Review it all

Cinema

Here at ‘Review it All’, we don’t feel like trivialising ourselves by reviewing individual films. We would much rather kill all the birds with a giant stone by casting a skeptical eye over cinema as a whole.

Cinema, (or film, or movies) is the use of technology to capture a series of sounds an images that when played in sequence create meaning. People traditionally viewed these moving images in theaters on a large screen, but smaller personal screens are becoming more popular. It is a relatively young art form, only about 100 years old.

Since humans are very visual creatures, cinema is a perfect fit for us. We are able to look at this window into another world, and see stories that we would never be able to experience in our current reality.

Its amazing. Frankly, it is possibly our greatest form of entertainment. Cinema can change the world with its ability to speak to us so naturally, while simultaneously being just damn good fun.

Now, cinema can be awful, and used to damage people, but in many ways it reflects our culture. If people are happy to pay for rubbish, then that’s what they’ll get. Rarely, people put up with wastes of time.

Sure, there are bad movies, but who cares when there are so many good ones?

5/5 STARS

5 notes

Internet

Previously a way for wealthy universities to share information quickly, the internet is rapidly changing the way we communicate. Since it became widely affordable and available to the western world in the 90’s, the world wide web continues to dominate our life more and more.

When looking at its ability to share information, the internet is without fault. It is generally fast, efficient, reliable and contains more data than anywhere else in the world. The invaluable ability to store words, pictures, film and music is easy to navigate with the help of common search engines. Thanks to latest smartphone technology, it allows immediate communication with anyone connected, anywhere in the world.

For all its benefits, the internet comes with a damaging quirk; the perceived wall of anonymity. It is possible to ‘hide’ behind the internet, protecting yourself from whatever real world ramifications would come from your actions. Racist remarks can be made behind a fake persona, and child pornography can easily be shared. The increasing threat of hackers stealing our identities exists as an invisible threat.

However this can be a force for good as Wikileaks has shown, and social barriers can be brought down in a few clicks. While the sheer glut of information that exists may bury important data and damage attention spans, a network of all people has great potential to shed light on social issues and opinions that are easily forgotten.

Though still in its infancy, the internet has to get over its own immaturity as a medium, before it can reach its full potential as a world-changer.

3.5/5 STARS

5 notes