Talking Movies

Giles has been a professional film critic since 2001 when he became the inaugural critic for APN’s street press magazine JET. Since that time he has been an ever-present member of the critic’s circle, reviewing movies for magazines, newspapers, television, radio and online.

In 2008 he created the highly successful Pick of the Flicks video series for Fairfax, reviewing new release films every week across the Fairfax websites. A regular film-focused blog for the Sydney Morning Herald online followed, Get Flick’d. The blog soon built a strong audience, particularly for its annual best and worst film lists, which provided a unique, genre-specific approach to the yearly tradition.

Giles was also the regular face of Fairfax Media’s video interviews with film and entertainment personalities, establishing an entertaining conversational style that delivered many highly amusing segments and saw him often requested by name by stars and directors.

In 2013 and 2014, Giles combined with Marc Fennel and Alice Tynan to produce the wildly successful podcast The Spoiler Guys, which took a simple premise and three great talents to deliver a category-topping podcast across the two years it ran.

Giles has had a strong relationship with the Sydney Film Festival since 2008 when he was the only member of the media who took the black tie invitation to the awards announcement literally. In 2009 he created his first Best Sex in the Fest video, a serious video with a catchy title that has since become an annual ratings hit.

In 2012 Giles was asked to be a member of the panel for the Festival Hub panel Five Films to Show an Alien. In 2013 he hosted a number of Q&As, appeared in a live recording of The Spoiler Guys (spoiling the Before trilogy) and hosted the Closing Night Awards at the State Theatre with fellow Spoiler, Alice Tynan.

Since 2011 Giles has been the regular film reviewer for the Evenings show on 702 ABC Radio, working first with Robbie Buck and then Dominic Knight. He has also appeared in the Supper Club segment as an occasional guest, providing him the opportunity to expound upon his understanding of less traditional entertainment topics such as North Korea and the A-League.

The relaunch of The Movie Club on Foxtel in 2011 saw Giles introduced as a host and reviewer, as part of a rotating panel that lasted until the network was disbanded in 2012.

The call to join Australia's longest-standing radio breakfast team, David and Tanya on Newcastle's KO-FM proved too strong in 2012 and Giles provided weekly commentary on television and films for two years, prior to joining the new team, Tanya Wilks and Steve G to continue reviewing the new release movies.

In 2013 Giles became a regular film commentator for Mornings on Nine, joining hosts David Campbell and Sonia Krueger to discuss film news and views.

He has also acted as a critic and commentator for The Today Show, Sunrise, The Morning Show, Today Tonight, ABC News and Lateline.

In 2014 Giles joined the website fliks.com.au as the New Zealand outlet's Australian critic, where he remained for two years.

At Christmas each year Giles can be found on A Current Affair recommending which Boxing Day films to run to and which to run from. 

For three years from 2014 Giles was the weekly film reviewer for ABC Radio Canberra's mornings show with Genevieve Jacobs, during which time he achieved one of his proudest accolades from his regular undercard support act:

"My go to film critic"
Andrew Barr, ACT Chief Minister

Giles can still be found reviewing movies, television and theatre on ABC News on a monthly basis.