Not all film critics are created equal.
Some do their darndest to assess each and every film in a fair, responsible fashion.
Others rave about virtually every movie they see.
And then there’s Paul Fischer, who falls partly into the latter category – with a twist.
Turns out he’s a plagiarist as well as a hack.
The Vancouver Sun has the goods on Fischer, someone I’m pretty sure I’ve seen during my days as a movie junketeer.
A former colleague, Kelly Jane Torrance, recalls Fischer posting an “exclusive” interview with Anne Hathaway that was actually part of a film junket Q&A. Junkets allows a gaggle of film journalists to sit around a big table and pepper an actor or director with questions.
Exclusive? Hardly.
So all the better that Fischer gets exposed for his journalistic sins. But what about the media outlets that post his work? Will they continue to do so? Or will new outlets give him a try?
Update: Ace film critic Roger Moore reports Dark Horizons is yanking Fischer’s stuff off its web site.
Related posts:
on 
on 
on 
on 
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Employers are eager to replace us with Celeb Info-Nuggets that will pimp to the mouth-breathers, who underline the words with their index fingers whilst they watch television,” wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic at the Sun-Times, before recalling the words of fellow Pulitzer winner David Mamet to his long-time TV partner Gene Siskel: “As a critic, everything you say depends on your credibility. When you sell that, somebody else owns it.
I can never read enough vitriol aimed at Ben Lyons, or those like him, like this Fischer fellow.
This post reminded me of something I was going to write for Threedonia – the gutter of entertainment journalism. Whether it’s Yahoo or TMZ, the writing is absolutely atrocious and is by far the worst in all media. It editorializes beyond belief and most wouldn’t be fit in a 14-year-old’s “Dear Diary.” My wife left some Yahoo tidbit off their “entertainment news” site open on the computer. The absolute worst news reporting I’ve ever read, no matter what department. This “news” story called one reality show contestant a whore and went on to make remarks about speaking accents and how people dressed.
Critic hints at some form of erudition or intrinsic knowledge of what you are covering, be it film, music or other wise. I write movie reviews, that doesn’t make me a critic. What I read on Yahoo was filled with personal attacks at American Idol contestants to garbage better left in the comment section.
Good on Ya! for illuminating this – if industries cannot reliably police themselves, their ability to be taken seriously approaches zero.
D