This is the 18th chapter in a series of “Getting to Know” Pages from Ultimate Movie Rankings.com.  Our interview this time around is with UMR Hall of Famer Taylor.   Taylor has been visiting UMR for many years.  He is a Top 15 Commentor.   He is a member of the UMR Hall of Fame Class of 2021.  So, we figured it was time to learn a little more about Taylor.

Cogerson –  It has always interested me in knowing which thespian made the first impact on a person. Who was the first actor or actress that you knew by their actual name?

Taylor – That would have to be Will Smith.  I remember when his television show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air came on television.  Me and my friends thought that show was hilarious. I watched that show from the age of 9 to almost when I was in high school.

Cogerson – Interesting information.  That probably means you are about 15 years younger than myself. I am not sure I have seen a single episode of that show, though I do remember it being on television back then.

Cogerson – Is there a person in your life that pushed you down the path of liking movies?  For me, it was my parents and my grandmother.

Taylor – Gotta say that was my Aunt Krista.  She actually tried to become an actress.  She went to Hollywood when I was very young.  She never “officially” made it, but she did appear as an extra in a few movies.  My dad (her older brother) would take us to movies she was in, and we would try and spot here.  That was a game that was a lot easier to play at home than while in a theater.

Cogerson – That is awesome!  Do you remember any of the movies she appeared in?

Taylor – The one I remember the best was Cannonball Run 2.  That is truly a bad movie, but she actually pops up on screen twice.  No lines, but we could clearly see her.   I remember we watched Soap Dish twice in theaters, but I never saw her, though my dad and my little sister claimed they saw her.  I believed my dad, not so much with my sister.

Taylor – There are so many actors and actresses I like!  I guess my Top 3 would be Robert DeNiro, Reese Witherspoon and Eddie Murphy.  I used to get DeNiro and Elias Koteas mixed up.  For a long time, I actually thought DeNiro was the guy playing Casey Jones in the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. Reese Witherspoon was one of my first crushes. Eddie Murphy seemed to be in one hit movie after another when I was younger.  Seems my dad took the whole family to a Murphy at least once a month.  Heck not only did we see The Adventures of Pluto Nash in theaters, but my family also actually really enjoyed it!

Cogerson – Funny thinking about Robert Deniro in a TMNT movie.  I actually see how a young Taylor might have gotten them mixed up.

Cogerson – What are your Top 3 movies of all-time? Or share as many as you are willing to share.

Taylor – Oh I can give you more than 3.  Favorite comedy is The Hangover.  The original is definitely a comedy classic.  Favorite action movie is John Wick.  Favorite drama is Good Will Hunting.  Favorite based on a true story is The Great Escape. Favorite thriller is Seven.  Favorite movie as a kid was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Favorite musical is Moulin Rouge.  Favorite science fiction movie is Aliens.  My favorite movie regardless of category is The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Cogerson – That is a good collection of movies.  The Two Towers is my favorite of all the Tolkien movies.  I would have guessed The Great Escape would have made your list.  That is one of the movies you wrote about on UMR.  That page had a huge day the other day.  Not sure why it was so popular that day….but we will take it!

Taylor – Glad it had a good day!  My granddad loved that movie and Steve McQueen.

Cogerson – This one might be hard to answer….but going to give it a shot…..which movie character do you think best represents  Taylor? I would say my answer is Griffin Dunne’s character in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. The way he acts and reacts to things is exactly the way I think I do.

Taylor–   This question took the longest to answer.  In the end, I went with Matt Damon’s character in Good Will Hunting.  I look nothing like him, but his personality is exactly like mine. The humor and the quick temper….just too bad I do not have his super smart Math brain!

Cogerson – I know it has been a while, but do you remember how you discovered UMR?

Taylor –  It was when I was doing a deep dive on Seven.  That is a movie that blew me away when I originally saw it in theaters.  I did a Yahoo search on Brad Pitt movies and UMR popped up. I immediately liked that you had all of his movies ranked.  I distinctly remember that I was not happy you did not have it in the Top 5.  Since you changed your ranking criteria it is now in the Top 5.

Cogerson – Sorry it was not ranked higher back then.  The change in review % certainly helped that movie.

Cogerson –  Tell me a few of your guilty pleasure movies.  Movies you know are bad, but you really like them anyway.  For me,  Armageddon would be on my list.

Taylor –  I would have to say the Transformers movies.  I know they are dumb, but damn do they keep me entertained!

 

Cogerson –  Do you have any memorable movie experiences in theaters?   I remember seeing Porky’s in theaters.  People were laughing so hard, I thought the walls might crumble.

Taylor – The movie that popped into my head right away was Titanic.  One of my best friends worked in a state-of-the-art movie theater.  Back then, they used to have to run the movie to make sure everything was in working order before the first viewing.  He was the guy running the movie and he invited me and couple of other friends to watch the movie one day early.  There were only about 20 of us in the theater that sat about 1,000 people.  I remember feeling so privileged while watching that movie.  I thought the movie was decent but boy did it get the water work working for those 20 people.

Cogerson – Awesome memory.

Cogerson – And finally…..from your comments, I know you have had many celebrity encounters….can you share your Best Celebrity Encounter?