My Own Little World

There are some films that just look like they won’t be artistic. One of the usual culprits for this is the inspirational family drama: movies like The Blind Side , as good as they are in their acting and ability to wave their emotional wands to cast a spell over their audience, they lack any unique flair when it comes to their direction and perspective. I was expecting the same out of Wonder , which follows a child with Treacher Collins syndrome struggling to fit into a normal school environment. Treacher Collins involves a lot of physical disabilities and hardships, including significantly altered facial features, that would undoubtedly make entrance into middle school (the period addressed by Wonder ) so much harder than it would be otherwise…and it’s not like it was easy to begin with. Basically, I thought this movie would bank on sympathy for Augie, the central character. Instead, Wonder tells Augie’s story from countless perspectives, and it really works in its favor. ...

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...