Leigh Paatsch - The reel deal on movies

Leigh Paatsch writes about movies for newspapers. He tried writing newspapers for movies, but the work was often scarce.

Leigh Paatsch writes about movies for newspapers. He tried writing newspapers for movies, but the work was often scarce.

Reviewing movies is Leigh's passion.

He doesn't watch trailers. Avoids reading all other reviews. Won't take a peek at advance footage of any kind.

It will take a brandished weapon to make him look closely at a photograph from a movie he is yet to see.

This is because of his abiding belief that the best way to experience a movie is as hype-free and buzz-less as possible.

"The best movies out there," says Leigh, "are invariably the ones that burst out of nowhere, and then blow you away. The ones people just didn't see coming at them are the ones people will always remember. If I can help my readers and those movies find each other, then I'm doing my job right."

Leigh started out in Australian journalism in the late 1980s as the frontman for a copy "chop-shop" staffed by half-a-dozen monkeys with typewriters.

A sudden spike in the price of bananas ended that sweet deal, and forced Leigh to attempt forming legible sentences of his own.

While this quest remains a work in progress, it has not stopped Leigh from writing about cinema from a wide array of perspectives for News Limited publications since 1996.

The one movie Leigh would take to a desert island for the rest of his life?

Make it two, and you'll get an answer : The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.