Via an adorable featurette starring Sean Astin, aka Samwise Gamgee, Lego has pulled back the curtain on its latest set inspired by The Lord of the Rings. The Shire Lego set will be available to pre-order for Lego Insiders on April 2 for $269. Everyone else will have a chance to reserve this set starting on April 5. If youd like to pre-order this set ASAP, a Lego Insiders membership is free, and will net you access to exclusive discounts and other promotions.In the reveal trailer, Sean Astin gets to show off the various details and features of Legos 2,019-piece version of Bag End. The Baggins estate is displayed as it appeared during Bilbos eleventy-first birthday celebration, with full attendance from minifigs of Bilbo, Frodo, the Proudfoots Proudfeet, Merry, Pippin, Rosie Cotton, Samwise, and Gandalf. The cutaway of Bag End features a Hobbit-sized vestibule, a study, and a kitchen, while Gandalf comes with his cart of fireworks.While Lego hasnt produced a staggering number of Lord of the Rings sets, the companys previous efforts have been appropriately epic and brimming with detail. The sets based on Barad-dr and Rivendell feature over 11,000 pieces between them and over 25 minifigs in total. Coincidentally, you can currently purchase Saurons tower from Amazon, while the Rivendell set is available from Lego.

What games do you think of when you think of Nintendos Switch? There are several obvious answers; Nintendos in-house studios never fail to leave their mark on a system with a handful of brilliant games. Yet one of the most notable things about the Switch, as it prepares to cede the limelight to Switch 2 after eight years on the market, is that it has been less software-dependent than, perhaps, any Nintendo console since the NES.Of course the Switch wouldnt be the success it has been without its biggest games. In its first year, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe helped the console find a massive audience. Yet both started as games for Wii U, Nintendos least successful platform. The Switch really was a case of a console that carved out a space for itself by arriving with the right form factor at the right time. The games that worked well on it found a console that was uniquely capable of adapting itself to suit them and helping them find players, rather than the other way around.The Switch began a new era for Nintendo as a platform holder that began to look a little more like the others, even if it continued to play by its own rules. The games that defined the console arent necessarily the best or the biggest. Shockingly, they dont include a mainline Mario platform game. Theyre the games that described what the Switch meant to players, and how it changed Nintendo and the rest of the game industry.Animal Crossing: New HorizonsAnimal Crossing: New Horizons unprecedented success on Switch was a mixed blessing. It was in no small part a blockbuster hit due to the devastating worldwide pandemic that forced us indoors and into isolation around its release. New Horizons gave many of its players a taste of connection and community when they couldnt physically meet up with friends, family, and colleagues.But New Horizons was more than just a digital alternative to real-world socializing. It was a place where we made new virtual friends, found comfort in routine, and exercised control over our lives, albeit imaginary ones lived on our own private islands. The coziness of Animal Crossing was a refuge during a difficult stretch.Thats not to say that New Horizons wasnt an enjoyable evolution of the Animal Crossing experience on its own merits. It was. There was joy to be found in building and customizing a home and even in paying it off and exploiting the games quirks to amass riches. Millions of us delighted in daily interactions with Isabelle, Blathers, and the Nook boys, and waited with anticipation as new villagers visited our town, praying that wed pull a dreamy. It was a brief taste of video game monoculture, fueled by the state of the world, and a defining moment in the Switchs success. Michael McWhertorThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildBreath of the Wild has become so inextricably linked with the Switch that its easy to forget it was also released on Wii U, and in fact was announced as a Wii U game before we even knew what the Switch was. Nintendos decision to pivot it to a cross-gen release gifted the Switch what might be the greatest launch title of all time.Beyond that, it marked a creative turning point for Nintendo as a game developer, and sent a clear message that the Switch was ushering in a new era for the company. The games bold, nonlinear, systemic design was a huge departure for the Zelda series, synthesizing many influences from beyond Nintendos Miyamoto-worshipping bubble into something that was distinctive and original, but also felt like it had been made in a world where Skyrim and Minecraft had happened. The sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, took things even further by giving players an astonishing, almost game-breaking level of creative freedom.Breath of the Wild turned one of Nintendos oldest franchises into its most modern. It also outsold every mainline Mario game on the Switch, a first for the Zelda series. It was quite clear that Nintendo would never be the same again. Oli WelshMario Kart 8 DeluxeSwitch was a platform for second chances. Many of Nintendos games that failed to break through on the poorly selling Wii U found new life on Switch, including the Splatoon franchise, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. But none of those ports and rereleases have enjoyed the incredible success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a souped-up version of the 2014 kart racer that has since gone on to outsell its predecessor eight times over.Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the Switch game; two out of every five Switch owners have a copy. It was so successful for Nintendo that, five years after Deluxe launched, the company released 48 more courses and eight additional characters as DLC. In an equally important move, Nintendo included that DLC as part of its Nintendo Switch Online subscription, part of the companys plan to offer more than just multiplayer connectivity and classic games.Its telling that the first game Nintendo has shown for Switch 2 is a new Mario Kart. Deluxe not only brought in all-new fans of the Mario Kart franchise, it helped get the storied franchise back on, ahem, track. MMThe Witcher 3Lets be honest; the Switch is not the ideal platform to play The Witcher 3. Nintendos console is manifestly underpowered for a game that was cutting-edge in 2015 and remained a technical showpiece when Nintendos console launched two years later. At the time, Nintendo was also not a natural home for such bloody, sexy, world-weary fare.This is precisely why the Switch port of The Witcher 3 is so important. Its significant that anyone tried to make it, and incredible that they pulled it off. Nintendo had long left the world of AAA gaming behind, and even during the success of the Wii, big publishers tended not to bring their marquee titles over because they were too technically demanding or aimed at a perceived different market. When the Wii U flopped, many third parties deserted Nintendo altogether.The Switch, however, was not just a huge sales success with its appealing form factor and the undeniable Breath of the Wild, it had thrust Nintendo back into the hearts of the core gaming community. All of a sudden, third parties were clamoring to be part of it, and a few studios began to specialize in cramming AAA titles onto Switchs aging mobile chipset and into the tight confines of its game cards. A wave of miracle ports began with 2016s Doom, and of these, the 2019 port of The Witcher 3 was the white whale. Not long after, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X widened the technical gulf again to a point where the ports would start to dry up but you can expect the floodgates to reopen on Switch 2. OWSuper Smash Bros. UltimateEveryone is here! Nintendo promised with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The game maker not only kept that promise, it overdelivered with one of the most impressive expansions to any Nintendo franchise ever. In addition to stacking the games core roster with 69 playable characters, including every fighter whod ever appeared in a Smash Bros. game and surprising newcomers like Castlevanias Simon and Metroids Ridley, the games developers pulled off what felt like impossible licensing deals. Banjo and Kazooie. Kingdom Hearts Sora. Final Fantasy 7s Sephiroth. Minecrafts Steve and Alex.The massive growth of the Switch and the fervor for more Super Smash Bros. seemed to feed off of each other. Led by tireless game maker Masahiro Sakurai, the yearslong development of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate resulted in the series biggest entry yet, so gargantuan that one has to question if Nintendo and Sakurai can ever top it.And while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was a major step forward for the franchise, Nintendos approach to esports and its games being featured at non-Nintendo-sanctioned events hasnt evolved much during the Switch era. MMNintendo LaboWho would have seen Labo coming? Nintendos DIY build-and-play line of accessories let Switch owners craft cardboard Toy-Con versions of real-world items like a 13-key piano, fishing rod, and motorbike and even a VR headset for an all-new play experience that evoked the wild accessories released during the Wii era.In retrospect, its almost shocking that Nintendo Labo arrived just 13 months after the release of the Switch. What now feels like a late-life cycle attempt to reinvigorate the Switch with a gimmick was just another moment of unexpected innovation from Nintendo.While interest in Labo died out fairly quickly (building the Toy-Cons was 90% of the fun), it was a reminder of the uniqueness and adaptability of the Switch Joy-Cons to act as more than just conveniently detachable controllers an idea that Nintendo would later explore with the similarly creative and unexpected Ring Fit Adventure. MMPokmon Scarlet and VioletIt might seem strange to choose Scarlet and Violet to represent Pokmon on this list. Of the Switchs mainline Pokmon titles, Sword and Shield were better received by fans and even sold better (by a hairs breadth). But its precisely because of their performance woes and uninspired design that Scarlet and Violet are, sadly, more symptomatic of the Switch era.The runaway success of the Switch always represented a risk that Nintendo might rush too keenly to capitalize, letting its famous quality control standards slip in the process. As far as its internal studios were concerned, iron discipline was maintained, but Nintendo didnt have as much success in keeping its partners at The Pokmon Company and developer Game Freak in check.The Switch saw 12 Pokmon games released in six years, including four (soon to be five) major Game Freak titles; the developer released Scarlet and Violet and the superior Pokmon Legends: Arceus in the same year. It was just too much, and Scarlet and Violet bore the signs of an exhausted studio trapped in a content grind. You really can have too much of a good thing. OWTetris 99Pairing the greatest video game of all time with the hot genre of the moment for Tetris 99 felt both like a uniquely classic Nintendo move and surprisingly forward-thinking for the company. While other game makers chased variations on the battle royale shooter, Nintendo and developer Arika took a different approach, resulting in a frenetically fun, all-ages take on what is traditionally a violent genre.Shadow-dropped as a bonus perk for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers in 2019, the release of Tetris 99 brought fresh buzz to the Switch. Its success spawned even more variations on the battle royale formula from Nintendo, with Super Mario Bros. 35 and F-Zero 99. (Arika also created a 99-player battle royale version of Pac-Man for Bandai Namco.)Tetris 99s most lasting impact, however, may be its role as a value add for NSO subscribers. Nintendo, having already mined most of its back catalog from the NES and SNES era for Nintendo Switch Onlines classic games offerings, will need more games like Tetris 99 to keep Switch 2 owners interested and subscribed to the service. MMFire Emblem: Three HousesThe Switch era has run parallel with a surge in interest in Japanese-made RPGs, and its very much not a coincidence. Japanese publishers and developers naturally flooded to the console, which had huge sales in their home market, at the same time as the overseas anime boom created just the right cultural environment for these games to have an international moment. Nintendo saw the opportunity and lent a hand, often shining a light on Japanese-made games in its Direct broadcasts, and occasionally stepping in to co-publish games like Square Enixs gorgeous throwback Octopath Traveler.Nintendo was well placed to benefit from this snowball effect with some of its own games, including the Xenoblade Chronicles series. But the ultimate example was 2019s Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Intelligent Systems tactical RPG series had always been beloved within its specific niche, but the audience the Switch had amassed for anime-flavored RPGs turned it into something bigger a sort of viral hit, powered by players obsession over the games characters and relationships and its Harry Potter-style system of rival school houses. Three Houses showed how the Switch was, and remains, one of the most fandom-friendly platforms around. OWHollow KnightWhile major third parties took a little longer to turn their oil tankers in Nintendos direction, the indie developer scene saw the potential of Nintendos machine almost instantly and rushed to take advantage. For several years, it was common for indies to release their hits on Steam and Switch first, and worry about PlayStation and Xbox later. The Switchs humble tech was no barrier to these games, and the immediacy of their designs often suited portable play perfectly.The two games that most symbolize the Switchs indie era are 2018s Hollow Knight and 2020s Hades both fantastically refined action games in popular genres that are tricky to get right (Metroidvania and roguelike, respectively). Both found huge audiences, thanks in part to the Switchs enormous reach. Of the two, its probably Team Cherrys Hollow Knight that is more closely associated with the Switch if only because its long, long-awaited sequel Silksong was first announced at a Nintendo Direct, and the increasingly desperate anticipation of new info about the game ahead of every Direct since has become a meme. OW

Have you ever been sitting down, just having hit that comfortable spot, and you get that dreaded notification low battery. Paris-based architect and designer India Mahdaviand 22 System, a brand of integrated electrical outlets co-founded by Boccis Omer Abel, respond to this first-world yet legitimate problem. Introducing Smiley, a playful and joyous addition to any interior, that will add a spark of power to a dynamic space. Outfitted with top of the line outlets and components, the Smiley Chair combines material innovations and clever design to create a beautiful and functional response to maintaining comfort within the modern age.Photo: Thierry DepagneAt the heart of the collaboration resides a custom outlet and component suite in a brilliant canary yellow. This hue, contrasting yet also coalescing with the blush pink of the seat, signifies joy and the dawn of a new age. The Oliver Chair, a cheerfully upholstered yet sturdy-looking seat designed by Mahdavi, takes Cubist and Postmodern influences and translates them into a solid canvas for the electrical components to rest. Integrated technology like this has become more ubiquitous with modern life, yet we doubt most of it looks this good.Photo: Thierry DepagneSmiley is about celebrating the small details that bring joy to our daily lives, shares the designer. By reimagining the electrical outlet as a design element, we invite people to see the beauty in the functional and the familiar. Strewn across the face of the chair, outlets offer a functional and humorous take on traditional placement, choosing instead to let the outlets grow across the form, uninhibited and undeniably yellow.Photo: Tom DagnasUnveiled earlier this month at Paris Matter and Shape fair, where the space was outfitted with working outlets too, dotting the walls like some type of interactive polka dot wallpaper. This adds to the immersive quality of the space, the walls reflecting the same blush pink of the chairs upholstery. Mahdavi creates a powerful network of conversation, showing the interconnectedness and also chaos of globalized communications.Photo: Tom DagnasPhoto: Tom DagnasPhoto: Tom DagnasPhoto: Tom DagnasThe outlet is transformed into a beauty mark, with integrated freckles that take on a happy, joyful feeling. Playfully colored, with the soft pink in the background, one can immediately see the upending of norms on display at Matter and Shape. Omer Arbel, co-founder of Bocci and 22 System, said: This collaboration with India Mahdavi exemplifies our commitment to partnering with like-minded creatives to bring new perspectives to the work of our studio.Photo: Tom DagnasTo learn more about the Smiley chair by India Mahdavi and 22 System, visit, bocci.com.Photography courtesy of India Mahdavi and 22 System.

When it comes to cookbooks, most readers typically fall into two categories: those who immerse themselves in every recipe, like in the Julie and Julia memoir, and those who seek information and inspiration without the intention of cooking. Sachiyo Haradas The Complete Illustrated Guide to Japanese Cooking caters to both and all those in between. With 100 classic recipes, it offers visual, step-by-step instructions that break down Japanese cooking techniques and ingredients, making it accessible to cooks of all skill levels.I first encountered the French version of this book and was delighted to hear the English version finally debuted this March. For visual learners, Haradas detailed photographic explanations instill confidence to take on this sophisticated cuisine where shapes, textures, flavors, and colors all have meaning and purpose. For those captivated by the aesthetics of Japanese food, Haradas book is a treasure trove, guiding the reader not only in cooking but in appreciating the artistry involved in each plate.Sachiyo Harada was born in Hokkaido, Japan, and graduated from the Ferrandi School of Culinary Arts in Paris. She currently resides in both Paris and Tokyo working as a food stylist, cookbook author and columnist for the Gourmet section of Madame Figaro Japan.In an era where many turn to YouTube for cooking tutorials, Haradas cookbook provides a similar level of visual guidance without the WiFi. The photography and illustrations show the final look of each dish at every stage, immersing readers in the cooking process. In one of her previous books, Cuisine on Screen, she pairs iconic dishes from Japanese cult films with recipes inspired by those movies, blending culture, food, and storytelling. A super fun treat for lovers of Japanese cinema and cuisine.The Complete Illustrated Guide to Japanese Cooking is organized with easy-to-follow infographics and a clean layout. The book conveys essential details with simple to follow instructions in a visually appealing way, making the cooking process feel intuitive. The step-by-step photos and annotated illustrations make complex recipes approachable, offering clarity on techniques and presentation. Harada eliminates the guesswork, making the book suitable for both beginners and experienced cooks.Anko nabeThough many are familiar with Japanese cuisine, some may not feel confident enough to try cooking it at home. Haradas book encourages readers to embrace Japanese aesthetic principles, emphasizing the importance of presentation. The artistry in preparing and presenting each dish turns cooking into an experience focused on both beauty and taste.The book is divided into three sections: Essentials, Recipes, and an Illustrated Glossary:1. Essentials: Covers key techniques like preparing octopus, cutting fish, and indispensable methods for preparing ingredients.2. Recipes: Includes 100 recipes, from donburi and okonomiyaki to agebitashi and matcha roll cake. Each is broken into simple steps with clear photos.3. Illustrated Glossary: Uses clean infographics to explain essential Japanese ingredients and provide guidance on where to find them and how to use them in cooking.The Complete Illustrated Guide to Japanese Cooking is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in adding Japanese culinary traditions into their repertoire.DonburiExpand your culinary library and support your local cookbook store by picking up a copy. Two of my favorite spots are Now Serving in Los Angeles or Kitchen Arts and Letters in NYC.You can follow Sachiyo Harada on Instagram here or purchase The Complete Illustrated Guide to Japanese Cooking here.Photography courtesy of Sachiyo Harada and Hardie Grant Books.This post contains affiliate links, so if you make a purchase from an affiliate link, we earn a commission. Thanks for supporting Design Milk!

We may earn a commission from links on this page.I have a problem: My garden is a finite size. It will hold only so many trees, though Ive been trying for years to squeeze in more. The solution might be a micro orchard, which provides distinct benefits. First, all the fruit on your trees is reachable (because nothing is as frustrating as a peach just out of your reach) because the trees are kept small and fruit is encouraged to grow close to the ground. That small stature of tree means you can pack more into a smaller space. Being able to have many trees instead of one allows you to diversify your harvest, or improve the pollination of one kind of fruit tree by having a few trees of the same kind instead of just one.With trees this small, you can more easily control pests and viruses. A tiny tree is much easier to spray than a fifteen-foot tree. To make this easier, theres an ever increasing amount of cross breeding in fruit to make trees more compact and to create hardier breeds of fruit. You can now grow olives and citrus in the cold, or apples in the desert.Start by choosing the right root stockSomething you might not know about fruit trees we buy today is that almost none are grown from seed. Instead, a young branch from a fully grown fruit tree (a scion) is grafted to the young trunk of a completely unrelated tree (root stock) known to be particularly disease-resistant or weather-resilient, or very tall or very small. The scion will grow instead of the root stock, and you end up with a fruit tree that has the fruit of the scion and the characteristics of the root stock, like a dwarf nectarine.The most common reason people choose root stock is the height. To achieve a micro orchard, youll want to choose fruit trees grown on dwarf stock trees that wont grow taller than ten or twelve feet, and there is a difference between dwarf and semi-dwarf, which is 12-15 feet and likely too tall for a micro-orchard. Youll prune the tree to be even smaller than the full 8-12 foot height, but you want to start with a tree that is already primed to grow as small as possible. The taller of my dwarf peach trees still wasn't as tall as my shovel. Credit: Amanda Blum How to choose your fruit tree varietiesI spent this weekend at One Green World, a national retailer of fruit trees, shrubs, and vines. They have the deepest catalog of fruit trees Ive seen, with almost a hundred varieties of pomegranate alone. I spoke to Matt Voedisch, a crew member of One Green World, about how to choose trees for a micro-orchard. I had room in my front yard for four trees to start. Ive been studying mini or micro orchards for the last few months, and there seemed to be some common trends. Apples and pears were common, and given the variety available on stock, that made sense. Plums were popular, as were peaches. However, the truth is that any fruit would be appropriate, so long as it is available on dwarf root stock, and that variety is noted for your growing zone. This could include mulberries, cherries, olives, and even citrus. Voedisch encouraged me to consider medlar and persimmon, both excellent ideas, but I was focused on peaches and pomegranates. He guided me to an Eldorado and Bonanza peach, both of which are available nationwide. I couldn't get over how small these peach trees wereless than three feet with roots, but full of branches and buds. I chose two pomegranates of the Hydranar x Goulosha variety, and was able to see what theyd look like grown up, as one was planted on site. The Hydranar x Goulosha pomegranate, full grown, only stands five feet or less tall. Credit: Amanda blum When to prune fruit treesIn some videos, Ive watched micro orchard gardeners march out of Home Depot with 8-foot fruit trees, and lop them to hip height in the parking lot to fit into their car and get started on the pruning. I appeared at One Green World with pruners, steeled to take this drastic step, but Voedisch encouraged patience. Particularly for stone fruit, spring is too wet for big cuts, he said. He suggested waiting for dry conditions this summer.Generally, plants are pruned while dormant, after fruiting or flowering. So the end of summer would be an appropriate time to prune your stone fruit and quince. For apples and pears, the appropriate time is fall or winter. Medlars get pruned in late winter or early spring. While these are general rules, its always a good idea to check in with a local nursery for guidelines on when to prune, given local weather conditions any particular year.How to start prune fruit treesUnderstanding how the nuances of pruningparticularly, the angle and location of the cutaffect tree growth will be the success of your orchard. As a general rule, never take more than a third of a plant or tree at once. In almost all cases for a micro orchard, your first cut is going to be to lop the plant at hip height, regardless of what is growing above that cut. You want cuts to be at 45 degrees, so the branch grows up out of that cut. Think of the cut like it is forming an elbow.Each cut creates branching, with new branches forming from the nearest growth point (spur) on the branch you cut. By cutting the main trunk of your tree, youll force the tree to form branches at that junction, which will grow horizontally, not vertically, and they will each grow more branchesand now the fruit that grows on those branches will be much lower to the ground.How to prune fruit trees over the long termAfter the initial lopping, successive years will be about helping your fruit tree maintain its shape and balance. You always want the center of the tree to be open and airy, allowing air flow, sunlight, and pollinators to move through. Theres a greater likelihood of illness when trees or plants have a lot of leaves or branches in crammed quarters, and the less fruit you produce, the bigger and tastier that fruit should be anyway.The first cuts each year should be to remove any branches that are directed inward, rather than outward. All the branches should be moving up and away from the center. Next, youll want to consider branches that cross other branches, which should be removed. Any small, dead branches should be cut away. Finally, on each tree, you want to establish three to four strong lead branches (leaders) that leave the tree balanced, with that big airy center. There are excellent videos on how to prune using this method. During the first few years, youll want to limit your fruit by plucking blossoms from the tree (so they cant develop fruit), so the tree has time to develop strong roots and branches.Concerns about micro orchardsThere are some concerns about keeping trees this small, and they should affect where you plant and how you maintain your micro orchard. Dwarf stock often doesnt have the same disease resistance as taller or regular stock. This can be negated somewhat by staying on top of spraying your trees with the appropriate treatments for your area. In the wet northwest, we treat stone fruit with copper to prevent leaf curl and other diseases, and this is made much easier by keeping the plants small. Another problem is that the roots will not be as deep and this will affect the stability of the tree. Micro orchards shouldnt be used as wind shields in your yard, and you should consider staking the trees for stability. Youll want to be diligent during pruning about maintaining balance in your trees to help with this problem. Good luck, trees. Credit: Amanda Blum On Saturday, I dug holes roughly three times the width and depth of the tree roots and plunked my new mini trees into the front yard. These trees are so small they won't need that initial hip height cut, but next year, I'll be pruning them to keep them petite and, hopefully, in two years, I'll be harvesting fruit from them.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Jonathan Majors made the Hollywood A-list on the back of lauded performances in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Da 5 Bloods, and The Harder They Fall, as well as a lead role in HBO's Lovecraft Country series. Starring turns in Creed III and as Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror established him as a power player just a few short years into his career. Then came 2023, a series of abuse allegations, and eventual convictions for reckless assault in the 3rd degree and harassment. The news of the accusations broke a few months after Majors was lauded for his performance in Magazine Dreams, which has played to accolades at the Sundance Film Festival. In the wake of the scandal, Searchlight Pictures, which had acquired the film out of the festival, canceled plans for its release. But when there's money to be made, few films stay dead forever. This month, Magazine Dreams is finally slipping out into the wildan event further complicated by the release of audio recordings in which Majors allegedly admits to an assault that he's previously denied. Majors is undeniably a talent, but the allegations and his actions raise the age-old question: Does he deserve a comeback at all? The response to Magazine Dreams might offer a clue. And what of other movies that have struggled to escape controversy?Hated, dogged, scandalous, sordid, nastythe 50 following movies have been called all of those things, and much worse. Some have inspired death threats and physical attacks, while others have engendered heated wars of words that have endured decades. For some of these movies, the controversy has been helpfulhey say that any publicity is good publicity, after all. But thats not always true. Sometimes canny filmmakers and distributors can turn scandal around, but an uproar is just as likely to bury a movie. Thats why while some of the most controversial movies ever are familiar now-classics, others might be new to you.Cruising (1980) Just a decade earlier, director William Friedkin had been responsible for a milestone in queer cinema with his adaptation of Matt Crowleys play The Boys in the Band. Though its vision is of sometimes campy, often self-hating gay men, its loaded with empathy that mainstream American cinema had never previously shown for queer people. It was controversial among the usual suspects for depicting gay men at all, and drew some criticism for its stereotypes, but on the whole it pushed cinema forward. For a bit. The Boys in the Band opened a door to the queer-adjacent classics of the 1970s (Dog Day Afternoon, Death in Venice, La Cage aux Folles, Pink Flamingoes, etc.), but hardly the floodgates. By 1980, a decade of boundary-pushing was due to give way to the Reagan era, and an undercover cop movie set against the world of New Yorks gay S&M scene wound up feeling more exploitative than insightful (its use of the queer serial killer trope doesnt help). It plays slightly better to modern eyes, if only because increased representation means that gay sex killers are more of a novelty now than in 1980; it also feels less like a screed than a misguided attempt by vanilla straight people to engage with something outside their experience. It also serves as a bit of a time capsule, though the veracity of its portrait of the 1980s NY S&M scene is dubious.. You can rent Cruising from Prime Video. Cruising (1980) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) One of our ugliest and most spectacular cultural flashpoints came when one of our greatest and most beloved filmmakers, himself a devout Catholic, attempted a Biblical film in his own style. Based on the similarly controversial 1955 novel by Nikos Kazantzakis, Scorseses film, in addition to coming into conflict with tenets of Catholic faith that are beyond my understanding, includes a sequence during which Jesus (Willem Dafoe) is tempted by Satan with the promise of a normal, human life including marriage and (gasp!) sex.In America, nationwide protests saw several theaters refuse to screen the film, while the terrorist bombing of a French theater injured over a dozen people. The movie was banned in several countries (and remains verboten in the Philippines and Singapore). Sweet-looking EWTN founder Mother Angelica described the film as a holocaust, a particularly ugly bit of hyperbole at a time when Christian conservatives were literally setting buildings on fire. You can rent The Last Temptation of Christ from Prime Video. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Birth of a Nation (1915) For decades, Birth of a Nation was presented to film students as a mildly problematic classic, an unavoidable landmark in cinema history (which: perhaps) that singlehandedly invented the language of filmwhich is all wildly overstated. From roughly 1907 on, directors like Reginald Barker, Yevgenii Bauer, and Lois Weber were laying the groundwork for everything that D.W. Griffith accomplished in Birth of a Nation, and often using the new cinematic techniques with a fair bit more nuance. The movie was a hit, of course, the most successful film to its time, but that has as much to do with its reframing of the post-Reconstruction era as the triumph of perfidious, scheming northern whites who manage to trick the movies drunk, gullible, and relentlessly horny Black characters into thinking that slavery was a bad thing. It is rough.But its also not a new controversy: time has actually dulled the (rather justifiable vitriol) directed at the film, which was widely protested before, during, and after its release; prominent civil rights leaders, social reformers, and religious groups denounced the film and riots greeted its release in major cities, while reviews were generally positive, but not nearly as rapturous as its modern reputation might lead you to believe. Such was the controversy that President Woodrow Wilson spoke out of both sides of his mouth when discussing the film, praising it in some circles and denouncing it in others. Its revisionist history to suggest that the movie is only troubling to our modern eyes, when, if anything, weve cushioned it with a veneer of academic respectability. You can stream The Birth of a Nation on Kanopy and Hoopla. The Birth of a Nation (1915) at Kanopy Learn More Learn More at Kanopy Citizen Kane (1941) Often ranked (arguably, but not unreasonably) as the greatest film ever made, Orson Welles debut is now an inescapable part of the American cinematic canon. There was a bit of controversy over RKO giving carte blanche to boy wonder Welles for his first picture, leading some in the press to root for his failure, but the real problems arose over the growing rumors that the film was based on the life of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Despite Welles and RKOs half-assed denials, its clearly a take on Hearst, who deserved to be taken down a peg, and of actress Marion Davies, Hearts longtime companion and mistress...who didnt.Before long, the entire Hearst media empire was gunning for Welles and for RKO more generally; the studio didnt blink, but the lack of advertising in Hearst papers hurt, as did vague threats of lawsuits that discouraged local theater owners from running the film. Beyond that, the movies non-linear narrative and innovative style made it a hard sell to audiences outside of major cites; the movie still did decent business and got great reviews, but its hard to say what a controversy-free release might have looked like. The spectacle certainly dogged Welles for the rest of his career. You can rent Citizen Kane from Prime Video. Citizen Kane (1941) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Apprentice (2024) Released just a month before the 2024 Presidential election, this indie biopic stars Sebastian Stan as a young-ish Donald Trump, engaging with professional fixer, blackmailer, and forger Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) just before the the latter was disbarred. The film depicts Trump's rise as a real estate developer in the 1980s, as well as his amphetamine use and his (alleged, I guess) rape of wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova), which she recounted during their divorce proceedings. That's likely the movie's most contentious bit. Though the divorce was granted on the grounds of "cruel and inhuman treatment, Ivana later walked back her claims while under a gag order. Trump's lawyer defended him by saying, you cannot rape your spouse. (For her trouble, Ivana received a lovely burial near the tee-off spot for the first hole at Trump's primary golf course.) President Trump, needless to say, was not impressed (though it's unclear if he ever saw the movie). On his Truth Social account, he described the film and its creators as fake, classless, cheap, and disgusting human scum, bemoaning that artists, "are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement." Trump and his team promised lawsuits on the premise that the release of the movie constituted election interference, but they seemed to lose interest given the muted (to say the least) reception at the box office. It was likely a victim of bad timing (the release already delayed by the search for a distributor). Trump voters weren't likely to sit through what the president had labeled a hit job, and those less enthusiastic about his second-term prospects had seen more than enough of the guy by late 2024. You can rent The Apprentice from Prime Video. The Apprentice (2024) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Un Chien Andalou (1929) A rather shockingly modern collaboration between Spanish-Mexican filmmaker Luis Buuel and Salvador Dali, this 17-minute short strings together a series of dreamlike and sometimes shocking scenes and images, minus any obvious narrative framework. Ants crawl out of a severed hand; theres a juxtaposition of a womans bare breasts and butt; a decaying donkey sits at a piano. Most memorable, and still stomach-churning, is the image of a living womans eye being sliced in half by a razor blade. The film was intended as a shot at the artsy French film scene, which, to Buuels deep disappointment, embraced it instead, and made it a success. For months, attempts were made to ban the film in France, the controversy never quite overcoming the films attraction as something new and unusual. There are stories of miscarriages at screenings, destroyed theaters, and papal bulls revolving around the film, though much of the discussion seems exaggerated, and its hard to know whats truesources cant even agree on whether it was ever actually banned. You can stream Un Chien Andalou on Philo and YouTube. Un Chien Andalou (1929) at Philo Learn More Learn More at Philo Viridiana (1961) More than 30 years after his thoroughly memorable debut with Un Chien Andalou, Luis Buuel retained his ability to shock and outrage, and the assaults on Viridiana came from all sides. (Given the directors disappointment that his 1929 provocation had been unexpectedly embraced, he must have been thrilled.) The story of the title nuns sorely tested faith sees Viridiana as a true believer in a world (and Roman Catholic faith community) that lets her down at every turn. Scenes suggest rape and incest, but mostly it was the films indictment of the church that got it banned by Francisco Francos dictatorship in Spain and denounced by the Pope as explicitly blasphemous. Still, it won the Palme dOr at Cannes that year, which must have either delighted or infuriated Buuel. You can stream Viridiana on The Criterion Channel and Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video. Viridiana (1961) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Victim (1961) Though actor Dirk Bogarde never publicly came out during his lifetime (homosexual acts were a crime in Britain for much of his career, and he worked under morality clauses that would have meant instant termination), theres not really much doubt these days that his 40-year relationship with Anthony Norwood wasnt merely a roommate situation. Given that, director Basil Deardens Victim takes on an added poignance, with Dirk Bogardes closeted lawyer Melville Farr standing as mainstream cinemas first major gay character, and an entirely sympathetic one, at that.Until 1967, consensual homosexual acts were punishable with prison timethough sometimes hard to enforce, obscenity laws made people easy marks for blackmailers, as in the case for Victims successful lawyer. Though tame by modern standards (or even those of the time, really), the very mention of homosexuality lead the British Board of Film Censors to give the movie an X rating, which meant in Britain pretty much what it meant in the United States: a guarantee most cinemas wouldnt show it. American censors refused to provide the film any classification, given that Hays Code restrictions explicitly banned mention of homosexuality. Distributors in both countries released it anyway with modest success; the movie was eventually seen as an influence on legal changes in the U.K. that came along five years later. You can stream Victim on Max and The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video. Victim (1961) at Max Learn More Learn More at Max Deep Throat (1972) 1972 was the year smut went mainstream, though whether that was a good or bad thing depended on your willingness to watch porn with your friends in a theater. Though Deep Throat was banned in multiple states, it became a cultural milestone for reasons that have never been entirely clear, at least to me; I think that the sexual revolution primed big-city audiences for the idea that what might have been a stag film in the past could be something watched and discussed at the movies. It ushered in an era of porno chic, which included gay films to a lesser extent, and earned itself an even more outsized place in the zeitgeist following its referencing in the midst of the Watergate scandal. Anti-sex scolds hated it, but it also became a flashpoint in discussions revolving around porn and feminism (liberating? or objectifying?) that grew even more complicated in later years when star/born-again Christian Linda Lovelace denounced the film and pornography in general, alleging she was literally forced into performing in the movie. Pornography might be a bit more mainstream than it was in the early 1970s (though we dont really go to major movie theaters to watch it), but discussions of depictions of sex on film are no less complicated.In spite of its vintage, none of the big streamers have it, but go ahead and look for it in some of the more adult video services (though not while youre at work, obviously)Ecstasy (1933) A public condemnation by the Pope (in this case, Pius XI) might be a modern badge of honor, but in 1933 it was one of several shots against this Czech drama starring Hedy Lamarr. There are flashes in the film involving Lamar swimming naked, but the most wildly objectionable moment involved implied oral sex during which we only see the actresss thoroughly approving face. The Catholic Legion of Decency, then a significant arbiter of cinematic morality, found the movie objectionable, which was more than enough to prevent the Hays production code office from providing its approval. Art house theaters screened the movie a couple of years later without a seal of approval, but it still faced resistance from local censor boards. You can watch Ecstasy for free on the Internet Archive.The Last House on the Left (1972) In the same year Deep Throat was shocking and titillating audiences, Wes Craven was making a name for himself with The Last House on the Left, a remake (after a fashion) of Ingmar Bergmans 1960 film The Virgin Spring. With snuff-film-like verisimilitude, Craven tells the story of a young woman who is violently raped and tortured on her 17th birthday, only for the perpetrators to encounter similarly violent retribution from the girls family. It received an R rating in the United States, but British censors refused to give the film a certification, limiting its release. A rising tide of concern over unregulated home video releases in the UK, called video nasties, led to the films outright banning there through the mid-1990s.Viscerally unpleasant subject matter aside, Wes Cravens talents are on full display here, and the director claimed that he made it to reflect the violence of a society in the middle of the Vietnam Warbut its a film that feels designed solely to shock, despite its artier pretensions. You can stream The Last House on the Left on MGM+ and Hoopla or rent it from Prime Video. The Last House on the Left (1972) at Prime Video Get Deal Get Deal at Prime Video Last Tango in Paris (1972) With Bernardo Bertoluccis art-house hit Last Tango in Paris, there are two eras of controversy to unpack. Initially, the movie was scandalous for its frank depiction of sexuality and sexual power dynamics, especially in a film featuring a Hollywood star of Marlon Brandos caliber. Several scenes alarmed prudish audiences, but feminist critics had bigger problems with the movies central rape scene. That moment became a new flashpoint for the film decades later when Maria Schneider (19 at the time of filming) revealed the scene hadnt been in the script as filmed, and that she had been largely coerced into performing a sequence that was improvised by Bertolucci and Brando (who was nearly 50). For all of these reasons, a movie that was once seen as the flowering of sexual maturity in cinema has only grown more troubling with each passing year. You can stream Last Tango in Paris on MGM+ and Pluto TV, or rent it from Prime Video. Last Tango in Paris (1972) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Brown Bunny (2003) Following its first press screening, Roger Ebert described Vincent Gallos road movie asthe worst film ever shown at Cannes, prompting a war of words (including fat jokes and cancer hexes) between critic and director that was more talked about than the film itself...save for its climactic, unsimulated oral sex scene between Gallo and star Chlo Sevigny, which was referenced in the films advertising, including billboards that drew complaints. The artsy moviein which nothing much happens for hours, and then there is a sad blowjobwas always going to be a tough sell, and the mixed reviews didnt help. Drawing attention to the films explicit sex and public feuds might have given it a small place in the early 2000s zeitgeist, but didnt do much to convince anyone that The Brown Bunny, or Gallo himself, were to be taken seriously. You can stream The Brown Bunny for free at archive.org on Vincent Gallo's feed.Life of Brian (1979) An attack on religious extremism inspired pretty much exactly that when the Monty Python crew took on the story of Brian Cohen, born on the same day as, and mistaken for, Jesus Christ. Though it wound up as a critical and box office smash, the film was held back or X rated in much of the U.K., while being banned outright in Ireland, Norway, and Italy (where the prohibition lasted for nearly four decades). The team made tremendous use of the controversy, with the tagline: So funny, it was banned in Norway! being a particular masterstroke. You can stream Life of Brian on Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, and Shout Factory TV. Life of Brian (1979) at Prime Video Get Deal Get Deal at Prime Video The Passion of the Christ (2004) Wildly successful, Mel Gibsons The Passion of the Christ was subject to complicated discussions over potential antisemitism, with organizations like the ADL expressing concern over the script and the sources it drew from, all of which tended to lean more toward the idea that Jews were (and, by extension, remain) responsible for the death of Jesus (research suggests that viewers were indeed more likely to see things Gibsons way). In retrospect, it isnt exactly shocking to see allegations of antisemitism thrown against a man who, just two years later, blamed the Jews for all of the worlds problems during a DUI arrestjust one of several documented incidents of the actor/directors racism and homophobia. Its perhaps not entirely fair to blame Mel for the views of his father, Hutton, one of the worlds most vocal and prominent Holocaust deniers for decadesbut far more fair than blaming an entire faith and cultural community for possible events of two millennia past. The film also received criticism for levels of violence that put it right in line with the torture porn horror films of the era, though that stands as more of a critique than a true controversy. A sequel has allegedly been in development for some time now. You can rent The Passion of the Christ from Prime Video. The Passion of the Christ (2004) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Faces of Death (1978) A blend of archival death footage and new scenes made to look real, this death-umentary movie became a rite of passage for teenagers at sleepovers (I balked at such an invitation myself, and Im not sad about it). Banned in several countries, it became a hot topic in the U.K. during the 1980swith watchdog group the National Viewers and Listeners Association classifying it as one of its video nasties: movies freely available on VHS that had been more thoroughly regulated in theaters. The think of the children! reaction was way over the top, but Faces of Death made a very effective poster child for the censorship crusade. You can stream Faces of Death on AMC+ and Shudder. Faces of Death (1978) at Shudder Learn More Learn More at Shudder Friday the 13th (1980) It wasn't the first slasher, but it was the wildly successful opening salvo in what would become an endless stream of imitatorsnot that even the first Friday was particularly original. Inspired by more high-minded horror movies Black Christmas and Halloween, director/producer Sean S. Cunningham set out to replicate those earlier works, establishing a very bankable horny-teens-get-killed-in-the-woods formula in the process. The critics were generally savage, but while the original Friday seems almost quaint in comparison to what was to come, some went much further, labeling it as cruel, exploitative, misogynisticnot merely a cinematic failure, but a moral one. Gene Siskel (of Siskel and Ebert fame) was offended by the movie's very existence; his review spoiled the ending as a means of discouraging viewers, but also included the address for Charles Bluhdorn, the chairman of the board of the company that owned distributor Paramount. Get those pens and/or pitchforks ready, he seemed to be saying. What's more, he publicized the address of the small town home of actress Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees in the film), suggesting that angry movie-lovers should send her some hate mail too, for having the audacity to take a job in such a movie. If I were to guess, I doubt that the vitriol from scornful critics hurt ticket sales one bit. You can stream Friday the 13th on Pluto TV or rent it from Prime Video. Friday the 13th (1980) at Prime Video Get Deal Get Deal at Prime Video Scarface (1932) Based loosely on the life of Al Capone (who had only just been imprisoned in 1932), the original Scarface pushed Hollywood's pre-Code era of voluntary self-censorship to the breaking point, and it wouldn't be long before the Hays production code would gain the teeth that it would have for decades to follow. Directed by the great Howard Hawks and produced by sensation-loving Howard Hughes, Scarface presented would-be censors with all sorts of issues: the violence was some of the most dramatic that had ever been seen in a Hollywood film to that time, there were strong hints of incest between lead Tony Camonte (Paul Muni) and his sister Cesca (Ann Dvorak), and the guns-blazing ending felt like it was glamorizing rather than condemning Tony. Though Hawks and Hughes fought the alterations, the ensuing uproar lead to some changes to quiet the scolds, including a new opening forward condemning gangsterism, a change in title to Scarface: The Shame of the Nation, and the addition of a rather awkward scene in which a newspaper editor seems to be directly addressing the audience about the problem of crime. Most significantly, a new ending was shot in which Tony faces legal consequences for his actions instead of going out (sorry, spoiler) in a hail of gunfire. Luckily, most of the movie's grit remains, and the ending was changed back after the initial theatrical run. You can rent Scarface from Prime Video. Scarface (1932) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Titicut Follies (1967) An unflinching look inside the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, a correctional facility in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and the generally horrific conditions therein: patients are forced to strip and taunted by staff, force fed, drugged far beyond medical necessity, etc. Despite director Frederick Wiseman getting permission from the patients and/or their guardians, the state of Massachusetts immediately went to court to block the film's release, making the case that the inmates could not have meaningfully consented. Many, including Wiseman, believe that it was more about making sure that the awful conditions depicted were never revealed publicly. Courts blocked the release of the movie almost completely until 1991, after the families of several inmates brought a lawsuit against the state claiming, in part, that release of the film back in the '60s might have lead to improved conditions and potentially saved the lives of their family members. You can stream Titicut Follies on Kanopy. Titicut Follies (1967) at Kanopy Learn More Learn More at Kanopy Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) The controversy here was very much a matter of life and death. During filming of one of the anthology film's four segments, actor Vic Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (seven and six years old, respectively) died during an on-set accident involving a helicopter. Director John Landis had hired the children in violation of California labor laws, and they were paid under the table to avoid scrutiny. Landis and company were later acquitted of manslaughter charges, but others involved in the film, including Steven Spielberg and George Miller, were publicly repulsed by Landis' handling of both the filming conditions that led to the deaths, and the way he handled himself in the aftermath. As Spielberg said of the incident: "No movie is worth dying for." You can stream Twilight Zone: The Movie on Kanopy, or rent it from Prime Video. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Cannibal Holocaust (1980) Such was the shock over the proto-found footage style of Cannibal Holocaust that its director, Ruggero Deodato, was charged with obscenity just days after its release before, eventually facing accusations of murder. The films verite style was such that some audiences believed that it was a document of real cannibal-related deaths, and the quasi-viral marketing campaign fed into that belief by keeping the movies actors out of the spotlight (until they were needed to clear Deodato of having made a genuine snuff film). The film was nonetheless banned for actual incidents of animal cruelty (seven animals are killed onscreen), which continues to be a sticking point for both audiences and censors. You can stream Cannibal Holocaust on Peacock and Kanopy. Cannibal Holocaust (1980) at Peacock Learn More Learn More at Peacock Nekromantik (1987) Whats wrong with a little necrophilia when two of the people involved really love each other? West German director Jrg Buttgereits film is almost pure shock value, involving endlessly gross (though inventive) scenes of splatter and sex with corpses. Its been banned in various countries, while also earning praise for its sheer audacity. You can stream Nekromantik on AMC+ and Shudder. Nekromantik (1987) at Shudder Learn More Learn More at Shudder A Serbian Film (2010) As is often the case with controversial films, particularly ones that involve sex and/or violence, some of the debate revolves around questions of whether frank depictions are essential tools of storytelling, or just gratutitous. A Serbian Film quickly earned a reputation as a stomach-churningly violent, extremely nasty movie with a narrative following a man forced to commit increasingly deranged and sadistic acts against strangers and family members, may or may not be an allegorical depiction of the suffering of the Serbian people under a corrupt government. Ill leave the judgement to others, since Ive never been able to get through it. You can stream A Serbian Film on Fandango at Home. A Serbian Film (2010) at Fandango at Home Learn More Learn More at Fandango at Home All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Anti-war themes are always controversial in certain quarters, and the greatest opposition to Lewis Milestones film came from Germany, home of the original novels author, Erich Maria Remarque. Based on his experiences in the Imperial German Army during World War I, the book and subsequent film were perceived as anti-German in their depiction of the inhumanity and general pointlessness of that war. Joseph Goebbels led a coordinated campaign against the film during its release in early 1930, with Nazi brownshirts disrupting screenings and literally attacking theatergoers before getting the film explicitly outlawed a few months later. Italy and Austria soon followed suit, while parts of Australia banned the film (as they had the book) for promoting pacifism.The response in the United States, on the other hand, was near-universal acclaim, even though the movie paints a sympathetic portrait of German soldiers during the Great War. Perhaps we were just in an uncharacteristically peaceful mood in 1930. Star Lew Ayres would generate additional controversy a little over a decade later when he was drafted during World War II but refused to serve in a combat role as a conscientious objector, a fact some linked to his role in this film. His stance all but destroyed his film career, but he wound up serving with distinction in a medical role, thawing public opinion. You can stream All Quiet on the Western Front on Hoopla or rent it from Prime Video. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) Fritz Langs sequel to 1922's Dr. Mabuse the Gambler was also his final collaboration with his then-wife Thea von Harbou, who lacked his deep antipathy to the growing power of the Nazi party in Germany. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels attempted to woo Lang into making movies for the regime, apparently not realizing that Langs latest put Nazi talking points in the mouths of criminals and thugs. Lang declined, and fled Germany immediately (von Harbou stuck around). Testament was banned in Germany, but Langs career continued in Hollywood for decades; he even directed a third Mabuse film in 1960, which itself kicked off a bit of a franchise. You can stream The Testament of Dr. Mabuse on Max and The Criterion Channel. The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) at Max Learn More Learn More at Max Psycho (1960) Inspired by a new wave of (often French) filmmakers working in a less polished and more realist style, Alfred Hitchcock went from his biggest, most spectacular film, 1959's North by Northwest, to a movie that feels worlds apart. If Hitchcock werent so closely associated with both films, it would be hard to believe that they were made by the same director, and not even a year apart. Impressed by movies like Henri-Georges Clouzots thriller Les Diaboliques, Hitch set out to do one better and filmed the movie on a shoestring budget in black and white, against the wishes of his studio (his creative financing of the film wound up netting him millions). Early reviews were often appalled, with many seeing the movie as the end of Hitchcocks career. Audiences, though, had no doubts. The cheaply made flick was an instant blockbuster, and critics eventually came around, as wellthough it didnt win anything, the movie received four Oscar nominations, including for Hitchcocks directing and Janet Leighs performance. You can rent Psycho from Prime Video. Psycho (1960) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Peeping Tom (1960) Released within months of Psycho, Peeping Tom has much in common with Hitchs thriller but was received much less warmly. What the two share is esteemed directorsif Michael Powell wasnt quite at Hitchcocks level in terms of name recognition, he was nonetheless one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of his generation, contributing to a string of classics including The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, and The Red Shoes. This proto-slasher was an attempt at career reinvention, the story of a voyeuristic serial killer who uses his camera to record his murders from a first-person POV. Censors fought it, and audiences critics saw its depictions of sexual violence as just too much. Critics were damning, and the film just about ended Powells long career. It took a while, but people have come around: Its now considered a trailblazing horror movie, one which takes uncomfortable aim at our fixation with onscreen violence. You can stream Peeping Tom on The Roku Channel or rent it from Prime Video. Peeping Tom (1960) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) Nudity and frank sexuality werent expected by cinema audiences in the late 1960s, and I Am Curious (Yellow) even included a (gasp!) onscreen penis, which I can only assume no American had seen in any context prior to Vilgot Sjmans film. Though it eventually did well in American theaters, Boston authorities seized prints of the movie as soon as the entree the country, with the resulting obscenity case going all the way to the Supreme Court. You can stream I Am Curious (Yellow) on The Criterion Channel. I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) at The Criterion Channel Learn More Learn More at The Criterion Channel Freaks (1932) From the wildly successful Dracula in 1931 to what was almost certainly the biggest box-office disappointment of his career, director Tod Browning took on Freaks as something of a passion project that irreparably damaged his reputationwith dozens of movies behind him, he made only four more movies after it before retiring permanently, finding that his services were no longer in demand. Freaks finds a scheming trapeze artist joining up with a carnival sideshow while plotting to seduce and then murder one of the shows dwarf performers in order to gain his inheritance. The movie blends horror-movie beats with genuine empathy for the performers; Brownings desire for verisimilitude lead him to hire disabled actors to play the parts of the carnival freaks, an innovation then and for many decades after.The villain of the film is an able-bodied athlete, which is to Brownings credit, but the horror-movie milieu cant help but feel exploitative. The disabled characters have been wronged, but their revenge (however well deserved) is gruesomea castration scene, among other bits, saw people walking out of test screenings. The film was cut down before its release, apparently to its detriment (the missing scenes remain lost), but moviegoers and critics still hated it for a variety of reasons. Some found it excessively stomach-churning, some saw it as exploiting its cast, and still others just didnt care to see disabled people onscreen. The film was pulled from distribution following its New York run, an extreme rarity. Its reputation has certainly grown over the decades, but debates about its merits continue. You can rent Freaks from Prime Video. Freaks (1932) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Outlaw (1943) What are the two great reasons for Jane Russells rise to stardom? was one tagline for The Outlaw, Russells debut film. Another read Howd you like to tussle with Russell? Skywriters spelled out the films title alongside a drawing of a pair of boobs. Director Howard Hughes invented a new type of bra solely to further emphasize the actress cleavageall of which should offer plenty of clues as to the reasons for the films controversies. The Hollywood Production Code Administration hated the advertising and ordered cuts to the finished film, which didnt stop 20th Century Fox from deciding to give a pass on releasing it. Hughes tried to use the bad publicity to the films advantage, with some success; the movie was dropped into theaters for one week in 1943, two years after its completion. A wide release finally came in 1946, during which the movie did well financially, but largely for all the wrong reasons. Though it launched Russells career, theres not much more to recommend the dull picture other than the controversy. You can stream The Outlaw on Prime Video, Kanopy, MGM+, and Pluto TV. The Outlaw (1943) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video JFK (1991) Did Lyndon Johnson kill John F. Kennedy alongside the FBI, CIA, and United States military? Part-time director, full-time conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone certainly thinks so, and crafted an impressively compelling film out of the type of material that would make QAnon-types think twice. The movie attracted plenty of criticism for its conclusions, but its hard to deny that it makes for one heckuva detective film, in the best tradition of those great paranoid thrillers of the 1970s. The movie had a positive impact, though, in helping to spur the creation of the Assassination Records Review Board, which declassified and released the majority of records related to the Kennedy assassination over the following couple of years. It had a negative impact in popularizing the kind of conspiratorial thinking that has really fucked us over for, oh, the last ten years or so, and it's not surprising that RFK Jr. pal Oliver Stone has dipped his toes in Putin apologia and general Trumpism.You can rent JFK from Prime Video. JFK (1991) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Kids (1995)Theres an unsettlingly voyeuristic quality to Larry Clarks directorial debut, which presents a few days in the life of New York teenagers with not much else other than sex and drugs on their minds. The performances (including debut turns from Chlo Sevigny and Rosario Dawson) are mostly great, but the movie has a weird tonal quality that vacillates between leering at sexually active teens and the moralistic sense that were meant to be alarmed by the things that the kids these days are up toit feels both gratuitous and reactionary.Meant to be a Miramax release, it hit a snag because the company was then owned by Disney, which was decidedly not going to be involved in releasing a film that was fielding accusations of presenting child pornography. The Weinsteins bought the distribution rights for themselves and made a decent profit off of it, though the movies tough to find these days. Where to stream: Nowhere legit.I Love You, Daddy (2017)Theres a lot to unpack with Louis C.K.s never-really-released second feature, the story of a prominent director (John Malkovich) accused of being a pedophile who nonetheless attempts to start a relationship with 17-year-old China (Chlo Grace Moretz). The director hoped to get Woody Allen for the lead role, one that echoes that directors earliest and most uncomfortable movies (while also paralleling Allens own life). That didnt happen, but C.K.s own scandal didthe movies New York premiere was cancelled a few hours in advance of the release of the New York Times story that chronicled C.K.s history of sexual misconduct. His career eventually showed signs of recovery, but the movie remains impossible to see. Where to stream: NowhereLolita (1962) Though director Stanley Kubrick moderated his adaptation of Vladimir Nabokovs novel (to an extent that included throwing out Nabokovs own screenplay), Lolitathe story (in part) of a middle-aged mans sexual obsession with a young teenage girlwas never going to be released without controversy. The films pedigree (Kubrick, as well as stars James Mason, Shelley Winters, and Peter Sellers) likely saved it from outright condemnation in the United States, where the movie did decent business. In the U.K., it was given an X-rating, which kept underage lead actress Sue Lyon from attending the premiere. You can rent Lolita from Prime Video. Lolita (1962) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video A Clockwork Orange (1971) Malcolm McDowell plays Alex DeLarge, leader of a gang of droogs who, on one particularly sordid night among many, engage in a bit of the ol ultra-violence that includes gang fights, beatings, and a particularly violent rape. It deals with themes of juvenile delinquency and government control, questioning how far wed be willing to go to live in a safe society; in doing so, it makes a bit of an anti-hero out of (murderer and rapist) Alex DeLarge, a moral problem at the heart of the movies controversies.The movie was rated X in the United States prior to a later edit and was banned for Roman Catholics by the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures. It screened in U.K. theaters uncut until it was pulled by Kubrick himself a couple of years later, by which time a series of (possible) copycat incidents had darkened the films reputation rather dramatically. Im not sure that the battle lines over A Clockwork Orange have changed all that much: if anything, the films depiction of sexual violence is tougher to parse now than it was in 1971. You can rent A Clockwork Orange from Prime Video. A Clockwork Orange (1971) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Caligula (1979) A thoroughly unexpected collaboration between Gore Vidal and PenthouseMagazine founder Bob Guccione, this Helen Mirren-starring film has been described as an irresistible mix of art and genitals. The production was fraught with behind-the-scenes wrangling over the appropriate level of porniness, but with Penthouse putting up most of the money, Gore Vidal (whose screenplay was seen as much too gay) was booted from the set and it became a film of positively packed with orgies, rape, and even some light fisting for good measure. American authorities didnt try to ban the film, but various cities (including Boston) and morality groups did. Various cuts were produced to appeal to (or at least to not appall) various constituencies, none of them particularly good. Still, the top-notch cast (Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter OToole, John Gielgud, etc.) makes it one helluva novelty. You can rent Caligula from Apple TV. Caligula (1979) at Apple TV Learn More Learn More at Apple TV Pink Flamingos (1972)Pink Flamingos wasnt John Waters debut film, but his celebration of Babs Johnson, the filthiest person alive (Divine) announced the director to an unsuspecting world after it was picked up from a Baltimore film festival to run as an essential midnight movie in New York City. Anticipating the reception that would eventually turn The Rocky Horror Picture Show into a midnight mainstay, audiences soon began memorizing the film and shouting lines back at the screen. Scandalous moments abound, including full-frontal nudity of all sorts, a performance by a literal singing asshole, the real death of a chicken during a rape scene, and, of course, the eating of actual dog shit. Because it was never a wide release in the United States, it screened mostly for audiences who knew what they were in for, and there were few lines left to cross afterward. Nevertheless, it was banned in parts of Europe and Canada.Where to stream: NowherePoison (1991) New Queer Cinema trailblazer Todd Haynes burst onto the scene with Poison, his feature-length debut. The very mildly sexually explicit film (queer films are always judged much more stridently in that regard) became a flashpoint chiefly because of its funding: the National Endowment for the Arts provided a chunk of the budget, and NEA chair John E. Frohnmayer came under fire for spending taxpayer money on gay filth (that the movies critics hadnt, or at least wouldnt admit to have, seen). Under pressure from religious conservatives, Frohnmayer resigned shortly thereafter. You can stream Poison on Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video. Poison (1991) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddys Revenge (1985) Queer coding in horror movies was nothing new, and thats just as true for slasher movies, but Freddys Revenge, the follow-up to Wes Cravens slasher masterpiece, was something else entirely. Mark Patton plays Jesse (already an outlier as a male lead in a genre known for its final girls), a sensitive new kid in town who runs into his gym teacher at a leather bar, escapes from a make-out session with a neighbor girl by sneaking into his best friends bedroom, and serves up some memorable moves in a penis-popping dance sequence. Mark Patton, an actor with a then-promising career (his film debut was opposite Cher in Robert Altmans Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean) blamed the films gay subtext (and then some) for pigeonholing him as a gay actor who couldnt play straight (he was closeted in his career, as was pretty much every other gay actor of the era). The movie suffered at the box office, in part because it departed so drastically from its predecessor, and in part because it was a little too gay for broad slasher-movie audiences. As detailed by Patton in his documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, the gay material in writer David Chaskins script was intended to exploit homophobic fears; Pattons performance turned that on its head, but it took years before slasher fans undertook a real reevaluation of the movie, which now stands as a queer-for-fear classic. You can rent Freddy's Revenge from Prime Video. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddys Revenge (1985) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Interview (2014) The wacky Seth Rogan/James Franco comedy revolves around a couple of bumbling journalists who secure an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Randall Park). Naturally, the North Korean government wasnt thrilled with the premise and threatened vague retaliation if the movie were to be released, essentially calling it an act of war. Sony delayed the movie to make changes, but to no avail: a North Korean cyber terrorist group calling itself the Guardians of Peace hacked Sony and released a ton of personal and/or embarrassing information that lead to lawsuits and resignations. The group also threatened theaters who showed the film, which was effective in keeping bookings down. In the end, it was primarily released digitally (a novelty at the time) rather than given a broad theatrical release, a strategy that worked out reasonably well given all the publicity, but the movie still didnt do much better than breaking even. You can rent The Interview from Prime Video. The Interview (2014) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video In the Realm of the Senses (1976) This appropriately sensuous Japanese film from director Nagisa shima deals with sexual obsession in its fictionalization of a real-life murder that had been a tabloid style sensation decades earlier. The film goes beyond a frank depiction of sexuality (and sexual experimentation) to include moments of unsimulated sex, which would normally have seen it not just banned from distribution in Japan, but banned from being made. shima got around that prohibition by listing the movie as a French production, and had the footage processed in that country. The most sexually explicit scenes were blurred for the movies Japanese release, and it was banned and un-banned in various countries (including the United States) for decades thereafter. You can stream In the Realm of the Senses on The Criterion Channel. In the Realm of the Senses (1976) at The Criterion Channel Learn More Learn More at The Criterion Channel Love (2015) Gaspar Nos most famous movie, Irrversible, features a rape sequence so brutal as to make the film nearly unwatchable; Love is a cakewalk in comparison. The relationship movie spends a rather significant amount of screen time on unsimulated sex scenes and was filmed in 3D; all its artsy pretensions fall away when we watch the main character (played by Karl Glusman) ejaculate straight out into the audience. Americans didnt seem to have a huge problem with the movie (it was on Netflix for a while), but it was banned outright in Russia (maybe because one threesome included two women?) and became a hot topic in increasingly prudish France, where conservative groups managed to secure a more restrictive rating for the film. You can rent Love from Fandango at Home. Love (2015) at Fandango at Home Learn More Learn More at Fandango at Home Rosemarys Baby (1968) Roman Polanskis very name on a film engenders controversy (and with good reason, given he has been convicted of raping a child), but Rosemarys Babywas before his own actions blackened his name. Upon release, the film was seen, instead, as an affront to religious sensibilities. The National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures, a 1960s version of the various religious organizations that had been policing film content for decades, took offense at what it described as, the perverted use which the film makes of fundamental Christian beliefs, especially in the events surrounding the birth of Christ, and its mockery of religious persons and practices. The film was given a rating of C for condemned, essentially barring Catholics from seeing it. Unlike similar denunciations of earlier films, the denunciation didnt have much of an impact, and the film went on to box office success and earned Ruth Gordon an Oscar. You can stream Rosemary's Baby on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video. Rosemarys Baby (1968) at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+ Dogma (1999) Kevin Smiths story of fallen angels looking for a way back into heaven after being cast out was delayed for nearly a year and switched distributors (after Disney-owned Miramax got cold feet) because of controversy over its satirical religious themes. Catholic groups in particular saw the film as either offensive or outright blasphemous. Organized protests in several countries slowed or halted release, and Smith himself received death threats. The controversy might have helped as a form of free publicity; the film did brisk business at the box office, especially in comparison to most of the rest of Smiths filmography. Theres a new, more recent problem with its distribution, however: the rights are held by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who arent doing anything with them. The movie isnt streaming, nor is it in print on any physical media; referring to previous rights-holder Harvey Weinstein, Smiths said: My movie about angels is owned by the devil himself. That's apparently changed, as Smith has announced that he once again has those rights. A release is apparently coming soon.Possession (1981) A horror movie about a bad divorce written during the directors real-life marital split, Andrzej uawskis Possession deals with an allegory for marriage going wrong in the form of a literal monster. As her marriage to Sam Neills Mark disintegrates, Isabelle Adjanis Anna is nurturing a creature whom seems to have taken Marks place in her affections; the movie includes a sex scene with the shapeless mass of a monster, as well as some violent scenes that put it on the radar of the anti-video nasty crusaders in Britain, where it was banned. American distributors were provided with a heavily edited, nigh-nonsensical version, and only recently has it been restored to its full, horrific length in this country. You can stream Possession on Kanopy and Shudder or rent it from Prime Video. Possession (1981) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence) (2011) Writer/director Tom Sixs first Human Centipede movie, about a German surgeon who joins unwitting tourists together by sewing ones mouth to anothers butthole ,was a weird, shock novelty that didnt make a lot of money but still earned a brief spot in the zeitgeist for anyone with the stomach to talk about it. As is the way of such things, the sequel (about a copycat seamster) had to up the ante in order to justify its existence...and, when youre starting from a premise of people who poop into other peoples mouths, thats an ask. An ambulance was stationed outside the United States premiere in Austin as a William Castle-style gimmick, and at least one person actually got sick and required medical assistance (which is the kind of advertising you cant buy). The British Board of Film Classification initially rejected the film outrighteventually, reluctantly, clearing the film after some cuts and a four-month appeals process. You can stream The Human Centipede 2 on AMC+ and Shudder or rent it from Prime Video. The Human Centipede 2 at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Basic Instinct (1992) Provocateur par excellence Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers, Showgirls) had one of his biggest hits with this thriller, generating controversy on several fronts. Its explicit-ish sexual violence was a sticking point for some audiences, and its portrayal of a bisexual serial killer justifiably raised the hackles of LGBTQ groups, some of whom were at least as bored by the already-tired trope as they were offended by it; in a time when a majority of gay leads in movies were deranged murderers, it was no small thing to see yet another. Then theres the interrogation scene, during which Sharon Stone uncrosses her legs to reveal a bit more than 1992 theater audiences were accustomed to seeing of a lead actress. As to what would be seen by the audience, Sharon Stone has stated that she was misled during the filming of the sequence, which is not great, though ultimately she felt OK about the finished product. The film initially received an NC-17 rating, but several seconds of cuts brought it down to a hard R (you can, of course, now see everything if you find the right version of the DVD). You can stream Basic Instinct on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video. Basic Instinct (1992) at Paramount+ Learn More Learn More at Paramount+ Brokeback Mountain (2005) Seriously...Crash? And Lees Brokeback Mountain, famously about closeted gay cowboys played by two straight actors, was a surprise box office smash upon release, despite the many roadblocks thrown up in its way, both before and after release. Italian state television aired a version of the movie with all of the gay stuff cut out, which surely made for a confusing experience; the film wasnt screened at all in China and most of the Middle East; and the usual suspects in America saw its existence as a direct assault on mom, Jesus, and the flag. Fox News, alongside various Christian groups, decried the movie for months (attention spans were slightly longer back then), as did critics like Michael Medved and Gene Shalit. While the movie moved mainstream queer cinema forward a bit, it also opened the floodgates for anti-LGBTQ sentiment and some truly embarrassingly awful jokes. And then there were the Oscars: Brokeback was heavily favored to win Best Picture, and instead lost to Crash, a movie thats largely been forgotten when it isnt being insulted. Dismissive comments from actors (and voting Academy members) like Tony Curtis and Ernest Borgnine suggested to many that an old-guard among Hollywoods elite simply were never going to vote for a gay-themed movie (the need for the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite movement likely came from a similar place). You can stream Brokeback Mountain on Peacock or rent it from Prime Video. Brokeback Mountain (2005) at Peacock Learn More Learn More at Peacock Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013) While theres not much argument when it comes to the tremendous performances of leads La Seydoux and Adle Exarchopoulos, almost everything else around Abdellatif Kechiches Blue Is the Warmest Colour has been the subject of controversy. The movie received overwhelming critical acclaim from early audiences and the Cannes jury, but dissension quickly arose: gay and feminist critics noted that the extensive, seemingly gratuitous and not always realistic sex scenes evidenced a traditional straight male gaze; the writer of the source graphic novel, Jul Maroh, praised the film in some regards but also suggested that the straightness of the cast and crew was a problem, stating, It appears to me this was what was missing on the set: lesbians. Seydoux and Exarchopoulos, along with various members of the cast and crew, complained of difficult and working conditions under the director, who was later accused of sexual assault in an unrelated incident. It all paints a deeply complicated picture of what seemed, at the outset, like a trailblazing queer film. You can stream Blue Is the Warmest Colour on AMC+ and Kanopy or rent it from Prime Video. Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Fritz the Cat (1972) A bit more tame by modern standards, mostly because were thoroughly accustomed to the idea that cartoons neednt be exclusively for children, Ralph Bakshis adaptation of the R. Crumb comic strip earned an X rating for depictions of cartoon cat debauchery. While scolds denied it, none of it mattered much (and the notoriety arguably helped), as it became one of the most successful independent films of all time. You can watch Fritz the Cat for free at the Internet Archive.Water (2005) Writer/director Deepa Mehtas entire (conceptual) Elements trilogy had been wildly controversialFire, released in 1996, was among the first mainstream Bollywood films to spotlight a lesbian relationship, while Earth dealt with the 1947 partition. Those films had been successful, but were been met with sometimes violent reactions, and that was all in the wind when word got around about the filming of the directors latest, which deals with child marriage and ashrams during the late 1930s. With the assumption, based entirely on rumors, that the movie would offend conservative sensibilities, protesters stormed the filming locations and destroyed the sets. As a result, filming wasnt completed for years; the production was forced to move to Sri Lanka and shooting too place under intense secrecy. The final product wasnt nearly as incendiary as some expected, though it does rank among the directors very best films. You can rent Water from Prime Video. Water (2005) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video Sal, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) Pier Paolo Pasolinis most notorious film transports the works of the Marquis de Sade to fascist Italy of the early 1940s, and it has become a rite of passage for art-film lovers with strong stomachs. Four wealthy, corrupt libertines kidnap 18 teenagers and subject them to months of beautifully filmed violence and sexual torture. Pasolini (who was murdered just prior to the films premiere) undoubtedly engages with themes around political corruption, capitalism, and fascism, though whether his film succeeds more as an attack on human cruelty, or merely wallows in it, has been debated for decades. Numerous countries have banned the film, and it became a hot topic in the United States when an undercover policeman arrested the proprietor of an Ohio gay bookstore for renting out a copyMartin Scorsese was among the film luminaries to come to the stores defense. It's not streaming anywhere, but is available on DVD and Blu-ray direct from The Criterion Collection.Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song (1971) Its often described as a blaxploitation film, but, unlike many of the other movies made for Black audiences in the 1970s, Sweetback wasnt made primarily by white people. Writer/director/producer Melvin Van Peebles extended chase sequence of a movie was a box office colossus, making millions of dollars on a budget of about $150,000. Its often, and not unfairly, described as the first true Black power film, which of course made some white audiences squeamish. It was rated X by the MPAA for its scenes pf sex and violence, which auteur Van Peebles cannily made use of: Rated X by an all-white jury the ads said. You can stream Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song on The Criterion Channel or rent it from Prime Video. Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song (1971) at Prime Video Learn More Learn More at Prime Video

Starting today, DJs will have access to Apple Music's catalog of over 100 million songs through more hardware and software platforms. DJs of all skill levels can build and mix sets on AlphaTheta, Serato, Engine DJ, Denon DJ, Numark and RANE DJ. This news follows the initial debut of Apple Music integration with Algoriddim's djay Pro software last year. There's also a new name for the whole initiative: DJ with Apple Music. And yes, a subscription is required.This isn't to be confused with Apple Music's DJ Mixes, a separate program that began in 2021. The idea there was to attract creators of said DJ mixes and sets to the platform by leveraging Shazam's technology (owned by Apple) to ensure proper royalties were paid out. Now, Apple says, it's giving DJs access to its music catalog so it can be used as a creative tool and so they can easily tap into their personal libraries. There's a new DJ with Apple Music category page in the streaming app with curated playlists, and each platform has its own curator page complete with practice material.Spotify used to allow integration with third-party DJ apps, but the service stopped doing so in 2020. If you're looking for options, djay Pro works with Tidal and SoundCloud, in addition to Apple Music.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/apple-music-integration-is-now-available-on-more-dj-platforms-140009346.html?src=rss

Amazon has kicked off another sitewide sales event. The Big Spring Sale, as this one is called, is aimed at apparel and outdoor goods more than electronics, but weve tried to cut through the noise and pull out a few actually decent tech deals anyway. If youre specifically looking for grab a new Apple device, good news: A handful of AirPods, iPads, Apple Watches and Beats headphones are at or near their lowest prices to date. Many of these discounts arent explicitly tied to the sale, but if youre just trying to save some cash, that shouldnt matter much. Weve rounded up the best Spring Sale Apple deals we could find below. Amazon says the event will run through March 31, so well update this post if prices change and other deals pop up. Best Amazon Spring Sale Apple deals Apple AirPods 4 with ANC for $150 ($29 off): This version of the AirPods 4 is nearly identical to the base model, only it supports active noise cancellation and comes with a wireless charging case. It also supports other listening modes like Adaptive Audio, and that case can tap into Apples Find My tracking network if you ever misplace it. The ANC isnt as effective as what you can get with a pair that fully seals off the ear canal, but it makes the earbuds a little more useful in noisy environments all the same. We gave the device a score of 86 in our review. This discount is $11 higher than the best price weve seen, but its about as low as the earbuds have fallen outside of that. Apple AirPods Pro 2 for $170 ($79 off): The AirPods Pro 2 remain Apples best set of wireless earbuds, as they offer the full set of Apple-focused features, strong ANC, onboard volume controls, a (generally) comfy in-ear design and a warm sound profile that most should find agreeable. They can even work as a hearing aid, though their six-hour battery life still isnt the best, and you should only get them if youre all-in on Apple hardware. If thats the case, though, we call them the best choice for iPhone owners in our wireless earbuds buying guide. We saw this pair drop as low as $154 back in December, but this deal comes within a dollar of its best price since then. The Apple Watch Series 10. Cherlynn Low for Engadget Apple Watch Series 10 for $299 ($100 off): The top pick in our guide to the best smartwatches, the Series 10 is a mostly iterative update, with faster charging, a slightly slimmer profile and a marginally larger display compared to the previous Series 9. That said, it remains a comprehensive fitness tracker, and no other smartwatch can integrate as neatly with iPhones and other Apple devices. It should be a welcome upgrade if youre looking to upgrade from an older Apple Watch (think pre-Series 7) just keep in mind a patent dispute has locked it out the blood oxygen detection features found on those older models. This $100 discount matches the lowest price weve seen for the non-cellular model with a 42mm case. Apple iPad (A16) for $329 ($20 off): The newest entry-level iPad only arrived three weeks ago, but Amazon is currently selling it for $20 less than Apple direct, which is a decent little savings if you planned on grabbing the tablet early anyway. This one is another small update, but it now comes with a faster A16 chip, more RAM and 128GB of storage as standard. Our review is coming soon, but TL;DR: If you only need an iPad for media consumption and lighter work, its still a fine value. Apple iPad Air 11-inch (M3) for $549 ($50 off): Much like the deal on the base iPad above, this isnt a huge discount, but its a nice chance to save a few bucks compared to buying from Apple directly. The new iPad Air was released on the same day as the iPad (A16) and is a similarly minor update; the only big addition is a more powerful M3 chip. However, we still prefer the Air over the base model if you can swing it: Its display is more color-rich and better at fending off glare, its speakers are more robust, it works with Apples best accessories and its performance should hold up better in the years ahead. The older M2-powered model is an even better value if you can find it on sale, but either way the Air is the iPad we recommend to most people. The 13-inch iPad Air M3. Nathan Ingraham for Engadget Apple iPad Air 13-inch (M3) for $738 ($61 off): We gave the 13-inch iPad Air a review score of 89 earlier this month. It has a bigger and slightly brighter display than its 11-inch counterpart; otherwise, the two slates are the same. If you plan to keep your iPad hooked up to a keyboard, the extra screen space is lovely for taking in movies and multitasking for work. This is the lowest price weve seen for the 128GB model. Apple iPad Pro 13-inch (M4) for $1,099 ($200 off): The iPad Pro is more tablet than most people need, but its the ultimate iPad for those who can stomach its price tag. Its wonderfully thin, its OLED display is one of the best weve seen on a consumer device and its M4 chip can handle virtually anything youd ever do on an iPad. Its also the only Apple tablet with Face ID, plus it has a better speaker setup than the iPad Air. We gave it a score of 84 in our review, with the only real drawback being how expensive it all is. This deal on doesnt truly lessen that and its another deal weve seen multiple times in recent months but it still ties the 13-inch models all-time low. Beats Studio Buds + for $130 ($40 off): The Studio Buds + might be worth a look if you want some of the AirPods Pros Apple-friendly perks at a lower price. We gave these in-ear headphones a score of 84 back in 2023: Theyre relatively comfy, with decent ANC and a mostly neutral sound profile, plus they dont totally shut out Android users the way AirPods do. Theres no wireless charging, wear detection or automatic switching between Apple devices, though, and the ANC is still a step down from the AirPods Pro. But if you can live with all of that, this deal matches one of the best prices we could find outside of one extremely brief drop to $80 more than a year ago.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazon-spring-sale-apple-deals-save-up-to-200-on-airpods-ipads-and-more-092050968.html?src=rss

Vivo's Vision MR headset could be the most important XR launch of 2025.

By teaming up with DJ software (and hardware) platforms AlphaTheta, Serato, inMusics Engine DJ, Denon DJ, Numark and RANE DJ, Apple Music users will now be able to build and mix sets directly from its catalog of over 100 million songs, even when late for a gig.