posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 4:11 PM
by
eialba
Update: House of Wax
I failed in a fundamental way as a writer. I intended to convey an idea. I used words to express that idea. The finished product did not convey the idea I had intended it to. That is the ultimate failure for a writer.
See, I didn't mean to give the impression that House of Wax was a great or even a good movie. It was competent and entertaining. But I focused on praising it simply because I was so impressed that it wasn't awful. I should have spent some time criticizing it for its shortcomings. Alas, some people got the wrong idea. This movie is good for a rental. You'll like it. But you won't think too much about it after it's over.
Someone might look over my review and see that I said, "good, competent horror film..." In the context of the sentence and paragraph, however, it should be clear that "good" does not mean "good movie" in the general sense. Here, it means "well-behaved," which should be obvious from the context.