Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this because, frankly, it’s being blown up into something it is not. However, I do believe that there should be a clear explanation here so that you guys know what is going on.

When I went to see THE CLONE WARS in Los Angeles, I was told there was an embargo on reviews until the day of release.

Yes. I am aware there are reviews all over the place. Welcome to the world of playing by the rules. EMPIRE, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, and whoever else has reviews up... they know what they were told by the distributor, and I don’t. What I do know is that I was specifically told there is an embargo until the day of release by Warner Bros.

I am routinely embargoed on films. In this case, I liked THE CLONE WARS, so it’s not because it’s a negative review. Harry posted his review last night, and then was contacted and told about the embargo by Warner Bros. They called me today to re-emphasize... this is a Warner Bros. policy. As I understand it, Lucasfilm did not directly contact the site. Again... I was not the one who pulled Harry’s story. Only he can do that.

With the Massawyrm story, I have to assume it was Merrick who posted it this morning. I’m not sure why it was posted after the night we had last night, but the embargo certainly applies to him as well, and so it had to come back down. Merrick is the one who traditionally posts all Massawyrm material, and unless and until Merrick explains his decision otherwise, I’m going to have to assume it was just poor communication behind the scenes.

Good explanation? Not really. Does this whole thing stink? Yep. Sorta does. They’re having public screenings of the film, like yesterday’s show at the Egyptian, and if I’d gone to one of those, no one would be able to embargo anything. But what this is NOT is a conspiracy, gang. If you’re one of those reactionary talkbackers screaming about the situation, allow me to extend a personal invitation to you to calm the fuck down.

Embargoes are a reality that any of us who do this professionally have to deal with, and the truth is that they are selectively enforced. Sometimes we’re on the winning end of the proposition, sometimes we’re not. This time, we’re going to have to play it out with the reviews posting on opening day, and not until.

As I stated in an earlier talkback, if you repost Harry’s review in the talkbacks, you will be banned. No warning. No appeal. The review is off the site until Friday. That’s an editorial decision, and frankly, Lucas’s little cartoon movie isn’t worth all this sound and fury.

Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles