My Own Little World

So, Star Wars. We all know and love it, especially me. I have seen the original trilogy more times than I can count, the prequels just enough times so I can not completely hate them, and The Force Awakens  about half a dozen times in the year it's been released. I also love what Disney has done with the place, aiming to release one film a year for the next several with the anthology films and the saga continuing. That being said, I was a little nervous going into Rogue One . A spin-off film has never really been done in the Star Wars universe before, and I had no idea what to expect. How similar would it be to the saga films? Would it add to the franchise in a meaningful way, or would it simply hold me over until Episode VIII  is released next December? To be honest, Rogue One  caught me by surprise in a lot of ways. I really ended up enjoying this film, but it was not by any means perfect. It does have a killer finale and some very well-directed moments, as well as...

In case you haven't talked to me in the past year, I love Hamilton . This Broadway musical makes me completely and entirely helpless whenever I hear it. It ranks among the best pieces of music I've ever heard in my entire life besides just being my favorite musical ever written.  One of the things that the musical's creator Lin-Manuel Miranda teased during the musical's development and performances was The Hamilton Mixtape , a compilation of multiple artists from the realm of popular music covering and reimagining various songs from the show. It was finally officially announced a month or so ago and released on December 2.  To be honest, the fact that Hamilton  itself is so untouchable in my mind made me really nervous for the mixtape. I don't think I've ever been more helplessly obsessed with any piece of music ever, and to see other people do these songs that mean so much to me and restyle them made me really apprehensive. I've memorized every...

I was practically raised on Disney animated films. I watched ones like Aladdin , The Lion King , and Beauty and the Beast growing up, and recently I've rediscovered how magical they can actually be thanks to my girlfriend and I watching them all the time. Their (mostly) timeless scores get stuck in my head so easily, and the stories, despite their target audience of children, seem to have a transcendent nature and punch way above their age bracket. However, as of late Disney has had a little trouble finding its animated musical mojo.  Yes, recent films like Tangled and Frozen have begun to turn this trend around, but forgettable films like Brother Bear and Home on the Range  still are a large blemish in the Disney catalog. To some extent, the name "Disney" in front of a film lost some of its magnitude and power. Meanwhile, studios like Pixar and DreamWorks have come alongside (and in some cases, jumped ahead of) Disney in the race for kids' attention spans....