Tag: Geoff Fox Here

Waitress – Saturday At The Movies

Stef is away today, celebrating the graduation of one of her sorority sisters. Helaine and I decided to go to the movies tonight.

We headed to the Criterion in New Haven for Waitress, starring Keri Russell.

The movie is the story of a waitress, in a loveless marriage, who finds herself both unwontedly pregnant and in love with her married gynecologist.

I suppose this is what’s called a small movie. It is heavily dependent on its very stylized look and really sharp cast. The story is simple and sweet

The movie itself is set in a small, seemingly downscale southern town. Much of the action takes place at a diner which specializes in pies – many expertly baked by Jenna (Keri Russell).

Andy Griffith (around my dad’s age, but looking much older) is excellent as Old Joe, the owner of the diner. More importantly, he is the uninvited elder philosopher in Jenna’s life. He will receive an Oscar nomination for this role.

I’m not sure how to explain this, but Earl (Jeremy Sisto), Jenna’s husband, is the least appealing (most repulsive) character I’ve ever seen in a film, without resorting to over-the-top characterization. He was just realistically creepy – not an easy task.

Helaine noticed Jenna’s love interest, Dr. Pomatter (Nathan Fillion) looked like a young Mike Sechrist. Mike’s a friend of mine.

I enjoyed this movie. Helaine enjoyed it even more. That’s probably going to be typical of many couples. It was a great Saturday afternoon date with my wife and a borderline chick flick.

Footnote:We like going to the movies, and this theater is nice and new. However, the print we saw was terrible. Here is the note I sent to the company that owns the theater.

My wife and I saw the 4:00 PM Saturday showing of Waitress at your New Haven theater. We like going to the movies and we’re glad you’re in New Haven. We’re glad the city is coming back and drove past another theater to get to you.

Unfortunately, the print for Waitress was horrendous. There were horizontal scratches visible for the entire show.

When I told a friend, he described the exact same scratches when he had seen Dreamgirls. Is there some sort of equipment problem in your theater that’s killing the prints?

I’m not asking for a refund. All I want to know is, you’ve gotten my message and you’ll fix the problem.

All the best,

Geoff Fox

Here’s their response:

Greetings!

We are unaware of any print problems in New Haven, and will address the situation immediately. I can assure you though, there is no recurring problem at that theater.

Thanks!

Journalistic Ethics

I was looking through the webite of a journalist, whose work I’ve really enjoyed for a long time, when I found something unsettling. Recently, he had written a long, positive story about a company… and now that company turned up as a sponsor of his website.

What to do?

This is probably the wrong thing to do, but I worte him a note. And, actually, I was mostly satisfied with the answer I received.

Dear (name removed),

I have been a fan of your writing forever. However, I am distressed to see your site ‘sponsored’ by (company name) after you did a full, extremely positive, magazine column on them recently.

In my opinion, this would be different were it not on your own personal site. At the publications you write for, there is a (or at least there is claimed to be) a separation between sales and editorial. Once you personally take money from (compan name), that separation ceases to exist.

Is there something I’m failing to see?

Sincerely,

Geoff Fox

Here’s the answer I got:

you are correct..that was put up beforehand as I was working on a story about the usefulness of associate programs (not very) …thanks…and you are correct….it’s gone now. The separation continues to exist since I received $0 from (company name) which seems suspicious. The easiest way to do this research is via my own home page which tends to be used by people not looking for what appears to be ethical dubiousness. Research continues. Also the article should have been perceived as more positive toward (the industry) than (company name). More interesting is the new fact that the relationship between (company name) and the traditional companies has deteriorated since I cannot now (edited). There is a follow up coming that will not be so kind and will mention the new competitors.

I removed his name and the name of the company because, though this shouldn’t have happened in the first place, it stopped quickly. As I said, I have read this guy since the beginning and will not fry him for one misstep.

That’s one.