Email  | Twitter | DVD Bits Reviews | The Reel Bits Reviews

Sarah Ward
Editor and Reviewer

Editor, DVD Bits and The Reel Bits As a very young child, legend has it, Sarah was scared out of her wits by the Michael Jackson featurette / film clip “Thriller” (an eerily prophetic reaction to the king of pop, it must be said). Luckily she lived to tell the tale, and overcame her scare by becoming scarily obsessed with film and television, converting her passion to DVDs with the advent of the medium (and the release of Joss Whedon’s Buffy The Vampire Slayer in Region 4).

A compulsive consumer of all things movie related (and frequent purchaser of DVDs, as her alphabetised collection can attest), as well as a constant source of cinema tidbits and trivia thanks to four years at film school, Sarah began reviewing for community radio and various arts and culture websites in 2003, before joining the DVD Bits team in 2004. Further stints critiquing movies for a series of digital content channels followed, as well as time served in film public relations.

Of late, the communications professional by day, film critic by night shares her thoughts with the DVD Bits crowd on all things DVD and Blu-ray related, cultivating her love of all things cinema on the The Reel Bits, and freelancing anywhere and everywhere that will have her – including KOFFIA 2010. Often found in darkened theatres or glued to her TV screen, she still dreams of making a living doing what she loves – but will settle for free DVDs and movie tickets in the interim.

Email | Twitter | DVD Bits Reviews | The Reel Bits Reviews

Paul Ryan
Reviewer, periodic shut-in, full-time grump

A film and TV geek from the moment he saw the first two Superman films - we’re talking from the age of three here – Paul’s mind has been thoroughly warped by excessive exposure to the heady delights of moving pictures. As such, he still struggles to understand why not all of life’s problems can be resolved within thirty-to-ninety minutes with an inspiring speech and a shopping montage, and why canned studio laughter doesn’t sound off when he makes a “witty” remark. Years of therapy failed to undo this problem, but in the meantime he has inflicted his opinions on contributed reviews to the cult/horror/trash film site Digital Retribution and the Monash University student paper Lot’s Wife. Since joining DVD Bits in mid-2009, he’s continued to stick it to the IMDB user who told him he “had no future as a reviewer” following a negative write-up of Dirty Deeds. So there.

Out of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, Paul’s tally currently stands at an unimpressive 378, but he has seen every single episode of Space: 1999.

Email | Twitter | DVD Bits Reviews | The Reel Bits Reviews

Simon Green
Occasional reviewer, pioneer, purveyor of chocolate frogs

Simon J. Green is an owner and managing director of Green Rabbit, a video production studio in Docklands, Melbourne. 

When he isn't producing or writing copy for TVCs or online content, he's reviewing DVDs (albeit slowly) for DVD Bits - anyone who loves movies can't help but want to write about them. He spends his spare time holding his breath for eleven minutes at a time and hunting spindle feathered vulture bats in the wild hills of Moonee Ponds.

Simon can also be found online peddling his wares at Green Rabbit and The Awesome Report, the adventures of a young writer in Australia.

Email | Twitter (Simon) | Twitter (Green Rabbit) | DVD Bits Reviews

Paul Grose
Reviewer, Beatles skeptic, top bloke

Love movies, music, reading and travel. Favorite films are Ozu’s Tokyo Story, Akira Kurosawas The Quiet Duel, and Takeshi Yamazakl’s Always Sunset On Third Street. 

Believes that if everyone saw Always Sunset On Third Street the world would be a better place. Aims to one day meet own personal gods Simon Yam, and 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano.

Been know to controversially believe that The Beatles are over rated, and that Italy would benefit by not having any Italians in it. 

Email | DVD Bits Reviews

Jack Reed
Reviewer, Nexus-6, Tyrell Corporation

Jack is looking forward to when science conquers the need for sleep, because there are just too many good DVDs to watch, dammit. Acquiring a full HD LCD TV and Blu-ray home theatre system this year has only made the problem more agonising, because somehow even crap movies are good when they're nice and shiny. But he loves to write about what he watches and quite possibly analyse it to death, the dubious results of which can be found right here at DVD Bits. 

Jack's first DVD was Gladiator in 2000 on a pitiful 34cm CRT screen, but the picture quality and those moving menu thingies still blew him away. He has since graduated to better equipment and amassed an absurdly large collection engorged regularly by compulsive bargain hunting. One day he will conquer it and finally watch every disc, but he is losing hope. 

Jack also writes for Rave Magazine and has been blithering about movies and pop culture in print and aloud for far too long. Friends poke him for obscure movie trivia like he's a damn sideshow attraction. He's a lifelong comics buff and loves anime, although half of it baffles him. He would like to apologise for still owning a VHS player rather than chucking its obsolete carcass down the stairs. He occasionally indulges in polite conversation and having a life.

Email | DVD Bits Reviews

Way Behind the Scenes

John Zois
Webmaster, founder and Mysterious Benefactor

John is the person in charge of the DVD Bits. He runs around like mad and spends enormous amounts of time ensuring everything is working well. Living proof that spending too much time working on a website can be detrimental to your health. It's a tough job being the editor and webmaster but hey somebody's got to do it! The vast majority of the website is run off a dynamic database. Currently John is in charge of configuration and maintenance of the database, although if anyone is interested in taking over the database administrator duties then please drop me a line (ASP scripting knowledge is essential). While having written many of the reviews on the website, John has shifted some of his attention now to the day to day running of the site.

Mark Mills
Technology adviser, site designer, former DVD reviewer and news reporter

Mark is responsible for optimising the database and other network systems as well as writting all of the new database code. He also does the occassional DVD review. Mark is glued to the screen for most of the day and as a result he is currently being studied by the Department of Defense for a futuristic 'Radioactive Soldier' program.

Past Staff

Ben Gourlay
DVD reviewer, news reporter and Random Revelator

After getting into DVD in 1998 at the tender age of 13, Ben's obsession with film and technology met and he is now thoroughly obsessed with all things DVD. A long time science fiction and action fan, Ben prides himself on the ability to distribute movie news and trivia, and has an impeccable knowledge of upcoming DVD releases. You may see Ben haggling at his local Audio Visual shop, or hassling the staff at K-Mart over a title that he just *knows* is out the back, but are too lazy to put on display.


Dean Beasley
DVD competitions, DVD polls, site designer, DVD reviewer and news reporter

Dean joined DVD Bits in 2000, and since then his interest in film and DVD has grown exponentially. He's always had an interest in documentaries, so naturally he likes lots of extra features, especially behind the scenes featurettes. Sound is the other thing he's passionate about. "I love surround sound and I love bass, I especially like it when the windows rattle." He's the sort of person that feels compelled to buy sequels, even if they are crap, just because he owns the first film. Dean also arranges his DVDs by distributor and then by title. "I'm not entirely sure why, but hey, everyone's entitled to their own silly foibles aren't they." Apart from posting news and reviews, Dean is also responsible for dreaming up the questions for our DVD competitions and giving away all those wonderful prizes. Furthermore, Dean is in charge of writing and running the DVD polls, so if you have any ideas for future polls, please let him know.

Al Day
DVD reviewer and news reporter

Al Day was forced into Home Theatre by his Father in Law, a Roman Legion Reenacting enthusiast who bought a Widescreen Television, DVD player and ONE Disc....Gladiator. Six months of Russel Crowe later, our hero fled England for the other side of the world and the comparative safety of Western Australia.
Cunningly constructing a crude home theatre system from string, baling wire and parts of a 1963 RCA black and white television he can now be found hanging around discount bins in department stores, sniggering at all the Pan and Scan copies of Harry Potter that they can't sell and fighting little old ladies to get to the price scanners.

He'll be fine when the pills kick in....

Damian Madden
DVD release schedule, DVD reviewer and news reporter

Damian has been singing, making and acting in films since he was 10 and so watching DVD movies was a natural thing to do. Currently treading the boards in theaters around Sydney he fits DVD reviews in around writing, filmmaking and university. Damian is an avid film buff with extensive knowledge in film history and a cult follower of anime films and television shows. Damian is in charge of maintaining the DVD release schedule, so if you notice a discrepancy, please let him know.

Allan Harris
DVD reviewer and news reporter

Allan is a long time devotee of DVD. In 2001 he stopped pouting on the sidelines and got in the game. After about a year as one of the staff of DVD Blokes (now DVDAnswers.com), he joined the DVD Bits crew in November 2002. Allan appreciates films that are technically proficient and DVDs that show off the strengths of the format. He abhors shoddy transfers and incorrect aspect ratios. "I believe DVD is the perfect format to preserve classic films, there is no reason they shouldn't capture the artist's original vision."

Shane Aston
DVD reviewer and news reporter

Very little is known about this reclusive character except for a vague rumour that he once tried to alter his biochemistry so he could somehow use DVDs as a form of sustenance. Shane may reside in Queensland for now, but he prefers to be called "a Victorian on a bloody long holiday". At this time he's still working on a plan to rid the world of reality TV, although he admits it's "tougher than I thought" citing "people are just dumber than I ever gave them credit for" as the main problem. Unfortunately, he's also clearly delusional as he holds the belief that one day his beloved Richmond Football Club will once again win a premiership. Sad really.

Nathan Laird
DVD reviewer and news reporter

One of Nathan's earliest memories from his childhood is of seeing Star Wars at age 3 in Sydney. Since that time film has remained an ever constant source of fascination for Nathan. He lives for those trips to the cinema, the flickering screen, the darkened room, a return to the womb as it were. Since being burned in the Beta vs VHS wars of the 80s Nathan adopted a more cautious approach for new mediums for viewing films and managed to ride out the passing hour of the Laserdisc by furtive trips to a friends house to utilise their machine. With the advent of DVD Nathan was an early adopter of the technology, realising quickly its beauty and simplicity but also the dangers and frustrations of region coding. To this day Nathan's first port of call when reviewing or deciding to buy a DVD is always to do a comparison with what is available in other regions.

Michael Keith Ashley
DVD reviewer and news reporter.

Michael is a passionate film buff, with extensive knowledge in film history, which for most people is entirely useless. However for those who understand, he decided to eventually join the DVD Bits team and provide a number of interesting and controversial reviews. Michael has a keen eye for what he likes, and believes in the preservation of film. It’s very clear that Michael has an addiction.