Track of The Week - Wild Belle - It's Too Late

       To celebrate the nice weather today, here is a lovely track called It’s Too Late by Wild Belle. Have a listen below:

      Made up of siblings Elliot and Natalie Bergman, Wild Belle hail from Chicago. This song is taken from their debut album ‘Isles’ - an interesting mix of reggae, ska, indie-pop and electronica.

      Check out another track, Keep You, which sounds like a mash-up between The Specials and Beth Gibbons.

      I deliberated for a bit about which to put as the track of the week out of these two, but eventually went for It’s Too Late as I actually heard that one first via a tasty remix by Anoraak. The catchy and unusual vocal stylings led to me look up more of their stuff.

      You can check out the band and see what they are up to by visiting their official page HERE or on Facebook HERE

31st Mar 2014

Read More

Film Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

     Marvel’s ‘Phase 2’ series of superhero films have a lot to live up to.

     These are no longer simply just origin stories anymore. The characters have been established, the stakes always need to be raised higher; and at the same time delicately interweaving the existing Marvel film mythos in such a way that these films can both be enjoyed as standalone stories as well as part of the greater canon. More specifically, this is all leading up to the massive 2015 event that is The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

     Eschewing the pulpy serial feel and plucky bombast of the period-set first outing for Captain America, The Winter Soldier is an entirely different animal: a superhero movie crossed with a spy thriller – something that we haven’t really seen before. Although a few story twist and revelations can be smelt a mile off, there is a pervading sense of mystery, subterfuge and paranoia throughout – and even one or two genuine surprises along the way.

     Cap himself appears much slicker and cooler this time around. It’s a real joy to see him in action - the opening sequence taking place on a hijacked ship being a terrific introduction to what the super soldier is now capable of. He’s still a boy scout and straight as an arrow, but with some much needed humour injected by way of the humorous back and forth exchanges with his allies (unlike the recent Thor: The Dark World’s somewhat shoehorned gags), this feels more like Whedon’s dialogue from The Avengers - certainly not a bad thing.

     Whilst Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Hawkeye are understandably absent, it's nice to see Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury receive significantly beefed up roles – more screen time here than in any of the previous films they have appeared in. Many other familiar faces turn up in small parts or cameos and future characters are also teased – making this a real treat for fans – although having a mid-credit AND a post-credit sting seems almost obligatory these days.

     Also of note are new ally Falcon and the main antagonist: the Winter Soldier himself. The former is re-imagined via the Hawkeye school of design (precariously balanced between high-tech cool and being ever so slightly goofy looking); the latter a terrifyingly efficient killer that adds real tension and a sense of ominous threat in his earlier appearances. Whilst his true identity is hardly a surprise to anyone, the build up and reveal of the character is excellently handled.

     Despite the abundance of Hollywood style shaky close-ups and fast editing, the action remains impressive, with inventive fight choreography (Cap gets to use his shield a bit more this time and in a variety of ways), tense set pieces (a fight in a crowded lift) and some great stunt work (Fury’s car chase). It’s often visceral and brutal, guaranteed to make you wince once or twice.

     Captain America has always been the most straightforward character out of The Avengers ensemble and is often overshadowed by his more colourful compatriots, but The Winter Soldier allows him to shine. There are a few issues here and there (character motivations and allegiances being slave to the twisting plot developments, one or two overly convenient escapes and the villain’s rather predictable character arc), but these can easily be overlooked in what is a slick action thriller. One that just so happens to feature a couple of superheroes.

27th March 2014 


You can also see this review at PillowMagazine.com

Read More

Recent Updates - combined!

Hi readers,

Just a quick update on recent developments.

I’ve been publishing a lot of articles elsewhere on’t web for the last few months, so thought I would link up some of them here. Whilst I eventually aim to have an index page up on this blog for easy reference to all the articles, for now here’s just a convenient summary.

PillowMagazine.com – I’ve been writing film reviews for Pillow since June of last year. Mostly these have been mainstream theatrical releases, but I’ve also occasionally covered DVD releases, retrospectives, bits of film related news, reports from film screenings and the odd book review.

The index (pending) will eventually list all my articles but for now you can access them all HERE.

Know What To Watch – I’ve written a few articles there since last November – some DVD reviews and a few ‘list’ type articles.

Unfortunately the site is on hiatus at the moment so is unlikely to feature any new articles from me for a while. Click HERE to see all my articles.

Battle Royale With Cheese – Another dedicated movie-centric site that I write for. 

I’ve chosen to start a series here called ‘The Vault’ (tagline: ‘Unearthing forgotten films… So you don't have to) which takes a look back at older films – often cult/genre pictures. I’ve only just got given an account there so you can’t search my articles by author just yet, but here are links to the first three entries to ‘The Vault’.

The Cell (2000)

Shadow of the Vampire(2000)

The Twilight Zone Movie(1983)

More to follow in the series.

FunkstylersTV – A HipHop Dance website, FunkstylersTV films, hosts and streams videos from many dance events as well as offering news and interviews from the scene.

I’ve been writing articles here since last July and have my own column – covering random dance topics such as: The Maturing BBoy, The Impact of Footageand Have Large Comps Ruined BBoying?

You can check out all of the articles HERE.

Other stuff - I’ve also joined a local writing group or two recently so you may be lucky enough to catch some more fiction up here at some point, so watch this space!

I’ll also try to keep the updates coming on this blog too every once in a while. As well as the usual film related stuff (such as my recent Top Films of 2013 article), there will be more updates on my Journey into Lego series, Track of the Week, as well as various other random bits and pieces.

The Padcast (as seen in the Double Dose entries) is currently getting a format rehaul - so expect that to be back (soonish) but in a slightly different guise.

I also plan to do more Lego based photography (as the above picture) – will probably post up a bunch of these together here at some point but for now, follow me on Instagram: Sebski_kinsta.

And just to complete this bout of shameless self-promotion, follow me on Twitter (@Sebski_Kinsta) to receive updates on what I’m up to and what I’ve published recently (no mundane tweets about what I had for breakfast etc… I promise!)

That should pretty much bring us up to speed. Apologies once again for the lack of updates here but at least now you know why!

Anyway, thanks everyone who has supported me thus far and I hope to have more for you up soon!

2nd Mar 2014

Read More

My Top 5 Games of 2013

      Let’s do this before we get too far into January!

      I was toying with doing a Top 10 but am kind of pressed for time so… here’s my Top 5 favourite games of the year!

      These aren’t necessarily games that were released in 2013 – just ones I played during that year and completed.

      Oh and before you ask “where’s (insert game here)…”, I didn’t get to play GTAV, The Last of Us, Assassin’s Creed IV or finish Telltale’s The Walking Dead… or anything else you think I may have missed, so that’s why they aren’t included. I’ll do some special mentions afterwards too to see what else could have been in if there was a Top 10.

      If you are interested in 2012 and 2011’s best games lists, just click HERE or HERE.

      Anyway, here are my Top 5 games that I played this year.

5. Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics)

      Yes, this franchise reboot played very similarly to the Unchartedseries - which is probably a big reason why I liked it – but with a more open space to explore, it was different enough to stand on its own. Whilst neither the story, characters or platforming and gun mechanics can quite match up to Nathan Drake’s adventures, there was some terrific verticality involved (with beautiful views across the island) that made much of the exploration a joy.

      I’m not so much a fan of the old Tomb Raider games – they often featured stiff movement and clunky combat and were often bogged down in elaborate puzzles that just killed the pacing. There are tombs to raid in this one, but mercifully their puzzles are often simple, realistic and entirely optional.

      Not amazing but enough to keep me playing to collect 100% of everything and a promising new direction for a previously withering franchise.

4. Lego Marvel Superheroes (TT Games)

      With over 150 playable characters and a fully open sandbox Manhattan to run around in - you spend just as much time running around and mucking about with different characters as you do playing through the story levels. Flying through the city as Iron Man or freefalling down from the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier as the Hulk is surprisingly exciting – despite the relatively simplistic gameplay on offer.

      The story missions themselves are diverse in their locations (the X-Mansion, Deep Sea, Outer Space) and the different characters that you are assigned to use for each one makes every level feel fresh. However the core gameplay doesn't vary that much throughout and remains, as with all the Lego games, fairly shallow (smash everything, hold a button down to build something, use a certain character’s special ability to progress to the next bit, rinse, repeat…).

      If you are a fan of a deeper gameplay experience this probably wont hold that much long-term interest for you, but the sheer level of fan service and references to Marvel properties here is astounding.

      Whilst there are a distinctly fewer levels than other LEGO games out there, the massive hub city (with plenty of collectibles and side missions) more than makes up for it and will keep completionists going for a long while.

3. Dragon’s Crown(Vanillaware)

      So there was a big furore over the art style and character designs when first announced but it didn't bother me at all… A classic fantasy scrolling hack-n-slash from Vanillaware? Sold!

      That being said, the game indeed has a beautiful hand-painted look to the sprites and the backgrounds, the fighting is solid, the six characters all play differently and there are absolutely tons of bosses to fight. The multiple difficulties, side missions, branching levels and co-op play (online and couch)  - all revealed gradually as the game progresses – adds plenty of longevity.

      There are a few gripes to do with the amount of repetition and grinding you will probably have to endure (expect to play each level over A LOT) and there are occasional instances of slowdown when things get a little hectic, but all in all it’s a beautifully presented loot based scrolling beat-em-up RPG.

      I’ll most likely keep sinking more hours into this to further level up despite having finished it with four of the six characters.

2. Rogue Legacy (Cellar Door Games)

      As a fan of the Castlevania games this one was right up my street. It plays very similar in that you explore a huge castle, fight bosses, use magic and sub weapons, and so on.

      The are two main differences here though. Firstly, it has a random ‘rogue lite’ aspect to it – every time you enter the castle, everything is slightly randomised: the rooms, the enemies, the loot. There are a limited amount of presets (which is actually good as it breeds familiarity with what to expect whilst still retaining that randomised feeling) and each different zone of the castle is always roughly in the same direction each time (up, down or right) so it’s not a total stab in the dark each time.

      Gold is the name of the game – it’s used for levelling up and buying upgrades - so after each run you spend it all (you need to relinquish all gold before entering again) which lends the sense of continuous progression – a very addictive trait. Oh, and then there’s the ancestor thing with unique helpful/unhelpful traits (colourblindness? dwarfism? IBS?) that each new generation is randomly assigned which can affect gameplay but is also hilarious in its own right.

      It’s easy to pick up and play, the randomised element keeps things interesting and the progression is highly addictive. There were times I literally couldn't stop playing.

      Just. One. More. Go.

1.Dishonored (Arkane Studios)

      Alright, so it was released in 2012 but who cares - this game was just so impressive to me.
      I was slightly dubious at first that it would live up to the hype (any first person game that is not a shooter is difficult to pull off for a start) but this game just works so well in almost every aspect.

      The story is top notch – a kind of Victorian steam punk alternative universe where you play a wrongfully disgraced assassin attempting to clear his name. The graphics are wonderful – the environments, levels and characters: grim but stylised art similar to Bioshock.

      But the best bit about all of it is how it plays: namely the level of choice it affords the player. If you want to go in all guns blazing you can do that - the game offers guns, crossbows and swords. If you want to go full stealth you can do that also – hide in shadows, put people to sleep, poison them… And that’s even without mentioning the supernatural powers you can acquire: ‘blinking’ (a short range teleportation move), temporarily shifting your consciousness into various animals, knocking people back using windblast and so on.

      Some games that profess to have this level of choice often fall short. Either the 'choices' thy offer are largely meaningless and game progression is the same regardless of what you do (eg: Bioshock - shoot everything, go to the next area), or too free so that everything seems half baked and wobbly (Skyrim - come on let’s be real guys the melee is horrible in that game).

      It's all about balance and Dishonored does that fantastically. The areas are open enough to explore and find alternative paths (multiple entry points into the same building for example), without being too open (so environments can still be incredibly detailed and you always know what you are supposed to be doing or where to go). You have a primary mission to advance the story, but also many side mission to complete should you wish to.

      These can also genuinely affect story points or missions later on in the game (eg: the interactions with Slackjaw and Granny Rags) and are not just token optionals like in other games. The whole place feels alive. There's a real sense of place. Houses are built like houses and not like levels. Scaling the architecture is sublime.

      The PC-like ‘save anywhere’ feature is also a godsend. Despite sounding like it makes the game too easy (it really doesn’t), it allows you to play the game in the way you want without the frustration of having to restart huge sections and allows for experimentation. In fact, it encourages you to play the game differently - for example finish the whole game without being spotted once, without using any supernatural powers or without ever killing anyone – all perfectly achievable and with just the right level of challenge using this saving method.

      That's right – for every assassination mission in the game (there are a handful) not only is there multiple ways of dispatching your target you can even choose a non-lethal way to put them out of commission. You can really play this game how you want to without ever losing direction or focus of the great overall story.

      It's highly liberating - and that's why Dishonored is my game of the year.

If you want to read an earlier article I wrote about Dishonored and the element of choice, click HERE.

      Special mentions (if I was to do a Top 10) would also go to Bioshock Infinite, Catherine, DmC: Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time.

      Oh, and I recently finished Fezand started Bastion – both good games – but too late to include in this article.

6th Jan 2014

Read More