inside Out 2, Dune: Part 2), a solid prequel (Furiosa), and a few hidden gems, and we had one of the better years for film in recent memory.

As always, we’re opting for an unranked list, with the exception of our “year’s best” vote at the very end, so you might look over the variety of genres and options and possibly add surprises to your eventual watchlist. We invite you to head to the comments and add your favorite films released in 2024.

The Fall Guy

Credit: Universal Pictures

I love to mentally check out with a good movie when I fly. So, on a recent trip to New York City for Technicon, I settled into my narrow, definitely-not-my-couch airline seat and fell in love with The Fall Guy, a movie based on the TV show I remember watching as a teen back in the ’80s.

Directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2, the John Wick franchise), The Fall Guy is pure entertainment—part rom-com, part action, funny as heck, and super meta. Leitch is perfectly suited to direct a film about a stuntman, having been one himself (he was Brad Pitt’s stunt-double five times). And the actors clearly are having a ton of fun roasting the industry, while also paying tribute to the invisible heroes of any movie: the stunt performers.

A year after a nearly fatal fall (yeah, pun apparently intended), stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is persuaded by his former producer, Gail (Hannah Waddington), to come to the rescue for a film his ex-girlfriend, Jody (Emily Blunt), is directing after the lead actor and his stuntman disappear. Gail asks him to find them to save the film and Jody’s career. The exaggerated stunts, meta jokes (Tom Cruise, “I do my own stunts”), unicorn, callbacks to favorite films (Notting Hill etc.), and unflagging plot made for a quick flight for me. The chemistry between Blunt and Gosling makes the movie and provided an at-times hilarious-yet-believable romantic tension. (I’ll never forget the giant monster hand nor the air pistols.) And the cameo by the real fall guy left me elated.

A few years back, also on a flight, I remember watching Gosling’s comedy chops in The Nice Guys and laughing aloud several times (Always awkward. Sorry seat mates.). I did the same with The Fall Guy as well. But could my enthusiasm for the movie get anyone in my family to watch it with me on our giant COVID-purchase TV with the surround sound and subwoofer on high?? Not for a solid month. But once I did, they were sold.

—Kerry Staurseth

Hit Man

Credit: Netflix

I grew up in Richard Linklater’s Texas, and there seems to be something—the characters, the story, the setting, or the aesthetic—that resonates with my personal experience in most of his films. I can’t say the same for Hit Man, but this isn’t meant to be a criticism. Instead, Linklater’s Hit Man offers nearly two hours of pure escapism that many of us need. It’s smart, with witty dialogue, more than a few moments of side-splitting humor, and a story that is too good to be true, although the premise is based on true events.

Gary, played by Glen Powell (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Linklater), is a chameleon. Gary starts the film as a meek, somewhat nerdy college professor, but circumstances quickly force him into the uncomfortable position of becoming an undercover police informant. As we learn early in the film, this involves portraying a fake hitman to rope suspects into contract killing schemes and then prosecution. While I may question the legality or ethics of this setup, it creates a canvas for Linklater and Powell to create funny, sympathetic characters thrust into situations that, while far-fetched, somehow seem believable.

Ultimately, Hit Man provides a laboratory for character development for the audience and within the film itself. In the film, Gary’s academic background helps him craft characters to match the circumstances and attitudes of each of his targets. Gary’s hitman personas can turn up the charm, abrasiveness, or faux bravado as the situation requires it. Gary reinvents himself at every turn, showcasing Powell’s acting range. That is, until Gary runs into Madison, portrayed by Adria Arjona. Then, things become a little too real for Gary, and you’ll have to watch the film to see what happens next.

—Stephen Clark

Heretic

Credit: A24

Hugh Grant launched his career playing charmingly self-effacing rom-com heroes (cf. Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill). But in recent years, he’s embraced his darker side, playing roguish villains in films like The Gentlemen and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, as well as for the BBC miniseries A Very English Scandal. Heretic gives him his most disturbing role yet.

Grant plays Mr. Reed, a reclusive man who invites the Mormon missionaries who come knocking on his door inside for some of his wife’s blueberry pie. But Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) soon realize there is no Mrs. Reed, that delicious blueberry smell is from a candle, they have no cell phone signal, and they are locked inside with a lunatic. They must figure out how to escape from the basement dungeon in which Reed traps them, a torturous environment in which to test their faith.

Heretic has its share of blood and violence, but the focus is more on the psychological trauma inflicted on the young women. And its treatment of the Mormon faith is surprisingly nuanced for the horror genre. Still, it’s Grant’s subtly sinister performance that really makes the film: He brings just a hint of his trademark rom-com charm to the role, which somehow makes everything he says and does doubly chilling.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Tuesday

Credit: A24

This quietly devastating indie fantasy drama stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Zora, a mother whose 15-year-old daughter Tuesday (Lola Petticrew) is confined to a wheelchair with an incurable terminal disease. The fantastical element is Death, who comes to release Tuesday from her suffering in the form of a talking macaw that can alter its size at will. But Zora isn’t ready to let her daughter go; she swallows Death to keep her daughter alive—with the added complication that now nobody can die.

At its heart, Tuesday is an unsettling fable about human mortality and learning not just to confront, but to embrace, Death. That’s a pretty heavy theme, and the film offers no pat, easy answers in its resolution. But first-time director DainaO.Pusić brings a light touch to the melancholy, bolstered by Louis-Dreyfus’ courageous performance.

—Jennifer Ouellette

The Substance

Credit: Mubi

Listen, I’m not here to convince you that The Substance changed my life, but it’s been a while since a modern sci-fi/horror movie fixated on the fear of death and aging made my skin crawl, so like many viewers in 2024, I was itching to press play. Demi Moore stars as Elizabeth Sparkle, a 50-year-old fitness icon who foolishly injects an experimental drug to maintain her celebrity and quickly regrets birthing a younger double (played by Margaret Qualley), whom she now must split her life with.

Between firm butts flexing and gory mutations emerging, Moore’s and Qualley’s characters clash, forgetting they are “the one” and spiraling toward doom. And while most body horror movies are viewed as gratuitous, The Substance lives up to its title. Somehow, through a nauseating cascade of increasingly grotesque distortions of the human form, the movie morphs into a meaningful satire on society’s stance that older women are irrelevant—blowing a kiss into the camera at the genre’s past tendency to objectify female characters.

—Ashley Belanger

Rez Ball

Credit: Netflix

This is a classic feel-good sports movie that manages to seem both familiar and fresh, thanks to its setting on a Navajo reservation. (It’s based on the nonfiction novel Canyon Dreams by Michael Powell.) Rez Ball follows one season of the Chuska Warriors, a Native American high school basketball team competing for the state championship. Their star player is Nataanii (Kusem Goodwind), whose mother and sister were killed by a drunk driver the prior year. Nataanii has been struggling with his grief ever since, and when he doesn’t show up for practice one day, the team learns he committed suicide.

It’s up to coach Heather (Jessica Matten), a former WNBA player, to help her team recover from the shocking loss and regroup to finish the season. She names Nataanii’s best friend, Jimmy (Kauchani Bratt), as team captain and employs some novel team-building exercises—most notably a shepherding task in which the team must work together to bring sheep down from a mountain and back into their enclosure. Then there’s her clever strategy of training the team to call all their plays in their native language—shades of the World War II “code talkers.” (There’s even a sly humorous reference to the 2002 Nicolas Cage movie Windtalkers in between all the frybread jokes.)

Director Sydney Freeland hits all the familiar notes of this genre and ably captures the basketball sequences—is there really any doubt we’ll have a happy(ish) ending? Yet the film earns its payoff, driven not by genuine suspense, but by the sheer determination of the team members and how they bond to overcome their grief and bring some joy out of their shared tragedy.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Oddity

Credit: Shudder

Oddity is a pitch-perfect supernatural thriller that never should have worked. Writer-director Damian McCarthy has explained that the movie comprised “a mix of a lot of old ideas” that he “could never find a home for.” That hodgepodge storytelling approach could have been a forced recipe for disaster if McCarthy wasn’t such an undeniable master of tension. Telling the story of a psychic medium-antiques dealer desperate to divine the events leading to her twin sister’s shocking murder in an abandoned Irish manor, the movie managed to feel fast-paced while drawing out an unrelenting sense of dread.

The bulk of that tension comes from a haunted wooden man that remains onscreen and barely ever moves—leaving the audience painfully stuck anticipating the moment when the nightmarish figure will spring to life. With slasher movie elements and twists as jarring as the wooden man’s startling features, Oddity had some horror fans within minutes smashing pause to recover from the brutal opening scene before returning to finish McCarthy’s curious haunted house tour de force.

—Ashley Belanger

Abigail

Credit: Universal Pictures

Six criminals get more than they bargained for when they are hired to kidnap the young daughter of a wealthy underworld kingpin: budding ballerina Abigail (Alisha Weir). Joey (Melissa Barrera) is the only member to be kind to their captive, clearly bothered by the fact that their target is a child. Abigail responds to that kindness with an ominous sweetness: “I’m sorry about what’s going to happen to you.”

So begins one of the goriest and funniest vampire rampages to find its way to the big screen, as the Undead Abigail takes brutal revenge on each of her kidnappers in turn. The carnage is truly next-level, including one infamous scene in which Joey wades through a literal pool of bloody, rotting dead bodies—all victims of Abigail’s ferocious killer instincts. There are some insane plot twists, plenty of perfectly timed humorous moments, and terrific performances from the ensemble cast, especially Weir. If horror comedies are your jam, Abigail is an excellent addition to the genre.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 

Credit: Universal Pictures

A nine-year wait between franchise films is, more often than not, an indication that the follow-up can’t meet some lofty expectations of what came before it. But that’s not the case for Furiosa.

Although it’s not the same white-knuckle thrill ride as 2015’s Fury Road, Furiosa gives us another mostly mute protagonist in an expertly crafted action film that overlaps as a revenge flick. While Anya Taylor-Joy delivers a cold, steely interpretation of the eponymous protagonist, it’s the object of her revenge, Chris Hemsworth’s villain Dementus, that offers a new variation to the typically bleak wasteland: levity.

Hemsworth relishes his chance here to show another side of his acting chops, and the result is one of the funniest and zaniest villainous performances in recent memory. Dementus’ malice is matched by his penchant for delivering self-aggrandizing speeches, which are a nice reminder that, even as the world fell, not everyone lost their sense of humor.

—Jacob May

I Saw the TV Glow

Credit: A24

As anyone who’s spent years rewatching a beloved sci-fi/fantasy show could likely glean from its ethereal title, I Saw the TV Glow was made to immerse viewers in the sort of complex mythology that keeps the most engaged superfans glued to the screen. Surreally blurring the lines between TV fiction and reality, the A24 film follows an alienated teen boy who deeply bonds with an older female classmate over a monster-of-the-week TV show that comes on past his bedtime.

What starts at a sleepover evolves into an existential nightmare suggesting that the boy’s truth might be a fiction constructed by the “Big Bad” villain from his favorite TV show. This absurd possibility follows the boy as he grows into a man with his own family, all while continuing to take comfort in his all-time favorite TV show. The mesmerizing conclusion injected a disturbing sense of wonder into 2024, leaving some viewers as slack-faced as the boy was when he finally got to watch the late-night TV show that he somehow knew would light him up inside.

—Ashley Belanger

Thelma

Credit: Magnolia Pictures

Elderly people are so often invisible in our youth-oriented society, so it’s nice to see two 90-something characters take center stage in this charming comedy-drama written and directed by Josh Margolin. June Squibb plays the titular Thelma, who gets taken in by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson Danny (Fred Hechinger) to the tune of $10,000. The police won’t help, but Thelma has a P.O. box address as a clue and sets out to get her money back.

Thelma enlists the help of her estranged friend Ben (Richard Roundtree, in his final role), who is eager to escape his assisted living facility for one last adventure, and the two set off on Ben’s two-person scooter. Wacky hijinks and personal growth and enlightenment ensue. The film was inspired by a conversation Margolin had with his own now-deceased grandmother, and that personal experience is the key to Thelma‘s warmth, humor, and authenticity. It’s a lovely twist on the classic road movie and well worth a watch.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Woman of the Hour

Credit: Netflix

In the late 1970s, serial killer Rodney Alcala interrupted his murder spree to make a 1978 appearance on The Dating Game and actually went out on a date with bachelorette Sheryl Bradshaw—who naturally had no idea the charming man who’d won her over with his answers was, in fact, a psychopath. It might seem like an odd bit of trivia on which to base a film, but Anna Kendrick came across Ian MacAllister McDonald’s initial screenplay as the actress was gearing up to make her directorial debut with Netflix and snatched it up.

Kendrick also stars as Sheryl, a struggling LA actress who is persuaded to go on The Dating Game by friends, and her typically winsome, spunky performance—and able direction— lifts Woman of the Hour to the next level. Perhaps the best part of the film is that it doesn’t linger overmuch on the killer or glorify his horrific deeds. The focus stays squarely on Sheryl and a woman in the audience named Laura (Nicolette Robinson), who recognizes Rodney (Daniel Zovatto) as the man last seen with her missing best friend. It’s a well-done, quietly thrilling period piece that bodes well for Kendrick’s future as a director.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Your Monster

Credit: Vertical Entertainment

It’s been quite a year for Melissa Barrera, who followed up her standout Final Girl performance in Abigail with another star turn in the decidedly offbeat Your Monster—part romantic comedy, part horror/revenge fantasy, weaving in such disparate influences as the late ’80s TV series Beauty and the Beast and classic Broadway musicals like A Chorus Line. It’s based on a 2019 short film by writer/director Caroline Lindy, inspired by Lindy’s one-time boyfriend breaking up with her when she received a cancer diagnosis.

Barrera plays Laura, an actress who also loses her boyfriend after a cancer diagnosis—plus he reneges on his promise to let her audition for the musical she co-wrote—and goes back to her childhood home to recuperate. There she encounters the proverbial Monster in the closet (Tommy Dewey), who is none too pleased about suddenly having a “roommate” again. At first he tries to scare her, but soon they’re bonding over old movies and Chinese takeout; Monster might just be the ideal boyfriend she’s been looking for.

Of course, Monster is also very much a manifestation of Laura’s psyche, particularly her subsumed rage. Naturally they plot revenge on her selfish ex, and when it comes, it’s everything a jilted lover could want from the experience. Your Monster can’t quite decide on a tone, shifting constantly between comedy and horror, love and revenge. But that’s part of what makes this quirky film so appealing: Lindy isn’t afraid to take creative risks, and she makes it all work in the end.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Will and Harper

Credit: Netflix

A few years ago, comic actor Will Ferrell was on-set filming a movie when he received a surprising text from Harper Steele, a close friend of some 30 years, dating back to their time together on Saturday Night Live. Steele informed him of her gender transition. Ferrell’s response was to organize a road trip for the two of them, starting in New York City, where they first met, hitting stops in Washington, DC, Indiana, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Amarillo, Texas—documenting the journey all along the way.

The result is Will and Harper, a surprisingly sweet, refreshingly frank, and thought-provoking film that celebrates an enduring friendship. There’s never a question of Ferrell not accepting his friend’s transition, but there are some awkward growing pains. The pair don’t shy away from more difficult conversations, peppered with humor, while downing cans of Pringles, and it’s that well-meaning honesty that keeps the film grounded and centered on their relationship, without falling into didactic preachiness.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Wicked Little Letters

Credit: StudioCanal

Trolling didn’t begin with social media. Back in the 1920s, several residents of the seaside town of Littlehampton in England began receiving poison pen letters rife with obscenities and false rumors. It became known as the Littlehampton libels, with the culprit revealed to be a 30-year-old laundress named Edith Swan, who tried to pin the blame on her neighbor, Rose Gooding, until she was found out. (Poor Gooding actually served over a year of jail time before she was exonerated.)

Wicked Little Letters is the fictionalized account of those events, starring Olivia Coleman as Edith and Jessie Buckley as Rose, emphasizing the complicated relationships and psychological foibles of the central characters. Even if you know nothing about the case, we learn early on who the true culprit is, and the film then becomes a cat-and-mouse game as Rose’s allies try to prove Edith is the true poison pen. The true enjoyment is watching everything play out with equal parts humor and pathos.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Nosferatu

Credit: Universal Pictures

Director Robert Eggers can be a polarizing figure for moviegoers. How much you enjoyed The Witch, The Northman, or 2019’s The Lighthouse (inspired by a real-life 1801 tragedy involving two Welsh lighthouse keepers trapped in a storm) likely depends on your taste for Eggers’ dark mythic sensibility and penchant for hallucinatory imagery. With Nosferatu—a daring reinvention of the seminal 1922 German silent film by F.W. Murnau, based in turn on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula—Eggers leans fully into supernatural gothic horror, with spectacular, genuinely scary results.

It’s hard to go wrong with Bill Skarsgård in the lead role of the vampire Count Orlok; his portrayal of Pennywise the Clown in It is still giving people nightmares. Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult also shine as Ellen (the unfortunate object of Orlok’s murderous pursuit, slowly driven mad as he closes in) and her hapless fiancé, Thomas, as does Willem Dafoe as the eccentric Professor von Franz. The basic outlines of Stoker’s plot remain, but Eggers has also infused his film with a visual language that evokes both Murnau’s distinctive German expressionism and the Eastern European folklore that inspired Stoker. This is not so much a remake as an innovative re-imagining by a director whose sensibility is perfectly suited to the task.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Monkey Man

Credit: Universal Pictures

Dev Patel’s latest film completely missed me when it got a limited cinematic release this spring. Instead, I stumbled across it streaming on Peacock and went in cold with nothing more than good vibes toward the actor—and now director—based on his performances in films like Chappie. Which made the initial fight, with Patel wearing a monkey mask, a little confusing at first.

Monkey Man is a good old revenge film, following Patel’s character as he negotiates the underworld of the fictional Indian city of Yatana in a quest to avenge his mother, who was brutally murdered when their village was ethnically cleansed by Hindu nationalists. The fight scenes are frenetic and visceral, influenced by films like John Wick but also The Raid, and the hand-to-hand combat in Marvel’s Daredevil. But it’s also a film with a political message or two. Perhaps the best way to describe it is like a cross between John Wick and RRR—if you liked both of those films, you’ll probably love Monkey Man.

—Jonathan Gitlin

The Three Musketeers Part 2: Milady

Credit: Pathe

Last year, The Three Musketeers Part 1: D’Artagnan made our annual list, in which we celebrated finally having a quintessential French adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic 1844 novel to rival Richard Lester’s iconic two-part 1970s US adaptation. Part 2: Milady covers the events of the second half of the novel, as D’Artagnan (Francois Civil) and his compatriots rush to rescue his kidnapped lover, Constance (Lyna Khoudri), and prevent the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) by Eva Green’s deliciously wicked Milady de Winter.

Both films were shot back to back, so the same top-notch storytelling and able performances are present. And director Martin Bourboulon heard the complaints about how dark the first installment was in places and corrected the colorimetry. My only quibble: unlike Part 1, Part 2 actually deviates quite substantially from the source material, particularly with regard to the fates of Constance and Milady. In fact, the finale is left open-ended. Could a third installment be in the offing? (An adaptation of Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo is releasing soon by the same team.) Still, it’s a magnificent, hugely entertaining film that pairs beautifully with its predecessor.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Late Night with the Devil

Credit: IFC Films

Framed as a documentary with behind-the-scenes found-footage elements, Late Night with the Devil tells the story of a late-night talk show, Night Owls with Jack Delroy, and its producers’ attempts to put on an unforgettable Halloween night show in 1977. Things start out in an appropriate-for-TV spooky tone, and the movie’s ’70s aesthetic really sells the vibe.

But as the show goes on, the guests get progressively weirder, the segments become more sinister, and it starts to be difficult to tell if the guests are putting on an act or if something darker is going on. Is the host really going to try to commune with the devil on a late-night variety hour? That quickly becomes the plan. I won’t spoil more than that, but I found the ride compelling from start to finish.

This was a good year for horror movies, and Late Night with the Devil was one of my favorites. David Dastmalchian’s performance as the host was a real standout. The whole package is great fun, and everything wraps up in a blessedly tight 95 minutes (man, movies are way too long these days). Genre fans shouldn’t miss this one.

—Aaron Zimmerman

Wicked Part 1

Credit: Universal Pictures

I was lucky enough to see Wicked on Broadway near the end of Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth’s iconic runs originating the characters of Elphaba and Glinda for the stage. Since then I’ve seen the live version of the musical five more times at various points and listened to the soundtrack hundreds of times more. Despite all that, the unavoidable marketing for this movie had me worried it was going to be an overproduced cinematic flop on the order of Cats or Dear Evan Hansen.

Happily, my worries were overblown. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande bring real chemistry and pathos to the show’s main roles and have the pipes to pull off some extremely difficult songs without breaking a sweat. I was also impressed with the movie’s top-notch choreography, which evokes the golden age of silver screen musicals and demands to be seen in a theater with as big a screen as possible.

My only quibble with this adaptation is the pacing, which suffers thanks to a few unnecessary backstory additions and a few too many long, lingering shots and pregnant pauses that even mess up the flow of some iconic songs. Why they decided to shoot “Defying Gravity” like an action movie—and decided not to cut to the credits right after Erivo’s soaring final note—will always be a huge mystery to me. A version of this movie that was about 45 minutes shorter would have been perfect. The version we got was instead just a very good adaptation of a very good musical.

—Kyle Orland

The Wild Robot

Credit: Universal Pictures

This is the final film to be animated entirely in-house at DreamWorks, based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Peter Brown. It features a plucky service robot called ROZZUM unit 7134, aka “Roz” (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o), who gets shipwrecked on a desert island and must learn to adapt. Along the way, Roz befriends some of the local wildlife—Pedro Pascal voices a mischievous red fox named Fink, with Bill Nighy voicing an elderly goose named Longneck—and adopts an orphaned goose named Brightbill (Kit Connor).

Director Chris Sanders was inspired both by classic Disney animated movies and Hayao Miyazaki, creating what he described as “a Monet painting in a Miyazaki forest” for the visual CGI style of The Wild Robot. It makes for quite a striking combination. Plot-wise, there are elements of E.T. and Pixar’s Wall-E here, but Sanders has created a unique take on those tropes and standout characters that are all his own. Along with Inside Out 2 (see below) this is one of the best animated movies of the year.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Deadpool & Wolverine

Credit: Marvel Studios

The Deadpool & Wolverine movie was a long time coming. That’s not just because Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) has been making comically obsessive requests to hang out with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine since the first Deadpool. But the movie itself feels like an homage to the comic book movies before it, combining fan service with a true, sensible (for a comic book movie) plot and a satisfying conclusion that leaves the characters more mature and content than when we last saw them.

Some may be concerned about the return of Jackman, considering his version of Wolverine was supposed to come to a dramatic and spectacular conclusion with the 2017 movie Logan. In fact, the movie is about Deadpool’s universe crumbling (as related by the Time Variance Authority from the show Loki) due to that version of Wolverine no longer being around. But Deadpool & Wolverine handles this well by visiting the end location of Logan and establishing that Jackman is now playing a Wolverine from an alternate universe and is still highly capable of playing the fierce, acrobatic, and iconic X-Man.

Deep down, the movie is about two men who have typically felt alone and unworthy of the people they love finding new paths to manhood, self-respect, and acceptance of their roles in the world. But for comic book fans, it’s really about action-packed nostalgia. The good feels are bolstered by epic cameos of characters you might have forgotten were Marvel-related at all (if possible, I highly recommend seeing this movie spoiler-free).

Unexpectedly one of the best parts of the movie comes from the ending credits. It features behind-the-scenes footage from 12 X-Men movies going back 24 years. With clips featuring the likes of a young Jackman, Halle Berry (who has played Storm), and Patrick Stewart (who has played Professor X), it’s a reminder of a time when comic books felt new and bold and a tribute to how long all of us—from the actors, to the crew, to the audience—have been on this journey. Ultimately, Deadpool & Wolverine provides a fulfilling and happy goodbye to all those pieces.

—Scharon Harding

Nickel Boys

Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

Colson Whitehead won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for his 2019 novel The Nickel Boys, based on Florida’s infamous Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys, a relic of the Jim Crow era. The school’s staff inflicted all manner of abuse, beatings, rapes, and torture on its unfortunate charges and even murdered many of them; as of 2012, nearly 100 deaths had been documented, along with 55 burial sites on school grounds. (There could be as many as 27 more burial sites, based on ground-penetrating radar surveys.)

A young Black boy named Elwood (Ethan Cole Sharp) in 1962 is a promising student until he is mistakenly arrested for being an accomplice to car theft. He’s sent to the segregated Nickel Academy, where he makes friends with Turner (Brandon Wilson). (Daveed Diggs plays a grown Elwood, now a successful businessman in New York City.) The two witness and experience so much abuse that Elwood finally decides to fight back, despite the risk of retaliation by the school’s administrators.

This is powerful subject matter, deftly handled by director RaMell Ross, who manages to tell a compelling story without turning it into what’s become known as “Black trauma porn.” The most controversial aspect of the film is Ross’ choice to shoot it from a first-person point of view with a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. So we see either Elwood speaking in a scene, with Turner off-camera, or vice versa, and the two are only occasionally onscreen at the same time. Some might find this choice annoying, but I found it kept me centered on one boy’s perspective at a time, which served to make the final plot twist all the more satisfying.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Inside Out 2

Credit: Pixar/Disney

I cried multiple times the first time I saw Inside Out in the theater, and still tear up when I watch it at home. So I was prepared to be even more emotional at Inside Out 2, especially given that I’m now the parent of a tween child myself.

I wasn’t quite moved to tears by this tale of Riley struggling with newfound feelings of Anxiety, pushing her to more and more desperate plans to ingratiate herself with a group of “cool” kids. But I will admit that my heart did break a little during the climactic scene, which shows the inner turmoil inherent to a true panic attack in a way that can resonate with both children and adults.

There were a couple of inconsistent attempts at comedy in Inside Out 2 that felt like they came from a completely different movie. And I found myself missing the original voice actors for Disgust and Envy, as well as Lewis Black’s original Anger voice (which has noticeably diminished as he’s aged). But none of this was enough to diminish the strong emotional core of a movie that will be relatable to anyone who’s busy growing up or just remembers doing the same.

—Kyle Orland

And now… our pick for the best movie of 2024:

Dune: Part 2

Credit: Warner Bros.

David Lynch’s 1984 Dune was a huge chunk of my high school experience, being as I was part of a small group of friends obsessed with the movie—with its incredible visuals, its outsize but seemingly earnest camp, and its absolutely endless quotability. We sprinkled the movie’s words throughout our conversations, experimented with re-creating portions of it with video cameras and action figures, and reveled in exploring something that felt truly ours—largely because the movie was rejected and forgotten by so many others.

If anything, Lynch’s Dune put paid to the notion that Frank Herbert’s novel could be successfully ported to film. It’s a heroic effort, but it’s a bloody mess. And I would have gone to my grave thinking that Dune remained one of the most unfilmable classic bits of 20th-century science fiction—until Denis Villeneuve went and made the dang thing anyway.

The viscerally visual filmmaker who famously hates dialog did something I genuinely believed was impossible: He gave us a (two-part) translation of the book to screen that is both faithful to the original, and also shows us new things that feel like they’ve been there all along, waiting to be discovered.

Dune: Part Two is a masterpiece. It is the product of craftsmen at the top of their crafts, including and especially the craftsman in the director’s seat. Dune gives us a peek at exactly what Villeneuve means when he talks about the “paradise” of a movie without dialogue—there are long, almost Tarkovsky-esque stretches where vast cyclopean imagery juxtaposes itself against tiny human tableaus, underpinned by nothing but Hans Zimmer’s transcendent music. And it’s not just that these stretches work—they work fantastically well!—it’s that in many ways they carry the movie to places that rapid-fire Aaron Sorkin-style banter could never reach. The visuals show us things—things words never could.

Speaking of Hans Zimmer—let’s talk about that score. It’s an absolutely masterful creation that figures so prominently in our experience of Arrakis that it becomes a character itself, a second unseen narrator who alternates with poor unloved Irulan as the voice of the world. Paul and Chani’s love theme, a composition titled “A Time of Quiet Between the Storms,” is one of the most powerfully emotional pieces of music I’ve ever heard, embodying almost the platonic ideal of pure, mournful longing; the emotional hammer-blow delivered by its apocalyptic, civilization-ending reprise “Kiss the Ring” left me speechless and wide-eyed in the theater.

Folks, Dune: Part Two is a good movie. It (and its prequel) is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen, successfully adapting a difficult book into a movie and retaining the bits that mattered most. Villeneuve was born to make these films, and Zimmer was born to score them. They are true art. If anything, I’m even more excited now about another of Villeneuve’s upcoming projects: he’s taken over the reins for the long-stalled, long-rumored, finally-happening-for-real adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, a book that heavily imprinted itself on me in fourth grade and that I’ve reread at least once a year for most of my life. If Villeneuve brings his A-game, I have the highest hopes for Rama.

—Lee Hutchinson

Photo of Jennifer Ouellette

Jennifer is a senior reporter at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban.

Film Technica: Our favorite movies of 2024 Read More »

Bridging Wireless and 5G

Bridging / /

Wireless connectivity and 5G are transforming the way we live and work, but what does it take to integrate these technologies? I spoke to Bruno Tomas, CTO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), to get his insights on convergence, collaboration, and the road ahead.

Q: Bruno, could you start by sharing a bit about your background and your role at the WBA?

Bruno: Absolutely. I’m an engineer by training, with degrees in electrical and computer engineering, as well as a master’s in telecom systems. I started my career with Portugal Telecom and later worked in Brazil, focusing on network standards. About 12 years ago, I joined the WBA, and my role has been centered on building the standards for seamless interoperability and convergence between Wi-Fi, 3G, LTE, and now 5G. At the WBA, we bring together vendors, operators, and integrators to create technical specifications and guidelines that drive innovation and usability in wireless networks.

Q: What are the key challenges in achieving seamless integration between wireless technologies and 5G?

Bruno: One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that our work translates into real-world use cases—particularly in enterprise and public environments. For example, in manufacturing or warehousing, where metal structures and interference can disrupt connectivity, we need robust solutions for starters. At the WBA, we’ve worked with partners from the vendor, chipset and device communities, as well as integrators, to address these challenges by building field-tested guidelines. On top of that comes innovation. For instance, our OpenRoaming concepts help enable seamless transitions between networks, including IoT, reducing the complexity for IT managers and CIOs.

Q: Could you explain how WBA’s “Tiger Teams” contribute to these solutions?

Bruno: Tiger Teams are specialized working groups within our alliance. They bring together technical experts from companies such as AT&T, Intel, Broadcom, and AirTies to solve specific challenges collaboratively. For instance, in our 5G & Wi-Fi convergence group, members define requirements and scenarios for industries like aerospace or healthcare. By doing this, we ensure that our recommendations are practical and field-ready. This collaborative approach helps drive innovation while addressing real-world challenges.

Q: You mentioned OpenRoaming earlier. How does that help businesses and consumers?

Bruno: OpenRoaming simplifies connectivity by allowing users to seamlessly move between Wi-Fi and cellular networks without needing manual logins or configurations. Imagine a hospital where doctors move between different buildings while using tablets for patient care, supported by an enhanced security layer. With OpenRoaming, they can stay connected without interruptions. Similarly, for enterprises, it minimizes the need for extensive IT support and reduces costs while ensuring high-quality service.

Q: What’s the current state of adoption for technologies like 5G and Wi-Fi 6?

Bruno: Adoption is growing rapidly, but it’s uneven across regions. Wi-Fi 6 has been a game-changer, offering better modulation and spectrum management, which makes it ideal for high-density environments like factories or stadiums. On the 5G side, private networks have been announced, especially in industries like manufacturing, but the integration with existing systems remains a hurdle. In Europe, regulatory and infrastructural challenges slow things down, while the U.S. and APAC regions are moving faster.

Q: What role do you see AI playing in wireless and 5G convergence?

Bruno: AI is critical for optimizing network performance and making real-time decisions. At the WBA, we’ve launched initiatives to incorporate AI into wireless networking, helping systems predict and adapt to user needs. For instance, AI can guide network steering—deciding whether a device should stay on Wi-Fi or switch to 5G based on signal quality and usage patterns. This kind of automation will be essential as networks become more complex.

Q: Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of wireless and 5G?

Bruno: The potential for convergence to enable new use cases is incredibly exciting. Whether it’s smart cities, advanced manufacturing, or immersive experiences with AR and VR, the opportunities are limitless. Wi-Fi 7, will bring even greater capacity and coverage, making it possible to deliver gigabit speeds in dense environments like stadiums or urban centers. Conversely, we are starting to look into 6G. One trend is clear: Wi-Fi should be integrated within a 6G framework, enabling densification. At the WBA, we’re committed to ensuring these advancements are accessible, interoperable, and sustainable.

Thank you, Bruno! 

N.B. The WBA Industry Report 2025 has now been released and is available for download. Please click here for further information.

Bridging Wireless and 5G Read More »

green-sea-turtle-gets-relief-from-“bubble-butt”-syndrome-thanks-to-3d-printing

Green sea turtle gets relief from “bubble butt” syndrome thanks to 3D printing

3D printing, green sea turtle, Science, Tech, wildlife / /

Two main reasons those gas pockets appear in turtles are plastics and boat strikes.

When a turtle consumes something it can’t digest—like parts of fishing nets, plastic bottles, or even rubber gloves (yes, there was a sea turtle found with a rubber glove in its intestines)—it sometimes gets stuck somewhere along its gastrointestinal tract. This, in turn, causes gases to gather there, which throws the turtle’s buoyancy out of balance.

Those gases usually gather in the parts of the gastrointestinal tract located near the rear of the turtle, so the animal is left floating bum-up at an unnatural angle. Conditions like that are sometimes curable with dietary modifications, assisted feeding, fluid therapy, and other non-invasive means to the point where afflicted animals can be safely released back into the wild. Boat strikes, on the other hand, often lead to permanent damage.

Sea turtles’ shells are tough but not tough enough to withstand a boat impact, especially when the shell gets hit by a propeller blade. This often leaves a shell deformed, with air bubbles trapped underneath it. In more severe cases, the spinal cord under the shell also gets damaged, which leads to complete or partial paralysis.“

The most popular approach to rehabilitating these injuries relies on gluing Velcro patches to the shell at carefully chosen spots and attaching weights to those patches to counteract the buoyancy caused by the air bubbles. This is a pretty labor-intensive task that has to be done repeatedly every few months for the rest of the turtle’s life. And green sea turtles can live as long as 80 years.

Charlotte swimming with the harness on.

Credit: Laura Shubel

Charlotte swimming with the harness on. Credit: Laura Shubel

Harnessing advanced manufacturing

Charlotte, as a boat strike victim with air bubbles trapped under its deformed shell, was considered non-releasable and completely dependent on human care. Since full recovery was not an option, Mystic Aquarium wanted to make everyday functioning more bearable for both the turtle and its caretakers. It got in touch with Adia, which in turn got New Balance and Formlabs onboard. Their idea was to get rid of the Velcro and replace them with a harness fitted with slots for weights.

Green sea turtle gets relief from “bubble butt” syndrome thanks to 3D printing Read More »

the-next-two-fifa-women’s-world-cups-will-only-air-on-netflix

The next two FIFA Women’s World Cups will only air on Netflix

FIFA, netflix, soccer, sports, streaming, Tech / /

FIFA’s announcement suggested that it expects to reach a larger audience and increase US engagement by airing on Netflix. FIFA said that 1.2 billion people watched the 2019 Women’s World Cup, ESPN noted. Netflix has already demonstrated the ability to lure a massive amount of viewers to exclusive sports matches. In November, Netflix claimed the “most-streamed sporting event ever” when it streamed a boxing event centered on a Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight and reportedly garnered 65 million live concurrent streams.

Per FIFA’s announcement, Netflix will stream the tournaments in English and Spanish via a “dual telecast.” Under the deal, Netflix will also release a documentary series about the biggest players ahead of both tournaments. Brazil will host the 2027 event, while the host country for the 2031 Women’s World Cup has yet to be announced.

The news comes as streaming platforms continue battling over sports. Currently, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox are in a legal battle over plans to launch a joint sports streaming app, Venu, which is being challenged by sports streamer Fubo over antitrust allegations. The case is set to go to trial in October.

Meanwhile, fans are adjusting to changes in how sports events are aired, learning to bounce between channels and streaming services to find their events and dealing with buffering and other technical problems. At times, some of the biggest fans, like NFL player Tariq Woolen, have resorted to illegal pirating to avoid complications and fees, underscoring pressure for streaming services to perfect and simplify the streaming of the live events that they’re eagerly snatching up.

The next two FIFA Women’s World Cups will only air on Netflix Read More »

google-will-apparently-offer-“ai-mode”-right-on-its-main-search-page

Google will apparently offer “AI Mode” right on its main search page

AI, ai mode, ai search, AI search engine, Google, google ai mode, Tech / /

Google will soon take more steps to make AI a part of search, exposing more users to its Gemini agent, according to recent reports and app teardowns.

“AI Mode,” shown at the top left of the web results page and inside the Google app, will provide an interface similar to a Gemini AI chat, according to The Information.

This tracks with a finding from Android Authority earlier this month, which noted a dedicated “AI mode” button inside an early beta of the Google app. This shortcut also appeared on Google’s Android search widget, and a conversation history button was added to the Google app. Going even deeper into the app, 9to5Google found references to “aim” (AI mode) and “ai_mode” which suggest a dedicated tab in the Google app, with buttons for speaking to an AI or sending it pictures.

Google already promotes Gemini with links below its search homepage. (“5 ways Gemini can help during the Holidays” is currently showing for me.) Search results on Google can also contain an “AI Overview,” which launched with some “use glue for pizza sauce” notoriety. People averse to AI answers can avoid them with URL parameters and proxy sites (or sticking to the “web” tab). Gemini has also been prominently added to other Google products, like Pixel phones, Gmail, and Drive/Workspace. And the search giant has also been testing the ability to attach files to a web search for analysis.

Google will apparently offer “AI Mode” right on its main search page Read More »

amazon’s-rto-delays-exemplify-why-workers-get-so-mad-about-mandates

Amazon’s RTO delays exemplify why workers get so mad about mandates

Amazon, Policy, return-to-office, Tech / /

Concern about RTO planning is underscored by Amazon reportedly lacking enough space for its current in-office policy. Bloomberg said that “in recent interviews, employees complained of working from shared desks, crowded corporate canteens, and a lack of conference rooms for confidential calls or team meetings.”

The publication also pointed to employee displeasure with having to work in an office full-time when other tech firms have more lax policies. This could result in Amazon losing some of its best talent. Per the study from the University of Pittsburgh, Baylor University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business researchers, senior, skilled workers are more likely to depart a company over an RTO mandate because they have “more connections with other companies.”

Employees eyeing greener pastures could put Amazon at risk of losing some of its most experienced employees. That also reportedly happened to Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX following their RTO mandates, per a May study from University of Chicago and University of Michigan researchers (PDF). Following Amazon’s RTO announcement, 73 percent of 2,285 workers that Blind surveyed said they were “considering looking for another job” due to the rule change.

Finally, banning remote work while giving workers a few months to figure out how to adjust resulted in a lot of negative discourse, including Garman reportedly telling workers that if they don’t work well in offices, “that’s okay; there are other companies around.” As the November RTO study put it:

“An RTO announcement can be a big and sudden event that is distasteful to most employees, especially when the decision has not been well communicated, potentially triggering an immediate response of employees searching for and switching to new jobs.”

If Amazon had communicated RTO dates with greater accuracy once office plans were finalized, it could have alleviated some of the drama that followed the announcement and the negative impact that had on employee morale.

For its part, Amazon has instituted a tool for reserving conference rooms, which requires workers to commit to using the space so it’s not wasted, Bloomberg reported.

But with companies now having had years to plot their RTO approaches, employees are expecting more accurate communication and smooth transitions that align with their respective department’s culture. Amazon’s approach missed those marks.

Amazon’s RTO delays exemplify why workers get so mad about mandates Read More »

“unprecedented”-decline-in-teen-drug-use-continues,-surprising-experts

“Unprecedented” decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts

adolescent, alcohol, Drug use, health, illicit drugs, marijuana, nicotine, Science, Teens / /

A new era

“Kids who were in eighth grade at the start of the pandemic will be graduating from high school this year, and this unique cohort has ushered in the lowest rates of substance use we’ve seen in decades,” Miech noted.

For alcohol, use in the past 12 months among eighth graders was at 12.9 percent in 2024, similar to 2023 levels, which are all-time lows. For 10th graders, the rate dropped significantly from 30.6 percent in 2023 to 26.1 percent, and for 12th graders, from 45.7 percent to 41.7 percent—both record lows.

For nicotine vaping, rates fell for 10th graders (from 17.5 percent to 15.4 percent) and remained at low levels for eighth and 12th graders. For marijuana, use remained low for eighth and 10th graders and fell significantly for 12th graders (from 29 percent to 25.8 percent). All three grades are at lows not seen since 1990.

For abstainers from alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine in the prior 30 days, the rate among eighth graders hit 90 percent, up from 87 percent in 2017, when it was first measured. The rate was 80 percent among 10th graders, up from 69 percent in 2017, and 67 percent for 12th graders, up from 53 percent in 2017.

“This trend in the reduction of substance use among teenagers is unprecedented,” Nora Volkow, director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), said. “We must continue to investigate factors that have contributed to this lowered risk of substance use to tailor interventions to support the continuation of this trend.”

“Unprecedented” decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts Read More »

here’s-the-new-hybrid-honda-prelude,-on-sale-late-2025

Here’s the new hybrid Honda Prelude, on sale late 2025

Cars, Honda Prelude / /

The fact that Honda was working on a new Prelude coupe was not entirely secret—not after the automaker unveiled a show car at this year’s Long Beach Grand Prix. This morning, the Japanese automaker confirmed that the new Prelude will go on sale here in the US late in 2025.

“The return of the Honda Prelude as a hybrid-electric sports model demonstrates our continued commitment to offer a variety of exhilarating products to meet the needs of our customers,” said Jessika Laudermilk, assistant vice president of Honda Auto Sales. “The first three products in the Honda lineup in the 1970s were Civic, Accord, and Prelude, and soon all three will be back together again in our passenger car lineup as hybrids.”

Honda has often used the two-door Prelude coupe as a testbed for new technologies, including torque vectoring and four-wheel steering, and was praised by the late automotive writer LJK Setright, who owned several Preludes across the years.

An innovation in the next Prelude will be a new drive mode, called Honda S+ Shift, which it says “advances linear shift control to deliver maximum levels of driver engagement.” But as the Prelude will use a hybrid powertrain, there won’t be an option for a manual transmission in this generation.

Beyond that, Honda is keeping quiet on Prelude details until closer to the car’s arrival on sale next year.

Here’s the new hybrid Honda Prelude, on sale late 2025 Read More »

in-it?-need-cash?-cybersecurity-whistleblowers-are-earning-big-payouts.

In IT? Need cash? Cybersecurity whistleblowers are earning big payouts.

False Claims Act, fraud, Policy, whistleblowers / /

Matthew Decker is the former chief information officer for Penn State University’s Applied Research Laboratory. As of October, he’s also $250,000 richer.

In his Penn State position, Decker was well placed to see that the university was not implementing all of the cybersecurity controls that were required by its various contracts with NASA and the Department of Defense (DoD). It did not, for instance, use an external cloud services provider that met the DoD’s security guidelines, and it fudged some of the self-submitted “scores” it made to the government about Penn State’s IT security.

So Decker sued the school under the False Claims Act, which lets private individuals bring cases against organizations on behalf of the government if they come across evidence of wrongdoing related to government contracts. In many of these cases, the government later “intervenes” to assist with the case (as it did here), but whether it does so or not, whistleblowers stand to collect a percentage of any fines if they win.

In October, Penn State agreed to a $1.25 million settlement with the government; Decker got $250,000 of the money.

On the regular

This now happens in IT with some regularity. In November, Dell, Dell Federal Systems, and Iron Bow Technologies settled with the government for $4.3 million over claims that they “violated the False Claims Act by submitting and causing the submission of non-competitive bids to the Army and thereby overcharging the Army under the Army Desktop and Mobile Computing 3 (ADMC-3) contract.”

But once again, this wasn’t something the government uncovered on its own; a whistleblower named Brent Lillard, who was an executive at another company in the industry, brought the initial complaint. For his work, Lillard just made $345,000.

In early December, Gen Digital (formerly Symantec) paid a much larger fee—$55.1 million—after losing a trial in 2022. Gen Digital/Symantec was found liable for charging the government higher prices than it charged to companies.

Once again, the issue was brought to light by a whistleblower, Lori Morsell, who oversaw the contract for Gen Digital/Symantec. Morsell’s award has not yet been determined by the court, but given the amount of the payout, it should be substantial.

False Claims Act goes digital

Due to the complexity of investigating—or even finding out about—technical failures and False Claims Act cases from the outside of an organization, the government has increasingly relied on whistleblowers to kick-start these sorts of IT cases.

In IT? Need cash? Cybersecurity whistleblowers are earning big payouts. Read More »