Final Analysis

'Film critic Andrew Urban once wrote, quoting a popular saying, opinions are like assholes - everyone's got one. True, some critics are equipped with formidable store of filmic knowledge and a highly cultivated artistic sensitivity. Ultimately through, regardless of their store of movie arcana, what critics write and what they encourage us to see or avoid comes down not to a statement of fact, but rather opinion.' Matthew Dillon takes a detailed look at the art and craft of film reviewing, asking a sample of Australian critics whether they are easier on Australian films, whether they are ever intimidated by big-budget Hollywood PR machines, and how they address the subjectivity of opinion that is at the heart of all reviewing.