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Harry Knowles Allegedly Assaulted Woman and Drafthouse Owners Didn’t take action.

Wow, this guy... sure wrote some things...

DKcPdnKXoAUU60k.jpg:large

This is creepy as fuck.
 

JeTmAn81

Member
I used to be a regular in the AICN chatrooms in the early 2000's. Harry would pop in from time to time. He always struck me as a bit weird but not like someone who was a serial sexual harasser.
 
Seen this posted on Twitter, Harry's review of Urban Legend (1998) and not that I want to pile on, but how was this tolerated as film criticism? It's straight up disgusting.





I don't even know what to say.

Welcome to the internet in the late nineties.

I have some good friends that wrote for film websites at that time, that are quick to defend people like Knowles from any criticism and quick to brand people as SJWs. It's depressing. They're scared of people watering down horror movies, you know, because that's a thing that really has happened, but when circling the wagons becomes a reflex, it's an issue.

Same with a lot of parts of the video game community (but thankfully not so much here on GAF), same when the police get criticized.

This shit needs sorting out. The internet used to be your best bud's basement, but know it's a big public gathering, and people need to get that through their heads and move on.

And maybe things that we used to nervously laugh at and not make a big deal at, are things that we can't remotely tolerate now.
 
I'm sure both "could" be, if you were so inclined.

Clearly the first accusation is more than just receiving a text however. The idea physically assualting someone and sending a crass but fairly harmless text are comparable is pretty ridiculous.

No one said that in this thread. We're pointing out the correlation of him sexually harassing women and assaulting women.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Brb. Writing a mashup of The Collector/Silence of the Lambs where Harry Knowles kidnaps a cast member from Urban Legends and forces them to apply Noxzema constantly.
 

foxdvd

Member
I stopped going to his site around 2000 because his rants were beyond strange. I remember his Charlies Angels review, and how most of it was about Cameron Diaz ass... I even see that I made a post in the comments section 17 years ago.!!! (3rd reply)

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/7352

From the review...


There are moments in film history of pure unadulterated joy of cinema. Where we see things on screen that reach into your chest and makes your heart grow two sizes too large. Cameron Diaz’s Swirling Ass is one such creation.

Remember that moment in SINGING IN THE RAIN… Where Gene Kelly suddenly and inexplicably bursts into song? Cameron Diaz’s Swirling Ass is very much the same type of thing

… the line work and shape of Spidey’s head was all wrong. And I think that Jr came after the advent of Underoos… So I’ll say that the Spidey in Diaz’s crotch was Romita Sr.


my response at the time was he needed to get laid...
 
So apparently from what I remember growing up, my dad mentioned he dated Knowles mother at some point in knowles youth, or I overheard hi m talking about it to someone he's visiting tomorrow from Austin, this should be an interesting conversation.
 
Yeah, AICN was always embarrasingly purile, and often I'd read their stuff and suffer through it because at the time they really were one of the only sites that were semi-comprehensively looking at lower end genre film.

Vern broke off many years ago now, haven't been back since his direct-to-video Steven Seagal reviews migrated to his own site.

http://www.outlawvern.com

There, its the best stuff AICN ever produced without having to support a creep. Just a guy on his own who's got a passion and a talent for writing about B-movies. If he turned out to be a monster too I'd be utterly crushed, bit I'm pretty sure he's decent (he's able to get a few good social justice points in a Scott Adkins review, somehow).
 
Oh, for the love of... truly, the only reason Ain't It Cool ever prospered was because they were the only ones doing what they did back in the day.

This reminds me, there was another site around the same time of AICN, that covered uncoming movies.

Was it call Event Horizon? Am I imaging it?
 
Wow, this guy... sure wrote some things...

DKcPdnKXoAUU60k.jpg:large

This is the first thing he's written that actually impresses me on any level. Most of the time he's a boring blowhard but this is some seriously interesting, seriously creepy shit. Maybe that's his appeal?

I visited AICN pretty regularly around the time of the Star Wars Special Editions and then leading into the prequels. Then one day I was watching Roger Ebert's show and he had Harry Knowles be the guest reviewer with him. I'd never seen the guy before and that was not what I was expecting.

Sci-Fi was working with him on a AICN TV show back in the day that never went anywhere. I cannot imagine what that would've been like...
Ebert was always interested in promoting up and coming film critics, especially those who wrote online. Knowles REALLY did not belong on that show, though.
 
I visited AICN a lot back in the early 00's, when the prequels, LotR and Matrix sequels were all swirling around. I've always hated Knowles because he's a garbage writer with garbage opinions but I can't say I remember all this creepy stuff. I may have simply missed it (I did avoid most of his reviews) or it may not have left an impression at the time as I was a shithead teenager. It doesn't surprise me though, the dude has always been off in one way or another.

And a shoutout to Moriarty, Quint and Vern, wherever those guys are.

This guy has always weirded me out.

Is this the right time to link to his Blade 2 "review"?

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/11793

It's his classic move of bragging about his connections (Guillermo Del Toro sees him as his brother apparently, and they spend their days talking about art and sex), and the rest of the review is just one, weird, baffling thing about oral sex.

You're better off not reading it. The guy has issues.

This is just one example of a long list of Knowles acting like a sheltered dick, but it seemed appropriate to the current situation.

It is not physically possible to finish reading this review.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
This reminds me, there was another site around the same time of AICN, that covered uncoming movies.

Was it call Event Horizon? Am I imaging it?

Dark Horizons.
 

Hesemonni

Banned
I used to frequent to that site mainlyto see the rumours of the industry on a headline level because I always found some of the editing and writing style be insufferable. But I didn't think more of it.

Like some others I was really surprised wen I stumbled upon the site, I think, last week and the layout and everything was the same as 20 yrs ago.

What a crappy person.
 
how do people write this shit and think any girl would be attracted to this?

or is this some weird thing to satisfy their own ego? by writing shit like a jackass?
 
Wow what a creep. Fuck this dude. I used go visit AICN religiously when they had the first ever scoops, reviews and insightful discussions. Even their comments section was informative and funny, some with interesting usernames.
 

collige

Banned
Seen this posted on Twitter, Harry's review of Urban Legend (1998) and not that I want to pile on, but how was this tolerated as film criticism? It's straight up disgusting.





I don't even know what to say.
Jesus, dude was already getting ethered in the comments 19 years ago.
Hell yeah we chicks, excuse me Harry, we "sluts" and "blonde fuck queens" enjoyed getting a look at some P & A from Ryan Phillipe in "54" (god knows besides the disco granny and Blondie tunes there was no other reason to see that film). I I think it is your pimp/horndog tone which we could ALL do without. ... the shit about putting her over a barrell, plugging a hole, etc. Then you turn around and say she should see past your weight and looks, well hell, you're off to a helluva start there. I think all of us just saw all we needed to of the true Harry, and even if you look like a Greek god in another life, spewing shit like that would turn off anyone but a $20 an hour hooker. I doubt you saw many postings from women about Ryan Phillipe that said "oooooo baby. I'd like to straddle his boner for a few hours. Hot damn. I'm getting moist ....I don't know how much longer I can type. I just know Ryan's turning, churning male madness would love a piece of my ass if he could only see me for the wonderful personality that I really am....etc. etc." Luckily, we sluts and blonde fuck queens don't need to boast about our lustings in order to assert our heterosexuality.
God damn
 

The Kree

Banned
Here's a fun drinking game: Pick any random Harry Knowles movie review and take a shot for every paragraph that has nothing to do with the fucking movie he's reviewing.
 
this is freaking hilarious because back when I once in a while frequented AICN everybody roasted the shit out of this fusion of a million leprechauns. back then I thought it was funny but a bit cruel.

now that there's context behind those personal attacks its less troubling and more of a "he reaps what he sows" type of deal.

I feel bad for patrons of BNAT and Fantastic Fest and those sorts of amazing festivals that the Alamo Drafthouse hosted. Its a loss for film fans sadly as this mess is slowly revealed every week.
 
Envying everyone here who hasn't had these reviews seared into their brain for the last 15 or 20 years.

Yeah I never directly visited AICN, everything about it screamed tryhard basement-dwelling boy's club. Whenever I did see a gaf thread based on their content I wondered if they were even a reputable source because of how shambolic the website looked (plus the dumb as hell name).
 
Reading some of these excerpts... how did this dude make it big?

As others have said, they were really the only people writing for film nerds, vs film buffs. Basically, most critics turned their nose up at certain genres (something that's still broadly true). Mix that with a film news focus on geek friendly movies, and you get their success.
 

Sobriquet

Member
Reading some of these excerpts... how did this dude make it big?

I was in Austin at the time he first started getting publicity. I was a recently graduated film major, so had seen him at all the same events for the past few years (Linklater's stuff, Rodriguez', Tarantino's). I checked out one of his "reviews", was flabbergasted, and never went back to AICN again. This was in '97.
 

okdakor

Member
Reading some of these excerpts... how did this dude make it big?

He was maybe the first guy publishing test-screening reviews, stolen pics, castings... with a network of people working in the industry. His first "success" was to piss off execs oblivious to the internet, with the Batman & Robin case (from wiki) :

The website garnered national attention in 1997 with the release of Batman & Robin. Knowles posted several negative reviews from preview screenings. When the film performed poorly at the box office, studio executives complained that it had been sabotaged by the leaks to the Internet. However, negative reviews from other, more traditional media confirmed what Knowles had posted. From there, the site's popularity rapidly expanded. National magazines such as People and Newsweek called for interviews with Knowles.

Then execs changed their communication strategy and they started to "buy" these web-reviewers... set visits, specials screenings, promotional material... suddenly it was the age of the movie-geek
 

Truant

Member
I feel like, growing up, you were either a AICN guy or a JoBlo guy. I was the latter. Hope that dude isn't a child rapist or something.
 

border

Member
Reading some of these excerpts... how did this dude make it big?

Nobody that followed the site gave a shit about his reviews. His taste was highly questionable from the start. His insistence that he should recount the entire day he went to see the movie on made them a non-starter from the first paragraph.
 
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