Is It Cool?
Dirty Harry and The Ethically Challenged

 

Harry Knowles, the webmaster of Ain't It Cool News, the phenomenally popular internet movie site, is under serious criticism of late. Knowles' site isn't unique in what it does. There are numerous other sites that do similar things, including Corona's Coming Attractions and Dark Horizons. What Ain't It Cool is, however, is the internet's leader when it comes to gossiping about movies. That's right. He's little more than a gossip monger.  I do have to say, he's awfully good at it. He learns about what might be happening in the film industry and is more than happy to tell the world the information. Of course, this makes more than a few people angry. Most notably, these people are Hollywood studio executives. It has been a plan of theirs to get this 28 year-old and his crew from Austin, Texas under wraps. Only recently have they begun to succeed, and this is what's firing up a lot of people.

Of course, Harry Knowles hasn't been scrub clean for a long time. He's dirty. He's been constantly criticized for not giving proper credit where it's due when it comes to scoops from other sites. This fact exploded in his face just recently when Corona's webmaster, Patrick Sauriol, wrote a ravaging editorial about the state of ethics in movie sites. He criticized everything about Harry's site, especially the way in which he gives credit to other sites for scoops. He doesn't like the way Harry reviews movies, doesn't like his methods of confirmation, and of course, doesn't appreciate the type of image that Harry projects on the rest of the gossip sites by his slightly controversial tactics.

These tactics include using pseudonyms for every contributing member of his "spy" network. How can these people, whose identity could just be fabricated from thin air, be trusted? What stops me from emailing Harry and saying that John Lasseter has gone crazy and quit filmmaking altogether? Scoops that seem as far-fetched as this one are constantly sent in to Harry and his group of staffers. Thank goodness they don't publish them all, but they do publish some. I can't for the life of me figure out why he releases some of the stupidest "scoops" this side of the equator. But he does, and I'm left shaking my head in disappointment.

Harry's site is at the center of the movie-gossip internet craze. In many ways, he's at the center of internet journalism. His site is monumentally popular around the globe. He basically has set the standard for getting cutting edge "scoops." Is the standard that he has set the right one to be imprinted in the minds of internet users?

Things have been crazy recently. Harry's biggest foul up was when he released a list of Oscar nominations before the official list had been announced. Since he received this email the day before they were to be announced (not much time to confirm)  he decided to post it anyways. Of course, the server from which the names of the nominees were taken from was not the Academy's, it was from ABC and was their expected nominations. This pissed a lot of people off, and set off a flurry of accusations. He screwed up. Big.

Further wrecking his reputation is his constant acceptance of gifts and travel arrangements from studios who want him to review their films. He saw Godzilla at the world premiere in Madison Square Garden. He's been to the set of The Mummy, Mystery Men, and the upcoming How The Grinch Stole Christmas. His site had an exclusive screening for site users of Gladiator in San Francisco (which I was supposed to go to but was unable). Accusers claim that for all the films that he's received graft for (DVD's, tapes, plane rides, hotel arrangements) he's given positive ratings. Sure, for movies like Gladiator a positive review is warranted, but for something like Godzilla and Mystery Men, it's not.

Personally, I can't imagine him not taking the free plane rides and hotel arrangements just for writing a review. Nowhere does it say he has to write a positive review. I wish he wouldn't fall into the hubbub surrounding such a piece of trash as Godzilla, but he corrected himself at a later date. I respect this correction. He described his situation at the World Premiere (tens of thousands of people, beach balls hit around the stadium, loud cheers all throughout the movie), and I can understand that a mistake was made.

All we can ask of him in regards to his reviews of movies of which he's received some sort of special privilege is that he ignores that aspect of his experience and writes about the film itself. "Harry's Adventures In..." stories are silly and annoying. I'd rather just get the movie information.

As far as scoops go, Harry's quite possibly the best in the world, but when it comes to reviewing movies, he's at the far back of the pack. His reviews are long and rambling, unfocused, and often sound as if they've been written by a middle school student. Sure, mine are often lackluster, unfocused (like this editorial), too short, and I use way too many commas for it to be proper. But I think I do a decent job of stating my opinion of the film. Harry, on the other hand, doesn't. It makes me think that he should leave the reviewing of films to word-weavers like his most famous spy "Moriarty." "Moriarty's" reviews are very well written, however pretentious and egotistical they often are. Several of the other spies are good but most are as awful as Harry is. But, we do need these opinions. They're what make the site what it is. I do think Harry should stick to getting the "scoops" instead though.

Overall, I don't see myself getting revved up into a tizzy like Chris Gore, Patrick Sauriol and others are getting into. Of course, my web site is read by a whole ten people, so of course I won't. I do understand why they're so angry, I just don't agree with it. If I was offered a trip to the World Premiere of any film I'd be more than happy to accept it. I'd try to concentrate on the film itself when I write a review, of course, but it would be difficult. Harry's imperfections should inspire these webmasters to do better and take the mantle away from Knowles and his crew. Harry's left a huge opening for them to capitalize on. It's time they put their foot in the door and stopped whining.

 

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Editorial Written by Collin Thornber on 6/23/00