My Own Little World

For the first 25 minutes of The Ridiculous 6 , I am proud to say I didn't hate it. It had jokes that missed the mark and a few subpar characters, but the setup seemed promising enough. Then a donkey literally took a crap on the entire movie, and I knew it was only going to get worse.  It's become common knowledge to those who know me that there are two immense passions in film for me: my love for the Star Wars saga and my extreme dislike of Adam Sandler. The former reached its highest point last Thursday with the release of The Force Awakens , my current favorite film of the entire year.  The latter, meanwhile, is further cemented with The Ridiculous 6 .  I didn't rule out this film, though. I gave it an honest chance, mostly because it was a Netflix original. I thought that this might be a turning point in the recent downward trend that Adam Sandler has been on over the past few years, with the only film I've liked with him being Men, Women and Childr...

If you want the too long, didn't read version of this review, here it is: I just saw The Force Awakens again on Friday after seeing it Thursday night.  Like, this movie is seriously that good. And just to be clear, I was going to have no problems saying The Force Awakens was just good, decent, or even terrible if I thought so. But this movie is seriously incredible. I've never wanted to see a film more in my entire life. I've never pre-ordered tickets for any film except this one. I've never had higher expectations walking into a theater and had them fulfilled like this. This review is going to be very different from my normal style. Usually, I break up the components of a film and talk about them individually. While I’m still going to do that to a certain extent, I’m more so going to talk about this separately as a fan and a critic because it will allow me to collect my thoughts more easily.  As a Star Wars fan, watching this film excited m...

I'm just going to come right out and say it: Creed  is one of my favorite movies to come out this year. It's not because the Rocky franchise is one of my favorites in cinema history, as I feel that a couple movies really tainted the entire series. It's not because I like any of the specific actors or crew members involved, as I'm not very familiar with any of them. No, it's because this is a movie that I would gladly spend my money on time and time again. I left the theater pumped up and wanting another installment in a way that almost no other movie has done. Looking back at my viewing of Creed , the reasons why surprise me. Usually when I like a film this much, there has to be some kind of great story to get me hooked. With Creed , however, this isn't the case. Not to say that the story is bad, but it definitely is not the film's best quality. It loosely follows the storyline of the original Rocky  at times and deviates from it to become a more sta...

I'm back once again with another Christmas album for you all. This week is something a lot more contemporary than Bing Crosby's White Christmas  and is a good choice for you indie music lovers: The Modern Post's Lowborn King . I first heard of The Modern Post after getting familiar with Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue's solo projects. I discovered this side project of his through some fellow Christian indie music fans, and gave their EP Grace Alone  a spin about a year ago. I was completely wowed with both the sound and the lyrics, as it gave the EP a very aggressive reverence.  So when it came to looking for Christmas music this year, Lowborn King  was near the top of my list of what I wanted to explore. It's quite safe to say that The Modern Post doesn't disappoint here either, evolving their sound ever so slightly while still bringing that same aggressive reverence that I loved on Grace Alone .  Lowborn King  is another  EP, which I hav...

I deeply dreaded this moment. Every single streaming service so far had failed me. Spotify was too focused on playlists, Google's option just didn't quite work, and Tidal was too unstable as a business. I was going to try Rdio next, but they just got bought by Pandora and are going to be shut down, so they were out. And Deezer isn't available in the United States yet, so that was also out. That left pretty much one option. The one that I swore I would never try. The one from one of my least favorite companies in the world. If you guessed Apple Music , you're right. And if you missed that in the title of this post...well, I don't know what to tell you. I really have never been a fan of Apple as a company, ditching every part of their company except for their music store over a year ago. I didn't like using iTunes with such a large music library, and as for iOS...well, that's a completely different (and much longer) explanation. Yet, when moving over...

I'm in the middle of what's probably my third listen of A Head Full of Dreams , and I cannot decide for the life of me whether I like this record or not. On one hand, this is the upbeat Coldplay that I know and (usually) love back once again with a vengeance to inspire the world to seize the day and make the most of their lives. On the other hand, this is overall the least Coldplay has ever sounded like themselves because of the increasing amount of electronic textures present. Granted, A Head Full of Dreams  pushes Chris Martin and Co. into new directions musically. When I head "Viva la Vida" back in 2008, I never would have thought that we would be hearing Coldplay going full-on disco pop ("Adventure of a Lifetime") or R&B ("Hymn for the Weekend," which also features Beyonce). These areas of experimentation are intriguing and typically work because they're so unexpected. From a band who over the years has been known to more or less st...

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and that means it's time for Christmas music. Over the weeks leading up to Christmas, I'll be doing a series of reviews on as many of the Christmas albums I have as I can. This week, we'll kick things off with an eternal classic: Bing Crosby's White Christmas . I'll bet that when most of you think of Christmas music, one of the first songs to come to mind after the classic Christ-centered carols is "White Christmas." I'll also bet that the version your mind jumps to is that by Bing Crosby. What most casual listeners don't realize, however, is that Crosby was much more than a one- or two-trick pony. His rich, soothing voice continues to this day to be a great match for these classic Christmas tracks we see on White Christmas . Take the opening track of "Silent Night." Nearly every single full-length Christmas album has some sort of rendition of it, and for good reason. However, Crosby's smooth b...

I'm back at trying out music streaming services after auditioning both Spotify and Google Play Music. I didn't care for Spotify at all , and Google Play Music, while better,  still had its own issues . I moved onto what seemed like the next best option: Jay-Z's service, Tidal. Tidal relaunched itself this past March with Jay-Z and a slew of other artists (including some personal favorites like Coldplay and Arcade Fire, as well as Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Daft Punk, and others) touting themselves as co-owners. They all signed a declaration at the launch event that basically said Tidal would revolutionize music streaming as we know it. Here's the problem: it didn't. Tidal didn't catch on with the general public and is generally regarded as a business failure. They're on their third CEO since their relaunch and have failed to attract any kind of significant subscriber base. This really sucks, especially considering that I love the way Tidal works. I love t...

I'm back, after trying out another music streaming service. In my search, I'm continuing to find different ways that different services work with my ways of listening to music. This time, I'm going to the one made by my favorite software company: Google Play Music. If you're thinking that I have some kind of bias towards Google and their products and would choose Google Play Music just because of that, I wouldn't blame you one bit. I'm publically in support of Google and unashamedly tout Android as the best mobile operating system. So, when coming over to Google Play Music for a month-long free trial, I expected a lot. Instead, I got a little less than I wanted. Now, Google Play Music works much better for me than Spotify did, mostly because of the way it handles playback. It's very easy for me to use with my preference of listening to albums. I can search for an artist or album on either the mobile app or the web player, select an album, and place i...

I feel like it's safe to say that I'm a bigger Bond fan than most of the people I know. Unlike many that I know who proclaim to like the James Bond franchise, I have seen the classic films with Connery, Dalton, and Moore. Now, I love Daniel Craig's portrayal of 007 more than any of theirs because it eschews the suave and smooth for realistic and cunning. He feels more human and less ideal than all of theirs, and his films reflect that. I have no problem with people loving Casino Royale  and Skyfall  (let's face it: Quantum of Solace  was just not good) and that being it. They're great films that deserve the admiration they get from my generation. However, I've got this sinking feeling that Spectre  won't be quite as well-liked by those who have only seen Craig's films. Why? Because Spectre  is classic Bond.  Some call it formulaic; I call it a return to what's been missing. Yes, we still get Craig's gritty world in Spectre ; but we also...

I've decided recently that I want to get a music streaming subscription. I know that I've been opposed to them in the past because they don't pay the artists well, among other reasons; however, I've seen that it might be a more cost-effective approach than buying my own music. Over the course of the next few weeks (or possibly months), I'll be posting some reviews of the different major streaming services. First up: the giant, ubiquitous Spotify.  When Spotify came to the US, nearly every single person I know signed up for it because it was something radical for the time: a legal way to listen to unlimited amounts of music for free  (if you were OK with advertising, that is). It also allowed you to share music with your friends on social media, because, well...why shouldn't social media be involved in everything? I remember thinking that Spotify was the greatest thing since sliced bread when I first got it. That being said, the way I listen to music h...

I wanted to see The Walk  ever since it was announced. I love the story of Philippe Petit's high wire crossing of the span between the Twin Towers, and I love Robert Zemeckis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's respective talents. Yet, I never expected the film that I got. I expected a somewhat standard biopic with a slightly more serious tone. Instead, I got what felt like a fast-paced heist film. That is why The Walk  is one of the best films I've seen so far this year: it can deftly balance between the more expository narrative of Petit's life and the intense high wire sequences that drive the film's heart. Zemeckis as a filmmaker excels at this. He has proven in two of his previous films, Forrest Gump  and Flight , that he can bounce back and forth between two distinct tones and make an amazing film out of them. In Forrest Gump , it was between romance, drama, and war; in Flight , between dark comedy, thriller, and courtroom drama. In The Walk , we get some ver...

I know I’ve missed the past few weeks of College Life, but I’m pretty sure the reason will come out in the words that follow. I’m changing the style to more of a recap of the week instead of a list of tips, as I feel that stories are a better way to do things. This week was Broadway Revue. For those of you who don’t know, it is a show put on by the theater club, Green Room, here at Olivet. We did several numbers from a variety of shows, including “No One Is Alone” from Into the Woods, “In My Life” from Les Miserables, “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof, and “Pandemonium” from The 21st Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This was a blast to put on for our audience, and we all had a great time rehearsing the show for this past week. That being said, as you probably could have guessed, it sucked out a lot of my time. Every week before we got into the auditorium, I spent six hours a week in rehearsals. During tech week, it was that much a night. Yeah, it was a lot of time. I h...

I feel like I need to clear the air with my opinion on comedy. Many of you probably think that I find comedy insulting to my intelligence and that slapstick can never be good. So, I'm going to take a look at one of my favorite comedies to prove you all wrong. Bruce Almighty  is not my favorite comedy or my favorite slapstick. It's not even my favorite Jim Carrey movie (that would be The Truman Show ). However, I feel that it demonstrates what a good slapstick comedy can be more so than almost any other film I've seen. Many of you are probably familiar with Bruce Almighty 's premise: down-on-his-luck reporter Bruce Nolan is given God's powers for a week of his life. Most comedies would use this in an extremely trivial way, making Bruce use God's powers for his own advantage and using physical comedy as the primary tool for getting laughs. And at first, that is exactly what happens: we get to see what Bruce would do with God's powers if...

The City Harmonic has become known as one of the few links between the truly alternative and the truly mainstream strands of worship music, sounding familiar enough to capture the hearts of both while also bringing a unique piano-based touch to their music. When they announced a new project for this fall, I was so excited to listen to it. This is one of my favorite bands in all of Christian music because they are so easy to listen to and become swept up into the music, even if it isn't the most inventive thing in the world. However, I've got some bad news: The City Harmonic's new album We Are  is a definite regress for the band. With We Are , the band tries to turn every song into a big anthem, and it just doesn't work. It feels like they tried to give every single track power and instead took the whole album's power away. Granted, the opening track "We Are One" works as a big, bombastic anthem, but that's because it opens the album. The anthem...

Well, one more week has passed on the Olivet campus here in Bourbonnais, Illinois, and I have a few more observations about college life. This week, I'm going to give some tips about staying in touch with home while also being heavily involved in campus life: Whatever you do, stay in touch with your family.  No, you don't have to call them everyday, even if they'd like you to. However, even if you only call once a week, they'll appreciate it a ton. Besides, it can be nice to see how things are going at home. Make sure you set aside time to call home, and respond to any texts you get. Don't shun your family. And especially... Don't let the first thing that tells them how you're doing be your blog.  Oops. Didn't do a great job here. Sorry Mom.  Keep in touch with at least a few good friends from high school.  I haven't done a great job of this yet, mostly because there's an asterisk to this one: don't get stuck with doing so. If you spen...

Very few bands have struck me the way Ghost Ship did with their debut The Good King . The production was minimalist to a fault, their Americana stylings meshed in a weird but good way with their indie rock base, and the lyrics struck me as oddly theologically rooted. I liked, but couldn't love. Now, two years after their debut, Ghost Ship is back to prove that their debut's success wasn't a fluke with their sophomore effort, Costly . Right away, I can tell that the production quality has greatly improved. While I usually consider this a flaw for folksier music like this, for Ghost Ship it works because of their odd style mash-up of indie rock and Americana. I felt like The Good King  was very weighted throughout because of its hollow production that focused my ears on the lyrics too much. On Costly , not only is the sound blended better, but it's changed quite a bit as well. It's progressed from an indie rock sound with occasional folk elements to something re...

One week ago today, I moved onto the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois. In light of this recent change in my life, I'm going to start posting five observations about life on a college campus every week. That being said, here's my top five things I've noticed about college life in my first week here: Dining halls/block parties/etc. are not for introverts...or ambiverts. I'm not a strict introvert, but I really don't like large group events all that much. Large crowds of people I don't know intimidate me. There's a lot of those on a college campus, especially in the first couple weeks of school, so be prepared to be pushed out of your comfort zone if you're at all like me. That being said... Get to know your floor and force yourself to hang out with them. This is a big way to help fix the issue of #1. I've found a lot of cool guys on my dorm floor who like to have fun. It also gives you someone to eat lunch or dinner w...

I'm not just open to original films: I crave them.  An original film makes my viewing experience incredibly difficult because I can have trouble separating the originality from the quality of film-making present. So, when I sat down to watch The Gift , I was treated (for the first act of the film, at least) to a semi-routine stalker thriller. Honestly, it was well-directed, well-acted, and decently written. It just didn't pull me to the edge of my seat all that often. The premise of The Gift  is at least unique in a way: upon moving to a new area, a man, Simon, and his wife Robyn are approached by Gordo, one of his high school classmates, who mysteriously leaves gifts on their doorstep and shows up uninvited at their house repeatedly. The device of the gifts on the doorstep is interesting and well-executed, as we see how intrusive Gordo can be early on. However, the film remains trapped in itself for most of the first act, developing not unlike other psychological thrill...

Somehow, some way, Jurassic World  is both one of my most anticipated films of the year and one of the most surprising. The anticipation shouldn't be hard to grasp: I remember seeing the original Jurassic Park  on VHS when I was give or take 8 years old. I fell in love with it immediately and even more so when last summer I saw it on the big screen for the first time at my local arthouse. So, where did the skepticism come from? Well, as I saw more and more material come from Jurassic World , I kept thinking (and hearing from others) that it looked more and more like a mindless CG crapfest similar to the Transformers  franchise...or Jurassic Park III . Thankfully, the 14 years we've waited for a fourth Jurassic Park  film were well worth the wait. Not only is Jurassic World  visually entertaining and thrilling, it also captures a lot of the magic of the original film. The majority of this magic comes from the story. The "too long; didn't read" version...