When it comes to the bright lights of cinematography, there is much more than the actors who bring ideas to life on the big screen. Behind the scenes, the director gives a guiding voice to the actors while movie critics, like junior Marco Aramburu, pour over every line of a scene and scrutinize all aspects of a film. Aramburu voices his opinion in many different places.

“I review online. I have an account on Rotten Tomatoes. Whenever I get on there I just give my opinion of the film and I also talk to my friends about it,” Aramburu said.

Along with writing and reviewing movies online, he prefers many older critics. His all-time favorites are two classic critics.

“[My favorites are] the most iconic ones: Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. Those are the most influential ones to me. Nowadays most people are set in their ways on what the movies are going to be like before they even watch it, so I don’t like a lot of that,” Aramburu said.

Aramburu’s reviews might currently be a hobby, but he hopes that one day it will lead to bigger things.

“I do want to be a film director. Since I was a kid, I thought since I watched movies, this is something that I want to do. That’s why I started watching movies and reviewing them, just so I could get out my opinion,” Aramburu said.

Being invested in movies has been a big part of Aramburu’s life since he started grade school.

“My uncle got me into Star Wars films and I went on to watch classics like Citizens Kane and Lawrence of Arabia,” Aramburu said.

While many students absorb cinema either online or at the theaters, Aramburu believes theaters provide the best viewing.

“If you want an authentic movie experience you go to the theater. Watching it on your own small TV is not the same as the huge IMAX screen,” Aramburu said.

While many movie watchers hope to see a good movie at the theaters, Aramburu sometimes hope for the opposite.

“A good review is really bland. You just say that the director was great, the acting was great, cinematography was great. Bad reviews are way more fun to do because you get into the complete scenes and how everything about a character was horrible,” Aramburu said.

No matter how exceptional the film, Aramburu says a critic has to have a passion for their work.

“You just have to like film and it’s your opinion on what it is. Sometimes people are going to disagree and sometimes they’re going to agree but it’s nothing. You just get on and talk to other people about what you like,” Aramburu said.