This Is Where I Leave You

Oh, beards. You’re great for many reasons. But in cinema, there is one reason that, for me, stands out above all others. Ever since Robin Williams pioneered the method in Good Will Hunting and Awakenings, it has almost become an unwritten rule to grow a beard when, if you’re known for your comedy work, you try and make a drama. 

In This Is Where I Leave You, out now on Blu-Ray and DVD, Jason Bateman brings the beard. But is it enough to save this unoriginal film?  This Is Where I Leave You, based on the book of the same name by Jonathan Tropper (who also provided the screenplay), is another in a long line of dysfunctional-family-brought-together-by-death films. When their father passes away, four fully-grown siblings return to their childhood home and, in keeping with Jewish tradition, must stay there together for a week. Joining them are their widowed mother, their spouses, their exes, and more. Cue dysfunctional shenanigans, arguments, and new found respect for one another; and you’ve got This Is Where I Leave You. I was reminded of several other works whilst watching this film. Firstly, the obvious. Throughout the film, I could almost hear Ron Howard narrating. Hell, this film could’ve easily started with “Now the story of a normal family who lost their father, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together. It’s This Is Where I Leave You”. I am of course referring to Arrested Development, the Jason Bateman-starring series to which all dysfunctional family stories are compared to. From Bateman’s silent looks of confusion and disappointment that were as Michael Bluth as Michael Bluth gets, to the loud-mouthed vain mother and sarcastic sister – this had Arrested Development written all over it. But more specifically I was reminded of Death at a Funeral and August: Osage County; both telling stories of deceased patriarchs and the ensuing reunion of a dysfunctional family for the funeral.

And so, I suppose that was my main problem with the film. I know, there have been so many films now that it’s difficult to create truly original material (although it can be done). But even taking that into consideration, it’s no excuse for making something SO unoriginal that it’s almost a remake of other films that have come before it.

It’s a shame, really. Because This Is Where I Leave You boasts a formidable group of actors and actresses. Alongside Jason Bateman, we have an ensemble cast including Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Timothy Olyphant, Rose Byrne, Corey Stoll and upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast-member Adam Driver. But it almost felt like too many; with so much going on with each character that it was often uncomfortable to watch. It wouldn’t have been a problem if the film had settled on a tone and genre, but This Is Where I Leave You didn’t seem to know if it was a comedy or drama. It wasn’t even ‘dramedy’, the label given to so many films of its type. It didn’t know what it was. When it tried to be funny, it fell flat. And when it tried to be dramatic, we weren’t invested in the characters enough to care. But the highlight of the film, as with many of his works, was Bateman himself. He’s the relatable, normal guy in a house full of unusual characters. He’s the spectator; we can slip into his shoes and watch as his family argues, falls apart and rebuilds itself around him. But hey, we can get that watching him in Arrested Development. And that is a hell of a lot funnier.

This is where I shall leave you, dear readers, so I shall wrap it up here. This film was disappointing in its unoriginality, tonal confusion and slow pacing. A good cast and even a beard on Bateman’s usually clean shaven face weren’t enough to make a memorable film out of This Is Where I Leave You. It’s almost like being at a funeral. It’s slow, dark and the only way to get through it is try and remember the happy times you’ve had with the people you’re seeing on screen.

2/5. May This Is Where I Leave You rest in peace.

★★☆☆☆

Sam Love

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Avengers Grimm

The motherf*cking Asylum, dude. The Asylum are the film studio who basically make "mockbusters"; rip-offs of blockbusters both in name and plot. Essentially, the Asylum either make all their money from people who buy their films because “they're so bad they're good”, or because they basically end confusing a customer. I can imagine it now- a mother going into a shop to buy little Billy a copy of Transformers, but getting confused and coming out with a copy of Transmorphers. Both are about sentient robots that can turn into vehicles, and going by the cover art alone on the DVD, I wouldn't blame anyone for making the mistake of choosing it over Transformers. Now the latest film by the Aslyum is out, and it's not just a rip-off of a Disney franchise, but it also makes use of other elements Disney is widely known for.

Directed by Jeremy M. Inman and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Avengers Grimm, a film that makes most of the rest of the Asylums output look Oscar worthy. Both in name and in some parts of the plot, this is Asylums take on The Avengers as well as the Disney princesses. Granted the Disney princesses aren't exactly property of Disney, but they're still something you associate with the company. Avengers Grimm begins in a magical realm, a world in which Rumpelstilskin wants to wreck shit up. However, he figures he has more of a chance in our world, as over here his magic would literally be unstoppable. But after coming through to our world, oul' Rumpel didn't count on Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Red Riding Hood trying to stop him. Though Rumpelstilskin has the Big Bad Wolf and a metal Lou Ferrigno on his team, ain't nothing going to stop the girls from kicking his ass. The story is actually kind of OK in a shitty b-movie way, the problem is everything beyond that.

OK, before I get into bashing Avengers Grimm, lets just put it out there that I know it's not high art. I know this. In fact, even the Asylum know what kind of films they're making here. They're making cheap fluff, films that are more parody than serious. It's not going to win an Oscar any time soon, and that's fine. I love films that are so-bad-they're-good, but Avengers Grimm is just plain bad. The worst part about it all are the performances. The film stars two actors you probably know about, with the rest of the cast being largely unknown. Casper Van Dien aka “the guy who was once in Starship Troopers” plays Rumpelstilskin, while Lou Ferrigno aka “the Hulk” plays Iron John. If you look at the poster for the film it's clear that the Asylum are trying to sell it purely based on their names. I get Iron Man selling on Robert Downey Jr's name alone or whatever, but I don't think anyone ever said, “oh boy, Casper Van Dien is in this!!”. Regardless, while both Van Dien and Ferrigno do a pretty shit job, everyone else is painfully terrible. The cast comes across like they're reading lines from a cue card, over act to compensate for a lack of talent and generally look like they're dead inside for having to be in this film. The main selection of women in Avengers Grimm are clearly just here for eye candy too, as you'd literally find more substance and caricaturisation in a packet of Quavers.

The visuals of the film aren't much better either, mind you. Though the sets are completely mediocre and cheap looking, there are times in which the film-makers use CGI to cobble together various bits and pieces to create one scene or location. These parts of the film are genuinely laughably bad, as they look like they were done by some dude in his underwear on MS Paint on Window ME, surrounded by a sea of Thor comics, week old ramen and Japanese body pillows. Avengers Grimm just looks god awful in every way conceivable.

Overall Avengers Grimm is a bad film, but it's in no way as watchable as some of the Asylum's previous efforts. I watched Atlantic Rim and The Terminators and had a laugh. When watching Avengers Grimm I just wanted for it to be over. Only pick it up if you're a masochist.

Avengers Grimm is as grim as it gets with a 1/5.

★☆☆☆☆

Denis Murphy

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The Theory of Everything

Ah, the Oscars. Every year, a handful of films come out purely to scoop a few of those lovely awards whilst evoking a few tears from viewers with their moving stories. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes the Academy recognise some true timeless gold. This year brought us Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel, and recent years have brought us modern classics such as Her and Midnight in Paris. But for each of these, films like The King’s Speech, Slumdog Millionaire and 12 Years A Slave get showered with awards. And, after having gone home with a little gold fella or two, these films have been more-or-less completely forgotten. It’s sad, but that’s the way of the Oscars. Even though this year brought us Birdman, the most unpredictable but deserving Best Picture winner in years, 2015’s ceremony also recognised a lot of generic and cliché-filled films. The Theory of Everything is just that. But hey, it’s not a bad film. Just nothing we haven’t seen before. 

Out now on Blu-ray and DVD, The Theory of Everything is a biographical piece about Stephen Hawking’s relationship with his love Jane. The film covers a big portion of their lives together, from their first encounter at Cambridge University in the early 1960s, throughout their marriage and child-raising, up to Hawking being honoured by the Queen in 1989. 

The best thing about this film, by far, is Eddie Redmayne’s performance. He is phenomenal. After Hawking is diagnosed with motor neurone disease in the film, Redmayne does a fantastic job of portraying the gradual deterioration the disease causes. With each passing scene, his posture becomes more hunched, his voice becomes more slurred, and it’s difficult to watch. Nobody should have to go through this horrible disease. There was some unusual arguments surrounding the casting of Redmayne, in which many believed a disabled actor should’ve portrayed Hawking in his later years. But for me, that wouldn’t have worked. We need to see him healthy at the beginning and witness his deterioration for a stronger emotional impact. Redmayne thoroughly deserved the Oscar for this performance, especially as he said the film was shot out of order and he had to track Hawking’s deterioration and portray each stage of the illness at different times! Although I would’ve also liked to have seen Michael Keaton pick up the big award for Birdman, that film won most of the other big awards that night so I suppose one can’t complain!

Felicity Jones also delivers a stunning performance, albeit an understated one. She suffers from something that has always been an issue in cinema – acting beside a truly tour-de-force performance, you’re always going to be overshadowed. But thankfully, Jones received several award nominations for the film too and wasn’t as ignored as many actors and actresses are in these films.

But the film suffers for two big reasons. That said, the first reason for its suffering has both positives and negatives. This reason is that the film is a love story about two people, and not the deep intellectual Hawking biopic that boffins want to see. It’s a good thing because it gives some exposure to Jane and her brave battle to stay beside Stephen and fight his disease with him. She was a very strong woman and is usually ignored – the film is even based upon her autobiography; Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen. But, because of this, the film omits Stephen’s work for the most part – sequences of his theories and discoveries are given a back seat presence and rarely touched upon. The Theory of Everything is really just a romantic drama that Stephen Hawking just happens to be part of. Great for a date night (my first experience with this film!), but maybe not the warts-and-all biopic of Stephen that many people want. I suppose there’s still time for that!

But, with all this aside, the second reason for the film’s suffering is the main one - the film’s Oscar fodder feel. As stated in the introduction, The Theory of Everything is Academy Award bait through and through. An uplifting true story about overcoming disability? The Academy love that shit almost as much as they love films about slavery, the holocaust and racial equality. As such, this is something we’ve seen endless times and will continue to see each year. Before you know it, we’ll start seeing next year’s Oscar films trickling into the cinemas and The Theory of Everything will be completely forgotten. So, in conclusion, The Theory of Everything brings absolutely nothing new to the table but boasts 2 exceptional performances and that makes it worth a look alone. Bring tissues. I didn’t, and many a-manly tear were shed.

The Theory of Everything doesn’t quite travel to infinity, but earns a solid 3/5.

★★★☆☆

Sam Love

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Project CARS

During my time with CeX I've really enjoyed being forced to play a few racing games. Don't get me wrong, the lads and ladies at CeX don't tie me to a chair, put a gun to my head and make me play these games (*wink* wink* they do, send help please), but there have been a few times in which I've decided to review racings games, a genre I previously never enjoyed that much. So here I am again with another high profile racing game on my desk, fresh after pumping a good few hours into it. So, with the racing game market already being flooded and dominated by various other franchises, where does Project CARS fit it with it all?

Developed by Slightly Mad Studios and out now on Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC comes Project CARS, the most accessible hardcore racing game ever, and that's either a compliment or criticism depending on how you like your racing games. Project CARS is the 6th game by the UK based Slightly Mad Studios, a developer that, so far at least, only focuses on the world of motor-sport. I can't really speak for any of their previous efforts, but if Project CARS is anything to judge by, Polyphony Digital might just have a contender for best racing sim developer.

What everyone wants to know before they buy a racing game is “how do the cars handle?” and “does it have good features?”. Thankfully Slightly Mad Studios have nailed both of those aspects of this racing sim. From the outset it's clear that incredible detail has gone to replicating a whole slew of real world cars, including major brands such as Aston Martin, BMW, Ford, McLaren and Lotus. From the absolutely blistering speed of the Aston Martin Vantage GT3, the sheer unadulterated force and power behind the Ford Mustang Cobra SCCA TransAm, to the lumbering controls of a Renault Clio Cup, Project CARS' realistic cars are truly a thing of beauty. Each one feels incredibly different from each other, and this opens up a vast array of different play-styles, player preferences and gameplay experiences. To achieve the authentic feeling the cars have here, Slightly Mad Studios heavily consulted with former “Stig” Ben Collins of Top Gear fame, Nicolas Hamilton and Oli Webb, and this attention to detail genuinely comes across.

There's a great level of custimozation in Project CARS too, especially in terms of tailoring it to the experience and difficulty right for you. Almost everything can be altered or changed, and these alterations have a huge impact on gameplay. From assigning buttons to your steering wheel/controller/keyboard, actively rearranging and moving the entire on-screen HUD, to dicking around with the A.I of fellow drivers with the help of a very useful slider, it's all here. Whether you're looking to race against other drivers that will fight you tooth and nail till the last stretch, or easier opponents who will allow you to easily lap them twice over for a well needed confidence boost, Project CARS gives you the opportunity for all of that. Hardcore racing sim lovers may hate how changeable the games difficulty is, but I found it to be refreshing not having to jump into the deep end on my first few hours.

Project CARS also looks breathtaking too. The entire selection of real world cars here have been painstakingly recreated. For instance, while I've never seen a Palmer Jaguar JP-LM in person (like dude, I didn't even know that shit existed until now), in Project CARS it, along with every other car on offer, looks astounding. The same goes for the tracks as well, both the real-world and fictional ones. With over 30 tracks to race about in, there's plenty to see and do in Project CARS. In fact, with the excellent and varied weather conditions that you can cycle through in the options, each track will look and play quite differently, depending on what kind of weather you go for.

Overall Project CARS is for everyone. It's for the hardcore racing sim fan who wants authenticity and challenge, but it's also for the newbie who wants cool fast cars and fun. I'm a bit of the latter to be perfectly honest, and I came away from Project CARS looking forward to what Slightly Mad Studios do next.

Project CARS overtakes Gran Turismo with a 5/5.

★★★★★

Denis Murphy

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Foxcatcher

I’m not a big fan of sports films. Hell, I’m not a big fan of sports. And I’m especially not a fan of wrestling. So, when I first heard about an ‘untitled Channing Tatum wrestling film’ in production, I put my head in my hands and expected Magic Mike 2: The Wrestling Years. I thought it was just a vehicle for Tatum to parade around topless for a couple of hours and flex his guns for the ladies. I then noticed Steve Carell was to play a part. Oh great, I thought. Tatum parading around topless in a wrestling comedy – this just gets worse and worse. But as the marketing for the film began, I realised how wrong I was. Foxcatcher is as far from comedy as you can get. And you know what? It’s not really a wrestling film, either.

Directed by Bennett Miller of Capote and Moneyball fame, Foxcatcher is out now on DVD & Blu-Ray. So, is it worth your time? First of all, Foxcatcher tells an almost unbelievable tale, based on a shocking true story. In the 1980s, eccentric multimillionaire and wrestling enthusiast John du Pont (Carell) built a private training facility on his large estate in Philadelphia. Mark Schultz (Tatum) was an Olympic wrestler but was always overshadowed by his brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo); also a wrestler. These three people came together in a union that led to an unexpectedly violent end. I don’t want to spoil the plot – try not to read anything, about the film or the history, before you watch it. This truly harrowing story of ambition and control is best experienced with no knowledge of where it’s going. 

The main thing to note about Foxcatcher is the central performances. Channing Tatum is decent enough as Mark; displaying a good amount of emotion during his quiet and understated performance. But there’s nothing about him that stands out or deserves any great praise. This is evident in this year’s Academy Awards nominations – he’s the only actor from the central three that didn’t receive a nomination. Mark Ruffalo is exceptionally good as Mark’s brother Dave, and further cements his position as one of my favourite actors working today. But Foxcatcher truly belongs to Carell, who will make your skin crawl with his phenomenal performance as John du Pont. Everything about the performance is perfect, and Carell deserves all the praise under the sun. He’s shown us his dramatic side before in Little Miss Sunshine, but never quite like this. He is terrifyingly good in this film and owned every scene. One of the finest performances in recent years.

This is a performance and dialogue driven piece. It is a dark, slow drama about people. It is not a ‘wrestling film’. Don’t expect to see many fights, and when you do, don’t expect a big deal to be made around them. There is very little music in this quiet film and very little tension to the sporting side of things. It’s a film about troubled people, who just happen to be involved in wrestling. The cinematography reflects this, with very little colour to be found anywhere – and when you do find a splash of colour, it’s rather muted. A lot of people have been put off by the slow pacing and overly bleak feel to the film. But they forget, this is a true story, and a horrible one. It needs to be told accordingly, out of respect to those involved. To make it an action-packed sporting film would be very wrong. It is a deeply affecting story and not for the faint-hearted. Similar to The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke, the wrestling is but background to the deep character study in the foreground.

The only problem, albeit a minor one, is that while it is an exceptionally well made film that will stay with you for a short while after the credits have rolled, it does have a bit of a ‘forgettable’ feel to it as time goes on. I saw it in the cinema back in January and, by this point when the DVD/Blu-Ray was released, I had mostly forgotten its existence! I watched it again prior to reviewing it and while it hasn’t lost the majority of its power, I wasn’t left with quite the same emotional impact as I was the first time round. And, I can’t imagine watching it again now. But, that’s no major gripe. If you haven’t seen it yet, definitely give it a look. Just don’t expect to be revisiting it often – you might find that one viewing is enough. Must resist urge to plug CeX’s trade-in service...

Foxcatcher is a fantastic piece of work, from the expert directing of Bennett Miller to the phenomenal acting of Ruffalo and Carell. And maybe Tatum is just as good as them, but like the character of Mark in the film, is overshadowed by more ‘showy’ performances. There is very little to fault with the hauntingly beautiful Foxcatcher. If it is indeed a ‘sports movie’; then it is the deepest, darkest, most compelling and most chilling one the genre has to offer.

Foxcatcher takes you into the ring and brings forth an almighty emotional beat down. 5/5.

★★★★★

Sam Love

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The Rewrite

Imagine if you made a documentary about protecting endangered species, and then gave away a FREE giant panda skull with every DVD! Or if you wrote a book about saving the rainforests, and printed it on paper made entirely from Amazonian trees. You’d look, it has to be said, like a bit of a dick. Which is why it’s strange that The Rewrite, Marc Lawrence’s cliché-ridden, mediocre rom-com starring Hugh Grant, openly scoffs at other mediocre, cliché-ridden movies.

Directed by Marc Lawrence and out now on Blu-ray and DVD comes The Rewrite, which tells the story of Keith Michaels (Grant), an embittered, Oscar-winning screenwriter who, after penning one runaway success in the late 90s, has gotten divorced and gone broke, and is struggling to find writing work. And so it is that he begrudgingly takes a teaching job at a New York university.

At first, Michaels just isn’t interested in teaching his class. Rather than sifting through his prospective students’ screenplays to decide who should get a place on the course, he logs onto the university’s intranet and picks a selection of dorky guys and hot girls – including Karen (Bella Heathcote), whom he meets and starts flirting with before even setting foot inside the college. Karen, in case you’re wondering, is the Obvious Wrong Choice in this particular romantic comedy. And then there’s Holly (Marisa Tomei) – a mature student and single mother, and the movie’s Obvious Right Choice – who adorably bumbles around trying to get Michaels to read her script, so she can secure a last-minute place in his class even though he’s shown no discernible teaching ability.

Naturally, Michaels quickly warms to his students and strikes up a Dead Poets Society-style relationship with them. And, naturally, Michaels’ relationship with Karen quickly falls apart, leading the faculty to realise he’s a total creep and threaten to fire him. And, naturally, Michaels leaves town, only to realise what a terrible decision he’s made and how much he misses his class.

Along the way, Keith Michaels and the other characters point out flaws and clichéd plot-points in a number of movies; everything from Piranha 3D, to Dirty Dancing, to Eat Pray Love, to (funnily enough) Dead Poets Society gets lambasted, and that’s where The Rewrite’s entire premise fell apart for me. See, The Rewrite is a completely typical, unremarkable rom-com, peppered with the same tropes as every single other unremarkable rom-com on the market. Making its main character a genius writer, and having him bitch out other people’s films, seems nervy at best – at worst, it just feels a bit rude. I wondered if writer-director Marc Lawrence might have been using the film to vent his own frustrations with the Hollywood film industry.

The Rewrite probably ticks enough boxes to keep most rom-com fans happy for a couple of hours – although its rushed ending doesn’t leave much room for a satisfying relationship to develop. And Hugh Grant manages to be likeable enough to carry the majority of the film, despite his character being a complete bellend. This honestly isn’t a bad movie… It’s just not quite good enough, or original enough, or interesting enough, to carry its own creaky premise.

I’m giving The Rewrite a 3/5.

★★★☆☆

Mike Lee

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Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition

I never really got into puzzle games. Aside from a classic like Tetris, which itself I find a little boring now (I know, I suck), I've always avoided them, especially when it comes to the ones on Facebook. Whether it's Candy Crush or Bejeweled or whatever, I just don't have the time, attention or interest in them. But sometimes games pop up on this blog that pushes me to try genres I otherwise wouldn't have gotten into. When pushed to review genres I generally don't like, I've been pretty surprised in the past at how much I do end up enjoying them. So, with that in mind, I sat down and played another game I usually wouldn't even give the time of day. So, how does it fare?

Developed by GungHo Online Entertainment and out now on Nintendo 3DS comes Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition, a game that proves, when it comes to hating puzzles games, I'm most likely a complete f*cking tool. It's kind of tricky review this game though, as technically (and as the game title kind of suggests) this is two games in one. On one hand you have Puzzle & Dragons Z, while on the other you have the the Super Mario Bros. Edition of that game. The Super Mario Bros Edition could be kind of seen as DLC in some ways, but both games are bundled together. Though their plots, characters and enemies are different, they essentially follow the same formula. I'll be focusing on the Puzzle & Dragons Z side of the game here mostly, though I will get back into the Super Mario Bros Edition a little later.

Puzzle & Dragons Z, which originally started out as a super popular smartphone game, works remarkably well on the 3DS. The gameplay is simple to pick up, but offers a great deal of choice and variety. In Puzzle & Dragons Z you take on the role of a dragon tamer, an unnamed character that you'll need to bestow a title to. The plot is pretty straightforward, and revolves around an evil group called Paradox. Led by a dude called Dogma, they intend on creating a new world, a world in which they can reign supreme. But the typical plot here is merely window dressing for the gameplay, as though it will keep you invested for around 25 hours, battling and evolving your creatures is where the game truly shines. During battle you interact with the game by using the touchscreen to line up a number of coloured orbs, in a small Bejeweled type mini-game. For an attack to be cast, you need to line up 3 or more orbs of the same colour, with more orbs causing more damage to an enemy/enemies. The orbs come in 5 different types- Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Wood and Heal. Each orb type is both weak and strong to other orb types (for instance Water>Fire, Light>Dark),  and through stringing up major orb combos, you'll end up levelling up your creatures, and in turn opening up new and powerful attacks.

Collecting and evolving creatures is incredibly fun too. After a battle you'll be given the choice of either getting the egg of the creature you just fought, or instead taking a computer chip. Collecting a creatures egg will allow you to hatch and train that given creature from level 1 onwards. Like Pokemon, creatures are incredibly unique, beautifully designed and really have their own personality. The computer chips on the other hand are used to evolve your creatures, and it's a very easy and highly worthwhile process. Evolving a creature will not only change their form, but also unlock new skills and abilities you you can then use in battle. Both of these processes are the absolute key to not only surviving and finishing Puzzle & Dragons Z, but also getting the most out of the game. Outside of combat you're able to explore 6 entire worlds, which are presented in a very classic JRPG perspective. Each of these worlds are filled with areas to run around in, and are also littered with various characters to interact with. I know it's something rather small to some people, but this nice little addition to gameplay adds a great layer of life and atmosphere to the game, which otherwise would have been purely consisting of wall-to-wall battles.

Then we have the other game in this combo, Super Mario Bros. Edition. Simply put, this is essentially the same game as Puzzle & Dragons Z, but without a real plot...impressive graphics.... surprising creatures designs....or interesting NPCs to chat with. It's basically the core game that was stripped down and given the Mario treatment. This leads to a game that just isn't that engaging, and ultimately comes across like a bit of a rush job. It's not terrible, but I found myself wanting to jump back into Puzzle & Dragons Z again in order to find some new creatures to train, rather than finish this Mario version. As far as I'm concerned, Super Mario Bros Edition is simply an interesting distraction from Puzzle & Dragons Z, and is ultimately a failure in terms of creating a new experience. Strangely enough it doesn't take away from the review score of the overall product, as Puzzle & Dragons Z alone is worth the price of admission.

Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition is successful mix of Pokemon and Bejeweled and gets a 4/5.

★★★★☆

Denis Murphy

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Get On Up

I love biopics. You may have seen my ‘Top 5 Biopics’ article I did – that was a struggle for me, as it’s one of my favourite genres. As a music fan at heart, I’m particularly fond of ones about musicians. They can be brilliant – Control, about Ian Curtis, and Walk the Line, about Johnny Cash, are absolutely brilliant films. But for every good one, you get a shit one. Jimi: All Is By My Side, the Hendrix biopic, was dreadful. As was The Doors, about, well…do I really need to say? So, which side does Get On Up join? 

Directed by Tate Taylor and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Get On Up. The main thing to talk about, like with any biopic, is the lead performance. Chadwick Boseman is absolutely phenomenal as Brown. You may not have heard of him, but don’t worry, nobody in the UK really has! He’s only really done 1 major film before this, and it was a baseball film called 42 that had a very small audience here. But keep an eye on him. With this amazing performance now under his belt here and increasing exposure, and considering his upcoming role in Captain America: Civil War, he’s on the rise. In Get On Up, he absolutely nails Brown’s showmanship. His spot-on dancing and often uncanny resemblance really makes you feel like you’re watching James Brown play himself. It’s a career-defining performance, and so early in his career! It’ll be difficult to top this one.

So, the performance was amazing, but…that’s the only real good point about the film. My main problem with Get On Up was its timeline. It was trying to be stylish, but for me it was distracting and tedious. It starts off in 1988 with a crack-addicted old James Brown firing a shotgun at a business seminar because someone used his toilet. Yes...that happens. Then it flashes back to the Vietnam War, then back to the 1930s, then forward to the 60s, then the 50s, then the 70s. And throughout all this, James has other flashbacks scattered throughout. I get it, it was trying to be stylish and show all the key points in Brown’s life. But I feel like it would’ve worked better in a linear fashion – kind of like a ‘rags to riches’ structure, rather than riches to rags to riches to rags to riches to rags! This back-and-forth was unnecessary and irritating.

But at the end of the day, this film is really just a love-letter to Brown. While the film does occasionally show Brown’s bad side, it seems quite reluctant to do so. In one scene, Brown strikes his wife. But it, rather unusually, happens off screen. And whenever we see Brown being a bit of a shit, the filmmakers clearly felt bad about it because they’ll usually follow it up with a scene of him being a top bloke. Like recording a single with a bunch of kids, or giving poor children Christmas presents.

On the plus side though, the soundtrack was great. Well, if you like James Brown it was! Thankfully the film uses a lot of Brown’s original recordings, including all of the classics. The recent Hendrix biopic discussed in the introduction was unable to get the rights to any of Jimi’s music and suffered for that. Here, we have everything – Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag, Get Up Offa That Thing, I Feel Good, This is a Man’s World, and a handful of others all get nice exposure. The film’s soundtrack is effectively The Best of James Brown.

But even with a great performance and soundtrack, the film is nothing special on the whole. It was very well produced, with great costumes and era authenticity. But the dizzying narrative structure and generic cliché biopic DNA was rather in your face throughout. Have you ever seen Walk Hard, the biopic spoof? Get On Up has so much in it that Walk Hard took the piss out of so effectively, it made me think I was watching another spoof. It’s too generic for words. As I said before, the film is effectively just a love-letter to James Brown. Granted, he was an extremely influential pioneer in music. But I felt like this film’s core purpose was to ram that down our throats. For 2 and a half hours. It was a rather biased piece and didn’t show us enough of the aspects of Brown’s life I would’ve liked to have seen, such as his later years. So, in conclusion, if you’re a fan of James Brown, or music biopics in general, get on up and watch this film. If not? There’s nothing here to feeeeel good about.

Get On Up gets 3/5.

★★★☆☆

Sam Love

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CeX @ MCM London Comic Con!

Come see us at this weekend's spring MCM London Comic Con 2015 and check out our awesome pop-up store!

You can drop by to say “Hi!”, check out our treasure trove of goodies, and of course buy, sell & exchange to your heart's content. Watch our live video stream below or check out our photo feed of fans and cosplay aficionados who've visited our store, vote for your favourites on the CeX Facebook page by liking and the top 3 will win a £250, £150 or £50 voucher (voting ends 2nd June)! You can also see what's happening via our Instagram feed and Twitter.

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Post by CeX.

Held at ExCel centre, MCM London Comic Con is the UK's biggest festival of popular culture and all things delightfully nerdy. It's the perfect place to indulge your inner geek!

Tropico 5

I've never played a Tropico game and this is the fifth one. In fact, I've never really heard of the franchise until back in 2011 to be perfectly honest. When Tropico 4 was released I heard about the various issues with its DLC some gamers were having. Basically, the DLC for Tropico 4 was mostly down through micro-transactions, which together became more expensive than the actual game itself. From buying a building here, quick drying cement there, to purchasing an island, it sounded like a shameless money grab. This is in part why I never even tried Tropico 5 when it was originally released on PC back in 2014. But with a current-gen version of the game finally out, I thought I'd give it a go.

Developed by Haemimont Games and out now on Playstation 4 comes Tropico 5, an awesome simulation game that caters to fans of that old-school genre on a console practically without any. If you happen by the Wikipedia page for Tropico 5 it officially places the game under the genres “Construction and management simulation” and “government simulation”. That's a mouth full, but the game could essentially be boiled down to a country ruling simulator, and everything that goes with that- government, infrastructure, defence, etc. However the main hook the story of Tropico 5 has is the fact that it spans across 4 vastly different eras. These eras are Colonial Era, World War Era, Cold War Era, and Modern Era.

The game starts out during the Colonial Era and it's up to you to rule your people, either with kindness or with an iron fist. These massively different ways of ruling your people runs throughout the entire game, and by the end of the game it kind of becomes the trademark of Tropico 5. However, both ways of ruling have their downsides. For instance, want to create a fully fledged Democracy? That might bite you in the ass if your people aren't happy with your policies and decide to vote you out. On the other hand, what about zero elections under the iron fist of Communism? That might end up screwing you over cause, you know, people might revolt when they're treated like shit. It's a doubled edge sword, but in the role of El Presidente, the fictional ruler of the country of Tropico since the franchises origins, you'll need to constantly weigh up the cruelty and kindness of your actions. However this isn't a bleak game, as Tropico is more of a parody of politics than anything else. It's dialogue is loaded with puns, its characters are insanely over-the-top and its take on governments and the ruling class is spot on. Don't worry, I hate political comedy, but in Tropico 5 it's done very well.

Throughout the 4 eras over the course of the game, your duties as El Presidente will cover a vast array of areas. From building up resources like wood, taking on missions that will have you sending soldiers to a war, preparing for an invasion from an enemy, squashing free thought and rebellion within your own country, to finding a new heir through contests such as arm wrestling and singing, your work will be cut out for you in Tropico 5. During the game every major political move you make will have consequences, so every time a dialogue box pops with a question, mission or proposition from a character, it's something you shouldn't take too lightly. The repercussions can be pretty severe, but inaction and playing Tropico 5 too safe is just as bad. Your goal is to stay in power- no matter what.

Tropico 5 is a simplistic game that presents the player with in-depth ideas and the potential to screw around with an entire population of people. The menus, characters and overall design make it look like an iPhone game, one of those games you'll download, play for 5 minutes, then give up once it asks you to pay. It looks like one of those games too, but beneath its cute surface lies a game that's a pretty hardcore sim game. This isn't a game that pressures you to play it safe. No, Tropico 5 wants you to play like a tyrant, but a likeable one with a big fuzzy beard that makes his potential heirs duke it out in a synchronized swimming contest.

Tropico 5 rules with a iron fist of fun and gets a 4/5.

★★★★☆

Denis Murphy

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Exodus: Gods and Kings

There seems to be an influx of Biblical films coming out of Hollywood recently. I thought Hollywood picked that carcass clean, but here we are. Don't get me wrong, there are some stellar Biblical films out there, namely the likes of Prince of Egypt, The Passion of the Christ and The Ten Commandments. They were films despite heavily rooted in belief, but didn't demand that you believed in the authenticity of their stories in order to enjoy them. They were just great films in their own right. Most recently I also (surprisingly) really enjoyed Darren Aronofsky's Noah. Hugely underrated, beautifully shot and a real treat in terms of performances, it was a film that made me think, “OK, maybe a few more biblical films ain't so bad”. After Exodus: Gods and Kings though I'd rather see Hollywood ravage the comic book world a little more.

Directed by Ridley Scott and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Exodus: Gods and Kings, a film that isn't exactly either good or bad. The biblical story of Moses has been told time and time again, and Gods and Kings does its best to stay true to the original story. But instead of starting with Moses' back-story that involves him being placed into a river, and ultimately being found by the Pharaoh's Queen thus becoming a king, Gods and Kings starts off with an adult Moses. He's a respected leader and alongside his brother Ramasses, they are virtually inseparably and unaware of Moses' Hebrew lineage. However upon learning about his true history Ramasses, now Pharaoh after his fathers death, sends Moses into exile. After 9 years in exile and a wife and child now in his life, Moses happens upon a burning bush, a manifestation of God on Earth that tells Moses that he must return to Egypt and free his people from slavery. You get the picture, right?

There are a few things I like about Gods and Kings. Though a lot of people complained about the fact that the film was essentially whitewashed- and hey, that's a very valid complaint- I at least enjoyed the performances given, namely from Christian Bale (Moses) and Joel Edgerton (Ramasses). Sure they didn't exactly look the part (I mean, Batman is playing Moses after all), but both deliver performances that really do elevate this film way above where it should be. I also really loved the overall look of the film. Much like what Ridley Scott did with Rome in Gladiator, he does the same here with Egypt. He brings it alive with stunning visuals, depicts it in all its beautiful and barbaric glory, and effectively resurrects to how it once was the big screen. This excellent visual style also extends to the costumes, battles and CGI effects. The two big CGI moments in the film naturally come about when God sends the plagues down to torment Ramasses, and then when Moses, with his staff in hand, parts the Red Sea in order for the Hebrews to escape. It's filled with some pretty excellent moments, but to get to these you'll just need to slog through a good deal of crap.

Gods and Kings fails when it's not hitting the major important aspects of Moses' story. Between these moments that can be riveting, moving, action packed and stunningly shot, we get scenes of people just needlessly talking, walking around grand looking rooms, looking moody in low-lit locations and essentially just filling time until Ridley Scott can break into another big God moment. Also, though Bale and Edgerton are genuinely incredible with both their roles, their relationship, and then their sudden lack of one, should have been probed a little more during the film. The same goes for the weight of responsibility that's on Moses' shoulders. Sure, you see him react to the plagues and at times think God is going too far, but for someone who just went from royalty, to a nobody, to directly speaking with God and taking upon a divine mission, you just don't really see the weight of this scenario from Bale, the script, or on screen.

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a blend between the awe inspiring and the mundane. There are scenes that clamp you down to your seat, but there are also scenes that'll have you reaching for you phone. It's pretty much like Prometheus for me- good ideas, some nice parts, but ultimately a failure. It's a real shame too, because this film does contain wonder and beauty, it's only surround by far too much worthlessness. If you ever want to watch the best take on Moses' story, go watch the Dreamworks animated film The Prince of Egypt. Now there's a stunning film.

Exodus: Gods and Kings doesn't cure me of boredom and gets a 2/5.

★★☆☆☆

Denis Murphy

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Ride

As a reviewer I'm always open to every game that needs to be reviewed. I mean, I have to be because that's my job. Coming to reviews with a preconceived notion of a game or genre is generally a bad idea, as at the end of the day I want to give you guys and gals an unbiased perspective of a game. I'm not here to screw you around, and whether and game is great or complete shit, I'll let you know about it. Sure there are certain genres I don't really enjoy, but I always do my best to play those types of games with an open my. If you've read some of my past reviews you'll know I'm not a huge fan of racing games. Like, at all. When this latest title came up for review I avoided it, ultimately thinking that I'd rather leave it to one of our other writers who enjoy the genre. Alas, that didn't happen, and hating the fact that it was going to go un-reviewed, I thought I'd give it a go. So yes, I generally don't like these types of games, but I came to Ride with a completely open mind. That's a good thing too, especially considering I may have just completely rethought my stance on racing games entirely because, simply put, Ride is f*cking awesome.

Developed by Milestone S.r.l. and out now on Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC comes Ride, a racing game this non-racing game fan actually kinda loved. Personally, the closet I've previously come to loving a racing type of game was Skitchin' and Road Rash on the Mega Drive. I'm sure some of you remember them. Skitchin' was an awesome roller-blading game, while Road Rash had you booting down the highway, escaping the police and using the likes of chains, bats and poles to beat the crap out of other riders. They were awesome, but compared to those antics, Ride takes a very realistic approach to gameplay. Effectively, Ride tries to offer the ultimate motorbiking experience to date, and attempts to achieve this with a whole truckload of bikes, tracks and, most importantly, delicious bike handling. 

When it comes down to it, racing bikes in Ride is genuinely stunning. Though this is the first time Milestone S.r.l has created a racing series without basing it on a popular brand name, Ride does contain a lot of well known manufacturers. There are 14 well known manufacturers in Ride, which include the likes of MV Agusta Honda, Triumph, Ducati, Kawasaki, Lightning ,Yamaha and  Suzuki. Each bike looks exactly like its real-life counterpart, are highly customizable (apart from changing their paint job for some weird reason!) and very much each feel unique in their handling. Ride shines once you've made your way into a race. Whether you're going up against many other riders or simply going one-to-one with someone, Ride feels incredibly authentic. From taking tight corners, gently overtaking another rider, getting bottlenecked with other riders at a messy turn, to those final moments of trying to fend off pole position, it just plays so incredibly slick. Then again, some of the best moments from Ride come about when you're just on your own, with nothing but the revving of your engine and the hum of the tarmac to keep you company. Needless to say, it all comes together to offer a racing mechanic that feels wonderfully executed and perfectly designed.

The same kind of praise goes for the graphics and presentation too. Ride contains a total of 31 tracks spread across 15 locations. From Japan, America, Spain, Argentina to the UK, there's a vast array of diverse locales for you to test your skills in. From sun ravaged places, white snowy vistas to a typical rainy track in the UK, the game does a good job at offering choice to the player. Each one of these locations, as well as the bikes and whatnot, look bloody beautiful. The only downside is the fact that some locations that contain foliage look a little dated, as if the game was solely made for the last generation. It doesn't take away from what the game achieves, but it kind of takes you out of the experience when some sloppy graphics rear their head.

Ride is a racing game I enjoyed, and I generally don't really like them. The graphics are impressive, the game uses real-world motor-sport brands and such, but at its heart it's just a racing game that has a pretty awesome racing mechanic. If you're a racing fan you'll no doubt sink 30+ hours into the main campaign mode, as you work your way towards faster and more well known bikes. However, if you're not a racing fan like me, give it a shot, you may be surprised!

Ride rides off into the sunset with a 4/5.

★★★★☆

Denis Murphy

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Birdman

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Birdman, a strange film in many ways. The way its shot, the way it seems to jump from psychological thriller to drama to comedy all within a minute, and in general – it’s strange. But that’s not to say strange is a bad thing.

Alejandro González Iñárritu has a fairly small back catalogue, so to score four Oscars, including Best Pictureand Best Director would have been surprising, had it not been for Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) to give it its full title, being pretty damn good. Shame there wasn’t an award for most pretentious film title.

What separates this film from others, isn’t the dark humour, or the brilliantly out-there story, it’s the way it was filmed. For pretty much the entire film, it seems as if it was all done in one take. Despite this illusion being due to editing, most takes were in excess of ten minutes, which is still impressive, and effective. Seeing this film as all one take lets us see into the mind of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) as he tries to revive his career on Broadway by producing and starring in an adaptation of “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” after his portrayal of Birdman became stagnant. However, his mind is hindered by the ghost of his once beloved character – Birdman. See, strange.

Unfortunately, Riggan’s often laughable and always frightening hallucinations are few and far between, but when they do crop up, it’s unnerving as hell. I only wish it was further explored. Riggan himself is mysterious to the point of creepy as we often see him hovering in the air and exhibiting acts of telekinesis. But that creepiness gives way to sympathy and pity as those who surround him, those who he loves and who love him, are shunned by his anger and depression, and every single performance is sublime.

Edward Norton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Zach Galifianakis all star in this all-star movie and give us every reason to love and hate them. Each characters seeps in, well, character, and even though the film has been heralded as Keaton’s finest hour (debatable, Beetlejuice anyone?), it’s difficult to ignore their relationships with each other. Every single one of them is tormented in some way, to the point where it borders on overkill. Flirtations flit back and forth between actors creating situations so volatile that it’s so difficult to watch, and that’s why the one-take approach worked so well.

When tensions reach fever pitch, we need to be calmed down, a calm among the storm, but Birdman doesn’t have that, not in the traditional sense. The pot is never taken off the heat, until eventually, and inevitably, it boils over. It takes us on a flight of every single emotion you could possibly want to feel in a film. We want all of these characters, all of which are flawed, be it drug addiction, narcissism, or just plain callousness, to come out of this film better than when we went in, but in a film portraying the brutality of the modern world, our investment is risky at best.

Michael Keaton is an icon of cinema, but it’s been a while since he’s shown why he deserves that respect. Well now he has. His performance is so good and convincing that it’s hard to see an actor rather than just an average Joe with demons. The desperation in his eyes glows dully, but Birdman brightens them and his horizons. Ladies and gentlemen - Michael Keaton is back.

Birdman soars above most films, and gets 4/5.

★★★★☆

Jonny Naylor

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Omega Quintet

You can't go a week without Compile Heart releasing a JRPG for a Sony console. Some of them are good, some are not so good, but I genuinely like being overwhelmed with choice. Sure, as it was with the Playstation 2 era, we may look back at a lot of Playstation 4 titles as shovelware someday, but for now Sony seem to be dishing out some pretty decent content. This latest game up for review looks, sounds and plays like 99% of the other JRPGs on the market, and while not exactly being very memorable, is a worthy time sink if you're a JRPG fanatic. 

Developed by Galapagos RPG and out now for Playstation 4 comes Omega Quintet, which plays essentially like every other anime looking JRPG in out there. The plot is generic but serviceable, and focuses on a world that is being affected by “the beep”; an usual phenomenon that has ravaged the world  and many humans along with it, ultimately leaving only one city left in its wake. No one knows how to fight this bizarre force that m magically creates evil monsters across the world. That is, all apart from a group known as the “Verse Maidens”. The Verse Maidens are a group of five girls that are basically a bunch of anime cliches. You have the kooky one, the emo one, the strong one, etc. Using the power of song (cause, what else?) it's up to you to defeat the beep and save the world. The story isn't very interesting, contains no real twists or turns but is decent enough to keep you hooked throughout the games duration.

Being a rather run-of-the-mill JRPG, Omega Quintet's gameplay can easily broken up into two main parts- exploration and combat. It's a turn-based combat system, with each of your party members largely being unique from each other. To the weapons they can wield to the special moves they can dish out, each character isn't a carbon copy of one other, and these helps keep combat fresh. This is of course expected for any self respecting game, but it especially comes into play when you use a characters Concert Mode. Essentially Concert Mode lets you unleash a string of moves from any given character. Whether you want to simply lay down some basic attacks and then heal your party members during this mode, or solely focus on a characters unique skills on offer, it's a nice addition to gameplay that is akin to Limit Breaks from the Final Fantasy series. Again, without banging on about it too much, Omega Quintet basically just offers the bare minimum any JRPG should be offering. You've played this kind of combat before, there's nothing new or innovative here, but it's still a bit of fun. Oh and with it being a JRPG that features girls in revealing clothing, there's also a game mechanic in here that allows their clothing to be ripped during battle. I'm not against sex appeal in gaming at all, but just like when I played Criminal Girls: Invite Only, I found this aspect of the game to be weird, creepy and made me realise that it's a game I'd never play in public.

Outside of combat you'll do the usual things you expect from a JRPG. From talking to NPCs that are depicted with an almost static anime picture, finding various items, disassembling and crafting weapons, taking on missions and various side quests-  it's all business as usual. The same goes for the game world too that, while perfectly fine in terms of design, just doesn't really do anything new. As the game is a kind of parody of “idol culture” in Japan (Google it), so you can also create your very own concerts, which will give you a whole host of options including dance moves, camera movements and vocals. It's a nice little addition to the game, but not something that really interested me much.

Overall Omega Quintet is a fun game, but it's almost painfully insistent on being completely and utterly “meh”. In terms of graphics, weapon crafting, combat, characters and plot, it all comes together to make the IKEA furniture equivalent of the gaming world- serviceable and nice, but ultimately unoriginal and mundane.

Omega Quintet is completely middle-of-the-road and barely gets a 3/5.

★★★☆☆

Denis Murphy

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Cobain: Montage of Heck

I feel like I need to preface this review by saying that I'm not a huge Nirvana fan. That doesn't mean I don't like them though. “Smells like teen spirit” is a pretty awesome song, as is “Come as you are” and “Heart shaped box”. But beyond enjoying a few of their songs, I just don't put them up on the pedestal that a lot of people tend to do. I knew a bit about Kurt Cobain, but most of that surrounded his death. This latest documentary on Nirvana's leading man pulls the focus back from his death, and instead chronicles his life, upbringing and relationships. It's mostly a good documentary, but ultimately fails to be anything special.

Directed by Brett Morgan and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Cobain: Montage of Heck, a trip into the fragile and troubled mind of Kurt Cobain. There have been a good few documentaries about Cobain over the years, but this is the first one in which both Courtney Love and the Cobain family have all taken part. While previous documentaries mainly focused on his downfall and suicide, Montage of Heck is about how he lived. With the Cobain family involved, director Brett Morgan is clearly trying to create the most personal Kurt Cobain documentary to date. He achieves this, but it's not without its problems.

First off the good. Not knowing too much about Cobain going into this, I feel like I know the man intimately now. Montage of Heck goes back to before he was born, and explores the relationship the mother and father had, where they lived and, of course, the eventual birth of Kurt himself. He was a happy child, and seeing his mother speak about how everyone was drawn to him is genuinely heartbreaking, considering she would have to bury him around 25 years later. His parents' divorce really shook him up though, and from there he used it as a jumping off point to being a troubled kid. From being essentially rejected by both of his parents, Montage of Heck paints Cobain as an painfully troubled and ostracised individual, clearly in need of attention, care and some kind of treatment. This early stage of the documentary is fantastic, and through speaking to his mother, sister and former girlfriend, it's great to see an insight into the almost mythical character that is Kurt Cobain, as he's someone that, like everyone else, had troubles, worries and problems. It makes the man relatable, even if you can't directly relate with his deeply saddening past. The same kind of care and personal attention continues when the documentary explores the creation of Nirvana, their origins as a largely unknown band, their increasing popularity, the release of their monumental hit album Nevermind, and how this sudden rise to stardom affected Cobain negatively. When it's good Montage of Heck is interesting and moving, but when it's bad it's self indulgent and boring.

The documentary has problems, namely with how it deals with everything in the last 40 minutes or so. With everything that has been said about the turbulent relationship of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain, Montage of Heck certainly focuses on it eventually, but never quite delves into it as deeply as you'd like to imagine. It covers all of this through interviewing Love herself, which is all well and good, but it all comes across a little tame with her almost tailored answers to questions seeming like a far cry from how the documentary started. Sure it goes into his drug abuse and the birth of his daughter, but despite these interesting developments in his life, it's not as personal or as intriguing as it handled his early life. Another aspect I didn't like was how self indulgent Montage of Heck could be. Throughout the documentary there are superb scenes in which we're shown fully animated segments of Cobain's life, played to the backdrop of the man himself reflecting on his past. However, we're also given super stylised scenes of his journals, writings and musings. Montage of Heck goes out of its way to ram these writings down our throats, and make them fully animated moments that take the personal introspective writings of Cobain and turns them into edgy ramblings. The accompanying animations are just cringey, as the documentary puts way too much time, focus and emphasis on how nicely animated they are.

Montage of Heck doesn't make much mention of Cobain's death, and though that in itself could make a whole new documentary (see Kurt and Courtney or Soaked in Bleach), I appreciated the focus on his life. I'm still not a major fan of Nirvana, but what's clear to me after watching this is that Kurt Cobain was an incredibly troubled and sensitive guy. A lethal combination of fame and drugs ultimately brought him to a very dark place, and it's always heartbreaking to see someone who doesn't think they have any other way out other than suicide. It's not a perfect documentary, but fans and non-fans of Nirvana alike will find it watchable. 

Cobain: Montage of Heck smells like a 3/5.

★★★☆☆

Denis Murphy

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