12 Movies You Constantly Have To Defend Loving
"You like Terminator Salvation?!"
The trouble with this business of watching movies is that, sooner or later, you encounter people that view films not as escapism, but as an art form. You know the type: they have PhDs and MAs, use big words and probably shook Jean-Luc Goddards hand one time. In their circle, youre obliged to say that you loved Francois Truffauts Les Quatre Cents Coups (The 400 Blows), but if you start talking about monster movies, theyll look at you as though you just asked them to pull your finger. Truffauts movie may have helped start the French New Wave, but if you want a trend-setting movie with teenage leads, you need look no further than The Blob. Not only is this the archetypal movie about kids saving their town from a monster from space, but it features the King Of Cool himself, Steve McQueen, in his first starring role. McQueen, who spent the next 20 years playing cowboys, cops and thieves, elevates what is otherwise a cheaply made, B-grade sci-fi movie, but hes far from being the whole show. Theres also a terrific theme song (co-written by Burt Bacharach) and besides, who doesnt want to see killer Jell-O attacking a cinema? Those that dismiss The Blob sound like Leonard Maltin in Gremlins 2: The New Batch theyre The Movie Police, come to save you from your crummy taste in films. To which a polite fella can only shrug and say, I like what I like.