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Harry Knowles

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Harry Knowles
Cole and Bobby with Harry Knowles (center) at the Austin Premiere of Inland Empire, January 24, 2007

Harry Jay Knowles (born December 11, 1971) is an American online film critic known for his movie news and review website, Ain't It Cool News.

Biography

Knowles was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Helen Jane (née Harrison) and Jarrell Jay Knowles. His early years were spent traveling the Southwest and Mexico with his parents who did light shows for touring rock bands. His parents then settled in Austin and began trading comic books and movie memorabilia from the upstairs floor of their Victorian era house. Knowles's parents also produced the Austin Fantasy Film Fest in 1976, one of the first science fiction conventions in Austin. Knowles spent many hours watching B-grade horror movies as well as other genres from mostly bootlegged 16 mm prints.

In 1983, Knowles's parents divorced and his mother received custody of him and his younger sister Dannie. The children subsequently lived with their mother on her family's ranch in West Texas. His mother took possession of the comics and films also. With nothing better to do on the ranch, Knowles spent more time immersed in reading comics and watching movies. Knowles's other activities included the Boy Scouts of America and he attained the rank of Eagle Scout. At age seventeen, Knowles moved back in with his father. His mother died shortly thereafter in a fire.

In 1994, Knowles fell while pushing a cart up a ramp at a convention, and was subsequently run over by the cart with its 1200 pound load of memorabilia. The accident injured his back and left him virtually bedridden. With money from his mother's life insurance, he purchased a top-of-the-line computer and a friend arranged for Internet service allegedly so they could play Doom online together. After teaching himself how to navigate the Internet, Knowles began frequenting newsgroups to exchange gossip and rumors with other fans about upcoming films. After being chastised by future film critic Mike D'Angelo for posting binary image files to the newsgroups, Knowles launched the website that would become Ain't It Cool News in February 1996. A principal offering was Harry's colorful movie reviews, but the secret weapon was the insider news. People went to the site for secret news received from Knowles' alleged 'spies' inside the industry.

Due to the popularity, or perhaps the notoriety, of the website, Knowles was sought out by the mainstream media, including magazines, newspapers, and television news programs. In 2000, he was ranked #95 in the Forbes Power List. This is in recognition of the influential power of his website. Due to his unorthodox style of journalism, Quentin Tarantino referred to Knowles as "the Wolf Blitzer of the Internet," apparently unaware the comment is an insult. Knowles has made guest appearances on the television shows Siskel & Ebert & the Movies and Politically Incorrect.

On March 15, 2003, Knowles was impersonated by Horatio Sanz in a sketch on Saturday Night Live, wherein he was referred to as "that chubby guy from Ain't It Cool News." Knowles feigned offense on his website at being called "chubby." "I'm morbidly obese," he quipped on his site, "and I've worked hard to get there!".

Knowles married Patricia Cho Jones on July 15, 2007 at Green Pastures in Austin.[1]

On Friday, April 4th, 2008, Knowles announced that he was recently diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic. [2]

On Tuesday. May 20th, 2008. Knowles underwent lapband surgery to help alleviate his Type 2 Diabetes and help lose much of the weight that has been contributing to his health issues.

Film events

Every year since 1999, on the weekend closest to his birthday (December 11th), Harry Knowles hosts an event called the Butt-numb-a-thon. The event, also known as Geek Christmas, is a 24-hour celebration of film, featuring un-official premieres, and vintage films- from classics reprinted for the big-screen, to the rare, weird and unheard of. Film fans and professionals alike travel from all over the United States and the world to attend the event, which is hosted in the critic's hometown of Austin, Texas at the original Alamo Drafthouse. The Butt-Numb-A-Thon has been called "...the world's most exclusive and mysteriously secretive film celebration" and "the hardest film event to get into in the country".

Additionally, Knowles co-programs Austin's Fantastic Fest, an eight-day film festival focusing on the genres of horror, science fiction and fantasy. This event is also held annually in September at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema's South Lamar location in Austin.

Controversy

Knowles attends events offered to the press, paid for by the movie studios, including visits to movie sets and premieres. Questions have sometimes emerged about the resulting impartiality of his articles and reviews.[3] For example, he was flown to the premiere of Godzilla, and gave the movie a wildly positive review,[4] while a vast majority of critics disliked the film.[5] Knowles later reversed himself and panned the film after the ensuing outcry. Knowles and his defenders, however, have noted that he has given mixed reviews to movies for which he has been sent to junkets and premieres, and in any case is often out of step with mainstream critics. Knowles' defenders also point out that he gave a negative review to the film Monkeybone in which he made a cameo appearance.[6]

Knowles has also been the subject of a fair bit of controversy for actions that would not be considered ethical if performed by mainstream journalists. In 1999, he wrote an article praising a script by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan. He failed to mention, however, that McWeeny was a contributor to the site, writing under the pseudonym "Moriarty." This and other alleged lapses were reported in a series of articles in Film Threat magazine.[7]

Arguably his most notable error occurred in early 2000 when Knowles posted materials stolen from an ABC staffer's home computer, which Knowles took at face value to be the Oscar nominees for the Academy Awards—a day before the official announcement. When the actual nominees were announced the following day, it was discovered that his finalists in almost every category were incorrect. Knowles acknowledged his error when it became clear he was wrong, but then disclosed the IP address of the person whose computer had been hacked, compounding the error. The Academy considered suing Knowles for trademark and copyright infringement, but ultimately decided against it.[8]


Film credits

Further reading

  • Harry Knowles, Paul Cullum, Mark Ebner. (March 5, 2002). Ain't It Cool? Hollywood's Redheaded Stepchild Speaks Out (1st edition). Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-52597-9.

References

  1. ^ Knowles, Harry. Dum Duh Da Dummmmmm -- Ain't It Cool News
  2. ^ Ain't It Cool News
  3. ^ The Trouble with Harry
  4. ^ Attack of the Fans
  5. ^ Godzilla at Rottentomatoes.com
  6. ^ Rodgers, Andrew (2001-02-22). "'Monkeybone' Bites, Says Harry Knowles". http://movies.zap2it.com/movies/news. Zap2it.com. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); External link in |work= (help)
  7. ^ Wells, Ron (2000-07-17). "AIN'T IT CRIMINAL: DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (part 3)". Film Threat. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Wells, Ron (2000-07-17). "DECONSTRUCTING HARRY: AIN'T IT UNETHICAL? (part one)". Film Threat. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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