comment #1

Scott Weinberg says ...

Dude. You have GOT to be kidding me. Every one of the "cool kidz" (including Rocchi, Voynar, Snider, and myself) were friendly and civil to you during the first night -- and then the next morning you pulled some absolutely horrific shit on a bunch of really cool people.

If I'd done the same thing, I wouldn't be one of the cool ones anymore. That you're trying to twist this into a victim's story is simply staggering. Your behavior yesterday was reprehensible and your first responsibility is to publish an open apology to the festival.

comment #2

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Wondering how long Weinberg's comments are going to last, because this confirms a suspicion I had soon as read Jeff's post about blowing off the media panel more or less because he was in a bad mood over something he once had posted on HE but later removed.

One had to assume that the media panel was a "here are out guests" kind of thing and attendance is sort of expected at such considering the fee the festival is paying.

comment #3

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Guess the smart money was on Don Lewis...

comment #4

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Weinberg: I can't explain it but I just inwardly collapsed yesterday morning after I couldn't get the wifi going, at least to the extent that I couldn't upload photos, which kept me up half the night talking to my server's tech guy. I was whipped. I had woken up at 5 am NYC time earlier that morning so I could get some work done before catching the bus to La Guardia, and then all the wireless trouble happened at the Downtown Motor Inn and I just saw red from all the stress and fatigue.

Apparently the festival folks took the word of the hotel about their level of wifi service without checking it out. I would have. In any case I couldn't sleep because of the stress and woke up at 4 am again, so I was really shagged and running on empty. And then this brick wall appeared in my head and somehow the words "not doing the panel" came into my head. I felt worn down and not lucid and not all that welcome, really, given the wifi reception that had greeted me, in a sense.

Fast and dependable broadband is the whole thing when you visit a film festival. If it's not happening the entire thing collapses. I would have been more cool with a motel room without a bed or pillows or a bathroom than I would a room without working wifi. If the wifi isn't working well how can you do what you're obliged to do in accepting a trip to a film festival, which is cover it well? I can imagine someone getting really upset if they came into a motel room and there was no bed or bathroom. Believe me, that's nothing when it comes to absence of good wifi. It's a completely unpalatable and unacceptable thing when you're offering digs to a visiting journalist. No ifs, ands or buts.

The festival offered its apologies to me about the wifi, and I said it's fine, no worries, but I might as well leave, given the situation. Then they said we have another place (a Holiday Inn) and I said thanks and checked in and it's been great since yesterday noon. They've been very nice and obliging about it.

I was brought up by good middle-class people, Scott, and I fail to see how this translates into "really horrific shit." The greater wrong was in not providing decent wifi. Showing up at a little panel didn't seem like a big deal. Covering the festival and giving it some attention to people in NY and LA who haven't attended is what matters, I think. You feel otherwise...fine. You're a very bright and perceptive guy, Scott, but you have some really horrific hyperness going on in your personality as well.

comment #5

JHR says ...

Jeff, it sounds like you have used this paid trip to do sightseeing instead of what you agreed to do for the festival. You have commented repeatedly on the sights, and have made note of all the movies and panels you have skipped, but the film commentary has been almost non-existent.

You probably need to take a step back and look at the situation with some objectivity, but your behavior does sound questionable - maybe it doesn't rise to the level of "horrific shit" - but it is not something you should be proud of, either.

comment #6

George Prager says ...

"Really horrific shit"(?) Scott Weinberg has led a sheltered life.

comment #7

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to JHR: This is a very small, regional film festival with little if any interest for a general reading audience. I had a choice yesterday between talking about topics that a lot of people will have at least some interest in, and films that nobody knows or cares about, no matter what I could say about them. I was going to attend the doc this morning about the Mississippi murders but things built up and I couldn't get there on time. I did, however, give a lot of hype to this festival, both before arriving and since being here. You know how it works. I think that the eternals and aromas of a region are more meaningful than the content of a local film festival. I think the breaded wasabi sauce on top of the salmon served yesterday afternoon at the City Grocery was more meaningful and profound than a lot of the movies that played here. In any case I paid a lot of attention to those aromas and eternals. And many more people in the world out there are now aware of the Oxford Film Festival than before. I've lived up to my end of the bargain, I think.

comment #8

Aladdin Sane says ...

By failing to appear at the panel you did not live up to your end of the deal. Sure you have brought maybe more awareness to the fest, but at what cost? Nobody is going to side with you on this one.

comment #9

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Things are cool between Melanie, the festival den mom, and myself. She's been very nice, a caring person. That's all I care about at this point.

comment #10

maxfm says ...

"I think the breaded wasabi sauce on top of the salmon served yesterday afternoon at the City Grocery was more meaningful and profound than a lot of the movies that played here."

Unbelievable. And I completely second JHR's comments.

Clueless? Arrogant? Spoiled?

All of the above?

comment #11

byanyother says ...

Somehow I don't think not showing up for the panel was the "really horrific shit" but I could be wrong.

comment #12

scooterzz says ...

the phrase 'doesn't play well with others' comes to mind....

comment #13

Jeffrey Wells says ...

If you're too "doesn't play well with others," you're going to have trouble in life. Or end up a loner or a loser. But a little bit of "doesn't play well with others" isn't too bad. It means a strong streak of individuality.

comment #14

mtgilchrist says ...

Amazing, Wells, but remarkably predictable - no matter what happens, you never take any responsibility for anything you do, which is why you estrange yourself from other journalists, not the other way around, and not just at events like this one. Act like a grownup and be a responsible professional and just admit that you had a temper tantrum and responded inappropriately. "The greater wrong was in not providing decent wifi?" Give me a break.

No one's doubting that you had wifi problems. But the way to handle it like a professional and an adult is to say "the hell with it tonight, I'll talk to the festival people in the morning and see if they can move me to another hotel. They were decent enough to put me up at their expense, so I should at least try to fulfill my obligations as an attendee and participate in the events that they brought me in for." (Especially since it was one night; it wasn't like you got halfway or two thirds through and still weren't accommodated.)

As far as the rest of the festival is concerned, for a guy who fancies himself a voice of authority in the film journalism world, you should know that small films often live precisely because of praise or acknowledgment from critics who attend festivals. If you were generally the kind of writer who only "gave the people what they wanted," then you'd stop posting about Che and focus on The Dark Knight, as you took me to task (publicly) last year for joking about. But you aren't, which is why you should be seeing films and writing about them rather than talking about breaded wasabi sauce and the places you saw. God knows you could see the next Juno there, but if you are going to dismiss the possibility of seeing something that your readers might be interested in, even if they don't know it yet, then this has just become either a personal blog about your (apparently literal) idiosyncratic tastes or another sellout site that covers only what's already been covered to death.

comment #15

Scott Weinberg says ...

Yep, I'm a pretty hyper guy, Jeff. It doesn't please me, but it's something that's been with me my whole life. My friends are well aware that I even take medication for my loudness.

But I'm a good guy. So people forgive the hyperness. You bringing it up is kinda tactless and entirely pointless.

comment #16

maxfm says ...

Speaking of superb small films that played small festivals similar to the OFF and received almost ZERO exposure, Shotgun Stories with Michael Shannon is on Sundance a few times this weekend.

Worth a look. (And great post mtgilchrist...)

comment #17

Bingo says ...

This is just fascinating to me as a psychological study in narcissism. Because, for Jeff, there is only one real interest: Jeff. He has no idea or concern how his actions will affect other people.

Recall, just a couple of weeks ago, when he went into a public rage on this blog because he had left a mouldy old cowboy hat last year in a hotel in Park City which he believed would guarantee him a room for this year, despite the fact that he hadn't bothered to contact the hotel in the interim, or left a deposit, like any normal human being.

Remember how he then publicly slagged off the poor hotel keeper, who didn't seem to appreciate that a mouldy old cowboy hat lying around a hotel for a year means that Jeffrey Wells, no less, expects to be gracing the premises again.

Jeff believes that the world operates according to his rules, and for him, it does. Which is why he's Jeffrey Wells.

comment #18

scooterzz says ...

y'know, judging from what i'm reading on-line, wells may be generating more publicity for this little film fest than any appearance on a panel may have...
all the while enhancing his own reputation as a legendary scold.....
nicely played.....

comment #19

EricDSnider says ...

Wells, you are an amazing piece of work. The first reason no one has talked to you is that no one has SEEN you. At the festival-sponsored lunch yesterday, you had them serve you upstairs at the bar rather than downstairs at the tables, with everyone else. Then you didn't appear at any of the evening's screenings or parties.

But you're right that people are mad at you. And not just the cool kids (apparently defined as "people whose names you know"), but everyone in Oxford who has heard about what you did yesterday morning.

Which brings me to my main point:

As a matter of courtesy and professionalism I'll be covering tonight's awards ceremony at Oxford's Lyric Theatre.

Very big of you! Where was this courtesy and professionalism yesterday, when you threw a fit and refused to do the panel -- the ONE THING you were invited to do?

Yes, the festival organizers hoped you would cover the fest in your blog, too. But the official reason you were flown out here, at the fest's expense, was to do the panel. It's the same arrangement the rest of us had. If they'd just wanted your press coverage, they wouldn't have paid your way. They flew you here SPECIFICALLY to do the panel. You refused to do the panel for reasons unrelated to the festival. (The festival does not control the hotel or its wifi, and it's likely the Internet problems are a temporary problem, not an ongoing curse that could have been vetted beforehand -- if it was, indeed, even the festival's job to look into it for you.) You have therefore NOT fulfilled your end of the bargain.

Give it up, Wells. There's no way you're in the right about this one.

comment #20

Devin Faraci says ...

Jeff, you know I like you, but you're in the wrong here. You should pay back the plane ticket price. It's the only proper professional and polite thing to do.

comment #21

raygo says ...

Best thread ever.

comment #22

Christian Bale says ...

What don't you effin' understand, Wells?!

comment #23

Joe Gillis says ...

If Devin Faraci is slamming Wells' behavior, than he must have done some truly heinous shit. Man up and take responsibility for your actions, Jeff!

comment #24

byanyother says ...

"The festival offered its apologies to me about the wifi."

How sad that they were in the position of having to apologize for that. Struggling little festival just trying to get some ink. Jesus. I hope your son, an up and coming journalist, does not take his lessons from diva fits like this. No one should ever behave this way, no matter who they are or what they do.

comment #25

bridgeman says ...

This is the sort of thing that keeps me coming back. Don't ever change, Jeff (unless I start a film festival in my garage and I invite you).

comment #26

drgogol says ...

"I've lived up to my end of the bargain, I think."

I'd say that this decision rests entirely in the hands of the people who have actually paid money as part of the bargain.

comment #27

Circumvrent says ...

Asked to have a festival-sponsored lunch served elsewhere than the festival? Wow.

comment #28

Noel Murray says ...

"Covering the festival and giving it some attention to people in NY and LA who haven't attended is what matters, I think."

Even if you were right about this (and I don't think you are) I have to ask: Where is this coverage you speak of? Just mentioning a few times that you were invited to a festival doesn't really constitute "coverage." "Publicity," maybe.

For that matter, I've noticed an irritating trend in your coverage of other festivals (Cannes, Toronto, Sundance) to complain about how tired you are and how bad the wi-fi is, and not to write much about the actual movies you're seeing. I'm not doubting your exhaustion or your technology woes, but somehow your colleagues at sites like Sprout, Cinematical and /Film are able to pull it together enough to file several times a day, and cover fests fairly exhaustively.

I only say this because I enjoy your work; I think your reviews are a vital part of the bigger picture when it comes to festival coverage. And I feel like lately -- at fests at least -- you've been slacking.

comment #29

corey3rd says ...

Graceland Too is beyond painful. I'm a big Elvis fan, but there's the moment where you have to back away from the weirdness. I expect the Jungle Room 2.0 to be where Leatherface Jr stashes his victims.

comment #30

Chuck Walla says ...

Nice assessment Noel. It is truly stunning that for a man who makes his living at doing this, he cannot afford to/will not purchase/rent a wifi card for his business. Why must you be so dependent upon others to do what you need to do to be reputable?

Hell, it's even tax deductible! What a joke. I agree with bridgeman too. This is kind of stumbling over himself is the only reason to keep reading this site.

comment #31

drturing says ...

this blog is turning into Elizabethtown but starring Jeff Wells and his laptop instead of Bloom and Dunst.

comment #32

Ray says ...

I'm sure all those filmmakers who busted their asses to actually make a feature length motion picture for this event would not like to hear you describe their endeavors as less important than breaded wasabi sauce.

Devin is right. Return their money since you did not perform your job as expected. They didn't being you there to cover Graceland and salmon entrees.

comment #33

William Goss says ...

So who wants to tell him that wi-fi has been altogether outlawed at SXSW?

comment #34

MilkMan says ...

Jeff is one of the few film bloggers I can stand. Glenn Kenney is another one. Erich Kuertsen and some of the other people at Bright Lights. Most of the others, like Feinberg and Rocchi and Keller, et al. are self-righteous gate keepers. If Jeff happened to piss some of them off, well, that's really not that hard. Everything pisses them off because most of them are miserable people who think they're superhuman efforts should not go unnoticed or that by dint of having a blog, they somehow are higher up on the food chain than the rest of us anonymous losers. I can only imagine what print film writers, the few remaining ones, are like. although I suppose they might be nicer because at least they have a job. Jeff doesn't really give a fuck about being part of the cool crowd, and that's because he has already lived a little bit and knows that being in with the popular kids is pointless macho bullshit. Keep up the good work, Jeff. I love your site.

comment #35

mtgilchrist says ...

MilkMan, did you even bother to read what this post is about? Or the 30 posts in between Jeff's and yours? Nobody who "doesn't give a fuck about being part of the cool crowd" writes posts bemoaning the fact that he's not part of it. Especially since he avoided them, not the other way around. Not to mention the fact that none of the folks in attendance has EVER posited themselves as members of any cool crowd (which I mean as a compliment to them). Oh, and also in the category of "pointless macho bullshit," let's not forget refusing to admit you are ever wrong.

The bottom line is that Wells righteously mangled any serious coverage he could have provided for this festival by skipping screenings, avoiding the obligations his free transportation and/or accommodations required, and focusing instead on "local color" and his own personal issues for site content. Meanwhile, of course, Wells has been conspicuously absent from responding to this post, no doubt because he realized that no one is sympathetic with a guy who throws a temper tantrum and skips out on his responsibilities and then deflects blame first to the folks who invited him and put him up, and then the colleagues who might be supportive and sympathetic if he simply admit that he'd screwed up.

The saddest part is that a lot of people respect Wells' insight into film, and enjoy reading the vast majority of his content - myself included. But it devalues that more substantial content, and quite frankly, the blogosphere as a whole, when guys like him become representative of the work ethic, commitment, and resilience of the critical community. So many people with so much talent are out of work and would kill to be able to dive headfirst into the festival, and he's blowing his stack about bad wi-fi and bailing on the chance to actually provide an artistic context for this film festival.

But at least we have a picture of his hotel lobby at 6am.

comment #36

NotImpressed1Yet says ...

There have been episodes* in my life where I didn't realize what an incredible douchebag I was acting like until days or weeks later.** Reason can escape even the best of us at times, and we go forward supremely confident that we are in the right, when in actuality we are acting like complete jackasses.

*highschool

**ok, a few times in college too

comment #37

byanyother says ...

"Jeff doesn't really give a fuck about being part of the cool crowd"

Uh, anyone who regularly reads Jeff's site knows that he makes a point to hang out with the "cool crowd." Not the bloggers but the talent and the filmmakers. And anyway, it wasn't the bloggers he screwed over, it was the hardworking festival organizers. Where's your witty, indignant monologue at them?

comment #38

Scott Feinberg says ...

This is Scott Feinberg, the blogger for the LA Times and for AndTheWinnerIs. I am just writing in to correct a misunderstanding:

The comment at the top of this post that criticized Jeff Wells and sparked a lot of this back-and-forth was written by someone named Scott Weinberg, NOT Scott Feinberg. I'm not him... I wasn't at the Oxford Film Festival... and I'm not getting involved in this back-and-forth.

So, for God's sake, would people please stop emailing me to ask about my fight with Jeff Wells? And MilkMan, thanks for your kind words, I really deserve your wrath, right?

comment #39

Midwest Doug says ...

Jesus, Jeff, I love that you care so much about your work and the site. But it's amazing that so much animus can be borne from ... slow WiFi. Glad you were able to take in some life.

comment #40

Mike Ock says ...

Can anyone that was there share with us what exactly Jeff said that was so horrific? I don't know Jeff personally, but I'm not surprised to hear of him acting like this. Especially after he bent over backwards making excuses for Russell Crowe a few yrs ago when he threw his cellphone at a concierge.

comment #41

MilkMan says ...

To answer your question mtgilchrist: no. I didn't know that I had to read everyone else's comments in order to comment.

Feinberg, Weinberg, what's the difference? You guys are all the same to me, just like guys like me are all the same to you.

And to those of you who are hoping that somehow you're going to shame Jeff into feeling bad or admitting that he made a mistake: he's not going to do either, so you're just wasting your time. Jeff's rogue status is one of things I like about him the most. It's what makes this blog the singular place that it is.

"Hypocrisy is the price vice pays to virtue." Or something like that.

Time to watch My Name is Nobody. I have five movies I have to watch in 48 hours or my Netflix paycheck is going to be measely next week.

comment #42

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

you guys are so funny.

comment #43

KamikazeCamelV2.0 says ...

I can't believe there is a conversation going on about the "cool kids" of film criticism. And that the people involved are deadly serious. Honestly. This is hilarious.

Jeff was being a tool though.

comment #44

longrunner says ...

Did he write about ANY films at this festival?

comment #45

Chad says ...

"I had a choice yesterday between talking about topics that a lot of people will have at least some interest in, and films that nobody knows or cares about, no matter what I could say about them."

My film played that day. Thanks for thinking the vittles at Boondocks Grill were more interesting to your readers.

comment #46

fredderf says ...

Living here in the middle of Ohio, reading about all these festivals i'll never attend, those pictures of his hotel lobby at 6am or the road glazed with Ice, or the glaze with his dinner; this bits and pieces really humanizes the site. Although other sites like spout do provide more coverage and analysis on the actual films these festivals serve, i'm not going to fault wells for providing the context for his insight, for creating a feel for the environment he is in. Is this more important than Film and properly fulfilling one's responsibility to the festival organizers? No. But, it gives the site a personality that is useful to me in a very different way. Please don't stop posting those pics, those moods, what you hate, what you love, i think the whole pie is important. If that makes any sense.

comment #47

George Prager says ...

I'm liking Harvey Keitel for the role of Wells in the film version, Christopher Mintz-Plasse for Weinberg.

comment #48

Noel Murray says ...

I know Jeff is done with this topic, but for the record, I like the human side of this site too. It's just that I think it's possible -- and necessary -- for a film blogger to write about personal experiences at festivals *and* write about the movies too. I've been to a lot of regional fests (and I checked out the Oxford sked on-line), so I've no doubt that movies worthy of a serious critic's attention were few and far between. But I doubt they were completely absent either. I think it's a fair for readers to complain that the coverage of this fest was all whine and no bread.

comment #49

fattyhadaparty says ...

"In any case I paid a lot of attention to those aromas and eternals."

Aromas and eternals; I think you've got a new name for your site, Jeff.

comment #50

The Playlist says ...

God, this is some painful, embarrassing stuff. Wells, you know I think you're the shit, but this is the type of crap 20-something emo bloggers should be responsible for, not you. You should know better. Hopefully this serves as a reminder for all film bloggers to leave the personal stuff at home and to themselves.