KNOWLES BIOGRAPHIES
Harry Jay KNOWLES (b
1971)
On-Line Film Critic
Knowles Progenitor:
Samuel Lihu Knowles - England #02 (Nottingham)
based on article from
Wikipedia,
and Knowles research by Robert B. Noles
GENEALOGY
Harry Jay Knowles (b 1971)
s/o Jarrell Jay Knowles (b 1945)
s/o Jay Will Knowles (1919 - 2002)
s/o Lewis Winford Knowles (1889 - 1961)
s/o Benjamin "Rube" Knowles (1864 - 1965)
s/o Benjamin Lihu Knowles (1834 - 1925)
s/o Samuel Lihu Knowles (1797 - 1887)
[Knowles Progenitor: England #02 - Nottingham]
Harry Jay Knowles (born December 11, 1971 in Austin, Texas) is an online film critic best known for his movie news and review website, Ain't It Cool News. He also appears in Sky Movies News for Sky Digital, and as of April 2006, he's the film critic for Penthouse magazine.
Knowles's
early years were spent traveling the Southwest and Mexico with his parents, Jay
and Helen, 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 Helen Loraine Knowles. The kids 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
other activities included scouting 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 down a ramp at a convention, and was
subsequently run over by the cart with its 1200 lb 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.
A principle 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." Knowles has made guest appearances
on Siskel & Ebert & the Movies and Politically Incorrect.
On March 15, 2003, Knowles's place in the pop culture pantheon was solidified
when he 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!"
In
2002, Knowles was shown early cuts of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
by Lucasfilm’s licensing head, Howard Roffman. Prior to posting the early
spoiler-filled review on his site, Knowles boasted of the “leak” to Matt Drudge
and long time friend and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. While attending the
Austin Film Festival Knowles told Rodriguez that the leak originated “from the
top.” Lucasfilm released a statement to the press on October 9, 2002
claiming that it had made an arrest in connection with the leak, but no such
charges were ever filed. On October 15, 2002 Knowles posted his own reply
to the crime disassociating himself from the man arrested. No one was ever
charged with the crime.
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. For
example, he was flown to the premiere of Godzilla, and gave the movie a wildly
positive review, while a vast majority of critics disliked the film.
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 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. 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.
Perhaps his most egregious—and inauspicious—lapse of ethics occurred in early
2000 when Knowles posted materials stolen from an ABC staffer's home computer,
which Knowles believed 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 posted several excuses for this action when it
became clear he was wrong, including the IP address of the ABC staff person in
question.
Knowles recently touched off controversy when he let slip during a review of the
2006 remake of The Omen that he brought along his five-year old nephew to watch
the horror movie.
