Harry Knowles

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Harry Knowles at San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010.

Harry Jay Knowles (born December 11, 1971 in Austin , Texas ) is an American Internet film critic and is known for the website Ain't It Cool News , which publishes film reviews and reports on current events in the industry. Knowles is also a member of the Austin Film Critics Association .

Life

Harry Jay Knowles was born on December 11, 1971 in Austin, Texas to Jarrell Jay Knowles and Helen Jane (Harrison) Knowles, who were married on September 19, 1970 in Austin. He spent his first years traveling through the southwest and Mexico with his parents, who were responsible for the light shows at rock concerts. His parents then moved to Austin and began selling comics and movie merchandise on the upper floor of their Victorian home. They also organized in 1976, the Austin Fantasy Film Festival, one of the first science fiction - conventions in Austin. Knowles spent more and more time, horror to see as well as other films, mostly 16mm - Bootleg versions.

Knowles' parents separated in 1983 and divorced on March 12, 1984, with his mother taking custody of him and his younger sister, Dannie. They then lived together on a ranch in western Texas . His mother received the comics, films, and fan merchandise and gave them to her two children. This, and the ranch's remote location, resulted in Knowles spending more and more time reading comics and watching movies. Knowles was also a member of the Boy Scouts of America and was an Eagle Scout (the highest rank one can achieve). In 1989, at the age of 19, Knowles moved back in with his father and half-brother, Larry. His mother died on December 5, 1992 in a fire at Portwood Ranch in Seymour , Texas.

In 1994, Knowles fell while driving a merchandise cart up a ramp at a convention, and was subsequently run over by the 5,000-pound vehicle. The accident injured his back and left him virtually bedridden. With a surprising $ 5,000 inheritance from his mother's life insurance , he bought a high-quality computer and a friend set him up on the internet so they could play Doom together .

Knowles married Patricia Cho Jones on July 15, 2007 in Austin.

On April 4, 2008, Knowles announced that he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes . On May 20, 2008, he underwent gastric banding surgery to alleviate his diabetes and lose much of the weight he had gained as a result of health problems. In January 2011 he underwent emergency spinal surgery. According to Knowles, the operation restored the feeling of feeling in his legs for the first time in 15 years. He is now receiving physiotherapy in order to learn to walk again.

Career

After buying a computer in 1994, Knowles taught himself how to use it and the Internet and began to be active in newsgroups exchanging gossip and rumors with fellow fans about future films. After being criticized by future film critic Mike D'Angelo for posting binary images in the newsgroups, Knowles created the website that became Ain't It Cool News in February 1996 .

Because of the popularity of his website, Knowles has been in high demand by the mass media, including magazines, newspapers and television news. In 2000, he was ranked 95th on the Forbes Power List . He has also appeared on television for Siskel & Ebert & the Movies and Politically Incorrect .

Harry Knowles can also be seen in the documentary For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism as a proponent of online film reviews ; he articulates the gap between older and younger critics and advocates films by Michael Bay .

In the 2009 film Fanboys , he is played by Ethan Suplee .

Film events

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

Since 1999, Knowles has been hosting the Butt-numb-a-thon (BNAT) event on the weekend closest to his birthday (December 11th ). The event, also known as Geek Christmas , is a 24-hour film party that hosts unofficial film premieres, shows old films on a big screen, and shows unknown, mostly strange films. Film fans and professionals from America and around the world travel to the event, which is being held at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, in Austin. BNAT has been called "the most exclusive and mysterious closed film festival" and is "the most difficult film event to get into".

In addition, Knowles is working on the program for Austin's Fantastic Fest , an eight-day film festival that specializes in the genres of horror, science fiction and fantasy. The festival also takes place annually in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (more precisely South Lamar) in Austin.

Controversy

Knowles attends press events paid for by the film studios, including visits to film sets and premieres. The question arose whether this affected his articles and his reviews. He was flown to the premiere of Godzilla , among other things , and gave the film a very positive review afterwards, while the vast majority of film critics disliked the film. Knowles later turned around and criticized the film sharply. However, he and his followers stated that he also gave average reviews of films to whose events he was invited and, as a rule, often disagreed with the critics of the mass media. Knowles gave the movie Monkeybone a negative review, despite having a cameo in it.

In 1999 he wrote an article praising a screenplay by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan . However, he did not mention that McWeeny was an author of his website and wrote under the pseudonym "Moriarty". This and other flaws were featured in a series of articles from Film Threat magazine.

In early 2000, Knowles released material stolen from an ABC employee's home PC , which Knowles believed would be the Oscar nominees to be announced the next day. When the actual nominees were published the next day, it turned out that the finalists were wrong in almost every category. Knowles admitted his mistake, but then revealed the IP address of the person holding the hacked computer. The Academy considered suing Knowles, but ultimately decided against it.

Filmography

literature

  • Harry Knowles, Paul Cullum, Mark Ebner: Ain't It Cool? Hollywood's Redheaded Stepchild Speaks Out. Warner Books, March 5, 20052, ISBN 0-446-52597-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernard Weinraub: The Two Hollywood; Harry Knowles Is Always Listening. The New York Times , November 16, 1997, archived from the original June 13, 2009 ; accessed on May 25, 2011 (English).
  2. ↑ Harry Knowles, Paul Cullum, Mark Ebner: Ain't It Cool? Hollywood's Redheaded Stepchild Speaks Out . 1st edition. Warner Books, 2002, ISBN 0-446-52597-9 , pp. 214 (English).
  3. ↑ Harry Knowles: Dum Duh Da Dummmmmm. Ain't It Cool News, July 15, 2007, accessed May 26, 2011 .
  4. ↑ Harry Knowles: Harry was jumping, squirming and squealing throughout THE RUINS ... and was shocked by that reaction ... Ain't It Cool News, April 4, 2008, accessed May 26, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Harry Knowles: What's happening with Harry ... Ain't It Cool News, January 15, 2011, accessed May 26, 2011 .
  6. ↑ Steve Ryfle: EXTRA: The Trouble With Harry Knowles. Hollywood.com, February 16, 2000, accessed May 26, 2011 .
  7. ↑ Overview for For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism. TCM Movie Database , accessed May 26, 2011 .
  8. ↑ Harry Knowles: OCTO-BNAT Attendees Chosen! Did you make it? Celebration or Sadness? Click Here To See. Ain't It Cool News, November 5, 2006, accessed May 27, 2011 .
  9. ^ The Trouble With Harry The Trouble With Harry / Want That Indefinable Internet Buzz? (No longer available online.) The Hollywood Reporter , Aug. 24, 1999, archived from the original on May 19, 2011 ; accessed on May 27, 2011 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.allbusiness.com
  10. ↑ Stephen Metcalf: Attack of the Fans: Harry Knowles and the menace of generic movie love. Slate , August 15, 2002, accessed May 27, 2011 .
  11. ^ Godzilla (1998). Rotten Tomatoes , accessed May 27, 2011 .
  12. ^ A b Ron Wells: Ain't It Criminal: Deconstructing Harry (part 3). Film Threat, July 17, 2000, accessed May 27, 2011 .
  13. ↑ Ron Wells: Deconstructing Harry: Ain't It Unethical? (part one). Film Threat, June 8, 2000, accessed May 27, 2011 .
personal data
SURNAME Knowles, Harry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knowles, Harry Jay (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American internet film critic
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Austin , Texas, United States