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Movie Review Hoax Played on Time Warner
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Posted By:
pacifico555
May 08, 2005
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I was emailed a link to a story about a movie reveiwer (R. Petralia) working for a popular entertainment website (Rhino.com) which until recently was part of Time Warner (it was spun out with the sale of Warner Music Group but that's another story). Anyway, the reveiwer regularly made up reviews completely unrelated to the movies. While anyone paying attention would have been able to tell the difference what I heard from people at Rhino (where I got the email) is that they had no idea because he uploaded the stories directly.
The full story with links to the original Rhino posts can be found at http://informedsources.blogspot.com/2005/05/weekend-feature-movie-review-hoax.html#comments
Here are two of the several movies cited with obviously fake reviews:
The Aviator: "The Aviator is a gripping look at the life of aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh..."
Alexander: "Alexander is an historical drama so disconnected from actual history that by film's end I had the sensation of floating in the mossy dankness of Oliver Stone's bong water. Director Stone presents a highly inventive look at the life of America's first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton..."
Pretty funny reading and the story links to the actual reviews that were still up on the Rhino site when I last checked. However, I'm not sure how the Rhino people are taking it (likely not too well). I also heard that he had been posting fake movie, music and product reveiws on Amazon for more than a year before someone complained and he and all of his stuff was pulled.
I know that you can't believe what you read (especially on the Internet) and this site wouldn't exist if that weren't true but I have to admit that a movie hoax played on a media company that owns a movie studio to be a bit more than ironic.
This can't be the first time this has happened but I'm at a loss to think of another example.
<a href="http://informedsources.blogspot.com/2005/05/weekend-feature-movie-review-hoax.html#comments" title="Link to Hoax Story">Link to Hoax Story</a>
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Comments
Maegan
in Tampa, FL - USA
Member
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 | 10:08 AM
Wasn't a book publisher sued for fake reviews? They made up reviews & critics...
"Riveting," Rhode Island Sun's Mickey Smith.
The reviews were fakes & so were the names of papers, and critics.
The reviews were related to the book, however. |
Charybdis
in Hell
Member
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 | 01:00 PM
Didn't Sony get into this trouble a few years ago? |
Pacifico555
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Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 | 11:01 PM
I don't remember about the fake book reviews but do remember that it did become an issue with movie reviews.
What's interesting about this isn't that it is a quote but a complete fabrication of the movie.
It's as if he reviewed "Star Wars" as a Carl Sagan bio pic and had it published.
I re-read the reviews and they really are funny and worthy of being emailed around as jokes. But for them to be published, that level of deception does appear to be unprecedented. |
Cranky Media Guy
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Posted: Thu May 12, 2005 | 01:59 AM
Yes, Sony got into "trouble" a few years back because they had invented a fake movie reviewer named David Manning who, naturally, gave their releases rave reviews.
I put "trouble" in quotes because, as far as I know, absolutely nothing happened to them over this. |
pacifico555
Member
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Posted: Thu May 26, 2005 | 11:20 PM
Well, I'm sure they stopped the practice, didn't tell? Please tell me it's okay to go back and believe those quips and one-word reviews in movie ads. |
Cranky Media Guy
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 | 12:49 AM
Pacifico, yeah, SONY "fired" David Manning but the practice of at least semi-fake movie reviewers continues. When you see a quote from a critic who loves a movie all the other critics seem to hate, check to see if he's from Wireless Magazines. Yes, plural.
In fact, do a Google search on that guy (his name escapes me for the moment). There are a few pretty interesting articles about the guy out there. |
frank the snake
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 | 05:55 PM
I just heard this same guy interviewed on KFI. He's a real card. He told a story about the time he pretended to be writing a book about the guy who always dresses up as a chicken mascot (the "San Diego Chicken" nee "KGB Chicken") and while he was on the air the real chicken guy heard him and came after him with a bat. Well, that was the story anyway. Laughed my *** off. |
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Note: This thread is located in the Old Forum of the Museum of Hoaxes.
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