Who is popular today?

As a snooty avoider of crowdpleasers, I’d spent years steering clear of this beloved blockbuster. But how bad could it be?

See the other classic missed films in this series
The best arts and entertainment during self-isolation

I have a good excuse. When Forrest Gump came out in 1994 and conquered the world I was an undergraduate at New York University’s film school. I was, to put it bluntly, at my apogee of cinematic snobbishness. I was gobbling up my ABCs (Antonioni, Bergman and Cassavetes) and when I went out to see contemporary work, it was low-budget, independent material from directors like Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley and Gregg Araki. Forrest Gump was not on my radar.
It was rare that I’d see something wide-release, and if I did it was done ironically. “We want a bus! Show us a bus!” my obnoxious friends and I chanted as we sat down to see Speed. When the opening sequence began, I shouted: “We were promised a bus, not an elevator!” and someone shushed me. Rightly. Continue reading...