15 February 2000

OSCAR NOMINATION MORNING

Good morning…this is kind of a starter kit for the column today. You see, I'm going to the Oscar nomination party at 5:30 a.m. out here, broadcasting live on Yahoo! Chat. The column will be updated sometime during the day today after the first official event of the Academy season.

Or is it?

Harry Knowles ran a list of categories and between 8 and 11 nominees for each category, culled from early voting by an AICN reader who claims to have access. I gather that this source has been right in offering up predictions on other awards nominations and wins, so that explains why he or she is both believable and believed by AICN.

That said, here is another example of the irresponsibility of Harry Knowles and Ain't It Cool News, throwing the entire Internet movie community into the jackpot once again. And for what? Does Harry really believe that most people who care about the Academy Awards want to have the surprise ruined for them a day early? Or is Harry just indulging his ego at our expense one more time?

I have cautiously stayed out of The Harry Game over the last months. Partially, it's been because I have my own fish to fry; partially because AICN is evolving and they deserve a chance to make their leap before I judge every little thing that turns up over there; and to be completely honest, partially because I don't want to piss off Roger Ebert, who clearly loves Harry and AICN and who has been very generous to me over the past year. (That observation that will probably embarrass and upset Roger, who is a very private and honorable man, more than anything I've written about Harry. But if I am going to claim any moral high ground, I have to be willing to completely honest.) But this is exactly the kind of thing that goes beyond personal irritation. This is Harry pi**ing on my business…on my future…on my industry's future…and I can't remain silent while he does it.

The problem is, Harry knows better. If some tiny site ran this kind of thing, I could understand. They need the publicity. Harry doesn't need it. Worse, since AICN is the first word out of publicists' mouths when they talk about the Internet and movies (even if AICN's hit count doesn't actually deserve that status…Harry has claimed to at least one potential advertiser that he has about the same traffic as E-Bay,) what Harry does reflects on all of us where it really matters…with the industry that we feed and on which we feed off. And "we" includes Harry as much as anyone. When Harry publishes stunts like this, it gives everyone an excuse to say, "We fear the Internet", which is one of the stupidest screeds ever. At least LucasFilm was honest with themselves and everyone else when they banned Internet people from Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace junket because they wanted to control the Web traffic for their movie. Of course, they got screwed harder by the TV shows and newspapers than they ever would have been on the 'Net. But it is acceptable for people in this business to treat an entire medium as a monolith. And Harry is giving them more ammo.

But for the sake of fairness, let's look at this from one more side…does the public's lust for insight overwhelm any "old fashioned" rules? Well, this is my opinion. Immediate gratification is for young children. As one ages, one realizes that a big part of the joy of engaging your senses with something you've been anticipating is the wait. Yes, there is a rush to opening those Christmas presents before the morning comes. But here is my question…if you open the presents early, what is the joy of Christmas morning? They're just toys. Toys are forgotten. It is the wait that's exciting.

Hell, what was the most fun and most remembered part of the Star Wars hype last year? Countingdown's camp-out in front of the Chinese. Sure, the camp-out was sponsored and part of a Web strategy (Sorry, Lincoln, but it was a successful strategy), but it was exciting nonetheless because it spoke to what really makes event movies fun…the anticipation.

The current wave of entertainment writing suffers from an obsession with premature e-information. And it all started with Harry. It was excusable when it began because Harry was building something. Harry's enthusiasm and ignorance was palpable. And so, previously reflective writers suddenly became obsessed with beating Harry to the punch. Of course, dozens of writers had information that ran on Ain't It Cool for weeks before AICN got it and posted it, but held it back because there was a code amongst journalists. No more. The fabric is being torn down. And to what benefit?

You know what the best part of being a movie critic/writer is? I see movies before people are talking about them. I see them fresh. I don't even read the press kit stuff they hand me as I enter the movie until after I've seen the film. Why? Because the glory of movies is that they take you somewhere that you can't anticipate. And then, when they are good, you can go see them again and appreciate subtleties and complexities that one viewing won't expose.

The "closed shop" of Hollywood was closed too tight for too long. And for what part he had in opening the doors a bit, I honor and respect Harry Knowles. But now that he's let a little sunlight through, like anyone who's gotten what they wanted, he is not satisfied anymore. So the door has to open a little wider. And wider. And wider. Until there is no magic left. I don’t think that's what Harry wants. But he's crossed the line again today. And I hope he thinks the better of it as time goes by.

P.S. Please, no e-mail including jibes about Harry's weight or looks or accent. Those comments diminish you more than him.

READERS OF THE DAY: Two subjects flowed in on Monday. First, a theory that many wrote in with about The Beach and Snow Day. And then, a series of punishment options for Rex Reed after his "lapse in memory".

Peggy writes: "I just read your column regarding your surprise that Snow Day finished the weekend with that huge number…and to me the answer is obvious. Leo! I stood in line on both Friday and Saturday night at a cineplex in New Jersey and watched young person after young person being turned away because of the "R" rating. I believe a whole lot of that 14.8 million actually belongs to The Beach....when the kids snuck in with their Snow Day tickets. Had this occurred to you?? I saw the movie 3 times on the weekend, and even though the audience was quite varied, there were a whole lot of "underaged" viewers in the theater....so how'd they get in?? To me...no other explanation."

And Now, The Rex Patrol:

Michael: "Rex must still be mourning the death of Hedy Lamarr, who was well known for shoplifting in her day. Let's give the guy a break, he truly loves the idols of yesteryear like Ava Gardner and Lana Turner and still mentions them in his columns from time to time."

Tim: "For Senior Rex Reed - His punishment: A new employment opportunity as the head critic for "Sixty Second Preview". That way he can join the "It's the best [insert genre] of the year" club where he belongs. And all because they provided him with the nonfat yogurt of his choice at the press junket (as well as the occasional free CD!)"

John: "Put him in a 10x10 cell with nothing but The Mod Squad and High School High to watch for seven days. He'll never shoplift again."

Ellen: "Poor Rex Reed (ha ha ha)! Busted for boosting CDs can only be punishable by forcing him to sit Clockwork Orange-style to a marathon of ALL of the worst movies EVER created!!! Or else, send him to Iran and let them cut off his hands. I'd like to see him try to write a movie review with hooks! Am I mean? Am I cruel? Oh yeah!!!"

And finally, some perspective from Aaron: "I don't care about Rex Reed personally, but I hope that someday the police can pin a crime (ANY CRIME, PLEASE!) on Gene Shalit. Please. Put him away for a long time. For bad hair. For something. He needs to be put away. Or at least never allowed to review a movie again."

E ME: Why do I have a feeling that most of you already started writing?