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TryandApply

Education

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App

Try & Apply is an innovative and comprehensive student recruitment mobile application which enables...

ESPNPlay Caribbean

Sports and Entertainment

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App

Stay connected to live sports and shows from ESPN - wherever and whenever you want them. Download...

A Party with Socialists in It: A History of the Labour Left

Simon Hannah

7.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

For over a hundred years, the British Labour Party has been a bastion for working class organisation...

Politics

So Lucky

Nicola Griffith

8.0 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Book

So Lucky is the sharp, surprising new novel by Nicola Griffith—the profoundly personal and...

Overcoming Obstacles Grief Self Discovery

LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Free Guy (2021) in Movies

Oct 1, 2021

Free Guy (2021)

2021 | Action, Adventure, Comedy

7.5

(24 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

I play video games fairly regularly, so it's no surprise that I absolutely love the concept of Free Guy. A whole ass movie exploring the daily ins and outs of an NPC existing in a Grand Theft Auto style world is something that interests me, and it's feels quite unique. Unfortunately, that uniqueness is bogged down by a whole lot of over familiar execution. The time loop style plot trope, the over the top douchebag villain (even when it's Taika Waititi), events in the movie being presented through familiar real life news stations or YouTube, the inclusion of multiple popular IPs thrown in for a cheap thrill - for a movie that carries a fresh premise, it manages to feel wholly unoriginal.
These negatives would usually be enough to complely write off the finished product, but luckily, Free Guy is entertaining as hell. It has some decent action set pieces, never tries to be something it's not, and even managed to wrangle a few laughs out of me. Most importantly, it's fun.

Free Guy has plenty of flaws, but it's shortcomings are just about balanced out by the good, and it will surely appeal to the majority of people who see it. A decent enough switch-off watch.

Kudos

David McK (3425 KP) rated Corpse Thief (Joshua Hawke #1) in Books

Feb 26, 2022

I remember reading Michael Arnold's seemingly-abandoned Captain Stryker Civil War Chronicles books when they first came out, and quite enjoying them.

I wasn't so sure about the setting of his new series, of which this is the first (and currently only) entry.

None-the-less, I thought I would give it a chance anyway: after all, a gin-sodden opium addicted grave robber ex-policeman who previously participated in the Peterloo massacre is hardly, shall we say, your standard protagonist!

Set in and around London's seedy underground of the 1820s, I got a strong flavour of Jack the Ripper when reading this; of a murderer who strikes at his (or her?) victims before disappearing again, and of whom the authorities seemingly have little interest in apprehending until he - or she! - jeopardises their own interests.

It's interesting, therefore, seeing the life and time from the 'other side', as it were, from the points of view of the downtrodden masses rather than from the rich and powerful.

Be aware, however, that this is NOT a self-contained novel in its own right (well, it is and it isn't), in that some major plot threads are purposefully left hanging for the inevitable sequel.