Outside of the films, the Star Wars franchise has always had a strange relationship with the canonocity of everything else. Back in 2014, the widespread retcon of the Expanded Universe after Lucasfilm’s purchase by the Walt Disney Company is probably the biggest example of SW canon being overhauled; though it’s also true that the various books and comics of the 1990s were never really canon anyway. Since the dawn of Rebels and the return of Star Wars to Marvel comics, Star Wars has tried out an “everything counts” approach to new material, and yet, there are plenty of examples of projects that are explicitly not part of the mainline canon. Star Wars: Visions and the recent anime spinoff The Ninth Jedi are the easy examples, as well as the non-canon status of the various Star Wars LEGO movies and specials.

But it's not just Disney television shows that have explored outside the blurry lines of canon – video games, especially those released before the Disney era, are a mixed bag as to whether or not they fit into established lore. Beloved entries like Knights of the Old Republic and The Force Unleashed are officially de-canonized, with bits and pieces of them stripped for parts and slowly making their way back into mainline mythos. Which brings us to the just-released Star Wars Zero Company, the action-strategy game developed by Bit Reactor and published by Electronic Arts.

Is Zero Company real deal Star Wars canon or what?

Is Star Wars Zero Company Canon?

The short answer is, yes, Star Wars Zero Company is seemingly official canon (unless Lucasfilm or Bit Reactor says otherwise). The game is set in 19 BBY, during the final year of the Clone Wars, and follows the titular Zero Company – a team of mercenaries assembled by former Republic official Captain Hawks, who are recruited by his former employer to investigate the Infinite Coil, a cult aligned with the Separatist faction and in possession of the immensely dangerous Shadow Plague.

While this is, naturally, the first time we hear of the Infinite Coil or Zero Company, the Clone Wars setting is clearly a recognizable era in the franchise and gives us an opportunity to run into a few key familiar players. So why is Zero Company canon? Mostly because there’s nothing in the game’s setup that contradicts what we know about the time in the Clone Wars, at all.

How Does Zero Company Fit Into the Clone Wars timeline?

Much in the vein of the XCOM games or other turn-based tactics games, Zero Company puts you in control of a squad of characters who engage in mission combat, but although the game’s core group of controllable characters are wholly original, there are a lot of other recognizable characters that root the game’s experience in the timeline. There are brief missions that allow people like Anakin Skywalker or Captain Rex to join your squadron, which contribute to the overall feeling that you are immersed in the conflict of the Clone Wars from an as-of-yet unseen vantage.

Even outside of playable characters, there are name drops and references to other Star Wars properties sprinkled throughout the game, including a mention of Skoova Stev, a fisherman and supporting character from 2023’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, as well as a full-on appearance from Trilla, the villainous Second Sister from the original Jedi: Fallen Order.

But outside of just characters, the game explores the full breadth of the galaxy’s slow transition away from the Clone Wars to the horror of the Galactic Empire. One of the game’s playable characters, Trick, is a discharged clone trooper who succumbs to his inhibitor chip when Order 66 is enacted, and although his chip is able to be removed, the second half of the game illustrates the fascist takeover by Emperor Palpatine from the perspective of a group that thought they could ignore the politics of the galaxy.

Setting Zero Company towards the end of the Clone Wars is a best-of-both-worlds decision that allows players to see one of the defining events of the franchise’s timeline outside of the usual lenses.

Star Wars Zero Company is currently available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Since 2016, Star Trek fans have probably felt a bit like Charlie Brown on Thanksgiving. The football is the promise of a new theatrical film, which is pulled away at the last minute, seemingly every single time. But now, filmmakers John Francis Daley and Johnathan Goldstein seem to be making progress, and if and when their ambitious new Star Trek film materializes, it sounds like it could be like nothing else we’ve seen before.

In the same way that Nicholas Meyer redefined Star Trek with The Wrath of Khan, or Gene Roddenberry took a big risk by introducing an all-new cast of characters in 1987 with The Next Generation, the Daley and Goldstein script for the untitled new Star Trek movie promises to be another brave, new take on the venerable sci-fi franchise, one that the filmmakers think shouldn’t require any previous Trekkie fandom knowledge.

Speaking to Inverse about their new comedy/action film Mayday — starring Ryan Reynolds and Sir Kenneth Branagh — Daley and Goldstein took time to shed a little more light on what their Star Trek script will be like, while also confirming one major aspect: This movie will feature all-new Star Trek characters.

Unpacking Starfleet in a new way

“I would say it's really kind of a look at the institution of Starfleet and any institution as a whole that has existed for a long time and what that does,” Daley tells Inverse. “ I think the portrayal of Starfleet and the people that work within it have always been generally idealized versions of what the future could be. And while this [script] isn’t a cynical or nihilistic take on it, I think it does acknowledge that there are some bad apples in every institution that can have a strong voice and can really make an impact on that institution and everything it stands for.”

“Two movies we cite as comps for what we’re hoping to do are Training Day and Crimson Tide,” Goldstein tells Inverse.

“It takes place almost in real time, and it just is a whole other look at what a Star Trek movie could be without betraying the fundamentals of what it should be,” Daley adds.

Fans of the excellent film Crimson Tide will probably remember that, interestingly, that film has more than one reference to the original Star Trek.

Daley and Goldstein hope to launch a “new franchise” for Star Trek

Because the new film is in development (not in production, to be clear) as a theatrical film, the filmmakers note the promise of a large “spectacle” is crucial to delivering not just what fans expect, but to bring in a whole new audience of fans who may or may not already care about Star Trek.

“With the advent of truly cinematic television, I think the challenge then is to have it justify its place as a feature, a theatrical feature that in a perfect world is on the biggest screens possible,” Daley says. “And that requires looking at it in a sort of larger sense than any kind of television show could do. It’s definitely something that we are hyper-cognizant of as well. There has to be a spectacle to it.”

The filmmakers also note that their hope with this film is to make something that lives well beyond the expectations and borders of existing fandom. “I mean, look, we don't want to rely on fandom,” Goldstein says. “We don't want to just hope that there's enough fans of the original [TOS] or The Next Generation or whatever who will turn out for this. We want to just make a great movie that lives in the world that people are familiar with — some people are familiar with — and that others will discover. And then, with good fortune, we launch a new franchise into existence.”

Mayday is out on Apple TV on September 4.

Phasers on Stun!: How the Making — and Remaking — of Star Trek Changed the World

Amazon -

Whether it’s 1937’s Snow White or 2016’s Moana, if Disney owns the rights to something, then a live-action remake is always on the table. In 2023, Deadline confirmed that Disney was developing a live-action adaptation of Gargoyles, the animated series that ran from 1994 to 1997. While it was early in the process, there were intriguing names attached, including Gary Dauberman, the writer of the horror movie Annabelle, and James Wan’s production company, Atomic Monster.

But three years passed without any updates on the project, and the one we just received isn’t positive. Gargoyles co-creator Greg Weisman told ComicsOnline the project wasn’t moving forward, and a source has now confirmed the cancellation to Variety.

Gargoyles followed a clan of nocturnal creatures led by a gargoyle named Goliath. After being transplanted from a castle in Scotland to a skyscraper in New York (a move that conveniently breaks the spell cast on them and allows them to come to life), Goliath and his fellow gargoyles face off against the evil billionaire David Xanatos while adjusting to life in the city that never sleeps. The voice cast boasted big names like Keith David, Ed Asner, and Bill Fagerbakke, as well as Star Trek veterans like Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, and Jonathan Frakes as Xanatos.

Gargoyles was a hit, and talk of expanding the franchise began almost immediately. At first, this meant a traditional animated tie-in movie, and multiple versions of a script were written. Fast-forward to 2011, and David Elliot and Paul Lovett, the screenwriters of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, were hired to write a live-action adaptation, but ultimately that didn’t go anywhere. In 2018, Get Out’s Jordan Peele also pitched a Gargoyles live-action movie, but Disney passed.

Despite all these stumbles, the original star of Gargoyles has been down for a reboot for years. When asked by Inverse in 2022 about returning to the role of Goliath, Keith David responded, “What kind of question is that? In a New York heartbeat, yes!”

While this latest attempt is dead, that doesn’t mean a Gargoyles return is impossible. On a recent episode of their podcast Dropping Names with Brent and Jonny, Brent Spiner told Jonathan Frakes that another new project was in the works.

“They're doing Gargoyles again,” Spiner said. “You know, we've heard that rumor for 10 years,” Frakes replied. “No, no. I was told this morning,” Spiner said. “It's another animated series.”

That update came this July, so if Spiner’s source was correct, maybe we’ll see an announcement about returning to animation sometime soon. But if you were hoping to see these gargoyles in realistic granite, you’re out of luck for now.

Gargoyles is streaming on Disney+.

One of the major conflicts of superhero stories is that, for the most part, lots of superheroes operate outside of the confines of the law. Batman’s nightly activities frequently incur the ire of the GCPD (a crucial element of the 2022 film The Batman), and vigilantes like Daredevil have a...complicated relationship with the law enforcement officials (a dynamic explored in depth by the TV show Daredevil: Born Again).

Unlike many superpowered individuals in the Big Two’s pantheon, the Green Lantern Corps are different. More so than lots of other heroes, the Green Lanterns act as intergalactic police officers — they have sectors they patrol, protocols they’re not allowed to break, and they even have bosses, the blue-skinned Guardians of the Universe. The HBO Max series Lanterns has teased the Guardians throughout the first two episodes, but the third episode of the series, “OutKast,” gives us our best look yet at the overseers of the Emerald Knights — and their presence is just as mysterious and morally nuanced as they are in the source material.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Lanterns Episode 3, “OutKast.”

The Watchdogs of the Green Lantern Corps

The most recent episode of Lanterns is dedicated almost exclusively to John Stewart’s backstory and fraught childhood, and it also gives us our first glimpse yet at the mysterious Guardians of the Universe. “OutKast” revealed that John Stewart’s father (U.S. Marine John Stewart Sr.) was initially observed as a potential candidate for Earth’s Green Lantern before Hal Jordan was chosen. However, John’s mother Bernadette was visited by a Guardian named Lianna (played by Laura Linney), an event that convinced both mother and father that John was destined to become Earth’s Green Lantern after Hal Jordan — a future that they made sure he was prepared for through a rigorous and militaristic childhood worth of training.

While the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, debuted in the pages of All-American Comics #16 back in 1940, and Hal Jordan and the rest of the peacekeeping Green Lantern Corps was introduced in 1959’s Showcase #22, the Guardians of the Universe themselves didn’t make their first appearance until Green Lantern vol. 2 #1, which was released in 1960.

The Guardians of the Universe are made up of a blue-skinned race of aliens known as the Malthusians from planet Maltus, who may have been the first intelligent life in the universe — they evolved from a warlike species to one of scientists and geniuses. One of which, Krona, conducted an experiment to view the beginning of the universe, which went horribly wrong and resulted in the creation of (one of many) versions of the DC Multiverse as well as the antimatter universe of Qward (the dimension which birthed the Yellow Lantern ring used by Sinestro). Sharing a feeling of guilt and responsibility over this, the Malthusians decided to become the “Guardians” of a universe of peace and prosperity, moving to the planet Oa (a locational change that transforms the Oans into the extremely short bobble-headed creatures recognizable in comics) and creating an organization dedicated to precisely that.

Far From Perfect Guardians

While the Green Lantern Corps is a clear success and their most recognizable creation, they were not the first attempt at peacekeeping created by the Guardians. Debuting in 1975’s 1st Issue Special #5 (created by none other than comic book royalty Jack Kirby), the Manhunters were the result of the first time the Guardians tried their hands at creating a force for intergalactic protection. However, they were a race of unfeeling androids who eventually went rogue because they grew to believe that the concept of “justice” was unattainable without the rigorous punishment of those they believed “wicked” — a concept that slowly came to describe all sentient life in their eyes. Long before the flawed Manhunters wiped out an entire sector of space (which gave birth to the GL villain Atrocitus), 2012’s Green Lantern Annual vol 5. #1 introduced Volthoom, the First Lantern — a scientist from another Earth in the Multiverse who became aware of the existence of the emotional light spectrum (the metaphysical force which gives Green Lanterns and other Lantern Corps their powers) and attempted to harness it alongside the Guardians to disastrous results.

Even outside of their frequently broken and dangerous creations, the Guardians of the Universe themselves have oftentimes been besieged by former members turned villainous, and their own organizational structure has led them to harmful acts out of what they believe to be the “greater good.” Krona, the Guardian whose experiment led to the creation of Qward, would return later as a major villain for the Green Lanterns, and a Guardian named Scar would prove instrumental in helping orchestrate the Blackest Night (a DC Comics crossover where numerous dead characters were resurrected as zombies by the villainous Black Lantern Corps) from the inside.

The Guardians represent a certain degree of oversight for the Green Lanterns, but despite purging themselves of the “impurity” of emotion, they’ve still been left open to corruption and attack throughout their existence. And if Lanterns is any indication, the presence of the Manhunters and the mysterious circumstances of Sinestro’s coup are proof that the Guardians of the cinematic DCU are just as morally complex and imperfect as they are in the source material.

New episodes of Lanterns release Sundays on HBO Max.

Lego and Star Wars have a very symbiotic relationship. Lego releases massive collector’s sets, including, as of just this month, a four-and-a-half-foot-long Executor Super Star Destroyer. Meanwhile, Star Wars uses the Lego format to show a lighter side of its franchise, depicting Padmé’s decoy as a bearded man in a dress or Obi-Wan using a stepladder to reach his famous “high ground.” In recent years, these have moved from video games to Disney+, but they’re still just as fun.

The latest Lego Star Wars special, LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian, premieres on the streamer on September 2. The special recreates moments from all three seasons of the show in LEGO animation, and while it may only be less than an hour long, it still manages to do what The Mandalorian and Grogu couldn’t do. Check out the trailer for the special below:

With the framing device of Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris) telling everyone about Grogu’s adventures with Din Djarin, we see all kinds of scenes from The Mandalorian’s past, including cameos from Kuiil, IG-11, The Client (aka Werner Herzog), Moff Gideon, and Ahsoka Tano. But there are also some bigger appearances as well, including a split-second shot of Boba Fett and a final gag of Luke Skywalker getting upset that Mando and Bo-Katan Kryze don’t realize who he is.

It’s a funny bit, but it actually highlights a problem in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian and Grogu stumbled into theaters earlier this year, and the box office failure was obvious. Notably, it didn’t contain any legacy characters. It had Sigourney Weaver for a bit, and we saw Pedro Pascal unmasked for a moment, but that was about all the star power we saw. How is it that Lego Star Wars: The Mandalorian was able to show Boba and Luke, but The Mandalorian and Grogu wasn’t able to?

Sure, you could chalk it up to the animated medium, meaning expensive actors won’t need to come back to appear on screen, but this isn’t the first time that this has happened in a Star Wars show. The Book of Boba Fett, the one-season wonder that spun off of The Mandalorian in 2021, inexplicably contained more screen time for Luke than The Mandalorian did.

For better or for worse, legacy characters are a major part of why we watch Star Wars, and without those, it can be difficult to stay invested, as The Mandalorian and Grogu proved. With the next movie, Star Wars: Starfighter, looking equally as standalone, it might be time for Star Wars’ most serious ventures to take a page from the silliest part of the franchise.

LEGO Star Wars: The Mandalorian premieres on Disney+ on September 2.

At the end of the 1973 movie The Wicker Man, a man is burned alive inside of a giant wooden effigy while townspeople sing and dance. It is a profoundly bleak, unsettling moment. The 2006 remake of The Wicker Man ends in much the same way, only instead of being disquieting, it is an absolute hoot and a holler when the titular wicker man — with Nicholas Cage inside — goes up in flames. Rather than be a worthy adaptation of a seminal work of folk horror, it's one of the funniest unintentional comedies ever made.

The 2006 Wicker Man, which celebrates its 20th anniversary today, is a cinematic travesty when compared with the original film. Directed by Robin Hardy, the '70s movie followed Sergeant Neil Howie, an uptight, moral Christian police officer who travels to a Scottish island commune to investigate a missing person's report. Once there, he finds the community, a group of pagans led by an eerily charismatic Christopher Lee, who claim to have no knowledge of the missing girl; instead they slowly rope him into their May Day celebration. Somewhat corny folk songs (including one that's literally about corn) gradually give way to something more sinister, culminating in the reveal that the people of Summerisle lured Howie here to sacrifice him so that their crops would flourish. That several of the most upsetting scenes take place in the daylight, surrounded by flowers, only heightens the impact of the horror, and the collision between Howie's stiff-upper-lip British repression and the darkness underlying the free-loving lifestyle of the pagans is thematically rich.

Considering that so much of folk horror is about respecting what's lurking underneath the earth, it's perhaps fitting that The Wicker Man remake trods the same ground as the '70s movie, yet seemingly has no reverence for what lies beneath. The remake, directed by Neil LaBute, moves the action from the Scottish isles to an island off the coast of Washington, but while the Pacific Northwest may be an aesthetically similar setting, it has no connection to the sort of folklore and tradition that made the very British original work. The United States has plenty of folk horror inspiration — consider The Witch, which takes the Puritan settler nature of this country and finds delicious terror — but the '06 Wicker Man doesn't really engage with any of that. Instead, it puts a blockbuster sheen over a '70s British film that was so effective in part because of its quaintness.

There are some plot changes, too. Cage's character, policeman Edward Malus, is called to the island not out of duty but because his ex-fiancée, Willow (Kate Beahan), who is from there, sent him a letter saying her daughter is missing. Rather than heighten the stakes, this invented personal connection feels forced and instead has Cage already suspicious and twitchy when he first arrives on the island. The impact of what happens to Sergeant Howie in the original comes in part from seeing how his stoic belief in law, order, the Christian god, and modernity crumbles when confronted with these free-loving, human-sacrificing pagans.

Cage can be very fun when he's playing unhinged, as seen in The Rock, Face/Off, and the underseen '80s movie Vampire's Kiss, but it's the wrong energy for The Wicker Man. The cop needs to be the straight man, not somebody who runs around punching multiple women in the face (while dressed as a bear on one occasion). A supercut of the most absurd moments in The Wicker Man went viral on YouTube mere months after the film came out.

None of these moments are presented as "jokes," necessarily — The Wicker Man does not in any way bill itself as a horror-comedy like Evil Dead 2 or Slither. There is a deliberate intensity to them which backfires hilariously. In a 2022 interview, Cage tried to claim that the comedy wasn't an accident. "I know people had fun with that even if they thought the comedy was not intentional,” Cage told IndieWire. “I’m going on record right now: That is not a fact. Neil and I both knew how funny it was."

Cage typically seems pretty self-aware about his image, so there's a chance this isn't revisionist history and he really did set out to make a comedy. If that's the case, it clearly didn't work out the way he intended, and the rest of the movie doesn't really support these baffling laugh moments. It's a tonal mess whose only possible path to cinematic success is a place in the "so bad its good" category, which is not a place that any filmmaker aspires to be from the onset.

So, while The Wicker Man makes a mockery of a powerful, essential piece of horror cinema history, it's not not entertaining. Yes, the original ending is haunting, as Howie's screamed psalms and prayers to God get drowned out amongst the flames. In the remake, however, Cage screams about bees getting in his eyes, as if viewers couldn't see that, yes, there are bees around his eyes and also the rest of his head. It's a stupid affront to a great movie. And, in its own way, that's great, too.

The Wicker Man is streaming on the Howdy Amazon Channel.

If you watch the end credits of Jurassic Park, you’ll see a role that doesn’t appear in any other movie: Dinosaur Supervisor. Phil Tippett is credited with this job, leading many fans to make memes saying “You had one job, Phil!”

But Phil Tippett is more than just a punchline. He’s also a special effects legend, pioneering the use of stop motion and other classic techniques in the foundational sci-fi and fantasy movies in the ‘80s and ‘90s. But now, he’s hanging up his sculpting tools and retiring, but not before selling off his vast collection for fans to enjoy.

Clarity Estate Liquidation recently listed a massive fire sale as Phil Tippett was closing his animation studio in Berkeley. Over the course of three days — and an extremely limited admission based on an in-person sign-up sheet — “hundreds (maybe thousands) of movie props, models, prototypes, and film used items” were sold off in a massive liquidation sale. “I’m retired from the racket,” he told Berkeleyside. “My last major project was the Twilight series.”

And there’s plenty of history to be mined there: Tippett began his career using stop-motion animation to create the holochess scene (and playing a cantina band member) in Star Wars: A New Hope, and worked on the rest of the original trilogy in the years to come, as well as Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Willow, RoboCop, and dozens of other iconic movies.

In 2021, Tippett released his long-in-the-works passion project, Mad God, a fever dream of stop-motion and fantastic creatures. Though it quickly became a fan favorite, for Tippett it was a long and laborious project, one he described to Inverse as “pursuing your dream then finding out that you're chained to a rock, and there’s a bird eating your liver.”

“For my own sanity, I’ve got to just put Mad God behind me and say it's done,” he said. “It's actually been very cathartic, doing that; it's just really important for me to close that chapter and move on.”

This sale is another end of an era, as it’s part of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings for Tippett Studio. However, just because the Berkeley location is closing, it doesn’t mean that Tippett’s legacy will end. “We have recently decided to evolve our physical footprint and production approach, and to exit our longtime Berkeley facility,” the company posted on Facebook. “As we make this transition, Tippett Studio continues its visual effects and animation work across film, television and entertainment. Our operations in Canada also continue, including our Toronto studio, which is currently in active production on a large feature film.”

So while Phil Tippett and his vast collection of collectibles may not be in that building any longer, his impact on visual effects will live on.

Want more about Phil Tippett? Stream the excellent documentary series Light & Magic on Disney+ right now.

A quarter-century after Halo: Combat Evolved hit stores as a flagship launch title for the original Xbox, the franchise that completely recontextualized first-person shooters is still alive and well. After laying dormant following the release of 2021’s Halo: Infinite, the beloved sci-fi series returned this year with a blast from the past in the form of Halo: Campaign Evolved, an Unreal Engine 5 remake of the original campaign.

Despite some lulls in the franchise’s release schedule, Halo has been Microsoft’s flagship FPS title across every incarnation of the Xbox, a level of success that’s led to several attempts to transfer it to live-action entertainment. A film adaptation was attempted back in 2005 with the involvement of 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Peter Jackson, and Neil Blomkamp, but the project sputtered out. Then, in 2022, a live-action TV adaptation arrived on Paramount+ to middling reviews after nine years in development hell. Two years after that show’s second season and subsequent cancellation, it looks like Microsoft is attempting to bring the Master Chief to life once again…along with a few other properties.

A report from Puck suggests that Microsoft has been making the rounds in Hollywood, pitching a package of adaptation rights to over a dozen of its gaming properties. This package naturally includes another potential screen outing for the Chief, but it also features other notable pieces of IP such as Diablo and World of Warcraft. These potential projects join the ranks of existing Microsoft game adaptations (Fallout and A Minecraft Movie) as well as projects in the works like Taylor Sheridan’s Call of Duty film and two different approaches to Gears.

While the video game adaptation trend is setting Hollywood aflame right now, it’s likely that this course of action is partially a response to Microsoft’s current financial troubles. According to Puck’s report, studios like Netflix and Universal are already interested, as Halo alone is iconic enough to draw attention from major investors. But it’s a double-edged energy sword: Halo has already been adapted once, and it neither satisfied long-term fans nor attracted a new audience.

Whether the Master Chief, the Covenant, and the cosmic conflict at the heart of the Halo universe are coming back to small screens or finally making the jump to the big screen, it’s an adaptation facing an uphill battle against jaded fans and a general audience trained on generations of science fiction that inspired the games in the first place. How can an adaptation replicate the sense of fresh excitement that Combat Evolved first brought to video games over two decades ago?

Trading cards have been a cultural staple for well over a century, commemorating everything from baseball players to key figures in Operation Desert Storm. But many iconic trading cards tend to feature fictional characters, and you can’t mention cards without mentioning Pokémon, the video game, card, and anime franchise that has celebrities dropping millions on rare cards and stores implementing purchase limits to combat scalpers.

Pokémon’s Trading Card Game (TCG) has been a pillar of the franchise since its inception, but aside from a couple of video game adaptations, it’s never really intersected with other Pokémon media. But an upcoming movie — the first Pokémon movie since 2021’s animated Secrets of the Jungle — will bring the cards face to face with the creatures they depict.

According to Variety, the closing ceremonies of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco featured the announcement of Pokémon: Wild Card, set for a 2027 release. A short teaser was shown featuring presumably the main character and his Pokémon, Mimikyu.

This teaser starts with something brand-new for Pokémon movies: a Pokémon card shown with the classic Japanese card back, including the gold border (the English version has a simpler design and a blue border). We then see Mimikyu on a wall below the moon, and then the release date. Finally, we see a TCG player wearing a hoodie with markings to mimic Mimikyu. Who is this, and what does the TCG scene look like within the Pokémon universe itself?

The Pokémon TCG has technically been seen in-universe thanks to the Game Boy Color’s Pokémon Trading Card Game, but that was limited to a single island of dubious canonical status. Wild Card presents some strange canon questions, as while the cards are just like the ones in our world, they’re now more like sports trading cards, reflecting real-world figures and stats.

There are a lot of questions to answer here. How was the TCG created in the Pokémon universe, and is it as popular in their world as in ours? Are their celebrities and scalpers going nuts for it, too? We’ll get some answers next year.

Pokémon Wild Card premieres in 2027.

Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett are not shy about using conspiracy theories in their movies. Even in the very mainstream and relatively family-friendly Godzilla franchise, the creative duo (Wingard directs, and Barrett writes) incorporates imagery and themes that, for better or for worse, mark them as products of a decade where paranoid thought became mainstream. This was a little more awkward during the height of QAnon, but in 2026, the proverbial cow has wandered so far out of the barn of objective truth that you might as well cut the thing in half with a machine gun and make hamburgers. Enter Onslaught.

Wingard backed out of Godzilla X Kong: Supernova for this low-budget action flick, and the director’s relief at getting back to bullet-riddled basics is palpable. A few actors familiar from Wingard’s franchise work appear in Onslaught, also liberated by the pulp excess of the material: Dan Stevens is here, of course, doing his silly-accent thing as a German scientist one character refers to as “third-generation Paperclip” (a reference to Operation Paperclip, the once-secret program that brought thousands of ex-Nazis to America to work on U.S. aerospace technology). Rebecca Hall is here too, going a little broader than usual as the mad doctor’s dominatrix wife/handler.

Onslaught spends its first half setting up the circumstances that lead to its second, an extended action sequence that pits the residents of a desert trailer park against the genetically engineered super-soldiers Dr. Kammler (Stevens) has devoted his life to creating. Given that Barrett’s script pulls from the past 80 years of U.S. government malfeasance, imagery of troops indiscriminately slaughtering civilians could uncomfortably evoke war crimes committed by our military in Vietnam, or Iraq, or any number of “conflicts” over the past few decades. And it does, but just enough to give the movie a ‘70s-style anti-authoritarian edge.

Specifically, Onslaught recalls the style of vintage John Carpenter movies, and even more specifically the pulp-action maestro’s 1976 shocker Assault on Precinct 13. Like that film, it alludes to current events without overplaying the connection, instead emphasizing the tough-guy (and gal) camaraderie between its working-class characters. Here, the defense against the hulking, glowing-eyed undead is led by Celeste (Adria Arjona), an Army veteran whose approach to coping with PTSD involves lots of heavy ammunition. (She’s introduced blasting a line of jack o’ lanterns, a nod to Wingard and Barrett’s other super-soldier action movie, 2014’s The Guest.)

Many of Celeste’s neighbors are veterans, too, including Josiah (Reginald VelJohnson), who’s concerned about Celeste’s mental health but knows better than to push her too hard. Like Celeste, most of them are also divorced, like Kovacks (Eric Wareheim), an idiot cop who provides the comic relief when Stevens’ character isn’t on screen. Celeste’s young daughter Daisy (Blake Kennedy) is also visiting her on the weekend when the super-soldiers break containment, and the outrageous levels of peril this kid is placed into throughout the last half-hour of Onslaught are also undeniably edgy.

No spoilers on whether Wingard and Barrett are audacious enough to actually kill a child on screen (as famously happens in Assault on Precinct 13). But a mass shooting at a gas station is another moment where this film’s slick, giddy violence tiptoes right up to the edge of distasteful, only to slip on a puddle of blue slushy and juicy red squibs. It’s not like there’s much time to meditate on the futility of violence, anyway: Onslaught flies by at a compact 92 minutes, with a literal ticking clock and pacing so breathless that even the setup feels exciting.

The super-soldiers — all played by action veterans and MMA fighters — are all more like slasher villains than real people, and any lingering sympathy we might have for them is erased by the reveal that these guys were really into extrajudicial murder before all the Nazi experimentation. Besides, good and evil is not the point — thrills and sensation are. Everything is pushed to its limit here: The strippers dress in latex nun habits. Celeste has a rocket launcher in her gun safe. The CIA agent who provides much of the narrative exposition is high on MDMA the entire movie. If nothing else, Onslaught is an exercise in excess — something we Americans do exceptionally well.

From A24, Onslaught opens in theaters on September 4.

Directors and fans alike dream of seeing their passion projects made with unlimited budgets, but constraints often place valuable boundaries on creative minds that otherwise threaten to run off the rails. Knowing what you can’t do lets you focus on what you can accomplish — and would Star Trek be quite as iconic if it hadn’t invented the transporter to save time and money?

The Big Sleep wasn’t limited by money when it hit theaters 80 years ago today, but it did have a strict moral budget. Howard Hawks’ adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel was made under the auspices of the Hays Code, when lust, crime, gunplay, and booze all had to be treated with caution. These restrictions neutered many mediocre movies, but Hawks and his writers worked with them to create a noir classic far more fun than what more explicit films can offer.

Private eye Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is summoned to the estate of General Sternwood, who has a fatal illness and a headache. His younger daughter Carmen (Martha Vickers) is being blackmailed — again — and Sternwood laments that both his children have run wild. Marlowe doesn’t even make it out the door before the older sister, divorcee Vivian Rutledge (Lauren Bacall), grills him, suggesting that her father really wants to find Sean Regan, a detective Sternwood had treated like a son before he vanished. Suddenly, Marlowe has two cases to worry about.

If that sounds a little complicated, don’t worry; it soon gets much, much, much more complicated. The Big Sleep is an infamously dense film — Chandler wrote his first Marlowe novel by gluing several of his short stories together, and as the anecdote goes, even the combined might of the production team couldn’t puzzle out how one character met his end. When they reached out to Chandler for clarification, he wasn’t sure either.

There’s a dizzying array of people and plot points to keep track of, and both had their edges sanded off by the Hays Code. In the novel, the cops are corrupt and Carmen explicitly runs afoul of a pornography ring; here, the local precinct is happy to help, and Carmen’s troubles are only alluded to with talk of “photos” after Marlowe discovers the poor girl dazed and alone in a house with a hidden camera and “exotic” Oriental decor.

In lieu of smut and muck, Warner Bros. played up the flirtation between Marlowe and Vivian, creating a Hays-approved happy ending while capitalizing on the real-life drama that was Bogie and Bacall. The pair have a good rapport, although every random clerk and cab driver Marlowe encounters is eager to throw themselves at him. It may not be as gritty or insightful as Chandler’s text, but The Big Sleep offers up an entertaining parade of thugs, dames, and swindlers, all of them willing to throw a punch or a zinger. And don’t worry about action; the Hays Code was never afraid to let the bodies of bad guys pile up.

In a way, the sheer confusion of it all plays to the movie’s benefit. Produced in 1944, The Big Sleep was pushed to 1946 so that Warner Bros. could focus on releasing its WWII films before the conflict ended. Signs of it litter the film — the loitering sailors, the gas ration sticker on Marlowe’s car — while all the double-crossing underlines the fact that a period of unity was ending. There would be no obvious enemies anymore.

At least, as America entered that scary new world, it would have Phillip Marlowe. Marlowe wasn’t the first hardboiled PI to jump from pulps like Black Mask to the big screen — Dashiell Hammett alone churned out Sam Spade, the Continental Op, and Nick and Nora Charles. But it’s Marlowe, the hard-drinking cynic with a stern moral code, who stands as the era’s quintessential product. An amalgam of Chandler’s forgotten early heroes and the characters who inspired them, he proved to be the most well-rounded and memorable of the bunch. Any two-bit private detective could take a beating, but it was Marlowe who seethed at the injustice of what he saw.

The detective was served well by Hawks’ all-star writing team of Jules Furthman, who wrote a long string of Hollywood hits; Leigh Brackett, whose lengthy sci-fi career would culminate with The Empire Strikes Back; and William Faulkner, who was William Faulkner. Their melded script had the mile-a-minute witticisms typical of a Hawks affair, and Bogart’s performance took full advantage of it. Bogart doesn’t quite match what you get from Marlowe on the page, nor does his portrayal resemble the memorable schlub Elliott Gould would offer 27 years later in The Long Goodbye. His Marlowe is his own man, a little more romantic and dazzling, and a lot more Hays-friendly.

Restrained from getting too sleazy, The Big Sleep is oddly glamorous; the villain’s casino is a classy joint, and even the pornographer’s pad doesn’t seem like a bad place to spend an evening. You might even buy that Marlowe and Vivian have found love. It feels like a movie that Marlowe would have scoffed at for bowdlerizing his craft, yet it remains a tremendous introduction to one of America’s most iconic characters. It would take the demise of the Hays Code to give us politically ruthless noirs like Chinatown, but The Big Sleep was a crackling screwball affair that previewed what Hollywood’s loneliest genre would become capable of.

The Big Sleep is available on YouTube.

Lanterns has kept viewers on their toes with its timeline-hopping story, which takes us back and forth between 2016 and the present day. But even by 2016, Lanterns dropped us in the middle of Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) and John Stewart’s (Aaron Pierre) story, following the unlikely duo as they investigate a potential alien invasion in Rushville, Nebraska. At this point, Hal Jordan is already well into his career as Earth’s Green Lantern — with the fight with one of his biggest foes behind him — and has reluctantly taken on John Stewart as his “apprentice” to eventually take on the mantle.

But Episode 3 of Lanterns takes us even further back. A flashback-heavy story done in the style of Damon Lindelof’s best Watchmen episodes, Lanterns Episode 3 reveals John Stewart’s origins, and why exactly he’s ok with this humiliating job shadowing Hal Jordan. But wait, things are a little different than they are in the comics, aren’t they?

“John's origin has been fudgeable, a little bit. Different people have done different things with it,” Tom King told Inverse ahead of the show’s premiere. “But to me, it does go back to his original. There's something in that original origin story; he and Hal did not get along well at first... So all that stuff is from the comics.”

But exactly does Lanterns draw from the comics, and what did it invent for the show? Let’s dive into it.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Lanterns Episode 3.

What is John Stewart’s Origin in the Comics?

Introduced in 1971, John Stewart was an unemployed architect from Detroit, Michigan, who was selected by the Guardians as a backup Green Lantern to Hal Jordan after the previous backup, Guy Gardner, was seriously injured. Through John’s early tenure as backup, he and Hal often clashed — as a Black man in America, John was pretty justified in being fairly anti-authority (and as one of the early significant Black superheroes, he was intentionally written to represent the Black Power movement, and would often confront police for harassing Black people).

He would be promoted to be the main, full-time Green Lantern in the 1980s, and in the 2000s, became the face of Green Lantern to thousands of kids who saw him every week in Cartoon Network’s Justice League and its various spinoffs. The Justice League animated series originated John Stewart’s backstory as a former U.S. Marine, because creator Bruce Timm thought his origin as a militant Black Panther-esque character “wasn’t relevant anymore.” John’s newfound military background would officially become canon in the comics when Geoff Johns retconned his backstory in 2007's Green Lantern vol. 4 #26.

And in Lanterns, John Stewart’s shifting origins would actually both be worked into his backstory.

John Stewart’s Lifelong Path To Being Green Lantern

In Lanterns Episode 3, we learn that Hal Jordan got the Green Lantern ring after the Guardians of the Universe plucked him from his bed in the middle of the night and asked him one question: “Are you afraid?” Hal immediately answered no, and his fearlessness earned him the ring.

But Hal wasn’t the first human being put through this test. It turned out that earlier in the night, the Guardians had also picked out John Stewart Sr. (J. Alphonse Nicholson), who answered “yes” to their question, immediately disqualifying him. It wouldn’t take long before he and the rest of the world would find out the reason behind this nighttime alien incursion, as Hal Jordon immediately rises to fame as the world’s first visible superhero. But this sends John Sr. into a depressive spiral, which starts to negatively affect his wife Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones) and their newborn son.

However, Bernadette reacts much more impassively to the Guardians, who visit their home a second time, offering a giant diamond as an apology for any emotional turmoil they’ve caused. Angered by their halfhearted gesture, Bernadette challenges the visiting Guardian (Laura Linney), pointing out that capturing a Black man in the middle of the night and asking if he’s afraid stacks the odds against him — he’s a Black man in America, she argues; he lives his whole life afraid.

Impressed by Bernadette, the Guardian offers a second chance for the ring to John and Bernadette’s infant son. Thus begins John Stewart’s lifelong preparation to be the ideal Green Lantern candidate. Bernadette and John immediately begin training him from childhood to be fearless, making him endure regular target practice (with an apple on his head being the target) and various other distressing situations. This transforms young John into a stoic man, who joins the U.S. Marines and becomes one of its star recruits.

But one mission ironically causes him to cross paths early with Hal Jordan: After spending months staking out an international fugitive, his mission is disrupted by Hal dropping in and flying away with his target. The ensuing blowback leads to John taking the fall and getting dishonorably discharged from the Marines. Returning home despondent, his mother encourages him to pursue art as he always wanted as a kid, before their training began. John enters architecture school, which is where he’s attending when he’s finally approached by the Guardians with the test he’s been waiting for his whole life. He naturally passes with flying colors, but is given one last hurdle: he won’t be given the ring by Hal Jordan; the Guardians want him to take it from him...by force.

“We tweaked his origin story to give him that thing that Batman has, that thing that Spider-Man has: a hook,” King said, comparing John Stewart’s upbringing in Lanterns as a “Tiger Woods, Williams’ sisters kind of thing.”

“ John's one of the greatest [superheroes] we've ever had,” King continued. “And we play with that in the [writer’s] room. And the idea that he comes from one of those families where the parents are like, ‘You're the chosen one, and I'm going to make you into that person.’”

King credits Vanessa Baden-Kelly with crafting John Stewart’s new origin and the idea that “sometimes you have to raise your hand.”

“I remember reading that the first time,” King recalled. “I was like, oh my God, that's the show: That the ring chose Hal and he's like, ‘Yeah, of course.’ He doesn't think of the privilege of that idea. But John's family's like, ‘No, you gotta chase it. You gotta get it. There's a difference between him and [you]. I know it's not fair. That's the way the world is.’ And a lot of parents have that conversation with their kids, and it's a hard conversation to have.”

But now that John has gotten to know Hal, does he have it in him to take the ring from him? Has all his training to be fearless been worth it? That’s a question Lanterns will have to answer over the next few episodes.

Lanterns is streaming on HBO Max. New episodes air Sundays.

The bougiest home isn't necessarily the most expensive one — it's the one in which someone pays attention to every last detail, from the base of the toilet to the spoons in the sugar bowl. Thoughtfulness reads as luxury, even when the price tags say otherwise, and this list is full of finds that prove the point. Everything here is cheap, brilliant, and the kind of quiet upgrade that guests will be sure to notice, compliment, and perhaps even try to imitate.

A magnetic dishwasher cover that brightens up a boring or worn-out door

AOHMPT Dishwasher Magnet Sticker

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This decorative magnetic cover helps turn an ordinary dishwasher into a focal point. Snap it onto the front door for an instant facelift that hides scratches and scuffs. It comes in more than a dozen designs and removes easily, so you can switch up the look whenever you want. One shopper raved, “[A]bsolutely spectacular, everyone comments on it, and they are very surprised to find out that it’s not actually part of the dishwasher!”

Elegant floral decals that turn the toilet tank into something decorative

BWESOO Toilet Decal

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These unique decals make it easy to turn your toilet tank into a design statement. Simply stick them to the surface for an elegant floral design that resists peeling or fading. They also work for toilet lids, tile, and windows — plus, they peel off cleanly when you want to change up the look.

Ceramic bunny bolt covers that add unexpected charm to the base of your toilet

PEUTIER Toilet Bolt Covers (2-Pack)

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This pair of bunny-shaped bolt caps is a delightful way to surprise guests and give your bathroom a bougier look. They’re made from sturdy ceramic and sit directly over your toilet’s floor hardware for instant setup. White helps them blend seamlessly with most toilet bowls, and a matte finish gives them a quality look. They’re a thoughtful alternative to rusty metal screws or even standard plastic caps, which tend to crack or yellow over time.

A floral window film that also creates privacy

WBQMUNY Stained Glass Window Film

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This window film features a colorful, floral, stained-glass-inspired design to take the surface to the next level. It’s a breeze to hang (no tools involved), and once in place, it also creates privacy for the room and blocks UV rays.

Cement crack filler that’s ready to use straight from the bottle

DAP Liquid Cement Crack Filler

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You don’t have to turn to the pros to fix cracks in your cement patios or walkways: This crack filler is ready to use straight from the bottle. Simply give it a shake and pour it into the crack. It self-levels and dries gray (in as little as 30 minutes) to blend in nicely.

Floral kitchen mats made from thick memory foam

GENIMO Kitchen Mats

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Made from thick memory foam, these floral kitchen mats make everyday tasks more comfortable ... washing dishes, meal prepping, slicing veggies for dinner, you name it. The mats are 100% waterproof for quick wiping, and they’re nonslip to stay put.

Peel-and-stick marble tiles that upgrade your kitchen in an hour

Art3d Backsplash Tiles (10 Pieces)

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When your kitchen or bathroom is feeling dated, these peel-and-stick tiles are a cheap and easy way to give your space a bougie refresh. Each 10-by-10-inch sheet mimics the look of real marble, right down to the subtle veining and slight variation between pieces. They resist heat and moisture, so they're safe behind stoves and sinks, and wipe clean easily when inevitable messes happen. They also have more than 6,000 five-star ratings on Amazon.

A modern stone faucet mat that sucks up water splashes

eormoe Stone Faucet Mat

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A bestseller on the site, this modern faucet mat is a must for around your bathroom or kitchen sink. It’s made from diatomite stone that sucks up water splashes and spills almost instantly (so liquid doesn’t pool on your counters). And it dries fast, too, avoiding getting stinky.

A swivel-head duster that makes baseboard cleaning quicker & easier

Baseboard Buddy Baseboard Cleaner

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A bougie home is about the details, and the Baseboard Buddy is one way to achieve clean, polished trim without scrubbing on your hands and knees. The lightweight aluminum handle extends up to 4 feet, so you can reach everything from baseboards to door moldings without bending, stretching, or dragging out a step stool. The kit includes the tool and three reusable pads, which you can rinse clean and reuse for multiple cleaning sessions.

A stovetop cover that’s protective & functional

KindGa Stove Top Cover

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When you're not using the stove, this stovetop cover sits flat across the burners, instantly acting as a giant trivet. Set down hot pots on it, use it to protect against scratches and spills, or just park clutter on it while you use the main counter for prep and entertaining. It’s dishwasher safe, too.

A plug-in night-light that looks like a tiny aquarium on the wall

PTAHON Artificial Tropical Fish Decorative Moving Aquarium Lamp

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When a plain night-light won’t do, lean into an over-the-top design like this aquarium model. A tiny tropical fish scene glows softly, showing off the ecosystem of faux fish living in your lamp. “This is the perfect throwback to the 90s! Watching the fish “swim” with the gentle motion of the lights brings back so many memories of childhood,” wrote one Amazon reviewer. “The effect is mesmerizing, almost hypnotic, and it adds such a fun, retro vibe to any room.”

A shower attachment that filters hard water for better hair & skin

Kitsch Shower Head Filter for Hard Water – Shower Water Filter with KDF-55 & Calcium Sulfite, Helps Reduce Chlorine & Impurities, Water Softener- Bathroom Accessories for Healthier Hair & Skin- Chrome

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This shower filter is the fancy fix for hard water, minus the hefty plumbing bill. It screws onto your existing shower head and filters out a laundry list of impurities — such as chlorine and heavy metals — to help skin and hair feel softer and look healthier. It's compatible with fixed, handheld, and rain-style showerheads, and the chrome finish blends in with most existing fixtures for a seamless upgrade.

Stick-on fan blade filters that turn your ceiling fan into a low-key air purifier

Barnakl Ceiling Fan Air Purifier Pads (5-Pack)

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These pads install on the top of your existing ceiling fan blades, creating an air filter that requires zero floor space. They’re made from activated coconut-shell carbon and trap dust, pollen, pet dander, smoke, VOCs, and airborne chemicals as air passes through the fan blades. Just peel and stick for instant setup, and replace them every one to three months to keep things fresh.

A kitchen mat that fits perfectly in the corner

YDKGL Corner Kitchen Rug

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Perfectly shaped to fit into a kitchen corner, this washable rug adds a soft layer for your feet without impeding the opening of any doors or cabinets. The low profile mat has a nonslip backing with an absorbent surface to soak up sink splashes. If it gets dirty, you can toss it in the washing machine.

A 3-tier storage box for all your bathroom essentials

JOYBOS 3-Tier Medicine Storage Box

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If your medicine cabinet is too small, grab this organizer instead. It has three tiers of convenient storage in a compact, lidded box that measures just about 13-by-10 inches. The tiers lift out for easy access, and the bottom tier is taller to store bottles, boxes, and more. You can also use it for beauty supplies, toiletries, and more.

Magnetic shelves that add extra storage to your fridge

Aufworld Magnetic Spice Racks (2-Pack)

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If you’re running out of kitchen cabinet space, pick up this magnetic shelf set. Each rack can stick to the side of your fridge and offer up to 11 pounds of additional storage space for spices, sauces, and more. The shelves also come with bonus hooks that you can use to store things like utensils and pot holders.

Adhesive crown molding for DIY home projects

Art3d Flexible Peel-&-Stick Crown Molding

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Add visual interest to your walls, around your doorways, to mirrors, and more with this peel-and-stick crown molding. Available in black or white, the 30-foot roll can be cut to size, and it applies easily thanks to the self-adhesive backing. The end result is also water-resistant, so the trim is perfect for areas like the kitchen or bathroom.

Sheet organizers that can hold queen- or king-size sets

SpaceAid Bed Sheet Organizers (4-Pack)

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These compact organizers make it way easier to keep a pristine linen closet. The set of four can each hold one queen or king sheets set, plus a duvet cover and two pillowcases. Use the included label cards to mark which size each organizer contains, and when you need to reach for a set, the clear windows let you easily see which pattern is which.

Adhesive light bars that add a bougie glow to kitchens, closets, & stairways

MCGOR Under-Cabinet Lights (2-Pack)

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Add an inexpensive motion-sensor glow to your cabinets, stairways, and more with this lighting set. The pack comes with two LED bars that can be installed with adhesive magnetic plates. The lights are rechargeable and one full charge is designed to last for up to 45 days on motion-sensor mode.

Drywall hooks that can hold 45 pounds without a stud

3M CLAW Drywall Picture Hanger (4-Pack)

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If you hate having to dig out the stud finder when hanging pictures, you’ll love this drywall hook set. The four-pack of hooks are each designed to hold 45 pounds, and they don’t require any studs to work. The steel claws are made to lock into regular drywall to help provide a sturdy, long-lasting hold.

A plush couch cover that protects your sofa fabric

OTOB Couch Cover

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Whether you have kids, pets, or you just like eating on the couch, this cover comes in super handy. The plush surface is designed to be comfy and breathable, while also shielding your sofa from spills, pet hair, and more. When you need to refresh the cover, just toss it in the washing machine. You can choose from several sizes and colors.

A nonslip cover that protects your washer or dryer

BrilliStar Washer & Dryer Cover

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If you like to store your detergent on top of the washer or dryer, you need this cover. It’s designed with a nonslip, moisture-absorbing backing to keep bottles more secure, while also providing important scratch-resistance. It helps with noise reduction, and the durable cloth surface is designed to be easy to wipe clean.

A collapsible hamper that mounts to the wall and folds flat when empty

Goderewild Collapsible Laundry Basket

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When you’re dealing with small space living, pieces like this hamper can make a major difference in how airy (or cluttered) your surroundings feel. Install it right to the wall, and it will keep laundry out of sight and off the floor. When you don't need it, it folds flat to just four inches deep. Ventilation holes along the sides promote airflow to prevent musty odors, and handles make it portable for trips to the washing machine.

Padded door silencers that hook over your knob to prevent slams

WARMTONE Door Silencers (3-Pack)

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Whether you have a door that’s prone to slamming or live with light sleepers, these fabric door silencers help create a calmer atmosphere in the home. They wrap around your door latch with stretchy elastic bands, cushioning the latch so it doesn’t engage, and the door shuts silently. There are three per pack to cover multiple rooms, and they’re available in a range of soft shades.

Gold wall hooks that fold flat when they’re not in use

Macikwon Foldable Wall Hooks (4-Pack)

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These foldable hooks are a chic, space-saving solution for small or minimalist homes. Each set includes four hooks made from durable zinc alloy with a chip- and rust-resistant brushed gold finish that adds a polished touch. Designed to hold up to 55 pounds per piece, they can handle everything from heavy coats to overstuffed bags without strain. When not in use, the hooks fold flat against the wall, keeping your space looking clean and streamlined.

A magnetic laundry organizer that stores dryer balls, hangers, & lint

Detukna Laundry Room Organization

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This three-piece storage set is the fast track to a tidier laundry room. It includes a small basket for dryer balls, a medium basket that you can line with a trash bag for lint disposal, and a hanger holder to keep loose hangers organized. Each piece is made from metal with a smooth matte black finish that resists rust, and the strong magnetic backing attaches firmly to any metal washer or dryer surface without sliding.

An over-the-cabinet towel bar that adds hidden storage without tools

KES Over The Cabinet Door Towel Bars (2-Pack)

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This pair of towel holders realizes the untapped potential of your cabinet doors. The front has a sleek matte-black bar for hanging hand towels, while the back has five hooks — each with a weight-bearing capacity of 6.6 pounds — for oven mitts, dish brushes, cleaning gloves, or whatever small tools usually get lost in the back of a drawer. Simply click them over your cabinet doors for instant setup.

A stained glass night-light that combines vintage looks with modern features

L LOHAS LED Stained Glass Nightlight

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This plug-in night-light looks like something you'd find at an antique shop. It features a real stained-glass shade and an electroplated copper arm that delivers serious Tiffany-lamp energy for a fraction of the price. Its soft, warm glow is just bright enough to guide you to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but pretty enough to stand out in the hallway. It’s a small detail with a big, colorful payoff.

Under-cabinet rotating hooks that give cooking utensils a home

SHBaizoy Under Cabinet Hooks (2-Pack)

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These rotating hooks are a sleek alternative to cluttered kitchen drawers and bulky utensil crocks. Slide them onto any standard shelf, stick the hooks in place with the included adhesive, and enjoy a more streamlined space. Each rack features six hooks that rotate 360 degrees, so you can angle tools exactly where you want them, and can hold up to 4.4 pounds. You can also use them for mugs, dishrags, keys, or any other lightweight hangables.

A motion sensor flush-mount light that looks sleek & works automatically

BLNAN Sensor Ceiling Light

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This flush-mount fixture uses a wide-angle motion sensor to light up the moment you walk in, making even the most utilitarian corners of your home feel finished. The low-profile design reads modern and clean rather than bulky or industrial, and three color temperatures and modes let you set just the right vibe. It's the perfect fix for closets, utility rooms, and other spots that could use instant hands-free lighting.

A floral switch plate that adds instant color to your wall

Yamxbfa Light Switch Covers

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Light switch plates are usually an afterthought, but this floral version makes them part of the design. Made from lightweight, durable thermoplastic, it features an intricate pattern of birds, berries, and leaves that adds quiet visual interest without overwhelming the space. It’s surprisingly versatile, fitting into a modern maximalist room just as easily as a cozy cottage-inspired home. With multiple sizes, configurations, and coordinating nature-inspired designs available, it’s easy to carry the look throughout the room.

Solar petal lights that bathe your walkway in a warm-white glow

Roaming Petal Bury Light (3-Pack)

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This trio of sunflower-shaped lights is a charming twist on standard solar pucks, adding an effortless warm glow to pathways, garden beds, fences, and more. Just charge them in the sun for up to 10 hours of nighttime illumination. The acrylic construction is shatter-resistant for long-term use, while an IP65 waterproof rating means they can handle rain, snow, and frost year-round. Choose between in-ground or wall-mounted installation.

A slim expandable shelf that turns dead space into a mini display

WOCHUANGSI Expandable Window Shelf

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This expandable shelf is the perfect way to turn tight spaces into sleek, practical storage. It's made from mesh iron with a clean white finish, and it’s sturdy enough to hold up to 22 pounds without bowing. It stretches from 15.3 to 25.9 inches, and two pieces can be stacked for a tiered design. Set one up on a sunny windowsill for a miniature plant display, or slide it in the narrow gap behind your faucet to hold skin care essentials or cleaning supplies like soap and sponges.

A wall-mounted toothbrush holder that cleans & dries your brush between uses

SHKI Toothbrush Cleaner & Holder

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This wall-mounted holder keeps your toothbrush off the counter and in a sleek storage unit, making your bathroom feel cleaner and more modern. Once installed, it runs a 24-hour cleaning and air-drying cycle automatically after each use. The LED screen shows battery status, cleaning progress, and drying status at a glance, and a wave sensor opens and closes the door hands-free. Charge it via USB-C for up to 33 days of power per full battery.

A bamboo bread box that keeps loaves fresh & your counter organized

Kitsure Bread Box

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This stylish bread box is the kind of thing that makes your countertop look like a properly-styled kitchen. Made from bamboo, it helps bread stay soft while keeping out dust and moisture. The magnetic door frame opens with a gentle pull, and the semi-transparent, shatter-resistant acrylic window lets you check what's inside without opening it.

A volcano-shaped diffuser that shoots misty flames while scenting the air

YALEDI Essential Oil Diffuser

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This diffuser is made for the person who prefers theatrics to minimalism. Drop your favorite essential oil in, fill it with water, and watch the cool mist explode into colorful, dramatic flames. The tank runs for up to 12 hours on a single fill and features two spray modes (continuous or intermittent), while the ambient flame light has two modes: a steady warm glow or a gradient cycle through seven colors.

A waterproof shower light that projects dancing patterns onto your ceiling

Funlenry Shower Lamp

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This little lamp adds instant ambiance to everyday showers and relaxing baths. Use it as a regular ambient light, or pop the shade off to cover your ceiling in rippling water projections. Choose from 16 colors and six brightness levels using either touch controls on the base or the included remote. It's cordless and waterproof, so it can sit on the edge of the tub or even on a wall shelf in the shower itself without worry.

A 2-tier adjustable wood shelf that maximizes counter space

UJQSUN Counter Organizer

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This two-tier organizer is an easy, stylish way to minimize clutter on your counter. Made with warm wood boards and sturdy iron supports, it features an adjustable top shelf to suit different needs. Use it in the bathroom to keep skin care and toiletries accessible and neatly displayed, or try it in the kitchen to organize spices, coffee station supplies, or condiments. Assembly is quick, and the neutral finish means it blends into any aesthetic.

A denture case disguised as a decorative faux eucalyptus plant

YCROJBK Denture Bath Plant

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Soaking your dentures or mouth guard is a necessary chore, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be broadcast to everyone who visits your bathroom. This cleaning case is disguised as a faux eucalyptus plant, making it completely convincing as standalone decor. An interior strainer lifts out so you can easily retrieve your oral appliance, and vent holes help odors dissipate while soaking. It also works for discreetly stashing valuables, such as jewelry and cash.

Hanging faux string-of-pearls plants that add life to your space

Der Rose Hanging Plant Holders (2-Pack)

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This pair of faux string-of-pearls planters is a convincing, low-commitment way to add greenery to any space. Each is made of a circular wood frame and filled with decorative rock. The trailing plants spill over the sides, creating a dramatic look when mounted on walls or strung from above. Just give them the occasional dusting for upkeep, and enjoy not worrying about watering, pruning, or light conditions.

A hands-free hair dryer stand for professional salon vibes

Erytlly Hair Dryer Stand

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This hair dryer stand is the next best thing to having a personal stylist. A 2.2-pound base keeps it stable on flat surfaces, while the stand itself extends up to 39.4 inches for use on your vanity or countertop. A flexible gooseneck holds the dryer at whatever angle you want, leaving both of your hands free to actually brush. The result is a better blowout in less time, and with less arm fatigue.

An easily refilled soap dispenser that looks way nicer

Malachi Foaming Hand Soap Dispenser

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The bottle your hand soap came in is decidedly not bougie. Luckily, this foaming hand soap dispenser is. It has a wide opening that makes refills easy, and the etched diamond pattern has an expensive look.

A feature-rich light fixture that comes with a remote control

Matane Dimmable LED Flush-Mount Ceiling Light

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Despite all of its features and sleek look, this flush-mount light fixture costs less than $30. It’s dimmable, lets you change the color temperature, and it can be put in traditional lighting mode or a backlit night-light mode. It works particularly well for higher ceilings because it comes with a remote.

A toilet bowl night-light that glows upon entering the bathroom

Chunace Toilet Bowl Night Light

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Clip this toilet light to your bowl, and middle-of-the-night bathroom trips will become an event. A motion sensor detects movement within 5 feet and automatically turns the light on, then shuts it off after two minutes of inactivity to preserve battery life. Choose from 16 colors and five brightness levels using the external controls. With a fresh set of three AAA batteries, it provides up to 12 months of light with regular use.

A rotating extension cord that fits in tight spots & powers 8 devices at once

TROND 360° Rotating Outlet Plug

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This rotating extension cord was designed for that spot in your house where the outlet is hard to reach. It sits nearly flush against the wall, spinning 360 degrees to lead the cord in any direction. A 3-foot-long cord means you don’t have to move furniture every time you want to access a plug, and the power cube features four grounded outlets plus four USB ports (two USB-C, two USB-A) to power up to eight devices at once.

Pink sequin curtains that make any doorway look more festive & fun

Treknature Sequin Beaded Curtain

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Whether you’re a maximalist or want a single accent that’s completely extra, these sequin curtains are a dazzling option. The set includes 20 strands, each just over 3 feet long, with sequins in a mix of sizes for texture and shine. String them on a tension rod, or use the 20 included adhesive hooks to hang them from walls, door frames, or window frames.

Wall-mounted holders that give remote controls a dedicated storage spot

XYOFUN Magnetic Remote Control Wall Mount (4-Pieces)

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Not only do these magnetic holders help put an end to missing remotes, but they look great while doing so. The four-pack includes one in black, white, pink, and green, each made from silicone with a strong embedded magnet. A slot design provides a secure hold, and the magnetic pull keeps it locked in place. Just peel and stick to install one on any flat, smooth vertical surface, including walls, glass, tile, or the back of a TV.

A nonslip bath mat that gently exfoliates your heels while you shower

Hargiis Non-Slip Bathtub Mat

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Most bath mats are purely functional, but this one doubles as a mini foot spa every time you step into the shower. Made from PVC, it features a loofah-like texture that massages the bottoms of your feet and gently scrubs away dead skin on your heels while you go about your routine. It includes a nonslip backing for a firm grip, and it can be trimmed to size for smaller areas.

Faux plants for a lush feel, indoors or out

Hrobek Outdoor Faux Plants

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Lush, full planters give off a bougie vibe — but depending on the weather and your green thumb capabilities, sometimes it’s hard to achieve. This set of faux plants offers a no-watering-necessary solution. The 12 bouquets come with a variety of plant types, feature wire stems for a custom look, and they can be used indoors or out.

Cordless ceiling lights that let you change your bathroom’s color on the fly

Bgmonster Waterproof Shower Lights (2-Pack)

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A basic overhead bathroom fixture will get you through an ordinary grooming routine, but these rechargeable lights set a mood. Stick them to the ceiling of your shower or bathtub, and suddenly you're showering in one of 16 colors. Two dynamic modes, multiple brightness levels, and three timer settings are all adjustable via touch or the included remote, and a waterproof rubber cover protects the charging port from steam and splashes.

Drawer pulls that make ordinary cabinets look custom

Goldenwarm Cabinet Knobs (15-Pack)

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These black-and-gold knobs are the move if you want your space to instantly look more bougie. The 15-pack includes round T-shaped knobs made of stainless steel and zinc alloy, with a brushed finish that’s treated to resist rust and fading, even in humid kitchens and bathrooms. The two-tone combination feels modern and works with both wood and painted surfaces, and two screw lengths are included to fit a wide range of cabinet and drawer thicknesses.

A rolling tray that helps you slide heavy kitchen appliances around

Fxacyem Appliance Slider

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If shuffling appliances around your countertop does a number on your patience, this rolling tray is the answer. Park your coffee maker, espresso machine, air fryer, or stand mixer on top, and suddenly you can glide it out with one finger whenever you want to use it, then push it right back against the wall when you're done. It can hold up to 40 pounds, and its rustic brown finish blends well with most kitchen setups.

Self-adhesive shower curtain clips that help keep water off your bathroom floor

FEATCH Shower Curtain Clips (4 Pieces)

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If a billowing curtain and splashing water are an issue whenever you shower, consider adding these clips to your tub. Stick them to the wall with the adhesive backing, secure your curtain in place, and everything will stay where it should. There are four per set, and they work will all standard curtain styles. One shopper wrote, “It's so nice not to have to always clean up a puddle of water when I would finish my shower.”

A pull-out valet rod that turns any closet into a boutique setup

FIRJOY Closet Valet Rod

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There's something luxurious about having a dedicated valet rod to lay out tomorrow's outfit. Slide it from your closet door, and you've got instant extra hanging space for planning a look, air-drying a garment, or letting a dress hang out its wrinkles overnight. When you're done, it slides right back in and disappears. Installation takes minutes, and the brushed gold finish adds an upscale vibe to your dressing area.

Clip-on cabinet hooks that turn unused shelf space into mug storage

xympo Coffee Mug Hangers (2-Pack)

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These clip-on hangers turn a clunky pile of mugs into an organized arrangement. Each is made from thick, powder-coated steel and holds up to 5 pounds (enough for two large mugs or three standard-size cups per hanger). Slide them over any standard shelf edge, and hang your mugs from the hooks. The result is a tidy display that also frees up a ton of cabinet space for other stuff.

Solar house number lights that make your address visible after dark

Mofkirg Solar House Number Light

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If you’re looking for instant curb appeal, add these modern house number lights to your property. They mount to your home’s exterior or on a post and display your address in a warm glow, lit from both above and below for a subtle architectural effect. A solar panel provides up to eight hours of light on a full charge, while an IP65 waterproof rating means it handles rain, snow, and temperature swings year-round without damage.

Gold curtain tiebacks that mount to the wall without a drill

Groleca Curtain Holdbacks (2-Pack)

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Curtain tiebacks are one of those small details that elevate a space, and these ones make an impression without damaging your walls. Made from stainless steel with a brushed gold finish, they stick firmly to surfaces with adhesive backing, allowing your curtains to pull back in graceful swags. They hold everything from lightweight sheers to heavier drapes, and they can even be repurposed as towel, bag, and garment hooks.

A wall-mounted bathroom organizer that discreetly stores personal items

Poeland Wall Mounted Storage Box

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This slim wall-mounted storage box is a quick fix for keeping your bathroom cleaner and better organized. Stick it to the wall or the inside of a cabinet door, and it’ll hide tampons, pads, and other toiletries that don’t need to be on full display. Two interior compartments provide plenty of space, its pocket-style opening keeps contents protected, and a plastic body is easy to wipe clean when needed.

A portable hanger rack that turns any door into instant closet space

TERRA HOME Over The Door Coat Rack

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This foldable rack transforms any door into on-the-fly functional storage. Simply hook it over the top of any standard door, and it provides seven sturdy arms for hanging coats, laundry, towels, or accessories. When not in use, it folds flat for easy storage, making it ideal for travel and small-space living. Sponge pads prevent the hooks from scratching door finishes, and the nonslip design keeps the rack stable even when fully loaded.

A cable pass-through kit that hides your TV cords behind the wall

ECHOGEAR TV Cord Hider (2-Pack)

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When cords from your wall-mounted TV cause an unsightly mess, this kit is the answer. It lets you pass all those cables behind the wall, so your setup looks showroom-worthy. It includes two pass-through grommets with locking brackets that secure to the back of drywall, plus a drywall hole-saw attachment that cuts the perfect-sized opening for a snug fit. The grommets are also paintable if you want a seamless match with your walls.

Adjustable organizer straps that keep folded sheet sets tidy

BROPGOD Bed Sheet Straps (4-Pack)

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A tidy linen closet can sometimes feel impossible to achieve, but these organizer bands help make it happen. Just strap one around your folded sheet set for a neatly labeled, clearly sized stack that stays put. There are four in a set, and each is made with elastic that won’t stretch or lose its shape over time. They’re a small way to save time and spare you from being buried in an avalanche of loose bedding.

A stunning botanical area rug that’s machine washable

Rugcomf Round Rug

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With its whimsical botanical pattern, this area rug adds color, charm, and an entire story to your space. It’s made from faux wool fibers that are soft on your feet, yet slim enough to let a door swing open without bunching. A rubber backing keeps it firmly in place on slick hardwood or tile floors, and the whole thing holds up to repeated washing without shedding, cracking, or peeling.

A bamboo cup holder & tray for your couch’s arm

GHKINMAL 3-in-1 Couch Cup Holder Tray

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No room for a dedicated end table or coffee table? That’s no problem with this couch cup holder tray at hand. Made of warm-toned bamboo that is designed to fit over a variety of arm shapes, it features a spot for your snack and drink — it even has cutouts in case you want to rest a mug in it.

Peel-&-stick wall decals for a hand-painted mural look

RoomMates Watercolor Floral Wall Decals

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Go for a hand-painted mural vibe in any room with this set of peel-and-stick decals for your walls. They can be applied to any clean, smooth surafce and removed later on without leaving any residue behind, making them great for renters, too. The set includes 18 decals and they can be arranged however you’d like to complement your space.

Stick-on steel organizers for inside kitchen cabinet doors

Mustorn Cabinet Door Organizer (4-Pack)

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Utilize the inside of your kitchen cabinet doors for storage: These steel organizers stick in place using adhesive, causing no damage to the surface. Included are two tumbler lid holders and two storage baskets, which you can use for anything from oils to cans and more.

A sturdy retractable clothesline that takes up less space

UpChoNice Retractable Clothesline

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Ditch the bulky drying rack in favor of this wall-mounted clothesline. It features a retractable design, stretching to over 16 feet long, and then it stashes away when not in use. The line doesn’t sag (use the rotating design and locking mechanism to ensure this), and it supports up to 44 pounds.

A nonslip rug pad that makes it far comfier to walk on

Veken Cushioned Rug Pad

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Make any rug instantly more comfortable, thanks to this rug pad. It provides ample cushioning (there are four thickness options in the listing), and the silicone backing also prevents the whole thing from sliding around when stepped on.

Motion-sensor wall sconces you can fully customize

EZVALO Motion Sensor Wall Sconces

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Add style and ambiance to any room with these wall sconces that turn on and off with motion. They’re powered by a rechargeable battery (aka there’s no tricky wiring involved), and once up, the lights can be set to three color temperatures or 12 colorful hues. The brightness is adjustable, too.

A magnetic shelf that sticks to your oven top

TEO Silicone Magnetic Stovetop Shelf

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Put the top of your oven to good use with this convenient storage shelf. The silicone strip has built-in magnets to securely attach to your stove, and the design is made to be heat resistant. The textured surface also helps keep oil bottles, spice jars, and more securely in place.

Under-sink organizers with easy-to-access drawers

Delamu 2-Tier Multi-Purpose Organizers (2-Pack)

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Think you can’t use the area under your sinks for storage? Think again: These two-tier organizers are designed exactly for these spots, providing plenty of extra space for cleaning supplies, linens, or whatever else you keep there. The drawers slide out for effortless access.

A handy fridge drawer to securely store eggs

Farochy Fridge Egg Drawer

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Get rid of the OG cardboard carton your eggs came in and transfer them into this handy drawer that hangs from a fridge shelf. It securely holds up to 21 eggs (depending on the size you buy), and the drawer slides out for access and back in to stay out of the way.

A stovetop cover that’s protective & easy to clean

YUHFERA Stovetop Cover

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Conceal your stovetop with this sleek silicone cover that’s far easier to clean, since it’s dishwasher friendly. The cover also offers a layer of protection for the surface against scratches, dings, and scrapes.

A handy 3-tier closet organizer that hangs from the rod

Sonyabecca Hanging Closet Organizers

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Hang this three-tier organizer from any closet rod to create an abundance of extra storage space for clothes, bags, shoes, or whatever else you don’t already have enough room for. The open-wire design provides easy access to the items inside, and the S-shaped hooks at the top are sturdy for hanging.

Easy-to-install ceiling tiles for an instant upgrade

Art3dwallpanels Ceiling Tiles

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Give your ceiling an instant upgrade with these ceiling tiles. Each panel features a 3D design to stand out, and they fit into an existing grid ceiling system for installation (you can trim them with scissors if needed). The panels are lightweight, paintable, and durable.

Colorful wavy wallpaper for a standout accent wall

MuralPeel Geometric Wave Wallpaper

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With its colorful, wavy pattern, this vibrant wallpaper is the perfect choice for an accent wall. It’s simple to hang, thanks to its peel-and-stick design and grid lines on the back, and once up, the vinyl paper is durable to the max.

Adhesive trim tape that looks like wood

TIANLDD Wood Grain Wallpaper Border

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Fake the look of a wood grain border on your mirror, frames, and furniture when you use this peel-and-stick trim. The 27-foot roll can cover a lot of area, and you can easily cut it to custom lengths. Made from durable PVC, the border tape can be wiped clean with a damp cloth, making it a low-maintenance DIY upgrade for your home.

An under-sink mat that protects against leak damage

SIKADEER Under Sink Waterproof Mat

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Prevent damage from secret sink leaks when you get this waterproof mat. It fits inside your sink cabinet and holds up to 3.3 gallons of water. Plus, the textured surface helps keep your cleaning sprays, soap bottles, and more upright and in place. You can choose from over a dozen sizes to best fit your cabinet.

A slim hamper that doesn’t take up floor space

efluky Slim Laundry Basket

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This laundry basket is only 7.5 inches wide, but it’s tall enough to still hold a ton of dirty clothes. With a nearly 13-gallon capacity, the hamper gives you laundry storage without taking up too much floor space. The built-in handles make it easy to carry to the washer, and the mesh drawstring top keeps clothing securely inside.

A window cling that doesn’t require adhesive

HJZHII Flower Window Sticker

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This window sticker doesn’t use messy adhesive to apply — instead, you can get it to stick with just water and static cling technology. That makes it easy to put up and even easier to remove without causing damage. It’s a fun DIY upgrade for renters or people who change their minds a lot.

A cable management set that declutters your visual space

Delamu Cord Cover Management (19 Pieces)

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This 19-piece cable management set will have your space looking clutter-free in no time. Use the paintable channels to tuck away wires, and choose the included tape or screws for easy installation on the wall. Each channel can hold up to three cords, and the set will give your TVs, lamps, and more a streamlined look.

A fragrance diffuser that doesn’t require water or electricity to work

Plant Therapy Passive Essential Oil Diffuser

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This passive diffuser slowly releases your favorite essential oil scents, but without any water or electricity required. Just add a few fragrance drops to the lotus flower, and the unglazed ceramic surface will gently release the scent over time. When you want to switch smells, just wipe the flower with water and white vinegar.

Motion-activated bed lights that add a gentle glow

Vansky Motion-Activated Bed Light

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If you hate switching on the big light just to make a midnight trip to the bathroom, you need these under-bed lights. The plug-in cord is motion activated, so it’ll switch on when you step onto the floor, and you can set the shutoff timer to anywhere from 30 seconds to six minutes after movement.

Under-bed storage containers that let you see what you’ve packed

Yecaye Under-Bed Storage (2-Pack)

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Take advantage of the space under your bed with these rolling storage caddies. You get two in the set, and they have convenient handles so you can easily pull them out. The clear zipper windows let you immediately see what you’ve stored inside, and the quiet, spinning wheels can swivel 360 degrees.

Shoe organizers that hold up to 16 pairs each

StorageWorks Shoe Organizers (2-Pack)

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Each of these fabric shoe organizers can hold up to 16 pairs, and the adjustable compartments let you make changes for high-top shoes, boots, and more. The built-in handles make it easy to move the cases around, and they fold flat when not in use. Plus, the zipper tops keep dust off your favorite kicks. You get two organizers in the set.

Stackable bamboo shelves that increase your storage space

NEX Bamboo Shelf Organizers (4-Pack)

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These sturdy bamboo shelves instantly double your cabinet space. Use them to stagger storage for mugs, spices, plates, and more. The set comes with four stackable shelves, and they’re made with bamboo tops and durable metal legs. You can choose from two sizes and several colors to best match your kitchen setup.

A pocket label maker that prints without using ink

Phomemo Label Maker D30 Labeler

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You’ll be able to organize every corner of your house with this pocket label maker. The Bluetooth device has an accompanying app that lets you choose fonts, icons, and more to print handy tags for everything from pantry jars to storage bins. The printer uses thermal technology, so you don’t need any ink.

Shoe storage caddies that double your closet space

Neprock Shoes Slots Organizer for Closet, Shoe Rack Organizador De Zapatos for Closet Organization, Shoe Slots Organizer Shoe Storage Shoe Holder Space Saver for Entryway(12 Pack)(White)

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These shoe organizers instantly double your closet storage, because they allow a pair of shoes to stack on top of one another. Each slot has four adjustable height levels, so you can accommodate a variety of shoe types from heels to sneakers without squishing them. You get 12 of the organizers in the set.

An over-the-door organizer that can hold up to 44 pounds

JARLINK Over The Door Organizer

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Want extra storage space without buying an additional piece of furniture or drilling shelves into your wall? This hanging organizer hooks over a door to provide instant storage without permanent commitment. The organizer has five sturdy shelves and can hold up to 44 pounds of pantry items, bathroom essentials, and more.

Stained glass flowers that don’t require maintenance

DoubleFill Stained Glass Flowers (6 Pieces)

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If you love the look of flowers, but hate how quickly they fade, get these stained glass versions. They don’t require watering or additional maintenance, so they’ll look vibrant all year long. The set comes with six stained glass stems that are 17 inches tall. And when the sunlight hits the petals, they’ll scatter light around your room.

Window sealing strips that keep out dust & bugs

MOPMS Window Seal Strips (2 Pieces)

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Suitable for doors and windows, these sealing strips are designed to help keep out dust, noise, bugs, and more. You can easily trim them to size, and they’re made to be waterproof and weather resistant. The strong adhesive backing gives them a durable hold that’s still simple to apply.

A free-standing metal shoe rack that keeps tall boots from slouching

pickpiff Free Standing Shoe Rack

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This shoe rack was designed for those who know the heartbreak of watching boots sag and lose their shape. Made from sturdy coated metal with a stable rectangular base, it features rounded posts that hold up to four pairs of boots. Store them upside down to keep the shafts straight, the shape intact, and the interior clean from debris. One shopper wrote, “Finally, our boots are not just bunched up on the floor collecting dust and looking a mess.”

A self-draining ceramic soap dish that helps bars from turning mushy

Wovla Draining Soap Dis

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Ceramic construction and a rustic finish suggest this soap dish is a vintage find rather than a utilitarian bathroom accessory, but its ingenious design keeps your sink-side tidier. Your soap sits on a raised strainer while excess water drains straight through into the sink, helping the bar stay dry and firm. You can also use it to air-dry and extend the life of your sponges.

Candy-colored sink strainers that look cute while catching food scraps

Li&Zhao Kitchen Sink Drain Strainer (4-Pack)

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Pop one of these silicone strainers into your sink, and everyday washing and prepping will feel a little more cheerful. It fits snugly in the drain without scratching the basin, and the drainage hole pattern captures food particles effectively while allowing water to flow freely. A small hook-style handle on the edge makes it easy to lift out for emptying, and it’s dishwasher-safe for deep cleaning. Each set includes four strainers in unique colors.

Ribbed glass cups that look like vintage finds

Nirvany Ribbed Glass Cups (2-Pack)

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These ribbed glasses are the kind of find that can make an ordinary glass of water feel like a little luxury. They’re made of microwave-safe glass and come as a pair, each in its own unique silhouette: a tall can shape and a curvier gourd shape. Use them for everything from morning coffee to weekend cocktails. One content creator raved, “Love these — and they make my latte videos look so chic.”

Silicone bar mats that catch drips, spills & coffee grounds

ZJWZLG Bar Mats (2-Pack)

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These silicone bar mats are a colorful and useful addition to any home bar, coffee station, or dishwashing area. They’re flexible, durable, and heat-resistant, so you can set hot items directly on top without damaging the counter underneath. Raised prongs on the surface trap spills and coffee grounds while keeping glassware stable, and cleaning is genuinely effortless. Just rinse them under running water or toss them in the dishwasher. Each set includes two mats.

Beauty, work, and home essentials — it’s all available on Amazon without costing a fortune. The products below are gaining a ton of steam and, lucky for you, happen to be dirt cheap as well. Scroll down and check out some of the most popular finds that shoppers are currently adding to their carts.

An unbreakable hairbrush cleaner that also works on vacuum rollers

RollaReleasa Pikk-it Brush Cleaner

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This hairbrush cleaner works through bristles on brushes and vacuum rollers with its sharp teeth made from zinc alloy. It removes even the toughest stuck-on clumps, so you can take out tangles. It’s unbreakable, easy to wash, and one of those purchases you’ll have wish you bought sooner. You can also grab it in a convenient two-pack.

Heart-shaped lotion bursts for hydration on the go

Jergens Body Lotion Bursts (38 Count)

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These lotion bursts are like the M&Ms of moisturizing: they fit in the palm of your hand. They come in a set of 38, and they're heart-shaped for travel-sized fun. You'll adore their classic cherry almond scent, which is beloved by users of all ages. As a bonus, their compact bottle fits nicely in purses, so you can lotion on the go.

A sleek desktop water dispenser that charges with a USB

Keweis Desktop Water Bottle Dispenser

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This desktop water dispenser is made of sleek and durable stainless steel. It's connected to a silicone hose that works silently, so you can stay hydrated during calls and meetings. It also comes with a USB charging cable and a user manual. You can choose from multiple capacity options, from 100 to 1,000 milliliters, or choose to run it continuously.

Self-adhesive ear seeds to help you try acupuncture at home

Dragon Acupuncture Ear Seeds (600 Pieces)

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Even if you've never tried acupuncture, these ear seeds are easy to use at home. They come with all the diagrams and instructions you need to reap their benefits. All you have to do is place them in the right spots on your ears, then press them on. They're made of vaccaria seeds with self-adhesive medical tape for a secure hold. “These are so helpful. You get a lot for what you pay, so they last for a really long time,” wrote one reviewer.

Erasable gel pens with twistable bases & high-quality ink

Grabie Erasable Gel Pens (9-Pack)

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These erasable gel pens have twistable bases, so they don't need caps to keep from drying out. They write smoothly, with high-quality ink that won't skip over the page. Built-in erasers let you correct mistakes or easily try something new with your writing style. When you buy, you'll receive nine colorful pens.

A portable pickle fortune teller with over 100 witty answers

DR DINGUS Mystic Pickle Fortune Teller

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This pickle fortune teller might be the goofiest party game ever. You can ask it any question, then press its button to receive one of over 100 witty responses. Portable and pocket-sized, it's a lot easier to carry than a cake or a bottle of wine. It’s fun for skeptics and for those who think it’s the real dill. Sorry — deal.

A glass bead kit that helps you create shiny & sparkly faux plants

FOGWOWO Beaded Plant Kit

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These green glass beads come with pliers, wire, and everything else you need to create sparkly faux plants. All you have to do is string the beads onto the wire, then place them into a pot and bend them into any shape. The included QR code leads you to video instructions for extra help while you craft. The beads are made of a translucent glass with a shiny surface.

Screen door magnets that are lightweight, flexible & easy to stick on

Konohan Hummingbird Screen Door Magnets (3-Pack)

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These screen door magnets are double-sided, so you can see the colorful birds from indoors or outdoors. While they can help guests spot your screen, they can also be displayed on windows, fridges, and other spaces. They’re lightweight, flexible, and have detailed faces that make them look so lifelike.

A mini aquarium with realistic fish you never have to feed

Tokenkuko Faux Motion Mini Aquarium

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This mini aquarium creates the illusion of water and tropical fish for a calming decoration. Its warm lighting creates a gentle sensory experience that can help anyone de-stress. All you have to do is plug it in, and you can have your own aquatic world without feeding any fish. It can also double as a night-light to brighten up the dark.

A flexible Lycra mouse pouch to hold your tech accessories

Epessa Stick-On Mouse Holder

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This mouse pouch sticks to your laptop or tablet, keeping your mouse within reach. It's made of flexible Lycra to fit mice of various shapes and sizes. Its glue sticks to your tech, then peels off without leaving any residue. You can also use it to hold earbuds, small remotes, and other accessories. “I literally use it every day,” wrote one reviewer. “I've had it for a while now, and the adhesive is still strong since the day I bought it.”

Silicone molds that can stand up to 446 degrees Fahrenheit

Sakolla Flower Shape Silicone Cake Molds (3-Pack)

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These silicone molds are nonstick and BPA-free. They're also lightweight and dishwasher-safe for an easy clean-up afterward. Three shapes arrive per set: a rose, a sunflower, and a chrysanthemum. Since you can bake them at temperatures up to 446 degrees Fahrenheit, they can handle almost any baking project.

A squishy but nonsticky fidget to help release energy

Meijoy Glow-in-the-Dark Squishy Fidget Toy

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This squishy fidget is reinforced to keep its gel from leaking. It's so satisfying to squeeze, and the little toy inside glows in the dark. Odorless and nonsticky, it won't leave any residue on your hands. All ages can use it to relieve anxiety and release energy. If it gets dirty, you can wash it with soap and water, and it never loses its squish.

A magnifying glass with dimmable LED lights

JMH Magnifying Glass with Light

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With LEDs that you can brighten or dim, this magnifying glass lets you get up close and personal. It comes pre-assembled and only needs three AAA batteries (which aren’t included) to shine. Its on/off button makes it user-friendly for all ages. Since it doesn't distort, you can use it to read fine print, zoom in on IRL photos, and generally make little things look big. “This is the best magnifying glass I've ever had,” wrote one reviewer.

An ergonomic wireless mouse that can connect to multiple devices at once

Akko Cat-Shaped Wireless Mouse

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This user-friendly wireless mouse can connect with a USB dongle. Its cable-free tri-mode connection works with multiple devices at once. You can use it with MacBooks, PCs, and even tablets to browse and scroll to your heart's content. Fitting comfortably in the palm of your hand, it's ergonomic and easy to use.

Mini figurines that come with sticky tack to stay put on computers & dashboards

RCAGCAT Mini Cat Dashboard Figurines (5-Pack)

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These mini figurines perch on your computer, your dashboard, and even more flat surfaces. Each one has its own personality, whether they're sitting upright or taking a nap. The included sticky tack keeps them from slipping or sliding off, and it stays sticky over time. Detailed eyes, ears, and fur make this set even cuter.

A pressure-sensitive LCD drawing tablet that comes with a stylus

TQU LCD Drawing Tablet (4-Pack)

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This LCD tablet lets you scribble, write, and then start all over again. As you draw with its stylus, your ideas will come to life through colorful light. To refresh, you can press the icon at the bottom of the screen and make your drawing disappear. It’s pressure-sensitive, so you can press harder for thicker lines and vice versa. Each order comes with four.

A diamond art suncatcher kit for colorful DIY decor

SKRYUIE Sun Catcher Diamond Art Kit

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This diamond art suncatcher is a craft and a decoration. When you buy, you'll receive an applicator pen, a tray, and more — including lots of colorful gems. The gems have different shapes, giving your DIY artwork dimension and flair. The steps to bring it to life are simple, but the final product hanging in your window is priceless.

A propagation station that’s easy to assemble

XXXFLOWER Plant Terrarium with Wooden Stand

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This propagation station has three glass jars, a strong wire, and a wooden base. You can add real or faux plants, as well as small pebbles. It can help you easily turn tiny clippings into full-sized plants using only water. The assembly process is quick and stress-free, and since the glass is transparent, you can see plants root in real time.

Crystal ball suncatchers that sparkle both indoors & out

H&D HYALINE & DORA Clear Crystal Prism Ball Sun Catchers (3-Pack)

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These suncatchers have crystal ball prisms that catch the light for a beautiful effect. They come in a pack of three, each one strung with colorful beads. You can hang them in windows, by front doors, and anywhere else the sun shines. They're made with precision, and they're built to last, both indoors and outdoors.

A bath filter designed to remove chlorine & heavy metals for healthier skin & hair

SHLLKTTRY Bath Water Filter

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This bath filter sends water through multiple layers that remove chlorine, heavy metals, and more. This can reduce skin irritation and leave hair softer and smoother after every wash. Its built-in splash guard prevents overflow, and its cords are adjustable to fit any faucet. You can also hang it in the sink for washing hands and dishes.

An interior design-themed sticker book with waterproof 3D stickers

MHBEW 3D Sticker Scene Book (20 Sets)

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This sticker book is a fun (and commitment-free) way to mess around with interior design. It comes with all sorts of scenes, from a castle to an amusement park, so you can let your imagination run free. The included tweezers allow for more precise application, and the stickers are waterproof and reusable. Reviewers love it so much that they’ve given it a 4.5-star overall score.

Hair perfume to refresh your mane between washes

Kitsch Hair Perfume

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This hair perfume infuses your mane with a sweet scent for a shampoo-free refresh. You can also spritz it on your body, in your bag, and even all over your pillowcase before bed. Vegan and cruelty-free, it's made without phthalates, parabens, and other potential irritants. Its 50-milliliter size is TSA-friendly and great for carry-ons.

A name stamp with space for up to 12 letters & numbers

Cstmname Name Stamp

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If you have kids, this name stamp is great for school or camp. If not, you'll always know whose laundry is whose. You can choose any 12 letters and numbers, then use the stamp over 1,000 times. You'll also receive white printing tape that lets you stamp dark and patterned fabrics. Plus, its animal design makes it fun to use (and easy to find).

A grooved worry stone that helps you stay present & mindful

Sharkooo Thumb Worry Stone

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Made of seven different crystals, this worry stone helps you stay present and mindful. The groove in the middle was made for your thumb, and its surface is smooth. The stones include amethyst, tiger's eye, and more, each one corresponding with a different chakra. Pocket-sized, it’s a nondistracting way to stay mindful at work or school.

A waterproof shelf liner with a nonslip grip

Cooyes Shelf Liner

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This shelf liner is waterproof, keeping pantries and cabinets clean. Its nonslip grip means you can press it into place without extra adhesives. An adorable daisy pattern adds springtime joy to your kitchen and bathroom in any season. It’s odorless and blends in with shelves, and it’s also a great fit for the fridge.

As one five-star reviewer wrote, “I like that it’s waterproof and easy to wipe clean, which makes maintenance very simple. It holds up well with everyday use and doesn’t easily bunch up or shift once placed.”

Temporary tattoos that come in a pack of 82 with a wide variety of designs

Zomme 3D Temporary Tattoos (82 Sheets)

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These temporary tattoos are just as detailed and lifelike as the real deal. They come in a pack of 82, with all sorts of styles, from florals to skulls. You can apply them in 30 seconds and easily remove them with baby oil. With nontoxic ink, they're FDA-certified as safe to use. Plus, over 16,000 Amazon reviewers gave them five stars.

A resin goose statue that can hold your keys

PetiKnot Desk Goose

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This 7-inch goose statue isn't just a funky animal friend — it’s also designed to hold your keys by its beak. By keeping small essentials like keychains where you can see them, it helps you stay organized. It's made of resin and hand-painted bright white and orange. With flat feet, it stands steadily on top of your desk or nightstand.

A double-sided eyebrow set that’s super long-lasting

iMethod 2-in-1 Eyebrow Pencil

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This eyebrow set comes with a brow pen and a spoolie brush, both double-sided. The pen has a precise brush tip for fine strokes that look like strands of hair, sculpting your brows into any shape. The spoolie has an angled brush on the other side for extra blending. Compact and slim, the whole set fits into makeup bags and purses for touch-ups on the go.

Cat-themed push pins made of durable resin

LLHDKF Cat Push Pins (30 Pieces)

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These cat push pins are made with high-quality resin and metal, with sharp ends that slide seamlessly into bulletin boards, photo walls, and more. They come in a pack of 30, in a little box that's easy to store and/or carry around. With smiling cats of various colors, they make any workspace more joyful and fun.

A toothpick holder that dispenses one at a time

Urbanstrive Toothpick Holder (2-Pack)

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This toothpick holder comes with 800 toothpicks made of bamboo. You can pull them out of the lid, which dispenses them one at a time. Sleek and smooth, it keeps sharp ends away from your hands. It's also a smart way to keep toothpicks sanitary, so it’s great for use at home or in professional settings, like restaurants and coffee shops.

Ceramic toilet bolt caps with a smooth glaze & a universal fit

ZUNON Toilet Bolt Cap (2-Pack)

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These toilet bolt caps screw onto bolts for a cute accessory that's commitment-free. Made of ceramic with a smooth glaze, they add an aquatic flair to your bathroom. With a universal size, they fit most toilets and bolts, so you can buy with confidence. They come in a pack of two, and they’ll last until you remove them (if you ever do).

A swinging car mirror ornament made from high-quality plaster

YGMONER Rearview Mirror Hanging Pig Ornament

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This car mirror ornament swings back and forth while you drive. It infuses long road trips with whimsy, but it never blocks your eyeline. It's made of a high-quality plaster that's just as durable as any vintage car. All you have to do is loop it over the top of your mirror, and it won’t budge until you take it down.

A discreet fidget spinner ring that’s made with polished stainless steel

AmorArtSky Fidget Spinner Ring

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This discreet fidget spinner ring lets you release anxiety and pent-up energy without causing a commotion. Its subtle, stylish design goes with any outfit, and you can easily use it at work and school. It's made with polished stainless steel and titanium, with moons and suns engraved into its surface. Plus, its shiny surface makes it look more expensive than it is.

A cool essential oil diffuser with Himalayan pink salt crystals to purify the air

SALKING Essential Oil Diffuser

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This essential oil diffuser doubles as a Himalayan salt lamp to scent and purify the air. Its unprocessed pink salt crystals can help you create an uplifting, energizing space. You can add any essential oils, whether that's citrus in the morning or lavender before bed. It also has a faux flame that makes your bedside table feel like a cozy fireplace.

Latex-free gel heel cups that absorb shock with every step

Tuli’s Classic Gel Heel Cups for Plantar Fasciitis (1 Pair)

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These gel heel cups absorb shock while you walk or run. They're latex-free, so they're allergy-friendly, and you can wear them with or without socks. Podiatrists often recommend this brand, and when you've walked a mile in these heel cups, it's not hard to see why. They can help with plantar fasciitis, pronation, and other foot stuff.

A foaming hand soap dispenser made of shatterproof glass

Malachi Foaming Hand Soap Dispenser

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This foaming hand soap dispenser has a luxurious-looking glass body that lets you see inside. When you press down, it dispenses a perfect dollop of soap. You can add one part soap and three parts water to keep it at the right consistency for foaming. The glass is shatterproof, and its diamond texture makes your bathroom fit for a movie star.

Ergonomic teaspoons made of food-grade porcelain

MIUFA Porcelain Coffee Spoons (6-Pack)

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These teaspoons are made of food-grade porcelain for safer use and a sleek finish. No matter how often you use them, scratches, stains, and cracks will rarely (if ever) appear. They also have an ergonomic design that fits snugly in your hands while you stir. When you buy, you’ll get six spoons, each with a hole in the handle for a secondary storage option.

A staining lip liner that’s infused with hyaluronic acid & vitamin E

Sacheu Lip Liner Stay-N Peel Off Lip Stain

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You can draw with this lip liner, let it dry, then peel it off for pigmented color. It's infused with hyaluronic acid and vitamin E, which nourish lips while enhancing your look. Great for all skin types and tones, it's vegan and cruelty-free. Its long-wearing formula is made to last all day and night.

An assembly-free chandelier that’s earned 4.8 stars overall

Hi-ERA Mini Crystal Chandelier Shade

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Earning an impressive overall score of 4.8 stars, this chandelier requires no assembly and is easy to install. You can use it with most standard lamp cords for an expensive-looking decoration that doesn't cost a fortune. Its prismatic beads are suspended from metal rings that resist rust over time. It works with LED, incandescent, and halogen bulbs, as well as many more.

A microwaveable plush you can add your favorite scents to

Happy Fuel Microwavable Weighted Plush Toy

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This bunny plush heats up in the microwave for a warm, calming sensation. Its fleece material is perfect for cuddling, especially when you have cramps or a bad day. Its clay filling is unscented, so you can leave it as is or add an essential oil of your choice. Simply remove the heating pad, pop it in the microwave for a minute, and start snuggling.

Self-sealing toothpaste caps that evenly apply product

Tilcare Self-Closing Toothpaste Caps (6-Pack)

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These self-sealing silicone toothpaste caps make brushing cuter (and more sanitary) than ever. You can screw them on, and they'll apply toothpaste evenly, then seal it off for less mess on counters. It's also adaptive for anyone with arthritis or limited mobility. If the animal shapes feel like too much, they’re also available in a simpler design.

Microfiber & faux leather cleaning pads that wipe smudges off screens

Fintie Screen Cleaning Pads (4-Pack)

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These screen cleaning pads are made of faux leather and soft microfiber. They wipe away dust, fingerprints, and other smudges for a clearer screen in seconds. You can also use them on camera lenses to snap a picture-perfect shot. They work on most devices, including laptops, tablets, and phones.

A bronze singing bowl to help you find peace

Tibetan Singing Bowls Set

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This singing bowl is made of a strong bronze alloy that makes a clear, vibrant sound. Using it can help you find calm in any situation, and it’s also a great way to settle into yoga or meditation. All you have to do is take the mallet and drag it along the rim. It comes in a drawstring bag, so you can take it with you for peace wherever you go.

A watercolor paint set with 50 paint colors & 6 fine-tipped brushes

Grabie Watercolor Paint Set (50 Colors)

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Bring your creative visions to life with this watercolor paint set. It includes 50 paint colors that only need a little water to bloom on the page. Six premium brushes are also included, each one with a fine tip. The palette gives you space to mix colors and make your own hues. Everything fits in its metal case, so you can take your paints wherever you travel.

Magnetic picture frames made from durable soft rubber

Raxwalker Magnetic Picture Frames (12-Pack)

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These magnetic picture frames let you add and remove photos without damaging them. You can stick them onto fridges, lockers, and anything else with a magnetic surface. When you buy, you'll receive 12 frames in assorted colors for personality and fun. Crafted from durable and soft rubber, they won't tear your pictures.

An easy-to-adjust vinyl cat sticker with UV protection

STICKY DUDE Sneaky Cat Sticker

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This vinyl cat sticker is laminated with UV protection, so you can use it indoors or outdoors. It sticks to clean, smooth surfaces, like car windows and sills, for feline fun without that cat food smell. Plus, it’s easy to adjust and remove if you want to switch the placement. The cat’s wide eyes and perky ears might not keep you from getting a ticket, but the traffic cop will probably at least stop and say, “awww.”

A stained glass window film that blocks UV rays while letting light in

WBQMUNY Stained Glass Window Film

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This stained glass window film blocks most UVA and UVB rays, protecting skin and furniture from the sun. It also obscures your home from people outside while still letting the light in. It sticks on with static cling, and you can peel it off without a hassle. Installing it is an easy way to add color to your space, as light helps it create a pretty rainbow effect.

Dangly cat earrings that are hypoallergenic for sensitive ears

GoHere Black Cat Earrings

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These black cat earrings have dangling tails and adorable outstretched paws. Made of hypoallergenic materials, they're safe for sensitive ears. Though they're not too expensive, their craftsmanship is high-quality. You can wear them every day, since they go with so many different outfits, and they’re also safe if you’re allergic to cats.

An essential oil diffuser bracelet that comes with 12 colorful pads

ttstar Essential Oil Diffuser Bracelet

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This essential oil diffuser bracelet is made of shiny stainless steel. It's hypoallergenic for sensitive skin, and you can adjust it to fit almost any wrist. Once you've added three to four drops of essential oils, you'll have your favorite scents wherever you go. It comes with 12 felt refill pads, each in its own fashionable hue, and is also available in rose gold.

A projection night-light with a crystal lens for a clear picture

OUSAHZU Astronaut Galaxy Star Projector

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You don't need a rocket ship to go to space with this astronaut night-light. It has a remote and an app, so you can create a custom galaxy. Its crystal lens and LED light create a sharp, bright picture that instantly transforms any room. The projector also has a built-in noise machine to set the mood or help you fall asleep.

A fuzzy cat keychain with a unique heart-shaped ring

Nalefow Fuzzy Cat Keychain (2 Pieces)

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This cute keychain has beads, flowers, and fuzzy animal friends. Since it’s created with flocking details, it also has a fuzzy exterior that’s fun to touch. Its heart-shaped ring clips onto keys (of course), as well as backpacks, belt loops, and more. Two arrive per purchase.

Self-heating eye masks that help you unwind for up to 30 minutes

BeHoomi Steam Eye Masks (20-Pack)

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When you take this eye mask out of its packaging, it heats up to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This refreshes tired eyes and has gentle compression, helping you unwind. Its heat lasts between 20 and 30 minutes — perfect for a spa night or quick pick-me-up. They come in a pack of 20, so you can share with friends on a cozy night in.

A stress ball with soft spikes to increase forearm & finger strength

Fanwer Hand Exercise Finger Therapy Ball

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This stress ball has soft spikes for extra tactile stimulation. Finger holes help you grip and hold it, then squeeze when you need stress relief. It can also enhance forearm and finger strength, making it a gym-free exercise. All ages and fitness levels can use it, and it’s lightweight enough to carry in backpacks and tote bags.

Stemless wine glasses with a stay-cool gel

Host Wine Freeze Cup (2-Pack)

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These stemless wine glasses keep cold drinks cold, thanks to their cooling gel. You can pop them in the freezer before a party or picnic, then fill them with your favorite beverages. They're BPA-free, with silicone bands that keep your hands from freezing. They come in a set of two, and their cooling effect lasts about two hours.

A soft fabric sheep plushie you can unzip to “shear” it at home

Furvana Shaved Sheep Stuffed Animal

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This sheep plushie has a faux wool coat you can unzip to "shear" it yourself. With white ears and nonslip hooves, its details make it more realistic and cuter at the same time. Its fabric is soft to the touch, so you can comfortably snuggle up with it. Backed by an overall score of 4.6 stars, you can put its coat back on and take it off as often as you like.

A rotating handbag organizer that can hold up to 6 purses

ZEDODIER Hanging Bag Organizer (2-Pack)

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This handbag organizer can handle up to six purses, securing up to 20 pounds per hanger. Made of heavy-duty metal, it uses vertical space to free up room in your closet. Small clutches and wristlets will fit on its hangers, and so will massive totes and backpacks. It rotates 360 degrees, so you can grab the bag you want and get going.

Polarized full-coverage sunglasses with UV400 protection

KANASTAL Oversized Over Glasses Sunglasses

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These polarized sunglasses have UV400 protection to shield your eyes from the sun. Their oversized frames aren't just a stylish statement — they provide full coverage for maximum sun safety. Grooves on the sides keep them secure on your ears, whether you're walking, biking, or just chilling on the porch.

• Available colors: 20+

A climate control gel that’s infused with ceramides & a silk-derived protein

Ouidad Advanced Climate Control Heat & Humidity Curl Gel, Stronger Hold

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This climate control gel is infused with ceramides for a strong hold that fights frizz. Its secret weapon is sericin, a protein that's derived from silk and locks in moisture. It also has a built-in UV filter that protects your hair from the sun. Crunchiness and stickiness are nowhere to be found, as this gel holds your hair without weighing it down.

Fishbowl slime with 2 yellow ducks for you to reposition

QOFRJTU Crunchy Fishbowl Slime

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This fishbowl slime has a funky texture that makes it so satisfying to shape and squeeze. It also has two yellow ducks for you to move around and reposition. It’s nonsticky and cool to the touch, helping your hands to stay clean after using it. Plus, it stores easily in its jar after use. Ducks aside, you can also buy it in three other themes.

An LED string light that charges during the day to shine at night

Toodour LED Solar Wind Chime

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This solar-powered string light has seven ball lights that change color for a magical effect. It charges during the day, then lights up at night without needing to be plugged in. With its included swivel hook, you can hang it in windows, door frames, and more. Because it's waterproof, it can handle any weather conditions.

Adhesive rhinestone car rings to brighten up your dashboard

LivTee Rhinestone Car Start Rings (2-Pack)

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These rhinestone car rings add a little sparkle to your dashboard. Each ring has an adhesive backing, so all you need to do is peel and stick. You can use them on the ignition button, A/C knobs, radio dials, and anywhere else they fit. Most cars and SUVs are compatible with them, and their rhinestones are durable.

Dual-tipped metallic markers that work on glass, wood & more

IVSUN Metallic Marker Pens (30-Pack)

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These metallic markers have a brush tip and a fine tip for precision while writing and drawing. You can use them on a wide variety of surfaces, from glass and wood to photo albums and scrapbooks. You don't need to shake them first; you can just uncap them and start creating. Their ink is opaque, so your writing will be easy to read (unless, of course, you have bad penmanship).

A salon-worthy nail-strengthening polish with keratin & jojoba oil

modelones Nail Strengthener Polish

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This nail-strengthening polish is made with keratin and jojoba oil. Its nourishing ingredients can help damaged or brittle nails get stronger over time. It gives nails a salon-quality finish, and no one will know it has powers (unless you tell them). With a gorgeously glossy shine, it’ll likely become a staple in your nail routine.

A waterproof desk pad covered in Excel shortcuts

Mirspt Waterproof Excel Cheat Sheet Desk Pad

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Let's be real: Excel has a billion shortcuts (give or take), and they can be hard to remember, which is why this cheat sheet, in the form of a desk pad, can help. Excel aside, the waterproof mat makes your mouse glide smoothly and protects against spills. Not only can it save you in a pinch at work, but it’s a reviewer favorite, scoring 4.5 stars overall.

Silicone can lids that are dishwasher-safe & BPA-free to keep drinks fizzy

DIPESI Soda Can Lids with Straws (8-Pack)

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These silicone can lids have a tight seal that keeps drinks inside, even if cans tip over. You can simply snap them on, and your sodas will stay fizzier for longer, as well as stay properly covered to prevent any outdoor pests from sneaking in. BPA-free and dishwasher-safe, the pack of eight is easy to reuse.

There’s a reason handymen and home professionals seem to have a solution for every weird little thing that can go wrong around the house: They’ve seen it all. Whether it’s oddly specific tools that solve oddly specific problems, unconventional storage hacks that declutter your space, or brilliant solutions that clean things you didn’t even realize got dirty, these hacks will have you wondering why no one told you about them sooner. We spoke to all kinds of handymen, contractors, and home technicians who are finally letting us in on the secret hacks they’ve been using with their clients (and in their own homes) for years.

Make grout look good as new with this paint pen

Rainbow Chalk Markers Ltd Grout Pen

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Cameron Figgins, owner and president of Absolute Maintenance & Consulting, notes that paying attention to those sometimes-fussy finishing touches can make a big difference, and especially if a deep clean or fresh paint job isn’t possible. One way to tackle those details is with this grout pen. It covers dirty or discolored grout, giving it new life in minutes without any mess or expensive renovation. One pen can cover up to 150 feet of grout and has a water-based formula that makes your grout look brand new. It’s one of the fastest ways to freshen up the look of your entire bathroom.

Spot hidden leaks, pests, & other issues with a flexible endoscope camera

Anykit Endoscope Camera with Light

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A hack that Manny Kavouklis, president of CMK Construction Inc, always recommends is keeping an endoscope camera handy around the house. "Sending the flexible camera around pipes, behind wall panels, and inside crawl spaces can help you spot leaks, pests, and other problems before they turn into costly repairs,” he explains. This one attaches to Apple and Android devices, giving you an HD-resolution view to see exactly what’s going on in hard-to-reach spots. The wiring is waterproof so it can go inside pipes and the flexible design is easy to control and maneuver.

Polish the look of your floors by adding a vinyl baseboard trim

FONUNO Vinyl Wall Baseboard Molding Trim

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“Before replacing a floor that looks tired, I’d look closely at the details around it,” says Daniel Ilinykh, professional flooring and tile contractor and owner of Bay Way Flooring. That’s where this vinyl baseboard trim comes in. With self-adhesive backing, this strip goes on quickly and easily and can be cut to size for the perfect fit. It’s a great way to add a finished touch to your floors that’s also functional — the slightly angled bottom of the trim helps prevent dust and hair from accumulating there over time.

Add light underneath cabinets with these easy-to-install puck lights

EZVALO Motion Sensor Under-Cabinet Puck Lights (6-Pack)

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“Under-cabinet LEDs can completely change how a room feels,” explains Walter E. Bennett, handyman and HVAC and air duct cleaning technician at Green Leaf Air. These puck lights have three color temperatures and can be remote controlled or motion activated, depending on your preferences. They install easily with screws or adhesive tape and have 12 colors and two modes to choose from. On a single charge, they can work for up to 40 days, depending on the settings. They’re such an easy way to brighten up your space without taking up all the outlets in the room.

Cover cracks & gaps in caulk with these flexible self-adhesive strips

InstaTrim Flexible Caulk Strip Trim (2-Pack)

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Daniel Ilinykh, flooring and tile contractor at Bay Way Flooring, recommends taking a look at your caulking job if you want to make a noticeable change on a budget. “Cleaning those areas up is inexpensive compared with replacing a floor, and sometimes it changes the whole look of the room,” he explains. These caulk strips can easily replace cracked, discolored, or messy caulk jobs, bringing some new life to your molding, cabinets, floors, and more. The peel-and-stick application makes the install easy and it has a unique wedge design that fills gaps to add temperature control and prevent bugs from getting inside.

Clean out your dryer vent with this extra-long vacuum hose

Holikme Dryer Vent Cleaner Hose Kit

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“Clean your dryer vent once a year. A clogged vent is why your dryer takes two cycles to dry one load — and it's a fire hazard,” says Walter E. Bennett, handyman and air duct cleaning technician at Green Leaf Air. This vent cleaner kit has everything you need to remove all the lingering lint and dust that accumulates and puts a ton of stress on the machine. The extra-long hose attaches to your vacuum cleaner, sliding into your dryer vent to suck up all the built-up lint to help prevent fires and keep your machine working as well as the day you got it.

Control the temperature & prevent pests with an under-door draft stopper

Everlasting Comfort Under-Door Draft Stopper

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"Use a low-cost door draft stopper,” says Patrick Kilgannon, licensed contractor and owner of Custom Air Conditioning & Air Quality, LLC. With strong foam lining both sides of the bottom of the door, this draft stopper can help control the internal temperature of the room (and potentially save you money on your electric bill) while also keeping bugs, dust, and noise out. It installs in seconds and is designed to stay put under your door as you open and close it throughout the day.

Dampen the sound of slams & protect cabinets with invisible silicone bumpers

Clear Bumpers for Cabinets - Glass Table Top Anti Slip Pads, Bumper Strip for Chairs to Protect Walls, Soft Close - Dampen Noise & Protect Surfaces - 20 PCS - 1" L х 1" W х 0.18" Th

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"If you have two finished surfaces that repeatedly come into contact with each other and you’re afraid of damage, I’d look at buying a small clear rubber or silicone bumper,” says Matthew O’Grady, the director and co-founder of Thomas Matthew Kitchens & Furniture. “Make sure it’s clear so that it doesn’t take away from the aesthetic you’re trying to achieve wherever you’d place it.” These silicone bumpers are completely transparent, blending into whatever surface you put it on until you basically forget they’re there. They’re great inside cabinets to lessen the noise or behind doors to prevent slamming into the wall.

Smooth over floor transitions with this self-adhesive strip

Floor Transition Strip Self Adhesive Floor Cover Strips Laminate 3" Wide Vinyl Flat Divider Transitions Elegant Wood Grain Design (7.6cm, 10Ft, Light Brown)

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When it comes to floors, “Sloppy transitions [...] can make the entire room look worse than it really is,” explains Daniel Ilinykh, professional flooring and tile contractor and owner of Bay Way Flooring. This floor strip comes in multiple common finishes and is the perfect way to transition from room to room, especially when those rooms have two different types of flooring. The high-quality and durable material has a nonstick backing that makes cutting it to size and installing it a total breeze.

Touch-up paint scuffs without the mess using these refillable pens

Slobproof Refillable Paint Pens (5-Pack)

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After a paint job, Peter Kravchuk, founder of New Day Construction, a design-build remodeling company, always recommends putting a small amount of paint in a nail polish bottle or one of these refillable paint pens. “This allows touching up little areas [...] without having to open up the entire paint can each time. Since there is so much less air in the container, the paint will last longer,” he says. Simply use the included syringe to fill one of the pens with paint. Then you can use it like a brush to do any small touch-ups around the house without taking making a total mess.

Get alerted to leaks before they cause damage with these water-sensitive alarms

RUIKORING Water Leak Alarm Detectors (5-Pack)

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In line with CMK Construction, Inc. president Manny Kavouklis’s advice about detecting leaks, these compact alarms can be installed underneath sinks and appliances for a little peace of mind. They feature cutting-edge leak-detection technology to let you know it’s happening before it becomes an expensive problem to fix. When they detect water leaks, they release a super-loud alarm (which has four adjustable volumes, just in case) so you can jump into action before things get too bad.

Cover up scratches on wood with these professional-grade repair markers

Minwax Repair Markers (6-Pack)

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“I applied [these markers] to a solid oak shelf which was scratched during a move and it was so well integrated that I had to look twice to find it,” says Justin Brown, founder of Timber Shelves and managing director of Essential Woodwork Limited. They come in common wood grain colors — from light maple to dark walnut — and can be applied to wood and laminate to hide minor surface scratches, nicks, and scuffs to restore the color to your older furniture.

Place anti-vibration pads under your washer or dryer to absorb shock & extend appliance life

Anti Vibration Pads for Washing Machine and Dryer (Set of 4) - Washer Anti Vibration Pads with HexiGrip™ - Washing Machine Accessories & Leveling Pads - Vibration Dampening Mat

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"Anti-vibration pads for washing machines are one of my favorite things,” says Peter Kravchuk, founder of New Day Construction, a design-build remodeling contractor company. “While many people use them to lower noise levels, they also help limit vibrations, which lead to wear on water supply hoses and drain connections. This is an inexpensive way to increase the life of the appliance and help avoid one of the most common laundry room leaks." The square design with the built-in round indent absorbs shock and keeps your machine steady and quiet while it’s working. They fit all standard washer and dryer feet up to 2.5 inches.

Hide tangled wires & reduce clutter with this ultra-thin outlet concealer

Sleek Socket Ultra-Thin Outlet Concealer

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“The easiest way to improve almost any room is to reduce clutter,” says Alan Atchley, certified general contractor and owner of real estate firm Atchley Properties. This ultra-thin extension cord removes the tangled heap of wires behind your desk, nightstand, or entertainment center, creating a more seamless look that’s easier on the eyes. The key is that it completely covers the wall outlet with a simple plate, providing a 3-foot extension cord that you can tuck behind furniture, hiding all your wires and making your wall look polished and clutter free.

Remove dirt & dust from screens with this handheld mesh brush

MyLifeUNIT Mesh Screen Cleaner

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CEO of Bella Contracting Services Ben Raabe advises paying attention to little cleaning details, and this mesh brush can help. It’s designed to scrub down your window screens, making sure your view is always free from dust and dirt. It has angled bristles and soft fibers that get deep into the screen’s holes making sure to remove everything that’s built up there over time. It can be used with or without cleaning solution and even comes with a detachable handle that allows you to reach screens that are a little higher up.

Direct gutter water away from your foundation with this low-profile water catcher

Prestantious Low-Profile Catch Basin Drain Kit

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In order to avoid slab cracks or rot, “downspouts should discharge at least 12 feet away from the foundation, not dump 3 feet from your crawl space or basement wall,” explains Eric Goranson, handyman, Certified Kitchen Designer, contractor, and podcast host of the Around the House. With a low-profile and compact design, this downspout extender has a large base and a flexible pipe that directs water up to 16.4 feet away from the side of your house, which is a good thing. You can even bury the hose just below the surface of your yard for a more streamlined look.

Equip your furniture with gliding felt protectors that help prevent floor scratches

BAIPOK Chair Leg Floor Protectors (16-Pack)

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Andrew Pho, home improvement expert and general manager of Mister Baluster, recommends protecting furniture that moves around a lot, making these protectors are a must-have. Perfect for kitchen chairs, stools, and more, they have a silicone construction that stretches to fit around square, round, and asymmetrical chair legs with felt bottoms that won’t scratch your floors as furniture moves. They also help muffle the noise of chairs sliding on the floor which is sure to make you (and your downstairs neighbors) a little happier.

Grab loose screws, nails, & more with a magnetic pickup tool

VIBELITE Magnetic LED Pickup Tool

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“If you ever find yourself needing to pick up a dropped screw behind an appliance, in a confined area, or below a piece of furniture, this type of product comes in handy,” says Andrew Pho, a home renovation expert and general manager at Mister Baluster. This pickup tool extends up to 22 inches, has a flexible neck, a magnetic head, and a built-in flashlight to help you see and grab any small thing you can’t reach. Because it’s so compact, it’s a great gadget to keep in your toolbox for that random instance you’ll need it.

Give new life to scuffed, chipped furniture with wood filler sticks

Lifreer Wood Filler Sticks (18-Pack)

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"A hard wax repair stick is useful for small chips and dents in finished timber or painted furniture if you don’t necessarily want to refinish the entire piece,” says Matthew O’Grady, the director and co-founder of Thomas Matthew Kitchens & Furniture. They come in 12 different common wood finishes — from light maple to red sandalwood to dark black — easily filling in scratches, scuffs, and small holes in your wood surfaces to give old furniture new life. This way, you can upgrade what you have instead of paying the price for something brand new.

Use a laser level to install artwork, cabinet handles, peel-&-stick wallpaper, & more

PREXISO 2-in-1 Laser Level 12 in Spirit Level with Light, 100Ft Alignment Point & 30Ft Leveling Line, Magnetic Laser Leveler Tool for Construction Picture Hanging Wall Writing Painting Home Renovation

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Alan Atchley, certified general contractor and owner of Atchley Properties, calls a laser level one of his favorite hidden gems. “It helps you hang pictures, mirrors, shelves, curtain rods, bathroom accessories, and cabinet handles at the same height,” he explains. This level has a 100-foot alignment point with a 30-foot horizontal line for leveling to make sure your entire gallery wall is perfectly even. It has a 180-degree bubble vial and a small triangular bubble vial to level things horizontally and vertically at the same time.

Guard your gutter downspout from clogs with these metal mesh inserts

EBaokuup Gutter Downspout Guards (8-Pack)

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"Most people spend money guarding the whole gutter run when the real clog point is almost always where the downspout narrows,” says Eric Goranson, handyman, Certified Kitchen Designer, contractor, and host of the Around the House. These downspout guards prevent leaves, twigs, and other debris from clogging the pipes while also blocking any critters from climbing up and nesting there, which also causes clogs. They’re made of waterproof, non-corrosive aluminum that’s weather resistant to keep your downspouts clear all year round.

Seal the bottom of your garage door to keep things clean & temperature controlled

Jin&Bao Universal Garage Door Threshold Seal Strip

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“A rubber garage door bottom seal [...] can save you a significant amount of money on your cooling and heating bill without even having to mess with your HVAC system,” explains Patrick Kilgannon, licensed contractor and owner of Custom Air Conditioning & Air Quality, LLC. This seal installs on the ground where your door meets the floor, keeping water, rain, snow, dust, dirt, and leaves from getting inside. It’s temperature resistant from -40 to 284 degrees Fahrenheit and it has a yellow line on it to grab attention and prevent people from tripping.

Swap out old & dated cabinet knobs for these chic, rounded pulls

BaiNong Drawer Pulls (4-Pack)

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"Swap the hardware,” advises Eric Goranson, handyman, Certified Kitchen Designer, contractor, and host of the Around the House. “It's the fastest way to make a kitchen or bathroom look like it got a real update.” These mid-century modern cabinet handles have a rounded retro design that looks incredibly chic and expensive, transforming the look of your space without spending money on a whole renovation. They install quickly and easily on drawers and cabinets, refreshing the look and adding a touch of vintage elegance to your home on a budget.

Spot electrical fire risks by plugging in this detector

Ting Fire Ting Fire Electrical Fire Prevention Sensor & Service - Residential Use Only - 12 Months of Required Service Included - Home Fire Safety

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Eric Goranson, handyman, contractor, and host of the Around the House loves getting ahead of potentially serious problems with this electrical fire detection system. “It's a small plug-in device that watches your home's electrical system around the clock and catches arcing faults — the kind of hidden wiring problem that starts most electrical fires, before anything actually ignites.” Just plug it into any outlet. It connects to an app to give you real-time 24/7 alerts when it detects anything wrong — including a power outage.

Clean baseboards without the elbow grease with a long-handled brush

wlich Baseboard Cleaner Tool with Handle

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“The easiest way to improve a home is simply to give it some care,” says Ben Raabe, CEO of Bella Contracting Services. “Clean the baseboards, doors, windows, switches, and lights.” This cleaner has everything you need to make sure those small details around your space are dust, dirt, and grime free. It has an expandable handle to keep you comfortable while you’re cleaning and it comes with three different heads — a long brush, a microfiber pad, and a chenille pad — that are all designed for different aspects of your baseboards and trim.

Protect finished floors from tracked-in grit with a durable entryway mat

DEXI Heavy-Duty Entrance Mat

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"A good entry mat is probably one of the least-exciting home improvement products I could recommend, but it does a lot more than people think,” says Daniel Ilinykh, professional flooring and tile contractor and owner of Bay Way Flooring. “Sand and grit tracked in from outside can be rough on finished floors, especially in high-traffic areas,” he adds. This heavy-duty mat has a rubber backing, reinforced edges, a grooved texture, and a nonslip design to trap dust, dirt, mud, and water so it doesn’t get accidentally get all over your floors and make a mess. The low-profile design slides right underneath most doors and it’s really easy to clean with a hose or vacuum.

Refresh the look of cabinets with these charming vintage hinges

dophee Decorative Cabinet Hinges (4-Pack)

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“I've walked into houses where changing out $200 worth of hardware did more visually than a $2,000 paint job,” says Eric Goranson, handyman, Certified Kitchen Designer, contractor, and host of Around the House. Swapping out builder-grade cabinet hinges for these antique-inspired hinges is a great way to refresh your space and add some old-school charm. They’re made of durable iron and they come with everything you need to make the installation a total breeze. Plus, their antique coloring and scalloped design is instantly eye-catching.

Find water damage inside walls & floors with a digital moisture meter

General Tools Digital Moisture Meter

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“A slow water leak behind the dishwasher that you catch before the subfloor warps can cost you thousands less than if you find it while renovating,” explains Manny Kavouklis, president of CMK Construction Inc. His fix? A moisture meter that can find water content in your wood or drywall. It features an easy-to-read digital screen that lets you know the level of risk — from low to mid to high — so you can act appropriately.

Protect your flooring from scratches & scrapes with nonslip furniture pads

CasterMaster Non Slip Furniture Pads for Hardwood Floors - 3x3 Black Round Caster Cups - Rubber Feet for Furniture - Anti Slip Couch Stoppers to Prevent Sliding - Floor Protectors (Set of 4)

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"Felt or rubber furniture pads are essential for preventing damage to completed floors,” says Andrew Pho, a home renovation expert and general manager at Mister Baluster. “Most people view these items as simply decorative accessories; however, using the correct type of pad can protect against scratches and provide less friction when moving your furniture.” These nonslip pads are great underneath couches, armchairs, side tables, coffee tables, and more, keeping items in place and preventing them from scratching your floors if they’re jostled.

Add an unexpected, eye-catching touch of decor with a decorative light switch plate

Morris Vintage Floral Strawberry Birds Botanical 1 Gang Light Switch Cover Decorative Olive Single Toggle Wall Plate Electrical Switchplate Home Decor for Living Room Bedroom Decorate

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“New cabinet pulls, door hinges, and switch plates [...] cost almost nothing compared to any other renovation,” explains Eric Goranson, contractor and host of the Around the House — and they really pack a punch when it comes to updating your space on a budget. This plate has a vintage floral design with fruits and birds scattered throughout, adding an eye-catching and unexpected piece of decor that elevates the space in a simple and subtle way.

Be prepared for small fixes with a mini tool kit that keeps the essentials within reach

Elvesoar Basic Tool Kit (20 Pieces)

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To save time on home maintenance, Andrew Pho, a home renovation and improvement expert at Mister Baluster, keeps a small tool kit with just the essentials in an easy-to-reach spot. “That allows me quick access rather than looking through an entire box of tools each time a repair requires a tightened screw,” he explains. This compact tool kit really gets down to basics with 20 must-have tools — from measuring tape to a hammer to screwdrivers. It has everything you need for those everyday, small at-home fixes that don’t need much to get the job done.

Remove standing water quickly & easily with a budget-friendly wet-dry vacuum

Koblenz WD-2L Portable Wet-Dry Vacuum

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Having a wet-dry vacuum on hand is essential in case of emergencies, according to Emily Demirdonder, director of operations at Proximity Plumbing. "Whether it's a burst pipe or an overflowing toilet, our plumbers take one on nearly every job because it removes standing water quickly.” With a 2-gallon tank, a 10-foot cleaning reach, and a compact and lightweight design, this vacuum cleans up everything from emergency water spills to messy carpets. At around 5 pounds, it’s easy to carry exactly where you need it and the whole thing is small enough to store on a closet shelf.

Scrub your baseboards & trim with these specially designed dusters

Scrub Daddy Damp Duster Dusting Sponges (8 Count) - Dust Remover for Household Cleaning - Duster for Vents, Railings & Blinds - Reusable Baseboard Cleaner

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“Freshly cleaned and repaired trim, caulked joints, corners and other minor aspects of a room can give it a completely different appearance,” says Cameron Figgins, owner and president of Absolute Maintenance & Consulting. These specially designed damp dusting sponges make cleaning those tricky spots easy and way less annoying. That’s because they have a ridged design that helps get into the nitty-gritty corners of your baseboards, windowsills, grates, vents, blinds, and more. Plus they’re reusable — just rinse them underneath running water and they’re ready for next time.

Help reduce electric bills by using smart plugs to schedule appliances

Kasa Smart Plug

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One of the best hacks Patrick Kilgannon, licensed contractor and owner of Custom Air Conditioning & Air Quality, LLC, recommends is grabbing a few smart plugs. Not only do they allow you to schedule when your appliances and lights turn on and off but, he explains, they also eliminate “the need to pay peak hour electricity rates for something that can easily be plugged in overnight.” They’re compatible with Alexa and Google Home Assistant and connect to an app so you can control your home from anywhere, which is especially great when you’re on vacation.

Remove odors, gunk, & goo from your washer to keep it running smoothly

ACTIVE Washing Machine Cleaner (24-Pack)

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Walter E. Bennett, handyman and HVAC technician at Green Leaf Air, stresses the importance of maintaning your appliances, so make sure you regularly clean your washing machine. Add one of these pucks to an empty washing machine and run it on a normal cycle with hot water. It works to deeply clean and deodorize the basin of the machine, ensuring your washer works well and your clothes come out clean every time. When the cycle is finished, all you have to do is wipe off any lingering residue.

Lubricate sticky drawers with 100% natural beeswax

Beesworks Yellow Beeswax Bars (6-Pack)

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What’s a hack that Justin Brown, founder of Timber Shelves and managing director of Essential Woodwork Limited recommends to everyone? Using beeswax blocks on sticky drawer runners instead of WD-40. He explains: “[WD-40] will accumulate dust over time and ultimately cause the drawer to be stickier than it was before. The wax sits cleanly on the wood, will last for months before it needs to be topped up, and leaves no smell or residue.” These blocks are made of 100% pure, unfiltered American yellow beeswax that gently works to lube up your drawers without leaving any sticky residue or mess behind.

Add character to your room by inviting in some plants

Bamworld Plant Hanging Shelves

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“If the room needs more character, add one good piece of art, a mirror, or a plant instead of many small decorations,” explains Alan Atchley, certified general contractor and owner of real estate firm Atchley Properties. These hanging plant shelves allow you to store all your small plants in one place, making your space feel more elevated while creating one show-stopping display. It has five alternating tiers and it can hang from the wall or from a curtain rod if your plants need a little more sunbathing.

Measure irregular edges easily with this shape-shifting contour gauge

RAK Contour Gauge Profile Tool - 10 Inch Shape Duplicator w/Lock for Flooring, Construction and DIY Home Improvement Projects - Birthday Gifts for Men & Women

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Ben Raabe, CEO of Bella Contracting Services, recommends a contour gauge. “You press it against an uneven shape, such as a pipe or piece of trim. The tool copies the shape, making it easier to measure and cut the new material correctly,” he explains. It’s a must-have to make sure you’re doing any DIY project like a pro. Whether you’re installing peel-and-stick tile or wallpaper, or adding custom trim to your baseboards, this contour gauge has thin, non-scratch teeth that conform to the shape of whatever you’re measuring. The whole thing fits easily inside your toolbox, too.

Stop flooding quickly with this water shut-off tool

Rkiiqii Water Meter Key Shut-Off Tool

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This water meter key shut-off tool is the kind of thing you don’t realize you need until it’s too late. Emily Demirdonder, director of operations at Proximity Plumbing, explains, "[It] fits in a kitchen drawer and allows you to shut off the water at the street if a pipe bursts at 2 a.m. Most homeowners don't even know this tool exists until it is too late." It has a T-shaped, rubber-coated handle that’s ergonomic and makes twisting the meter less strenuous. And it comes with four different keys, so it works for water meters, roadside main shut-off valves, septic tank diversion valves, and more.

Replace outdated lighting fixtures with a modern, expensive-looking ceiling light

OYKYOHEI Glass Semi Flush-Mount Ceiling Light

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"Swap a light fixture. Not the bulbs — the actual fixture,” says Walter E. Bennett, handyman and HVAC technician at Green Leaf Air. “One modern overhead [light is] the most underrated upgrade in home improvement." Between the intricate glass shade, the vintage, rounded design, and the golden metal accents, this light adds classic charm in a flash. It’s easy to install and completely transforms the look of your room by bringing personality into your space.

Brighten up dark stairways with these motion-activated lights

Brilliant Evolution LED Motion-Sensor Lights (3-Pack)

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Ben Raabe, CEO of Bella Contracting Services, also swears that brightening up dark areas around your home instantly makes it look more polished and put together. What’s great about these LED strip lights is that they’re battery operated so you can install them anywhere that doesn’t have easy access to an outlet — like in a stairwell, closet, garage, underneath kitchen cabinets, and more. They tun on when they detect motion within 10 feet and turn off after 30 seconds of stillness. And they can be installed with screws or adhesive tape.

Keep a rechargeable headlamp on hand to make DIY at-home projects easier

Lepro LED Headlamp Rechargeable - Super Bright Motion Sensor Head lamp with 1200 mAh Battery, 230°COB Wide Beam & Adjustable Spotlight, IP44 Waterproof Headlight for Camping, Hiking, Running, 2 Pack

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"A rechargeable headlamp is my favorite unusual gadget,” says Alan Atchley, certified general contractor and owner of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate company Atchley Properties. “It keeps both hands free while working under a sink, in an attic, crawlspace, garage, or dark cupboard.” These headlamps have a wide-angle illumination that’s adjustable so you can target the light exactly where you need it. Each one has six lighting modes — from spotlight, to floodlight, and more — and it’s waterproof and dustproof to withstand whatever project you get your hands on. On a single charge, it runs for up to 10 hours.

Add a finishing touch to baseboards & trim with a professional-grade caulking kit

Professional Caulk Gun Kit with Caulk Remover & Silicone Sealant - 5 in 1 Caulking Tool Set for Caulking Removal, Includes Caulking Gun Tool, Silicone Scraper

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"Smaller gaps between trim, baseboards, door frames, etc., can give the impression that an otherwise well-executed renovation is incomplete,” says Andrew Pho, general manager at Mister Baluster. “A neat bead of caulk is among the easiest methods to make low-cost trim appear professionally installed,” he continues. This set gives you everything you need for a professional-looking finishing touch. It comes with a caulk tool, silicone sealant, and various scrapers that help make it look completely spotless and mess free.

Stack linens, clothes, & other clutter in easy-to-install sliding baskets

Caktraie Store Folding Closet Organizers Storage Boxes (4-Pack)

Alan Atchley, certified general contractor and owner of Atchley Properties, recommends clearing surfaces as one of the easiest hacks for a bougier home. These stacking storage bins are the perfect accessory to store everything like linens, shoes, clothes, pet accessories, kids’ toys, and more. When they’re stacked and filled, the bins use the weight of their contents to slide out like drawers, making them easy to fill and access for a clutter-free space.

Tackle wall scuffs instantly & cheaply with melamine sponges

ISDGER Magic Sponge Eraser (12-Pack)

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Michael Allan, founder and interior designer at painting and flooring company Mint Paint & Floor, recommends routine maintenance with melamine sponges. “The best way to ensure that [wear and tear] doesn't cost you hundreds of dollars paying for a paint job within six months is to catch those stains with a magic eraser before they set,” he says. Simply wet them, squeeze them, and then use a little elbow grease to keep your walls looking like they just got a brand-new paint job without paying for one. They’re not just for scuffs, either, since they also work on food stains, ink stains, dust, and more.

Stabilize furniture with these levelers that fix misalignment

Tahikem Flexible Plastic Shims (8-Pack)

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Andrew Pho, general manager at Mister Baluster, recommends homeowners stock up on plastic shims. “[They’re] cheap but extremely useful for leveling cabinets, fixing unevenly spaced furniture, providing support under trim while attaching it, and obtaining a very close, professional fit when there is a slight misalignment,” he says. Made of strong clear plastic, the shims are basically invisible once they’re installed so they make your space feel finished without standing out. They can hold up to 22,000 pounds — yep, you read that right — and can be trimmed to fit tight spaces if needed.

Fill gaps & cracks with this insulating foam sealant that expands to fit wherever it’s installed

Great Stuff Insulating Foam Sealant

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Walter E. Bennett, handyman and HVAC technician at Green Leaf Air, loves recommending expanding spray foam because of how versatile it is. “I use it for gaps around pipes under sinks, voids behind electrical outlets, and spaces around dryer vents that have been letting cold air in for years.” The key is that it expands to fit whatever gap or crack you’re filling to create an airtight, waterproof seal that’s great indoors or outdoors. It dries in a neutral, cream color that blends in easily. “Those little gaps are quietly adding money to your energy bill every month. This foam costs a few bucks a can and fixes that,” Bennett adds.

Prevent stains & spills with floor protection paper that also provides traction

Paclord Floor Protection Paper

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Michael Allan, founder and interior designer at painting and flooring company Mint Paint & Floor, never skips out on floor defense during home improvement projects. The trick? Red rosin paper. “This helps protect your floor from ruinous stains and prevents slips during a home improvement project,” he explains. That’s because this heavy-duty paper rolls out to easily cover large swaths of floor at a time, providing a bit of friction to keep you steady on your feet as it shields your floors.

Store maintenance & upkeep photos for quick reference in this linen box

Jolensoy Decorative Photo Storage Box

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"It’s a good idea to take photos of any shutoff valves, appliance information, filter sizes, sealant locations or other maintenance tools you need to note for later reference,” explains Cameron Figgins, owner and president of Absolute Maintenance & Consulting. “It can save time and effort to have a visual record of what to look for, especially if an explanation is needed for a service technician." If you want to take him up on that advice, then you need a convenient and easy-to-reference spot to keep all those photos, like in this linen box. It has eight divider compartments to help you organize your photos by room or technician, as well as labels for even more organization.

Use a compact hair dryer to dry repair projects quickly

Conair Compact Hair Dryer

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According to Michael Allan, founder and interior designer at Mint Paint & Floor, your hair dryer can do double duty around your home. “With a hair dryer, patching a nail hole would only take minutes instead of hours. I also use it to speed things along when caulking,” he says. In case you don’t have one — or you want one dedicated to home projects, this one is perfect because it folds until it’s compact enough to fit inside a big tool box so you always have it when you need it. It has two speed settings, two heat settings, and a cool shot button.

In Season 1 of Dark Matter, college physics professor Jason Dessen encounters a surprising nemesis: himself. Apple’s sci-fi series sees Dessen kidnapped and sent to an alternate reality, one where he’s a famous but lonely research lab co-founder rather than a family man stuck in a dead-end job. Dark Matter Season 2 is now underway on Apple TV, and that multiverse is expanding in surprising ways. That said, Dark Matter’s take on the multiverse is limited to universes in which the traveler was born or could have been born. And the Dessen family and Leighton and others should be grateful for this limitation. String theory co-founder Leonard Susskind believes there may be 10^500 universes out there.

If you’re having trouble wrapping your head around that number, here’s a comparison: there are “only” 10^82ish atoms in the observable universe. So, what does multiverse theory mean for those of us here in this particular universe?

A Multitude of Multiverses

Growing a universe into a multiverse has become the go-to move for pop culture franchises looking to raise their stakes. Most obviously, Marvel’s Multiverse Saga began in 2021 and is slated to close next year. But there’s a multiverse of multiverses out there: the old DC Universe created the famous Crisis on Infinite Earths, and more recently, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won Oscars with multiverses.

It’s not a new concept — Star Trek introduced its sinister mirror universe in 1967, and parallel universes appeared in comic books and pulp sci-fi decades before that. But the multiverse is now so common that it’s a little exhausting.

Either way, how a fictional multiverse works is usually glossed over with a little talk of magic or technobabble. Dark Matter fares a bit better on this front, as the brain chemistry aspects of how superposition is managed are central to the storyline, and author Blake Crouch based much of the 2016 novel version of Dark Matter on Hugh Everett’s approach to multiverse theories.

But what do we really know in real life? While they at least know a few hard facts about their parallel universes, we can only speculate about the existence, workings, and implications of ours. Here’s what we think we maybe kinda know.

Quantumania

The multiverse, to define it beyond “different worlds with different Spider-Mans,” encompasses not just the 83 billion light-years and quadrillions of stars and planets that make up our universe, but the entirety of space, time, matter, and energy across all universes that may conceivably exist. While we’ve speculated about other universes since ancient times, contemporary arguments date back to the 1950s. And while there are many different theories, physicist Paul Halpern places most of them in two major categories that emerged from cosmology and quantum physics.

The quantum physics approach is called the many-worlds interpretation. The first cracks at MWI came from Hugh Everett and Erwin Schrödinger, but it was another physicist, David Deutsch, who really kicked things off in the 1970s. You can probably guess what Schrödinger’s presence in this paragraph means.

One of the core ideas of quantum physics is quantum superposition, where something minuscule like an electron can be in two different states at once. Schrödinger’s cat is the most famous example, but a clearer example is a spinning coin: until it lands and shows us heads or tails, it is both and neither at once. Again, Dark Matter is hyper-focused on superposition, with a fictional chemical that alters brain chemistry — in order for the mind to process superposition — is central to much of the show’s plotting.

So, if we replace coins with the fundamental building blocks of the universe, then an electron taking one quantum path might produce another universe where it took the other path. Seeing the coin land on heads doesn’t necessarily eliminate the existence of a universe where it landed on tails; it just makes the tails-verse impossible to observe from head-land.

Deutsch and other physicists have taken this argument to its metaphysical extremes, arguing that quantum computers could catch glimpses of these other universes, and even that, given an infinite number of universes, any fictional story that obeys the laws of physics could eventually become real. It’s around the time we start legitimizing Jane Austin fanfic that other physicists dismiss MWI as a ludicrous, incoherent fantasy, and since MWI generally posits that all of these worlds could never witness or interact with each other, it’s kind of a moot point anyway. But if you skip past that inconvenient detail, MWI lets shows like Dark Matter and Star Trek explain all those evil doppelgängers.

Cosmology, meanwhile, offers inflation theory, which comes from the work of Alexei Starobinsky and Alan Guth. In the 1970s and ‘80s, they argued that the universe inflated less than a second after the Big Bang, rapidly expanding to give us a universe that’s properly universe-sized. This helps explain, among other things, why the universe is pretty much the same temperature no matter where we look: it reached that uniform point before it inflated. The tiny bumps in temperature we can sometimes spot suggest the process wasn’t quite uniform; NASA has called these bumps “stretch marks.”

That’s not controversial, but according to the idea of eternal inflation, the process was much less uniform, unlike blowing up a balloon. Some distant regions of the universe may have continued to inflate, and these regions may have broken off into their own universes, like a bubble splitting in two. Those universes would also inflate, and that inflation would produce new universes, and so on forever. Physicist Paul Davies — a critic — said inflation “can best be understood by imagining that the observable universe is, relatively speaking, a tiny blob of space buried deep within a vast labyrinth of interconnected cosmic regions.” Within this labyrinth, additional Big Bangs are constantly firing off like interstellar popcorn, too far beyond the cosmological horizon to ever be observed.

If there are a quattuordecillion or two other universes out there, the differences between them wouldn’t be as simple as Futurama’s regular and cowboy universes. While MWI argues that all those split paths still obey our laws of physics, every universe in the inflationary multiverse could have radically different laws; our laws, Davies says, are more like “local bylaws.” So if you throw in some gibberish about a special portal or spaceship engine, your sci-fi story can have everything it needs to travel to another universe where everything is radically different.

Other realms of science, like string theory, offer their own confounding multiverse theories. But they all come with a huge caveat: there’s no hard evidence for the existence of other universes, nor is there any known way to observe or test for one.

Maybe, Maybe Not

The boundary between science and philosophy gets blurry here, as critics have argued that the multiverse, in any form, can be a way to cheat around the fine-tuning argument. Sentient life, given the staggering size of the universe, is rare and fragile. We’re the only example that we know of, and were the physical constants of the universe just a little different — if the force of gravity were weaker or stronger, if protons and electrons had different charges, or if carbon and oxygen weren’t as plentiful — then we wouldn’t be here. And yet here we are.

A common analogy is that life, as we understand it, requires a lot of different dials to be parked at just the right setting. That’s wildly improbable if left to random chance, and yet that’s exactly what happened. Religious philosophers and scientists have offered up theistic explanations for the state of our universe, while other theories range from “life isn’t as picky as we think” to “the universe is a simulation” and “the laws of the universe simply are what they are, and cannot be anything else.”

If there is a multiverse, our existence isn’t improbable at all. You would eventually win the lottery if you could buy infinite tickets, and multiverse theory argues that our universe won the lottery of physical constants. Our universe appears fine-tuned because we’re in a finely-tuned universe, while there is no life — or at least no carbon-based life — to observe the countless universes that aren’t friendly to it.

To critics like Davies and science writer Philip Ball, this is an unsatisfying explanation. Not every physicist and cosmologist agrees with the raw mechanics at play here — critics of MWI, for example, argue that the universes we don’t observe simply collapse out of existence. But the larger and more ironic issue is that multiverse theory has to be taken on faith. We can’t observe any evidence of other universes, and we’ll almost certainly never be able to.

That the solution to the riddle of existence might be “there are actually a gajillion wacky universes” isn’t necessarily compelling on a scientific or even emotional level; nature is no longer elegant, but a sprawling series of whimsies that tell Occam’s razor to get bent. Davies even cheekily posits a scenario where an infinite number of universes produces countless civilizations capable of simulating consciousness within computers, leading to simulated universes within real universes, some of which also produce simulated universes, and so on forever until you’re left with something like No Man’s Sky on methamphetamines.

More realistically, science writer and self-proclaimed multiverse agnostic John Horgan argues that, like God, science will never be able to definitely prove or disprove the existence of the multiverse, because the idea’s very nature as something outside of everything we can grasp puts it beyond the quantifiable realm of science. And no matter how many universes are out there, you’re still stuck with the question of why any of them are there, and we still have to wonder why we exist in this one. But Horgan does concede that the multiverse can be an interesting way of looking at our already tiny place in the cosmos, at least in the right hands.

So while explaining the nature of existence is slightly beyond our mandate as a pop culture publication, maybe these fundamental riddles explain why the fictional multiverse has become so popular. Okay, sure, it’s mostly money and Michael Keaton cameos. But in the time since science fiction emerged as a genre, we’ve taken flight and landed on the moon, built hulking mainframe computers and shrunk them down to pocket-sized marvels, and observed the tiniest particles and the furthest reaches of the one universe we’re certain about. Maybe the one thing we have left to explore is ourselves, and the multiverse gives us infinite ways to do so. Critics of the multiverse argue that scientists could use a little more philosophy in their lives, and that, ironically, is where multiverse fiction comes in.

Dark Matter streams on Apple TV.

When filmmaker Jeff Lieberman was around eight years old, his older brother told him a curious scientific fact. The two used to go fishing together, and his sibling shared a method for finding worms. “He had read that you could get the worms out of the ground by taking a train transformer, from a toy train set, and sticking the poles in the mud,” Lieberman told The Flashback Files. “It has to be muddy and you have to do this at night. Then when you turn on the electricity the worms will be shocked and they’ll come out of the ground.”

Not only did the brothers apparently perform the experiment successfully in their backyard, but the younger Lieberman also learned that if one turned on lights to see where the worms were, the creatures would hurriedly slide back underground. Some 12 years later, Lieberman recalled the incident and put pen to paper, writing the first two pages of a script that would eventually become his cult classic 1976 movie Squirm.

Filmed and set in rural Georgia, Squirm begins with a heavy storm downing a power line, sending it into the muddy ground and electrifying the vast numbers of worms living there. Meanwhile, a local woman named Geri (Patricia Pearcy) picks up her boyfriend Mick (Don Scardino) at the bus station, where he’s just arrived from New York City, using a truck borrowed from worm farmer (yes, they exist) Roger Grimes (R.A. Dow). After 100,000 worms in the back of the truck mysteriously disappear and townspeople begin turning up as half-devoured skeletons, it becomes clear the town is under siege by a literal flood of flesh-eating critters.

Squirm squished onto screens smack-dab in the middle of a run of “eco-horror” movies — films where nature, in the form of animals, reptiles, insects, or birds, ran amok and sought murderous revenge against humanity. The subgenre’s most famous entries are Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963) and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), and it really took off in the ‘70s with films of varying quality like Frogs (1972), Night of the Lepus (1972), Phase IV (1974), Grizzly (1976), Day of the Animals (1977), The Long Weekend (1978), Prophecy (1979), and many more, of which Squirm remains a standout some 50 years after its release.

The “revenge of nature” theme is very much prevalent in Squirm, but Jeff Lieberman, on the Blu-ray commentary track, also likens his movie to a “Nancy Drew mystery,” as Geri and Mick are drawn into solving the puzzle of why the townspeople are dying and why worms are appearing everywhere. There’s also an early “red state vs. blue state” undercurrent, as the local sheriff and some of the townspeople of Fly Creek eye the affable Mick with suspicion for no particular reason (perhaps irrationally fearing he somehow brought the trouble, just like Tippi Hedren in The Birds).

The small-town melodrama and moments of comic relief give the film some character, even if the first hour is fairly slow. But there’s still a grisly shock or two along the way, and the movie really lives up to its title in the third act, when Lieberman unleashes his worms (a combination of rubber props and some three million of the real thing, many of which were ironically prodded to perform by electric wires) for a gruesome final battle in which several Fly Creek residents are consumed.

The gory makeup effects, including worms crawling under people’s skin and inside their guts, were handled by the legendary Rick Baker, and there’s no question that they make the film queasy for anyone who finds worms unsettling to begin with. The sight of worms crawling down walls with a trail of slime behind them, oozing out of a showerhead, and undulating over half-eaten rib cages is far more terrifying than watching their stadium-sized cousins churn through the deserts of Arrakis.

Even with its impressive effects, Squirm is still very much low-budget drive-in fodder, although Lieberman’s use of non-professional locals in small supporting roles gives the film a certain amount of verisimilitude (along with a few shaky line readings). As for his leads, Lieberman admits that he had Martin Sheen, Kim Basinger, and Sylvester Stallone — the latter two relatively obscure at the time — lined up to star at one point, but let them get away for various reasons. Nevertheless, Scardino and Pearcy have a nice, wholesome chemistry, while Jean Sullivan stands out as Geri’s mom, who’s right out of Southern Gothic central casting.

Jeff Lieberman hasn’t been all that prolific as a filmmaker since Squirm, although his resume does include two more cult favorites: the psychedelic sci-fi head trip Blue Sunshine (1977) and the intense backwoods slasher movie Just Before Dawn (1981). And it all started with a muddy backyard, a toy train transformer, and a whole lot of squirming, icky worms.

Squirm is available on Prime Video.

Whenever people discuss superheroes who have it rough, there are a couple of names that usually stick out. Spider-Man’s day-to-day life is notoriously bad, so the term “Parker luck” was coined because of it. Batman has had his back broken, several of his sidekicks killed, and consistently fights monstrosities and aliens all while just being a normal human being.

But it’s safe to say that few comic book characters have trials and tribulations comparable to those of Matt Murdock, aka Hell’s Kitchen’s own Daredevil. Those who love him can’t quite seem to stay alive, those who hate him can’t quite seem to stay in jail, and the Man Without Fear himself can’t quite seem to keep a handle on his own secret identity (a problem that has just recently followed him to the MCU in Daredevil: Born Again). But 40 years ago, one of the most celebrated comic book writers of all-time took it upon himself to drag Matt Murdock through hell and back, and in the process wrote not just one of the best Daredevil stories ever but one of the best comic arcs of all-time: the original 1986 Born Again.

When Stan Lee and Bill Everett first created Daredevil all the way back in 1964, they were responsible for many of the character’s everlasting traits: he’s a blind lawyer named Matt Murdock, his father was a murdered boxer named Battlin’ Jack, and he works alongside Foggy Nelson and secretary Karen Page at a legal firm named Nelson and Murdock. But the original depiction of the character was a quippy, lighthearted Spider-Man-adjacent swashbuckler – it wasn’t until the late 70s and early 80s, when the title was in danger of cancellation because of declining sales, that Frank Miller took over as writer and forever changed the perception of the book. Instead of fighting vampires or villains pulled from science fiction B-movies like Stilt-Man, Miller emphasized the psychological turmoil of a Catholic vigilante and fleshed out the contours of Hell’s Kitchen’s criminal underworld (converting The Kingpin from a Spider-Man villain into a Daredevil villain), ultimately giving the book a hard-boiled, seedy film noir atmosphere that was instantly popular and has influenced other Daredevil writers to this day.

After briefly stepping away from the title, Frank Miller returned with what is maybe his greatest narrative contribution to the Daredevil mythos: 1986’s Born Again storyline, which played out from February to August in the pages of Daredevil #227-233. A culmination of everything he'd built up over his original five years writing the character, Born Again opens with the reveal that Karen Page, who had been absent from Daredevil comics since 1969 (she left Nelson and Murdock to become an actor after discovering Matt’s secret), has become an adult film actor and heroin addict. In the throes of her addiction, Karen sells Matt’s secret identity for a fix, and that information ends up in the hands of The Kingpin, who decides that if he can’t defeat Daredevil the vigilante, he’ll defeat Matt Murdock the civilian by systematically destroying his personal life.

Born Again was arguably the storyline that set the precedent for Matt Murdock’s continued suffering in comics, and at least half the arc is dedicated to watching the slow unfolding of Wilson Fisk’s plan – his bank assets are frozen by the IRS, his apartment is foreclosed by the bank, he’s barred from practicing law (courtesy of a false testimony from a police officer paid off by Fisk to testify he saw Matt bribing a witness), and in the finale of the arc’s first issue, his apartment is firebombed in an assassination attempt by his archnemesis. There’s always been an ebb and flow between Daredevil and The Kingpin, with the vigilante serving as a stubborn reminder that Fisk can’t escape his criminal illegitimacy, but Born Again makes Fisk imposing and insurmountable, a nightmarish combination of his endless criminal resources and his ability to weaponize America’s flawed systems of law and order.

Born Again sees Matt spend most of his time outside of the costume, and it’s because the book is dedicated to stripping the character of every comfort he could possibly have and dragging him to his lowest point to see what makes him tick, to expose what makes Matt Murdock so virtuous. Left homeless and wracked with paranoia, Matt resolves to murder his longtime enemy at last, a decision that leaves him worse off as The Kingpin savagely beats him, drenches him in whiskey, and pushes him in a cab into the East River. Luckily Matt escapes, but collapses on the verge of death...where he’s nursed back to health by Sister Maggie Murdock, his long-lost mother.

One of the best parts of the arc is David Mazzucchelli’s art — it’s stark and bleakly realistic, but it has the pacing and focus of an intimate character drama, with larger-than-life characters dominating each panel and a deeply cinematic sense of motion carrying through the compositions. The art is also where the religious iconography of Born Again shines the hardest: each issue opens on Matt sleeping and eventually escalates until they recreate the crucifixion pose and the Pietà, drawing readers’ attention to the fact that Daredevil functions as something of a Messianic figure, absorbing the sins of Hell’s Kitchen to redeem them through his own suffering and the pain inflicted upon him

Eventually, Matt and Karen reconnect (the latter having made her way from Central America to rectify her drug-addled mistake), and for a while it seems as if Matt might be content leaving the Daredevil persona behind. But as he recuperates, The Kingpin loses himself in his quest for revenge, eventually hiring an unhinged super-soldier named Nuke (a character who showed up in Jessica Jones) to draw Murdock out of hiding. Their battle not only draws in the attention of The Avengers (who eventually catch on to Wilson Fisk’s plans), but it draws Daredevil back into action, reaffirmed and rebuilt as Hell’s Kitchen’s defender through his experience of penance and redemption.

Born Again was used as the basis for both the third season of the original Netflix show and bits and pieces of the revival Daredevil: Born Again, and it’s easy to see why.

Frank Miller didn’t just write arguably the greatest Daredevil story ever told, but he also changed the way that superhero stories deal with human drama. Matt Murdock is a running joke for comic book fans because he’s a character who can’t escape his own suffering, but over four decades ago, Frank Miller showed us that the reason why Daredevil can handle it is that the hero is the man underneath the costume, not the bright red costum he’s known for.

Daredevi: Born Again streams on Disney+.

When it comes to sprucing up your space, you don’t need to drop a ton of cash to make it look like a million bucks. This list rounds up the most baller finds under $30 that bring serious style and function to your home without blowing your budget. From luxe-looking decor and high-end kitchen gear to small upgrades that just feel expensive, these picks prove that “budget” doesn’t have to mean “basic.” Each one is ready to make your space cooler, cozier, and way more you—all for less than the price of dinner out.

The coolest essential oil diffuser with a faux flame

YALEDI Essential Oil Volcano Diffuser

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This essential oil diffuser is the most baller thing ever; when on, the light looks like a realistic flame erupting from a volcano-inspired base. The diffuser spreads fine mist through the air to create a good level of humidity (it can run for up to 12 hours straight), and it can be set to various modes, including a color-changing option for a show.

A fan & light that fits into your light socket

aupuslite E26 Socket Fan Light with Remote

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No overhead fan? No problem. This fan and light combo easily screws into the light socket in your ceiling, and comes with a remote so you can turn on the fan and adjust the brightness and color temperature from wherever you are.

A solar-powered address sign that adds so much curb appeal

Eyrosa Solar Address Sign

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This isn’t your mother’s address sign — it has a modern, clean appearance with a stark white and black contrast. It looks great and simple during the day, but at night is when this sign really glows. Literally. It’s solar-powered and illuminates all night, so guests can easily find your house.

An LED light projector that creates relaxing wave patterns

RICHMYC Ocean Wave Projector Light

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Prepare the bedroom for a tranquil sleep using this LED light projector that casts relaxing moving shapes onto the ceiling and walls. The patterns resemble gentle ocean waves — perfect for helping you gently drift off. Use the included remote to easily control the projector’s light colors, brightness level, and gradient speed.

A slim outlet concealer that makes your walls look neat & uncluttered

Sleek Socket Ultra-Thin Outlet Concealer with Power Strip

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Instead of bulky plugs creating an eyesore on the wall, create a streamlined look using this ingenious outlet concealer with over 62,000 ratings and 4.7 stars. It features a slim design for a flush look and features a 3-foot extension cord connected to a three-outlet power strip. Use the included cord concealer kit to make your walls look even more tidy.

A modern, color-changing stick lamp with adjustable height

HANDSONIC RGBIC Floor Lamp

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This lamp comes with four detachable pieces, so you can style its sleek, slim body on a tabletop or on the floor since it it extends up to 55 inches. Beyond being versatile in its size, this lamp has a light strip that can be changed between 16 million colors and over 300 lighting effects via an app, and it can even be paired with music for the ultimate party vibe.

An LED night-light that adjusts its intensity automatically

Briignite Red LED Night Light (4-Pack)

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This LED night-light has over 8,000 ratings and 4.7 stars thanks to its ability to adjust the brightness based on the ambient light automatically. It’s offered in nine colors such as red, blue, and even a color-changing option. Plug it into any free outlet and it will turn itself on at dusk and off at dawn using the built-in light sensor.

Warm white deck lights that are easy to install

SOLPEX Solar Deck Lights (16-Pack)

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These deck lights are easy to install — just set one of the 16 on an edge and use a few screws to secure them. From there, you don’t have to worry about them — they’ll charge in the sun all day and emit a warm, cozy white glow all night long, regardless of the weather.

A sleek diatomite stone faucet mat that dries quickly

AKUVU Faucet Mat

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This faucet mat adds a chic touch to your sink area, but it’s quite practical, too. It’s made of diatomite stone, which is highly absorbent and quick-drying — it’ll be bone dry again in just one minute. That makes it the ideal landing spot for sponges, soap, and other moist accessories.

A collection of glow-in-the-dark rocks to jazz up your fish tank or walkway

Graham Products Glow in The Dark Rocks

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These glow-in-the-dark rocks have many entertaining uses from bringing a party vibe to your fish tank to giving your potted plants a new dimension come evening. They come in a collection of 450 small pieces and are made of nontoxic plastic resin that charges in the sun or under a bright light. Choose from six glowing colors such as blue, green, or multicolor.

A rainfall showerhead with a high-pressure flow

GURIN High Pressure Rain Shower Head

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Instantly elevate your daily bathing experience with this rainfall showerhead that also delivers on high pressure thanks to a built-in water flow restrictor. Available in six finishes such as matte black and brushed nickel, the adjustable showerhead also features a built-in filter for hard water and anti-clogging silicone jets.

A dryer vent cleaner that’s powered by your vacuum

Holikme Dryer Vent Cleaner Kit

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Your dryer won’t work as well if it’s gunked up with tons of built-up lint — that’s where this dryer vent cleaner kit comes in. It’s powered by your vacuum and reaches deep into the machine to suck out the link that’s lowering efficiency and increasing the risk of a fire.

Low-cost kitchen mats with cushioned support

ROTTOGOON Anti Fatigue Cushioned Floor Mats (2 Pieces)

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Washing dishes or meal prepping just got comfier: These floral kitchen mats are cushioned to support your body as you work. The surface is waterproof for quick cleaning, and the nonslip backing keeps the mats in place. Two mats come with, making each one just $10.

Kooky tentacle decals that add some fun to your bathroom

wongdong Octopus Tentacles Toilet Lid Decal

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Why settle for a boring bathroom when these tentacle decals can amp up the personality in your space with minimal effort? Stick them on the toilet tank or around the base to make it look like a sea creature is emerging from the depths. Each set comes with six, water-resistant stickers in different designs.

Ceramic frog figurines that cover up rusty toilet bolts

PEUTIER Ceramic Toilet Bolt Covers (2-Pack)

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Cover up those unsightly, rusty toilet bolts and add a little charm at the same time with these bolt covers. Made from ceramic and shaped like serene, meditating frogs, these covers slip right in place over bolts, replacing boring plastic caps in an instant.

A washer & dryer cover that shields machines from dust & spills

JAJNKHLN Washer & Dryer Protector

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fThis clever washer and dryer protector pulls double duty, both absorbing spills and preventing dust buildup. With a stylish tile pattern, it stays firmly in place thanks to the nonslip backing. It makes for a fun pop of color as well as a soft, cushy spot to fold laundry or store extra supplies.

Sliding locks that keep windows open or closed

ZRFCXE Window Locks (4-Pack)

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Whether you want to keep your windows slightly cracked or fully closed, these window locks ensure they stay in that position without budging. They slide over the tracks and affix in place with two screws for a secure hold. Better yet, they work with both vertical and horizontal windows.

Wireless, rechargeable stair lights with motion sensors

WILLED Motion Sensor Stair Lights (4-Pack)

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This four-pack of bar lights are wireless, so you can place them along your halls or stairs for a soft white glow. They feature a convenient magnetic mount so you can remove them quickly for easy charging. Better yet, these lights automatically turn on when you step within 10 feet.

Remote control light sockets that don’t require any wiring

Generic Remote Control Light Sockets (3-Pack)

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Mount these remote control light sockets and say goodbye to annoying pull chains. The remote allows you to turn the bulb on and off from up to 50 feet away and set automatic timers ranging from 15 to 60 minutes. The receiver attaches to various bulbs including LEDs and incandescents and there’s no wiring required. You get three light sockets in a set.

A retractable car charger that provides versatile power options

LISEN Retractable Car Charger

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This retractable car charger was designed with versatility in mind. It plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter and provides you with a USB-C and USB-A port as well as two built-in charging cables (Lightning and USB-C). Plus, the charging block can rotate 180 degrees with its retractable cord able to extend up to 31.5 inches.

Budget-friendly solar pathway lights that are so cool

DenicMic Solar Pathway Lights (10-Pack)

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Ordinary pathway lights don’t stand a chance against this budget-friendly 10-pack of solar lights. Thanks to the subtle diamond texture, they cast a cool geometric pattern on the ground at night. They’re waterproof, very bright, and look like normal lights during the day. They’re perfect for placing along a sidewalk, driveway, or garden bed.

A set of cooling pillowcases perfect for hot sleepers

Elegear Cooling Pillowcase (2-Pack)

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These cooling pillowcases are made with Japanese fibers that absorb your body’s heat, keeping you feeling delightfully temperate all night long. The material is tightly woven and supremely soft, providing a frictionless resting place for hair and skin. Available in 11 shades, the pillow’s underside is additionally constructed of breathable cotton.

A memory foam bath mat with a cobblestone pattern

YIHOUSE Memory Foam Bath Mat

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Bring the charming look of a historical path into your home with this cobblestone bath rug. It’s made of soft and absorbent memory foam and features a nonslip backing to stay safely in place. Choose from seven available sizes and 10 colors such as dark gray (for an authentic cobblestone look), teal, or khaki.

A 2-pack of motion sensor night lights that are battery-powered

WhitePoplar Rechargeable Motion-Sensor Sconces (2-Pack)

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These decorative motion-sensor night lights are a must if you’re looking for both function and decor. Arriving in a pack of two, they’re battery-powered, so they work well in areas without wiring and turn on automatically after sensing something or someone within nine to 16 feet. After 20 seconds of stillness, they’ll shut off automatically. Plus, installation couldn’t be easier.

An electric salt & pepper grinder set you can use one-handed

CIRCLE JOY Gravity Electric Salt and Pepper Grinder Set

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Simply turn each of these electric salt and pepper grinders upside down to start the grind and then right side up to stop, delivering just the amount of seasoning you want. Set the grind size from fine to medium to coarse depending on your preference with batteries providing the necessary power. It’s easy to fill with the clear portion of the grinder allowing you to see how much salt or pepper you have left.

A cooling blanket in lots of sizes & colors

Guohaoi Cooling Blanket

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If you tend to sleep hot but enjoy snuggling up with blankets, this cooling blanket is the one for you. It’s crafted from lightweight, moisture-wicking material to circulate air and bring your temperature down as you snooze. It’s available in four sizes and plenty of bright and neutral colors, too.

Heavy-duty suction hooks that can hold up to 11 pounds each

TAILI Stylish Heavy Duty Suction Hooks (2-Pack)

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These impressive suction cup hooks can hold up to 11 pounds each and require no drilling or adhesive to remain secure. They simply use powerful octopus-like suction to stick to any smooth surface with only a firm push necessary to create the bond. The hooks can hold two razors at a time and are also great for storing loofahs, dry brushes, or towels.

An LED strip light that transforms your TV viewing experience

GIPOYENT TV LED Lights

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Turn your nightly TV watching into a full-on party with this LED strip light. It comes in a 13.1-foot length and uses peel-off self-adhesive to stick to the back of your television, plugging into the USB port for power. Use the included remote or app to adjust colors and brightness levels, and even trigger a music mode which will allow the light to automatically adjust to ambient sound.

A vegetable chopper that comes with 4 stainless steel blades

Fullstar 4-in-1 Vegetable Chopper

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Make meal prep a breeze with this vegetable chopper that comes with four different blades for different cuts. Made of stainless steel, the blades can be swapped out within the lid to easily create large and small diced, spiraled, or ribboned vegetables. There’s even an integrated catch container to store your prepped items.

An outlet extender with a convenient shelf

AICODE Socket Outlet Shelf

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With six AC outlets and three USB-A fast charging ports, this outlet extender is a great alternative to a power strip. It will take up more room on the outlet, but it also has a tiny shelf attached to it that makes a convenient spot for placing devices you may be charging. It even has a little night-light in the middle that can glow in different colors, making this the outlet extender that does it all.

Glowing remote control covers to keep them visible

OneBom Glow In The Dark Remote Cover (2-Pack)

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These silicone remote control covers are a great option if you find yourself constantly losing your remotes. They fit over them nicely, and the bright neon color and glow in the dark feature makes them easy to see whether they’ve fallen between couch cushions or underneath furniture.

Some ball-shaped towels that are 30% more absorbent

Sophie & Panda Fuzzy Ball Towel (2-Pack)

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These baller ball-shaped towels are made of highly absorbent microfiber (30% more so than a regular towel) and look more like decor than a functional item. The pair comes with adhesive hooks for hanging. Choose from three color combinations in the listing.

Cool, color-changing night-lights

GE Color Changing Night Lights (2 Pack)

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Making your home cooler is easy with this pair of color-changing night-lights. They can be set to eight different colors or a mode that rotates between all of them. They turn on at dusk and off again on their own when the sun comes up.

A loofah-like shower mat that comes in great patterns

ZOESOE Square Shower Mat

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Upgrade your bathroom with this surprisingly stylish square shower mat. It has a loofah-like texture to maximize drainage and feel good on your feet. It’s available in a ton of patterns in the listing, as well as rectangular options.

A glass propagation vase that doubles as decor

Tigvio Plant Propagation Station

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This stylish propagation stand features five, elegant glass vases that each sit inside pine wood frame. It’s perfect for rooting new plant cuttings or just displaying buds near a sunny window. Plus, the design is practical. “Love that I can remove each individual piece in order to clean it,” one reviewer noted.

Remote control holders with cables to prevent loss

EKZ Retractable Remote Control Cable (2-Pack)

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If you’re constantly losing your remote controls, these wall-mounted holders will solve that problem. One side sticks to your wall or table, and the other side sticks to the hard back of your remote. Unlike other remote holders that have magnetic pieces, these actually have a 6.5-foot cable that absolutely ensure that your device won’t go between the cushions and into the void.

An elegant incense holder that doubles as decor

Ceremony Incense Holder

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This beautiful incense holder features a sophisticated design combining wood and glass and adds a touch of functional decor to your space. The square wooden base catches all falling ash while a gold-finished metal clip holds your incense stick securely. A glass holder allows you to see the stick as it burns, funneling the fragrance up and out into the room. Plus, it comes with 20 incense sticks and an ash brush for quick cleaning.

A large armrest tray that keeps everything in place

Smatdecis Couch Arm Tray Table

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Whether you’re binge watching your favorite show, reading a book, or working from home, this arm tray table makes it easy to get more comfortable on the couch. Stainless steel hinges give it a really good grip on the arm of your couch, so you shouldn’t have to worry about it tilting or falling, and a raised lip around the edges prevent items from just sliding off. It also has a little phone mount in the corner, as well as plenty of space for a dish, cup, and more.

A pack of light-blocking stickers that promote a good night’s sleep

FLANCCI LED Light Blocking Stickers (2 Sheets)

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Don’t let that tiny power light or digital clock on your air conditioner or modem keep you up all night with its subtle yet disruptive glow. Turn to these light-blocking stickers that will dim anywhere from 80 to 100% of that ambient glow, letting you sleep in peace. They come in two adhesive sheets, one that can be custom cut and one that features pre-cut shapes, with each piece able to be layered for a more opaque result.

A completely waterproof lamp for your shower

Funlenry Color Changing Waterproof Shower Lamp

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This nice lamp is actually 100% waterproof, so you can stick it in your shower or use it by your bathtub without worry of steam or splashes ruining it. It functions as a regular lamp or can be set to a projection mode to up the relaxation.

An easy-to-move slider to access heavy appliances

ANBOXIT Bamboo Appliance Slider

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Put a heavy appliance — like your stand mixer, espresso machine, air fryer, etc. — on this appliance slider. This way, you can slide it forward for easy access when needed, but then can push it back into your storage spot with ease after the fact. It’s made from three layers of bamboo with smooth-gliding wheels.

A smart door handle you can open via app, fingerprints, or password

IKOED Fingerprint Door Lock with Smart App

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Install this door handle on your front door and you never have to worry about carrying keys again. The smart handle can be unlocked using an app on your phone, with your fingerprint, or a number password. It looks sleek with its black finish.

A privacy film with a stained glass pattern

Bectosy Stained Glass Window Privacy Film

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If you’ve ever wanted a stained glass effect and more privacy from your neighbors, you’re in luck. This privacy film mounts to your windows easily using only water, prevents people from seeing inside, and costs less than $10 for an authentic stained glass look. Made of vinyl, the film allows just enough light to filter through while maintaining privacy.

Whimiscal bird-shaped handles to replace your boring pulls

DAPANIY Bird Cabinet Handles (4-Pack)

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Whether you’re dressing up builder-grade cabinets or refinishing an antique set of drawers, these bird-shaped cabinet handles will help you do it. Made from zinc, they feature detailed etching, complete with beaks and feathered tails. And since they come four to a pack, you can revamp larger pieces as well as smaller ones.

Best-selling crystal suncatchers that reflect rainbows on your walls

ilclviz Colorful Crystals Suncatcher (6 Pieces)

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Equally stunning indoors and outdoors, these crystal suncatchers have stunning rainbow reflections and moon and star accents for a celestial vibe. They’re on individual golden chains, so there are plenty of ways to style them, whether you want them in the window, on trees, or over your bed. If gold doesn’t work with your decor, they’re also available in silver.

A colorful light for your toilet seat

ToiLight Toilet Night Light

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Consider this toilet light the most convenient night light for middle of the night bathroom visits. It’s easy to clip onto the side of your toilet and works on a motion sensor, so it will turn on automatically when it senses motion and off again after a bit of no motion. It delivers a warm glow in a variety of different color modes, and because it’s only coming from the toilet seat, it won’t feel jarring or too bright when you’re half asleep. Also? It looks very cool.

A handy laser measure with multiple modes

DTAPE Laser Measure

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This laser measure meter makes it easy to get measurements just about anywhere. It offers three different measurement modes — by distance, volume, and pythagoras — and features a large, backlit LED screen that makes it a breeze to see the nmbers. The lightweight feel and handheld sie makes it portable and it comes with a carry case. One shopper calls it “nothing short of a game changer,” saying it has “streamlined” the process of measuring spaces and offers “remarkable” accuracy.

A multicolored ceiling light with a remote control

BIGLIGHT Wireless Ceiling Light Battery Operated

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Lighting is everything, and this wireless ceiling light allows you to switch things up without a ton of effort. Because it’s battery-powered and wireless, installation is a breeze. It offers several different lighting modes and can glow in a rainbow of different hues, and it comes with a convenient remote control to switch up the colors and brightness or add a timer.

A washable bath mat with plush, absorbent chenille

Gorilla Grip Bath Rug

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Not your basic bath mat, this rug features tons of absorbent chenille microfiber fingers that feel great to stand on and reach between toes to get you dry fast. It’s machine washable and available in tons of colors and sizes in the listing to math your bathroom’s decor.

A vanity makeup light that can mount easily around a mirror

LPHUMEX LED Vanity Mirror Lights

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Mount this vanity makeup light to provide yourself with a soft, diffused glow, assisting you with your daily grooming process. The strip is extremely flexible and wraps around any kind of object, including a mirror, but can also be used around the house to lend gentle accent lighting. It features 10 feet of LEDs, and they can be dimmed with a simple touch.

Little fixes for chargers that fall out of the outlet

Snug Plug Loose Outlet Fix (10-Pack)

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It’s so frustrating when your charger block or plug just falls out of the outlet — but there’s an easy fix. This 10-pack of snug plugs install instantly for a tighter fit, ensuring your devices are charging and powered when you expect them to be.

A space-saving hat rack that can hold 26 caps at once

HapiRm Over Door Hat Rack - 3 Tier Wall Mounted Hat Organizer with 16 Hooks and 10 Movable Clips, Baseball Cap Organizer Storage Holds up to 26 Caps for Door, Bedroom, Closet USPTO Patent Pending

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Organize your cap collection in a snap with this over-door hat rack. Simply hook it in place and load up the 16 hooks for easily accessible accessories you can grab quickly. On the bottom, you’ll find 10 clip hooks, perfect for storing items like beanies without a loop in back.

Convenient hooks that are perfect for a hat collection

Modern JP Adhesive Hat Hooks (16-Pack)

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A large collection of hats can be difficult to store properly, but these adhesive hat hooks make it a little easier. A strong adhesive backing makes for simple installation (just stick them on the wall) and they won’t take up too much space. The raised edge along the clip helps keep the hat in place when it’s hanging, but these can also be used to store handbags, headbands, belts, or even sweatshirts.

A wall-mounted hat rack to free up storage space

Ozueccr Wall-Mounted Vertical Hat Holder (2-Pack)

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This vertical hat holder is easy to drill into your wall, and will free up so much space in your closet or bedroom. Each of the two holders can store up to 10 hats, so in theory your entire collection could hang from this compact organizer.

Electric candles that work with a remote control

NURADA Flickering Flameless Candle (3-Pack)

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These flameless candles have the look of a real candle but are much safer — there’s no open flame or smoke, since these are battery powered. The flame still has a flickering look that makes them surprisingly realistic, and little fairy lights are strung around them to make them feel extra magical. Even better? These come with a remote control that allows you to set a timer, dim them, or power them on and off all at once.

A grow light that’s easy to adjust

SANSI Grow Lights for Indoor Plants

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Even the most low-maintenance indoor plants require a little bit of effort and time in the sun. But if you have yours in a spot where they get little light (or you have plants that require a lot of light), these grow lights are an excellent option. A clip on the bottom allows you to move them around to different planters, while the natural light offers exactly what the plant needs without feeling too bright and jarring. They are rechargeable and have a timer function so they don’t even require that much thought.

A time-saving meat shredder tool

SURETIVIAN Chicken Shredder Tool

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Shredding meat with forks or your hands is time consuming — and painful when the meat is still hot. This shredder tool does the job in just seconds. It has a nonslip backing, ergonomic handles, and is dishwasher safe for faster cleanup.

An absorbent coffee station mat that never looks wet or dirty

AMOAMI Absorbent Coffee Mat

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You coffee station doesn’t have to look messy — just pop this rubber mat underneath it. The secret is in the diatomite surface, which absorbs drips in just seconds so it never looks stained or dirty. It comes in lots of colors, patterns, and sizes in the listing.

Romantic looking satin sheets that are so soft & smooth

CozyLux Satin Sheet Set (4 Pieces)

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Give your bedroom a romantasy-worthy level of luxury for just about $20 with this satin sheet set. It comes with a fitted sheet, flat sheet, and two pillowcases, and each piece is super soft, smooth, and cool for comfortable sleeping. And, as a bonus, the material is gentler on your skin and hair. These sheets come in over 20 colors and sizes ranging from twin to California king.

Brush pens that keep house paint handy & fresh for years

Slobproof Refillable Paint Pens (5-Pack)

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You can easily touch up any scuffs or scratches that show up on your walls without dragging out the entire can of paint (and locating a brush) with this five-pack of fillable brush pens. They come with syringes for easy filling and keep house paint fresh for years once filled.

A wireless lamp that sticks into any bottle you have

Hoide Wireless Bottle Lamp

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How fun is this wireless lamp? It easily powers via USB and fits like a cork into the top of your wine bottles, whiskey bottles, or sparking water bottles. You can even switch between multiple color temperatures and brightness settings at the touch of a button.

Door draft stoppers that install in seconds

GroTheory Under Door Draft Stopper & Noise Reducer (2-Pack)

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These easily installed adhesive door draft stoppers can be trimmed for a perfect fit. Once in place, they’ll keep out drafts, dust, noise, and pests. They’re 39 inches wide and come in a pair, and a few colors are available to choose from in the listing.

A galaxy projector for a super cool light show

HERHOTER Galaxy Projector

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Why settle for standard lights in your house, when you could invest in this galaxy projector? This multicolored light projects the lights of the galaxy onto your ceiling, and comes with a bunch of light modes and color options so you can create a sky that matches your vibe. The light angles so you can direct it to a wall, as well, and it has a built-in timer so you can decide when it goes off for the night.

Soup bowls with handles & spoons

Wareland Soup Bowls with Handles & Spoons (Set of 2)

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Once you switch to drinking soup out of a mug with a handle, you’ll never want to go back. These microwave-safe soup bowls have easy-to-grip handles, come with their own spoons, and even have transparent lids, so you can put the soup back in the fridge when you’re done. This is a set of two.

A handy glass whiteboard with fun backlighting

TSJ OFFICE Glass Desktop Whiteboard

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Have a new and useful place to jot down notes and to-do lists at your desk with this whiteboard. Made of smooth glass, this angled whiteboard is easy to write on. Unlike similar products, this desktop accessory has colorful USB-powered backlighting, available in four hues, to add some pizzazz to your work setup.

A beeswax vertical candle that self-extinguishes

Candle by the Hour 80-Hour Vertical Candle

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Light this unique vertical candle, and it’ll burn for up to 80 hours straight. Once the flame reaches the clip, it’ll extinguish itself, so you don’t have to remember to do this (which is a nice safety perk). It’s made from 100% beeswax with a clean-burning cotton wick.

A touch-controlled lamp with a modern spiral design

Yarra-Decor Touch-Control Spiral Bedside Lamp

This lamp looks seriously museum-worthy with its modern spiral shape — but it’s a total bargain on Amazon. Beyond looking so cool, this lamp is highly functional; it’s easy to operate with a single touch, and it can alternate between three color temperatures for customized lighting.

Soft, glowy stair lights that flip on with motion

WILLED Stair Lights (4-Pack)

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Dark stairs or hallway? Use these night-lights to illuminate the area for safety and ambiance, thanks to their soft, gentle glow. There are two lighting modes — including always-on or a motion-sensor option — and the lights are rechargeable to avoid costly single-use batteries.

Playful frog figurines to support climbing plant’s growth

TNDCKP Frog Plant Stand Holder (5-Pack)

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Help your climbing plants flourish by attaching the branches to these frog figurines for support. Each set comes with five amphibious friends with flexible arms and legs, allowing you to bend them into a custom shape that props up each and every fine. And thanks to the vibrant color, they’ll blend in with the greenery.

Hard, clear pouches for versatile storage

Ohana Home Clear Hard Shell Pouches (2-Pack)

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For versatile storage, turn to these clear pouches. They boast a hard exterior to protect whatever is inside — like craft supplies, game pieces, makeup, snacks, and more — and the zippered closure will stand up to repeated use. The pouches are stackable.

An LED ceiling light with 3 color temperature options

Matane Flush Mount Ceiling Light

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Choosing the right color temperature for your lighting is crucial for a space’s overall vibe. Luckily, this LED ceiling light can be set to three different temperatures (ranging from cool white to warm white), so it’ll be perfect. Various sizes are available in the listing based on what makes sense for the room.

A felt bulletin board with a modular, tile design for customization

Lifewit Felt Bulletin Board

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Organize your to-do lists and reminders with this minimalist felt bulletin board. It comes as six separate tiles, so you can customize the dimensions to your needs. And since it features an adhesive backing, you can hang it without drilling any holes in your walls.

A novelty mouse decal bound to make you smile

My Wonderful Walls Mouse Hole Decal

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File this kooky mouse decal under, “why not”? Designed to look like a mouse who has made himself right at at home in a hole in your wall, it’s made from sturdy, water-resistant vinyl. All but guaranteed to get a chuckle out of your guests, it’s also impressed reviewers — over 1,000 of whom have weighed in to give it a 4.7-star overall rating.

A wooden shower shelf to prop up your leg as you shave

IBosins Corner Shower Stool With Storage Shelf

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Position this acacia wood corner stool in your shower for a spot to prop up your leg as you shave. It’s the perfect height for this, and the nonslip feet hold it firmly in place, so you don’t accidentally nick yourself.

An industrial table lamp made from sturdy iron

Haian Small Industrial Gold Table Lamp

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Bring an industrial element to a room with this table lamp that features a cage wrapped around the exposed bulb. It’s made from sturdy iron with a golden finish, and the included bulb puts out a warm, cozy glow. Dim the brightness as needed.

A decorative & protective floral drawer liner

Amiitay Non-Adhesive Waterproof Shelf and Drawer Liner

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Line drawers, shelves, and other similar spots with this floral liner. It’s nice-looking and protective, thanks to its waterproof design and nonadhesive material (that won’t leave behind residue upon removal). Trim it with scissors to any size and shape needed.

Framed art that puts a sophisticated spin on bathroom humor

YD&YZY Mona Lisa Bathroom Wall Art

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If your sense of humor is both low-brow and high-brow, this da Vinci inspired wall art belongs in your bathroom. With a regal-looking gold frame, the funny piece depicts the Mona Lisa politely pinching her nose while holding a roll of toilet paper. It’s available in three dimensions, so you can decide whether you want it to serve as a small accent or make a big impact, and there are additional bathroom-themed pieces to choose from as well.

A set of plant stands that do double duty

LASZOLA Plant Hanger Shelves (Set Of 2)

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You can instantly create a striking tiered look with your plants with the help of these clever shelves. Available as a set of two, they come with all the hardware you need for quick DIY wall mounting, and each one has a spot for a potted plant and a hanging plant beneath it. They’re made of sturdy metal with a black finish that adds a modern look, but the set also comes in additional styles and designs to match other aesthetics.

A tiny solar lantern with a beautiful pergola design

Gardenfans Solar Pagoda

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This pagoda solar lantern packs the elegance of classic Japanese architecture into a small, 7-inch tall package for a low-maintenance yet striking detail. Simply place it in an area of your backyard that gets at least eight hours of direct sunlight and it’ll enchant your space with its warm white light come nightfall. It’s made of UV-resistant resin so the finish can stand up to the elements.

Sculptural panels that a create an eye-catching accent wall

Art3d 3D Wall Panels (20-Pack)

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These wall panels are the unexpected home upgrade you’ve been waiting for. Thanks to their three-dimensional, geometric design, they add a bold texture to liven up boring walls. Better yet, you can trim and paint them to create a fully custom look.

A textured foot rest that supports & massages

COZYDOU Under-Desk Foot Rest

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How inviting does this under-desk foot rest look? Filled with cushy memory foam, it features a pebbled surface perfect for a gentle foot massage as you work. The angled, ergonomic design is great for posture while the bold hue provides a fun pop of color.

Colorful expanding file folders with a smart, transparent design

ThinkTex Plastic Expanding File Folder (5-Pack)

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These plastic folders are perfect for getting your life totally organized. And since they can expand up to 2 inches deep, you can feel free to overstuff them. Not only are they transparent to keep easy tabs on all your documents, they come in different shades for easy color coding at a glance.

Raccoon window stickers that look like they’re saying hello

Duodoloo Raccoon Window Sticker (2-Pack)

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Add some unexpected fun to your space with these window stickers. Shaped like little raccoons peering around the corner of a wall or window, they’re bound to catch your guests’ attention. “Very cute, easy to apply raccoon sticker. Have it on the edge of sliding glass door. Looks like a raccoon is peeking around the corner into the house,” one reviewer wrote.

Cheery floral decals for an easy, peel-&-stick mural

Zonon Peel-&-Stick Flower Wall Decals

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Create a mural or accent wall in a snap with these floral decals. Featuring a convenient peel-and-stick backing, they apply easily onto wood, glass, plastic, and more. Choose from a range of patterns like butterflies, tree branches, and plenty of others.

Handy rubber cleaners that remove all kinds of residue

WHTCHSU Residue Eraser (2-Pack)

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Stock up on these residue erasers for a clean and polished looking space. Whether it’s glue, tape, or any other adhesive residue, these erasers buff it away without damage. Made from rubber, they can easily be trimmed once they become saturated with gunk, allowing you to start fresh once again.

Rubber silencers for metal door frames that stop the slamming

AYWFEY Rubber Door Silencers (50 Pieces)

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For compatible metal door frames, these little rubber silencers can help keep things quiet. They come in a robust set of 50, so you’ll really be covered. And they’re available in your choice of gray, black, or white to match your door frame for a subtle fix that can make a big impact.

A travel-friendly humidifier that runs for 12 hours

G-RECREATER G-RECREATER Portable Mini Humidifier

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With its portable size, this mini humidifier is one you’ll want to carry with you on your next trip. Use it to add the perfect level of humidity to the air, making it more comfortable. It holds enough water to run for up to 12 hours, and it’s powered via USB.

Outlet adapters that are easier to turn on & off

oviitech On/Off Power Switch Outlet (3-Pack)

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Plug these outlet adapters into a regular outlet, then plug lamps, appliances, lights, and other electronics directly into them. They’re far easier to turn on and off (using the switch on the side), rather than having to plug and unplug the item. The adapters don’t draw power when off, conserving electricity.

A wall-mounted organizer that holds the essentials

CHENYAOI Bedside Wall Organizer

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Add this wall organizer by your bed, over a desk, or in an entryway — basically wherever you need a little extra space. It’s easy to install thanks to a strong adhesive backing and, while small, it still has space for essential items. There are two shelves that can hold small items and things like a phone or remote control, as well as four hooks for hanging keys, sunglasses, and more.

A whimsical night-light with a convenient auto-off

AUSAYE Mushroom Night Light

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Looking for something that stands out more than your typical night-light? This mushroom shaped night-light is a great option. It looks like a tiny toadstool, with a whimsical vibe that makes it fun and interesting, and it works well to give off a nice warm glow. You can choose a warm white or multi-color option, and an auto-on/off feature (at dusk and dawn) keeps things easy and energy-efficient.

These products for your car might give you weird vibes at first glance, but once you give them a go, you’ll soon find out they are actually life-changing. They’ll help you keep your car comfier, cleaner, and even more stylish. They start at just a few dollars, so buckle up and get ready to majorly improve your vehicle.

A tray that turns your steering wheel into a work or meal station

EcoNour Steering Wheel Desk

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Turn your steering wheel into a convenient working or eating space (while your car is parked, obviously) using this tray mount. It hooks right onto the wheel, and there’s a flat surface and cup holder for your stuff. Lightweight and relatively small, it’ll store nicely.

A plush hanging monkey that holds extra tissues

CaserBay Plush Tissue Holder

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This cute monkey hangs from the back of your seats or another similar spot, and it has a convenient zippered compartment to stash extra tissues or napkins ... because you never know when you might need them. The monkey is soft, plush, and cuddly.

A ceiling cargo net for extra storage

Car Ceiling Cargo Net Pocket Storage Net,29.5"x19.7" Adjustable D-Buckle to Reduce Sagging Roof Storage Organizer,Double-Layer Mesh SUV for SUVs,Road Trips,Car Camping Essentials

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Hang this cargo net on the ceiling of your car (on the inside) to create extra storage for umbrellas, spare clothes, gear, and whatever else you need. It has a two-pocket design for organization’s sake, and the adjustable D-buckle stops it from sagging.

A cool helicopter air freshener that spins

Fancemot Helicopter Car Air Freshener

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This cool-looking helicopter air freshener is powered by the sun. It releases a long-lasting aromatherapy fragrance, and the rotating “blades” spread the scent through your whole ride. Even with this, it’s very quiet.

A gel mat that creates a no-slip spot for your keys, phone & more

JIMISHA Car Dashboard Non-Slip Mat

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Position this gel pad on your dashboard or center console as a spot for your phone, glasses, keys, and other essential items — its nonslip, textured surface ensures nothing budges. The pad can be cut to the exact size and shape needed.

Sturdy headrest carabiner hooks so groceries & purses don’t tumble

iBestgol Rotating Headrest Hooks (2-Pack)

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Don’t let your groceries topple over in your trunk: These headrest hooks are the ideal spot to secure the bags, plus other items like umbrellas, your backpack, and more. Each one (two come with) has a double-layered nylon strap with an aluminum alloy carabiner on the end so nothing falls off.

A fun windshield shade that keeps your car cooler when parked

Coricha Windshield Sun Shade

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Not only does this windshield shade look so funny, but the reflective material that it’s made from can block up to 100% of the sun’s UV rays, keeping your ride cooler overall when parked. It also prevents leather and fabric seats from getting discolored. Stash it in the storage bag when not in use.

A leather center console cover with extra storage space

AuraSettle Leather Console Cover

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Make your ride look so much bougier (and keep it protected) by covering your center console with this genuine leather cover. It fits on most cars and SUVs, and it boasts various compartments for drinks, spare change, tissues, and more. There’s even a spot to hold your phone.

A long-reaching car charger with retractable cables

EloBeth Retractable Car Charger

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Even people sitting in the back seat can charge their phones using this car charger — it boasts two 2.6-foot retractable chargers (that store nicely when not in use), plus USB-A and USB-C ports for all of your charging needs. It works quickly and has built-in protection against overheating.

Silicone cup holder coasters to catch condensation

Amooca Car Cup Coasters (4-Pack)

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Utilize these silicone coasters in the cup holders. They have a deep cupped shape, a nonslip bottom, and a waterproof design to catch drink spills and condensation. They’re heat resistant, too. For under $10, you get four of them.

A sunroof film that protects skin & your interior from the sun

Niviy Stained Glass Sunroof Film

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Everyone that gets into your car won’t be able to stop themselves from commenting on the beauty of this stained glass sunroof film. It reduces UV rays by up to 98% — protecting your interior and skin, and it creates beautiful rainbow flecks when the sun shines through it. It goes up with just static cling, and can be removed without leaving behind any residue.

A 4-pocket trunk organizer that hangs on the back row

PIDO Hanging Trunk Organizer

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Get your trunk in order with the help of this thick fabric organizer that hangs on the back row from the headrests. The three straps are adjustable for a perfect fit. The organizer boasts four spacious pockets, each with a lid for a neater appearance.

A seat cushion that’s 4+ inches thick

Allaboutsla Car Seat Cushion

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Believe me when I say you won’t find a memory foam car seat cushion thicker or more comfortable than this one. At 4.5 inches tall, it’ll give you extra height while driving and, of course, provide high-density support for extra comfort on those long rides.

Magnetic sunglasses holders made of leather

Yuoyar 2 Packs Magnetic Sunglass Holder for Car Visor - Universal Sunglasses Clip for Different Size Eyeglasses - Convenient Interior Car Accessories (Brown)

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Never sit on your sunglasses again: These magnetic holders attach to your sun visor, providing a secure spot to stash your favorite pairs. Made from leather, this pick is durable and looks nice. And for just $10, you get two of them.

A fun-to-use gel to clean dust & crumbs in tricky spots

TICARVE Cleaning Gel for Car

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While this gel putty is super fun to hold, it’s also practical. Use it to pick up dirt, debris, and crumbs from all of the tricky spots in your car, like your air vents, cup holders, door handles, and more. It’s reusable and smells like lavender.

A soft cotton seat belt cover that makes it way comfier

Amooca Soft Seat Belt Cover

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No more uncomfortable seat belt digging into your skin; this plush cover wraps directly around the belt (and secures with a hook-and-loop fastener) for comfort as you ride. It has a universal design and is made from soft cotton. Pick from a range of colors in the listing.

A double-sided sponge to clear your windshield instantly

Travelon Windshield Cleaner and Defogger

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Hazy windshield, no more. This eraser sponge is designed to soak up moisture, leaving behind a crystal-clear surface (it can be used wet or dry). Toss it in your washing machine afterward and reuse it.

Gap fillers so items don’t disappear between your center console & seat

Drop Stop Seat Gap Filler (2-Pack)

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One reviewer called these gap fillers “one of those products you don’t realize you need until you use it. It completely eliminates the annoying (and dangerous) gap between your seat and center console.” The two fillers are made from neoprene with a slot to feed the seat belt catch through.

A comfortable travel pillow for many positions

Swemos Travel Pillow

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Road trips are made way comfier with the help of this travel pillow you can enjoy in many ways ... as a headrest, backrest, or even in a hugging position (wrapped around your neck). It features a soft faux fur exterior and plush filling.

A stick-on pocket for nice-looking organization

ZQLYCSK Car Seat Side Pocket Organizer

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Made from vegan leather, this stick-on organizer is a nice-looking storage solution for your vehicle. “Holds my phone, kleenex packet, lip balm & other small items. The adhesion seems to holding very well,” confirmed one commenter.

Mirror cleaners that extend for easy reach

Guirnd Car Mirror Wipers (2-Pack)

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Wipe fog, dirt, water, dust, and other gross stuff off your vehicle mirrors using these extendable wipers that reach nearly 40 inches. You don’t even have to get out of your car to use them. The squeegee head is made from rubber that won’t scratch the surface. Two come in a pack.

A handy registration & insurance holder that secures on the visor

High Road Car Registration and Insurance Card Holder

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Keep your vehicle registration, insurance cards, and other important documents handy thanks to this secure holder that fits on the sun visor. It boasts two clear vinyl interior pockets, plus a mesh one on the outside to keep everything organized.

A genius sun visor extender so you can see better

JOYTUTUS Sun Visor Extender for Cars, Polarized Sun Visor Extender Universal Sun Blocker UV400, Adjustable Visor Extension for Car Visor,Double-Clip,Anti Glare Stray Light

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This sun visor extender is the best option for blocking out the blinding sun as you drive. It clips securely onto your original sun visor, and the polarized lens blocks up to 99.9% of the sun’s UV rays. It reduces glare, too.

An extendable windshield cleaner for a streak-free shine

AstroAI Windshield Cleaner Tool

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This windshield cleaner extends to 21 inches long to reach both the interior and exterior of your windshield. It comes with four reusable, washable microfiber heads and a spray bottle, too. “This tool makes the job easy and I am able to get a clean, streak free windshield with little effort and no missed spots,” noted one fan.

Glue-free edge guards to prevent scratches

SYOAUTO Door Edge Guard

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This 32-foot roll of car door edge guard is the solution to those accidental scratches and scuffs that happen when your car door hits something as you open it. Even if your door comes in contact with your garage wall or the car parked next to you, no damage will be done. Simply trim it to fit; it grips the edges of your doors — no glue or adhesive required.

A safety hammer that’ll come in clutch for emergencies

Swiss Safe Car Safety Hammer

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Keep one of these safety hammers in your center console or glove box at all times. It boasts a tungsten steel glass breaker (to shatter windows) and a seat belt cutter for emergency situations. The contoured grip makes it easy to hold and use.

A portable tire inflator with a 11-feet-long cord

AstroAI Tire Inflator

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Inflate your tires in just minutes — from anywhere, anytime — using this portable inflator. It’s simple to operate (and the power cord is 11 feet long for reach), and it’ll automatically shut off once the preset value is reached, ensuring there’s no overfilling.

A stiff wheel-cleaning brush that attaches to your drill

ETOUPA Wheel Cleaner Brush

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This cleaning brush attaches to a drill for a powerful scrub-down of your vehicle’s wheels, rims, and other similar spots. It has an elongated shape and stiff bristles to get the job done, though it won’t leave behind scratches or other damage.

Interior lights that can be set to 16 million colors

Govee Interior Car Lights

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These interior lights can be set to a whopping 16 million color options (using the free app) to deck your car out just as you like. The lights can even sync with music. Attach them using the included adhesive and clips.

A small whistle designed to keep animals off the road

Elook Deer Whistles (2-Pack)

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This itty-bitty device is shockingly useful. Use the double-sided adhesive to secure it to your car (like on your bumper or hood), and the whistle will help deter animals from the road for safety. The plastic material is built to last, and two come in a pack.

A lip balm holder that sticks in place anywhere you want

xbrtaia Car Lip Balm Holder

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Make your interior feel more fabulous by adding this rhinestone-bedecked car lip balm holder to your cart. It can be stuck on your dash, your door, or anywhere else you’d like to keep your favorite stick handy.

A lightweight wireless vacuum powered by a rechargeable battery

Antaha Handheld Cordless Vacuum

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This rechargeable cordless vacuum literally weighs 1.2 pounds, allowing you to maneuver it all over your vehicle for cleaning. It’s powerful enough to suck up hair, crumbs, and other debris, and there are various cleaning heads based on the area you’re working. The built-in battery runs for up to 30 minutes.

Car trash bags that can hold up to 2 gallons

Tossits Hanging Car Trash Bags (21 Count)

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Keeping your interior neat and tidy is a breeze when you have this 21-pack of car trash bags ready to go. Hang it over one of the headrests and you’ll have a leakproof and smell-proof place to hide all your old receipts, empty coffee cups, and granola wrappers. Each one can hold up to two gallons.

A tool to easily remove shed pet hair from seats & mats

Analan Mini Pet Hair Remover Tool

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Get shed pet hair off your vehicle seats and floor mats using this triangular tool. Simply run it along these spots and the built-in grooves will pick up the hair and clump it together to make it easier to get rid of it. It’s reusable, no annoying sticky tape involved.

A scratch-removing compound with 8,000+ 5-star reviews

Meguiar's Ultra Cut Compound

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This buffing compound works like magic at removing light scratches and scuffs from your car’s paint. “It made quick work of the smaller scratches and completely removed the swirl marks. [...] The before and after is simply amazing,” wrote one shopper.

A genius cup holder expander to fit even large tumblers

TYKOR Car Cup Holder Expander

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Make your 40-ounce Stanley fit in your car cup holder thanks to this genius expander. It holds any water bottle or tumbler with a capacity up to 46 ounces (since it expands to 4 inches wide), and the offset base means it won’t block the other cup holder.

Windshield sticker applicators that are way easier to remove

STICKER SHIELD Windshield Sticker Applicator (2 Sheets)

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Windshield stickers are notoriously difficult to remove, leaving behind annoying gunk. But not if you use these special applicators. The clear film is virtually invisible — yet it makes it easier to peel off any sticker when the time comes. You can even reapply it if needed.

A net barrier to keep your pup from jumping to the front

DOGUAL Dog Car Net Barrier

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You can’t blame your pets from getting excited on car rides but you can stop them from trying to jump into your lap. To put a boundary in place, strap this car net barrier onto your seats. It’s made of a breathable mesh that doesn’t block your view of the back, either.

A reusable cleaner to get smudges off your touchscreen

iRoller Screen Cleaner

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Fingerprints, dirt, or smudges all over your vehicle’s display? Swipe this screen cleaner across it to remove these nuisances ... no spray or cleaner required. The tool is washable and reusable, making it well worth the $15.

A Bluetooth car adapter for a better connection

JOYROOM Bluetooth Car Adapter

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This Bluetooth car adapter is designed to improve the signal for a faster, interference-free connection. “Bluetooth works great. Don't have any static while streaming music or calls,” noted one commenter. Bonus points: This pick has dual charging ports for various devices.

Dip clips for neater meals on the go

Saucemoto Car Dip Clips (2-Pack)

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You’re bound to get hungry on a long road trip or commute — which is where these two dip clips that attach to your windows come in handy. You can pop in a pack from a fast food place or fill up the reusable cups with a squeeze packet to avoid a mess.

A sun visor mirror with built-in LEDs

JOYTUTUS Car Sun Visor Vanity Mirror with Lights

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Designed to attach to your vehicle’s sun visor, this car mirror boasts 60 LEDs so you can check your makeup or hair at night (or if you’re in a dark parking garage). It can be set to three color temperatures and a range of brightness levels for the perfect glow.

A waterproof organizer that attaches to a seat

FUNNy elf Car Seat Organizer

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This seat organizer has two loops and a nonslip bottom to secure it in place, and there are a bunch of compartments and pockets (including zippered ones and mesh ones) to organize whatever you keep back there. The whole thing is waterproof to easily wipe up spills.

A car door step that gives you easier access to your roof

TOOENJOY Universal Fit Car Door Step

Amazon -

This car door step takes almost no effort to install and yet is strong enough to support up to 400 pounds. Attach it to the door latch and you’ll be able to reach your roof comfortably when you need to clean it or take your bike off of the top rack.

A car LED light with touch control

PEOKPIPLE Car LED USB Lights

Amazon -

This unique car LED light fills your interior with a glow that’ll come in handy when you drop your phone. All you have to do is plug it into a USB port — you can turn it on and off with a tap.

Car door protectors to keep your dog from scratching the interior

ALLANSING Dog Car Door Protector – Anti-Scratch/Stain-Resistant, Window-Roll-Compatible, No Tint Damage, 2-Pack, Secure Fit for Car/SUV/Truck

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This two-pack of car door protectors will give you peace of mind that your dog won’t scratch up the interior trying to look out the window. It’s made of a waterproof velvet surface that can handle all the slobber, dirt, and spills that come its way.

A rotating car desk with a spot for your coffee

FLORICH Rotating Car Desk

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Dedicate one of your cup holders to this rotating car desk that keeps everything handy — it even has a recess to hold a drink so you’re not losing that function. It smoothly turns 360 degrees so that you can reach your sunglasses, wallet, or coffee without taking your eyes off the road.

A dual-head fan that’s adjustable for maximum comfort

Poraxy Dual Head Car Fan

Amazon -

With this car fan, you can keep your passengers comfortable when the air conditioning is really just benefitting those in the front. The angle of both heads can be adjusted to reach both people. It’s powered by your cigarette lighter, no messing with batteries.

A faux leather tissue holder that keeps them accessible

Leather Tissue Holder

Amazon -

Strap this faux leather tissue holder onto one of your visors for easy access without taking your eyes off the road. It comes in three neutral solids colors and a fun cow-print pattern.

A rotating push-start button cover for a cool upgrade

Tybasthe Rotary Push Start Button Cover

Amazon -

Since double-sided adhesive is included with this push-start button cover, you won’t have any trouble installing it. Place it over your vehicle’s start button to give it a cool upgrade. You simply rotate it to open the center.

The stoner buddy comedy is an American institution at this point. Cheech and Chong, Harold and Kumar, Pineapple Express, even the recent Kristen Stewart/Alia Shawkat movie The Wrong Girls — get two friends high, send them on an adventure, and laughs will surely ensue. Idiots (originally titled The Shitheads) is kind of one of these movies. The style of humor is the same, for sure. But only one of these guys is a stoner. And they’re not exactly friends, either.

No, Mark (Dave Franco) and Davis (O’Shea Jackson, Jr.) are colleagues — and even that’s a generous word, given the makeshift nature of their employment. Idiots sets up both of them by showing each of them getting fired from separate jobs (Davis because he took a church group to see Lars von Trier’s Antichrist), then brings them together for a tenuous gig escorting troubled teens to rehab in Mark’s beat-up sedan. Why have these goofballs been entrusted with this sensitive task without any training or even a background check? Don’t worry about it.

As an actor, Franco has worked in a number of genres. But he’s especially appealing in the goofy-burnout mode he’s playing with here. Jackson is also likable as the relatively responsible Davis, whose Christian faith occupies an interesting space in the narrative. It’s not what makes him one of the titular Idiots; far from it. But his belief in being kind and respectful to everyone he meets also makes him a mark for grifters, petty criminals, and entitled, manipulative brats.

Compared to other action-comedy hybrids of its type, Idiots is quite thoughtful in this way. Our heroes are losers because they make dumb decisions, to be sure. But they’re also victims of a system that allows the rich to get away with anything while the poor are left to clean up their messes — quite literally, in some cases. But while these themes give Idiots some commendable depth, the character that writer-director Macon Blair (who also appears in a small role as Mark’s drug dealer) introduces to make this point is also the movie’s undoing.

The story starts to unravel with the introduction of Sheridan Kimberley (Mason Thames), a rich kid who’s being sent to a therapeutic facility for adolescents as part of his probation. Blair plays coy with revealing what, exactly, Sheridan is going to rehab for. But eventually, the plot needs something to keep it going, and we learn that Sheridan is a budding psychopath whose wealthy family arranged to keep him out of prison after he was charged with setting an unhoused person on fire. Suddenly, the stakes have changed — and not in a way that makes sense for the low-rent, low-stakes world that our characters are living in.

Some twists involving Sheridan’s fame as a social-media influencer raise more questions, the most pressing of which remains: Why are these guys doing this job? Are they being set up by Sheridan to take the fall when he inevitably escapes from their custody? Do his parents (or, more specifically, their attorney) care so little for this kid that they’ve booked the cheapest possible method for transporting him as far away from them as possible? And if they don’t care, surely a judge might have opinions on who’s supervising this potential flight risk? All of this is brushed aside, to the extent that it’s considered at all. And while it’s true that picking apart the details is one of the most pedantic forms of engaging with a film, the irksome inconsistencies only escalate as the story goes on.

If you can put those aside, however, there are some fun times to be had on this road trip from hell. Kiernan Shipka is a highlight as a Russian sex worker who joins the hunt for Sheridan when he tries to rob her of the $200 cash she earned the night before, and Peter Dinklage appears in a small role as a bumbling criminal whose attempts to ransom the kid for $5 million in cash don’t go as planned. But the most memorable cameo comes from Nosferatu star Nicholas Hoult, who’s barely recognizable as a Soundcloud rapper with gold fangs and a Coolio hairdo who goes by the name Pricka Bush Da Werewoof.

Dinklage also starred in Blair’s remake of The Toxic Avenger, and Idiots starts to resemble that film more and more as the story gets more chaotic. The two titles definitely share a sense of humor, as well as Blair’s ability to introduce serious themes into unserious movies without being too didactic about it. But the blending of bloodshed and stupidity isn’t quite as successful here, mostly because the plot is half baked — unlike Mark, who’s fully baked the entire time.

From Independent Film Company, Idiots is playing in limited theaters now.

Hollywood’s affection for sensationalized criminal exploits has long been a part of America’s steady cinematic diet, in part because of how the crime genre allows creators to explore real human drama in exaggerated, but entirely plausible, situations. For as heinous as the actions of Walter White or Tony Montana may be, they’re compelling characters because we see some of ourselves within them.

The draconian moral restrictions of the Motion Picture Production Code (better known as the Hays Code) reigned supreme from its introduction in 1934 until its gradual decline in the mid-50s, and while it certainly constrained the crime film, the genre still thrived in the form of film noir. In stark black-and-white, the classics of the movement explored morally grey characters — often lawbreakers and social miscreants — during an era where legislation demanded that on-screen criminals must always be punished. But filmmakers like Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and more pushed the Code to its absolute limits. And in 1946, director Robert Siodmak used a short story by Ernest Hemingway as a springboard for a stone-cold classic that invites viewers to empathize with the desperation and bitter mistakes that turn into a life (and death) outside the law.

The bleak opening scene of The Killers is a perfect summation of the atmosphere of film noir, and it’s easy to see why it has influenced so many descendants. In a sleepy New Jersey town, suffused in inky black shadows courtesy of Woody Bredell’s stark cinematography, a pair of hard-faced hitmen drive into town with death riding shotgun. Their target: a lowly gas pump attendant named Pete Lund (a then-unknown Burt Lancaster) who also goes by “The Swede”; after terrifying the unlucky staff and lone patron of the local diner into giving him up, they execute a strangely-accepting Lund in bed with a thunderous rain of bullets.

All of this happens in the span of 10 minutes, and the sequence is so jarring as to leave viewers fully at attention with a brain full of questions — the same questions on the mind of Jim Riordan (Edmund O’Brien), the life insurance investigator assigned to track down the beneficiary of Pete Lund’s $2500 policy. Film noir had a tendency to feature “investigators” outside of traditional police structures such as private detectives — the insurance industry plays a big role in another famous film noir, Double Indemnity — but here, it feels grimly ironic. A human being is snuffed out in an act of gruesome violence, and at the end of the day, their entire life amounts to a four-digit number cash payout.

Clearly a workplace overachiever, Riordan tracks down The Swede’s former friends and acquaintances one-by-one, each one slowly filling in a piece of the jagged puzzle that is the murdered man’s life. He finds the mysterious Mary Ellen Doherty (Queenie Smith) mentioned in the life insurance policy, a meek hotel cleaning woman who once stopped Lund from committing suicide after a lover ran off on him. Doherty points him in the direction of police lieutenant Sam Lubinsky (Sam Levene), an old friend of The Swede’s who reveals that Lund was once a boxer who was forced to retire after a crippling hand injury. Lubinsky’s wife Lilly (Virginia Christine), The Swede’s former girlfriend, tells her own story and explains how she and Lund drifted apart after he fell in love with the alluring Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner). Each anecdote is accompanied by a flashback, and it’s in these that Burt Lancaster gets to show off his talents outside of being an Old Hollywood heartthrob — he’s an earnest oaf searching for a place to lay his head and finding it in all the worst spots.

Riordan finds out that Lund spent three years in jail after taking the fall for jewelry stolen by Kitty, and a chance encounter with Lund’s former cellmate exposes the full scope of the mystery: After release, both Lund and his cellmate were invited to take part in a factory payroll heist put together by “Big Jim” Colfax (Albert Dekker), a crime boss who is now in a tumultuous and seemingly violent relationship with Kitty. Upon seeing his old flame, Pete is incapable of walking away, and decides to take part in the scheme — even though the escalating tensions in the love triangle between him, Big Jim, and Kitty spell out doom to anyone paying attention.

For a movie made during the height of the Hays Code, the film displays remarkable empathy towards Pete’s character. He’s not a greedy mastermind or a bloodthirsty deviant, but a man who finds himself in dire straits because of circumstances outside of his control — circumstances that get considerably worse when dumb, blinding love is added to the mix. The movie never makes excuses or concessions for his actions, but it does present the honest reality of how many criminals end up that way because of the quickly compounding cost of understandable if still wrong actions.

The hail of gunfire in the opening isn’t presented with the sensationalism of Hollywood crime spectacle, but instead it’s slowly contextualized as a tragic requiem for someone who might not garner sympathy if their worst actions were all they amounted to. The best part of The Killers isn’t the engaging, well-paced mystery or the ensemble — it’s in the way the script rejects the moral absolutism of the Hays Code to show a flawed human life from multiple different angles, none wholly good or wholly bad.

The Killers is available to rent on Prime Video and other digital platforms.

Back in 2011, Doctor Who fans didn’t know how good they had it. Matt Smith’s triumphant Season 6 had been split into two parts, consisting of seven episodes from April 2011 to June 2011, and then a hiatus of roughly two months before Episode 8, “Let’s Kill Hitler,” picked up where the cliffhanger, “A Good Man Goes to War,” left off. Back then, fans and critics were pretty upset about this “half-season” wait, but now, considering that the most recent Who seasons have been only eight episodes, the mid-season 2011 debut of “Let’s Kill Hitler” feels daring, fun, and, interestingly, boundary-pushing for the canon of Who overall.

Here’s why, 15 years later, “Let’s Kill Hitler” feels like vintage (modern) Who at its best.

Following the revelation in “A Good Man Goes to War” that River Song (Alex Kingston) has always been the daughter of Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill), “Let’s Kill Hitler” took everything a step further by retconning two things: River Song can regenerate, and has regenerated, and that she was, in a previous incarnation, Mels (Nina Toussaint-White), Amy and Rory’s trouble-making friend from childhood.

At the time it aired, showrunner Steven Moffat was seemingly going full timey-wimey, making the revelation that River Song/Melanie Pond was Amy and Rory’s daughter even more convoluted by asserting a paradox that they named their daughter after their best friend, who was, actually, their daughter in disguise. To this day, Who fans probably can’t agree on whether or not Moffat’s method of fixing Who plot holes is the correct way. But if you’re wondering what Moffat’s tenure was like, “Let’s Kill Hitler” is an interesting microcosm. Got a time-travel paradox that needs straightening out? In the Moffat method, the fix was to just add even more time travel while also stretching the Who canon in ways that had yet to be attempted.

Getting a regeneration episode had been, up until the Moffat tenure, something generally reserved for the finale of an outgoing Doctor. But in “Let’s Kill Hitler,” when Mels regenerates into River Song, Moffat gets to have a big fandom-altering event within an episode that just happens to occur in the middle of the season. This concept was ultimately good for Who canon, as it posited that a quasi-Time Lord, like River Song, might have the same regenerative powers. And, to this day, this also suggests there are (maybe) some versions of River Song that we didn’t meet.

But there are a lot of moving parts in “Let’s Kill Hitler,” including the introduction of one of those great ideas that feels like it should have already existed in Doctor Who, but wasn’t fully realized until Moffat made it happen: The Teselecta, a human-shaped vessel crewed by tiny humans whose job it is to hunt down war criminals throughout history. Hitler is one war criminal, but as we’re told, River Song is perhaps another, since she supposedly will kill the Doctor at some future date. Though never stated outright, the romance between River Song and the Doctor was almost like Who’s version of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade from the 1990s Star Wars Expanded Universe: Someone brainwashed to kill a space hero, who ends up being his bride. Talk about enemies to lovers!

But the power of “Let’s Kill Hitler” is mostly found in its humor. Matt Smith’s physical comedy is on full display in this episode, while Arthur Darvill nonchalantly brandishes a pistol and orders literal Adolph Hitler around borders on something out of a Monty Python sketch. For Moffat’s part, he claimed that the idea was to utilize Hitler the way the historical monster was depicted in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: to mock him, instead of lingering too much on the historical implications of this age-old question: If you had a time machine, should you go back in time and kill Hitler?

In a way, this episode demonstrates Moffat’s ability to use the time travel inherent in Doctor Who but weaponize it to serve the needs of his characters and larger plot arcs. Keep in mind, at this time, Doctor Who Season 6 was doing serialization in a way that was much heavier than in the first Russell T Davies era; the concept of The Silence wouldn’t be fully resolved until the end of Matt Smith’s tenure, and many of the mysteries introduced in Season 5 were still becoming more complex in Season 6.

But if you take all of that out, the incredible thing about this era of Moffat is how even a lore-heavy episode like this can still feel like a standalone. It’s a great Doctor Who premise, combined with several character-heavy gut punches. This was Who in one of its greatest eras, with the 11th Doctor and his companions at the height of their powers. “Let’s Kill Hitler” might not be one of the greatest episodes of Doctor Who of all time, but in what it represents about the greatness of the Moffat era, it’s a hidden gem, hiding in plain sight.

Doctor Who, 2005-2022, including 2011’s Season 6, streams on AMC+.

Stephen King is probably one of the most prolific great American writers. His stories capture so much of the American experience, from bible-thumping mothers to the penal system. But while most of his stories take place in America — and, most noticeably, Maine — he has branched out occasionally.

Now that we’re in a new age of Stephen King adaptations thanks to Mike Flanagan and HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry, Prime Video will turn one of King’s few international stories into a chilling limited series.

According to Variety, Prime Video has greenlit a six-part limited series based on “Crouch End,” Stephen King’s only story set in the United Kingdom. The story, named after a district of North London, was first published in the 1980 short story collection New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, and, true to its name, it’s full of H.P. Lovecraft homages.

We don’t have any idea of who will star in the series just yet, but we do have an official description. It reads:

“When global movie star Doris Freeman bursts into a London police station claiming that strange phenomena are behind the disappearance of her husband, police inspector Ted Vetter must investigate whether she’s telling the truth, whether she could be a murderer, or whether there’s something even more chilling at play.”

Crouch End will be the first King adaptation produced in the U.K., but it’s not the first time the story has been shown on TV. Back in 2006, the TNT anthology series Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King adapted the story in its second-ever episode, starring Claire Forlani and Eion Bailey. But that was just a 44 minute episode, and this series will expand the story to span six episodes (the standard runtime for a British series).

There are also a number of British TV greats already on board behind the scenes of this show, including writer Paul Tomalin from the Netflix time-travel series Bodies. Much like “Crouch End,” Bodies dealt with some Lovecraftian elements, including a murder mystery and a Victorian sci-fi tone.

But how will King’s storytelling relate to the British TV world? In America, they may have figured out how to best show his unique kind of horror on screen, but British storytelling has some slight, but often very important, differences. But if King can find global appeal with his stories that are American as apple pie, then he’s sure to find similar success with a story as British as fish and chips.

It’s a sad commentary on society that critiques of class and capitalism don’t get old. From Metropolis almost 100 years ago to No Other Choice just last year, satires about what it takes to reach success in a world designed against you always remain relevant. Probably the most popular class critique story in recent years is Netflix’s Squid Game, the Korean series following a deadly game of childish games for a massive cash prize.

The series was so popular that it was eventually followed by Season 2 and 3, and sparked multiple spinoffs including a reality competition show and a probably-canceled English-language remake. But the series’ original creator is pivoting to movies with a similarly satirical — but much loftier — sci-fi story.

According to Variety, Squid Game showrunner Hwang Dong-hyuk is working on a new sci-fi thriller called The K.O. Club. Set in the near-future, the film focuses on a world where youth can be bought, meaning the rich can stay young forever, amassing more and more wealth and power. The story will follow a rising class struggle between this all-powerful class and a group of characters willing to do whatever it takes to defeat them — including murder. With that description, it’s likely this movie will be just as blood-soaked as Squid Game before it.

That’s not the only similarity to Squid Game. Multiple actors from the series will appear in the movie, including Park Hae-soo, who played Cho Sang-woo (Player 218) in Season 1, and Lee Byung-hun, who played Front Man throughout the series. The full cast will also feature Parasite’s Cho Yeo-jeong, as well as Oh Jung-se and Kim So-jin.

Even though he may be best known for television, Hwang is no stranger to movies. Back in 2007, he directed My Father, a drama about a U.S. soldier tracking down his birth parents in Korea. In 2011, he made Silenced, a drama based on the real-life decades-long abuse at Gwangju Inhwa School for the Deaf. In 2017, he made The Fortress, a historical epic. The K.O. Club won’t even be his first time making a movie about the old becoming young: in 2014, he made Miss Granny, a comedy about a 70-year-old woman who finds herself in the body of a 20-year-old.

It’s unlikely that The K.O. Club will be as light-hearted as Miss Granny, but there’s sure to be Hwang’s signature satirical tone and darkly comedic dialogue. Squid Game may be over (or rather, living on like a zombie in American reality competition shows) but the message it sends is the same.

Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix.

Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, Season 1 of Dark Matter was a bit of a risk in 2024. Novelist Blake Crouch adapted his brisk and fairly short novel into a character study that spanned 10 episodes, expanding the stories of some minor characters in huge ways and creating all-new storylines. That said, Dark Matter Season 1 stuck true to the ethos of the novel; at its core, this was a story about a man — Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) — whose life was stolen from him by his parallel-universe doppelganger. This meant that the story, despite having a slightly larger scope than the novel, was still Jason’s story, and by extension, the story of his family: his wife, Daniela (Jennifer Connelly), and son, Charlie (Oakes Fegley).

But that’s not the case with Season 2, because although the Dessens are still major characters, Dark Matter Season 2 has expanded and, as a result, is presenting all-new sci-fi ideas, suggesting that this time, the sci-fi engine of the show isn’t holding back anymore.

In Season 1, most of the over-the-top worlds encountered by Jason and Amanda (Alice Braga) were glimpsed only briefly. There was a world where the sun seemed to be burning the entire Earth, and others that were basically underwater. But other than the very idyllic futuristic world that Amanda decided to settle into, most of the alternate dimensions in Dark Matter Season 1 were made distinct by how the fates of the characters were different in each. In Season 2, things get a little bolder.

Without spoiling the various premises of Dark Matter Season 2, from the very beginning of the first two episodes, you get the sense that everything about this set of episodes is going bigger. The cliffhanger of Season 1 ended the way the book ended: making us wonder if the Dessen family could truly find peace in an alternate world. Season 2 answers that question very quickly with a firm no, and then moves on to bigger things. By the second episode, the Dessens discover a world that inverts a common sci-fi premise in an extremely interesting way. Again, no spoilers, but if you’re a fan of For All Mankind and Star City, let’s just say that one new world’s alternate timeline dives into some of those alternate-history waters.

But more than the strange, new, and sometimes wacky alternate dimensions discovered in Season 2, Dark Matter is also floating a new sci-fi premise not present in Season 1. It’s one thing to think about stealing an alternate life from a different version of yourself. But what if different dimensions teamed up?

As great as Joel Edgerton is as the hapless Jason, the standout character in Dark Matter Season 2 is easily Dayo Okeniyi’s Leighton Vance. While Season 1 suggested that one version of Leighton was continuing to explore the multiverse on his own, Season 2 turns Leighton’s adventures into a story that is basically the exact opposite of what Jason 2 did at the start of the story. After Episode 2 gets going, Leighton’s goal — which involves meeting many versions of himself — makes the sci-fi possibilities of Dark Matter much bigger and, interestingly, somewhat new when it comes to multiverse stories. Yes, some of what Leighton is doing (again, no spoilers!) connects to some of the ideas of Everything Everywhere All at Once, but it also might be more apt to say that Leighton’s masterplan is closer to the premise of the deeply underrated multiverse episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks, “Fissure Quest.”

It may sound trite, but if Dark Matter Season 1 was focused on the old idea that “home is where the heart is,” then Season 2 is another idiom: “Do what you love and you won’t work a day in your life.” Despite Season 1’s ambitious multiverse hopping, it was still mostly about relationships, and the idea of how love, marriage, and family can make or break a life. But in Season 2, Leighton’s various selves represent a much larger diversity of life’s purpose. Leighton is doing what he loves in Season 2, and those actions are either going to unite the multiverse or destroy it.

Dark Matter Season 2 streams on Apple TV. New episodes drop on Fridays.

The Mandalorian and Grogu taught us a lot about its characters. We learned about the industriousness of Anzellans, the state of the universe in the New Republic era, and perhaps most importantly, we learned that Rotta the Hutt isn’t his father. In fact, he’s his own man. But despite all the worldbuilding we saw in the film, one of the biggest mysteries of The Mandalorian still remains unsolved: what species is Grogu?

In the six years since we’ve met him, we’ve learned his name, how he escaped Order 66 unscathed, and his penchant for frogs and cookies, but his species is still unidentified. He’s the same species as Yoda and Yaddle; that’s about all we know.

But in a key scene of The Mandalorian and Grogu, we actually learned a huge aspect of this species without even realizing it.

In the third act of The Mandalorian and Grogu, Din Djarin is bitten by a Dragonsnake and falls unconscious due to the venom. Thankfully, Grogu travels to Nal Hutta with the Anzellans and tends to him, slowly and methodically building a mud hut and then using the Force to bring Mando in (after bumping his head a few times). It’s a touching moment that reflects the symbiotic relationship the two have, but it made some fans wonder: how does Grogu know how to do this?

According to visual effects director John Knoll, even Grogu isn’t aware of the reason. “The ability to build those huts is something that’s genetic memory, and it’s his instinct to do that,” Knoll told Polygon. “Part of the message of the story is: The old protect the young, and then the young protect the old. So in the same way that Mando has been protecting and caring for Grogu while he is more defenseless, when Mando succumbed to this poison, and he's disabled and vulnerable, Grogu is doing what he can to protect him from the elements and from predators.”

Knoll also confirmed that this hut was meant to resemble Yoda’s hut on Dagobah, which means this is a strong enough instinct that it isn’t just present in youth, like how hatchlings know how to emerge from their eggs.

So while we may not know the name of Yoda’s species, we at least know that they lived in huts for long enough that it was ingrained in their DNA. Sure, Yoda and Yaddle lived in the big city on Coruscant in the prequel trilogy, but whatever their homeworld is is probably covered in these huts. That means that, like Dagobah or Nal Hutta, it’s probably got lots of mud.

“Has mud” may seem like a small reveal in the grand scheme of Star Wars, but considering we don’t even know the name of this species nor the name of the planet they are from. At the very least, this info eliminates vast swaths of the galaxy.

The Mandalorian and Grogu begins streaming on Disney+ on September 2.

It’s been a big year for Adam Scott playing hard-drinking novelists. First came Hokum, in which the Parks and Recreation star played against type as an alcoholic writer who gets caught up in some spooky happenings at a haunted hotel. In The Whisper Man, his problems are more down to earth: Rather than ghosts and witches, his character — also a writer, and also a drinker — is faced with the very real horror of finding his son after the boy is kidnapped by a serial killer.

For Tom (Scott), this is part of a nightmarish cycle. When he was a boy, his father — an emotionally distant police detective played by Robert De Niro — caught a notorious murderer who went by the name “The Whisper Man.” If that sounds like a child’s imaginary friend, you’re partially right: This killer specifically targeted sensitive kids, abducting them and forcing them to create crayon drawings of their ordeal before sending them “under the floor,” as Tom’s son Jake (Acston Luca Porto) puts it. He even had his own folk rhyme: “If you’re lonely, sad or blue, the Whisper Man will come for you.”

But the Whisper Man, whose real name turned out to be Frank Carter (Michael Keaton), has been in prison for decades. So why is it happening again? That’s what Detective Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) wants to know. Once Detective Beck sees the connection between the case of a murdered boy and the “Whisper Man” killings of her childhood, she calls on Pete (De Niro), now retired and estranged from his son and grandson, for help. But then Jake goes missing, and a desperate Tom decides to swallow his resentment and ask Pete for help as well.

There’s a lot going on here with fathers and sons and what they pass down to each other, some of it quite dark. But while The Whisper Man runs on daddy issues, it also appeals to true-crime fans with a subplot about an arrogant “murderabilia” collector played by Hamish Linklater. And then there’s Frank Carter himself, who eventually joins the investigation in a Hannibal Lector-type advisory role. We’ve seen it before, but still — who better than a killer to catch a killer, especially one with the exact same M.O.?

The Whisper Man is based on a novel, and some of the details — Tom’s career as a crime novelist, for example, or the killer’s creepy obsession with cassette tapes — have been sanded down in the transition from page to screen. That’s the kind of stuff that can only be fully explored in a TV series, to be fair. But although the film’s limited runtime does truncate some of its emotional beats as well — the themes all come cascading down in the third act, laying out context that must have been much richer in the novel — the story isn’t unique enough to justify that extended of a treatment, either. In this case, a 111-minute Netflix movie suits the material just fine.

Still, as far as streaming potboilers go, the level of attention that’s been put into every aspect of The Whisper Man is above average. The cinematography, from the same DP that shot Mulholland Drive, is a handsome variation on the overcast look common to these types of movies. The production designer’s previous credits include Mr. Robot, and she brings a similar premium gloss to the suburban New Jersey setting. James Ashcroft’s direction is more contained here than in his last movie, The Rule of Jenny Pen — and correctly so, as going camp would have been a tasteless move given the film’s content. Still, he manages to get a split diopter shot in every once in a while.

The cast is also restrained: Scott edges towards hysteria as Tom’s search for his son gets more desperate and fatigued, but De Niro acts as a stabilizing force as a man who’s long since outgrown his mistakes, but knows he can never stop paying for them. Keaton keeps his psycho killer dry, while Monaghan is all business as the only person investigating this abduction who is technically authorized to do so. Saying that The Whisper Man is “better than it needs to be” would only reinforce the idea that it’s okay for Netflix movies to be disposable trash, but still: The effort is appreciated.

The Whisper Man debuts on Netflix on August 28.

Apple TV’s Silo is a post-apocalyptic series, but that changed at least in part in Season 3, which incorporated sequences from the “Before Times.” These flashbacks followed journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick), junior congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman), and Daniel’s Navy pilot sister Charlotte Keene (Jessica Brown Findlay) as they investigate a strange conspiracy surrounding memory loss, foreign relations, and a mysterious project in Georgia.

Last week, we finally learned who was the mind behind the Silos: trillionaire Per Stensen (Colin Hanks.) In the penultimate episode of the season, we finally see the Silos come to fruition — and it’s right in the nick of time, as the apocalypse happens right then.

Warning! Spoilers for Silo Season 3 Episode 9, “Farewell,” ahead!

In the flashbacks of Silo Season 3 Episode 9, we actually get a bit of a flash-forward. Last week, we saw Charlotte, Helen, and Daniel be propositioned by Per Stensen about his lofty Silo plan. He offers each of them their dream job, and while Charlotte accepts, Helen outright refuses. She enters a helicopter back to D.C., only to be joined at the last minute by Daniel.

Now, years have passed. Charlotte is married to Anna, who has been battling cancer, and Helen and Daniel are now living happily in Oregon and are expecting a baby. They travel to Atlanta for the big reveal of the Silos, but the morning doesn’t go as planned. Helen and Daniel are assigned to different Silos, and Charlotte is nowhere to be seen.

Daniel texts Charlotte, “If Mom and Dad were alive right now,” expecting her to reply with the punchline, “They’d be clawing frantically to get out,” just as she did the night before. But instead, the text he receives says “Mom and Dad would say it’s best to sit still and be patient.” This immediately sets off alarm bells.

He calls Helen, who has also been thrown off by the reality of the Silos. They both start walking to each other when there’s a sudden blast. A mushroom cloud rises up not too far away, and everyone is instructed to enter the Silo to which they were assigned. Daniel is dragged into Silo 1, and Helen is brought into Silo 18.

This is a huge reveal: Last episode, we were told that the Silos were being built as a defense against the rising threat of nanotechnology, but it appears as though the actual apocalypse is nuclear. But there are still a number of questions to be answered in the finale. Where is Charlotte? Who was texting Daniel from her phone? What happened to Daniel in Silo 1?

And perhaps the biggest mystery: what will happen to Helen in Silo 18, and could her unborn baby be a predecessor to Juliette centuries later? There’s only one episode left in this season, and only one season after that, so hopefully we will get answers to everything soon. But for now, we can take comfort in knowing we’ve actually seen the apocalypse of this post-apocalyptic show.

Silo Season 3 is now streaming on Apple TV.

What is goodness without evil? The basic question of the 1985 Ridley Scott-directed fantasy epic Legend suggests that the villain of any major fairy tale is just as important, if not more important, than its heroes. And, although the late, great Tim Curry has many, many famous roles — from Clue to Rocky Horror Picture Show — his role as the devlish creature known as “Darkness” may be his most underrated, and one of the most truly unique performances of his career.

As fans of Curry exchange their favorite performances with each other in the wake of the actor’s death at the age of 80, everyone should consider giving Legend another look. If you’ve never seen this bizarre, and yet oddly old-fashioned movie, now is the time. Although a very young Tom Cruise headlines this adventure, it’s Curry’s memorable take on the embodiment of all evil that makes this movie click.

Legend is an ‘80s dark fantasy that only partly deserves its mixed reputation

While somewhat critically maligned over the years — the film only has a 33 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes — Legend is not remotely as bad as any critics, in any decade, will try to tell you it is. At the same time, it’s also correct to say that Legend is not as good as some other creature-laden 1980s fantasy movies like Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal. There’s a Krull-ish quality to much of Legend, insofar as the ragtag group of heroes who comes together to save the day isn’t quite as iconic as the movie was hoping. Everyone remembers Tom Cruise’s doe-eyed performance as Jack, but it’s not like Billy Barty’s impish creature known as “Screwball” is particularly memorable, which is saying something since just a few years later, Barty’s Gwildor in Masters of the Universe basically steals the show doing the same thing.

What is memorable in Legend is its unrelenting desire to prove its premise: You can’t have majestic unicorns and elegant maidens and shiny armor without gross goblins and creatures who love being disgusting and dream of a world of darkness in which they can feast on trash. And it’s here that Tim Curry sets the tone for the entire movie and gives one of the greatest performances of his career.

Why Tim Curry elevates Legend into an artistic achievement

The opening crawl of the movie tells us that the concept of Darkness has been banished from the world, but instead of showing us the good version of this world first, the movie opens with a lengthy scene set in what can only be described as a gaudy version of Hell. Here, as Darkness, Curry reigns supreme, telling his disgusting minions he’s bored and frustrated with the state of things and longs to go back to the bad old days.

The plot, such as it is, suggests that the loss of innocence and the introduction of sin and evil into the world come about because a dude named Darkness hates unicorns and needs to give his hench-creatures something to do. Curry’s devilish prosthetics are, of course, legendary, and apparently took about five hours to apply. But his distinctive face isn’t really hidden behind the forehead ridges and horns. Instead, Curry turns Darkness into a character only he could play.

The patience and enunciation of his evil proclamations walk right up to the line of parody, but are presented with a certain amount of sensuality and practicality. When he tries to turn Lili (Mia Sara) to the ways of evil, he doesn’t act like this process will be particularly hard. And that’s because Curry, correctly, understands the ethos of the movie. The goblins and various creatures can be over-the-top, but Curry’s plays Darkness as an eventuality of life, rather than a plot device.

Much of Legend is about reversing a terrible, eternal winter, not unlike the status quo in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But the true force of nature in this film is evil itself, and it’s never been crafted quite the way Tim Curry managed. Legend may not be his most beloved film, but it’s worth another look, simply to watch a master at work.

Legend is available for rent on Apple TV, Prime Video, and elsewhere.

There are a few voices that just can’t be separated from their characters. Hulk’s screams will always be Lou Ferrigno, C-3PO will always be Anthony Daniels, and Optimus Prime will always be Peter Cullen. The longtime voice actor was behind a number of recognizable characters, including King Kong, the Predator, and Eeyore, but for many fans, he will always be Optimus Prime.

Cullen recently passed away at the age of 85, so let’s take a look back at one of his most affecting performances of the robot in disguise — one that shows how crucial his character was to the franchise as a whole.

On August 8, 1986, The Transformers: The Movie hit theaters. It was supposed to refresh the cast and make room for new characters — and therefore new toys — but fans were unprepared for what they were about to walk into. It began like any other Transformers adventure, with the Autobots fighting the Decepticons, but about a half hour into the runtime, Optimus Prime is fatally wounded. Just like that, the leader of the Autobots and arguably the protagonist of the show itself perished. Even though he technically won his fight with Megatron, he was still too wounded to recover.

That loss looms large over the rest of the movie, as the Autobots try to cope with grief and defeat the planet-eating Unicron, famously played by Orson Welles. By the end, Hot Rod reluctantly takes on the helm as leader, but Optimus Prime was always the true leader of the group in cultural memory. In fact, his character was brought back in a two-part episode just a few months later in February 1987.

This is a testament to Cullen’s performance — even with a robotic character, his voice was so key to the heart of the series that he had to return not long after, a choice that was fueled by fan demand. He ended up playing Optimus for over 40 years, including in Michael Bay’s live-action Transformers movies well into the 21st Century. In 2021, Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura made it clear the role was his as long as he wanted it.

“Peter Cullen brought this character to life with his amazing voice back in 1984. Is he returning? Absolutely,” he said at a press event. “There’s, there’s no discussion without him, really, you know, unless he didn’t want it. That would be the only way he would not be in here.”

Unfortunately, Cullen’s passing makes this return impossible, and other actors have since taken on the role, including Chris Hemsworth in 2024’s Transformers One. But it’s Cullen’s Optimus Prime that fans grieved in 1986 and are now grieving again forty years later. But as Optimus Prime said all those years ago: “Do not grieve...soon, I shall be One with the Matrix.”

The Transformers: The Movie is back in theaters for a short time: starting September 17 through September 21, 2026.

Before DeForest Kelley’s Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy became the most beloved (and crankiest) physician in the original Star Trek, there were actually not one but two different characters who were his predecessors. Well before the spinoff/prequel series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds asserted that Dr. Joseph M’Benga (Babs Olusanmokun) was the CMO of the Enterprise prior to McCoy, Star Trek’s two pilot episodes from 1964 and 1965 had different characters filling the ship’s doctor role: Dr. Boyce (John Hoyt) in “The Cage” and Dr. Piper (Paul Fix) in “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” Counting M’Benga, this means there are no fewer than four men who served as ship’s doctor between 2254 and 2265.

And now, in Strange New Worlds Season 4, Episode 6, “Off Hour,” Dr. Boyce has returned to the Starship Enterprise for the first time on screen in 62 years, a rebooted character from a kind of prehistory of Star Trek. This time, he’s played by Brian Markinson, who, oddly enough, is now playing his fifth role in the Trek franchise. Here’s what to know about how Boyce fits into canon, how the Dr. Piper question of it all has not been addressed, and what Markinson has to say about rejoining the Final Frontier.

Spoilers ahead.

Who is Dr. Boyce in Star Trek canon?

Dr. Phil Boyce, originally played by veteran actor John Hoyt (he showed up in The Twilight Zone and The Planet of the Apes TV show), was the first ship’s doctor of the Enterprise under Pike’s command. He’s remembered for coming to Pike’s quarters early in “The Cage” to console Pike about the pressures of command. Boyce famously produces a homemade martini on the spot in order to get Pike to open up.

“He has some fantastic lines in that scene,” actor Brian Markinson tells Inverse. “Especially the famous one about telling things to your bartender that you won’t tell your doctor.”

As mentioned, Markinson played four characters in Trek before: Vorin in the TNG episode “Homeward” (“The first episode directed by Michael Dorn!” the actor notes), Lt. Durst in two episodes of Voyager, Sulan in Voyager’s “Faces,” and Elias Giger in DS9’s “In the Cards.” But, obviously, playing a legacy character like Boyce is a big deal. Because now, in theory, the character could appear again.

“What a gift to throw that uniform on with that insignia, to step onto this magnificent set they've built,” Markinson says. “I sort of equate it to Mad Men. I did a season and a half of Mad Men, and you walk into this time capsule, and so 90 percent of the work is done for you. It's the same thing walking onto the bridge of the Enterprise, or e walking through those hallways. Every space you walk into, it's remarkable.”

How Strange New Worlds changes Boyce canon, and foreshadows the future

Although SNW hasn’t addressed the idea that Dr. Piper seems to show up as a substitute medical officer in “Where No Man Has Gone Before” in 2265-ish, there is a very clear implication that Dr. Boyce is returning to the Enterprise. Early in Episode 6, Chapel (Jess Bush) says that Boyce was “the interim CMO” and now, in coming back to the ship, he’ll be “second banana” to M’Benga.

This dialogue goes by quickly, and overall, the episode’s scenes with Chapel and M’Benga further the notion that M’Benga has a bit of a “should I stay or should I go” feeling about the Enterprise. But the idea that someone would leave the ship, then return, and essentially work in a demoted position, happens all the time in Star Trek. More to the point, by the time of TOS, this exactly explains M’Benga’s role in the classic timeline: He’s not the CMO; that’s Bones. So, in TOS, M’Benga is “second banana” to Bones, the same way Boyce’s return to the ship makes him a subordinate, after having been the boss.

All of this certainly means that Markinson could 100 percent return for future episodes. In fact, everything about “Off Hour” seems to make it clear that Boyce will be part of the Enterprise support crew going forward.

“I’d never say no to this franchise,” Markinson says. “Who knows where they’re going with this. I’ll return anytime if they’ll have me.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds streams on Paramount+.

Phasers on Stun!: How the Making — and Remaking — of Star Trek Changed the World

Amazon -

Now that we’re in James Gunn’s new DCU, DC has mostly moved beyond the Zack Snyder era. Kicked off by 2013’s Man of Steel, the original DCEU was never quite able to escape the shadow of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a disastrous theatrical release for Justice League was the final nail in its coffin. Several projects following Justice League continued to build off casting and aesthetics from Snyder’s universe (Aquaman, Wonder Woman ‘84, the first season of Peacemaker), but with the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021 and The Flash in 2023, we’ve officially entered a new era of DC Comics live-action adaptations, one eager to forge its own path.

But while film and television have left the Snyder universe behind, video games haven’t followed suit. The recent Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is a patchwork of every cinematic era of Batman, which means that Ben Affleck’s armored Batsuit is in the game, along with the Batmobile as it appears in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice — as well as an abundance of meta-jokes about some of the more infamous elements of Snyder’s universe. Now the game is taking that a step further, as the trailer for the next DLC release relies heavily on some narrative beats from one of the DCEU’s most reviled entries.

Yesterday, Warner Bros. Games released the official trailer for Legacy of the Dark Knight’s Mayhem Collection DLC, which includes a host of villain-themed alternate costumes as well as a new “Mayhem Mode,” in which players control The Joker and Harley Quinn and try to cause as much vehicular damage across Gotham City as possible. The DLC also includes a brand new Arkham mission that appears to retell The Joker and Harley’s first meeting, and their resulting escape from the asylum. While it’s exciting to finally be able to play as members of Batman’s rogues’ gallery, what’s even more interesting is the fact that the Arkham mission and Mayhem Mode introduce Task Force X and fill it with members who look ripped straight from 2016’s Suicide Squad, alongside a version of Amanda Waller who looks heavily inspired by Viola Davis’ depiction.

The trailer shows off Katana, Captain Boomerang, and Rick Flag, along with characters like King Shark, Mongal, and Polka-Dot Man from the 2021 sequel The Suicide Squad. That second installment is now official DCU canon, but it’s been quite a while since David Ayer’s 2016 film was referenced in any capacity — leave it to a game that’s left no stone in Batman’s cinematic canon unturned to rectify that. Even if Suicide Squad wasn’t exactly a resounding win for the superhero genre, its inclusion in Legacy of the Dark Knight is proof that the Snyder era still has fans out there excited to see more of it in any way they can.

Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Hollywood has been searching for the successor to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie since it became a bona fide cultural phenomenon three years ago. But no amount of halfhearted toy movies or baldfaced IP cash grabs could capture that specific combination of earnest homage and campy meta-humor that made Barbie such a success. It’s ironic, then, that the closest Hollywood has gotten was hiding under Warner Bros.’ nose — and would’ve never made it to the big screen if the studio had gotten its way. But, luckily for us, Coyote vs. Acme is finally here, and it’s a triumph in every single way.

At this point, Coyote vs. Acme may be more well-known for its troubled journey to the big screen — first getting shelved by Warner Bros. in 2023 in an attempt at a tax write-off, then getting saved by the subsequent public backlash — but it’s immediately apparent that the movie is much more than its controversy. The movie follows Wile E. Coyote, who, after decades of fruitlessly pursuing Road Runner, decides to finally take it up with the Acme Corporation by hiring personal injury lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to sue the big company. It’s the great premise for a ton of gags (after all, what was Wile E. Coyote put on this Earth for but to suffer for our entertainment?), but Coyote vs. Acme takes its joke one step further and delivers the best live-action/animation hybrid film since 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

It’s because, like Barbie before it, Coyote vs. Acme treats its world as seriously and earnestly as it does its gags. It’ll throw an anvil on Wile E. Coyote, but then make you feel a little bad about it. It’s a miracle of tonal balancing — and one that’ll make you laugh just as much as it will make you cry.

Coyote vs. Acme begins in 1992, when Dr. Peter Lorre (voiced by Looney Tunes legend Eric Bauza) attempts to blow the whistle on shady Acme practices, only to be captured and imprisoned inside a portable hole, never to be heard from again… Cut to present day, and Wile E. Coyote is deep in his latest scheme to capture Road Runner — this time, it’s rocket shoes — which naturally blow up in his face. Nursing his wounds and reminiscing on all the other harebrained schemes that nearly maimed him, he stumbles upon a TV ad for Avery, Jones & Maltese, a personal injury law firm in Albuquerque that specializes in cases of cartoon violence involving Acme products. It dawns on him, as he sees the mountains of failed Acme products around him, that he may be Victim No. 1 of the corporation.

But when he comes to Kevin Avery for help, the lawyer isn’t quite the warrior for justice his ad presents him as; rather, he’s a washed-up burnout who mostly gets his clients pennies in wimpy settlements. But using a combination of his natural wiles and some good old-fashioned dynamite, Wile E. Coyote manages to turn his case into a major classic action case, which Kevin’s idealistic niece and intern Paige (Lana Condor) enthusiastically supports. Kevin reluctantly goes along with the case, which pits him against his old Harvard rival, Buddy Crane (John Cena, perfectly cast and wonderfully expressive), now a high-powered Acme attorney who looks like John Cena. But their highly publicized case unexpectedly drags them into a wide-reaching conspiracy that stretches back to 1992 and involves a nefarious series of experimental trials called “Project Sisyphus.”

One of the first things there is to admire about Coyote vs. Acme is just how effortless it is. It juggles its various plot threads and many, many gags by centering its emotional narrative on the relationship between Wile E. Coyote — who, it should be noted, remains silent the entire film and only speaks in signs that he admits he only has a limited number of — and Kevin Avery. The two of them develop a delightful buddy-comedy dynamic, with Forte demonstrating the kind of comedic panache displayed by the best actors who play opposite a cartoon character. Kevin and Wile frequently clash, often with violent results — though the violence in cartoon form (explosions, piano crashes, etc.) is handwaved away as only affecting cartoons (and occasionally, a real car or wall), who by nature frequently bounce back.

Or do they? As much as Coyote vs. Acme cheekily plays out the classic Looney Tunes gags that have kept America entertained for decades, it also seriously pokes at the fragile apparatus that keeps this human-cartoon world in harmony. Do the cartoons really not feel every scrape, every splat, every anvil? Are they really fine with being considered lesser than humans? Must one imagine Wile E. Coyote happy? These are a few of the bigger questions that Coyote vs. Acme poses as it takes a sudden turn from legal comedy into a darker, noir-colored thriller, which involves some anonymous tips from Bugs Bunny, a Daffy Duck who’s truly gone daffy, and Tweety Bird being blackmailed into being a mercenary. (All of whom are also voiced by Bauza.)

But don’t worry about your Looney Tunes getting a little too dark; director Dave Green and writer Samy Burch, who co-wrote the story with James Gunn and Jeremy Slater, keep the gags and jokes coming a mile-a-minute, and the tone maintains its breezy quality throughout. Despite the film’s years spent languishing in its own legal hell, the jokes remain remarkably sharp and relevant — one particular joke about an anti-predator spray involves the lecherous Pepé Le Pew. And the animation, provided by DNEG in a combination of 2D and 3D, looks beautifully crisp and natural against the sun-dappled landscapes of Albuquerque.

Once canceled, miraculously saved, Coyote vs. Acme is the heir to Barbie that Hollywood has been looking for. It’s not just that it’s funny, breezy, smart, and earnest; it’s that it does it all while deftly paying homage to the franchise that has delighted audiences for nearly a century. It is easily the best live-action animation hybrid of this century. And that truly is all, folks.

Coyote vs. Acme opens in theaters August 28.

Ever since Ridley Scott first changed science fiction and horror forever with his 1979 masterwork Alien, the Xenomorph and the legacy it leaves behind have been pretty inescapable on-screen. The 80s gave us James Cameron’s beloved action-heavy sequel Aliens, the 90s gave us the studio-manipulated (but bold swings nonetheless) missteps of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection, and while not official canon entries, the 2000s gave us the surprisingly fun B-movie Alien vs Predator and its much darker (literally) and reviled sequel AvP: Requiem.

The series persists to this day, carried throughout the 2010s by a long-gestating prequel series by Ridley Scott before 20th Century Fox’s acquisition by Disney resulted in 2024’s relatively safe Greatest Hits installment Alien: Romulus. While the film was undoubtedly a success (grossing $350 million on an $80 million budget), and Scott’s second prequel, Alien: Covenant, underperformed at the box office, it’s a shame that such an intriguing (albeit initially unwanted) and subversive take on the franchise’s origins was sidelined the way it was. But if Scott’s recent comments are to be believed, there might still be hope yet for a third movie to cap off the trilogy – and to resolve the story of one of the series’ most fascinating characters.

In a recent interview with the LA Times to discuss his most recent film, The Dog Stars, Ridley Scott casually mentioned that a third installment is in the works for his Alien prequel series, which began with 2012’s Prometheus and was continued with 2017’s aforementioned Alien: Covenant.

According to him, the movie will pick up with Michael Fassbender’s David, forging a “brave new world for himself.” Since his introduction in Prometheus as Peter Weyland’s all-too-curious and fatally human android companion, David has quickly become one of the most acclaimed and thought-provoking characters in the Alien franchise; according to a rumor from the website World of Reel, Fede Álvarez had plans to bring David back in a sequel to Alien: Romulus only for them to be shot down by Ridley Scott, but the character has even transcended the silver screen with an appearance in the 2024-2025 Aliens vs Avengers comic book crossover.

The last time we saw David, he was transporting several frozen Xenomorph embryos to a new human colony after switching places with the Covenant’s altruistic synthetic crew member Walter (his robot identical twin), much to the horror of Katherine Waterson’s final girl,Daniels.

It’s a cliffhanger that was ignored by Romulus — mostly because Romulus takes place after Alien and before Aliens, rather than in the time for Alien, like Covenant.

Still, if the Alien franchise returned to the post-Covenant, pre-Alien timeline, there’s plenty to explore. Since we first met him, David has longed for the opportunity to create life of his own, and after birthing an early form of Xenomorphs on the barren Engineer homeworld where he’s discovered in Alien: Covenant, what could be a better place for experimentation than a budding human colony?

Watching David’s evolve from a downtrodden servant to the AI God of a new species (a trajectory that evokes the tragedy of Icarus) is just one of the things that makes Ridley Scott’s prequel films so engaging, and it’s exciting for fans of them to know that there might be a resolution coming after all.

Alien: Covenant is available for rent on YouTube, Prime Video and elsewhere.

When the undead start ravaging a mall, it’s impossible not to think about George Romero. The influence of the Dawn of the Dead filmmaker is pretty inescapable in zombie movies in general, but it’s particularly pronounced when one of them adds a dab of social commentary to its bloody mayhem. In this way, Yeon Sang-ho is one of Romero’s most faithful disciples: Beginning with Train to Busan in 2016, the Korean writer-director has used a series of zombie-themed horror-action hybrids to explore big ideas about social cohesion and individual self-interest. His latest, Colony, is no exception.

Colony is unrelated to the Train to Busan movies, and takes place in a shopping center that’s also hosting a research conference tied to a top-secret lab where scientists have been conducting risky experiments within biting distance of the public. That might sound far-fetched, but mixed-use skyscrapers like Colony’s (fictional) Dongwoo-ri Building are fairly common in places like Seoul. Still, having these wildly different locations literally stacked on top of each other is an apt metaphor for the film, which crams a lot of ideas into its familiar framework.

Besides Romero, Colony also borrows elements from the Resident Evil games — think sinister biotech and shady corporations — as well as, more crucially, Yeon’s own work. Some scenes recall Yeon’s breakout Train to Busan, as the human characters’ initial willingness to work together breaks down under what, to be fair, is an absolutely brain-boiling level of stress. The director’s big innovation here is contrasting human behavior with the “collective intelligence” of the zombie horde, which is explained by the movie’s two lead scientists in terms of ants. (And where do ants live? In a Colony, of course.)

That means that the zombies communicate primarily through pheromones, using a network of weblike mycelium that covers every surface of the building where most of the film’s action takes place. They also evolve as one: If one zombie learns how to walk, for example, the rest will soon stand up. When one of the undead receives new information, all of them freeze in place, their mouths hanging open as they collectively process it. It’s a striking image, and Yeon uses it to chilling effect throughout the movie.

At the center of this hivemind is the film’s villain, Seo Young-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan), a biologist who’s inoculated himself with a vaccine that makes him impervious to the zombies’ attacks and makes him indispensable to the Korean military’s effort to stop them. Seo’s reason for creating this crisis is one of those out-of-nowhere twists that Korean cinema is known for. But compared to, say, the ending of Oldboy, the effect here is more silly than shocking. Colony’s overstuffed and unfocused second half is full of such tonal misses, which is unfortunate — especially considering how compelling some of the details can be.

The stoty begins with former college professor Kwon Se-jeong (Jun Ji-hyun), who comes to the aforementioned conference at the suggestion of her ex-husband Han Gyu-seong (Go Soo). He’s trying to set her up for a job before he moves out of the country with his new wife, Gong Seol-hee (Shin Hyun-been), who also happens to be a biotechnologist. (This is one of those silly coincidences that becomes important in the second half.) Then Young-cheol injects his former boss with a bioweapon made of mutated slime, turning the CEO into Patient Zero and Se-jeong’s networking opportunity into a fight for survival.

She’s joined by a collection of typical horror-movie character types, most of whom are capable but not particularly memorable. That being said, Ji Chang-wook is a highlight as Choi Hyun-seok, a mall security guard who’s touchingly devoted to his sister Choi Hyun-hee (Kim Shin-rok). Hyun-hee uses a wheelchair, which makes it difficult for her to keep up with the rest of the group as they flee for their lives. So Hyun-seok carries her on his back, and it’s great fun watching the temporarily conjoined siblings slash and stab their way through the maze-like corridors on their way to (hopefully) being rescued.

Colony’s action-horror set pieces are well done: Another highlight comes when Se-jeong figures out that the creatures recognize humans by scent, leading to a tense diversion involving antifreeze and bottles of perfume. The zombie actors also deliver thrills: Yeon likes to cast contortionists in undead roles, and their uncanny movements are the best practical effect a film like this could ask for.

But while individual elements of the movie are exciting, by its final act Colony has introduced a few too many of them, which means that none of them really stand out. Its zombies might all blend together into one big mass, but that doesn’t mean the movie has to.

From Well Go USA Entertainment, Colony opens in U.S. theaters on August 28.

There are roughly four gazillion true crime podcasts and documentaries available today, and if that’s not enough for you to consume, you could always take a true crime cruise. This morbid industry was presaged by the 2014 movie Nightcrawler, which follows freelancer Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he goes to greater and greater lengths to film bloody events and sell them to TV stations.

Now, Nightcrawler has a new 4K Blu-ray release from Shout Factory’s Select label, and it’s arriving at the perfect time. Not only did its writer and director, Dan Gilroy, recently do great work on Andor, but a movie that echoes Nightcrawler’s strange, dark world is about to take over theaters next month.

How Was Nightcrawler Received?

Nightcrawler was lauded by critics, making over 30 top-ten lists at the end of 2014, and Gyllenhaal’s performance was considered a particular highlight. “Here, he both transforms and transcends,” Dan Jolin wrote for Empire. “As Lou Bloom he is pale and wired, looking less gaunt than stretched. He talks in a nasal, high-register patter, reeling off his careerist jargon in a way that is borderline comedic, but for the edge he gives it. Gilroy provides no backstory for Bloom; it is Gyllenhaal’s performance that fills in the cracks.”

Writer and director Dan Gilroy was also praised for his fast-paced script, and it’s not uncommon to see Nightcrawler used in screenwriting classes. “Nightcrawler curves and hisses its way into your head with demonic skill,” Peter Travers wrote in his review for Rolling Stone. “When the laughs come, they stick in your throat. This is a deliciously twisted piece of work.”

Gilroy’s direction was also praised. At the time, he was best known as the screenwriter of middling movies like Real Steel and The Bourne Legacy, but now he’s also known for writing some of the most acclaimed episodes of Andor, created by his brother Tony Gilroy. Nightcrawler was certainly a huge step in the right direction.

Why Is Nightcrawler Worth Watching Now?

Nightcrawler is an amazing feat just on its own merits, full of lush visuals, a gripping story, and a protagonist who’s a force to be reckoned with. Then there are the performances, led by Gyllenhaal but supported by strong turns from Riz Ahmed, Lou’s underpaid assistant, and Rene Russo, Gilroy’s wife, as Lou’s boss. Even the electronic soundtrack by acclaimed composer James Newton Howard is a revelation, as it turns Lou’s journey into a sort of perverse triumph.

But Nightcrawler is especially relevant now thanks to an upcoming movie: Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, host of the real-life true-crime series To Catch A Predator. Like Lou Bloom, Primetime’s Hansen is hyperaware of TV’s love of the gritty and gory, and he’s unafraid to do whatever it takes to satisfy that love, even if that means stepping into some very grey areas. Primetime looks like Nightcrawler’s spiritual successor, so before you check it out, watch this 2014 classic to see how they compare.

What Special Features Does The Nightcrawler 4K Blu-Ray Have?

The new 4K UHD and Blu-ray edition of Nightcrawler contains two discs with the following special features:

• 4K Scan from the Original DI Film Negative
• Presented in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
• Audio Commentary with Film Historian Joe von Appen
• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Dan Gilroy, Producer Tony Gilroy, and Editor John Gilroy
• Scoring Nightcrawler—Interview with Composer James Newton Howard
• If It Bleeds, It Leads: Making Nightcrawler
• Trailer

Nightcrawler - Collector's Edition 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Remember Buddy, the friendly orange unicorn created to teach kids about right and wrong, sharing, and caring? Casper Kelly’s feature debut, so named for its mascot, doesn’t actually expect you to (Buddy is fictional, after all), but it helps to be familiar with the kids’ shows that Buddy is so eagerly skewering here.

Kelly is best known for his tenure with Adult Swim, directing shorts disguised as sitcom openings or infomercials that, if you woke up in the middle of the night and caught them on TV — as many a Millennial did — you’d think you were losing your mind. Buddy’s strongest moments follow that brief to the letter: the film reads as a few lost episodes of Barney & Friends twisted into a bloody fever dream. The bulk of Kelly’s debut takes place within the fictional realm of It’s Buddy!, where the eponymous unicorn (voiced capably by Keegan-Michael Key), a handful of mascots and animated objects, and a cast of sweet kids live in perfect episodic harmony. That is, until Buddy’s “aww shucks” placidity gives way to a brittle temper, sparking explosive, violent acts that occur just off-screen and will undoubtedly trigger a “WTF?!” from a rowdy audience. (If you’re lucky enough to catch this in theaters.)

Buddy’s outbursts, and the gaslighting that comes after, strike a tonal balance that’s been sorely lacking in the year’s scarier offerings. Buddy finds an unrelenting rhythm as each “episode” comes to an end — punctuated by its own version of Barney’s “I Love You” and a tease of Buddy’s insidious side — only to be followed by another adventure more bizarre than the last. The best part about Buddy is, like Kelly’s viral short, Too Many Cooks, there’s no way to predict what’s next. That zany blessing can also sometimes be a curse, especially when it betrays the film’s inconsistencies, but this fluorescent nightmare gets a gold star for juggling humor, horror, and heart.

At just 95 minutes, Buddy is brisk, but otherwise pretty ambitious. Kelly and his co-writer, Jamie King, have clearly thought a lot about this world, and their script drops enough lore to fill a real TV show to the brim. Our cast of kids seems to exist only on the set of It’s Buddy! — there’s no cameraman to yell “cut” at the end of each episode, nor do they get to go home. No one remembers their lives or their families. There’s only Buddy, his strange candy-colored realm populated with talking flowers and mailboxes, and the love and friendship that seemingly keeps it all running.

Had Buddy focused solely on the deconstruction of a kids’ TV show, it’d have been a solid effort. It’d also be a safe one, and this film isn’t content to simply stitch together a few episodes of a fake series, brilliantly bonkers as those episodes are. It’s also focusing on the trippy methods Buddy uses to lure kids from the real world and into his, which we witness when Buddy yanks us out of the TV world and plops us back into reality. Stay-at-home-mom Grace (Cristin Milioti) is convinced that something in her humdrum life just isn’t quite right. It has a lot to do with this sense of absence — an empty chair at the dining room table, the decal on the back of her car that features stick figure versions of her family — and Buddy might be responsible for it.

Through Grace, and her bonds with her husband (a brilliantly over-it Topher Grace) and kids, Buddy is scratching at the questions many ‘90s kids and their guardians have toyed with in the years since. Were shows like Barney or Teletubbies more than the sum of their creepy parts? Were parents right to park their kids in front of the TV and allow these “educational” shows to babysit them? Were the mascots we grew up watching just perverts in fur suits? Buddy makes a tentative case for the latter, but its thesis on this phenomenon as a whole lacks the strong focus that Kelly brings to other aspects of the film.

Buddy is constantly hilarious, scary, and ingeniously shot, but its tone is nowhere near as consistent. Sometimes it’s all an extended metaphor for how weird the world can be for kids, gesturing as much to Barney or Five Nights at Freddy’s as it is to the behind-the-scenes horrors of The Wizard of Oz. Sometimes it’s a fantasy-horror romp that’s writing the rules of its reality as it goes. Buddy is almost undone by its reluctance to commit to one or the other — that, and its last-minute lore dumps.

Like Too Many Cooks, this story unravels like one long, dark improv game, with each nihilistic twist “yes and”-ing the last. Unlike that short, though, its search for meaning comes just a little too late. Its final gut punch dredges up more questions than answers, nearly undercutting brilliant turns from Key and Milioti. Buddy’s success will depend entirely on one’s bandwidth for BS. All told, though, it’s a valiant effort from Kelly, even if this film might have worked a tad better as a short.

Buddy opens in theaters on August 28.

It’s rare for a remake of a genre film to be better than the original, but a second remake that goes toe-to-toe with both its predecessors is rarer still. Abel Ferrara, the New York exploitation auteur behind The Driller Killer and Ms. 45, expanded his career to more ambitious and experimental extremes in the 1990s, and that included Body Snatchers, Ferrara’s first sci-fi, his first for a major studio, and the third overall adaptation of Jack Finney’s sci-fi novel The Body Snatchers.

An accomplished depictor of unease and violation, Ferrara matches the lean pacing of the B-movie original but also brings a colder and unnerving edge to the body-and-identity horror. Thanks to a new 4K restoration courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome, this underloved sci-fi remake can finally sing—or scream.

How was Body Snatchers received upon release?

Ferrara’s first studio film was not encouraging, as Warner Bros. meddled with the film and pushed the release date back all through 1993, eventually dumping it in a tiny number of theaters in early 1994. The film premiered in competition in Cannes, but by the time of its release, critics were divided. To Roger Ebert, Body Snatchers was an exciting evolution of the sci-fi story; to The New York Times, it was a limp shrug of a remake (their critic felt it was made by pod people). As a result of Warner Brothers’ distribution sabotage, the film made under $500,000 at the box office — a dismal reception, but one that all but ensured a cult following would follow in the years to come.

Why is Body Snatchers important to see now?

Political readings of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers are divided: is it a work of anticommunist paranoia, or a cautionary tale about the McCarthy Era turning Americans on each other? Outside of the conservative 1950s, the 1978 remake has a different mood: a thick fog of cynicism, an eerie attraction to rationality, and an aversion to stale modernity. But Abel Ferrara’s Body Snatchers is the first version of Finney’s novel made after the Cold War (the 1991 shoot timed with the final dissolution of the Soviet Union) slap bang in the middle of “the End of History.” According to philosopher Francis Fukuyama, western liberal democracy had become the final form of national politics and government. Body Snatchers’ pod people could be an intrusion of a supreme, foreign ideology on a society with its guard down, or a confirmation that sterile conformity was the defining expression of identity and power in the late capitalism of the 1990s.

Such commentary is of little concern to Body Snatchers’ characters — the only thing on their mind is survival. Teenager Marti (Gabrielle Anwar) is dragged along by her chemist father Steve (Terry Kinney) to a remote Alabama military base, along with Steve’s second wife Carol (Meg Tilly) and Marti’s half-brother Andy (Reilly Murphy). Steve is working for the Environmental Protection Agency, and is testing the ecosystem around the base for toxic abnormalities.

Long before the reveal of its pod people, Body Snatchers underlines its themes of sinister conformity and infiltration anxiety: there is no warm community welcome in the cluster of soldiers’ homes, and the houses are purpose-built units in a drab, sterile neighborhood. In her opening voiceover, Marti references the uncanny ease in which human relationships move away from what we’re comfortable with, referring to her stepmother as the woman who replaced her mother long before Carol morphs into a taunting predator hiding in plain sight.

The setting shift from a town to a military base indicates that human beings will accept emotionless authority under the right circumstances, and only if it uses a recognized, accepted disguise. As alien pods create inhuman doubles of army personnel and then dispose of the originals, anyone resisting the slow invasion is easily swallowed by the natural rhythms and secrecy of army power, like the desperate escaped soldier who ambushes Marti in a gas station toilet, or the medical officer (Forest Whittaker) who keeps his suspicions on the down low until it’s too late.

But where Body Snatchers excels is in its explosions of body terror, more explicit and invasive than previous adaptations had attempted. The gooey, writhing practical effects are disgusting but hard to tear your eyes from: we see inside gestating pods growing a human doppelganger, as well as noodle-thin tendrils wound around their prey to fill their every available orifice — a disturbing image juxtaposed by the alien doubles appearing passive, perfect, and naked after the transformation.

When Marti and Steve wake up halfway through the symbiosis and shake the appendages off, their half-finished alien cadaver suddenly melts, capsizing into itself, a vivid eruption of gore that’s uncannier because we’re looking at a corrupted version of a real person. When the final survivors amount to Marti, Andy, and the heroic helicopter pilot Tim (Billy Wirth), the stakes now feel generational — young people reeling from seeing family and order torn away from them, trying to survive a new malign order. Pod-Carol’s haunting delivery of, “Where you gonna go, where you gonna run, where you gonna hide?” feels almost existential — how could you possibly survive in a world growing more hostile?

What new features does Body Snatchers 4K Blu-ray have?

Vinegar Syndrome’s 4K restoration — straight from the 35mm original camera negative — boasts eye-catching original sleeve artwork and is packed with new interviews with crucial voices on the film. You can hear from Ferrara, editor Anthony Redman, and composer Joe Delia. Also promising is a new commentary track from writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, whose criticism focuses on women in horror and who previously wrote about Ferrara’s rape-revenge grindhouse classic Ms. 45.

Body Snatchers 4K Blu-ray

Vinegar Syndrome -

In 2021, Netflix made a risky business decision: it acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company, giving the streamer rights to adapt all of the Welsh writers’ works. So far, that has resulted in an Oscar-winning short film from Wes Anderson, a filmed version of Matilda: The Musical that sparked a TikTok dance, and an animated film based on Dahl’s book The Twits.

There’s even more to come. Also in production is Wonka’s The Golden Ticket, a reality competition show “narrated” by an AI replica of Gene Wilder’s voice, and Charlie vs. The Chocolate Factory, an animated film from Taika Waititi.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Dahl’s oeuvre. Netflix just recently announced an adaptation of his most underrated stories, and the format sounds awfully like the biggest thriller surprise of 2026: Widow’s Bay.

Netflix recently announced a still-untitled series based on Roald Dahl’s short stories for adults. While he may be best known for his children’s stories, he had a prolific career writing twisting and thrilling short stories for magazines including The New Yorker and Playboy. Some of these stories were adapted by Wes Anderson in his collection of short films in 2023, but there are plenty more left to be adapted.

This series, showrun by Fool Me Once’s Danny Brocklehurst, is now beginning production. “A young couple, marooned in a faded seaside town, must face con men, adulterers, murderous mothers, and snake charmers as they attempt to escape before their own fate is sealed,” the official synopsis reads. We also know the cast of the series, including Naomi Scott, Josh Finan, Imelda Staunton, Nicola Coughlan, Toby Jones, Carmen Ejogo, Dominic West, Christine Tremarco, Michael Socha, and Clarke Peters.

So while this series will adapt a number of Dahl’s stories, it will all be tied under a framing device of this young couple. If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s basically the structure of Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay, which focuses on a new part of a strange town each episode. So while one episode may be based on the Sea Hag, another is focused on an occult grimoire that gives party tips. That’s probably what we should expect from this Dahl series as well.

But just what Dahl stories will be featured in this series? We actually already have our first clue. “His enthralling, macabre and always unexpected tales gave life to vibrant, larger-than-life characters like The Landlady, Mister Boggis and the mysterious Fingersmith,” Brocklehurst said of Dahl in a press release. “To be given the chance to bring these characters to life in a contemporary setting is a dream come true.”

The Landlady is the main character of the short story of the same name, which follows a young man as he lodges with a woman with a devious talent for taxidermy. Mister Boggis is the name of a villain in The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but it’s also the name of a character in “Parson’s Pleasure,” a story about a man who tries to con a farmer out of a priceless Chippendale commode. The Fingersmith is a character in “The Hitch-Hiker,” a story of a pickpocket with impressive skills.

This won’t be the first time these stories have been adapted for television. In 1979, British TV channel ITV aired Tales of the Unexpected, a Twilight-Zone-esque anthology series hosted by Dahl that adapted a number of his short stories. “The Landlady” was adapted in Season 1, Episode 5, “The Hitch-Hiker” was adapted in Season 2, Episode 4, and “Parson’s Pleasure” was adapted in Season 3, Episode 6.

But Dahl wrote more than 60 short stories, so there’s no way these are the extent of the influences on this show — and some are tailor-made for a show like this. “Royal Jelly,” for instance, follows a bee-obsessed father as his unique cure for his sick child has unforeseen consequences. “William and Mary” is a twisted sci-fi tale that could be right out of Black Mirror. There’s even a story about a cat who is the reincarnation of Franz Liszt. From the humorous to the tragic to the terrifying, Dahl has written it all — and together, it’s the perfect recipe for an episodic, semi-anthological streaming series.

While there's simply no dethroning The Lord of the Rings in terms of its impact on the fantasy genre and pop culture at large, the last decade-and-a-half has solidified George R.R. Martin as a strong runner-up. The world he created with A Game of Thrones, the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, has transcended the page and become a sprawling television universe. Eight seasons of Game of Thrones have given way to spinoffs like House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and a film about Aegon’s Conquest is in the works, which means the Targaryen king himself is helping the franchise colonize new territory.

But for as successful as the world of Westeros has been on the small screen, that luck hasn’t transferred to a major video game hit. There have been many attempts, but they’ve mostly been lackluster action RPGs or low-stakes mobile games that just don’t befit the grand-scale conflict and political scheming of Martin’s universe. But there’s an upcoming release that’s challenging the franchise’s middling video game history, and based on our first look at it, it might be exactly what the series needs.

This year’s Gamescom event featured the first trailer for Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, an action-packed real-time strategy game developed and published by PlaySide Studios. The brief gameplay reveal opens on a shot of the foreboding Iron Throne to remind players what exactly they’ll be fighting for, then shows off what looks like a settlement-building element. Of course, the most exhilarating part of the reveal is the combat: players (the game has a single-player campaign and a multiplayer skirmish mode) will control the massive armies of the different Houses seen throughout the show (and even the Night King’s horde of White Walkers), using units like ground infantry, trebuchets, and dragons and recruited heroes such as Robb Stark and Jaime Lannister to defeat their enemies and slowly conquer Westeros.

A massive-scale RTS game feels like the perfect fit for Game of Thrones, as it allows players to immerse themselves in the seismic battles that make up the series, while also thinking about the political decision-making necessary to take and keep the Iron Throne. While it would be fun to play an intense sword-and-sorcery RPG or a hack-and-slash set within the franchise, Playside’s approach feels appropriate, and might be what the franchise needs to kickstart other games. Fifteen years after Martin’s creation made the jump from page-to-screen, fans of A Song of Ice and Fire might be on the cusp of finally getting the fantastic gaming experience they deserve.

Game of Thrones: War for Westeros releases in early 2027 for PC.

It’s hard to come to terms with the passing of Dolly Parton: the country singer and activist was the kind of figure who seemed almost immortal. Sadly, that wishful thinking doesn’t factor into our reality, but Parton’s contributions will live on with us forever — one of the most surprising being her support of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar joined the chorus of voices mourning Parton’s passing this Tuesday, reminding fans of some lesser-known trivia about the series. Gellar shared a clip of Parton discussing her love for Buffy — and her uncredited role as producer. “I thought Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a wonderful little show,” Parton told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live in 2021. Her Sandollar Productions, which she co-ran with her then-manager, Sandy Gallin, “were a small part of that. And I was very, very proud to be part of that.”

Sandollar’s role in Buffy’s legacy is actually much more significant than Parton let on in 2021. The duo also produced the original Buffy film in 1992, championing the story even despite its lackluster box office performance. It was Berman who approached writer Joss Whedon about turning the film into a series through Sandollar Television. Parton remained on as a producer throughout the show’s seven seasons, and it’s not hard to see why.

“The very first mission statement of [Buffy] was the joy of female power,” Whedon told Metroactive in 2002. “Having it, using it, sharing it.” That was essentially Parton’s MO, too: throughout her decades-spanning career, she searched for ways to empower everyone and champion equality. Buffy was also designed to subvert the trope of the blonde, helpless bimbo. At first glance, a series about a high school vampire hunter might not be totally up Parton’s alley — but when boiled down to its essentials, it makes so much sense to learn that she was involved with the story from the very beginning.

Though Gellar and the Buffy cast never met Parton on set, the actress revealed that Parton would find other ways to show her support. “We never saw her,” Gellar told Jimmy Fallon in 2023. “We’d get Christmas gifts in the beginning that would have our name... then one day, somebody asked her about it, and she complimented the show and my performance.” In her post mourning Parton’s passing, Gellar affirmed that the singer’s support “is everything to me.”

Parton’s support feels even more significant after the report that Searchlight’s planned Buffy reboot won’t be moving forward at Hulu. There are plenty of reasons for a show’s cancellation, but something as ambitious as Buffy might not have had support from Hulu executives.

“We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him,” Gellar revealed to People after the reboot got the axe. “That tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn't watch it.”

It just shows how rare it is to find a champion like Parton, particularly with female-led stories. Parton was one-of-one, but the world — and the industry — would be a much brighter place if we all took cues from her.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer streams on Hulu.

When you think of Tim Curry, you often think of his iconic look, his tall frame, and wide smile that was unmistakable even when he was in makeup as Dr. Frank-N-Furter or Pennywise the Clown. But the British actor, who recently passed away at the age of 80, was also recognizable by his booming voice. He was the voice of Hexxus, the spirit of destruction, in FernGully: The Last Rainforest, the Mouse King in Barbie in The Nutcracker, and Nigel Thornberry in The Wild Thornberrys. He was even cast as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series before he was replaced by Mark Hamill.

But in 2013, he took over the role of one of the most iconic villains in sci-fi history, and while you might not even know it, he was a key part of Star Wars history.

In 2012, British actor Ian Abercrombie passed away at the age of 77. This put Dave Filoni and the minds behind the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars in an awkward position: for six years, Abercrombie had lent his voice to Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious in the show, and replacing an actor for one of the biggest roles in the Star Wars Universe is no easy task. He not only had to live up to Ian Abercrombie, but also Ian McDiarmid’s live-action depiction.

“We had an extensive search to find a new voice for Palpatine,” Filoni told The Huffington Post. “It wasn't just a matter of finding an actor who could recreate lines from the films. We needed someone to deliver a performance that could stand alongside what Ian McDiarmid and Ian Abercrombie created as this legendary Star Wars character. At the end of the day, there is little question that bringing in an actor of Tim's caliber was perfect for Chancellor Palpatine.”

Curry voiced Darth Sidious throughout Seasons 5 and 6 of the series, including some of the most lauded episodes like “The Wrong Jedi” and “Voices.” His imposing voice blended perfectly into the world of the series, and while his voice may have sounded different from his predecessors, it felt so natural that it didn’t really matter.

Curry may be remembered for his live-action roles where his mastery of physical comedy affected everything from the door-slamming farce of Clue to the fantastical world of Legend, but just his voice alone is enough to transform a role from just a character to a figure with a voice that sticks in your head for weeks after. Tim Curry, the actor may no longer be with us, but Tim Curry, the voice, can be found everywhere, even in a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is now streaming on Disney+.

Stranger Things may have ended in the final hours of 2025, but it has a larger presence in 2026 than you realize. While Millie Bobby Brown is busy being Enola Holmes again and Gaten Matarazzo is doing Rent across the pond, the Hawkins legacy remains alive with Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, an animated Netflix series set between Stranger Things Season 2 and 3.

While Tales From ‘85 Season 1 just premiered in April, we’re already gearing up for Season 2. In a new trailer, we see how this in-between series stays within the series’ timeline by picking up right where it left off. Check it below:

While Season 1 of Tales From ‘85 was fun, it set up an odd dilemma. New kid in town Nikki Baxter joined the Hawkins gang, and while it seemed like she would simply move away at the end of the season and clear the slate for Season 3 of Stranger Things, her character instead became a permanent fixture. This means that Tales From ‘85 has a ticking clock: no matter what happens in the show, Nikki needs to be out of the picture by summer, when Stranger Things Season 3 is set.

Season 2 of Tales From ‘85 addresses this by only being set a few weeks (or possibly even days) after Season 1. “With Valentine's Day on the way, the gang must uncover the truth behind ghostly apparitions and a swarm of strange creatures causing chaos around town,” the official synopsis reads.

The ghost story also addresses another issue with Season 1. The gang found themselves in a dire situation multiple times, only to be saved at the last minute by Eleven’s telekinetic powers. It was fun at first, but then it became predictable. In Season 2, Eleven’s powers are useless against the ghosts, so the fights will have to get a lot more creative.

Stranger Things was notorious for its multi-year gaps between seasons. Tales From ‘85 is more than making up for the wait by delivering two seasons within six months. But how long can the series keep this up? Its story has an expiration date, so these characters have a finite number of adventures left. Then again, Phineas & Ferb managed to fit 134 episodes into 104 days of summer vacation, so maybe the winter of ‘85 can last for a few seasons more.

Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 premieres September 17 on Netflix.

For every superhero as popular and inescapable as Batman or Superman or Spider-Man, there are more than a few relegated to an existence as a D-list reject. Throughout the nearly 100 years that both Marvel and DC Comics have been around, they’ve given us more than a fair share of ridiculous characters forever trapped in the realm of D-list obscurity. You’ve certainly heard of Wolverine (because Hugh Jackman has been playing him for over 20 years), but what about the Karate Kid? Or Mr. Immortal? Or even Blue Marvel?

In the case of DC Comics, there’s an entire superhero team made up of D-list characters you’ve never heard of, but it works perfectly in their favor because those characters are all from thousands of years into the future. The Legion of Superheroes, a superhero team made up of metahuman young adults from the 31st century, made their debut in 1958’s Adventure Comics #247, and since then they’ve fought relative obscurity to become a DC Comics mainstay. Even though you may not know of them, there’s a small chance that one of their members might be joining the upcoming Jimmy Olsen spinoff TV show — and he’s arguably the most well-known and ridiculous out of all of them.

DC’s Weirdest Hero Might Be Joining The People v. Gorilla Grodd

On August 21, it was announced that HBO Max would be picking up a full season order for The People v. Gorilla Grodd, a mockumentary/investigative comedy within the cinematic DC Universe. Based on the official synopsis for the series, it follows Jimmy Olsen and the staff of the Daily Planet revisiting the crucial trial of Gorilla Grodd, a genius-level sentient ape (and frequent villain of The Flash) who was convicted of the murder of his own father. While Skyler Gisondo is assumed to lead the cast with Jimmy Tatro set to star as Gorilla Grodd, there are a few other cast members who have been revealed so far, and one of them is of particular note.

Eduardo Franco, mostly known for his roles as Argyle in Stranger Things and Spencer in American Vandal (the previous project of The People’s showrunners Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault), is confirmed to be in the show, and there’s a rumor circulating that he’s playing a character named “Tenz” who is friends with Grodd. Naturally, the internet has been set aflame with speculation off the claim — Tenz could be short for Tenzil Kem, the alter ego of the Legion of Superheroes’ very own Matter-Eater Lad, who has long been the source of internet exasperation and jokes, one of which came from Peacemaker season 1. As if to add fuel to the fire, Franco reposted news of his casting on his Instagram story with several stickers of mouths eating, which could certainly be poking fun at the rumor...but does look suspicious.

Who The Heck Is Matter-Eater Lad?

Introduced in Adventure Comics #303, Tenzil Kim is a hero from the far-flung future native to the planet Bismoll, an apparent paradise aside from the fact that it hosted a deadly microbe that made natural organic food supplies inedible. The human colonists who settled Bismoll carried the metagene (DC’s lesser known equivalent to Marvel’s X-gene), and over time their bodies adapted to eating and digesting the poisonous food, only to discover that they were now able to eat and digest inorganic material as well. Thus the Bismollian species over time became capable of eating quite literally anything.

Inspired by the adventures of Smallville’s Superboy (a contentious period of DC canon in which Clark Kent operated under the name Superboy as a teenager), the Legion of Superheroes is filled with characters who at first glance seem ridiculous, but use their ridiculous powers in service of good — naturally, Matter-Eater Lad fit right in. Alongside protecting the cosmos with his fellow Legionnaires, Tenzil also grew to understand the responsibilities of authority when he was drafted as a senator in the Bismoll government, a position that chafed against his duties as a superhero.

While the Silver Age absurdity of a character whose power is eating makes him frequently the butt of a joke, there’s also something emblematic of the imagination of comic books to the idea. And if Eduardo Franco is playing Tenzil in live-action, it’s another example of how much James Gunn loves the inherent silliness of superhero stories. The People v. Gorilla Grodd is already a show that’s already leaning into that aspect of the medium while also expanding the world, so wouldn’t it make sense to introduce a hero that’s a perfect example of the unbridled creativity of comic books?

We are living in the era of the epic. On the silver screen, movies like Dune and The Odyssey are showing just how vast and ambitious storytelling can really be. But on TV, we’re seeing a swing in the opposite direction, with more claustrophobic, smaller-scale stories finding success. The era of Game of Thrones is over, and now, smaller-stakes stories like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms thrive. One of the most acclaimed new shows of last year, The Pitt, is set entirely in one shift in an ER.

But there are still opportunities for feats of epic television, and Netflix proved that with Season 2 of its Spanish-language series One Hundred Years of Solitude, based on Gabriel García Márquez’s classic novel of the same name. In these eight episodes, ending with a feature-length finale, the Buendía family reaches its end not with a bang but with a whimper; but it still makes for one of the most impressive works of television in recent years.

The last time we left the Buendías, they were embroiled in a massive conflict in the secluded town of Macondo, but modernity will always beckon. As more and more illegitimate children show up on Ursula’s door from Aureliano, the family gets bigger both in size and grandeur. But the pride goeth before the fall, and the flaws of the family begin shining through. The Colonel is too bloodthirsty, Aureliano Segundo is too lazy, and eventually, Fernanda del Carpio is too pious.

But even with all the flaws, the mission of the family to further the town and preserve truth remains. José Arcadio Segundo witnesses a massacre that is quickly swept under the rug, but he dedicates himself to remembering what nobody else can. In this grand house, you either turn evil or you stick to your virtue long enough to go mad.

The last gasps of the original story lie in Ursula, who sees how her great-great-grandchildren run around and warns them about the curse she believes she placed on her family by marrying her cousin: if more cousins marry, their child will be born with a pig’s tail.

It sounds outlandish, but if you saw Season 1 of this series, then it feels natural. Márquez’s book is considered a masterwork of the magical realism genre, so surreal and fantastical elements can occur at any time without explanation. One character finds out he can encourage animals to breed when he has intercourse, while another gets research advice from a ghost.

Just like in Season 1, the cinematography only highlights the lush worldbuilding. Macondo may not be as flourishing as before, but we still see plenty of visually gorgeous sequences, telling us all we need to know about characters even as we blaze through generation after generation.

It all builds up to a tragic, 100-minute finale as the thesis of the book comes into light: Every dream, regardless of whether or not it was achieved, eventually just becomes a memory. We can have huge effects on the world, but over the course of decades, the world takes over. And that’s okay, because it’s not the end result that makes this series so interesting, it’s the 16 episodes that it takes to get there.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is now streaming on Netflix.

With so many streaming services to subscribe to nowadays, it’s inevitable that one slips through the cracks — and that means that its programming, however great, will also slip past our radar. Starz is one such service, and Sweetpea one of its most underrated shows. Ella Purnell might be best known for her work on Prime Video’s Fallout, or Paramount’s Yellowjackets, but she delivered an equally worthy performance in Sweetpea as Rhiannon Lewis, an unassuming secretary who lets out steam by murdering annoying men. The series hasn’t gotten the same attention as Purnell’s other, splashier roles, but its first season is well worth the same praise.

While the show is based on the novels by CJ Skuse, Sweetpea’s first season was essentially a prequel to the book series, tracing Rhiannon’s origins from mousy assistant to the calculated serial murderer we meet on the page. Across six episodes, Rhiannon justified her murder spree by targeting only people who “deserved it.” But Sweetpea’s finale sees her diverting from that brief when she attacks AJ (Calam Lynch), her love interest, co-worker, and the one person who seemed to be on her side no matter what.

In fairness to Rhiannon, AJ did call her a monster when he discovered her secret life. It’s why, when we reunite with our heroine in Sweetpea Season 2, she’s still a bit in shock. In the show’s recently released trailer, she’s venting to a kindly waitress about her “break-up.” Of course, she doesn’t reveal every detail about her falling out with AJ, if only to get the exact advice she needs to hear.

“He didn’t understand you,” Rhiannon’s new confidante says. “It doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person... You’re a complicated woman. Lean into who you are.”

After wrestling with her darker urges in Season 1, it seems like Rhiannon is finally catching up with the version of the character we meet in the book series. “I’m gonna live my truth!” she triumphantly declares at the end of the trailer, signaling a shift from self-denial into an assured (if misguided) new era.

Per the new season’s official synopsis, Sweetpea will next find Rhiannon grappling with “a new promotion, an irresistible rebound, and a copycat killer threatening to expose her.” As she navigates mounting pressure at work and her private and romantic life, “Rhiannon is forced to question whether her perfect ex, AJ, was right: Is she a monster?”

If Sweetpea Season 2 is about living in one’s truth, Rhiannon will likely find herself owning the denigrating term, accepting her murderous urges, and finding a balance with her mild-mannered public persona. That all will be easier said than done, of course, but maybe that’s just the drama this series needs to land on more people’s radar.

Sweetpea returns to Starz in early 2027.

Hig (Jacob Elordi) has a routine. He fuels up his rickety vintage airplane, flies into the abandoned city of Erie, Colorado, and restocks. He picks up more fuel from the gas station, its walls covered in graffiti and nearly buried by vegetation. He drops by the local bar, where he takes a few cases of soda. He naturally stops by the hospital, lights still flickering, where he’s squirreled away tons of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. But his most important stop is his old house, its doorway marked by a giant red X, but everything inside still untouched. He returns to his bedroom, where he’s greeted by the beatific vision of his pregnant wife, still full of love and life. But then we cut to Hig sitting alone on the bed, accompanied only by Jasper, his loving dog and partner in this post-apocalyptic landscape.

The world in The Dog Stars has been ravaged by a devastating flu pandemic, which has left only a handful of survivors scattered across the world. Some, like Hig and his disgruntled survivalist roommate Bangley (Josh Brolin), have insulated themselves in self-made fortresses, while others roam the country as part of feral, bloodthirsty tribes. Hig and Bangley’s home — an abandoned airport near Erie — is as good as it gets, with the ever-paranoid Bangley stocking up on weapons and provisions, while Hig makes his regular trips to the city (as well as stopping by a nearby Mennonite community to give handouts, against Bangley’s wishes). They’ve achieved “the American Dream,” Bangley says dryly. But Hig, who bristles against Bangley’s ruthless executions of anyone who comes within shooting distance of their home, wants more than just to get by. It’s the age-old question of many a post-apocalyptic drama: What does it mean to not just survive, but live? The Dog Stars doesn’t have an answer, and Ridley Scott’s adaptation of Peter Heller’s acclaimed 2012 novel doesn’t really seem interested in one.

There’s no question that apocalypse dramas are having a moment right now. The post-apocalyptic sci-fi genre is thriving both on the big screen and small screen, ranging from off-the-wall shows like Twisted Metal and Fallout to brutal horror like 28 Years Later, and outrageous spectacle like Mad Max: Fury Road. But perhaps the one having its biggest heyday is the grim survivalist drama, the genre best embodied by 2009’s The Road and buoyed by the popularity of The Last of Us. To both its benefit and its detriment, The Dog Stars feels like a blend of all of those, but most obviously owes its inspirations to the melancholic stylings of the bleak survivalist drama.

The Dog Stars, whose screenplay is penned by The Revenant scribe Mark L. Smith, wears the patina of prestige like Elordi’s Hig wears the protective scarf that remains fashionably draped around his neck throughout the film. It’s a slow-burning, wistful character drama that seeks to find the glimmers of hope at the end of the world. It’s present in the long stretches of Hig and Jasper wandering the abandoned ruins of Erie. It’s present in the sweet slice-of-life scenes of Hig pointing out the constellations to Jasper. And it’s ever-present when Hig, after a tragedy shakes his world, finally decides to part ways with Bangley to seek out a distress call he heard from Grand Junction years ago. It’s on this trip that he meets the kind former medical resident Cima (Margaret Qualley) and her grizzled dad Pops (Guy Pearce), and forms the kind of human connection he’s been seeking out for years — if only he’ll let it happen.

It all feels so very par for the course in a post-The Last of Us world, and it’s only emphasized by the constant soundtrack of folksy country songs that play over these early slow-moving stretches. But despite Elordi’s soulful performance — bringing some of that deep vulnerability that he first showed glimmers of in Frankenstein — and the long, lingering pans over magnificent mountains and landscapes now untouched by man, these melancholic stretches feel more morose than profound. The rest of the cast is solid (though it’s notable that apart from Benedict Wong, who only has a handful of speaking lines, the cast is primarily white with model good looks), and Brolin in particular lends an impish spark to his grizzled character, though they aren’t given much space to become more than post-apocalyptic archetypes.

It results in The Dog Stars feeling a little shaggy and shapeless, ironically only coming alive when its contemplative moments are interrupted by shocks of violence. Indeed, The Dog Stars is most successful when Ridley Scott is allowed to flex his action chops (which have never been brawnier or more brutal, despite the director pushing 90), and most interesting when it’s allowed to deviate from the post-apocalyptic norm and get a little weird and horror-tinged. One particular mid-point segment involving a delightfully unhinged Alison Janney feels like it dropped in from a different, much more heightened, movie altogether.

Perhaps it’s a case of a director not suiting the material — late-stage Scott films are at their best when he maintains a “screw it” mentality and doubles down on the sort of grim, trashy nihilism that characterized The Last Duel, Napoleon, or even House of Gucci. Scott approaches the more meditative nature of The Dog Stars with a workmanlike mentality, which is not bad per se, but doesn’t help the movie stand out in the crowded post-apocalyptic pop culture landscape. Or it could be an issue that reaches back further; Heller’s novel, the source material, was published in 2012 — back when The Road was still fresh, and The Last of Us video game had not yet taken the world by storm. The movie comes from a different time and feels like it.

Still, there is much to enjoy about The Dog Stars, which is elevated by Elordi’s earnest performance, rugged good looks, and a very good dog. Its mournful contemplation of a world long gone is true and often moving, as are the sweet moments of connection between Elordi’s Hig and Qualley’s Cima. Its brutal sequences are truly thrilling, and that absurd mid-movie pivot makes it worth seeing alone. But it does feel like The Dog Stars might be destined to be lost among the many great post-apocalyptic dramas crowding the mediascape today.

The Dog Stars opens in theaters August 28.

Science fiction has come a long way since RoboCop first hit the scene in 1987 — but the franchise has tried valiantly to keep up with the times all the same. Two films sprang out of Paul Verhoeven’s original movie, and apart from a 2014 remake (which starred Joel Kinnaman), RoboCop has been revived time and again in four different TV series. The property has been defunct for the past decade, though not for lack of trying.

When Amazon acquired MGM in 2022, the studio tagged RoboCop as one of the franchises ripe for reappraisal. Horror legend James Wan has been quietly working on another reboot of the RoboCop story since 2024, while Peter Ocko — a screenwriter known for his work in shows like Pushing Daisies, The Office, The Leftovers, and Black Sails — will serve as showrunner. After years of development, RoboCop is finally rebooting in earnest. Amazon MGM has tapped the actor who will bring Alex Murphy to life for the first time in decades, and it might not be long before we see him in action. Here’s everything we know about the new RoboCop.

Who’s playing the new RoboCop?

On August 26, Deadline reported that Dan Stevens will suit up to portray the new version of Alex Murphy for Ocko and Wan’s RoboCop reboot. Stevens might be a surprising pick compared to past incarnations of the character — Murphy typically has the body of a gym bro even before he’s upgraded with his cybernetic suit — but he’s a great one nonetheless. The actor has a keen eye for genre stories; the weirder (and sometimes bloodier) the better, it seems. He’s played sociopathic soldiers, reluctant vampires, and kindly androids, all with a subversive twist. If he’s on board this new RoboCop, it’s safe to expect a very different take on the original story, and that’s a good thing.

What is Amazon MGM’s RoboCop about?

With Stevens’ casting comes some new insight into the scope of the new RoboCop. In the eight-episode series, “a giant tech conglomerate persuades the city to place a powerful robot on its police force — a robot implanted with the consciousness of a beloved fallen officer, Alex Murphy.”

That’s a far cry from the premise of most other RoboCop stories. In the past, when Murphy becomes RoboCop, it’s typically because he’s been critically or even fatally injured while serving in a dystopian version of Detroit. His body is upgraded with cybernetic tech, or he’s resurrected within a suit designed to keep him alive. The new version of RoboCop seems to be taking a different route, but that makes sense for a world where cyborgs are no longer a fascinating “What if?” in our society.

There’s a reason the 2014 RoboCop reboot largely failed to capture the public’s curiosity — besides its bland, sanitized approach to Murphy’s adventures. In the ‘80s, when cyberpunk was all the rage, the concept of human-machine integration truly felt like the future. 40 years on, however, society’s concerns have moved on to less tactile threats. The idea of artificial intelligence infiltrating our lives and replacing humanity is no longer just an idea, and it makes sense for RoboCop to crib from that concept. A robot implanted with a human consciousness is a bit timelier than, say, a human fighting crime in a robotic suit. (Plus, is there any way to make that suit not look silly in 2026?)

The body horror of the original RoboCop might be out, but it’s not a bad idea to replace it with the dread of coexisting with AI. If Amazon must reboot this property, it might be smart to reimagine the story that others have already tried and failed to preserve for a modern era.

Na Hong-jin’s Hope made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival, with critics praising the sci-fi action thriller’s nonstop action sequences. The movie, about a rural police chief and his rookie deputy who must defend their village from a mysterious alien creature, does suffer from dodgy CGI, but lengthy, impressive chase scenes more than make up for it.

Neon acquired the English-language distribution rights for Hope, and it’s gearing up for a wide theatrical release in North America on September 9. But a movie like this one is perfectly suited for a little something extra, a gimmick that turns the movie into not just a trip out, but a ride.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hope will first enjoy a one-night release on September 7 in larger formats, including “immersive” formats like 4DX and D-Box that involve moving seats, gusts of air, squirts of water, and other environmental effects. This strategy mirrors the one the distributor used for Oz Perkins’ The Monkey, which was released in premium formats before its official release date. This does, however, mark the first time that a Neon film has been given a 4DX release.

The gimmick has been around since 2009, but as trips to the theater become more of an event involving advance ticket sales, themed refreshments, and souvenir popcorn buckets, the technology has been given a second wind. When Twisters hit 4DX theaters back in 2024, it sparked a TikTok meme of viewers showing themselves “before” and “after.” Even TV shows are getting in on the 4D experience, as The Boys finale was released in the format in certain locations.

A 4D release is only as good as the movie being shown, and some movies are more suited to it than others. Twisters was a perfect fit because it’s full of characters being thrown around by weather and wind blowing at high speeds, and Neon waiting for an action-packed movie to explore the release format makes sense. A 4DX showing of a Neon movie like Sentimental Value or Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie wouldn’t be worth the price markup, but seemingly every review of Hope says the action sequences alone make it an instant cult classic.

Since this is a one-night event, there are a limited number of (moving) seats available to reserve. So if you want to check out what’s sure to be one of the most-discussed sci-fi movies of the year in the most all-encompassing way possible, you’d better act fast.

Hope will be released in regular formats on September 9, 2026.