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CNN Live At Daybreak

Interview with Harry Knowles, Aintitcool.com

Aired May 09, 2002 - 06:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The summer movie season is off to a boffo beginning. "Spider-Man" has raked in more than $140 million already, and a week from today "Star Wars Episode II" hits the big screen.

With more on the summer super flicks, Internet movie guru Harry Knowles joins me on the phone from Austin, Texas.

Hey, Harry, I love your Web site, aintitcool.com.

HARRY KNOWLES, AINTITCOOL.COM: Thank you. I've enjoyed doing it here for several years.

COSTELLO: The Internet has become a very useful tool for moviemakers. Are you reveling in the power of the Web?

KNOWLES: Well,...

COSTELLO: Don't be modest.

KNOWLES: ... I don't know. I've always considered the Internet as just, you know, cheap paper to print commentary on.

COSTELLO: But a lot of people read that commentary and moviemakers are taking notice. In fact, how did you happen to see "Star Wars Episode II," the new movie that's not even out yet?

KNOWLES: Well, I mean nowadays they're having press screenings left and right, but two months ago when I saw it, literally no one, I mean not even the studio at that point had seen the film. Lucas was having the film out at Skywalker. But I was doing a film festival here in Austin, Texas back around, I believe it was March 16 at the time, and I was doing a book signing for my new book. And a guy approached me claiming to have a copy of the film that he wanted to show me. I -- he asked me to go to his hotel room. And hoping to God that he wasn't wanting something else, I went to the hotel room and sure enough, he had the film and I watched it.

COSTELLO: OK, so what did you think of "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones?"

KNOWLES: Well it was a weird -- it was a weird -- it was weird edit (ph) to the film. It wasn't finished. But I really enjoyed it quite a bit. I felt that it had answered most of the problems that fans had had with "The Phantom Menace" and with Lucas' attempt to really sort of bring a lot of the adults that had issues with the film back.

COSTELLO: Yes, and one of those issues, of course, was the character Jar Jar Binks who was quite annoying to many people. How big of a role does that character have in the latest "Star Wars" flick?

KNOWLES: About two-and-a-half minutes. And of that, he only was terrible for about 15 seconds. He actually, I felt, plays a fairly poignant part into the film and it -- something that is really interesting as these other reviews begin coming in from the public, these screenings and the press screenings from around the country, we're getting pretty much unanimous positive reviews. Although I just -- one of my regular reviewers just saw it somewhere in the Midwest and had some issues with the movie.

COSTELLO: Got you. Hey, so what do you like better, "Spider- Man" or this "Star Wars" film?

KNOWLES: You know they're really different. For me personally, I think I love -- I grew up loving "Spider-Man" before I had even heard of "Star Wars."

COSTELLO: Sure.

KNOWLES: I mean like as a little, little baby. So for me I've waited 30 years and 5 months to see a good "Spider-Man" movie whereas I've only had, what has it been, you know three years since the last "Star Wars."

COSTELLO: Yes.

KNOWLES: So it's 10 times the wait. So I'm just like, yes, there's a "Spider-Man" movie. And you know for the last six-and-a- half years of my site I've been telling people that they did this -- a superhero movie the correct way you know it would break all box office records and...

COSTELLO: And it has. So that must mean...

KNOWLES: ... it did.

COSTELLO: Yes.

KNOWLES: You know so it's like yeah, awesome,...

COSTELLO: And that must mean...

KNOWLES: ... all right, they got it right.

COSTELLO: ... you like "Spider-Man" better?

KNOWLES: Yes.

COSTELLO: You can just come right out and say it. OK, Harry Knowles from aintitcool.com, thank you for joining us by phone this morning. We sure appreciate it.

KNOWLES: All right, thank you.

COSTELLO: Cool.

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