“Cool World” holds the distinction of being one of the few movies I’ve ever walked out of. It was the weekend it opened, in July 1992, and my friend Gregg Johnson and I went to see it. Halfway through, we were terribly bored, and we left. My journal from the time — I kept an extensive journal in those days — indicates we went back to his house to watch videotapes of “Ren & Stimpy,” which seems appropriate.
That was the summer between high school and college, and Gregg and I went to a lot of movies. Then I don’t think I ever saw him again. We were friends for like two months, and that was it. I have no idea what became of him. Gregg Johnson, if you see this, send me an e-mail and say hello!
Wait, why did I bring up “Cool World”? Oh, right. It’s the subject of Eric’s Bad Movies at Film.com this week. You might wonder why I would choose to watch, in its entirety, a film that I already walked out of once. You’d have a good point.
What’s the Big Deal? at Film.com this week addresses “Jules and Jim,” a 1962 French film that is often cited as one of the best European movies ever made and which was hugely influential as part of the French New Wave movement. It was directed by François Truffaut; coincidentally, as I was finishing the column, one of his fellow New Wavers, Eric Rohmer, died. I freely confess to you here and now that I have never seen an Eric Rohmer movie. The ones I ought to have seen include “The Collector” (1967), “My Night at Maud’s” (1969), and “Pauline at the Beach” (1983). I will attempt to rectify this oversight in my copious spare time.
