Gregg Rickman

Rickman is great. OK, he does say umm, but he knows everything about cinema history, he relates it well with the politics of the day. If you want to really learn the details on film history, Rickman has the knowledge and enthusiasm. People who give him low ratings just can't understand the difference between historically significant films versus biggest grossing crap. Open up your minds people!!!there is more to cinema than color, fast MTV cuts, and endless bathroom humor, blood, and 18-25 Y.O. demographic kaka. I like PT Anderson and Tarantino......but I like Antonioni and Tarkovsky too.

He can ‘circa’ every film in film history. He can give a one-line definition/ ‘comes down to’ of every single director in existence. He uses the ‘ums’ as his breath between all the extremely immense amount of knowledge he wishes to resonate into you whether you’re interested or not. He brings an exceptional and unique personal selection of films to screen.

His techniques and style of teaching are modest only because he is responding to the class. If the other students in the class would heat up in debate, you’d see him liven up too because he has a genuine intention of wanting you to learn. I’ve definitely heard some stupid crap said by some extremely stupid people yet he always says, “thanks, I appreciate those comments.” You just can’t help but to wish that he’d be an asshole so he can get the respect that he deserves.

The appreciation of Rickman takes the same thing that it takes to appreciate all brilliant films: a little discerning. He’s dedicated to a medium, which everyone can see, he loves, and thus I find his class, personality, and teaching extremely motivating.

You people are too stupid to appreciate the films Rickman shows. If you feel inferior, you deserve to, because you are not seeing these masterpieces as you should. Quit sniveling like babies about the grades you got or how many "ums" he says and watch the frickin' films! You won't see better movies in any other class. For Gods sake, show some respect--the man is a genius.

I took Professor Rickman over the summer and I didn't learn a thing but It was an easy A. His lectures are very boring and lack structure. He's incredibly boring and focuses mainly on the essay exam for grading. So, you could not show up, watch the films on your own time, take the exams and pass the class.

Rickman obviously loves film and knows a lot about it. He would be a great guy to sit down and have disscusion with on any topic pertaining to cinema, but unfortunetly he is not a great teacher. His lectures are not good ways to get information and the assignment question for his essays are unreal. They are completely over complicated and pracitcally answer themselves they tend to be so long. My best recomendation for the class is to pick a really innovative (and interesting) topic for the term paper, and put the neccessary time into it. It was 50% of our overall grade, so even if I slacked of otherwise, I was able to make it up.

I have had the misfortune of taking more than a few of Gregg's classes. I think he is a nice enough guy, but as a cinema instructor he is sub par, to say the least. Sure, he knows a lot about cinema, but his lectures are so ummmmmmbearable that it is near impossible to extract any knowledge from them. The good news is that his classes are not very challenging. So if you need a class that you can get a decent grade in while rarely showing up for, Gregg is your man. But be forewarned, this guy is more boring than the directors cut of Intolerance.

This was the only film class I ever took where I was very confused by the professor's grading system. What the hell does it take to receive an A on the essays he assigns? I swear, it feels as though that he considers my opinions to be inferior. I can't remember a professor informing me of having "incorrect" opinions. I thought that was rather odd. And I thought essays in general are cool just as long as you support your points. But with this guy, I feel like my opinions are invalid or something. He's a little shady on the grading, and does a poor job on producing feedback for my work. To this day, I don't know what the hell I was doing wrong in my essays. I ended up learning little of anything in that class.

An added bonus: His lectures are tedious. He reads what he has to say most of the time and keeps saying "umm... umm... ummm" in between his sentences. It's so distracting. I pick up his "umms" better than the material. No wonder why my essays sucked.

Professor Rickman was overall a good instructor. Unlike some professors, he truly loves what he is doing. he has excellant knowledge within his own feild, Film. he also seems to know a lot abou everyithing, and he brings in random cross-disciplinarry facts in all his lectures.

His lectures are quite entertaining, and he allows student imput on the films we watch. As far as grading: we had 5 papers -- 4 of which count towards your final grade. If you include quotes from the book and his lectures, you should get an A or A- even if you are not a film major.

Rickman is a walking film encyclopedia. He is extremely well read and offers great insight into the theory and history of film. He has not yet become comfortable in front of a class, but the information he dispenses is well worth a few awkward pauses. He is fair on his assignments and readily accepts opinions from all students, not just the "chosen few." I enjoyed his class.

Professor Rickman is a great instructer. Rarley do you find a professor who knows his subject as well as professor Rickman. Not only does he know Film but also all the fine arts.

In general the class is interesting, and Dr. Rickman has some flexability to the movie we see. I had almost no knowledge in this area; now I can at least pretend I know what I am talking about.

One of the most notable apects of Rickman's lectures is the fact that he says "um" several times in every single sentance throughout the entire lecture for every lecture for the entire semester. Once I got around that I found the class mildly entertaining and very light and easy. There was only one book required for reading which was "Making Movies" a short book written by a Hollywood filmmaker. The tests were simple, we watched many movies, many of which were bizarre and fairly entertaining and there were several guest speakers. The class is so huge that attendance is never taken, and so attendance isn't really required. We had to write reviews on several movies and we were quizzed a little on the required reading and on the lectures. This teacher is not great but not terrible, pretty much average as far as State teachers go. An easy class, though mostly fluff and not worth the effort if you are there to learn.