“The List” was created in 2005, and that has surely fueled my film-watching fire.

Favorite 2010 Film

Top 10 Favorite Movies from 2010:

1. Inception
2. Black Swan
3. Toy Story 3
4. How to Train Your Dragon
5. The Social Network
6. Exit Through the Gift Shop
7. City Island
8. The King’s Speech
9. The Kids Are All Right
10. Kick-Ass

Honorable Mention: 127 Hours, Buried, True Grit, The Fighter

Favorite Film from Dec. 2010

Films First Viewed in December 2010:

1. 12/4/10 – 127 Hours – (83.27)
2. 12/17/10 – Black Swan – (96.70)
3. 12/20/10 – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – (79.02)
4. 12/21/10 – The Kids Are All Right – (84.98)
5. 12/22/10 – Hot Tub Time Machine – (67.90)
6. 12/22/10 – True Grit – (82.48)
7. 12/23/10 – Buried – (83.02)
8. 12/23/10 – The Fighter – (81.18)
9. 12/24/10 – Helvetica – (70.25)
10. 12/25/10 – Love, Actually – (83.22)
11. 12/27/10 – The King’s Speech – (85.67)

Films Viewed in 2010: 109

Total Films Viewed: 729

My Favorite Film from November 2010

Films I Viewed for the First Time in November 2010 (Rating)

1. 11/18/10 – Beyond Silence – (76.65)
2. 11/24/10 – Winter’s Bone – (76.82)
3. 11/25/10 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – (82.39)
4. 11/26/10 – Date Night – (69.95)
5. 11/27/10 – City Island – (86.12)

Films Viewed in 2010: 98

Total Films Viewed: 716

Films I Viewed for the First Time in October 2010 (Rating)

1. 10/1/10 – The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (82.41)
2. 10/1/10 – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (81.14)
3. 10/2/10 – Singin’ in the Rain (90.73)
4. 10/2/10 – O Brother, Where Art Thou? (72.97)
5. 10/2/10 – American History X (89.47)
6. 10/3/10 – Raging Bull (79.00)
7. 10/3/10 – The Social Network (91.20)
8. 10/9/10 – The Bicycle Thief (77.26)
9. 10/10/10 – Lost in Translation (74.33)

Films Viewed in 2010: 93

Total Films Viewed: 711

The Films I Viewed in September 2010 (Rating):

My Favorite Film from September 2010

1. 9/3/10 – Gone With the Wind – (68.84)
2. 9/4/10 – In the Loop – (81.5)
3. 9/4/10 – Braveheart – (87.73)
4. 9/5/10 – The Deer Hunter – (82.50)
5. 9/6/10 – When Harry Met Sally… – (90.75)
6. 9/10/10 – Speed – (82.42)
7. 9/11/10 – Exit Through the Gift Shop – (90.80)
8. 9/17/10 – Dr. No – (67.87)
9. 9/17/10 – Driving Miss Daisy – (73.06)
10. 9/18/10 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show – (74.35)
11. 9/19/10 – Life is Beautiful – (95.00)
12. 9/24/10 – Walk the Line – (76.85)

Films viewed in 2010: 84

Total films viewed: 699

Me with Brett Ratner

When it was announced that Brett Ratner was coming to give a talk to students at the University of Rochester there were two responses, “Who’s Brett Ratner?” and those who knew who he was said, “Why?”  I was in the latter group of naysayers.  Being a film buff and Film & Media Studies I felt obligated to go, and I’m glad I did.

Brett Ratner has been directing films since he was 8 years old.  He graduated from film school at NYU when he was 20 years old, and he began directing music videos for Russell Simmons in his early twenties.  After honing his directing skills he made his jump to feature films.  In 1998, he hit the big time when he directed Rush Hour with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.  He went on to helm The Family Man (2000), Rush Hour 2 (2001), Red Dragon (2002), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Rush Hour 3 (2007), and he’s currently casting Tower Heist (2011) with Ben Stiller in the lead role.

I went to dinner with a few friends at 7:00 in our main dining hall before going to see Brett Ratner at 8:00.  After we sat down, an adult sat down behind me, which is rare in a student dining hall.  I had to do a double take, but then I turned around and said, “Hey, you’re Brett Ratner!”  He was grabbing a quick meal before he went on at 8 and was looking for some local college flavor, I guess.

He was very friendly and seemed eager to talk to some students.  We were happy to oblige.  Some interesting things that we talked about:

• I asked him about Superman Returns (which he was originally attached to direct).  ”It sucked!” he said.  He seemed not too thrilled about the rebooting of the reboot, also.
• He wanted to know why they asked him to come talk at  U of R, since we don’t have a film school.  None of us could give a good answer.
• At this point he didn’t like that I had to turn around to talk to him, so he grabbed my chair and pulled me next to him.
• He asked about tuition, and was shocked to learn that it was well over $50,000. “A year!?” he said.  Yes sir, each year.
• He talked about how much he missed college and how much harder life gets afterwards.
• On an unrelated note, he asked if anyone ever dies on campus.  He made the question sound a lot less morbid than it does when it’s typed.
• He asked what we do on the weekends.  The general consensus was studying and partying…but mostly studying.
• He asked about film on campus.  I told him I was a Psychology major,  a Film minor and an Sign Language minor. My friends shared their majors as well.  And we talked about each one.  Including why American Sign Language was such a popular option in Rochester.
• I asked what he was working on at the moment, and he talked about Tower Heist, his 2011 heist film starring Ben Stiller.  They’re in the casting process, so he couldn’t say anything about who else would be in the film.  Besides Alan Alda.
• He asked how long the drive back to New York City was.  He was unhappy to learn that it was around 7.5 hours instead of the 4.5 hours someone else had told him.  He doesn’t like to fly, so he drives places (or his assistant drives him places).
• He seemed bummed when he told us he was missing the premiere of The Social Network in NYC to give this speech in Rochester.  I don’t blame him.
• He told us to go see his new film Catfish, which he produced, and how it will make us want to cancel our Facebook pages.  It’s about a man who surprises his internet girlfriend, who he’s only talked to on Facebook, and finds out she’s not exactly who she says she is.  He then warned us not to befriend people we didn’t know online.  When I told him I didn’t he made it clear that he didn’t believe me.  It was quite comical.
  

  Brett wanted another picture because he was chewing the in the first one.

• Also, the topic of religion came up and we realized that of the 7 people there, 6 were Jewish, and 1 was not.  I was that one.  Brett was completely flabbergasted that I wasn’t Jewish (based on my large nose and curly hair), and he said, “No, you’re definitely Jewish, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
• He ate Beijing Beef over White Rice with water for dinner.  He also asked us about where he could find ice cream to eat, so we pointed him in the right direction.  I asked him when he would eat it, and he said “on the way to auditorium.”
• Eventually he left to get ready for his speech.  He stuck his hand out for me to shake it and I happily obliged.

It was clear that listening him address an audience would be much less exciting than listening to him from 2 feet away.  I was right.  He basically spoke about how awesome he was for an hour, but did it in a way that was sincere, motivational, and inspirational.  Some of his main points:

• Do what you love, and be passionate about it.
• Save your money!
• If you catch a lucky break, you better be prepared to take advantage of it.
• Someone 100%/0% ratio of effort to skill will beat a 0%/100% ratio of effort to skill any day

At one point he even mentioned me, by name, during his speech.  That was quite cool.

During the Q&A period, one clueless/rude girl asked him, “Are you embarrassed that more people didn’t show up tonight?”  (There were around 50-60 people in attendance).  He seemed a bit nonplussed but responded sharply with, “I’m not too concerned, millions of people go to see my movies every year.”

He took questions for half an hour and then signed autographs and took pictures for as long as it needed to take.  The night was over, and it was one that I will not soon forget.

He also mentioned in his speech that he had dinner with Warren Buffett two nights ago and dinner with Mick Jagger the night before.  Eating the next night in a dining hall with me was probably a bit different.

TL;DR  I had dinner with Brett Ratner, it was really cool.

Favorite Viewed in August 2010

1. 8/9/10 – Kill Bill: Vol. 2 – (84.50)
2. 8/20/10 – The Other Guys – (68.24)
3. 8/25/10 – Dog Day Afternoon – (84.40)
4. 8/26/10 – Waiting for Guffman – (80.85)
5. 8/27/10 – Scarface – (89.34)
6. 8/28/10 – Dances with Wolves – (88.17)
7. 8/29/10 – Lawrence of Arabia – (80.00)
8. 8/31/10 – The Green Mile – (92.30)

Films viewed in 2010: 72

Total films viewed: 687

Time waits for one man...

My Top 10 Favorite Movies from 2007:

1. 3:10 to Yuma
2. There Will Be Blood
3. No Country for Old Men
4. American Gangster
5. Zodiac
6. Gone Baby Gone
7. Michael Clayton
8. Rescue Dawn
9. Superbad
10. Hot Fuzz

My 5 Least Favorite:

1. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
2. The Game Plan
3. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
4. Bee Movie
5. Shrek the Third

1. Star Wars Trilogy (1977-1983)
2. Avatar (2009)
3. District 9 (2009)
4. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
5. Aliens (1986)
6. The Terminator (1984)
7. The Matrix (1999)
8. Star Trek (2009)
9. Brazil (1985)
10. Signs (2002)