Ms. Pac Man will be on the lineup at Free Play Arcade in Richardson.
Free Play
A game arcade with a retro theme and a unique payment approach will open in Richardson in the fall. Called Free Play, it'll offer more than 70 arcade games, most from the 1980s, including titles such as Ms. Pac Man, Defender and Tempest.
As the name suggests, every video will be set to "free play" mode, with patrons paying a single entry price for unlimited play on every game in the arcade.
In addition to the games, the arcade will include a dining area with food and beverages, including a wide selection of local and regional craft beers.
“This will be a huge draw for young professionals and video game fans from all over the area,” says co-founder and president Corey Hyden. “Nothing like this exists in DFW and, for most of the games that will be on our floor, you would have to drive hundreds of miles to find them at another arcade. It will be nostalgia overload."
The arcade is going into a former electronics store at 1730 Belt Line Rd. between Chase Place, a bar, and a Sherwin Williams store.
According to the Richardson blog, some residents complained that it would be selling alcohol, but Hyden said it will be beer and wine for his target audience of people aged 25 to 50.
Hyden and his partner Richard Boland Tregilgas II both graduated from Richardson high schools. Hyden is a litigation attorney based in Richardson; Tregilgas is CEO of imakestuff, inc., a company that develops and builds creations for use on stage and screen.
"It was extremely important to us that we open this retro arcade in Richardson," Hyden says. "The recent boom in young professionals calling Richardson home, along with our strong roots here, made Richardson the obvious choice."
Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.
Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.
Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).
After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.
Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.
The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.
Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.
Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.
The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.
