The Queen of the Citadels (King's Germans #3)
Book
October 1793: The French border. Dunkirk was a disaster for the Duke of Yorkβs army. The...
Historical Fiction Military
Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf, #1)
9.3
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Book
Her story begins on a train. The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and...
Quicksand
Tabletop Game
The object of the game is to be the first player to get your adventurer around the board from START...
BoardGames RetroGames GreatArtGames
The Lost History of Stars
9.0
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Book
In turn-of-the-century South Africa, fourteen-year-old Lettie, her younger brother, and her mother...
history historical fiction fiction Africa South Africa War
A Most Unlikely Man: A Tale of Resistance
Book
Isadore Levinsky is a survivor. No stranger to concentration camps, he's been freighted by boxcar to...
Historical Fiction Magical Realism
David McK (3932 KP) rated War Machine (2026) in Movies
Apr 26, 2026 (Updated Apr 26, 2026)
Which might sound as a strange thing to be saying about this 2026 Netflix action adventure movie, but there is a reason: namely, that it derives a lot of its selling power from the fact that the star of the Jack Reacher TV series (so not Tom Cruise) is the main lead in this.
In what is, effectively, a movie that very-much-s stick to the traditional three act structure: intro, and boot-camp training (with breadcrumbs dropped for future payoff), main body where the star and his colleagues - initially believing themselves still to be on a training mission - are hunted through the woods by the War Machine of the title (that looks a bit like a grown up ED-209 from Robocop), and a final confrontation between the star and his enemy where he uses his smarts to finally defeat said War Machine.
No clue is ever given as to why these alien machines as susceptible to earth-based physics, or why they are even attacking ...
Still, if you can put that aside and prepare yourself in advance for a bit of Jingoistic ra-ra-America, it's an enjoyable enough ride.
Lee KM Pallatina (951 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Friday the 13th : The Game in Video Games
Dec 5, 2021
Most of which were hit and miss.... No let's be honest, they were all a miss... Jump forward a few decades and another jab at them has begun.
Friday the 13th is a third person horror game based on the franchise of the same name which puts horror legend Jason Voorhees against a group of (clearly unqualified) camp councillors in a kill or be killed (or just run away) deadly game of killer cat and mouse.
A tremendous improvement on the original outing but with one small yet major downfall... There's no story mode?
Given that today's videogame industry is the biggest its ever been with zero signs of slowing down, its disappointing that something like this could and has happened.
Apart from the missed opportunity, the game itself is pretty much online only, the game regularly cuts out, there is an option to play against CPU's but that takes the fun out of it.
The game is fun when playable though
There is a hint of more to come hidden within the game, so there's hope... But we'll see.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated As the Gods Will (2014) in Movies
Oct 28, 2021
Seventh Miike down and so far this is my favorite of his by a wide margin: gorgeous, fearlessly stupid, entertaining as can be, grisly, funny, and as giddy as a kid in a candy shop with its cruelty. Pretty much the shit movies were made for. Couldn't tell you how this holds up as an adaptation of the manga, but it's a top-to-bottom gnarly blast in its own right - just keeps topping and topping itself with its series of totally ludicrous rug-pulls until you have no choice but to strap in blindfolded and hold on for the ride. I still can't get over the combination of all these breathtaking sets with the garish, purposefully fugly CGI - it adds a deep idiosyncrasy to the project that works like a motherfucker in deepening its artsy camp. The entirety of the 'telling the truth' game is the best scene in any Miike movie I've seen up to this point. Ryunosuke Kamiki is a God's-honest talent. And at this point in Takashi's filmography it should go without saying that Koji Endo's score rips hard. Catch me demanding a sequel to this overlooked genre classic.
Waking Up Lost (Adirondack Spirit Series #4)
8.0
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Book
Traveling without warning. Nights lost to supernatural journeys. Is one young man fated to wander...
Historical Fiction Fantasy
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Top Gun: Maverick (2022) in Movies
May 25, 2022
It definitely leans heavily on the nostalgia button here and there, but everything it offers is so much fun that it never feels like it's relying on that nostalgia. The new cast are hugely likable, and just like the first time around, the comradery between the characters is well realised, and wholesome as hell, with some good hearted rivalry. Tom Cruise slips back into the role of Maverick like he never left, and is clearly having a blast once again in the drivers seat.
The action set pieces are exciting, and it boasts a genuinely intense and high octane finale, as well as emotional beats that had me welling up dammit. Combine all of this with a spruced up classic music score, and you have a true blockbuster that will thrill fans of the original, and new audiences alike.
I wasn't overly excited about Top Gun: Maverick during the lead up to release, but I would be a fool not to admit that it's a triumph. Absolutely loved it.