Justice League: Gods and Monsters [used]

I can't say I'm a huge fan of comic books. Though I've read my fair share of them over the years, I'm not someone who knows every character in DC and Marvel universes, and the different universes within those universes. I'm mostly a newbie to all of this, and while this has previously put me off reviewing past DC animated movies, this latest one is a completely new story set in a brand new universe. So, with that in mind, I jumped in.

Directed by Sam Liu and written by Alan Burnett and Bruce Timm and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Justice League: Gods and Monsters, a decent animated DV feature film that, while flawed, is well worth watching. Unlike the past few DC animated movies, Gods and Monsters isn't based upon any particular comic book. Instead it' a completely original creation and a do-over of the DC superheroes you already know and love. The story revolves around a world in which the Justice League are something the people of Earth fear, despite them still being a force for good. They rule will an iron fist and exact punishments that go to lengths that the typical Justice League would never dream of doing. After a number of scientists are found dead and all the evidence points towards Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman being the killers, governments from across the globe begin to criticize the power the Justice League have, and if they're simply too powerful.

Right from the start of the film, it's pretty evident that everything you know about the DC superhero universe needs to be thrown out. This isn't the Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman you already know. Superman is not Kal-El, son of Jor-El. He's Hernan Guerra, son of Zod. After being sent to Earth and raised by migrant farmers, he's not the same man we've seen time and time again. He's still a good guy, but he's cruel, unrelenting and viscous when it comes to dealing with criminals. Batman on the other hand isn't Bruce Wayne, but instead this version of Batman is Kirk Langstrom, a vampire-like creature who was known as Man-Bat in previous incarnations. Then you have Wonder Woman who, like the rest of the main cast, isn't her original self. She's not Diana Prince, she's Bekka, widow of Orion, who was Darkseid's son. Because of the changes these characters are unlike anything you've seen from the Justice League before. It's a fascinating concept and at the very least, Gods and Monsters successfully presents us with a really cool, interesting and fresh DC universe.

The film looks great too. While I'm sure all DC animated films follow a similar visual atheistic, this one reminded me of the classic animated series, Batman: The Animated Series. Though the new character designs for Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are a bit lame, animation is smooth, backgrounds are nicely detailed, and the many action scenes littered throughout the film really do look awesome. However, one thing that irked me throughout the film is that for all the talk about how humanity fears the Justice League, Gods and monsters never quite does a good job at exploring that side of things. I wanted to see scenes of people on the streets and during their daily lives, and actually see how they live in a world in which an all powerful and potentially dangerous group of superheroes could snuff out their very existence in a heartbeat. We don't get that. We get Lex Luthor talking smack about the Justice League on TV, and random scenes of people debating whether they're truly a force for good in the world. For all the interesting questions and points raised by the film, it never does a great job at exploring them within its time.

Gods and Monsters offers us an incredible concept, and in doing so reinvents characters we've become far too accustomed to in recent years. This reinvention is bold, opens up some great possibilities for future feature films, but doesn't quite tackle the big questions it poses to the viewer. Also, though some of the voice talent here is pretty stellar but there are some glaring issues in terms of some of the performances, with Michael C. Hall's monotone and dreary take on Batman being nothing short off boring and bland. That said, while Gods and Monsters isn't some revolution of the DC universe, it's a nice new take on the old characters we've most likely all grown up with.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters isn't a classic, but it is fun. 3/5.

★★★☆☆

Denis Murphy

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Listen Up Philip [used]

Directed and written by Alex Ross Perry and out now on DVD & Blu-Ray, Listen Up Philip is interesting in that it is one of very few contemporary films to be released under Eureka Entertainment’s Masters of Cinema series. Being the label that has brought us the remasters of Metropolis, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari and many other classics, it’s unusual they would choose this as their 119th release in the series. Why? Well, for starters, Alex Ross Perry is not a ‘Master of Cinema’. Not yet, at least. And even if he was, Listen Up Philip has no right to stand beside classics like Touch of Evil and Double Indemnity in the Masters of Cinema series. Why? Because it’s just not that good.

Jason Schwartzman stars as Philip Lewis Friedman, an arrogant and obnoxious author awaiting the publication of his second novel. As the hustle and bustle of New York City, the deteriorating relationship with his girlfriend Ashley (Elisabeth Moss) and his lack of interest in promoting his upcoming book take over, he escapes to the country with his literary hero Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce) to focus on himself. It’s a very simple dialogue-driven piece with nothing in way of action or thrills. This is in no way a bad thing when done right, but Listen Up Philip is often painfully slow in its delivery.

Schwartzman, independent cinema icon and Wes Anderson regular, shines in the role of Philip – but not necessarily in a good way. The role seems to come naturally to him, with little acting involved – which is a shame, because Philip is one of the most unlikeable characters I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a well observed portrayal of literary pretension, granted. But who wants to spend two hours with this guy? If you knew him in real life, you would push him away quicker than he pushed you – because he’s that much of a pompous little shit. “That is the sign of a good actor”, I hear you cry. Well, I see where you’re coming from. Michael Fassbender was absolutely phenomenal in 12 Years A Slave, despite playing one of the most vile characters in cinema history. But Schwartzman seems to be playing himself here and, while Fassbender was clearly set up as a nasty bugger in 12 Years A Slave, the character of Philip here is (for lack of a better word) the film’s hero. The film is built around him, and the obnoxious style of the score and narration seem to be and extension of him. It’s hard to tell if we’re supposed to like him or not. The supporting cast are great, however – the legendary Jonathan Pryce (recent Game of Thrones cast member) is brilliant but, like Schwartzman, is playing an obnoxious shit who is very difficult to like. Really the film belongs to the women – Elisabeth Moss, Krysten Ritter and Joséphine de La Baume are all fantastic as the ladies in Philip’s life. 

The film’s production screams out “I’m a quirky understated independent film!”, but nobody’s listening. All the traits of independent film that come naturally to so many other filmmakers just feel forced here. But the main issue here is that Listen Up Philip feels like it is trying very hard to be a sharp satire about the pretentious side of the literary world but, instead of pointing a finger at these people and laughing at them, the film is trying to make us stand by their side and laugh with them. But unless you’re a twat like Philip, there’s very few laughs to share with him. Instead of making us laugh with these characters, the film just makes us angry at them.

In conclusion, Listen Up Philip is a difficult film to watch. It’s an often tiringly slow 100 minutes with an obnoxious character, delivered in an obnoxious way. One of my fellow CeX writers Denis Murphy recently wrote that The Voices, starring Ryan Reynolds, was up its own arse. If you thought that was bad, stay away from Listen Up Philip.

Listen Up Philip is a painfully pretentious little film that doesn’t seem to have any reason to exist. 2/5.

★★☆☆☆

Sam Love

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A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence [used]

The 1565 painting The Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder depicts a rural scene with weary hunters returning to a town, as birds perch in the trees on the branches above the scene. You may recognise the piece, as it’s been used in many films such as Solaris and Melancholia. Roy Andersson looked at this painting. He said that, in this painting, he imagines the birds on the branches to be looking down at the people and wondering what they’re doing. From this little thought, he came up with A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, a completely bizarre film that subtly questions our existence in a series of unusual episodic shorts about life. 

Written and directed by him and out now on DVD & Blu-Ray, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is a very unique piece of work, finishing off his ‘Living Trilogy’ following Songs from the Second Floor & You, the Living. As those who follow my writing will know, I’d usually take a moment here to describe the plot. Here, I cannot. There isn’t much by way of an overarching story and, for what story there is, you’d be better off experiencing it yourself. I doubt there’s a huge audience for this film, but the ones who will understand it will love it. Everyone else will probably wonder what the f*ck they’ve just watched and try and erase it from their memory – and I don’t think Roy Anderrson would have it any other way.

As stated, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is made up of many, for lack of a better term, short films. Similar to Damián Szifron’s Wild Tales, these tales are seemingly unrelated but share common themes and style. It is said by some that the titular pigeon is in fact the director and writer Andersson, and it is his reflections on existence are here in this film for us to see. If that’s the case, I could not live inside his mind. As with people like David Lynch, I love to watch his instantly recognisable works and experience his vision in short instalments, but I couldn’t imagine spending long inside the twisted absurdist minds that create this sort of stuff. But it is truly a pleasure to spend 90 minutes with Andersson or Lynch, although often rather disturbing. As such, there is very little (if any) mainstream appeal in this. If you’re not interested in bleak and quiet arty cinema, steer clear of A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence. But if you’re ready to experience and analyse some very absurd and surreal imagery, look no further. When it comes to film production, Anderrson is a genius. Whether you like/understand his work or not, there’s no denying the insanely specific and intricate attention to detail in every single shot.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is not a film you watch. It’s a film you experience. It is cinema as an art form. Each of the short stories is effectively a moving, talking painting – from the bleak, washed out colour palette to the long, still takes; shots from this film would not be out of place on the walls of an art gallery. But some of this film isn’t pretty. It is disturbing at times and often rather unsettling in its silence and deliberately slow pace. But therein lies its charm, especially for fans of Anderrson who have come to expect this sort of delivery. Because of this, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is a difficult film to review. It’s very much aimed at a specific target audience who can appreciate and enjoy such a bizarre piece. If you don’t get it, you will hate it. But if you’re a fan of Anderrson’s, or minimalist absurdist art cinema in general, you’ll love every long and quiet second of A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence ends a unique trilogy on a strong note, and flies away with 5/5.

★★★★★

Sam Love

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x+y [used]

Maths is one of many things that people seem to either love or hate. I hated it at school. I wasn’t bad at it, but I didn’t exactly excel at it either. But some people really enjoy it, and some even find great comfort in it. x+y tells the story of one of these people.

Out now on Blu-Ray and DVD is x+y (known as A Brilliant Young Mind in the US). Directed by Morgan Matthews and written by James Graham,  x+y focuses on autistic maths prodigy Nathan Ellis (Asa Butterfield) doesn’t understand the world. After losing his close father at a very young age, Nathan distances himself from most human contact – even with his hard-working single mother (Sally Hawkins). But what he does understand is maths, and he finds a great escape in numbers, patterns and equations. After meeting unconventional teacher Mr Humphreys (Rafe Spall), Nathan is encouraged to take his talent to the next level and try out for the International Mathematics Olympiad. Along the way he finds new confidence, a new understanding of the world and perhaps finally, a place to belong. Do not dismiss this film if, like me, you dislike maths and think it’ll just all be numbers and equations. The film is a universal drama with universal themes, and broad appeal.

x+y is a very deep piece – deeper than it looks on the surface, even. It’s the most accurate and moving portrayal of autism I’ve seen in a while, performed by a fantastic cast. Asa Butterfield, who I had previously brushed off as just another child actor after roles in Ender’s Game and Hugo, is absolutely phenomenal as Nathan. Barely speaking for a lot of the film and using only his eyes to express the social confusion, fear and loneliness; Butterfield deserves major awards recognition for this performance, especially at his young age. But the film is an ensemble piece overflowing with talent. Rafe Spall steals every scene as the broken Mr Humphreys, fighting his own inner battle of depression and multiple sclerosis, but still bringing the majority of the film’s laughs with his lad attitude. Sally Hawkins is further cementing her role as British cinema’s go-to mum, but gives us her finest mum yet as the exhausted and lonely single mother who accurately portrays what it is like to care for an autistic child. But for me, one of the stand-out performances here is a rather understated one from the fantastic Eddie Marsan. Unlike the other characters, he isn’t portraying loneliness or illness. Instead, he’s giving us one of the most well observed education-based characters in film – a character that everyone who has been to school can relate to.

x+y is stunningly well shot, especially for an independent drama like this. There are some phenomenal visuals throughout, including some great on-location sequences in Taiwan. The pacing is great, the script is fantastic, and the music is powerful. I could go on listing things that x+y impressed me with for a while, as this is a film where everything is done right. Or is it? The film is 5-star material for the lion’s share of the film. However, towards the end, something happened which disappointed me. Up until this point, the film was about overcoming your disabilities and past to make something of yourself and achieve your potential. It almost felt like a sports film - right down to a character even saying that maths is just like sport, but for people who are strong in mind. But unfortunately, the film throws that away and becomes a rather cliché romance between Nathan and another girl in the Olympiad. It creates some great symbolic sequences of him overcoming his recurring troubles we’ve seen in the film, but for me the romance just felt a bit forced and unnecessary. It was arguably even done at the expense of closure for other characters, who were brushed under the rug towards the end. But, when the film works, it bloody works. This is the only quibble I had, and when I look back at the film, the romantic ending seems inconsequential.

x+y is an absolutely phenomenal little independent film that made me laugh, cry and feel inspired. Isn’t that all you want from a film like this? It’s phenomenally acted, shot, written and produced across the board. Sure, the romance stuff was a little forced, but on the whole x+y moved me beyond words.

x+y finds the formula for a fantastic film and earns 5/5.

★★★★★

Sam Love

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Paddington: Adventures in London [used]

I haven't seen the film Paddington, last years live action take on the classic Michael Bond character Paddington Bear. It's meant to be pretty decent, but my only knowledge of the iconic bear is through the 1975 BBC1 animated series. You know the one, right? It was done with stop motion, and weaved together a Paddington model with cardboard cut-out backgrounds and supporting characters. It was- and still is- a very lovely little series. Then again, going into this game you don't really need to know anything about Paddington, as it essentially tells you everything you need to know about the blue coated bear.

Developed by Ravenscourt and out now on Nintendo 3DS comes Paddington: Adventures in London, a simplistic but charming little game. Though I didn't see last years film, Adventures in London pretty much follows the plot of 2014's Paul King directed feature. While in the deepest jungles of Peru, explorer Montgomery Clyde comes across a bear who can speak English. The explorer chucks the bear his hat and tells him he's welcome to London if he wants to say hello. After the destruction of his home thanks to an earthquake, the bear travels to London to seek out Montgomery Clyde. After meeting the brown family at Paddington Station and being given the named Paddington, Adventures in London revolves around helping the people of London, doing puzzles and, of course, finding Montgomery Clyde. It's a story that's told very simply as it's for very young children, but it gives just enough of a background to who Paddington is that you instantly start to care about him and his quest.

Gameplay in Adventures in London is very simplistic. The entirety of the game essentially takes place on the streets of London. Though Paddington's ultimate end goal is to find Montgomery Clyde, the vast majority of the game focuses on him helping the people of London and working his way towards becoming a gentleman (... or would that be gentlebear?). The visuals are a nice blend of both 2D and 3D graphics, and the game has a very cutesy look to it. As you move Paddington around you'll encounter various people in need of help. The tasks on offer are pretty basic, and revolve around the likes of having to greet someone, to finding someone's misplaced keys to their shop. Helping people builds up your reputation with the people of London, as does doing nice deeds around the city, such as picking up rubbish and putting it in the bin, to moving a fallen bicycle away from the footpath. One you've done these simple nice deeds everyone will stop what they're doing and cheer you on, you know, like real life.

Another element to gameplay comes about with the various puzzles and games strewn throughout the city of London. There's one that's a rip-off of Candy Crush, a game in which you have to identify certain pieces of clothing from out of a crowd of people, and another one where you must balance a stack of parcels. With a whole host of these simple yet fun mini-games, puzzles, quests and tasks to find, Adventures in London is full of content. On top of all of that you can also collect things like marmalade sandwichs and suitcases, and these are littered throughout London too.

Adventures in London is a game for children, and assuming you don't have children you'll most likely approach this game in one of two ways. You might just reject it off the bat simply because it's intended for kids, and turn your head towards something a little more engaging. However if, like me, you end up giving it a chance, you'll find a lovely little game that harkens back to the days of yesteryear. When playing Adventures in London I got flashes of games I played when I was younger on the Playstation and Gameboy Advance. You remember those days, right? They were games didn't need to be dark, edgy or fight for their right to be considered “art”, as they were just content on being fun. Adventures in London is fun. That said, it doesn't do anything new. In fact, even compared to other kids games out now it's pretty basic. But it still offers gorgeous visuals, simple yet fun gameplay, and enough charm that'll make you fall in love with Paddington Bear all over again.

If you have kids that enjoy the character of Paddington Bear, Adventures in London is a must. However, if you don't have kids and want something that's a little bit of harmless fun, consider giving it a shot. It's not a game that'll get the most coverage out there, but it's something that I found to be a joy to play. Neither is it an experience that will stay with you, but it's certainly one worth enjoying with a cup of tea and a marmalade sandwich by your side.

Paddington: Adventures in London is cosy charming fun. 4/5.

★★★★☆

Denis Murphy

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Kingsman: The Secret Service [used]

The spy genre has been dead as of late. Well, granted you still have the Bond, Bourne and Mission Impossible series still kicking around, but they're all decidedly dark and gritty. When I think of spy movies I think of the older Bond films, the ones that revolved around a bad dude that wanted to nuke the world, and somehow convinced people in matching jumpsuits to work for him in his massive underground base. Those kinds of films were fun, and though I pretty much enjoy any kind of old or modern spy film, I think the genre has certainly lost a level of playfulness it once had to it. But this latest film tries to bring the genre back to its over-the-top roots. From gadgets, girls, guns, sharp suits and fine whiskey, Kingsman: The Secret Service has you covered.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Kingsman: The Secret Service, an excellent throwback to the fun spy films of yesteryear. I've been a fan of Vaughn's for quite awhile now, first kicking off with his adaptation of Neil Gainman's Stardust novel, then the fantastic Kick-Ass and also his reboot/prequel/whatever that was X-Men: First Class. He has a great knack for creating wonderful action films on -by Hollywood's standards- a shoestring budget. Kingsman continues this tradition and ultimately makes for one of the most surprisingly original action flicks in the past few years.

Kingsman opens up in 1997 in the Middle-East amid a number of English secret agents interrogating a terrorist. Clad in black tactical outfits and sporting masks the agents remain unknown, but after the terrorist pulls a grenade and one agent dives onto him to save his fellow comrades, one stunned agent pulls off his mask to reveal a very shocked looking Colin Firth. Firth plays Harry, part of a super secret group of spies known as Kingsman. They wear expensive looking suits, all talk in ultra posh accents and are incredibly well trained fighters, shooters and charmers. Back in 1997 and in the wake of his friends death, Harry pays a visit to his widow. Unable to even explain to her how her husband died (it's top secret after all) she tells him to leave. He leaves but not before he gives his friends young son, Eggsy, a bravery medal for his fathers service. He tells Eggsy that if he ever needs help, he simply needs to call the number on the back of the medal. The films then jumps to 2014 and Eggsy, now played by Taron Egerton, is living a shitty life with his mother and abusive stepfather. After being arrested  for joyriding, Eggsy decides to give the number on the medal a call, and this ultimately sends him off on his path to become a Kingsman.

The three best parts of Kingsman are its three leading roles. First off, Colin Firth is superb as the classy Kingsman Harry. He's a sort of father figure to Eggsy, and takes the troubled boy off the streets and offers him something noble to do with his life. However, beyond Harry's very respectful and cool exterior, he's also a real badass. Early on into the film Harry takes on a bunch of louts in a pub. From hurling beer glasses at their heads to using his trust umbrella gun to take a few out at once, he's a formidable force despite his posh appearance. Then you have Taron Egerton as Eggsy, who I really haven't seen in much yet. That said, he's absolutely superb in Kingsman and is a hugely likeable and watchable guy. His take on Eggsy is brilliant too, and as opposed to being the inner city mindless go-for-nothing that's morphed into a gentleman, he's plays an honest, genuine and good hearted guy in a bad situation. Becoming a Kingsman doesn't make the man in his case, but it does give him an outlet for his talents and good intentions. Then you have Samuel Jackson as Richmond Valentine, the baddie of the film, and one that can't stand blood and violence. Together this trio make Kingsman a superb watch and this, coupled alongside the brilliant script by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman, really sets the film apart from most other action flicks of late.

The action is great too, and as just like he really hit it home in Kick-Ass, Vaughn's over-the-top direction is all over Kingsman. This becomes most apparent in the fight scenes, all of which are filmed with such a great sense of style and pace. From mounting a camera on the barrel of a pistol for a shot that's no longer than 2 seconds long, to rotating, flipping and hurling the camera around the place, the cinematography is anything but static and mundane. It's as fun and badass as the action is, and it makes for many truly refreshing action set pieces. The one that sticks out the most for me is the church scene, which essentially has Harry violently taking out an entire congregation of ring-wingers; a bunch clearly based on the Westboro Baptist Church. Whether they're men or women, Harry breaks arms, legs, backs, shoots them point blank and even plunges knives into them. This is all done without camera cuts or trickery- it's beautiful. Needless to say, in this film both the action and the violence is over-the-top, so much so that's it's not gratuitous or offensive.  Instead, watching Kingsman is like watching a very lovely, violent and well choreographed dance.

I know it wasn't made on a monumental budget, but I did have some misgivings about some of the CGI. It wasn't that most of it just really crappy, but some of it was just unnecessary. Thankfully the CGI never creeps into the action and fights, but when it is used it's incredible obvious and fake looking. Whenever it cut to a crappy green-screen moment or bad CGI model, it did manage to take me out of the film a bit. Beyond that though, Kingsman: The Secret Service is a super action flick, and one that isn't gritty, dark and bleak. Hurray!

Kingsman: The Secret Service has a license for fun. 4/5.

★★★★☆

Denis Murphy

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The Tale of the Princess Kaguya [used]

The first Studio Ghibli film I saw was Princess Mononoke, the 1997 animated fantasy film that conjured up incredible action, memorable characters and wonderfully realised forest spirits. It was a stunning film, and my love for all things Studio Ghibli only grew from there on out. After seeing Princess Mononoke I began to seek out other films on DVD, and quickly made my way through other greats such as Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, Porco Rosso and Kiki's Delivery Service, However, one of my favourites was Grave of the Fireflies, the hard hitting World War 2 tale of a boy and his sister's attempt at survival. It's a bleak and beautiful film, so with this latest Studio Ghibli film being directed by the mastermind that brought us Grave of the Fireflies, I went into it expecting greatness. I was not disappointed.

Written and directed by Isao Takahata and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, arguably Studio Ghibli's best looking film to date. The plot to The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is based upon the Japanese folk-tale “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”, and though it does branch off from the original story in many ways, at its heart it largely remains the same. The film kicks off when a bamboo cutter named Miyatsuko hacks into a piece of bamboo, and in doing so discovers a small girl inside. He brings the miniature girl home to his wife and they decide to raise her, naming her Princess as they believe she might be some kind of spirit or deity. Soon after that Miyatsuko finds gold within a bamboo shoot, and with these riches he moves his family to a mansion, and goes about trying to make his daughter a real Princess. But this life doesn't suit the girl, and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya chronicles her upbringing, her resentment of her new, royal life, and ultimately the true origins of who and what she truly is.

The first thing you'll notice about The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is its animation style. Though Studio Ghibli films always look incredible in terms of design and animation, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya goes one step further, and truly looks like nothing I've seen before. The backgrounds look like beautiful watercolour paintings, characters appear like they've been sketched with charcoal and animation throughout looks incredibly fluid. The film essentially looks like a moving painting, even complete with some backgrounds fading out even before they hit the edge of the film frame. There are also scenes in which The Tale of the Princess Kaguya gets rather minimalistic, and almost looks like some kind of impressionistic painting. It really is breathtaking to behold, and Studio Ghibli truly have outdone themselves in terms of the design and scope of The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.

The film itself is perfect. Much like Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies, it treads that line between the joyful and the melancholy, and though it doesn't hit the near depressing depths of Grave of the Fireflies, it is far darker than I thought it would be. Still though, it's a wonderful journey worth taking, and one that is only made better by its lovely cast. I watched the film twice; both with an English voice over, and in Japanese with subtitles. Though I'll always prefer to see a film in its original language, I felt that both choices worked perfectly fine here. Though many English voice over for Japanese films are pretty lame, with names like Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan and Mary Steenburgen headlining the cast, you won't miss anything by opting for the English voice over. That said, I did prefer the original Japanese cast, with Aki Asakura especially doing a stunning job with the Princess' voice.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a film I found impossible to criticize. I came away from it absolutely loving everything about it. Though I'd still consider a handful of Studio Ghibli films better than it, it's still one of their best achievements. From it's great story, stunning visuals, brilliant performances from both its English and Japanese speaking cast to its heartfelt ending, this is truly a special film. Cherish it.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is a tale worth watching. 5/5.

★★★★★

Denis Murphy

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Still Alice [used]

At this year’s Oscars, The Theory of Everything was the talk of the town when it came to the acting awards. “Oh, Eddie Redmayne delivered the best performance of the year, delicately portraying the deterioration of a horrible disease” was the general consensus, no?

The majority of people weren’t even aware of Still Alice, out now on DVD & Blu-ray. I’ll admit, I didn’t know a lot about it myself. I hadn’t seen it, nor did I know what it was about until Oscar night. It’s a film that completely slipped by me and I’m angry at myself for letting it. Because you know what? Julianne Moore’s Oscar/Golden Globe/BAFTA-winning performance here is the best of the year. Written and directed by Wash Westmoreland & his late husband Richard Glatzer and based upon Lisa Genova’s book of the same name; Still Alice tells the story of Alice Howland (Moore), a respected linguistics professor who, when diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, has her world turned upside down. 

Still Alice is an absolutely phenomenal little piece of cinema. The entire cast are brilliant, with surprisingly great performances from Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart as Alice’s husband and daughter, respectively. But naturally, it is Julianne Moore who owns every second of the film. Moore delivers the finest performance of her career to date as the slowly deteriorating Alice, equally portraying bravery and fear, as the disease takes over her mind. This is one of the most compelling and believable performances I’ve seen in a long time, and is all the more moving for it. I shared in her onscreen daughters’ and son’s heartbreak as we witnessed a smart, passionate woman slowly forgetting everything and everyone around her. As such, Still Alice is a hard film to watch – especially, I would imagine, if you’ve witnessed the effects of Alzheimer’s on someone for real - but is a rewarding and inspiring watch. 

As with many independent dramas of this type, the film is a performance piece first and foremost. The heart and drive of the story is Alice, who we spend almost every minute with. But where other films like this can let themselves down – the recent Jennifer Aniston vehicle Cake delivered fantastic acting and characters, but little else – Still Alice is an all-round brilliant production. I was completely engrossed by every second of the film’s comfortable 90 minute runtime, and not a moment of that was wasted. Still Alice is a very understated piece of cinema, with subtle and delicate beauty throughout. A film around this subject could be very depressing, and while it is certainly moving, it is overall an inspiring piece. I’ve watched a lot of inspiring films this year, and this is one of them. It has reminded me of how things like this can happen, and that we should live each day like it’s our last.

Still Alice is a film that speaks for itself, and there’s not a huge amount I can say about it in this review. It’s a deeply affecting yet gentle look at the effects of a horrible disease on a lady and her family, made all the more exceptional by Julianne Moore who delivers a phenomenal performance.

Thankfully, I’ve never had to witness a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Statistically, one of you lovely readers will have. My heart goes out to you, and to all those affected by Alzheimer’s. To those suffering and struggling through it, and those standing by the sides of the afflicted. It is a horrible disease and I can’t imagine what it must be like. You are all in my thoughts as I write this. I would also like to take a moment to spare a thought for one of Still Alice’s directors, Richard Glatzer, who unfortunately passed away on March 10th 2015 of complications from Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 63 years old. May he continue to rest in peace. 

Still Alice has moved and inspired me beyond words, and receives my highest recommendation. 5/5.

★★★★★

Sam Love

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Housebound [used]

I first heard about Housebound last year when it was out in the cinema. Of course, being a low-budget horror/comedy from New Zealand, it wasn't exactly being shown in every cinema here in Ireland. So, I waited. Then it was released on Blu-Ray and DVD in America. So, I waited some more. After a very long wait to check it out, Housebound is finally here. However, does it live up to expectations?

Directed, written and edited by Gerard Johnstone and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes Housebound; an enjoyable comedy horror that offers up some laughs, scares and one pretty big twist. Housebound opens up with our heroine Kylie Bucknell trying to rob money out of an ATM. However this isn't some grab and dash job, as there's also dynamite involved. She's quickly caught due to her getaway car seizing up, but instead of the law throwing her in the slammer, Kylie is promptly sent back to her parents house and put under house arrest. Though her personality was already pretty caustic to begin with, with her parents added to the mix she becomes lazy, slobbish and a pain in the arsehole to be around. However, things take a turn when Kylie hears her mum on a paranormal radio show saying that their family house is haunted. Though Kylie doesn't believe her at first, strange goings on start to pop up throughout the house. With Kylie under house arrest and things going bump in the night, she soon works together with the security officer who installed her ankle bracelet, Amos, to find the source of the ghostly activity.

Housebound is very much a comedy horror in the vein of Shaun of the Dead. It jumps from scares to slapstick in an instant, and in general will manage to please fans of both genres. Throughout the film there's plenty of funny moments, and thankfully most of them aren't really in your face. They're done though small interactions with people, funny and inventive actions scenes and, most importantly, the overall humour and likeability of the film comes from the characters themselves. Everyone in Housebound is a little off kilter, wonderfully written and throughout the film you'll genuinely care about them. While everyone here is great, Morgana O'Reilly is especially fantastic as Kylie. She's unlikeable at first, but she quickly grows on you as there's always a hint of decency, respect and guilt from her performance. Her journey in Housebound is effectively her way of redeeming herself after a few years of turning on those who love her, and by the end of the film her character is nice wrapped up.

Housebound starts off perfectly. With Kylie under house arrest and an apparent ghost dicking around in the house, there's a superb sense of dread that keeps the film tense early on. There's a scene in which Kylie goes down into the basement to get her phone that keeps ringing. Complete with an old dusty basement and a massive statue of Jesus, it's eerily set-up and accumulates in a grey ghostly hand grabbing her ankle. I thought that the film would build upon this kind of horror, but it kind of doesn't. I wasn't expecting an unrelenting horror film, but it quite quickly throws out its simple horror premise for a bit of a clumsily cobbled together whodunnit plot. From there Housebound kind of goes it a bit mad, and though it stays fun and unique until the credits, it ended up not being the film I wanted to watch in the first place. That's not to say the plot is bad- it isn't- but I think it had more potential to be great by keeping it a little more simplified.

Overall Housebound may not have been what I hoped it would be, but it's still a really fun watch. It's creepy, packed with some pretty unique characters, and has a fair few plot twists that will take you off guard. All in all, Housebound is a great feature film debut by Gerard Johnstone, which is topped off by the very watchable Morgana O'Reilly.

Housebound will make you check your cupboard before bed tonight. 4/5.

★★★★☆

Denis Murphy

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Godzilla [update]

I've always been a huge fan of Godzilla. From watching some of the old films on VHS back in the day, playing some of the games that were released on the Playstation 2, to really enjoying last years re-reboot of the franchise, I just simply love Godzilla. Though Godzilla vs. Destroyah is my favourite, I'll watch pretty much any Godzilla film. So with my interest in the big lizard reawakened thanks to last years film, I was dying for the next game based on the franchise. A Godzilla game is based upon a simple concept- control a big ass monster, blow shit up and fight other big ass monsters. It's an impossible recipe to screw that up, right? Well, this latest Godzilla screwed it up. Big time.

Developed by Bandai Namco Games and out now on Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 comes Godzilla; a game that's boring, a chore to play and looks like something from the Playstation 2 era. There's no real concrete plot in Godzilla. Through the modes of offer here there's no big overarching plot. That's all well and good as this game does (and rightly should) simply focus on Godzilla, but adding an extra layer of context and background plot would have given the game- and also your destructive actions- a bit more gravity and context. I'm not looking for War and Peace here, but hell, give me something involving the Xiliens or whatever. Instead the game just drip feeds you random messages from G-Force (an anti-Godzilla military unit) that either talk about the destruction you've caused or what obstacle their sending your way next.

However, Godzilla isn't just painfully light on plot, as it's equally light on gameplay too. On its surface it looks like there's plenty of content on offer. From the outset you can play a whole host of modes such as King of the Monsters, Destruction, Evolution, Diorama and Online Multiplayer mode. The problem is that the first three modes mentioned there are essentially the same experience. In Destruction mode, which I think is the centrepiece of the game, it makes you play through stages destroying generators, wiping out everything in sight and ultimately facing you off against a boss monster. It all becomes monotonous quite early in, especially when you need to get 100% destruction in the level, and this leads to Godzilla literally feeling like a chore to play. The other two main modes aren't much different, with King of Monsters mode putting you through six stages consisting of bosses that get harder and harder, and Evolution mode essentially being a mode in which you can level up Godzilla. Beyond those modes you have Online Multiplayer, Diorama and Monster Field Guide modes. Online multiplayer speaks for itself and lets up to three players duke it out, Diorama mode lets you take pictures of placeable objects and monster models, while Monster Field Guide is like a Pokedex for a who's who of Godzilla monsters.

I know, right know you're sitting there and thinking, “Come on, Murph, tell me about the actual monsters, man!”. Ok, I'll do that. They suck. Well, the monsters in the game look the part, and the roster is pretty hefty, as it pretty much covers every single Godzilla monster ever. It's impressive, and with even a few different types of Godzilla's to play as (different eras have different looking Godzilla's), it's pretty awesome how much Namco Bandai is giving the fans what they want. Well, almost everything they want, as actually controlling Godzilla- or any other monster- is god awful. Simply put, controlling your monster is like trying to pick up an egg while wearing oven gloves. For instance, when controlling Godzilla the left thumb-stick moves him forward, the right thumb-stick rotates the camera while, for some weird reason, the left and right controller bumpers turn him left and right. This leads to a control scheme that is laughably bad and over complicated. Instead of diving right into the game and wrecking some shit up, you'll spend the first 20 minutes learning how to walk without looking like a prat. With the control scheme at its core, Godzilla isn't just a boring game to play, but also an annoying one to take part in. It's stiff, cumbersome and makes controlling Godzilla very un-awesome.

Overall Godzilla is a mess. All it had to do was replicate some of the previous decent Godzilla games, but it failed. It's boring, has pretty mediocre graphics, relies on someone simple spamming attacks to win, and, worst of all, pisses away all the potential for greatness it had. I love me some Godzilla, but even my blind love for it can't make me like this game. Sorry, old friend, back into the ocean you go...

Godzilla is the king of all chumps. 1/5.

★☆☆☆☆

Denis Murphy

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Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess [used]

The Deception series is largely still unknown in the West. Kicking off with Tecmo's Deception: Invitation to Darkness in 1996, the series, until last years Deception IV: Blood Ties, was only released in Japanese and America. Poor Europeans such as myself never got a chance to try out the series for ourselves. Though we did manage to get our hands on Trapt, a Playstation 2 spin-off of the franchise, the main series is only something that has been open to us in recent years. Last year I reviewed Blood Ties. I really enjoyed it, and now comes an enhanced version of that game.

Developed by Tecmo Koei and out now on Playstation 4, Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita comes Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess, a great, funny, bloody and over-the-top game that makes me a little sad for missing all the previous games in the series back in the day. The plot is pretty straightforward, and has you assume the role of Satan's daughter, Laegrinna. Laegrinna wants to effectively resurrect her father, and in order to do this she'll need to harvest souls. However, souls don't really grow on trees, so to get them she'll need to lure people into her death traps. Laegrinna does this with the help of three demons, who by the way are as equally undressed as she is. There is a second story mode in this updated version of Blood Ties, but we'll get into that soon.

The Nightmare Princess is all about laying traps. The three demons that help out Laegrinna effectively represent the three different types of traps you can set. The three types of traps on offer here are elaborate, sadistic, and humiliating. Elaborate traps are the ones you'll want to place down in order to kick off a chain reaction, sadistic ones deal out the most damage, while humiliating traps are, well, humiliating to the person who walks into them, while also being pretty funny. Traps are plentiful and diverse in terms of what they do too. From rolling flaming boulders, banana peels to slip on, a circular saw, a sharp Scythe, a small black hole and an iron maiden to squeeze enemies into, the traps in The Nightmare Princess go from the horrible to the hilarious. It's up to you what type you're into, but with around 100 traps on offer, you've plenty to choose from.

Upon starting a level you're placed in a room. Each room you play in have different layouts and obstacles, and its up to you to use each given level layout to your advantage. With the flick of a switch you can quickly jump into an overhead view, and this is where you'll start laying down your traps. But when playing The Nightmare Princess you're not just aimlessly putting traps down, instead your ultimate goal is to create a chain reaction between traps. The bigger the better though, as for some of the later enemies that will invade your level, they often need a lot of damage inflicted on them before they keel over. So this means there's a great level of strategy involved in The Nightmare Princess, as you'll often find yourself creating intricate configurations of traps in the hope of one giant chain reaction of death. It's doable even for the stronger enemies, but it takes more skill and precision than you may assume.

Another side to gameplay is when you're directly in charge of Laegrinna, and once you do this it cuts to a third-person view of her. From here you'll need to directly lure your opponents into your traps. This gives you a nice perspective of the action down on the ground, as well as giving you more control over which enemies fall into which trap. One nice little feature in The Nightmare Princess is that once an enemy walks into a room, you're able to read up a little bit of a back-story on them. Back-stories can vary in terms of content, but there were a few times in which I felt pretty bad for the person I was ultimately leading to their death.

The Nightmare Princess will offer you around 9 hours of gameplay during its main story mode, but on the side it also gives you 100 challenge missions, a sandbox mode and a level editor in which you can create your own missions and challenges, and ultimately share them online. Finally, the biggest enhancement to gameplay that The Nightmare Princess has over Blood Ties is the addition of another story mode. This new story mode focuses on the character of Velguirie, another daughter of the devil who, compared to Laegrinna, is more evil and wicked. Her story mode is a little more free-form than Laegrinna's, and can even branch off intro different directions at key points during the plot. If you've never played a Deception game before, buy this game. It's funny, smart and violently hilarious. If you have and already own Blood Ties, I think there's enough new content here to warrant another purchase.

Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess captures my bloody imagination with a 4/5.

★★★★☆

Denis Murphy

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The Woman in Black: Angel of Death [used]

I have to admit, I've never seen a Harry Potter film, not have I read the books. And while that's enough to turn around 50% of you off all my reviews from now on, it's just never a series I had much interest in. One thing that put me off the movies was Daniel Radcliffe. I have no reason to dislike him I guess, but with the over saturation of his mug all over the telly for a decade as Harry Potter, I was just sick of him. So when I sat down to watch 2012's The Woman in Black, a film starring Radcliffe, I was expecting to hate it, or at least dislike him being in the film. I ended up neither hating it or resenting his presence in the film. In fact, he was absolutely fantastic in it, and it helped me realise that my dislike for all things Radcliffe was just me being a sour, salty shithead. Anyway, though I missed it in the cinema, I was dying to see the sequel to The Woman in Black. Sequels to superb films aren't always bad, right?

Directed by Tom Harper and out now on Blu-Ray and DVD comes The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, which a complete failure in terms of horror. Angel of Death takes place during World War 2, and focuses on the character of Eve Parkins, a schoolteacher played wonderfully by Phoebe Fox. With the Blitz in full swing in London, Eve decides to evacuate her school children to the countryside town of Crythin Gifford. On the way there they come across Jeremy Irvine, a handsome pilot who tags along with Eve and her group of kids. With the village seemingly empty, the group reluctantly decides to stay at Eel Marsh House. This is of course the setting to the original film, and though it has been some time since the events in The Woman in Black, the ghost still remains trapped inside the house's walls. Though the sightings of the woman in black herself start out pretty harmless at first, it soon becomes clear that the ghost wants something... or someone.

Before I dig into it, it really needs to be said that the acting here across the board is actually pretty great. Though Phoebe Fox easily outshines everyone else in the film, the problems with Angel of Death never have to do with a  lack of acting talent. In fact, even some of the children in the film are pretty great, especially Oaklee Pendergast and Amelia Pidgeon. The failings of Angel of Death lie pretty much everywhere outside of the acting talent of the cast here, and because everyone here seems to be so wonderfully talented, the film ends up stinging a little as it's clearly wasting the excellent talent it so clearly has on tap.

The original The Woman in Black was a fantastically original film. Based upon the 1983 novel of the same name -and taking some cues from the stage version- it was a remarkably tense and unnerving film to watch. In the sea of utterly generic modern horror films The Woman in Black was chilling, tense and mostly relied on building up a deep sense of dread within the viewer. In fact, even before The woman in black herself appeared in the film, how to the film was shot, acted and paced created a bone terrifying atmosphere. When she did appear her moments didn't rely on typical jump scares either, but rather eerily constructed moments that stayed with the viewer even after the film ended. The worst part about Angel of Death is, in a complete contrast to The Woman in Black, it heavily uses jump scares. In fact, it over uses them often to the point of parody, as anyone with half a brain cell will often know exactly where the next jump scare will come from in a scene. So instead of watching the film and completely buying into the creepy world its concocting for you, you'll sit there and essentially try and work out where the jump scare will come from next. That's expected from most of the shitty horror films out there, but considering this is a sequel to one of the most original horror films ever made, it's not OK.

Angel of Death is not scary. Its overuse of jump scares literally kills any kind of dread it tries to set up. The saying “less is more” comes to mind here, and the first film completely understood this. Granted it showed the goods, but it still left something to the imagination, something for your brain to ponder on even after the credits rolled. That's what made The Woman in Black so good. Angel of Death leaves nothing to the imagination, ticks off all the horror clichés, and ultimately makes for a hugely disappointing sequel to a great, great film. Like I said, the cast here are genuinely superb, so the blame rests solely on the direction and writing. It could have be something special, and I imagine the thought of what might have been will haunt me longer than the actual film ever will.

The Woman in Black: Angel of Death fails to impress. 2/5.

★★☆☆☆

Denis Murphy

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Dear White People [currently US only]

Yesterday I found out about a Tumblr called Every Single Word. The blog’s owner re-edits mainstream movies to remove all dialogue spoken by Caucasian characters, leaving behind “every single word” spoken by people of colour. It’s pretty shocking: Black Swan and The Fault in Our Stars, for example, feature just one person of colour each, and their edited versions both clock in at under 30 seconds. Spike Jonze’s critically-acclaimed love story Her fared slightly better, with about 36 seconds of dialogue spoken by four people of colour (although only one is named), while last year’s Biblical epic Noah did worst of all, managing a disappointing zero seconds. Ouch. 

It’s exactly the sort of entrenched racism that’d infuriate Sam White, the lead character of last year’s biting, satirical dramedy Dear White People. Out now on Blu-ray and DVD, the movie follows black students at fictional Winchester University, a prestigious, white-dominated college in America. Sam (Tessa Thompson), a plucky, mixed-race film student, uses her radio show and a self-published book to offer an acerbic take on what she perceives as ingrained racism among the white students and faculty. But it’s a new rule threatening to break up the traditionally black Armstrong/Parker house, by randomising accommodation allocations based on race, that proves to be the last straw for Sam. She runs for head of house against the dean’s son Troy (Brandon Bell) and wins, kickstarting her campaign to “bring it black” to Armstrong/Parker.

As you might expect, Sam isn’t the only person at Winchester with problems. Lionel (Tyler James Williams) is a young, gay black man, struggling to resolve his racial identity with the pervasive homophobia he believes it represents. Colandrea “Coco” Conners (Teyonah Parris) is a black YouTube star who is convinced the only way she can become famous is by toning down her blackness and appealing to the tastes and sensibilities of white viewers. And Troy, the aforementioned dean’s son, is under intense pressure from his father to succeed, win elections, and keep up appearances – stick it to the white man, as it very much were – but all he really wants to do is write comedy. The list goes on and on.

When Kurt Fletcher (Kyle Gallner), the college president’s son, organises a blackface-themed party in response to Sam’s controversial show, all the simmering angst and racial tension comes to a satisfying head and the film does a good job of tying together its various plot threads, before throwing in one last thought-provoking stinger during the credits.

Dear White People is a great looking film – it’s stylish to a fault, which is unsurprising considering its indie roots, with bold, full-screen titles and some truly great camerawork. Sometimes it snuck a little too far down the trendy “teen drama” path for my liking, but for the most part it was sharply-written and well-acted, and did a good job of highlighting what life can be like for young black people in America today. What’s nice about the movie is that it never comes off feeling preachy or angry, or tries to act like it has all the answers; it just lays out all the issues in an honest and approachable way, without sensationalising, and leaves viewers to come to their own conclusions.

This is an enjoyable, likeable, and thoughtful film that, like Every Single World, isn’t trying to tell us anything we don’t already know. But just the fact it exists – that it’s out there, reminding us to give these issues some thought, is enough.

I’m giving Dear White People a 4/5.

★★★★☆

Mike Lee

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God of War 3 Remastered [used]

I've enjoyed the entire God of War series. Though the series has featured stunning levels, incredible bosses and really iconic moments throughout its seven adventures, the final game in the series, God of War 3, stands out as its greatest achievement. So it's no real shocker that the game has been remastered for the Playstation 4. However, considering that this “remaster” doesn't exactly offer anything new that the Playstation 3 release didn't already have, is it worth your money?

Developed by SCE Santa Monica Studio and remastered by Wholesale Algorithms and out now on Playstation 4 comes God of War III Remastered, a last-gen game that is better than most current-gen games out there. At the end of God of War 2, Kratos, after finding out that he is the son of Zeus, declares that the reign of the gods is over, and with the mighty Titans as his army, directly attacks Mount Olympus. It was an epic, epic ending, and God of War 3 Remastered thankfully doesn't jerk the player around by breaking away from this action. God of War 3 Remastered starts with the attack of Olympus, as Kratos gives one final push to dethrone the Gods, destroy them and vanquish Zeus. After the deaths of his child and wife, and all the terrible shit that the Gods have done to him since, Kratos is hell bent of toppling the Gods. It's an incredible plot, and God of War 3 Remastered turns all the action up to 11.

God of War 3 Remastered essentially plays the same as God of War 2, and places you in the sandals of Kratos, the demigod that wishes to exact vengeance on the Gods themselves. It's a hack-and-slash at heart, though it does offer up its fair share of exploration and puzzle solving. However, before any of that stuff is explored, combat is the key to this game. Kratos' default weapon are the Blades of Exile, blades which hang from his forearms on chains. These will be your main go-to weapon throughout your time with God of War 3 Remastered, and they offer up fast combat and the ability to dish out all kinds of combos. But the beauty with any God of War game is the fact that they never limit the player in terms of weaponry. In fact, just like every other game in the series, the alternative weapons in God of War 3 Remastered are incredibly different from each other, which in turn offer up gameplay and fighting styles that are vastly different from each other. The other unlockable weapons on offer are the Claws of Hades, Nemesis Whip, and the Nemean Cestus. The Claws of Hades allow Kratos to summon the dead, the Nemean Cestus are gigantic and powerful fist-like gauntlets that smash their way through foes, while the Nemesis Whip is like Kratos' default weapon, but faster, weaker but unleash multiple hits in one swing. Throughout the game you'll find yourself cycling through these weapons pretty regularly, as some enemies will require certain weapons to defeat. Needless to say, God of War 3 Remastered offers you a superb and varied range of weapons to kick ass with.

Though you'll find yourself fighting through hordes of monster and mythical beasts in God of War 3 Remastered, the real meat of the game is in the awesome boss battles. From the opening fight in which you battle Poseidon while trying to climb up Mount Olympus, the terrifying throw down with Hades in the Underworld, to the balls-to-the-wall insane battle with the Titan Cronos, who by the way is legitimately the size of a mountain, easily makes for God of War 3 Remastered having the best bosses of a game ever. No really, EVER. They're stunning in both their scale and design, and all make for truly iconic moments in gaming history. Personally my favourite was the battle with the God of Sun, Helios. After Kratos brutally rips off his head, Helios influence on the world is gone, and the sun vanishes behind dark brooding clouds. This is the moment in which I realised that Kratos wasn't f*cking around. I got goosebumps during every boss battle. It's almost indescribably epic.

Overall God of War 3 Remastered offers a stunningly realised world, fantastic puzzles to solve throughout your epic adventure, a few awesome and wonderfully different weapons to master, hordes of enemies to cut through, and a boss list that is nothing short of outstanding. It's pure exhilarating action, but is also smart, expertly designed and bothy of a few play-through. If you own either God of War 3 or God of War Saga, God of War 3 Remastered isn't essential. It doesn't offer up anything new to the game, but with it now running at 1080p at a steady 60fps, it's the best version of the classic game you'll likely find. If you've never played it before, what are you waiting for? Go kick some Olympian arse!

God of War 3 Remastered is perfect. 5/5.

★★★★★

Denis Murphy

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