{"id":7,"date":"2008-11-09T01:40:38","date_gmt":"2008-11-09T08:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/?p=7"},"modified":"2008-11-11T10:40:44","modified_gmt":"2008-11-11T17:40:44","slug":"if-art-is-truth-why-do-we-lie-to-creative-artists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/?p=7","title":{"rendered":"If Art is Truth, Why Do We Lie to Creative Artists"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past Thursday I went to a preview showing of the film, The Alphabet Killer<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0It was based on an unsolved serial murder case that took place in Rochester\u00a0during the early 1970’s.\u00a0 Much of the filming was done here as well.\u00a0 I was interested in going because I wanted to support the local film industry, some local folks were cast, and the director, writer, producer and some of the actors were going to be there for Q&A after the movie.<\/p>\n

Let me say right up front (to alleviate the suspense), that the creators of this movie owe me $8, 30 IQ points and 2 hours that I’ll never get back.<\/p>\n

In summary, it opened well, but quickly deteriorated into a cheesefest of\u00a0poor plotting, bad writing\u00a0and worse acting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eliza Dushku went “full retard” playing a schizophrenic.\u00a0 As an actress she has everything that’s required for success except talent.<\/p>\n

Cary Elwes, Michael Ironside and Timothy Hutton were (in order):\u00a0puffy\u00a0& lifeless (CE),\u00a0angry\u00a0& lifeless (MI), and crazy & lifeless (TH – except for his legs).<\/p>\n

The audience\u00a0laughed at inappropriate moments.<\/p>\n

The creative team felt that the kidnapping and murder of 11 year old girls wasn’t\u00a0terrifying enough, so the focus was on Eliza as a\u00a0nutjob detective who has visions of the decomposing girls and other hallucinations.<\/p>\n

Weird camera angles were used to no purpose other than they were weird.\u00a0 The pacing was deadly (no pun intended).\u00a0 The writing was …<\/p>\n

The ending was a set up for sequels.\u00a0 Which I hope NEVER happen.<\/p>\n

Then it was over.\u00a0 There was applause (not as much as they expected).\u00a0 Many people got up and left, not waiting for the Q&A.<\/p>\n

And that brings us to the title of this piece – here was my opportunity to ask the hard questions, give them a thoughtful critique, point out opportunities for improvement, but …<\/p>\n

They were sooooooooooooo pleased with what they did.\u00a0 They thought it was awesome, amazing and wonderful.\u00a0 The 3 little girls that played the victims were there and they were just soooooooo happy.\u00a0 The writer and director were soooooooooooo excited about their accomplishment.<\/p>\n

I just couldn’t crap on their watermelon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So I didn’t say anything.\u00a0 And no one else did either.\u00a0 All the comments and questions were generic, gentle and supportive.<\/p>\n

Why? Why couldn’t I ask someone who spent millions of dollars on this: What were you thinking?\u00a0 Why did I treat them like children at a 5th grade talent show?<\/p>\n

I don’t know.\u00a0 Maybe it’s because we have become\u00a0a society\u00a0that praises the effort over the outcome.\u00a0 Growing up, we learn that everyone plays, everyone get a chance –\u00a0regardless of ability.\u00a0 Trying is just as important as getting the right answer.\u00a0 Criticism is bad.\u00a0 Everyone needs positive reinforcement.<\/p>\n

Just wait until they grow up.\u00a0 Was everyone OK with the fact that FEMA tried?\u00a0 Do you want a surgeon that tries or is actually good at his\/her job?<\/p>\n

Maybe I should have spoke up and damn the disapproving looks.\u00a0 Maybe I underestimated the grit of artists.\u00a0 Or maybe I was just chicken.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past Thursday I went to a preview showing of the film, The Alphabet Killer.\u00a0\u00a0It was based on an unsolved serial murder case that took place in Rochester\u00a0during the early 1970’s.\u00a0 Much of the filming was done here as well.\u00a0 I was interested in going because I wanted to support the local film industry, some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11,"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7\/revisions\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waynecoughlin.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}