Snitch is a tense crime-drama, but the most nerve-racking element is this: can Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson act?

Since its inaugural festival in 2009, VIVID Sydney has quickly established itself as the best reason to get out of the house as the city descends into its antipodean winter. 

You wouldn't expect to find talks about designer suburbs, presidential campaigns, conceptual art and the soft power of Tasmania at a writer's festival. But the 2013 Sydney Writers' Festival thwarts expectations. 

Time. It’s as old as time itself. The clock – a younger relative – came later in the form of the sun dial. Since then it’s been rejigged a hundred ways, but nothing really tops the old wrist watch.

Forget the HBO static or the Showtime lasers: the true sign of quality programing is a portly man staring down the barrel of the camera and drolly intoning: “Good evening ladies and gentlemen.”

If wisdom comes with age then National Geographic, clocking in at 125 years young, is wise indeed. Hell, not even Attenborough can boast that much accumulative knowledge.

Once upon a time, creative movements weren't virtual, but firmly stuck in a place or geography. Blank City goes back to the late '70s and early '80s, where no-wave cinema was rising from New York.

Mick Harvey is known as one of the best sidemen in the business. On his latest album FOUR (Acts of Love), he steps into the spotlight usually handed over to the likes of PJ Harvey or Nick Cave.

Can advertising liberate a country? Can a negative be a positive force? No depicts the 1988 Chilean referendum to decide whether the country's president, Augusto Pinochet, should rule for another eight years. 

With a career spanning six decades you’d think David Attenborough might start taking it easy. Then he goes and captures a new species of lizard on film for the first time ever and casually raises the bar for everyone. Again.