Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Spring 2021 Edition

[nameless1]

Draft Day (2014) - 8/10

I still like Moneyball better but fantastic sports film this. I'm not a football fan but it's tense and you become really invested in the stakes. The acting from Costner is great and Chadwick Boseman as well in the brief scenes he's in. There are some of the usual generic bits in sports films but they don't really affect this much since it's mostly all about the behind-the-scenes stuff.

Same director as Ghostbusters 1/2 and Stripes.

As a football fan, I can tell you that this movie makes zero sense. Frankly, none of the trades in the end will happen, even in video games. NFL teams uses a point system for picks, and the math just does not work. No sane GM will accept 3 2nd rounders for a top 10 pick, and definitely nobody will trade 3 1st rounders just to move up one spot. If any GM does those trades in real life, not only will he be fired on the spot, the owner will also block those trades. This is no inside look at football; it is not even a fantasy look.

Even if I ignore the nonsensical football decisions, it is a problematic script too. There are too much useless distractions in the script that does nothing to advance the plot, I honestly do not believe that they will find anything more in a last minute background check, and there is no way a guy who traded 3 first round picks will suddenly be a sage that everyone seeks advice from. Frankly, this whole movie is just one propaganda piece to clean up the league's image, which was battered by the concussion scandal and various off-the-field incidents at the time. That is why the fictional GM picked the high character player over the supposed franchise quarterback, which no real GM will actually do, and why the NFL allowed the filmmakers to use team and league logos, when the league is usually very protective of their properties.

I do not disagree that it is well-edited, and Boseman is good in his role, but the movie is a joke, and I have it at a 2 or 3/10. Aside from the unforgivable football mistakes that insult my intelligence, it is just not a good movie, at all.

 

[kihei]

As a football fan, I can tell you that this movie makes zero sense. Frankly, none of the trades in the end will happen, even in video games. NFL teams uses a point system for picks, and the math just does not work. No sane GM will accept 3 2nd rounders for a top 10 pick, and definitely nobody will trade 3 1st rounders just to move up one spot. If any GM does those trades in real life, not only will he be fired on the spot, the owner will also block those trades. This is no inside look at football; it is not even a fantasy look.

Even if I ignore the nonsensical football decisions, it is a problematic script too. There are too much useless distractions in the script that does nothing to advance the plot, I honestly do not believe that they will find anything more in a last minute background check, and there is no way a guy who traded 3 first round picks will suddenly be a sage that everyone seeks advice from. Frankly, this whole movie is just one propaganda piece to clean up the league's image, which was battered by the concussion scandal and various off-the-field incidents at the time. That is why the fictional GM picked the high character player over the supposed franchise quarterback, which no real GM will actually do, and why the NFL allowed the filmmakers to use team and league logos, when the league is usually very protective of their properties.

I do not disagree that it is well-edited, and Boseman is good in his role, but the movie is a joke, and I have it at a 2 or 3/10. Aside from the unforgivable football mistakes that insult my intelligence, it is just not a good movie, at all.

I just took it as a heist movie with draft picks instead of jewels. I enjoyed it for what it was. I agree it's a bad movie but I wasn't upset by its distance from reality. 4A for me.

 

[kihei]

Maybe Draft Day was inspired by this:

Worst NFL draft decisions (CBS/NFL)

"1. QB Akili Smith, Bengals (1999, third overall pick)

At the top of our draft bust list is former Bengals quarterback Akili Smith. The thing about the Bengals is that they were so horrible at drafting during the 1990s that we could probably have made an entire draft bust list consisting of just their picks, but we won't. Maybe next year. As for Smith, if you're wondering how he beat out guys like Leaf and Russell as the biggest draft bust of all-time, there's two reasons. The first reason is that he was just flat out horrible.

During his four seasons with the Bengals, Smith only started 17 games and he went 3-14 in those games. He threw twice as many interceptions in his career (13) as he did touchdowns (5). Smith also completed under 50 percent of his passes (46.6 percent) during his time with the Bengals.

The second reason Smith is at the top of this list is because of what the Bengals gave up to draft him. Before they selected Smith, the Bengals had the chance to trade out of the No. 3 spot in the draft for a deal that would have brought them an embarrassment of riches. Saints coach Mike Ditka was trying to trade up from the 12th spot so he could grab Ricky Williams. Ditka wanted Williams so badly that he offered the Bengals a total of nine picks so he could move up to the third spot.

If the Bengals had accepted the deal, they would have landed New Orleans' first-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-round selections in 1999 (12th, 71st, 107th, 144th, 179th, and 218th), as well as New Orleans' first-round pick in 2000 and 2001, along with a second-round pick in 2002. How do you say no to that deal, I have no idea, but the Bengals did.

Mike Brown's explanation for turning down the offer?
"It was a generous offer, but we felt now is the time to get the quarterback. We've been saying that all along," Brown said back in 1999.

Someone clearly never explained to Brown how the draft works, because the Bengals could have used a few of their nine new picks from the Saints to trade back up and grab Smith, if that's who they really wanted. Anyway, when you combine the missed opportunity on the trade along with the fact that the Bengals selected a bust, it makes the Smith pick arguably the worst one in the NFL history."

 

[kihei]

Blue Film Woman (1969) Directed by Kan Mukai 2A

Lovers of bad movies, take note. Blue Film Woman is an example of Japan’s “pinku” genre, whose heyday was between 1960 to the 1980s or so. This genre is very loosely defined as a catchall for any cheaply made film that focuses on sexual content. Similar to “blue movies” in the West, this usually means glimpses of breasts and a lot of brightly-lit indistinct groping under sheets, and that’s about it. Blue Film Woman has a dilly of a plot, though. (Spoiler Alert from here on out). Kenzo, a nasty stockbroker, owes Uchima, an even nastier businessman, a small fortune that is due in two days. As part of extending the debt, Uchima forces Kenzo’s wife to sleep with him, and then talks her into sleeping with his drooling imbecile of a son who his father keeps in a cage. The wife gets run over by a car on the way home (sure, why not? It’s been a bad day, right?), sending husband and daughter Mariko into despair. Mariko vows to take revenge on Uchima, but as she is now poor, she doesn’t know how. So she starts off as a dancer for hire, and then becomes a hooker who eventually plays a trick (no pun intended) on a bunch of unrelated businessman. Not much on the revenge scale, but let that pass. Meanwhile, Uchida is raped by his own slobbering son in what can loosely be called poetic justice. To my amazement, Mariko comes to a remarkably unlikely bad end for reasons that my brain can’t even begin to fathom. Everything about the movie is cheap; the colour cinematography is garish in the extreme; nobody can act at all; and Mariko’s character never does make sense. I would rate Blue Film Woman as more fun than finding a cobra in my bed but less fun than having my toes run over by a tractor. This thing has played a couple of festivals. I mean, what the hell is wrong with people?

Eroticism score: minus 600,000

subtitles

MUBI

 

[nameless1]

Maybe Draft Day was inspired by this:

Worst NFL draft decisions (CBS/NFL)

"1. QB Akili Smith, Bengals (1999, third overall pick)

At the top of our draft bust list is former Bengals quarterback Akili Smith. The thing about the Bengals is that they were so horrible at drafting during the 1990s that we could probably have made an entire draft bust list consisting of just their picks, but we won't. Maybe next year. As for Smith, if you're wondering how he beat out guys like Leaf and Russell as the biggest draft bust of all-time, there's two reasons. The first reason is that he was just flat out horrible.

During his four seasons with the Bengals, Smith only started 17 games and he went 3-14 in those games. He threw twice as many interceptions in his career (13) as he did touchdowns (5). Smith also completed under 50 percent of his passes (46.6 percent) during his time with the Bengals.

The second reason Smith is at the top of this list is because of what the Bengals gave up to draft him. Before they selected Smith, the Bengals had the chance to trade out of the No. 3 spot in the draft for a deal that would have brought them an embarrassment of riches. Saints coach Mike Ditka was trying to trade up from the 12th spot so he could grab Ricky Williams. Ditka wanted Williams so badly that he offered the Bengals a total of nine picks so he could move up to the third spot.

If the Bengals had accepted the deal, they would have landed New Orleans' first-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-round selections in 1999 (12th, 71st, 107th, 144th, 179th, and 218th), as well as New Orleans' first-round pick in 2000 and 2001, along with a second-round pick in 2002. How do you say no to that deal, I have no idea, but the Bengals did.

Mike Brown's explanation for turning down the offer?
"It was a generous offer, but we felt now is the time to get the quarterback. We've been saying that all along," Brown said back in 1999.

Someone clearly never explained to Brown how the draft works, because the Bengals could have used a few of their nine new picks from the Saints to trade back up and grab Smith, if that's who they really wanted. Anyway, when you combine the missed opportunity on the trade along with the fact that the Bengals selected a bust, it makes the Smith pick arguably the worst one in the NFL history."

That draft is always held up as a cautionary tale. There are still bad GMs, and there are still lopsided trades when a team really fall in love with a player, but nobody will offer the whole draft plate anymore, and definitely nobody will be dumb enough to refuse when offered. Plus, Mike Ditka, the head coach of the Saints who effectively had personnel control, was a Hall-of-Fame player, and he still got laughed out of the league a year later, when Washington, at No. 5, took the offer. Everybody knew he screwed up as soon as he made the trade, and right now, he is pretty much football pariah, as no front office will touch him with a ten-feet pole.

To be fair, if the movie is made closer to the early millennium, when the trade happened, perhaps I will have less complaints about the details. Unfortunately, it was made in the last 10 years, and the league has become very different from then. The Ricky Williams trade will never happen again, because even if the trade is offered, the owner will block it him or herself.

 

[kihei]

That draft is always held up as a cautionary tale. There are still bad GMs, and there are still lopsided trades when a team really fall in love with a player, but nobody will offer the whole draft plate anymore, and definitely nobody will be dumb enough to refuse when offered. Plus, Mike Ditka, the head coach of the Saints who effectively had personnel control, was a Hall-of-Fame player, and he still got laughed out of the league soon a year later. Everybody knew he screwed up as soon as he made the trade.

Made the offer, you mean. Dumbass Brown turned down the trade.

 

[nameless1]

Made the offer, you mean. Dumbass Brown turned down the trade.

That trade actually happened, because Washington, at No. 5, accepted it. Mike Ditka was the head coach of the Saints then, but he had personnel control. The NFL, along with actual football leagues, might be the only leagues where coaches can have more power than the GM.

I should have been clearer. I eventually made some more edits.

 

[nameless1]

Blue Film Woman (1969) Directed by Kan Mukai 2A

Lovers of bad movies, take note. Blue Film Woman is an example of Japan’s “pinku” genre, whose heyday was between 1960 to the 1980s or so. This genre is very loosely defined as a catchall for any cheaply made film that focuses on sexual content. Similar to “blue movies” in the West, this usually means glimpses of breasts and a lot of brightly-lit indistinct groping under sheets, and that’s about it. Blue Film Woman has a dilly of a plot, though. (Spoiler Alert from here on out). Kenzo, a nasty stockbroker, owes Uchima, an even nastier businessman, a small fortune that is due in two days. As part of extending the debt, Uchima forces Kenzo’s wife to sleep with him, and then talks her into sleeping with his drooling imbecile of a son who his father keeps in a cage. The wife gets run over by a car on the way home (sure, why not? It’s been a bad day, right?), sending husband and daughter Mariko into despair. Mariko vows to take revenge on Uchima, but as she is now poor, she doesn’t know how. So she starts off as a dancer for hire, and then becomes a hooker who eventually plays a trick (no pun intended) on a bunch of unrelated businessman. Not much on the revenge scale, but let that pass. Meanwhile, Uchida is raped by his own slobbering son in what can loosely be called poetic justice. To my amazement, Mariko comes to a remarkably unlikely bad end for reasons that my brain can’t even begin to fathom. Everything about the movie is cheap; the colour cinematography is garish in the extreme; nobody can act at all; and Mariko’s character never does make sense. I would rate Blue Film Woman as more fun than finding a cobra in my bed but less fun than having my toes run over by a tractor. This thing has played a couple of festivals. I mean, what the hell is wrong with people?

Eroticism score: minus 600,000

subtitles

MUBI

The pinku films are actually quite interesting, because it is an actual genre paid for by major studios. Some people who worked in it took it seriously, and as a result, some memorable movies came out of it. It also trained some future mainstream directors, the most notable of which is probably Yōjirō Takita, the director of the Oscar-winning Departures.

 

[heatnikki]

Watching all of the Marvel films in timeline order

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Watching all of the Marvel films in timeline order

I sorta did this during summer but not in order and not all of them, skipped the weaker or more recent ones. It gets a bit too monotonous if you watch them consecutively imo but when they're interspersed then it's really good because they're the sort of exciting film that makes you excited about films.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

As a football fan, I can tell you that this movie makes zero sense. Frankly, none of the trades in the end will happen, even in video games. NFL teams uses a point system for picks, and the math just does not work. No sane GM will accept 3 2nd rounders for a top 10 pick, and definitely nobody will trade 3 1st rounders just to move up one spot. If any GM does those trades in real life, not only will he be fired on the spot, the owner will also block those trades. This is no inside look at football; it is not even a fantasy look.

I don't really know football but I could still tell that it seemed highly unrealistic in terms of how team management works. BUT....I enjoyed it and just focused on the Kevin Costner angle of it and didn't really worry about the realisticness of the rest. It was a good vehicle in terms of being invested in a single character for 24 hours.

I should add that I also liked The Dark Knight Rises more than The Dark Knight because it felt better and I didn't think too much about plot holes so what do I know?

 

[Chili]

Interesting that Trevor Timmins head scout and asst gm of the Habs has mentioned Draft Day a few times as how things play out. Lots of calls to move up or down but reality in the NHL anyway is usually not a lot of significant movement that day.

 

[kihei]

The pinku films are actually quite interesting, because it is an actual genre paid for by major studios. Some people who worked in it took it seriously, and as a result, some memorable movies came out of it. It also trained some future mainstream directors, the most notable of which is probably Yōjirō Takita, the director of the Oscar-winning Departures.

Didn't know that. What were the memorable movies, if any come to mind?

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Didn't know that. What were the memorable movies, if any come to mind?

I like quite a few of them myself. Here's a list with a few that are highly regarded - some of them you could dispute their status as Pinku films (the Oshima films and Tokyo Decadence - amazing films but a real stretch of the genre).

30 Great Japanese Pink Films You Shouldn’t Miss

It's still sleaze, and often twisted sleaze, so I think a lot of people will dismiss the whole thing without blinking - and maybe rightly so - but if you can get over that, some of the trashier films are still interesting. I've got stuff with titles like Captured For Sex 2 with pretty good ratings on my IMDB profile, stuff most people wouldn't take time to watch, but to get to one that has redeemable qualities, you must go through a few that are complete trash.

 

[Pink Mist]

Shutter Island (2010) directed by Martin Scorsese

A US Marshal (Leonardo DiCaprio) investigates the disappearance of a missing inmate on Shutter Island, an isolated prison island for the criminally insane. Going into this film I was wondering how it would hold up having previously seen it and knowing its twist, and the answer is fairly well. I had forgotten how Scorsese directs much of the movie as a horror movie, and wears a mishmash of genre influences on his sleeve ranging from film noir, Hitchcock, to giallo psychological horror films. DiCaprio has a good performance as we watch him descend into madness, although at times it feels a little derivative of his performance from The Departed only a few years prior, even down to playing a cop from Boston again. However, not a fan of the ending at all. I think it goes on for far to long, and is way too exposition heavy, as if Scorsese does not trust his audience to be able to put the pieces together – it would have been a lot better movie if Scorsese cut out most of its final act, although all the fan theories online following this movie would have be overwhelming and unbearable without the exposition.

 

[kihei]

I like quite a few of them myself. Here's a list with a few that are highly regarded - some of them you could dispute their status as Pinku films (the Oshima films and Tokyo Decadence - amazing films but a real stretch of the genre).

30 Great Japanese Pink Films You Shouldn’t Miss

It's still sleaze, and often twisted sleaze, so I think a lot of people will dismiss the whole thing without blinking - and maybe rightly so - but if you can get over that, some of the trashier films are still interesting. I've got stuff with titles like Captured For Sex 2 with pretty good ratings on my IMDB profile, stuff most people wouldn't take time to watch, but to get to one that has redeemable qualities, you must go through a few that are complete trash.

Funnily enough, I recently reviewed A Snake in June which I liked and Violence at Noon which I thought was excellent. I get the point but it seems sacriligious putting In the Realm of the Senses in a category with something like Blue Film Woman. The distance between the two artistically is like greater than the distance between Earth and Pluto. Thanks for this, PO. I'll keep some of these in mind if they pop up on my radar.

 

[NyQuil]

As a football fan, I can tell you that this movie makes zero sense. Frankly, none of the trades in the end will happen, even in video games. NFL teams uses a point system for picks, and the math just does not work. No sane GM will accept 3 2nd rounders for a top 10 pick, and definitely nobody will trade 3 1st rounders just to move up one spot. If any GM does those trades in real life, not only will he be fired on the spot, the owner will also block those trades. This is no inside look at football; it is not even a fantasy look.

Even if I ignore the nonsensical football decisions, it is a problematic script too. There are too much useless distractions in the script that does nothing to advance the plot, I honestly do not believe that they will find anything more in a last minute background check, and there is no way a guy who traded 3 first round picks will suddenly be a sage that everyone seeks advice from. Frankly, this whole movie is just one propaganda piece to clean up the league's image, which was battered by the concussion scandal and various off-the-field incidents at the time. That is why the fictional GM picked the high character player over the supposed franchise quarterback, which no real GM will actually do, and why the NFL allowed the filmmakers to use team and league logos, when the league is usually very protective of their properties.

I do not disagree that it is well-edited, and Boseman is good in his role, but the movie is a joke, and I have it at a 2 or 3/10. Aside from the unforgivable football mistakes that insult my intelligence, it is just not a good movie, at all.

As is typical with films that explore a fairly technical or arcane field but try to convey it in an entertaining manner to a potentially ignorant audience, it ends up being patently unrealistic.

It happens in sports films a lot, whether it's Brad Pitt's General Manager calling all the shots in Moneyball, or Paul Gross' exploding curling stone winning the big competition in Men with Brooms, or the Flying V strategy in Mighty Ducks. I'm fairly certain Daniel Larusso's Crane technique -can- be defeated in Karate Kid.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Funnily enough, I recently reviewed A Snake in June which I liked and Violence at Noon which I thought was excellent. I get the point but it seems sacriligious putting In the Realm of the Senses in a category with something like Blue Film Woman. The distance between the two artistically is like greater than the distance between Earth and Pluto. Thanks for this, PO. I'll keep some of these in mind if they pop up on my radar.

Ahah, isn't it the case with every genre though?

Twilight vs Vampyr
Howard the Duck vs Solaris
Sausage Party vs Playtime

Ok, I'm out.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

As a football fan, I can tell you that this movie makes zero sense. Frankly, none of the trades in the end will happen, even in video games. NFL teams uses a point system for picks, and the math just does not work. No sane GM will accept 3 2nd rounders for a top 10 pick, and definitely nobody will trade 3 1st rounders just to move up one spot. If any GM does those trades in real life, not only will he be fired on the spot, the owner will also block those trades. This is no inside look at football; it is not even a fantasy look.

Even if I ignore the nonsensical football decisions, it is a problematic script too. There are too much useless distractions in the script that does nothing to advance the plot, I honestly do not believe that they will find anything more in a last minute background check, and there is no way a guy who traded 3 first round picks will suddenly be a sage that everyone seeks advice from. Frankly, this whole movie is just one propaganda piece to clean up the league's image, which was battered by the concussion scandal and various off-the-field incidents at the time. That is why the fictional GM picked the high character player over the supposed franchise quarterback, which no real GM will actually do, and why the NFL allowed the filmmakers to use team and league logos, when the league is usually very protective of their properties.

I do not disagree that it is well-edited, and Boseman is good in his role, but the movie is a joke, and I have it at a 2 or 3/10. Aside from the unforgivable football mistakes that insult my intelligence, it is just not a good movie, at all.

As a fellow football fan, these trades made me cringe harder than I have in a long time. Screenwriter deserves a punch to head. Maybe two or three. Maybe daily.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Maybe Draft Day was inspired by this:

Worst NFL draft decisions (CBS/NFL)

"1. QB Akili Smith, Bengals (1999, third overall pick)

At the top of our draft bust list is former Bengals quarterback Akili Smith. The thing about the Bengals is that they were so horrible at drafting during the 1990s that we could probably have made an entire draft bust list consisting of just their picks, but we won't. Maybe next year. As for Smith, if you're wondering how he beat out guys like Leaf and Russell as the biggest draft bust of all-time, there's two reasons. The first reason is that he was just flat out horrible.

During his four seasons with the Bengals, Smith only started 17 games and he went 3-14 in those games. He threw twice as many interceptions in his career (13) as he did touchdowns (5). Smith also completed under 50 percent of his passes (46.6 percent) during his time with the Bengals.

The second reason Smith is at the top of this list is because of what the Bengals gave up to draft him. Before they selected Smith, the Bengals had the chance to trade out of the No. 3 spot in the draft for a deal that would have brought them an embarrassment of riches. Saints coach Mike Ditka was trying to trade up from the 12th spot so he could grab Ricky Williams. Ditka wanted Williams so badly that he offered the Bengals a total of nine picks so he could move up to the third spot.

If the Bengals had accepted the deal, they would have landed New Orleans' first-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-round selections in 1999 (12th, 71st, 107th, 144th, 179th, and 218th), as well as New Orleans' first-round pick in 2000 and 2001, along with a second-round pick in 2002. How do you say no to that deal, I have no idea, but the Bengals did.

Mike Brown's explanation for turning down the offer?
"It was a generous offer, but we felt now is the time to get the quarterback. We've been saying that all along," Brown said back in 1999.

Someone clearly never explained to Brown how the draft works, because the Bengals could have used a few of their nine new picks from the Saints to trade back up and grab Smith, if that's who they really wanted. Anyway, when you combine the missed opportunity on the trade along with the fact that the Bengals selected a bust, it makes the Smith pick arguably the worst one in the NFL history."

lol bungles

 

[Spring in Fialta]

That draft is always held up as a cautionary tale. There are still bad GMs, and there are still lopsided trades when a team really fall in love with a player, but nobody will offer the whole draft plate anymore, and definitely nobody will be dumb enough to refuse when offered. Plus, Mike Ditka, the head coach of the Saints who effectively had personnel control, was a Hall-of-Fame player, and he still got laughed out of the league a year later, when Washington, at No. 5, took the offer. Everybody knew he screwed up as soon as he made the trade, and right now, he is pretty much football pariah, as no front office will touch him with a ten-feet pole.

To be fair, if the movie is made closer to the early millennium, when the trade happened, perhaps I will have less complaints about the details. Unfortunately, it was made in the last 10 years, and the league has become very different from then. The Ricky Williams trade will never happen again, because even if the trade is offered, the owner will block it him or herself.

But then again, we could watch a fictional movie following the Houston Texans and I think everyone here would scoff at it as unrealistic.

- Preacher having major control over the team/football operations
- Trade DeAndre Hopkins
- Deshaun Watson situation

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Raising Arizona (Coen, 1987) - It's cool and fun and the perfect role for that period's Nicolas Cage (and great cast overall). 5/10

Shazam! (Sandberg, 2019) - Made me chuckle once or twice, but the whole ending is much too long and tiring. 3.5/10

 

[Osprey]

Howard the Duck vs Solaris

I can't believe that you would put Howard the Duck in the same category as Solaris. One is an intelligent yet entertaining exploration of forbidden love and what it means to be human and the other was considered to be in need of enough improvement to be remade.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Maybe Draft Day was inspired by this:

Worst NFL draft decisions (CBS/NFL)

"1. QB Akili Smith, Bengals (1999, third overall pick)

At the top of our draft bust list is former Bengals quarterback Akili Smith. The thing about the Bengals is that they were so horrible at drafting during the 1990s that we could probably have made an entire draft bust list consisting of just their picks, but we won't. Maybe next year. As for Smith, if you're wondering how he beat out guys like Leaf and Russell as the biggest draft bust of all-time, there's two reasons. The first reason is that he was just flat out horrible.

During his four seasons with the Bengals, Smith only started 17 games and he went 3-14 in those games. He threw twice as many interceptions in his career (13) as he did touchdowns (5). Smith also completed under 50 percent of his passes (46.6 percent) during his time with the Bengals.

The second reason Smith is at the top of this list is because of what the Bengals gave up to draft him. Before they selected Smith, the Bengals had the chance to trade out of the No. 3 spot in the draft for a deal that would have brought them an embarrassment of riches. Saints coach Mike Ditka was trying to trade up from the 12th spot so he could grab Ricky Williams. Ditka wanted Williams so badly that he offered the Bengals a total of nine picks so he could move up to the third spot.

If the Bengals had accepted the deal, they would have landed New Orleans' first-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-round selections in 1999 (12th, 71st, 107th, 144th, 179th, and 218th), as well as New Orleans' first-round pick in 2000 and 2001, along with a second-round pick in 2002. How do you say no to that deal, I have no idea, but the Bengals did.

Mike Brown's explanation for turning down the offer?
"It was a generous offer, but we felt now is the time to get the quarterback. We've been saying that all along," Brown said back in 1999.

Someone clearly never explained to Brown how the draft works, because the Bengals could have used a few of their nine new picks from the Saints to trade back up and grab Smith, if that's who they really wanted. Anyway, when you combine the missed opportunity on the trade along with the fact that the Bengals selected a bust, it makes the Smith pick arguably the worst one in the NFL history."

Yep, sounds like the Bungles alright.

One last point: in real life, the GM would have been let go for coming away with an undersized linebacker and an RB with the first and seventh picks in a draft. Awful asset management. But then again.....

.....the funniest thing about Draft Day is it came out the same month as the Browns drafted a bust of a cornerback who they supposedly never interviewed, then went on to do the REVERSE of the film's message and move back into the first to draft a QB with large character concerns and questionable skills transferability. Classic Browns.

 

[Osprey]

Boss Level (2021) - 6/10 (Liked it)

A retired Delta Force soldier (Frank Grillo) re-lives the same day over and over as he tries to figure out why and rescue his ex-wife (Naomi Watts) from her evil boss (Mel Gibson). Basically, it's an action movie version of Groundhog Day. Roy wakes up, kills people trying to kill him, gets killed, wakes up again, gets a little further and so on. It can also be compared to the experience of playing a video game, which is where the title comes from. It offers a lot of comedy, mostly in how he's killed and how he kills others, much of it actually funny. The movie most certainly does not take itself seriously. There's also a little bit of drama and emotion as Roy uses some of his extra time to get to know his 11-year-old son that thinks that he's just his friend's mom. There are nice themes of regret and making things right that elevate the film above your run-of-the-mill action movie. As for the acting, Gibson and Watts are good, but it was Grillo who impressed me. I wasn't very familiar with him and was skeptical of him being the star, but he does a pretty decent job of it, including in the comedic and dramatic moments. It's not like he's terrific, but he's no worse than Liam Neeson, so he reaches the only bar that he needs to for this type of movie. Finally, the movie is paced very well and has a lot of energy, so it's never boring. It maybe relies too much on narration (we hear Roy's thoughts throughout) and the ending is rather abrupt and unsatisfying, but the movie is all about action and comedy, not story, so I'm not going to judge it too much on the latter. Overall, it's a very unoriginal movie, but also a fun, action-packed and funny one. If you're in the mood for a simple action movie that doesn't take itself seriously, it's worth checking out. It's on Hulu.