I'm new and I need to vent a few things

[Darkling]

Hello Everyone,

         I'm a long time fan of MST3K and Rifftrax and I only just joined here.  But I thought I should let you know what happened to the Rifftrax sample for The Room up on youtube.  It was the victim of a whirl wind temper tantrum.

The following is something I posted on another forum....


        Popular Online personality That Guy with the Glasses, Doug Walker AKA Nostalgia Critic is in the middle of a scandal.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com

       Nostalgia Critic is a popular online reviewer / heckler who mocks films and TV shows from the last thirty or so years.   The majority of what he reviews are science fiction and fantasy such as Independence Day, Hook, Ferngully, A troll in central park, A kid in King Arthur's court, Cloverfield, Super Mario Brothers, Gargoyles, Junior, He-man, Battlefield Earth, Flubber, and more...

            http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic 

         Last Tuesday Nostalgia Critic reviewed a fairly recent independent movie called The Room.  The review spoofed on Back to the Future as a means to "make the movie nostalgia" even though the film is only eight years old (He usually won't review anything less than ten years old).  Only six hours after the review was published the review for the Room abruptly was pulled down off the site along with a review of The Room done by Linkara (Another critic from That Guy with the Glasses website).

           All though Doug and Rob Walker had said they could not discuss it at the time the fan speculation had gone through the roof.

         http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19283

            To add to the apparent chaos the three minute sample for the Rifftrax (Formerly Mystery science Theater 3000) heckling of The Room was removed from youtube, reportedly because of a copyright claim by Tommy Wiseau (the writer, director and star of The Room).   

         Today I was told that Tommy Wiseau said on his Twitter that he doesn't mind criticism, but when more than two bash his movie it becomes a crowd.

              I don't know how true this quote is or if the quote might have been removed. I did I search on Twitter and this was the only Tommy Wiseau I could find.   If he did make that comment it's been removed now.

http://twitter.com/TommyWiseau?source=onebox

                  If Tommy Wiseau really did have the reviews and Rifftrax sample of The Room removed it could prove to be bad news for past and future reviews by Nostalgia Critic should the rights of Fair Use for film content in his reviews come into question.

       Update: As I write this for you guys the Nostalgia critic retaliated against Tommy Wiseau who definitely DID remove the review for copyright reasons despite fair use and spoof laws.

        Here's Nostalgia critic's somewhat funny response to his first legal issue shut down of one of his film reviews.

http://nostalgiacritic.blip.tv/

            For more information about this 'issue' you can E-mail the man who had the videos removed at   theroom@theroommovie.com

     

[RoninFox]

Plenty of people around here know who Doug Walker is, as he's made a popular iRiff and a Rifftrax Presents for sale through Rifftrax, but all the hoopla around the Room is news to me.  I was wondering why that review suddenly vanished.  Hope this resolves itself quickly, and Wiseau Films learns a valuable lesson about life and fair use laws.

[Darth Geek]

I hope Wiseau gets sued into oblivion.
Why now? The movie came out a few years ago, and as far as I know has NEVER received a single positive thing to say about it from day one. For good reason, I might add. He himself changed his mind after everyone bashed it and said it was a dark comedy (why dark? Seeing you blow your brains out was the feel good moment of the year, and gave the movie a happy ending!). Now he says, "don't make fun of my movie" just because he doesn't understand Fair Use laws?

We had fun making fun of you, now go away. And take Uwe Boll with you, too.

[mearnest]

http://thecinemasnob.com/2010/07/20/brad-and-jerrid-watch-the-room.aspx

[Compound]

          To add to the apparent chaos the three minute sample for the Rifftrax (Formerly Mystery science Theater 3000) heckling of The Room was removed from youtube, reportedly because of a copyright claim by Tommy Wiseau (the writer, director and star of The Room).   
     

Well, the thing is this isn't really new. Youtube yanks down Rifftrax samples all the time. They get a copyright complaint, they yank down a clip.  Sometimes it gets restored, sometimes it doesn't.

As for The Room, well, it wasn't removed recently. Back in April, when we were doing a list of favorite Rifftrax, there wasn't a sample up for it then either.

Frankly, as much as I empathize with the guys and NC, it is Wiseau's property. If he doesn't  want clips of the film floating around for whatever reason, he has the right to have them removed, especially on a for profit project. It may not be the wise thing to do. It may be overstepping  the bounds of what he as a copyright owner can demand. Or it may not. Frankly that's something for the lawyers to decide as you can make fairly decent arguments on both sides of the issue.

Does it suck that it got taken down? Sure. But a lot of the reviews do play pretty fast and loose with fair use and just sticking a note that a clip or song belongs to someone else isn't really a legally legitimate defense. Sad to say, but this was bound to happen at some point.

[RobtheBarbarian]

http://thecinemasnob.com/2010/07/20/brad-and-jerrid-watch-the-room.aspx

-dies laughing-

[Darth Geek]

Frankly, as much as I empathize with the guys and NC, it is Wiseau's property. If he doesn't  want clips of the film floating around for whatever reason, he has the right to have them removed, especially on a for profit project.

No he doesn't! We have Fair Use Laws to protect this type of thing. I think NC should have refused and left it up until the lawyers hashed out that it was all right in the first place. I know that costs money, but in a business like That Guy With The Glasses, to tackle such a one sided lawsuit like this now is to nip these things in the bud. How long before Uwe Boll comes calling and we lose the great Critic, Spoony and Linkara review of Alone in the Dark?!

[PsychoGoatee]

I hope Wiseau gets sued into oblivion.
Why now? The movie came out a few years ago, and as far as I know has NEVER received a single positive thing to say about it from day one. For good reason, I might add. He himself changed his mind after everyone bashed it and said it was a dark comedy (why dark? Seeing you blow your brains out was the feel good moment of the year, and gave the movie a happy ending!). Now he says, "don't make fun of my movie" just because he doesn't understand Fair Use laws?

We had fun making fun of you, now go away. And take Uwe Boll with you, too.

Well, just for the record, I for one respect Tommy, and there are people who have given it postive reviews, ironic hipsters count too!  Plus his appearance on Tim & Eric was funny. And lets not forget he's a marathon runner! And hey I've seen three Uwe Boll films in theaters, House of the Dead, Bloodrayne, and In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege tale.

So, anyways, I for one don't agree with the overly harsh "we mock you now go away" mentality you're throwing out there.

I'm a fan of the Glasses fellow, I agree it's lame his video got taken down, but I don't think Tommy should get sued to oblivion, call me crazy.

[spaceforarent]

Maybe I should ask Wiseau about this when I go to a screening of The Room in about two weeks.

[Darth Geek]

I hope Wiseau gets sued into oblivion.
Why now? The movie came out a few years ago, and as far as I know has NEVER received a single positive thing to say about it from day one. For good reason, I might add. He himself changed his mind after everyone bashed it and said it was a dark comedy (why dark? Seeing you blow your brains out was the feel good moment of the year, and gave the movie a happy ending!). Now he says, "don't make fun of my movie" just because he doesn't understand Fair Use laws?

We had fun making fun of you, now go away. And take Uwe Boll with you, too.

Well, just for the record, I for one respect Tommy, and there are people who have given it postive reviews, ironic hipsters count too!  Plus his appearance on Tim & Eric was funny. And lets not forget he's a marathon runner! And hey I've seen three Uwe Boll films in theaters, House of the Dead, Bloodrayne, and In The Name of The King: A Dungeon Siege tale.

So, anyways, I for one don't agree with the overly harsh "we mock you now go away" mentality you're throwing out there.

I'm a fan of the Glasses fellow, I agree it's lame his video got taken down, but I don't think Tommy should get sued to oblivion, call me crazy.

You're crazy.
I don't like the fame he's gotten, and how he seems to be just doing this as a publicity stunt but screws over legitimate talented people. There will always be morons who make really shitty movies, and we don't need a Wiseau  around to get stuff like Birdemic, Troll 2, and the like. I just don't like seeing untalented people profiting from their own failure and ineptitude.

[stansimpson]

Just a bit of direction here......

1.)  Best place for this might be the thread, "Feeling Nostalgic about The Room":
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,18422.0.html

B.)  A great place to vent is the thread, "RRRRRAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!"
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php/topic,4448.msg567649.html#new

III.)  Wiseau debunked that Twitter account.  His real account is something like TommyTheRoom or some sort of iteration of TheRoom.  Last I checked, it was just him telling people to go see the movie.  My favorite (authentic) tweet of his:  "'The Room' isn't just a movie.  IT'S YOUR LIFE!"

And finally.)  Welcome to the forum!  

[PsychoGoatee]

You're crazy.
I don't like the fame he's gotten, and how he seems to be just doing this as a publicity stunt but screws over legitimate talented people. There will always be morons who make really shitty movies, and we don't need a Wiseau  around to get stuff like Birdemic, Troll 2, and the like. I just don't like seeing untalented people profiting from their own failure and ineptitude.

I haven't seen Birdemic, but I think Tommy is a lot more talented than the people who brought us Troll 2. And Uwe Boll definitely has some talent, he makes very funny stuff. Plus, Wiseau has a strange charisma to him, like a rockstar / hobo / waiter or something, he looks like he's done it all.

They're riding on something, and whatever it is it's not just failure. Call me old fashioned.

[stansimpson]

Wiseau has a strange charisma to him, like a rockstar / hobo / waiter

^^QFT

A rockstar who part-times as a waiter who lives in a box.  You would totally believe that was a period in Wiseau's life.

[PsychoGoatee]

A rockstar who part-times as a waiter who lives in a box.  You would totally believe that was a period in Wiseau's life.

I think we've got Tommy's next movie! If he directed that, it could be his masterpiece. 

[Darkling]

        Apparently one of NC's fans just E-mailed them and got a reply that Nostalgic critic made misleading alternations to the movie's content.  Umm... That's called a parody.