My Own Little World

I'm going to say this once, and I want you to know that I really, really, really mean it. Arrested Development  is the best sitcom I've ever seen. This show has three perfect seasons, one lesser but still really solid season in its Netflix revival, and an absolutely riotous sense of humor. Its casting is perfect, its writing is top-notch, and its performances are dedicated and stellar all around. A lot of that stems from the show's biggest advantage: its humor. There's so many inside jokes that Arrested Development continually makes throughout its four season run (and will undoubtedly continue during its fifth season next year) that I almost can't explain why the humor works so well. It just does. It’s infused with a sense of irreverence and absurdity that, quite thankfully, matches the characters and the situation in which they find themselves. It is those two things that I find make Arrested Development work so well. These characters are actually quite...

DC Comics' attempt at a cinematic universe hasn't been the best so far. Every one of the three films they've released has had narrative problems that range from fairly noticeable to downright awful. Only one of them has actually established any kind of concrete tone for the franchise. None of them, from my perspective at least, are films I would consider buying based on quality alone. When you're putting as much money behind movies as Warner Bros. is behind these new DC Comics films, that's never a good thing. That being said, they're still figuring things out, so I decided to give them another chance by seeing their newest release Wonder Woman . And you know what? I'm incredibly glad I did.  This is a really solid comic book film and an incredibly enjoyable thing to experience in a theater. Wonder Woman  has all the components of a good film and simply puts them loosely over a comic book aesthetic and branding, and that makes it work better than c...

Over the past several years, I've really grown to love Hillsong United. Their 2013 and 2015 releases, Zion  and Empires , respectively, have made me regain hope for the worship music industry, proving that mainstream worship music can actually be well-written and musically conscious. That being said, I was really looking forward to whatever they did next and was surprised when they announced Wonder  less than a month ago for release this weekend. The title track was so ridiculously infectious that, despite some slightly vague lyrics, I couldn't help but put it on repeat as I waited for the other tracks to be released. I don't know if it was my wild anticipation or my high expectations, but Wonder  actually lacks a little bit of enchantment now that I've listened to it in its entirety a couple of times. United has done a great job over the past couple of years of carefully cultivating a specific sound for each of their releases, with Zion  being extremely energe...

One of the things I've discovered over my time binge-watching is that I love unique shows, especially when it comes to sitcoms. Yes, there's something nice about sitting back with something familiar and typical, but on the other hand things with originality can be much more refreshing than the typical fare. Enter 30 Rock . For those of you who haven't seen any of it, 30 Rock  was a game-changer at the time it was first released in 2006. There wasn't another show with its unique brand of comedy (no thanks to writer, creator, and star Tina Fey) or its unique style. To this day, the only show that comes close is Fey's other creation Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt  (which I've already talked about twice). This uniqueness of style is primarily due to two things: the show's single-camera setup and smash cuts. The camera setup distinguishes it from most more conventional sitcoms that run in the vein of Cheers , Seinfeld , Friends , and the like. Instead of havin...