Jem

This poster came with the dolls.

If you're wondering if our newly re-designed color scheme has to do with today's entry, you're a tad right, and a tad wrong, you see, the v a p o r w a v e trend relies on 90's graphics and colors that were surely borrowed from the 80's. A e s t h e t i c s aside, today's review is dedicated to my wife, a true fan of Jem!

Like any other kid from the 80's on planet earth, I used to wake up early on Saturdays just to enjoy a full morning of the coolest cartoons TV had to offer. Girls cartoons would always go first, so us, boys would have to wait a bit longer for our dose of violence and transforming toys. 

Jem AKA Jem & The Holograms is a Sunbow/Hasbro/Marvel cartoon from 1985 that ran for three seasons until 1988 completing a total of 65 episodes. Like many other cartoons from the decade most of the animation work was done overseas because it was cheaper. Shockingly enough, the animation was provided by the renowned Toei Studio. Predictably enough, as it was during the decade, the Japanese animators were given no credit for Jem whatsoever.

Jem & Jerrica.

The Misfits in action!

The series is about Jerrica Benton, the owner of Starlight Music and the Starlight Foundation, which is a foster home for young girls. But by using her earrings to project a holographic image over herself, she is transformed into her alter ego Jem, the lead singer for the successful music group, Jem and the Holograms. Other members of the group are Jerrica's sensitive little sister Kimber, the strong-willed Aja, and the creative Shana. The group's rivals are The Misfits, made up of the cold-hearted Pizzazz, the tough-acting Roxy, and the humble Stormer. Jem and her friends are always involved in glamorous and exciting adventures around the world, while touching people's hearts with their hit songs. Obviously, the subject of music & the music industry was the core of the animation hence, the 80's pop culture aesthetics of the entire series. Although other cartoons & animé had already explored the music industry in their content, no other American cartoon merged the music stardom  lifestyle with the down to earth side fo things (Jem keeps Jerrica as her secret identity. While one is super popular & outgoing, the other worries about the foster home) In addition, the series featured a set of songs, each properly about something relevant to the plot of each episode. Cassettes were recorded and sold for a limited time, and even some dolls came with the cassette and a tape recorder system. 

Loads of make up.

Loads of cheesy love.

The story is the kind of format you'd see in any sports or music film where it's some up and coming underdog team that is struggling to survive and get to the top. And there are tons of melodrama, which makes the cartoon an animated soap opera. 

The characters are actually pretty good, they're not entirely three dimensional but, it's an 80's cartoon! what do you expect?. However, there is a certain amount of depth given to them. Enough to make us actually care about what they're going though. Jerrica/Jem is solid, she's the typical struggling sweet heroine, selfless, independent, persona wise she's a bit bland but in a good way. Her niche is her hologram ability where some supercomputer gives her the power to change her hairstyle and look so she wouldn't be recognized. Why the hell Rio can't put two and two together that both Jerica and Jem are the same person is anyone's guess. There is a slight romance dynamic with both Rio and Jerrica/Jem, which was rare in a cartoon. I mean, how many animated girls and boys would genuinely interact and even kiss in the 80's?

Hey you! Buy our cassette!

♪♫ 666, the number of the beast ♪♫

The Misfits are fun rivals, personally I found them to be the most interesting and fun. My favorite one was always Stormer, whom to me is interesting and I'll admit as a kid had a bit of a crush on her (I said I was a kid). Because she never really seemed like a bad guy she actually was kinda sweet, just a person that I felt was playing for the wrong team or influenced by the wrong people. But also there was this mystery to her, in episodes she kinda can surprise you because she does something that is contrary to the Misfits sometimes.

However it's really not the story that drive the show so much it's really more by it's nature style over toping substance, and this show has lots of style. It really is a product of it's time as it really tackles the 80's customs of music, fashion, and "MTV" when it was still actually good.

Jem dolls.

My wife's Jem doll.

Animation wise, Jem it's the same compared to other Hasbro properties like Transformers and G.I. Joe meaning the attention to detail in character design is rich and varied enough to allow each character to be identified by its physical features. After all, being animated by japanese artists can do you no wrong!

The series highlight without a doubt is music!, most of the songs are memorable in reprising what was going on music wise in the 80's pop scene. Each episode featured three one minute songs. Two by Jem & by the Misfits. During season 2 & specially 3 a few songs were reused in more than one episode. The songs were presented as videoclips to make the viewer feel he was actually watching MTV.

Choose your side wisely.

80's pop art!

Overall, a great piece of 80's nostalgia and maybe the one animated show that was most influenced by 80's youth pop culture. Clothing, hair style, music, colors, locations and even plotwise, no other cartoon can relate to the 80's as Jem does. I only wish there were more cartoons like this for the girls of today's world. After all, this series did have a heart and deeper meaning beneath each character's struggles (including the bad guys).

With love to my awesome wife!

Here's season 1 opening:

Here's season 2 opening:

Here's season 3 opening:

And a complete playlist featuring every song played on all 3 seasons!

Trick or Treat

Cassette & vinyl will bring you to hell kids!

Although the 80's were shit (as The Vaselines put it in their wonderful second LP "Sex with The Vaselines") the film industry was very creative during the decade. Some of the most wonderful films, cult or massive, came out in that decade and none other film than today's entry can deliver a horror film with bulk 80's pop culture references. Trick or Treat is a 1986 horror gem written by Rhet Topham and directed by Charles Martin Smith. Starred by Marc Price as Eddie Weinbauer, Tony Fields as Sammi Curr & Lisa Orgolini as Leslie Graham.

What happens when a Glam Rock star dies and his number one fan gets his hand in the only vinyl copy of his latest recording? Well, shit happens! Featuring hard rocking cameos by Gene Simmons (as Nuke, a local radio DJ) & Ozzy Osbourne (as Reverend Aaron Gilstrom) this is the Halloween movie every audiophile enthusiast should watch as soon as possible. 

The evil sign of rock!

Ozzy, Sammi & Gene.

Eddie AKA Rag-Man Weinbauer, is a diehard fan of all things heavy metal, glam and classic rock in general. His bedroom is a fortress of music with giant speakers, a Sony turntable and very respectable collection of vinyl records & cassette tapes you wish you had today. As a matter of fact, he even owns a copy of Megadeth's debut album Killing is my Business which by the date the movie was filmed, wasn't even out, making our lead character's copy one of the earlier promotional copies send to different college radio stations in order to promote their music. So, going back to the movie (I'm a freaking audiophile, I admit it) Eddie's number one rock star, Sammi Curr is seen by society, school teachers, parents & reverends as a Satanic & perverted monster that is posoning America's youth with his evil music. This causes Eddie to be constantly bullied in school, just because he listens to Rock music. Yes, in the 80's everybody thought heavy rock music was a door to Satanic cult rites and all sorts of atrocities. 

Later while doing his chores Eddie finds out his ultimate hero has died in a fire, obviously causing our lead massive pain since "Sammi Curr was the only one who truly understood his teenage brawls against the world" For unexplained reasons, Eddie runs into the local radio station to tell Nuke (Gene Simmons, Kiss bass player & singer) his love about the recently demised Glam rocker. Nuke believes him and as gift, offers him the last studio session Curr recorded in brand new vinyl. Only one copy exists, and Eddie is the lucky winner! (Nuke has made a cassette copy he'll play during Halloween) 

What are these hidden messages?

Satan is calling to you Eddie!

The problem is, the copy features some strange voices Eddie can't understand, so, using the most cliched story about LP's he reverse plays it, or plays it backwards, finding creepy messages Sammi Curr left to the lucky owner of this unique vinyl. The messages are essentially "nail them all" something Curr kept singing about while he was alive. Eddie, being his number one fan, knows this message means he has to face his bullies at any cost, so evidently things will go south pretty quickly. 

Wait a fucking minute?! Why is this movie called Trick or Treat?! Where's Halloween?! Now, now. Eddie's school is celebrating a Halloween party! and Sammi Curr was supposed to be the feature artist  but since, society considered him a fucking satanic perv his invitation was revoked. Still not Halloween enough? Well, let me continue then. The more Eddie plays Sammi Curr's LP, the more evil like he turns, so when things go out of hand, Sammi comes back to life through Eddie's stereo asking him if he's forgotten they made a pact to "nail them all". From then on, murders start happening and Sammi sort of, avenges himself and Eddie's by making every detractor they had, explode (no graphic violence is featured in the film whatsoever) 

I hope Eddie cums on my tits, I'm not ready for another load on my face.

Oh C'mon! I know you swallow!

In order to "nail them all" Eddie makes a cassette copy of the LP and gives it to one of his bullies as a "peace offering" Unfortunately, the cassette ends up in the wrong hands (The bully's girlfriend) And via headphones the spirit of Sammi Curr rapes and leaves the girl comatose. Tim Haney (the bully, played by Doug Savant) instantly runs into Eddie to ask him what the hell was in the cassette he gave him. But, Sammi's spirit protects Eddie's house so Tim leaves him unharmed. Nevertheless, Eddie has a good heart and decides to tell his death idol he doesn't want any part in his murdering revenge. Obviously, and predictably, you can't get rid of a death rock star like that, so despite plugging off every stereo Eddie can find, Sammi Curr still finds a way to travel through the real world to propagate his hatred message of death targeting Eddie's love interest Leslie Graham (Lisa Orgolini)

So once Halloween night happens, Sammi replaces the band playing for the school party and so begins the Halloween party massacre, where our death rock star "nails" the students with his electric guitar. But shit doesn't stop there, since this unreleased LP is also being played in the local radio station, allowing Sammi to cover the whole city, making no one safe because stereos where everywhere in the 80's! home stereo, walkman, car stereo, radio signal oh man!

This music makes want to diddle my skittle.

Rock music is the true gate to hell!

Watching Trick or Treat feels like watching portions of other films. There's the late night teen pool party, with booze and tits. There's the bullied outcast seeking revenge. There's the death spirit possessing electrical devices. There's the girl who has a thing for the bullied character. There's a teenage party that ends up in a fucking massacre plus a couple of world class cameos. However, this isn't a copy of something that has been done before. This is a horror film made for rock music fans, specially those who dig Vinyl, Rock music & cassette tapes. If you're that kind of a person, you will enjoy this flick. Also, if you're into watching 80's horror films, I so believe this is for you, and I'm sure you've watched it already. For general audiences and digitized music era fans, this may be hard to swallow (no pun intended). For gore & slasher fans, this film doesn't offer visual violence, although there are hints here and there, it could be a family friendly slasher. 

Now, some stuff you probably didn't know about the movie:

-Eddie's best friend Roger is played by Glen Morgan, his only acting stint. Morgan later went on to be a prolific writer/producer for The X-Files (1993), Final Destination (2000), and Final Destination 3 (2006), as well as direct the Black Christmas (2006) remake.  

 
-All songs in the movie are written by the band "Fastway" which consisted of former Motorhead Guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke, and current "Flogging Molly" vocalist Dave King. 

 
-Cult movie company Anchorbay were all set to release a special 20th Anniversary Edition DVD of 'Trick or Treat' in 2006, but cancelled it when they encountered problems with the film's music licensing.  
-This movie features and after credit scene! (I won't spoil it here)

 

I'll leave you kids alone.

My bush is yours Eddie.

Overall, Trick or Treat is not as scary as other Halloween themed films yet, it is fairly entertaining and mildly original. If you want to watch something different, look no more. If you want to watch some good scary flick, wait until our next review coming before October the 31st.

 

Here's the movie trailer:

 

 

Three The Hard Way

Action gets bigger by the trio.

The blaxploitation has a wide list of blockbusters which I've watched already but haven't got the time of reviewing most of them. Hell! I even own Pam Grier several reviews of hers! Today's entry, Three The Hard Way, a 1974 non stop action flicker directed by Gordon Parks Jr, written by Eric Bercovici & Jerry Ludwig, and starred by Jim Brown (as Jimmy Lait), Fred Williamson (as Jagger Daniels) and martial arts superstar Jim Kelly (as Mister Keyes) Although this film may not be everyone's cup of tea, one thing is guaranteed: you won't want to miss a single minute of the film. Three The Hard Way is pure action from start to finish, bloody shootings, ass kicking a la martial arts style, dangeroues Neo-Nazies and even more dangerous female threesomes (no pun intended)

When diabolical racist/fascist/evil white cracker Monroe Feather (Jay Robinson), with the help of fellow evil whitey, scientist Dr. Fortrero (Richard Angarola) invent a red serum that is harmless to whites and lethal to blacks and plan to dump it in the water supplies of Washington D.C., Detroit and L.A., they didn't count on one thing - the awesome power of Jimmy Lait (Brown), Jagger Daniels (Williamson) and Mister Keyes (Kelly)! Can this team of righteous soul brothers take down Feather's budding, red-beret wearing neo-Nazi organization, or will millions of African-Americans perish? They really, truly do not make them like this anymore. Films like this should be treasured. Just look at the tagline on the poster above. Can you imagine a movie coming out today that proudly, in big red letters, proclaims that they are going to save their race? 

We kick your ass in style.

Did someone say white cracker?

Three the Hard Way, besides being a clever title (three dudes, three cities that must be saved, and three dominatrixes, but more on that later), is a golden age of blaxploitation gem. It is filled to the brim with jive talk, fly threads and funky tunes. It also has plenty of action, and who better to dispense it than the three coolest men in cinema at the time - all in one place! Jim Brown as Lait is a successful record producer. He's so good at what he does, his collars are bigger than pizza slices, he drives a Rolls Royce with "LAIT" as the license plate, and tells the Impressions what to do in the studio. He even produces his own theme song, sung by the Impressions! The action kicks off when Feather's goons kidnap his old lady, Wendy (Frazier), and Lt. Di Nisco (Rocco) is more interested in Lait than in the bad guys. So Lait calls in his buddies Daniels and Keyes to dispense some justice with a blue van filled with automatic weapons. Mister Keyes even predates Mr. T as being a legal name, and they even have the same reasons ("so people will have to call me Mister" - although T might have the edge because his legal middle name is a dot).

Kelly gets to make more of his trademark, pre-Billy Blanks funny faces and noises, and there's even a scene which must have fulfilled the fantasies of the urban, inner-city audiences this played to at the time, where a bunch of cops harass him and try to arrest him and he beats them all up with style and aplomb and rides away. Fred Williamson is as cool and charming as ever as the cigar-chomping Daniels. A standout scene occurs when three women, Countess (Pamela Serpe), Princess (Marie O'Henry) and Empress (Tsu) ride in on red white and blue motorcycles, with outfits to match. It seems they are a team of dominatrixes and this is how our Three the Hard Way boys get the information they need. Perhaps this was such an appealing concept it inspired the movie Ebony, Ivory and Jade (1976).

The coolest female biker team.

Not afraid of using their weapons.

Three the Hard Way is a much better version of the team-up concept than the much later Williamson/Brown outing On the Edge (2002), and provides a lot of the obvious inspiration behind the parodies I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) and Black Dynamite (2008). Additionally, besides the impressive on-screen talent (we didn't even mention an appearance by TNT Jackson herself, Jeannie Bell), there are some big names behind the camera as well - director Gordon Parks Jr, cinematographer Lucien Ballard, and a stunt department that includes Hal Needham, Bob Minor and Buddy Joe Hooker, among others...you can really learn a lot if you read the credits! All of this came together in the end to produce an above-average blaxploitation film.

While it does start to drag a bit right before the climax, travel back in time to when cars were gigantic and boatlike, and when Williamson, Brown and Kelly were the undisputed kings of soulful action. 

Racist pigs.

The Impressions!

The film has its flaws though, and they're mostly edition issues. The following list explains the most notable goofs in Three The Hard Way:

-In the Chicago sequence, Jimmy and Jagger are chasing one of the white supremacists through town and they pass the same man twice.

-When Mister Keyes fights the corrupt police officers, his shoes go from brown boots to brown basketball shoes and back between shots.

-The blue van alternates from shot to shot between two very different models.

-When Jimmy is talking to Wendy from the phone booth he is clearly inside the booth while the gravel truck is charging the booth (0:54:04).Yet,seconds after the gravel truck hits the booth Jimmy isn't inside the booth and he is hanging from the back of the truck instead(0:54:09).

-In the lengthy shootout at the end of the movie, there is snow everywhere on the mountainous terrain, then no snow at all. Also, the action shifts back and forth from day to night and back again. 

 

Martial arts never looked cooler.

Watcha lookin' at?

 

Overall, Three The Hard Way is an action roller coaster from start to finish, and that makes a likable film for all audiences (who doesn't like guns, fights and boobs?) If you're a fan of the blaxploitation genre you've probably watched the movie already, but if you're not a fan of blaxploitation this movie can be an excellent starter.

Here's the movie trailer:

 

Lo Squartatore Di New York: The New York Ripper

Get ready for a violent trip.

When it comes to finding a good horror film to enjoy late at night (not necessarily a la Netflix and chill) Italians did it first! The Giallo genre has spawned not only some of the best horror films of all times but also, some of the greatest film makers of our time. Lo Squartatore di New York aka New York Ripper (1982) outraged many horror film goers with its brutal uncompromising depiction of violence towards women (not that this was the only film to ever do that, let's remember I Spit On Your Grave). One of the most controversial giallos to come out of Italy. Lucio Fulci has filmed vicious scenes of violence before but New York Ripper takes the cake in violent imagery.  What makes the violent scenes for some tough to digest are the intense physical emotions of the murderer when killing his victims.

Gives new meaning to the term hardcore horror. Some of the most brutal depiction of hardcore horror I have witnessed in a horror film. Many of the film's contents have many similarities with Maniac(1980) which gained controversy for identical reasons. Daring approach by Fulci in making the hardcore horror moments both powerful and ugly. The director had guts in doing a giallo with an extremely unpleasant subject matter. Misunderstood Lucio Fulci film that is one of his finest horror films.

New York is not safe anymore.

See?

An aspect that either humored, shocked, or upset many people was the mock duck voice used by the murderer. I find that the duck voice of the killer adds to his menacing and sick presence. The duck voice of the murderer was a reference by the director to his earlier 1970s giallo, Don't Torture a Duckling(1972). A reference that is lost among some horror film enthusiasts. Capped what would be Lucio Fulci's second and final prosperous artistic period of his film career. The director's sole horror film with erotic overtones that adds to the controversial style of this pic.

Grim and relentless portrayal of human nature and its darkest aspects. The bleak nature of New York Ripper(1982) makes Lucio Fulci's gothic films look happy go lucky. Explodes with lots of anger and resentment that gives it a depressing feel. Dipped deep in nihilistic waters with the depressing portrayal of human behavior. The subplot involving the disabled little girl is uncomfortably sad.

New York Ripper(1982) is filled with some of the director's usual quirks and visual trademarks. Fulci's direction pushes the limit in scenes of sadistic violence. Sometimes part of the story seems to come from the gut of the controversial filmmaker. Direction does have some negative aspects but the negatives are few and far between. The direction of Lucio Fulci for New York Ripper(1982) is not as flashy or flamboyant as Dario Argento's direction of Tenebre(1982)(except in a few moments). He does get the job done with competence and craftsman experience.

a hand when you need it.

Silence! we're rolling.

Comparisons can be made between Lucio Fulci's New York Ripper(1982) and Dario Argento's Tenebre(1982). Both films deal with similar motifs and themes on violence towards women. Also, each film are gory uncompromising giallos with striking images. New York Ripper and Tenebre each have a show stopping moment of gory murder. These two films use bold film making techniques. Each changed some of the rules of the giallo genre.

There are many scenes that were controversial but the one that placed New York Ripper in film infamy was the infamous death scene of Daniela Doria. Two years for Daniela Doria after being part of another controversial scene in The Gates of Hell(1980). For a gruesome moment of vile violence it certainly has a excellent build up and pay off. As in Zombie Flesh Eaters(1979) the eye motif becomes a major part of this scene. Daniela Doria has to get kudos for acting in a difficult scene as this one. The merger of the erotic and the violent is what makes this particular scene hard to watch.

Got something in my eye.

a new level of penetration.

There is a small film noir quality within the frame of the story. This is because of the assortment of unsympathetic characters that surround it. The only person that comes close to having any moments of sympathy is Jane. Lt. Williams is an unlikable protagonist who comes out as arrogant and self centered. The character of Lt. Williams seems to be inspired by the close minded Police Detective of Let Sleeping Corpse Lie(1974). Dr. Davis comes out in the film as a narcissist who's too please with his intellect.

What turned off even some of the Lucio Fulci admirers was the realistic look of New York Ripper's violent scenes. Unlike in his gothic films from the same period there is no fantasy subtext to make the violence bearable. Its realistic elements help make New York Ripper(1982) into a courageous effort of fercious horror. The violence depicted towards women is what it is and that's disgusting but at the same time has a certain realism that doesn't make it totally misogynistic. New York Ripper moves away from the comic book feel of Fulci's gothic pictures and into the realism of his early 1970s giallo pictures. Its realistic depiction of violence is the film's biggest strength.

She's dead Jim.

Bloody murder.

Abel Ferrara made a little ribbing to the title of this film when the killer of Fear City(1985) is once referred to as New York Knifer. Two of the film's writers had worked with Fulci before on Don't Torture a Duckling. Unusually tightly plotted thriller which never clicks in a good flow in some moments. Excellent camera work created by Deep Red(1975) DoP, Luigi Kuveiller. Its not a perfect motion picture but for a bold horror film it certainly delivers the goods. 

Here's the movie trailer:

 

Kurt Cobain: Montage Of Heck

Cashing in from Kurt Cobain, typical!

Produced by Kurt Cobain's daughter Frances Bean Cobain herself, Kurt Cobain Montage Of Heck, contrary to what many critics, journalists and fans think, is a poorly executed attempt at making a documentary based upon somebody's life. That somebody is Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, maybe one of the most famous alternative rock bands to ever come out from Seattle in the early 90's.

The title "Montage of Heck", was taken from one of Kurt's old sound collages, that after he took is life, became widely available in the late 90's in the bootleggers market. The film makes use of several clips from Kurt's home videos, drawings, notebooks, poetry, love letters and more, hence the proper title. The editing in these montages is gorgeous and alluring, and there are some animation segments that are absolutely beautiful. Nonetheless, these sections of the film often dragged on too long and felt like they were unnecessarily repetitive, distracting from the narrative instead of serving it and over-selling us on parts of Kurt's mind and inner turmoil which were already very clear.

The masterminds behind this garbage.

Your music legacy will live on.

Speaking of narrative, the one story this film tells is a story we already know and understand too well. The film has a single theme only, which is to use personal media graciously offered from the Cobain family to tell the story of a talented, hyper-sensitive tortured soul and drug addict who killed himself, and the cloud of chaos that lead up to that point. There is little to no insight on his art, only the struggles that propelled him to make his art, which are much less interesting because as an audience we are well aware of what negative habits can do to the psyche or physical health, but the real intrigue is what a person creates or does despite those issues. Perhaps that's my opinion, though.

The irony here is saddening. This film, somehow managed to spend over 2 hours on highlighting the product of a failed marriage and broken upbringing, drug abuse, Courtney, ridicule and the pressures of press, all of which are the exact same things that ultimately lead to the recluse Kurt became and fed into his tragic suicide. This film somehow managed to become the enemy and mirrored everything Kurt tried to run away from.

The animated parts are the best out of the whole piece.

Every teenage kid was once Kurt Cobain.

Long time Nirvana fans will find nothing new through watching this documentary. There are no rare performances, no home videos of musical interest and even some of the demos we get to listen, are all known too well or either different versions of the same song (Sappy appears several times as background music but in different editions) Nevertheless, it's true Brett Morgen said the documentary would be about Cobain's life and not Nirvana's but let's face it, he was Nirvana and we don't get any interesting shots at what was like to be fronting the most hyped 90's band besides all the stuff we already know. Now, when it comes to the "intimate portrait" of his life well, uhmm, do we really need to see home videos of Cobain after shower routine? do rock stars have rare rituals when brushing their teeth or drying their hair? No, I don't think so. And what about Courtney Love showing her breasts three times? Oh, yeah that must really be a thing only rock stars do.

And what about other Nirvana members? Well, there's Chris Novoselic, and his presence runs about five minutes. His words are memorable and idiotic as fuck. Let's paraphrase what he said "All these signs and messages about his suicidal tendencies were always there, in the songs' lyrics, in the album art and yet we didn't notice" I mean, for real, where you or where you not a close friend to him? did you really care about his mental state? The problem behind Kurt Cobain's tragic ending had clearly more to do with his upbringings than any other thing. In psychology terms (I'm a teacher with studies in psychology among other things) if a person suffers from an early age trauma, like he did when his parents divorced, this trauma will cause severe damage if not treated properly at the right time. What happened to Cobain wasn't that he hated fame, or didn't stand being called the voice of a generation. What happened to him happens everyday to hundreds if not thousands of people who suffer traumatic experiences in their childhood or in their adolescence. Cobain had everything his family didn't have: money, fame, an apparently happy marriage and even a baby girl, so what went wrong? He simply couldn't withstand the ghosts of his past, the feeling of lovelessness he got from his parents and family. He became a junkie because people around him didn't care (like in most cases of drug addiction) and finally he became suicidal once he realized the awful truth: he had no family, no friends. All he had was a bunch of people trying to cash in off of him, and this bad documentary proves it once more. Nevertheless, people around him are not necessarily the ones to blame. It's been proofed by psychological and psychiatric studies that a person who grows up in an environment of lack of affection and ultimately indifference, develop serious difficulties when establishing social relationship with other people (Cobain hated everyone according to him) and let's not talk about self destructiveness and drug abuse.

We're all free while we're kids.

Adolescence: end of innocence.

And where's Chad Channing? Where's Dave Grohl? Where's Pat Smear? Why no Cobain's friends like Mark Lanegan, Buzz Osborne & Kim Gordon? and what about Charles R. Cross or Michael Azerrad? 

Why does this documentary feels like another money grab behind Cobain's life?

Biased for Suicide.

In interviews, Brett Morgen (the director) promotes that it doesn't have anything to do with the death angle, but the movie very clearly emphasizes several writings (with jarring music, no less!) and parts to suggest otherwise. There are more than a few written mentions that could be taken out of context, for example, one writing that was zoomed in on, said "KILL YOURSELF KILL YOURSELF" at least four lines repeated, all caps-- but then right below that, "RAPE IS GOOD RAPE IS GOOD" which is obviously something Kurt didn't believe. So I am very much inclined to say that emphasis, on the "KILL YOURSELF KILL YOURSELF" portion, is beyond out of context, to the extent of being misleading. They half-cut-off the "RAPE IS GOOD" part but you can still see it.

Furthermore, they took a few things out of context in terms of timing. While there are general themes of youth to adolescence to growing up to being a father, there are anachronisms throughout, mostly stemming from the aforementioned death theme. Referenced far later in the film, "I hate myself and want to die. Leave me alone" as signed by Kurdt, a name he went by early-mid in his career (as noted in the Bleach release). Let alone that this might have been satirical; even if it was literal, this was far earlier than when he died. With the misplacement at the end of the film, this forges (in every sense) the connection that Kurt felt that way then, when in fact not only do we not know if he did, but when. The film then assumes a sense of forced examples, for the writing to be accompanied by visuals via home video or slowed-down concert footage, as if to prove something. But it's completely out of context and it's bothersome. 

Two junkies with luck, or not?

They music can save us, then why didn't it save himself?

Now, to be fair, the documentary may be of interest to those who are relatively new to Kurt Cobain & Nirvana or to those who have brief knowledge on the subject. However, the whole "myth" and God-like portrayal of Cobain is absolutely biased and definitely wrong. Cobain was a human being, he didn't have the help he needed to stop living in his saddened past, and that's happened, is happening and will happen to many as long as people do not understand love is a very delicate layer that needs to be watered no matter how hard your life is. What made Cobain special, was his music which was definitely his ultimate art form despite many paintings, collages and dolls he's a part of our world of legends because of that and yet the director focuses on spending more on screen time with a father he never liked, a mother who abandoned him, a stepmother who didn't do much, and a wife and a band member who didn't care and didn't take action to aid him to stop living in the past and start enjoying his present and bright future.

All that being said, I guess in the spirit of Rock and Roll, there is no real justice. Kurt won't get the movie he deserves, even after his death we seem to continue to focus on the obvious redundant clichés of the dark sides of his life. Although those things are real and an important part of his story, they are indeed only one part. That isn't definitive at all. As Kurt always said, "Just listen to the music, everything I have to say is there". He wasn't lying and that will always be his ultimate legacy because his music was his and his alone and it will remain untouched forever, so the "corporate whores" will never change that no matter how hard they try, or how hard they cry in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Here's the documentary trailer:

Here's the complete and unreleased "Montage Of Heck" sound collage from which the documentary takes its name: