With the tagline, “Where Ideas Meet Ideas”, the idea behind the Share !T sessions are incredibly straight forward. Students from any faculty of the University are given the opportunistic platform to speak about anything they are passionate about in a scientific manner. Whatever excites them, whatever captures their imaginations, Share !T is an active encouragement to get students talking about what they love and an opportunity to create meaningful and diverse dialogue.

The most recent session took place on the 18th of March in the Biology Department, where on this occasion, two students stepped up to the plate to share the parts of science that appeal to them the most and brush up on those public speaking skills. Jean Paul Formosa, a third year BSC student gave his lecture, “Turbochargers: The Fundamental applications of boost in Modern Car Engines”, while Victoria Melita Zammit, a second year B.A. student, resented her topic, “Mars, Venus and maybe Pluto too.”

Mr Formosa gave a brief introduction to the internal combustion engine and the invention of the turbocharger, and its recent, rising popularity in civilian cars, as well as detailing the various modifications in design and efficiency of the engine, and how the innovation in the field of racing cars holds benefits for everyday cars as well. Ms Zammit, leaning more towards the social sciences, gave a presentation on the Biopsychosocial theories and realities behind gender. Speaking about the non-exclusivity of the gender binary, Ms Zammit explained biological, psychological, and sociological theories on why more than two genders exist, while also detailing the rundown about gender expression, gender identity, as well as the absence of gender.

Share !T is a wonderful burgeoning tradition that should be lucky enough as to have many years of life yet ahead of it thanks to S-cubed, and I definitely recommend keeping an eye out for anything the science students organization pulls out of it’s sleeve.

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Delivered in a very pantomime-esque fashion, the script’s adaptation of Walt Disney’s "Hercules’ was left lacking in no department that made it fit to grace the halls of Sir Temi Zammit, with some interesting updates to well-known characters, as well as a few well timed sharp digs at local politics and current affairs. The ensemble were obviously having the time of their lives, providing an exuberant performance with bright, smiling faces and not a hint of fatigue, despite the several active dance numbers throughout the whole show. Sitting in the front row, however, had a few setbacks, amongst which was fearing for my life, as a particularly energetic dance number involving a broom stick being brandished mere inches from my face was involved, as well as, due to what I presume to be homemade Greek togas, I ended up seeing more hairy man leg than I had anticipated for the night.

The main cast took pride in bringing the charm and power of being Greek gods to life, coupled with of course the narcissism and wry humor of being university students led to an interesting mix of characterizations. My most honorable mentions would have to go to; Celaine Vella, whose interpretation of Phil was met with thunderous rounds of applause every time she took the stage, as well as the lovely choral harmony of the muses — Gilbert Gauci, Lisa Mifsud, Sarah Cannataci, Karen Decelis and Martina Farrugia — who were consistently delivering challenging songs with accuracy and gusto, coming to peak in an absolutely show stopping rendition of the fan favourite Zero to Hero. Stealing the show for me, however, were Keith Zammit and Paula Mintoff, whose charisma and chemistry served to bring to life Pain and Panic, with a hint of minion, a dash of imp and without a doubt, large doses of their own influence that made their performances inimitably hilarious.

The live band accompanying the cast was also a nice addition, despite a few technical snafus that one comes to forgive of student productions, they were consistently on queue and provided a fresh interpretation of music that most of the audience would have been familiar with. A special kudos goes out to the musical director for a few interesting choices in accompanying pieces, such as using the Cantina Song from Star Wars to set us on Mount Olympus, as well as using Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights coupled with carefully chosen choreography to depict the Battle of the Hydra.

Concluding, you can count me in with the converts, Hercules: The Legend of Citta di Nanza, was most definitely an enjoyable and surprisingly fun experience, and definitely a success on KSU’s part. I look forward to seeing what’s in store next year.

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The Russo brothers, despite being another left field directional choice on Marvel’s behalf, managed to pull off this feature spectacularly well and possibly providing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) its best standalone picture to date. Foregoing being steeped in superhero lore, The Winter Soldier has all the makings of a spy thriller and does very well in executing all the necessary components that make it up. In no way being afraid of racking up a body count, we’re treated to; car chases, covert operations, extensive hand to hand combat scenes, as well as a plot that continues to intensify at every twist made it a very compelling watch, and trust me, the identity of the Winter Soldier is not the only twist you’ll have to watch out for. To top it all off they also managed to incorporate several themes that correspond to current events, such as; the treatment of young war veterans, the issue of personal security in the age of technology, as well as bringing up the moral grey area of the spying on civilians by government agencies.

However, despite running for 136 minutes, the whole affair seemed rather rushed and leaves one a little wanting in its wake. The film is immensely plot driven, sprinting from one scene straight into another and barely giving you a chance to catch your breath, however at the expense of this the personal development of several of the main characters remains static, in stark contrast to Phase 2 predecessors "Iron Man 3’ and "Thor: The Dark World’, which were character driven to the point of criticism. The titular Winter Soldier himself has the bare minimum of screen time, despite the character reveal not coming along too late in the day, by the end of the film his story arc feels completely underdeveloped for someone whose character shares the title of the movie. Although we are treated to the optimistically dry humor typically associated with Steve Rogers, as well as brief instances of witty banter between Cap, the Black Widow and Falcon, these are somewhat swallowed up by the permeating seriousness of the film’s tone. By the time the credits roll you’re left with a resonating feeling of “that’s it?” and ultimately is more effective in making you anticipate the next Captain America film in with a small degree of impatience.

Of course what would a Marvel film be without dropping several easter eggs about past and future films, and without a doubt this one is definitely not lacking. Perhaps I’m not so keen as to have caught all of them on my first viewing, but there were several that gained my attention, from the painfully obvious to the most intelligently subtle. As we’re told in "The Avengers’, S.H.I.E.L.D often monitors potential threats, and this point is expanded on to an extent in "The Winter Soldier’, long enough to name drop Bruce Banner for example, as well as a few other popular characters in Marvel comics continuity, much to the delighted squeals of several fanboys in the audience. We are also given an inkling of an insight into the mysterious deaths of Howard and Maria Stark as well as hinting at a possible repurposing of the Stark Tower in New York in the future. But most of all, in perhaps the most exhilarating end credits scene Marvel has yet to dream up, we are introduced to an infamous foe as well as two very familiar faces that Marvel fans are sure to recognize, and that I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of very soon. As always, don’t leave before all the credits roll or you might miss out.

Despite minor issues, nothing much served to dampen my overall enthusiasm of the film. The events that take place have definitely shaken up the structure of the MCU and provided new and interesting factors which must be accounted for when theorizing over the unfolding of events in future films, and how what goes on in "The Winter Soldier’ most definitely affects them. Overall definitely worth the price of the ticket, Marvel can mark me down as interested and definitely watching closely.

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5. Pacific Rim

I can already hear the resounding chorus of groans emerging from an imaginary audience. Yes, the giant robot/monster movie, not exactly a great start to make my case for "overlooked’ but bear with me for a moment. While Guillermo Del Toro’s blockbuster certainly didn’t underperform financially (It made $37 million it’s opening weekend and grossed well over $1 billion, in case you were wondering), its largely been met with an air of snobbish disdain because of course the masses flocked to see the monsters and giant robots smashing into each other! This unwarranted mentality seems to be perpetrating that your sense of judgment must be clouded for finding merit and enjoyment out of a movie simply because itwas fun. For all intents and purposes, Pacific Rim should be about a standard white American underdog hero who saves the day purely by the unspeakable reaches of his masculinity. It should be, but it isn’t. Instead one of the primary working concepts of the film is that things aren’t going to work out unless people work together, and they do: putting aside the fact that the Jaegers (the titanic sized robots) require two pilots in order to function, it brings together a diverse multinational cast of individuals whose task it is to sort out the world from problems they did not create (a theme that resonated audibly well with pissed off millennials). We are also treated to detailed, despite brief, characters with complex emotions, motives and directions, and of course a dose of Del Toro’s widely imaginative penchant for world building, regardless of its limited space. On the good side of "not your average kaiju movie’, Pacific Rim was well worth the honorable mention.

4. Don Jon.

Perhaps my most controversial choice, concerning content, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut brings out into the light the subject of pornography without a hint of immodesty. Choosing to satirize (and actively criticize) the bombardment of overly sexualized imagery we are exposed to on a regular basis, the film introduces us to Jon Martello Jr., a man who obsessively objectifies every facet of his life to the point where everything is a routine. The film uses repetition to communicate how droll and robotic Jon’s life seems when examined objectively, a fact that seems apparent to Jon himself, as he rattles a list of things he believes are important to him like he’s reading off of a drilling manual, but is only able to garner some sort of gratification from his life through watching porn. Highlighting the total disillusionment that men have with women, and reciprocally that women have with men, Don Jon is not afraid to point out that a fantastical objectification of your desires does not match up with real life, and ultimately doing your best to achieve the warped version of the ideal you’ve built up for yourself doesn’t lead to a constant or genuine happiness. Moving on to becoming slightly more conventional in its theme towards the end, Jon’s story reaffirms the value of building healthy friendships and relationships and the importance of losing yourself in another person rather than material objects. Despite being a somewhat tired subject to unearth, Don Jon was a pleasant reminder that the journey of reaffirming what’s really important to you is still a valid lesson.

3. The Place

Beyond the Pines. A quiet and bleak crime drama that escaped the notice of most of the mainstream media last year, director Derek Cianfrance’s fourth film and second collaboration with Ryan Gosling. Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, it remains an intelligent and thought provoking picture about crime and social status. With vastly different characters all intersecting with each other at some point, in a timeline spanning 15 years, the decision to not adopt a single person narrative may feel confusing and fractured at points, but is instrumental to bringing the thematic backgrounds Cianfrance obviously had in mind while making the film. Although it may be seen as a story about fathers, sons and legacy if you squint, The Place Beyond the Pines forces us to critically examine the divide between poverty and luxury and the subsequent rise of crime out of both scenarios. It categorically refuses to glamorize any of its characters in any way, showing us the side of crime that stems from poverty and desperation and how the struggle of rising above the limitations of your station is not always possible, especially when your adversary is a social system that could not care less about you. Coupled with Sean Bobbit’s stunning cinematographybringing Schenectady, New York, to life for us, it remains poignantly relevant to the world we live in today.

2. Rush.

Before the complete notion of writing this article had fully formed in my brain, I knew that Rush would be on the list and it took an enormous amount of self-control on my extreme bias to not just automatically place it in the number one spot. Ron Howard’s biopic provides you exactly what it promises in the title, an invigorating rush of sight, sound and narrative, and a highly enjoyable one at that. It details the infamous rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda and their cut throat endeavors to out-best each other in the 1976 Grand Prix, however instead of predictably typecasting either into the traditional roles of hero and villain, we are offered windows into the worlds of both men and their different attitudes towards racing. The film splits its attention almost equally between Lauda and Hunt and you’ll find yourself growing to like both of them as you get to know both their good and obnoxiously bad qualities. Chris Hemsworth loans his physicality and effortless charm to accurately bring James Hunt and his rock star lifestyle to life once again, however the real treasure to be found is Daniel Brühl’s performance as Niki Lauda, embodying the man’s relentless need for perfection, his difficulty with being socially likable, as well as sporting a spot on Austrian accent, truly makes him the star of the picture. With the vintage 1970’s aesthetic, the monstrous, death trap formula one cars of the age, and truly exhilarating race scenes, Rush was definitely one of my favourite films this year.

1. Stoker

Written by Wentworth Miller (of Prison Break fame) and director Park Chan-wook’s first English language feature, Stoker has all the makings of a perfectly framed modern gothic story, and its tone may be wholly described in one word — eerie. The title itself is a clever play on words, alluding to classic gothic novelist Bram Stoker, but "stoker’ in context of a noun is defined as one who fuels the fire, an underlying motif in the progression of events in the film. Although set in the present day, the far off setting, as well as antiquated aesthetic of the Stoker household emphasizes further still its gothic tones as well as allowing for the perfect opportunity to showcase protagonist India Stoker’s hypersensitivity to the world around her in a visual manner. While its Hitchcockian influences are obvious, Stoker remains fresh in the manner in which it presents itself to us partly because of the highly visual narrative one comes to expect of Chan-wook’s films, and undeniably through the electric performances of the main cast. Mia Wasikowska, Matthew Goode and Nicole Kidman are the triad that bring the Stoker family to life and demand our attention in the repressed and withdrawn India, mysterious and charming Uncle Charlie, and the distant and glacial Evelyn. Deception, manipulation, sexual repression and family ties are all thematically at the heart of this complex but immensely gratifying story. There is a lingering uneasiness, like something supernatural is constantly about to happen, but doesn’t, which brings forward most brilliantly the concept that the most sinister thing you’re likely to encounter isn’t a supernatural entity at all, but human beings themselves.

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