Who’s minding the movie store at the Star?
One has to wonder. Especially after reading exiled Kansas City Star movie critic Robert W. Butler’s story last week about the demise of the founder of the AMC Kansas City FilmFest. A report that came out a handful of days before the newspaper’s watered down version of the tale appeared on Sunday.
"Longtime KC film fest leader steps down," shouts the Star‘s headline. "Jubilee founder Fred Andrews cites health reasons; board promises to continue his mission."
Hold it right there!
I’ve seen some news coverups, but this baby takes the cake.
"Andrews announced his resignation earlier this month, citing uncertainties about his health after a cancer diagnosis two years ago," the Star‘s story says. "Now the organization can move forward ‘without having to possibly scramble if my health situation were to deteriorate,’ he said in an interview."
Bollocks!
The Star‘s version of the story is a complete coverup for what it undoubtedly knew had happened.
Andrews was unceremoniously forced to walk the plank, as reported by Butler on butlercinemascene.com.
"Andrews said he recently was approached by a long-time associate of the Jubilee ‘who told me I needed to step down. I’d have preferred it to be handled differently, in a conversation rather than an ultimatum,’ " Butler reports. "A few hours after the meeting Andrews elaborated, saying that he was told ‘that I needed to step down or be voted out’ and that if not for his health he would have fought his ouster."
As recently as mid-late April KCTV 5 quoted Andrews as being excited about this year’s filmfest.
"Andrews is fighting cancer, but said he feels as healthy now as ever," reads KCTV’s report. " ‘I’ve still got cancer,’ he said. ‘It’s not going away. So this is one way of dealing with it.’ "
Butler may have fallen asleep during the dramatic battle scenes in Transformers 2 but he sure as heck didn’t doze off and miss the battle scene in this local movie biz soap.
As have readers of the Star’s vaunted Sunday A E Section.
Will the newspaper come cleanand run a correction or followup story to avoid getting off on the wrong foot with its spanking new publisher? We’ll see.
Smaller crowds at the movies
Hmmm…guess I was maybe right about movie houses starting to fall off…way off.
OK, I give up …
Where does this article say anything about “smaller crowds at the movies?”
Perhaps you missed AMC’s announcement last week that it lost $123 million in the latest budget year. In its filing it said that its costs were higher and that it had “lower attendance at its theaters.”
Good thing you went ahead and threw in the towel!
I did miss that. But again, what’s it got to do with this article?
Cliffy, it’s not supposed to make sense. Glazer wrote it.
Believe your comment quote reads: smaller crowds at the movies”
You know, if some of you guys aren’t careful, you’re gonna hurt Craig’s feelings.
And allow me to refresh your memory about Craig’s recent post about fewer folks going to the movies.
Hearne whiffs again
Ask Fred why he told The Star and Butler two different stories.
What makes you think the Star didn’t know the real deal, at the very least didn’t read Butler’s version which was out several days prior to the Star’s? Even Jack and other local critics had heard the real version of the story.
I think that whiff sound is of your toy bat airing itself out
Strike Two
Really: Ask Fred why he told The Star and Butler two different stories. And then report it. You want to call out someone for their reporting, do your own and back it up. Unless you don’t want to be taken seriously.
When you grow up and become a reporter (watch out, with rare exception it’s pretty low-paying), you can decide what stories you want to report and how you think they should be reported..
Just like I do.
The Star missed the news story or more likely opted out of telling it because the writer didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the organizers who commandeered the event. That’s weak but understandable.
The story I chose to report was how the guy they just let go to save money got it right. While the freelancer they replaced him with on the cheap blew it. So you can deal with it.
Or, if you prefer, saddle up and write your version of the story. I like your monicker though.
Strike Three
Last chance: Ask Fred why he told The Star and Butler two different stories.
Fred was impossible to work with, cancer or not.
I’ve attended FilmFest, and the worst part of it was dealing with nasty Fred the past 3 years. He hides behind the cancer diagnosis, I think it’s prostrate, so it’s not fatal. He is SO crabby, so bossy, so dismissive, so rude, that he drives away the volunteers that make the festival work. This has been a problem since the two festivals merged. I guess the board finally wised up. It was either let Fred rule the world or put on a festival.
Also, I see here in logging in, I now had to solve a math problem. Mine was 8 + 7 =
I put 15.
Whew. Thank God I was magna cum laude.
Suggestion: since this site is mostly a boys club, who really just want to live vicariously reading about Glazer’s harem, Hearne, maybe you better have Laz set it up so all the math problems have one answer: 69.
Correction: make that prostate, not prostrate.
Hearnia, we need spellcheck please!
And yes, 1 + 3 is……
4.