Comments on: Ratner not so committed to Conan after all

By: Julius Brown

Julius Brown — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:51:53 +0000

Actually my complaint revolves around this comic book blog becoming little more than a clearing house for any Hollywood press release. If the point was really only to point others in the direction of such stories a simple movie link dump would’ve been fine. Instead, it seems that “contributors” are merely cruising entertainment publications and dumping that material here instead of really (1) adding anything to it such analysis or (2) doing anything like fact checking instead of just dumping it here or (3) producing content that is truly comic book centered. There are a lot of comic blogs out there and a good handful. Frankly, the quality of newsarama.com and blog@ have both gone downhill since the switchover/buyout. I certainly don’t come here first anymore for news or commentary.

From what I read, many forum users have been very frustrated and have abandoned ship altogether and looked for Certain Better Resources on the web. Spewing press releases is not meaningful content nor are masses of preview pages. Interviews, news, and commentary about comics are why I come here. If I want news on movies there are plenty of good places for that like, um, Hollywood Reporter.

I also find it laughable that anyone would point toward MTV.com reporting anything as being a sign that reputable sources were also hoodwinked here.

By: James Bradley

James Bradley — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:53:37 +0000

“Yes, I read it hence, my calling it minor comments in a PUBLICATION. (Did you even read my post?) As opposed to the shady website you seem to have mentioned. Although Rich Johnston’s comic book rumor column is much more reliable than the reporting found here, so I wonder which website is the shady one. Maybe the one that desperately grabs at any press release with little or no analysis or restraint.”

I see where Julius is coming from on this — that any news reporting entity should be careful with information they receive and do their homework before going to press, even if they do receive a press release … if for no other reason than to check facts and maybe get some additional perspective that will make the story that much better.

In this case, though, it seems he’s barking up the wrong tree. One of the purposes of a blog is to point people to news or commentary on other websites, which this blog does quite often. Whether Julius believes it or not, the Hollywood Reporter is a good source for movie news, and in most cases, is also reliable.

This happened to be one of those cases where they weren’t, which happens. However that reflects on the Hollywood Reporter, I don’t think that reflects poorly on this blog at all, which did point out in the post above that they got something wrong … I’m not sure what else you could ask for, beyond asking them not to report on news, which would defeat the purpose of them doing what they do.

By: Mesrono

Mesrono — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:29:26 +0000

somone tell please me when new conan movie come to overseas please.

By: Alan Moore

Alan Moore — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:59:22 +0000

I have the comment issue as well, where I get a javascript error when I try to post a comment.

Another nit I have about the site is that the content in the middle column is pushed to the bottom of the page sometimes, underneath the list of contributors. It isn’t all the time, so maybe it’s my browser. Anyone else have this trouble?

By: Holly P.

Holly P. — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:49:57 +0000

Julius’s complaint about the lack of content on Newsarama is spot on. Is this a comic book blog or a Hollywood rumor blog? I’d rather read one of Carla or Tom’s column, or a review, than another “Hey look, they’re making another comic book movie, maybe” story. Until I can actually buy a ticket, who cares?

By: The Ugly American

The Ugly American — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:45:57 +0000

But seriously, no one cares about Conan? No one?

Ok. Carry on.

By: jethro

jethro — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:39:03 +0000

first off, no, it wasn’t a “minor comment” in a publication, it was a story on a major hollywood publication’s website about a major hollywood movie. this wasn’t a rumor or a “someone’s brother said” kind of story, it was based on a press release from the producer of the movie. hence my did you even read the post? question.

“Lerner acknowledged that even though he sent out a press release announcing Ratner’s involvement with the project, the deal wasn’t actually done.”

you seem pretty quick to jump all over this, so maybe you have some sort of beef with the blog that i don’t know about, but your initial comment seems overly harsh and much ado about nothing. I don’t see the blog doing anything wrong by reporting what was said in a major, usually reliable hollywood trade, then issuing a correction when it was found out that the producer was lying.

By: Hawksmoor

Hawksmoor — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:10:33 +0000

Actually Frank, MTV’s Splash Page blog had the exact same coverage that Blog@Newsarama did for this story. They did a post based on the Hollywood Reporter story too, then did a follow-up that linked to the L.A. Times piece.

And while their MTV connections probably give them better access to celebrities and the like than Newsarama has, most of their coverage is similar to the movie and Tv coverage you find here.

From my own perspective, I like the fact that I can go to one blog and find breaking movie news, small press comics coverage and commentary on the big 2 in one place. I hardly visit the main site anymore and just come here. Julius’s snarky comment about the blog lacking meaningful content is B.S.; I wonder if he’s reading the same blog as I am.

My only complaint is that the blog rarely lets me comment nowadays without giving me an error!

By: The Ugly American

The Ugly American — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:46:41 +0000

Sorry, I thought this was the thread where people would be bitching about Brett Ratner, not the thread where people would be bitching about Newsarama.

Carry on.

By: Frank Black

Frank Black — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:48:12 +0000

I don’t think Julius was taking The Hollywood Reporter to task. I think his comments were aimed at Newsarama, right Julius? (Admittedly, it was difficult to tell from his first comment who he was aiming his fanboy rampage at).

I’d be curious to hear from someone at the blog on the whole Hollywood reporting situation. Although I think you do a good job of covering comic news stories that the bigger sites (including the bigger Newsarama.com site) fail to cover or won’t cover, your Hollywood reporting typically follows whatever Variety and the Hollywood Reporter report. With Newsarama’s direction moving toward movies, TV and video games, has it been more difficult to gain the right kinds of access so you can cover those areas as well as comics? Other movie websites (like MTV.com and their new Splash Page site) meanwhile seem to cover those areas on their own without as great of reliance on the trades.

I guess this is my way of saying I’d like to see more about comics themselves and less about comic book (and related) movies and stuff. But that’s just me.

By: ed the dead

ed the dead — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:31:03 +0000

Has the Hollywood Reporter acknowledged their mistake, or even acknowledged that they changed their own story? It says “Updated” at the top of it, but they don’t say what they updated. It looks like they completely changed the first few paragraphs.

Julius is right; they should have known better before publishing the story, or at least admitted it was wrong afterwards.

By: Julius Brown

Julius Brown — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:33:02 +0000

Yes, I read it hence, my calling it minor comments in a PUBLICATION. (Did you even read my post?) As opposed to the shady website you seem to have mentioned. Although Rich Johnston’s comic book rumor column is much more reliable than the reporting found here, so I wonder which website is the shady one. Maybe the one that desperately grabs at any press release with little or no analysis or restraint.

By: jethro

jethro — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 23:56:40 +0000

did you even read the post, julius? this wasn’t some rumor reported on a shady website, this was based on a press release that the producer of the film sent to the major hollywood trades — a press release where the producer apparently lied about ratner’s involvement. or stretched the truth, at least.

as for the news itself, all I can say is, good. let ratner make a crappy beverly hills cop sequel instead of destroying conan.

By: Julius Brown

Julius Brown — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:34:40 +0000

Gee, maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about and shouldn’t just keep spreading around base speculation based on minor comments in any publication I happen to run across. Oh but then I would have to actually create meaningful content. Oh well!

BRETT RATNER HAS MYSTERY PROJECT: BEGINS WITH THE LETTER “H”.
IS IT THE HUMAN TORCH MOVIE?!!

spare me.

By: midknighter1982

midknighter1982 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:19:08 +0000

shot in china? do we get to see khitai?

this flick is so rooting in development hell (which sucks)