A24's highest-grossing film to date, the surreal horror flick "Backrooms," is finally on HBO Max. One of the biggest hits of the year so far, it grossed nearly $400 million and — along with "Obsession" and "The Odyssey" — turned this summer into the busiest season theaters have seen since the pandemic. If you’ve ever fallen down the internet’s weirdest rabbit holes, chances are you’ve encountered the backrooms, a concept that first began as a photo posted online of an empty department store under renovation. The unsettling liminal expanse hooked itself into the collective consciousness of the internet, spawning countless videos, games, and theories about what might be lurking just out of sight in those yellowed halls. After the trainwreck that was 2018's "Slender Man," I didn't have high hopes for another bit of internet lore getting the big-screen treatment. But I was happily surprised! For his first movie, director Kane Parsons' artistry and vision are incredibly impressive. The composition alone had me seeing "Backrooms" twice in theaters. Now that it's one of a ton of new movies on HBO Max in September, I'm excited for even more folks to check out this delightfully bizarre horror movie. Also, there's no lore you need to know to enjoy it (trust me, I went in knowing zilch).

Ever since the Pixel 9 Pro XL, Google’s flagships have consistently impressed me with their astrophotography performance — and the latest Pixel 11 Pro XL is shaping up to be no exception. That’s largely down to its updated Night Sight engine, which directly dictates how effectively it navigates the nuances of night-sky imaging. But that effortless automation is precisely one of the biggest strengths of shooting on the Pixel: all the heavy processing happens silently in the background. Google claims this updated Night Sight captures up to 4.5 times faster than prior generations, but I wanted to see how it holds up against dedicated hardware. To find out, I pitted it against an OM SYSTEM OM-3 Astro setup — a $2,500 specialized mirrorless body meant to capture the night sky paired with a fast Olympus 12mm f/2 lens. On paper, it looks like an absurd mismatch, but the side-by-side results downright surprised me.