Just an Update.
Still going back to Texas for 1 month on Feb. 4th to 28th. I have something from Korea to give to my family for everybody.
Whats sad is that its been warmer here in Korea than it has been in Texas the last few days.
I told my family that I would love the largest slurpee that 7-1 sells and that Pancho's would sure be a nice place to eat. (If you eat tex-mex in Texas then you know what I am talking about)
I am still going to try for the MBA in international business starting this year.
Like I said this is just a short update.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
2007 is shaping up to be a very historic year here in Korea.
In a few months a fiction film about the events that took place here at No Gun Ri in Korea in 1950 will rear its ugly head and with aPossible North and South Korea Summit and then this idiot
We will also have presidential elections here in Korea this year. I have no idea how this will turn out.
I will see this,SO CALLED FICTION, film about "No Gun Ri" when it comes to Korea in June 2007. It should make for one very interesting review.
Gi Korea Strikes Back
From Free Korea.
Holy Mother of Pearl — GI Korea’s dismantling of AP Reporter Charles Hanley (Part 3,Part 2, Part 1) is one for the ages.
Part 4
Please remind me to learn from the pile of cinders that was once Charles Hanley and never mess with GI Korea. On the other hand, Hanley’s own comment on GI Korea’s blog may be the most damning condemnation of his objectivity and professionalism. I responded directly to Hanley there.
Googling Mr. Hanley's e-mail address, he appears to be the real deal. I bothered to check because it's hard to believe that a "professional" journalist would post such a shrill and arrogant reponse to a reasoned examination of the facts he reports (I say so because I know a few who are worthier of that adjective). The tone of his comment certainly does not suggest authorship by an objective seeker of the truth. Furthermore, the story he pastes was old news when it was published months ago, and that's being charitable:
Free Korea Link
Mr. Hanley's choice of the term "reality based," one laden with ideological baggage in the blogosphere, is almost a signed confession to the author's "progressive," anti-military bias. Some members of his persuasion (I repeat: some) are the first to forget that this same military protects Mr. Hanley's freedom to practice his profession. Mr. Hanley misconstrues that protection as extending to an exclusive right to adjudicate truth and history. It does not.
In 1998, I was serving with the U.S. Army in Korea, as a JAG officer. Few of us who served in Korea at the time the No Gun Ri story broke could forget the incalculable damage that poorly sourced story did to our relations with the local population. We could still have accepted it had the AP simply reported what the historical record did, and did not, show. Instead, it drew every inference in favor of the worst and most sensational interpretation it could put into a headline. It discounted reports that were inconsistent with that preconceived view. We later learned that several of the witnesses supporting their story had fabricated their accounts, and that one, Ed Daly, was on so many meds for mental illnesses that he had no idea what happened or where he was at that time.
And with all that said, the most dishonest thing about the No Gun Ri reporting -- and here, I do not single out the AP -- was its downplaying or outright omission of strong evidence that North Korean soldiers intentionally disguised themselves in civilian clothing to provoke the very situation that resulted at No Gun Ri.
It was we who paid the price for the AP's sloppy reporting when we found ourselves on the receiving end of that bitterness. Some advice to you, Mr. Hanley, is that you do not immunize yourself from criticism by doing so much to validate it.
Correction to my last: the evidence does not show that the witnesses necessarily "fabricated" their accounts, but simply that they were not at No Gun Ri on the dates reported.
I used to love to read the AP reports, now I have doubt every time I see the AP because of these lies and half-truths.
In a few months a fiction film about the events that took place here at No Gun Ri in Korea in 1950 will rear its ugly head and with aPossible North and South Korea Summit and then this idiot
We will also have presidential elections here in Korea this year. I have no idea how this will turn out.
I will see this,SO CALLED FICTION, film about "No Gun Ri" when it comes to Korea in June 2007. It should make for one very interesting review.
Gi Korea Strikes Back
From Free Korea.
Holy Mother of Pearl — GI Korea’s dismantling of AP Reporter Charles Hanley (Part 3,Part 2, Part 1) is one for the ages.
Part 4
Please remind me to learn from the pile of cinders that was once Charles Hanley and never mess with GI Korea. On the other hand, Hanley’s own comment on GI Korea’s blog may be the most damning condemnation of his objectivity and professionalism. I responded directly to Hanley there.
Googling Mr. Hanley's e-mail address, he appears to be the real deal. I bothered to check because it's hard to believe that a "professional" journalist would post such a shrill and arrogant reponse to a reasoned examination of the facts he reports (I say so because I know a few who are worthier of that adjective). The tone of his comment certainly does not suggest authorship by an objective seeker of the truth. Furthermore, the story he pastes was old news when it was published months ago, and that's being charitable:
Free Korea Link
Mr. Hanley's choice of the term "reality based," one laden with ideological baggage in the blogosphere, is almost a signed confession to the author's "progressive," anti-military bias. Some members of his persuasion (I repeat: some) are the first to forget that this same military protects Mr. Hanley's freedom to practice his profession. Mr. Hanley misconstrues that protection as extending to an exclusive right to adjudicate truth and history. It does not.
In 1998, I was serving with the U.S. Army in Korea, as a JAG officer. Few of us who served in Korea at the time the No Gun Ri story broke could forget the incalculable damage that poorly sourced story did to our relations with the local population. We could still have accepted it had the AP simply reported what the historical record did, and did not, show. Instead, it drew every inference in favor of the worst and most sensational interpretation it could put into a headline. It discounted reports that were inconsistent with that preconceived view. We later learned that several of the witnesses supporting their story had fabricated their accounts, and that one, Ed Daly, was on so many meds for mental illnesses that he had no idea what happened or where he was at that time.
And with all that said, the most dishonest thing about the No Gun Ri reporting -- and here, I do not single out the AP -- was its downplaying or outright omission of strong evidence that North Korean soldiers intentionally disguised themselves in civilian clothing to provoke the very situation that resulted at No Gun Ri.
It was we who paid the price for the AP's sloppy reporting when we found ourselves on the receiving end of that bitterness. Some advice to you, Mr. Hanley, is that you do not immunize yourself from criticism by doing so much to validate it.
Correction to my last: the evidence does not show that the witnesses necessarily "fabricated" their accounts, but simply that they were not at No Gun Ri on the dates reported.
I used to love to read the AP reports, now I have doubt every time I see the AP because of these lies and half-truths.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
This is the 2nd annual “The Best Films of the year” list. Just as last year, I will have , “The Worst films of the year”,” The Surprises of the year”,” The disappointments of the year” and the final category, I call “WTF” In which I ask why were these films made in the first place.
For last year’s list please check on this link Last Years reviews
And it’s about half way down.
Now for what’s different from this year to last year’s end of the year list.
1. PIFF . You will see these letters on a few of the reviews. These films played at the 11th Pusan International Film Festival. Because I saw these films listed in the preview book, I went out and watched a few more films from around the world that I usually do.
2. Because of the above watching, my list includes films from the USA, Mexico, Japan, Korea, England, Romania, Algeria, Greece, China, Spain, Turkey and Russia. I really tried to watch allot of varied films for this list. I wanted it to be a true representation of the various members of the expat community in Korea by selecting films from all over the world and not just English speaking films.
3. For surprises and disappointments of the year list, I did put films that I liked in the disappointments and films that I hated in the surprise part of the review. I felt that this would be a more honest look at the list.
4. I will give all IMDB links for the movies, so in case you see a film that sounds interesting to you and you might want to watch it one day, this will give you allot of information on the film. Also please remember these reviews will have spoilers all throughout so please be careful. I will also give links to my longer review of the movie.
5. Last but not least, I have named the award that I will give out to the top selections. I will call the award , “The Flynnie” We’ll my first name is Flynn and it just sounded better than ,”I do movie reviews and one day I might mail you a funny looking Korean award.”
2006 was an interesting year for films; we saw terrorism from up high and underground. We saw the return of an American Icon in Rocky. We heard the words, “WE ARE MARSHALL” and we saw a town heal. We got to see, “The Battle of Iwo Jima” from both sides of the combatants. We saw ghosts and Death Notes also this year, but most of all we will always remember why the fifth of November is for gunpowder, treason and plots.
Each list will have my top 20 and I will start with number 20 and work my way to #1.
Now here are my selections for the Best Films for the Year 2006.
20.The Curse of the Golden Flower
The only reason I wanted to see it was because one of my favorite actors, Yun-Fat Chow, was in this film. I was quite please with this film
And I had no idea what was ever going to happen next in this film. When it was over I had to re-watch the last 15 minutes just to make sure that I caught all of it. Please see it when you get the chance.
19.Over the Hedge
My Review
Talk about a huge gamble that paid off. This cartoon was not in the majority of newspapers so when it came out allot of people had to be reminded that this is a daily comic strip in newspapers. I loved the casting of William Shatner as Ozzie and the film works because R.J. (Bruce Willis) was so believable as a raccoon with an idea to show the wildlife “Suburbs”.
18.The Prestige
My Review
Now this had 3 great actors (Michael Caine, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) all competing for the best magic trick and along the journey you are reminded why David Bowie can act with the best of them. The ending asks you was it really worth all of this pain and revenge that each man unleashed upon each other.
17.Days of Glory or Indigenes (PIFF)
What a war story this one will tell you. It talks about men from North Africa who fight for their so-called motherland against Nazi Germany. It tells of the racist policies that France had for those that they called “Indigenes”. Please see it when you can and watch the entire film.
16. 12:08 East of Bucharest (PIFF)
This is one of the 2 films that I saw at this years Pusan Festival. I picked the film because it just sounded interesting. I was so glad that I selected this one.
The film basically ask did a revolution happen in our Romanian town in 1989 and if it did how? The film will get a release, mid-2007 in the USA. Watch this small film if you can and you will not be disappointed.
15.Volver
Imagine if you can, if you had the chance to come back as a ghost and help fix all of the wrongs that you had done in your life, would you? The film is getting serious Oscar buzz for Penelope Cruz role as the lowly dinner owner who soon has allot of her own problems in the film. The film should be released on DVD in January here in Korea. A great film about death and what a family really is, at the end of the day.
14. Pirates of the Caribbean 2
My Review
This was everything a summer blockbuster should be. It had a great story, great plot and a very unusual villain. When the film was over, I could not believe that I would have to wait until next year to see the final act of this trilogy.
13.The Holiday
My Review
Now this one was a huge surprise for me when I saw it. I had no idea that I would like it so much. Law and Diaz sold the film and Winslet and Black stoled the film. It should be a welcome addition to your annual Christmas movie viewing.
12.We Are Marshall
I knew what the film was going to be about but I sure what not ready for it. When you see the towns reaction to the accident it will just make you feel numb. Matthew McConaughey, to me, finally took that huge next step from becoming a so-called actor to becoming a great one. Please watch the film for Matthew Fox’s portrayal of Red Dawson. He made this into Red’s story and it was a good one to tell.
11.Notes on a Scandal
Now this one was a huge surprise and I felt like I should not have been watching this film due to its subject matter. I’m still not sure I completely understand what I was watching but it needs to be seen. Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett give outstanding performances here and might catch some award talk within the next few months.
10.Death Note
My Review
The only reason I saw this film was because I was able to see a preview of this movie on YouTube and it just looked interesting. Give Japanese actor Tatsuya Fujiwara credit here, after Battle Royale I did not think that he could ever come close to that performance again. Part 2 arrives in Korea in January 2007.
9.Cars
My Review
Now being an American racing fan I had huge reservations about this film. Pixar pulled it off and gave us a story that we can show our grandchildren one day. A well developed film, in which Owen Wilson gave us his best work of the year as the voice of Lighting McQueen.
8.The Departed
My Review
When I first heard that Martin Scorsese was going to remake “Infernal Affairs” I had some reservations about it. I was going to see the original but I waited until after I saw “The Departed.” The film can stand alone from the original. It was so nice to see Jack as a villain once again.
7.Half Nelson
The only reason that I saw this film was because friends of mines blogs made comments about this film and since I have always recommended films for them. I figured that I would listen to them. This is not a normal film, it’s a low budget film that takes you on a teacher’s journey and makes his students a little different because of it. I love the scene when he realized that all he has been taught could be wrong. It would not surprise me to see major award nominations for Ryan Gosling for his acting in this film.
6.The Queen
My Review
The film takes a look at the Queen of England and her response to the Death of Lady Diana Spencer. Helen Mirren has already won a few awards for her role at the Queen and it would not surprise me if she adds an Oscar for this one.
5.Rocky Balboa
My Review
I had heard reports of entire theaters shaking because the audience was so into this film. After seeing this film, I can understand why. What you see is one man who has one shot left and he takes it. Please go along with the ride.
4.United 93
My Review
I will watch this film one more time, when I can get the DVD and I will watch the special features when the actors meet the families of those left behind. Then I doubt, I will ever watch it again. It is not because it is that bad, it’s because the film is that good. I was crying when I saw this at the theaters and I could not stop myself for a while. I don’t know if I can go on that ride again.
3.V for Vendetta
My Review
The first time I saw this film was at the Yongsan IMAX and it sure did not disappoint me. What a plot and what fine actors you had to pull this one off.
Now if I am going to catch hell for this year’s list here it is.
The winners of this year’s “Flynnie’s” are
1-2 Tie. Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.
My Review
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
These 2 films were directed by Clint Eastwood and it shows, “The Battle of Iwo Jima” from both sides. “Flags of our Fathers” shows what happened to the men who raised the US flag on Iwo Jima. “Letters From Iwo Jima”, shows how the Japanese soldiers fought to the bitter end against the US invaders. Flags Opens in Korea Feb. 2007
They show war from both sides and they both ask, “What is a hero?” I have no idea if we will ever see the Japanese part of this film here in Korea. I just cannot imagine a Japanese Army film ever playing here in Korea. They only reason I was able to see “Letters” was a very bad cam DVD from Japan. I kept wondering, will we ever see these 2 films edited into one long one? It would be an interesting idea.
For last year’s list please check on this link Last Years reviews
And it’s about half way down.
Now for what’s different from this year to last year’s end of the year list.
1. PIFF . You will see these letters on a few of the reviews. These films played at the 11th Pusan International Film Festival. Because I saw these films listed in the preview book, I went out and watched a few more films from around the world that I usually do.
2. Because of the above watching, my list includes films from the USA, Mexico, Japan, Korea, England, Romania, Algeria, Greece, China, Spain, Turkey and Russia. I really tried to watch allot of varied films for this list. I wanted it to be a true representation of the various members of the expat community in Korea by selecting films from all over the world and not just English speaking films.
3. For surprises and disappointments of the year list, I did put films that I liked in the disappointments and films that I hated in the surprise part of the review. I felt that this would be a more honest look at the list.
4. I will give all IMDB links for the movies, so in case you see a film that sounds interesting to you and you might want to watch it one day, this will give you allot of information on the film. Also please remember these reviews will have spoilers all throughout so please be careful. I will also give links to my longer review of the movie.
5. Last but not least, I have named the award that I will give out to the top selections. I will call the award , “The Flynnie” We’ll my first name is Flynn and it just sounded better than ,”I do movie reviews and one day I might mail you a funny looking Korean award.”
2006 was an interesting year for films; we saw terrorism from up high and underground. We saw the return of an American Icon in Rocky. We heard the words, “WE ARE MARSHALL” and we saw a town heal. We got to see, “The Battle of Iwo Jima” from both sides of the combatants. We saw ghosts and Death Notes also this year, but most of all we will always remember why the fifth of November is for gunpowder, treason and plots.
Each list will have my top 20 and I will start with number 20 and work my way to #1.
Now here are my selections for the Best Films for the Year 2006.
20.The Curse of the Golden Flower
The only reason I wanted to see it was because one of my favorite actors, Yun-Fat Chow, was in this film. I was quite please with this film
And I had no idea what was ever going to happen next in this film. When it was over I had to re-watch the last 15 minutes just to make sure that I caught all of it. Please see it when you get the chance.
19.Over the Hedge
My Review
Talk about a huge gamble that paid off. This cartoon was not in the majority of newspapers so when it came out allot of people had to be reminded that this is a daily comic strip in newspapers. I loved the casting of William Shatner as Ozzie and the film works because R.J. (Bruce Willis) was so believable as a raccoon with an idea to show the wildlife “Suburbs”.
18.The Prestige
My Review
Now this had 3 great actors (Michael Caine, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) all competing for the best magic trick and along the journey you are reminded why David Bowie can act with the best of them. The ending asks you was it really worth all of this pain and revenge that each man unleashed upon each other.
17.Days of Glory or Indigenes (PIFF)
What a war story this one will tell you. It talks about men from North Africa who fight for their so-called motherland against Nazi Germany. It tells of the racist policies that France had for those that they called “Indigenes”. Please see it when you can and watch the entire film.
16. 12:08 East of Bucharest (PIFF)
This is one of the 2 films that I saw at this years Pusan Festival. I picked the film because it just sounded interesting. I was so glad that I selected this one.
The film basically ask did a revolution happen in our Romanian town in 1989 and if it did how? The film will get a release, mid-2007 in the USA. Watch this small film if you can and you will not be disappointed.
15.Volver
Imagine if you can, if you had the chance to come back as a ghost and help fix all of the wrongs that you had done in your life, would you? The film is getting serious Oscar buzz for Penelope Cruz role as the lowly dinner owner who soon has allot of her own problems in the film. The film should be released on DVD in January here in Korea. A great film about death and what a family really is, at the end of the day.
14. Pirates of the Caribbean 2
My Review
This was everything a summer blockbuster should be. It had a great story, great plot and a very unusual villain. When the film was over, I could not believe that I would have to wait until next year to see the final act of this trilogy.
13.The Holiday
My Review
Now this one was a huge surprise for me when I saw it. I had no idea that I would like it so much. Law and Diaz sold the film and Winslet and Black stoled the film. It should be a welcome addition to your annual Christmas movie viewing.
12.We Are Marshall
I knew what the film was going to be about but I sure what not ready for it. When you see the towns reaction to the accident it will just make you feel numb. Matthew McConaughey, to me, finally took that huge next step from becoming a so-called actor to becoming a great one. Please watch the film for Matthew Fox’s portrayal of Red Dawson. He made this into Red’s story and it was a good one to tell.
11.Notes on a Scandal
Now this one was a huge surprise and I felt like I should not have been watching this film due to its subject matter. I’m still not sure I completely understand what I was watching but it needs to be seen. Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett give outstanding performances here and might catch some award talk within the next few months.
10.Death Note
My Review
The only reason I saw this film was because I was able to see a preview of this movie on YouTube and it just looked interesting. Give Japanese actor Tatsuya Fujiwara credit here, after Battle Royale I did not think that he could ever come close to that performance again. Part 2 arrives in Korea in January 2007.
9.Cars
My Review
Now being an American racing fan I had huge reservations about this film. Pixar pulled it off and gave us a story that we can show our grandchildren one day. A well developed film, in which Owen Wilson gave us his best work of the year as the voice of Lighting McQueen.
8.The Departed
My Review
When I first heard that Martin Scorsese was going to remake “Infernal Affairs” I had some reservations about it. I was going to see the original but I waited until after I saw “The Departed.” The film can stand alone from the original. It was so nice to see Jack as a villain once again.
7.Half Nelson
The only reason that I saw this film was because friends of mines blogs made comments about this film and since I have always recommended films for them. I figured that I would listen to them. This is not a normal film, it’s a low budget film that takes you on a teacher’s journey and makes his students a little different because of it. I love the scene when he realized that all he has been taught could be wrong. It would not surprise me to see major award nominations for Ryan Gosling for his acting in this film.
6.The Queen
My Review
The film takes a look at the Queen of England and her response to the Death of Lady Diana Spencer. Helen Mirren has already won a few awards for her role at the Queen and it would not surprise me if she adds an Oscar for this one.
5.Rocky Balboa
My Review
I had heard reports of entire theaters shaking because the audience was so into this film. After seeing this film, I can understand why. What you see is one man who has one shot left and he takes it. Please go along with the ride.
4.United 93
My Review
I will watch this film one more time, when I can get the DVD and I will watch the special features when the actors meet the families of those left behind. Then I doubt, I will ever watch it again. It is not because it is that bad, it’s because the film is that good. I was crying when I saw this at the theaters and I could not stop myself for a while. I don’t know if I can go on that ride again.
3.V for Vendetta
My Review
The first time I saw this film was at the Yongsan IMAX and it sure did not disappoint me. What a plot and what fine actors you had to pull this one off.
Now if I am going to catch hell for this year’s list here it is.
The winners of this year’s “Flynnie’s” are
1-2 Tie. Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.
My Review
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
These 2 films were directed by Clint Eastwood and it shows, “The Battle of Iwo Jima” from both sides. “Flags of our Fathers” shows what happened to the men who raised the US flag on Iwo Jima. “Letters From Iwo Jima”, shows how the Japanese soldiers fought to the bitter end against the US invaders. Flags Opens in Korea Feb. 2007
They show war from both sides and they both ask, “What is a hero?” I have no idea if we will ever see the Japanese part of this film here in Korea. I just cannot imagine a Japanese Army film ever playing here in Korea. They only reason I was able to see “Letters” was a very bad cam DVD from Japan. I kept wondering, will we ever see these 2 films edited into one long one? It would be an interesting idea.
Now we have looked at the best films of the year, Next are the worst films of 2006.
20. Barnyard
The "male" cows having udders really set the tone for this film. It just kept getting worse and worse. When the film was finally over, whatever humor this film hoped for just was never there. It opens up in Korea, Jan 2007.
19.Little Man
I have no idea what the Wayans brothers were trying to do on this film but it just fails on every part of this film. No plot no real story and just bad acting killed this comedy for me.
18.Miami Vice
My Review
I love the 1980’s TV show and I hated the movie. The remake was bad from the word go and it collapses because of trying everything and ended up being a whole bag of nothing.
17.Ultraviolet
Well to be honest I still am not sure about this film, I just could not believe that I actually wasted 88 minutes on this film. I kept hoping that it would get better but alas, it never does.
16.Black Christmas
Why was this film remade? I hated the original and I hated this one also. It was not even a bad slasher flick. It was just a bad remake of a bad film.
15.The Pink Panther
My Review
I used to watch the original films with Peter Sellers and laugh while seeing Seller’s get him out of one crazy story at a time. When I saw this film, it was just so sad to see how this franchise and Steve Martin had fallen. This was the first film of his that I did not laugh allot at.
14.The Omen (2006)
My Review
The only reason I could ever see this film being made was, its release date on 6/6/06 (666). Funny pun but the film stunk. Due to bad casting and a bad remake it just never became a god film.
13. Soul Kicking (PIFF)
I could not even find this film listed on IMDB. Its title in Greece is “I psihi sto stoma"
For every good film you see at a film festival, you also see a very bad one and this one was just horrible.
The plot and story made no logical scenes at all and by the end of it, I wanted to find the persons who selected this film for the festival and hit them with a brick!
12. TIE Pledge This and Bottoms Up
Now what list would be complete without Paris Hilton on it? She made 2 films this year and they both were so bad that they went into 1 -2 theaters then straight to video. Please pass on these 2 and save what few brain cells you have if you actually think that she can act in anything besides a night-vision adult film.
11.Employee of the Month
What a bad idea for a film and what a bad plot for this film, Jessica Simpson was hoping for a minor comeback with this film after her divorce but all that was left after it was this film. The horror..the horror..
10.Just My Luck
My Review
When I was watching this, I kept thinking, “There has to be more to this than what I am actually seeing.” Sad to say, no that was it. This film could be the start of a career killer for Lindsay Lohan. If this is what coming next in her films, then please do us all a favor and stay home and do not make any more movies.
9.Date Movie
From ripping off every recent hot film of TV show, the film itself becomes a joke and never gives you anything original. I kept thinking, “Ok, they stoled this from here and this from MTV. In the end that all that was stolen from you, the time and $ to watch this.
8.Material Girls
Maybe I am the wrong target group for this movie. The film offered nothing original and just trying to watch the 2 Duff sisters try and act in this film was just too much. I have no idea why it was made but hopefully I will never have to see it again.
7.Phat Girlz
I was so hoping that the recommendation I received for this film was correct. Sad to say, it wasn’t. I still have no idea what the film was trying to express and as a comedy it failed because I did not laugh, I did cry because I knew that I would never see the money I paid for this film ever again.
6. Tim Allen in 2006. Zoom/The Shaggy D.A/Santa Clause 3
Zoom
The Shaggy D.A
Santa Clause 3
You know it’s a bad year when you release 3 films and they are all clunkers. There was not an original idea in any of these 3 films and this year does look good for Mr. Allen with “Wild Hogs” and “in the Pink” Is there a film that Mr. Allen will not turn down?
5.Crossover
Well this one sure sounded good on paper but when it time to put up or shut up, it died a very quick box office death. Underground basketball with rap songs and no plot does not make for a good movie watching night.
4. Valley of the Wolves. Iraq
I have no idea where to even start on this one. Needless to say the organ selling doctor part played by Gary Busey sure did not win any respect from me on this one. I saw it and I never want to see it again.
3.Hanbando
IMDB Link
Like the #4 film, when nationalism goes wrong, we are often left with really bad films. I saw this film and I just flat out could not believe the plot. To say, “Let’s attack Japan” and then have the Japanese Navy moving without any air cover was just too much. The plot had so many holes in it; it just failed on every level. It was a high-budget turd.
2.Basic Instinct 2
This film was so way over the top, in the first 5 minutes you have kinky sex, death and a bad car crash. Then the film really starts to get bad. I just could not believe that this film was actually this bad. When the film was over, I just sat in the theater and wondered, “What in the hell was this Crap” WHAT IS REALLY SAD THAT THIS FILM IS ONLY THE SECOND WORST FILM I SAW THIS YEAR.
Now for the 2006 “Flynnie” for the worst film of the year, the winner is…………
1. Edison
my review
Who does not belong in this group (Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, LL Cool J or Justin Timberlake)? If you said Justin you are correct and you have the main idea why this film fails so badly.
I just could not believe that a film with 2 great actors and Oscar winners in Freeman and Spacey could actually be this bad. It had a bad plot, bad acting a script so full of bad sub plots that nothing worked on this film.
My question is who in the heck said that Justin Timberlake could act? His acting was just so bad in this film that it deserved the straight to DVD route it received in the USA. I went to CGV to see if my DVD screener was possible an error disc but after seeing it on the big screen, I knew that it was not the disk that was flawed but the actual movie itself.
20. Barnyard
The "male" cows having udders really set the tone for this film. It just kept getting worse and worse. When the film was finally over, whatever humor this film hoped for just was never there. It opens up in Korea, Jan 2007.
19.Little Man
I have no idea what the Wayans brothers were trying to do on this film but it just fails on every part of this film. No plot no real story and just bad acting killed this comedy for me.
18.Miami Vice
My Review
I love the 1980’s TV show and I hated the movie. The remake was bad from the word go and it collapses because of trying everything and ended up being a whole bag of nothing.
17.Ultraviolet
Well to be honest I still am not sure about this film, I just could not believe that I actually wasted 88 minutes on this film. I kept hoping that it would get better but alas, it never does.
16.Black Christmas
Why was this film remade? I hated the original and I hated this one also. It was not even a bad slasher flick. It was just a bad remake of a bad film.
15.The Pink Panther
My Review
I used to watch the original films with Peter Sellers and laugh while seeing Seller’s get him out of one crazy story at a time. When I saw this film, it was just so sad to see how this franchise and Steve Martin had fallen. This was the first film of his that I did not laugh allot at.
14.The Omen (2006)
My Review
The only reason I could ever see this film being made was, its release date on 6/6/06 (666). Funny pun but the film stunk. Due to bad casting and a bad remake it just never became a god film.
13. Soul Kicking (PIFF)
I could not even find this film listed on IMDB. Its title in Greece is “I psihi sto stoma"
For every good film you see at a film festival, you also see a very bad one and this one was just horrible.
The plot and story made no logical scenes at all and by the end of it, I wanted to find the persons who selected this film for the festival and hit them with a brick!
12. TIE Pledge This and Bottoms Up
Now what list would be complete without Paris Hilton on it? She made 2 films this year and they both were so bad that they went into 1 -2 theaters then straight to video. Please pass on these 2 and save what few brain cells you have if you actually think that she can act in anything besides a night-vision adult film.
11.Employee of the Month
What a bad idea for a film and what a bad plot for this film, Jessica Simpson was hoping for a minor comeback with this film after her divorce but all that was left after it was this film. The horror..the horror..
10.Just My Luck
My Review
When I was watching this, I kept thinking, “There has to be more to this than what I am actually seeing.” Sad to say, no that was it. This film could be the start of a career killer for Lindsay Lohan. If this is what coming next in her films, then please do us all a favor and stay home and do not make any more movies.
9.Date Movie
From ripping off every recent hot film of TV show, the film itself becomes a joke and never gives you anything original. I kept thinking, “Ok, they stoled this from here and this from MTV. In the end that all that was stolen from you, the time and $ to watch this.
8.Material Girls
Maybe I am the wrong target group for this movie. The film offered nothing original and just trying to watch the 2 Duff sisters try and act in this film was just too much. I have no idea why it was made but hopefully I will never have to see it again.
7.Phat Girlz
I was so hoping that the recommendation I received for this film was correct. Sad to say, it wasn’t. I still have no idea what the film was trying to express and as a comedy it failed because I did not laugh, I did cry because I knew that I would never see the money I paid for this film ever again.
6. Tim Allen in 2006. Zoom/The Shaggy D.A/Santa Clause 3
Zoom
The Shaggy D.A
Santa Clause 3
You know it’s a bad year when you release 3 films and they are all clunkers. There was not an original idea in any of these 3 films and this year does look good for Mr. Allen with “Wild Hogs” and “in the Pink” Is there a film that Mr. Allen will not turn down?
5.Crossover
Well this one sure sounded good on paper but when it time to put up or shut up, it died a very quick box office death. Underground basketball with rap songs and no plot does not make for a good movie watching night.
4. Valley of the Wolves. Iraq
I have no idea where to even start on this one. Needless to say the organ selling doctor part played by Gary Busey sure did not win any respect from me on this one. I saw it and I never want to see it again.
3.Hanbando
IMDB Link
Like the #4 film, when nationalism goes wrong, we are often left with really bad films. I saw this film and I just flat out could not believe the plot. To say, “Let’s attack Japan” and then have the Japanese Navy moving without any air cover was just too much. The plot had so many holes in it; it just failed on every level. It was a high-budget turd.
2.Basic Instinct 2
This film was so way over the top, in the first 5 minutes you have kinky sex, death and a bad car crash. Then the film really starts to get bad. I just could not believe that this film was actually this bad. When the film was over, I just sat in the theater and wondered, “What in the hell was this Crap” WHAT IS REALLY SAD THAT THIS FILM IS ONLY THE SECOND WORST FILM I SAW THIS YEAR.
Now for the 2006 “Flynnie” for the worst film of the year, the winner is…………
1. Edison
my review
Who does not belong in this group (Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, LL Cool J or Justin Timberlake)? If you said Justin you are correct and you have the main idea why this film fails so badly.
I just could not believe that a film with 2 great actors and Oscar winners in Freeman and Spacey could actually be this bad. It had a bad plot, bad acting a script so full of bad sub plots that nothing worked on this film.
My question is who in the heck said that Justin Timberlake could act? His acting was just so bad in this film that it deserved the straight to DVD route it received in the USA. I went to CGV to see if my DVD screener was possible an error disc but after seeing it on the big screen, I knew that it was not the disk that was flawed but the actual movie itself.
Now this part of the review is what I like to call “The Surprises of 2006” a lot of these films came out of nowhere to be huge Indy hits or huge box office hits. Now there are some films on this list that I did not like but I decided to look at the whole picture and give you a realistic look at the top 20 surprises of 2006.
20.Little Miss Sunshine
I really had no interest in seeing the film until I saw that it would be playing in Korea. I watched it and it’s just a little film that told a very funny story. Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell do a wonderful job with this film.
19. The Wind That Shakes The Barley (PIFF)
With a last name of McStay and being able to trace it back to Belfast, Ireland. I was quite interested in seeing this film. It tells about Ireland becoming a nation and the civil war that followed it. It has a real sad ending.
18.Dreamgirls
This is the type of film that needs to been seen on a huge screen or with friends in a DVD room. The Oscar buzz is for Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson for their excellent work in this film. Eddie nails this role and reminds me why I have always liked him as an actor.
17.Farce of the Penguins
I had the opportunity to see this one and I was laughing throughout the entire movie. It is a mocumentary about “The March of the Penguins” but in this film we get Samuel L. Jackson as the narrator and the comedy starts from there.
16.Hollywoodland
To be honest I have usually liked Ben Affleck as an actor, so when I heard that he was going to be playing George Reeves in this film, it took me a little by surprise. He was going to play the man, who played “Superman” in the 1950’s TV Show. It has won Ben a Volpi Cup for best actor at the Venice Film Festival and a Golden Globe Nomination. It really covers no new ground but still a nice film.
15.Eight Below
Well every now and then I do like the “Lassie” formula in movies and this one worked for me. I really liked Paul Walkers’ role in this film. See it with the little ones. The kids will like this film more than the adults ever will.
14.Apocalypto
Once again Mel Gibson gives us a look at another era and time and tells a very interesting story about one man’s survival for him and his family. We will never know how the negative publicity this year hurt this film. Please give this film 1 look and I think that you might actually like it.
13.Glory Road
As a child, I grew up in El Paso, Texas, where the majority of this film takes place at. So when, I lived there, I would always hear the story of the 1965-66 Miners and how they used 5 black players and won the NCAA Basketball championship. I was happy to see the film and I was finally able to see the story that I had heard since my childhood on the big screen.
12.
The 9th Company (PIFF)
I am listing this as a 2006 film for 2 reasons, 1. It was shown at the PIFF this year and 2. It is Russia’s official Oscar Nomination for, “Best Foreign Film of the Year.” My Russian film history had only included the silent “The Battleship Potemkin’ but after seeing this one, it has made me want to see more films from Russia this year.
11.The City of Violence (PIFF)
My Review
When I first saw the preview for this film, it looked like a bad Tarantino rip-off, but something inside me told me to give this film a chance, and I am so glad that I did. This film had a great story and a great plot and one very messed-up ending. Rent it when you get the chance.
10.The Pursuit of Happyness
My Review
Now with Will Smith either I love the film (Hitch, ID4) or I have really hated it (Ali, Bagger Vance) this one falls into the class that I loved it. It told a story how a man who only had his son managed to become a stock broker.
9.Happy Feet
My Review
Now to be honest, this film just left me very flat. It looks like I am in the minority on this one. Parents have stated to me that their children loved the music and all of the penguins. See it in English when you can.
8. The Last King of Scotland
My Review
Once again, another film that I flat out did not like, and once again people who saw this are telling me that I am wrong. The huge Oscar Buzz is for Forrest Whitaker for his portrayal of Idi Amin.
7.Baruto No Gakuen
It was a little Japanese film that I saw when I had to get my E-2 visa. It tells about how German P.O.W.’s were treated by Japan at the outbreak of WW1. It told a good story and it had a great plot.
6.Babel
My Review
I had heard that this was a small, good film. I had no idea that it was also a great film. What a story it told and, sad to say, I believed it. What a plot from start to the absolute finish.
5.Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
My Review
I REALLY HATED THIS FILM WHEN I DID THE ABOVE REVIEW FOR IT. I then took a look at the numbers and how many people laughed at this film. It has a small budget and made a huge return for 20th Century Fox. Either you will hate this film or you are going to LOL when it finally arrives in Korea in 2007.
4.Night at the Museum
My Review
Now this was the surprise pick for me but Ben Stiller’s last staring films in the USA have done very well. I listed this film near the top because of what this film has done in the limited foreign markets so far. In South Korea (At time of writing) has broken 4 million tickets sold and is now the all time USA comedy here in Korea. It seems to be translating well in varied markets.
3.Casino Royale
My Review
Now this was going to be either a huge hit or a major disaster. It happens when a new James Bond is selected. I had my doubt about the new Bond, Daniel Craig, but after seeing it, they made the right choice.
2.The Devil Wears Prada.
I did not like the film but that sure did not stop allot of people from seeing it this summer and around the world. It just seemed to connect with allot of different people for allot of different reasons.
Now this leaves me with a huge problem, I have 2 films left and I flat out could not decide which the bigger surprise of the year was for me. So the “Flynnie” for the Surprise film of the year 2006 goes to.
1.Tie. The Host and Pan’s Labyrinth PIFF for “The Host”)
The Host
Pan’s Labyrinth
(The Host review)
In a way both films talk about freedom and to beware of outside influences in your country. The Host has set the Korean Box office record this year with over 13 million tickets sold and was shown at an all time record 640 screens here in Korea. They both also tell a huge story of love and what will due to protect it. They both tell of what a family actually is. Please see both of these fine films when you get the chance.
20.Little Miss Sunshine
I really had no interest in seeing the film until I saw that it would be playing in Korea. I watched it and it’s just a little film that told a very funny story. Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell do a wonderful job with this film.
19. The Wind That Shakes The Barley (PIFF)
With a last name of McStay and being able to trace it back to Belfast, Ireland. I was quite interested in seeing this film. It tells about Ireland becoming a nation and the civil war that followed it. It has a real sad ending.
18.Dreamgirls
This is the type of film that needs to been seen on a huge screen or with friends in a DVD room. The Oscar buzz is for Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson for their excellent work in this film. Eddie nails this role and reminds me why I have always liked him as an actor.
17.Farce of the Penguins
I had the opportunity to see this one and I was laughing throughout the entire movie. It is a mocumentary about “The March of the Penguins” but in this film we get Samuel L. Jackson as the narrator and the comedy starts from there.
16.Hollywoodland
To be honest I have usually liked Ben Affleck as an actor, so when I heard that he was going to be playing George Reeves in this film, it took me a little by surprise. He was going to play the man, who played “Superman” in the 1950’s TV Show. It has won Ben a Volpi Cup for best actor at the Venice Film Festival and a Golden Globe Nomination. It really covers no new ground but still a nice film.
15.Eight Below
Well every now and then I do like the “Lassie” formula in movies and this one worked for me. I really liked Paul Walkers’ role in this film. See it with the little ones. The kids will like this film more than the adults ever will.
14.Apocalypto
Once again Mel Gibson gives us a look at another era and time and tells a very interesting story about one man’s survival for him and his family. We will never know how the negative publicity this year hurt this film. Please give this film 1 look and I think that you might actually like it.
13.Glory Road
As a child, I grew up in El Paso, Texas, where the majority of this film takes place at. So when, I lived there, I would always hear the story of the 1965-66 Miners and how they used 5 black players and won the NCAA Basketball championship. I was happy to see the film and I was finally able to see the story that I had heard since my childhood on the big screen.
12.
The 9th Company (PIFF)
I am listing this as a 2006 film for 2 reasons, 1. It was shown at the PIFF this year and 2. It is Russia’s official Oscar Nomination for, “Best Foreign Film of the Year.” My Russian film history had only included the silent “The Battleship Potemkin’ but after seeing this one, it has made me want to see more films from Russia this year.
11.The City of Violence (PIFF)
My Review
When I first saw the preview for this film, it looked like a bad Tarantino rip-off, but something inside me told me to give this film a chance, and I am so glad that I did. This film had a great story and a great plot and one very messed-up ending. Rent it when you get the chance.
10.The Pursuit of Happyness
My Review
Now with Will Smith either I love the film (Hitch, ID4) or I have really hated it (Ali, Bagger Vance) this one falls into the class that I loved it. It told a story how a man who only had his son managed to become a stock broker.
9.Happy Feet
My Review
Now to be honest, this film just left me very flat. It looks like I am in the minority on this one. Parents have stated to me that their children loved the music and all of the penguins. See it in English when you can.
8. The Last King of Scotland
My Review
Once again, another film that I flat out did not like, and once again people who saw this are telling me that I am wrong. The huge Oscar Buzz is for Forrest Whitaker for his portrayal of Idi Amin.
7.Baruto No Gakuen
It was a little Japanese film that I saw when I had to get my E-2 visa. It tells about how German P.O.W.’s were treated by Japan at the outbreak of WW1. It told a good story and it had a great plot.
6.Babel
My Review
I had heard that this was a small, good film. I had no idea that it was also a great film. What a story it told and, sad to say, I believed it. What a plot from start to the absolute finish.
5.Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
My Review
I REALLY HATED THIS FILM WHEN I DID THE ABOVE REVIEW FOR IT. I then took a look at the numbers and how many people laughed at this film. It has a small budget and made a huge return for 20th Century Fox. Either you will hate this film or you are going to LOL when it finally arrives in Korea in 2007.
4.Night at the Museum
My Review
Now this was the surprise pick for me but Ben Stiller’s last staring films in the USA have done very well. I listed this film near the top because of what this film has done in the limited foreign markets so far. In South Korea (At time of writing) has broken 4 million tickets sold and is now the all time USA comedy here in Korea. It seems to be translating well in varied markets.
3.Casino Royale
My Review
Now this was going to be either a huge hit or a major disaster. It happens when a new James Bond is selected. I had my doubt about the new Bond, Daniel Craig, but after seeing it, they made the right choice.
2.The Devil Wears Prada.
I did not like the film but that sure did not stop allot of people from seeing it this summer and around the world. It just seemed to connect with allot of different people for allot of different reasons.
Now this leaves me with a huge problem, I have 2 films left and I flat out could not decide which the bigger surprise of the year was for me. So the “Flynnie” for the Surprise film of the year 2006 goes to.
1.Tie. The Host and Pan’s Labyrinth PIFF for “The Host”)
The Host
Pan’s Labyrinth
(The Host review)
In a way both films talk about freedom and to beware of outside influences in your country. The Host has set the Korean Box office record this year with over 13 million tickets sold and was shown at an all time record 640 screens here in Korea. They both also tell a huge story of love and what will due to protect it. They both tell of what a family actually is. Please see both of these fine films when you get the chance.
Now for the next part of the reviews this is what I call, “The Disappointments’ of 2006.” Just as in the last batch of reviews, you will see some films that I actually liked but due to a box office failure or just because the film took too many liberties that it should have never had taken we are left with this list.
20.The Black Dahlia
I have no idea what Brian DePalma was going for in this film, it was a bunch of scenes put together that made who actually killed the young lady kind of in the background. For a film that was based on real life events and then killing people that were not killed in the first place, just for somewhat of a plot, just never made sense to me.
19.Snakes on A Plane
My Review
When do you believe the hype and when do you not believe the hype? I liked the film, but I took it for what it was, “A late summer popcorn flick” For months this film had huge internet buzz and was projected to make 35$ million on the opening weekend. It barely grossed that for its entire run. It was a film that was marketed to the hype and not what it actually was.
18.Charlotte’s Web
Has Hollywood actually run out of ideas? I can see no reason to remake this classic 1970’s cartoon into this junk that was shown on the screen. I just never bought into any of it and really wondered who actually thought this was a good idea.
17.The Fountain
Now I admit, to take 1000 years to see what life has in store for you and to see if you can corrects it errors, sounded like a good plot for a movie. What we got was this mess and when it was over, the only thing I was thinking was, will it take 1000 years to get it out of my head?
16.The Break-Up
My Review
I have no idea why Jennifer Anniston even made this film, it was released soon after her divorce and then she starts a relationship in the real world with her co-star in this film (Vince Vaughn) then they break up and all we are left with is this bad, who can out gross the other one. It was just sad to watch and even sadder to remember in 2007.
15.The Wild
My Review
I liked the film and it looks like no one else did. This films failure slowly helped to convince Disney to stick with 2-D movies and let their partner Pixar work with the 3-D cartoon films.
14.Blood Diamond
My Review
As I said earlier in my review of this film, as soon as I saw the trailer for this film, I just had a very bad feeling about it. Sad to say I was correct. Leo as a super soldier was just too much and Jennifer as eye candy/reporter just never worked for me.
13.A Good Year
My Review
Once again I liked it and no one else seemed to. It’s a small film about love, maybe the box office community was expecting a huge block buster with this one but I never saw it that way. To me either you’ll love it or you’ll hate it.
12.The Restless
After seeing it, I am still not sure what this Korean film was trying to accomplish. Was it an epic, a love story a rebellion for love? I sure did not have a clue and by judging of the box office cost to make this film and how it looks like it will not re-coop it cost. CJ Entertainment has had 3 failures in a row over the Christmas Holidays (This, Typhoon and Rikidozan) I wonder if they will try a big budget holiday film next year?
11.Marie Antoinette
I had a very bad feeling about this film when the Cannes film festival gave it a huge chorus of boos’. Then when I got a hold of an early print of the film, Cannes was right. What in the heck was Sofia Coppola thinking when she wrote this film, it just was not bad, it failed with the critics and at the box office and it’s a huge backwards step for Ms. Coppola.
10.The Nativity Story
A few years ago we saw a very violent film that showed us the death of Jesus Christ. This Christmas season someone had the idea to do a story about his birth and I was so looking forward to it, until I saw it. Could the acting be any worse, I kept thinking that I was watching someone read their lines of a wooden script. The dialect was just wrong and it really hurt this film.
9.Flushed Away
My Review
Why did the makers of Wallace and Gromit even try and make a 3-D Pixar type movie and instead of a good film we are left with this one which the title stated what I want to do with my copy of the DVD of this film, Flush it away. This fails on so many levels, it’s hard just to pick one.
8.Ice Age 2
My Review
What is really sad it that this made 20th Century Fox the most $ in 2006. I absolutely loved the first one and absolutely hated the second one. I just never could quite grasp of the failed love story or her 2 brothers. It just was not put together very well and somehow it made money for Fox.
7.I’m A Cyborg but that’s OK
When my favorite Korean director, Chan-Wook Park, has a new film coming out, I am usually there to see it. It started the Korean singer “Rain” and I thought had a good plot about a female who thinks that she is a robot. After I saw it, I was thinking, what in the heck was this junk? It had no real story, a very bad plot, and this was a film by a great director? It did not even break 1 Million admissions at the Korean Box office. A very, sad attempt at making a good movie.
6.Eragon
Well it was supposed to be a new fantasy trilogy that would compete with, “The Lord of the Ring” and what we got was Lord of the garbage dump! I just could not believe all of the bad acting and the lack of any plot and what’s even sadder is that soon, I will try and watch this on the big screen to see if it’s any better on a bigger screen that it was on a small one.
5.Mission Impossible 3
My Review
Was there an original idea in this film? I sure did not see any. All I saw was the same stupid tricks from 1 and 2 played over and over again and by the end it just became too much of a joke and the film failed because of this and maybe Tom Cruise acting very weird last year. Hopefully he and UA can have a nice 2007.
4.The DaVinci Code
My Review
Looking back at this film 6 month later, I still see it a horrible mis-cast with Tom Hanks. I heard a lot of people getting very upset about this film, but its 6 months later and the world is still turning. To me its still much ado about nothing.
3.X Men 3
My Review
I still cannot believe who they killed off in this film. I recently rewatched it to see if it was any better and, sad to say,the answer was no. It’s still a good film, if you have not read the comic book, but if you have it will make you very angry. I would still give it the same grade that I gave it in the review but it still leaves a very bad taste in my mouth every time that I watch it.
2.Superman Returns
My Review
I was so looking forward to this. I had huge expatiations after the great re-launch of Batman last year but instead I get this huge turd of a film. I still cannot believe that they gave superman a son. On what should have been a huge re-launch, now this has WB wondering if they will wait another 20 years to re-try the Superman logo again. A huge failure of a stupid attempt to re-launch Superman films.
Now these last 19 were bad in their own way but nothing came even close to this sinking of a film. So the, “Flynnie” for , “The Major Disappointment of 2006” goes to.
1.Poseidon
My Review
What in the heck was Wolfgang Petersen thinking when he had the idea to remake this film. It was done 10 years ago; it was called “Titanic.” The film is a remake of a 1972 popcorn flick that stared Gene Hackman as the hero. This film offered nothing original and I still have no idea why it was even remade in the first place. It was a huge failure all around.
20.The Black Dahlia
I have no idea what Brian DePalma was going for in this film, it was a bunch of scenes put together that made who actually killed the young lady kind of in the background. For a film that was based on real life events and then killing people that were not killed in the first place, just for somewhat of a plot, just never made sense to me.
19.Snakes on A Plane
My Review
When do you believe the hype and when do you not believe the hype? I liked the film, but I took it for what it was, “A late summer popcorn flick” For months this film had huge internet buzz and was projected to make 35$ million on the opening weekend. It barely grossed that for its entire run. It was a film that was marketed to the hype and not what it actually was.
18.Charlotte’s Web
Has Hollywood actually run out of ideas? I can see no reason to remake this classic 1970’s cartoon into this junk that was shown on the screen. I just never bought into any of it and really wondered who actually thought this was a good idea.
17.The Fountain
Now I admit, to take 1000 years to see what life has in store for you and to see if you can corrects it errors, sounded like a good plot for a movie. What we got was this mess and when it was over, the only thing I was thinking was, will it take 1000 years to get it out of my head?
16.The Break-Up
My Review
I have no idea why Jennifer Anniston even made this film, it was released soon after her divorce and then she starts a relationship in the real world with her co-star in this film (Vince Vaughn) then they break up and all we are left with is this bad, who can out gross the other one. It was just sad to watch and even sadder to remember in 2007.
15.The Wild
My Review
I liked the film and it looks like no one else did. This films failure slowly helped to convince Disney to stick with 2-D movies and let their partner Pixar work with the 3-D cartoon films.
14.Blood Diamond
My Review
As I said earlier in my review of this film, as soon as I saw the trailer for this film, I just had a very bad feeling about it. Sad to say I was correct. Leo as a super soldier was just too much and Jennifer as eye candy/reporter just never worked for me.
13.A Good Year
My Review
Once again I liked it and no one else seemed to. It’s a small film about love, maybe the box office community was expecting a huge block buster with this one but I never saw it that way. To me either you’ll love it or you’ll hate it.
12.The Restless
After seeing it, I am still not sure what this Korean film was trying to accomplish. Was it an epic, a love story a rebellion for love? I sure did not have a clue and by judging of the box office cost to make this film and how it looks like it will not re-coop it cost. CJ Entertainment has had 3 failures in a row over the Christmas Holidays (This, Typhoon and Rikidozan) I wonder if they will try a big budget holiday film next year?
11.Marie Antoinette
I had a very bad feeling about this film when the Cannes film festival gave it a huge chorus of boos’. Then when I got a hold of an early print of the film, Cannes was right. What in the heck was Sofia Coppola thinking when she wrote this film, it just was not bad, it failed with the critics and at the box office and it’s a huge backwards step for Ms. Coppola.
10.The Nativity Story
A few years ago we saw a very violent film that showed us the death of Jesus Christ. This Christmas season someone had the idea to do a story about his birth and I was so looking forward to it, until I saw it. Could the acting be any worse, I kept thinking that I was watching someone read their lines of a wooden script. The dialect was just wrong and it really hurt this film.
9.Flushed Away
My Review
Why did the makers of Wallace and Gromit even try and make a 3-D Pixar type movie and instead of a good film we are left with this one which the title stated what I want to do with my copy of the DVD of this film, Flush it away. This fails on so many levels, it’s hard just to pick one.
8.Ice Age 2
My Review
What is really sad it that this made 20th Century Fox the most $ in 2006. I absolutely loved the first one and absolutely hated the second one. I just never could quite grasp of the failed love story or her 2 brothers. It just was not put together very well and somehow it made money for Fox.
7.I’m A Cyborg but that’s OK
When my favorite Korean director, Chan-Wook Park, has a new film coming out, I am usually there to see it. It started the Korean singer “Rain” and I thought had a good plot about a female who thinks that she is a robot. After I saw it, I was thinking, what in the heck was this junk? It had no real story, a very bad plot, and this was a film by a great director? It did not even break 1 Million admissions at the Korean Box office. A very, sad attempt at making a good movie.
6.Eragon
Well it was supposed to be a new fantasy trilogy that would compete with, “The Lord of the Ring” and what we got was Lord of the garbage dump! I just could not believe all of the bad acting and the lack of any plot and what’s even sadder is that soon, I will try and watch this on the big screen to see if it’s any better on a bigger screen that it was on a small one.
5.Mission Impossible 3
My Review
Was there an original idea in this film? I sure did not see any. All I saw was the same stupid tricks from 1 and 2 played over and over again and by the end it just became too much of a joke and the film failed because of this and maybe Tom Cruise acting very weird last year. Hopefully he and UA can have a nice 2007.
4.The DaVinci Code
My Review
Looking back at this film 6 month later, I still see it a horrible mis-cast with Tom Hanks. I heard a lot of people getting very upset about this film, but its 6 months later and the world is still turning. To me its still much ado about nothing.
3.X Men 3
My Review
I still cannot believe who they killed off in this film. I recently rewatched it to see if it was any better and, sad to say,the answer was no. It’s still a good film, if you have not read the comic book, but if you have it will make you very angry. I would still give it the same grade that I gave it in the review but it still leaves a very bad taste in my mouth every time that I watch it.
2.Superman Returns
My Review
I was so looking forward to this. I had huge expatiations after the great re-launch of Batman last year but instead I get this huge turd of a film. I still cannot believe that they gave superman a son. On what should have been a huge re-launch, now this has WB wondering if they will wait another 20 years to re-try the Superman logo again. A huge failure of a stupid attempt to re-launch Superman films.
Now these last 19 were bad in their own way but nothing came even close to this sinking of a film. So the, “Flynnie” for , “The Major Disappointment of 2006” goes to.
1.Poseidon
My Review
What in the heck was Wolfgang Petersen thinking when he had the idea to remake this film. It was done 10 years ago; it was called “Titanic.” The film is a remake of a 1972 popcorn flick that stared Gene Hackman as the hero. This film offered nothing original and I still have no idea why it was even remade in the first place. It was a huge failure all around.
The last section for 2006 is called, “WTF.” Basically these are films that should have never been made in the first place and the smell that they left at in the box office still lingers into 2007. I would like the meet the people that green-light these films some serious questions of, why did you do this to us? What did we do to deserve this?
20.Firewall
I guess they were going for a thriller type of move. What we got was a film so bad that I wanted to take away Harrison Ford’s acting license away for this one. It was a huge waste of money for Warner Brothers.
19.Seducing Mr. Perfect
I still cannot understand why they even bothered to make this film. No story, no plot and this was supposed to be a love story. What a huge waste of the so called new Korean wave man Daniel Henney.
18.The Kings Men
This was just too much to sit through. I thought it was going to have a plot. After this film was over, I wasn’t even sure if I watched a bad film or just a really bad job of editing. It was just all over the place with me thinking, why I should even care about any of this. A very bad film, indeed.
17.When A Stranger Calls
Why was this film remade? The original was bad in 1979 and the remake in 2006 was worse. Has Hollywood really run out of ideas?
16.Step Up
I know why this film was made. Low budget, add some hip hop music, give it a love story from 2 people from 2 different worlds and wow, you have a hit. It made back its original investment and then some, but it still is not that great of a film and the bad acting cannot overcome this minor hit.
15.The Hills Have Eyes
They remade this film and they are planning on a part 2 of this. May I please ask one question, WHY?” This one was bad enough, it offered nothing and it was a very bad remake of a 70’s cult-classic.
14.The Ant Bully
IMAX picked this film as their summer hit and it lost them about 20-30 million $ because of it. It had allot of promise but the political correctness of this films message, over and over and over, was just too much. When the film was finally over I could not believe that I went and saw this on the IMAX. A huge and costly mistake for all involved.
13.The Sentinel
What in the heck were they thinking? It was a total miscast from the start of the 3 main leads. Kiefer Sutherland should had been the one being framed. Why was Eva Longoria even cast in this film? I know that she’s a great shot in real life, but she can’t act and this film fails because of that.
12.Fly Daddy Fly
Well this one sure was a huge failure for pretty boy, Lee Joon-Ki. The audience did not like me at this one. It was supposed to be a serious film; I took it as a comedy. NEITHER OF US WERE RIGHT, It was a huge bomb in the end. This was Lee’s follow up to “The Kingsman” In this film he’s Bruce Lee in his breakout film, “The Kingsman” he played the more sensitive role that drove the Korean women to this film. If he is going to make it as an actor, He must choose which one because, by this failure, he cannot do both.
11.Dorm Daze 2
It is actually getting released in a few foreign markets, so that is why it makes the list. Why was this junk even given a part 2? It tried to be “Porkys” but in the end it was just another rip off on the wall of shame.
10.Van Wilder 2
A #2 film without Van Wilder himself? I sure did not understand it either. It has small moments of laughter but overall a mistake from across the lake that we could all do without.
9.The Wicker Man
This was a very bad remake of a very good original film. Nicolas Cage, what were you thinking about when you said yes to this? Please pass at all cost on this.
8.Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Beginning
The original is now a camp classic. This new version was just a bad attempt to make more $ of this once interesting idea of a film.
7. Let’s Go To Prison
Well I thought that it could have been funny but alas, I was wrong on this one. If you like really bad jokes and no plot at all, then this is the film for you. It was just 80 minutes too long and it might have worked best as a SNL sit instead of a movie.
6.The Grudge 2
For a horror film to work, you must be very afraid. The only thing I was afraid of was the $$ I lost seeing this junk of a film. It just never worked for ma and when it was over, I really felt it was just a huge waste of time and a badly edited film.
5.The Fast and Furious 3
Why was this film even called FF3? The ending kind of tied it all together but it was a very weak ending. Please if this is the best this franchise can do, put it out to pasture now.
4.Doogal
It was a French Cartoon Movie that was re-voiced with American Actors and it was a huge bomb in the USA. I will state it again, “Do not dub or re-voice. It never works!” Korea has been doing it a lot lately and the cartoon films here have suffered because of it.
3.Turistas
I still do not have a clue what the plot or purpose of this film was. It started out bad and ended worse. It was not even a very bad horror film. I usually like those kinds. This just left me feeling I lost I.Q. points.
2.Big Momma’s House 2
I saw this and I could not believe that this actually played in an American theater. It was just a very bad rehash of a somewhat funny film he did a few years earlier. It was a huge waste of theater space.
(Readers please realize I could have added about 40+ more films to this list but I decided that you should not have to watch allot of the bad films that I did this year.)
Now the winner of, “The Flynnie” for the most WTF film of the year, and the winner is………
1.DOA. Dead Or Alive
The film is based off of a popular computer game and, sad to say, it should have stayed on the computer. I have no idea what the film was aiming for, a bad rip off of, ‘Charlie’s Angels ‘, or a poor man’s version of, ‘Kill Bill” I watched it and was thinking, “The acting cannot be this bad?” It was! The film had a rip off plot of “Enter The Dragon” mixed with a joke of a love story. The film’s American release has been canceled and will go Straight-to-DVD in April, 2007.
Thank you my most excellent readers for your time and please see the good one and pass on the bad ones.
20.Firewall
I guess they were going for a thriller type of move. What we got was a film so bad that I wanted to take away Harrison Ford’s acting license away for this one. It was a huge waste of money for Warner Brothers.
19.Seducing Mr. Perfect
I still cannot understand why they even bothered to make this film. No story, no plot and this was supposed to be a love story. What a huge waste of the so called new Korean wave man Daniel Henney.
18.The Kings Men
This was just too much to sit through. I thought it was going to have a plot. After this film was over, I wasn’t even sure if I watched a bad film or just a really bad job of editing. It was just all over the place with me thinking, why I should even care about any of this. A very bad film, indeed.
17.When A Stranger Calls
Why was this film remade? The original was bad in 1979 and the remake in 2006 was worse. Has Hollywood really run out of ideas?
16.Step Up
I know why this film was made. Low budget, add some hip hop music, give it a love story from 2 people from 2 different worlds and wow, you have a hit. It made back its original investment and then some, but it still is not that great of a film and the bad acting cannot overcome this minor hit.
15.The Hills Have Eyes
They remade this film and they are planning on a part 2 of this. May I please ask one question, WHY?” This one was bad enough, it offered nothing and it was a very bad remake of a 70’s cult-classic.
14.The Ant Bully
IMAX picked this film as their summer hit and it lost them about 20-30 million $ because of it. It had allot of promise but the political correctness of this films message, over and over and over, was just too much. When the film was finally over I could not believe that I went and saw this on the IMAX. A huge and costly mistake for all involved.
13.The Sentinel
What in the heck were they thinking? It was a total miscast from the start of the 3 main leads. Kiefer Sutherland should had been the one being framed. Why was Eva Longoria even cast in this film? I know that she’s a great shot in real life, but she can’t act and this film fails because of that.
12.Fly Daddy Fly
Well this one sure was a huge failure for pretty boy, Lee Joon-Ki. The audience did not like me at this one. It was supposed to be a serious film; I took it as a comedy. NEITHER OF US WERE RIGHT, It was a huge bomb in the end. This was Lee’s follow up to “The Kingsman” In this film he’s Bruce Lee in his breakout film, “The Kingsman” he played the more sensitive role that drove the Korean women to this film. If he is going to make it as an actor, He must choose which one because, by this failure, he cannot do both.
11.Dorm Daze 2
It is actually getting released in a few foreign markets, so that is why it makes the list. Why was this junk even given a part 2? It tried to be “Porkys” but in the end it was just another rip off on the wall of shame.
10.Van Wilder 2
A #2 film without Van Wilder himself? I sure did not understand it either. It has small moments of laughter but overall a mistake from across the lake that we could all do without.
9.The Wicker Man
This was a very bad remake of a very good original film. Nicolas Cage, what were you thinking about when you said yes to this? Please pass at all cost on this.
8.Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Beginning
The original is now a camp classic. This new version was just a bad attempt to make more $ of this once interesting idea of a film.
7. Let’s Go To Prison
Well I thought that it could have been funny but alas, I was wrong on this one. If you like really bad jokes and no plot at all, then this is the film for you. It was just 80 minutes too long and it might have worked best as a SNL sit instead of a movie.
6.The Grudge 2
For a horror film to work, you must be very afraid. The only thing I was afraid of was the $$ I lost seeing this junk of a film. It just never worked for ma and when it was over, I really felt it was just a huge waste of time and a badly edited film.
5.The Fast and Furious 3
Why was this film even called FF3? The ending kind of tied it all together but it was a very weak ending. Please if this is the best this franchise can do, put it out to pasture now.
4.Doogal
It was a French Cartoon Movie that was re-voiced with American Actors and it was a huge bomb in the USA. I will state it again, “Do not dub or re-voice. It never works!” Korea has been doing it a lot lately and the cartoon films here have suffered because of it.
3.Turistas
I still do not have a clue what the plot or purpose of this film was. It started out bad and ended worse. It was not even a very bad horror film. I usually like those kinds. This just left me feeling I lost I.Q. points.
2.Big Momma’s House 2
I saw this and I could not believe that this actually played in an American theater. It was just a very bad rehash of a somewhat funny film he did a few years earlier. It was a huge waste of theater space.
(Readers please realize I could have added about 40+ more films to this list but I decided that you should not have to watch allot of the bad films that I did this year.)
Now the winner of, “The Flynnie” for the most WTF film of the year, and the winner is………
1.DOA. Dead Or Alive
The film is based off of a popular computer game and, sad to say, it should have stayed on the computer. I have no idea what the film was aiming for, a bad rip off of, ‘Charlie’s Angels ‘, or a poor man’s version of, ‘Kill Bill” I watched it and was thinking, “The acting cannot be this bad?” It was! The film had a rip off plot of “Enter The Dragon” mixed with a joke of a love story. The film’s American release has been canceled and will go Straight-to-DVD in April, 2007.
Thank you my most excellent readers for your time and please see the good one and pass on the bad ones.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Well just a small update
The winter session is going ok, I only have 3 more weeks of it. I am happy about it so far.
So far the new year is ok. Good at times and slow at times but its ok.
While typing this i was sent this so please look at it.
White People only
Stop Racism in Korea
Dear Editor:
I would love to make a comment to your newspaper about a very shocking experience that I had today. I got a phone call from a company that had viewed my mini resume, minus photo, on some Web site.
They had asked me to send my full resume with photo, no problem, I sent it. I then received an email from he director or whoever she was telling me THE COMPANY IS LOOKING FOR ONLY WHITE PEOPLE! What was even more degrading, is when this ``person’’ had enough gall, to tell me that Korea is a racist country and always will be so I shouldn't take it personal, and not to feel bad because, the blacks have it worse here.
She closed her statement by saying, ``I don't know why you came to Korea, but you should go back to America because Korea will not change, so you may continue to feel this kind of prejudice.’’ DOES THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOW THIS ABOUT KOREA?
HELLO? WHAT? Although, I am not 100 percent white, (my mother is Korean and my father German) I was born, raised and educated all my life in America. So I was very ``surprised’’ to hear this comment. If Korea doesn't consider people with one foreign parent to be ``white’’ nor are they ``Korean’’ what do they consider them to be? I mean, wasn't Hines Ward, here recently? And aren't Daniel Henney, Dennis Oh, along with other great half Koreans ICONS here? Is not Korea is trying to become the ``HUB’’ of Asia? Need it be known that you cannot achieve this status easily with racism! As it takes all shapes, colors and sizes to be the best! The world is a small place.
I do hope you publish a story about Koreans and the racism that strongly and not even shamefully exists still in this day and age of 2007!!! The even more degrading part is when a Korean, who has Korean blood running through her veins, tells this nonsense to another person with Korean blood. Christ, I wonder how my family and friends of Korean descendant would feel if they heard this?
Would it make them want to spend their hard-earned dollars to come here and contribute to the tourist industry? I actually came to Korea because I have always admired Korea and the Korean people, so I felt this was a great opportunity to come and get in touch with my ``roots.’’ But never have I been so ashamed to have Korean blood run through my veins, as I was this afternoon!! Makes me feel totally sick to think that this country, is trying to ``westernize’’ itself through hip hop, western fast foods, languages and cultures. KOREA, if you want to play with the big boys, YOU NEED TO GROW UP FIRST!!!!
Thank you Korea Times, for your time. Only you can help Korea open to be a more civilized country through your reports and stories from other people’s experiences here in Korea.
Best Regards,
Gloria
Seoul.
Wow. Very interesting comments here.
Ok next, Big surprise here....(Right) Looks like Yongsan wont be closing anytime soon.
Still in Seoul
Delay once again
Alone again with Seoul
Delay once again
Well it should be fun to sit back and watch this one.
Just saw the 24 show episode 1-4 season 6. and see it when you can.
The 2nd end of the movies list I will post on Sunday. Hope everybody likes it.
The winter session is going ok, I only have 3 more weeks of it. I am happy about it so far.
So far the new year is ok. Good at times and slow at times but its ok.
While typing this i was sent this so please look at it.
White People only
Stop Racism in Korea
Dear Editor:
I would love to make a comment to your newspaper about a very shocking experience that I had today. I got a phone call from a company that had viewed my mini resume, minus photo, on some Web site.
They had asked me to send my full resume with photo, no problem, I sent it. I then received an email from he director or whoever she was telling me THE COMPANY IS LOOKING FOR ONLY WHITE PEOPLE! What was even more degrading, is when this ``person’’ had enough gall, to tell me that Korea is a racist country and always will be so I shouldn't take it personal, and not to feel bad because, the blacks have it worse here.
She closed her statement by saying, ``I don't know why you came to Korea, but you should go back to America because Korea will not change, so you may continue to feel this kind of prejudice.’’ DOES THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOW THIS ABOUT KOREA?
HELLO? WHAT? Although, I am not 100 percent white, (my mother is Korean and my father German) I was born, raised and educated all my life in America. So I was very ``surprised’’ to hear this comment. If Korea doesn't consider people with one foreign parent to be ``white’’ nor are they ``Korean’’ what do they consider them to be? I mean, wasn't Hines Ward, here recently? And aren't Daniel Henney, Dennis Oh, along with other great half Koreans ICONS here? Is not Korea is trying to become the ``HUB’’ of Asia? Need it be known that you cannot achieve this status easily with racism! As it takes all shapes, colors and sizes to be the best! The world is a small place.
I do hope you publish a story about Koreans and the racism that strongly and not even shamefully exists still in this day and age of 2007!!! The even more degrading part is when a Korean, who has Korean blood running through her veins, tells this nonsense to another person with Korean blood. Christ, I wonder how my family and friends of Korean descendant would feel if they heard this?
Would it make them want to spend their hard-earned dollars to come here and contribute to the tourist industry? I actually came to Korea because I have always admired Korea and the Korean people, so I felt this was a great opportunity to come and get in touch with my ``roots.’’ But never have I been so ashamed to have Korean blood run through my veins, as I was this afternoon!! Makes me feel totally sick to think that this country, is trying to ``westernize’’ itself through hip hop, western fast foods, languages and cultures. KOREA, if you want to play with the big boys, YOU NEED TO GROW UP FIRST!!!!
Thank you Korea Times, for your time. Only you can help Korea open to be a more civilized country through your reports and stories from other people’s experiences here in Korea.
Best Regards,
Gloria
Seoul.
Wow. Very interesting comments here.
Ok next, Big surprise here....(Right) Looks like Yongsan wont be closing anytime soon.
Still in Seoul
Delay once again
Alone again with Seoul
Delay once again
Well it should be fun to sit back and watch this one.
Just saw the 24 show episode 1-4 season 6. and see it when you can.
The 2nd end of the movies list I will post on Sunday. Hope everybody likes it.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- At the end of a game unlike any college football has ever witnessed, two of the great female icons in American culture staged a harmonic, hypnotic, borderline hallucinogenic convergence.
Boise State introduced Cinderella to Lady Liberty.
A head-to-toe, shining-beacon-to-glass-slipper miracle ensued.
The Broncos culminated an unrivaled string of gusto-laden, do-or-die trick plays with one of the oldest in the book, the Statue of Liberty. And when Ian Johnson grabbed Jared Zabransky's behind-the-back handoff, scooted around the left side and scored two titanic points to beat lordly Oklahoma 43-42 in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, magic bloomed in the desert.
"It doesn't even seem real to me," Boise State offensive tackle Andrew Woodruff said, perplexedly rubbing his burr-headed scalp on the field while the Broncos fans roared in the stands.
Reality was further challenged when Johnson followed his winning run with an on-field wedding proposal to his flabbergasted cheerleader girlfriend. But, please, one blockbuster story at a time.
The big picture: The Valley of the Stun was the stage as an indomitable bunch of dreamers in orange pants landed the mightiest populist blow of college football's modern era. They were Hickory High in helmets, George Mason in cleats. They knocked off a gridiron giant one decade to the day after the burial of Pokey Allen, the beloved Boise coach who brought the program up to Division I-A status just 11 years ago.
The doors to the sport's throne room seem thrown open as never before.
Check the plaque at the lady's feet on Liberty Island this morning and see if the familiar sonnet has been changed. See if it now reads, "Give me your non-BCS teams tired of being disrespected, your poor of football budget, your huddled masses of mid-major strivers yearning to play in the grandest bowl games." And see if Lady Liberty is wearing a Boise State jersey today.
The Broncos entered their first Bowl Championship Series game undefeated but unloved in some elitist quarters. The Western Athletic Conference champions were made a steep underdog to the twice-beaten Sooners, and were suspected by some of fraudulence. They carried not just their own quest for nationwide credibility into this game, but the hopes and dreams of every alleged mid-major team that had been snubbed by a system of the rich, for the rich and by the rich.
Boise got its respect by beating the seven-time national champion Sooners in an overwrought overtime. But beyond the big picture was the delicious, utterly improbable manner in which the Broncos did it.
The method was true madness. And true genius. No coaching staff has ever ended a game with so much daring.
Out of conventional offensive options, first-year head coach Chris Petersen and first-year offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin went straight sandlot. They showed a career's worth of guts in calling one gadget play after another, rescuing Boise in a game it first had seemingly locked up, then had seemingly lost.
Asked if there could possibly be anything left in the playbook after this, the 30-year-old Harsin shook his head and smiled.
"No, no," he said. "We threw it all out right there."
They threw it out in the following order:
The last of the 21 points scored in the final 86 seconds of regulation came on a preposterous play: a 50-yard hook-and-lateral pass from Zabransky to Drisan James to Jerard Rabb -- a combination that will be the Tinker to Evers to Chance of Boise State lore for the next century or so. Rabb crossed the goal line with all of seven seconds left to play, saving the Broncos from what seemed to be imminent defeat.
Boise practices the play every week in its final full practice before games.
"The guys love it," Petersen said. "We probably run it 10 times because they love it."
So it's a fun play to practice. Whether it's an effective play is another matter entirely.
"Can I say something?" interjected linebacker Korey Hall in the postgame press conference. "It doesn't work in practice usually."
Harsin confirmed this.
"It never works," he said. "Ever."
Pause. Another smile.
"Then we do it and it works."
Zabransky, who looked like he'd lost the game just a minute earlier with a brutal pick-six gift to Oklahoma cornerback Marcus Walker, fired a 15-yard pass to James. The wideout curled just a step or two toward the middle of the field before flipping a lateral to Rabb, who grabbed it and swiftly outflanked the Sooners secondary and sprinted the final 35 yards to the end zone.
It was as shocking a last-gasp play as anything but Cal's five-lateral slalom through the Stanford band. It might also have been the most daring last-gasp call (that worked) of all time.
But it was only the first in Boise State's trick play trifecta.
The next one came when the game was threatening to end with a violent anticlimax. On the first play of overtime, Oklahoma star back Adrian Peterson slashed off left tackle 25 yards for a stand-up touchdown. Suddenly the new life gained by the hook-and-lateral play was in danger of being extinguished.
A designed throwback from tailback Vinny Perretta to Zabransky was aborted on Boise's first play, as Perretta wisely ate the ball for no gain. Five plays later, the Broncos had crept to the Oklahoma 5-yard line, but faced a fourth-and-2.
Harsin went to the trick bag again. Zabransky went in motion to the left. Perretta, at quarterback, took the shotgun snap and rolled right, then lofted a lovely spiral toward the right corner of the end zone. Tight end Derek Schouman cradled it for the touchdown.
But that only made the score 42-41, which left Petersen with a decision: play for the tie or go all-in. Win or lose, in a single play.
Petersen left his kicker on the sideline. Oklahoma called timeout. Boise State's brain trust called the play: Statue Left.
When Zabransky called it in the huddle, confidence flowed.
"We just won this game," receiver Legedu Naanee announced.
When he said Statue I thought, 'Ohhh, brother, we're going to do it in style,'" Johnson said.
Boise had run the play once before this season, against Idaho, and gained a first down on it. In a credit to Oklahoma's scouting, Sooners linebacker Rufus Alexander said they'd seen the play on tape and had prepared for it.
But they weren't quite prepared enough to stop Boise's perfect execution.
Zabransky took the snap and feigned a throw in the right flat to Boise's three-man bunch formation. As the Sooners flew in that direction, Zabransky calmly stuck the ball behind his back with his left hand -- a twist on the conventional handoff he'd convinced Harsin would work earlier in the season.
Johnson then crisply reversed course, circled behind Zabransky and lifted the ball from his grasp. Virtually unimpeded by a bamboozled defense, the nation's touchdown leader crossed the goal line one final time in this dream season.
Bedlam, commingled with outright shock at the audacity of the call, ensued.
Johnson charged to the corner stands where his 56 family members were gathered. He jumped into their embrace, only to bring a banister falling down on him, cutting his leg. Pain was incidental at this moment, though. After hugging his father, the idiosyncratic star runner "started moseying over" to his girlfriend, Chrissy Popadics.
Johnson actually got the idea while attending the Insight Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium last week. One of the Fiesta Bowl committee members, Tyler Hanson, suggested to Johnson that he propose postgame.
"Maybe I will," Johnson told Hanson.
Still, he opted to leave the engagement ring at the team hotel. Just in case things didn't turn out well in the game.
"I didn't want to bring it and then always remember a loss," he said.
In the locker room after the game, Johnson embraced a beaming Hanson, thanking him for his inspiration. Here's the play-by-play from the proposal:
Running back Ian Johnson proposed to girlfriend and Broncos cheerleader Chrissy Popadics after Boise State's win.
With a national audience watching at home, Johnson dropped on one knee ("I nearly slipped") and asked for her hand in marriage. The poor girl, already delirious over the game's dramatic end, spluttered out a breathless acceptance. Johnson had pulled his finest misdirection play yet.
"I had my hopes up [for an impending engagement], but that was it," Popadics said. "We had talked about it and he said, 'Not for a while.'"
Explained Johnson: "There's no better time than on national TV after the game-winning two-point conversion."
Minutes later, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops classily jogged up a tunnel to congratulate Johnson. On the victory, I think. Not the proposal.
Johnson's teammates were surprised by No. 41's move. But not shocked.
"I came in with Ian freshman year, and he's a little different guy," safety Marty Tadman said -- and when the heavily tattooed Tadman says you're a little different, you're a little different. "You've got to think of the weirdest circumstance he'd do that in, and this is probably it."
No bowl game has ever ended with circumstances this weird, piled improbably upon one another. When the final plot twist had played out and the final trickeration had worked, Boise State had beaten Oklahoma with a magical mix of determination and imagination.
Cinderella joined forces with Lady Liberty. The result was part fairy tale, part American Dream come true.
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Boise State's Ian Johnson is a spur-of-the moment kind of guy, so why not pop the question to his girlfriend on the field in the frenzied aftermath of the Broncos' 43-42 overtime victory in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday night?
Running back Ian Johnson proposed to girlfriend and Broncos cheerleader Chrissy Popadics after Boise State's 43-42 Fiesta Bowl win. Said Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky: "I'm sure it probably wouldn't have been as romantic if we would have lost."
Moments after the sophomore running back raced to the end zone for the game-winning, 2-point conversion on a Statue of Liberty play, Johnson was thinking about asking his girlfriend, Broncos cheerleader Chrissy Popadics, to marry him.
He made the decision to go ahead with it, he said, "as soon as the camera got on me."
"I had the ring in my room," Johnson said. "I was waiting for us to go back to California but the moment just hit. There was no better time."
His girlfriend held his hand tightly on the field and couldn't quite believe what had happened.
"I'm in shock," she said. "I've got all these emotions in me. I think I'm going to pass out."
It took awhile or her to realize Johnson was asking her to marry her.
"I think it finally hit her and she finally figured it out," he said, "and she eventually did say yes."
Quarterback Jared Zabransky said he'd heard rumblings that Johnson was thinking about proposing.
"I'm sure it probably wouldn't have been as romantic if we would have lost," Zabransky said.
Defensive back Marty Tadman said Johnson "is a little different guy."
"When you think of Ian Johnson proposing to his girlfriend, you've got to think of the weirdest circumstance that he could possible do it," Tadman said. "I think this was it."
Boy did I ever see a football game!
As allot of people know I went to the University of North Texas. We are a member of the Sun-Belt Conference. Which means in NCAAF we are not even allowed to try for the BCS games. So when another mid-major Team Boise State beat Oklahoma 43-42. I was cheering for them and then when the marriage proposal went down on live TV with Ian Johnson proposing to his girlfriend. I SAW HIM GET DOWN ON ONE KNEE and his family and the Boise State crowd was cheering, The girl looked so shocked but when see said yes and jumped into his arms. I was cheering also. What a great game for the little guy of NCAAF! Now can we please get the playoff instead of this stoopid BCS (bs)system.
When are they going to make a movie about this TEAM?
Here it is as it went down...
January 02, 2007
5 p.m. — Cheerleader awaited Ian Johnson’s proposal for past month
Moments after the Broncos’ dramatic Fiesta Bowl victory Monday night, players pulled off one more surprise play for tailback Ian Johnson.
Some of the players sought to intercept cheerleading captain Crissy Popadics. Popadics “had no idea” Johnson wanted to propose to her on national television after the game, “but some of the football players were trying to find her,” said Jenna Lineberger, a Bronco cheerleader and a friend of Popadic. “They put her on their shoulders to go find Ian.”
After a short interview with a sportscaster, the Broncos star got down on one knee and proposed. Television cameras captured the moment and broadcast it to the crowd in University of Phoenix Stadium as well as a national television audience.
“We were all crying on the sidelines and all of a sudden she’s on the JumboTron and she’s engaged,” Lineberger said. “We all saw it on the JumboTron and started freaking out.”
Popadics was so emotional in the aftermath that she could do little more than spell her name to reporters. Now, the 21-year-old from New Jersey is on a whirlwind trip to New York City to appear on “Good Morning America” with her new fiancé.
Though the proposal was anticipated for the past month, the actual moment came as a surprise. “We were speculating when it would happen, but we honestly had no idea,” Lineberger said.
Popadics received a hint from her mother after Johnson asked her parents for permission to marry her.
“Chrissy’s mom told her that it was going to happen pretty soon,” Lineberger said. “So for the past couple of weeks or almost a month, she’s been wondering.”
“We all thought that it was going to be at one of the home football games,” Lineberger said. “She thought it was going to happen for Christmas and then he went to Arizona, and she still didn’t have a ring. Our last clue was that it was probably going to be at the Fiesta Bowl if we won.”
The couple had looked at rings at the mall this past fall, Lineberger said. Johnson had asked her if she could pick out a ring, which would it be, then bought her a necklace instead. “That kind of threw her off,” Lineberger said.
When she finally got the ring, it fit too small, so she wore it on her pinky finger Monday night, Lineberger said. She was not wearing it Tuesday morning.
Lineberger said Popadics has talked about getting married in the early summer in California.
Since Popadics started dating Johnson a little over a year ago, “she always has a smile on her face,” Lineberger said, adding, “he treats her like a princess.”
The couple recently adopted a cat named Biff.
The outgoing Popadics provides comic relief on the cheerleading squad, making it fun to work hard, Lineberger said. “She tries to make everyone feel like they belong on the team. She’s really a kindhearted person. She and Ian are a lot alike in that respect.”
I hope you 2 live long and Prosper........
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Well Happy 2007 for all of my readers in cyberspace.
What the year holds in store for me, (Hopefully)
Well, as allot of people know I am going home to Texas, for a 1 month vacation. I want to see and look around.
Next i am going to see if I can start to get my MBA here in Korea. I figure its a 2 year work but I am going for it.
Still want to keep working as an University Professor. I have seen a little progresses with some of my students, I so wish that it was allot more.
Still looking to see if I can find a g.f here in Korea.
Well this is how New years eve went down..
Allot of the locals went up to Seoul and I thought about it but decided not too, I've been to Seoul a few times this year but a huge New Year Eve party just did not do anything for me. So I stayed here in Daejeon and Went out to Outback first and had a very nice meal, then I met Dan and Greer at the War-bar in old downtown, Daejeon. (For me its a 10 minute bus ride and when the subway open up for them it will be allot cheaper)
The night had its moments, it was fun talking to dan and greer but dan got hammered and they went home about 230. I then went to J-rock, where I was a blocker and security for most of the night. IT WAS OK THEIR BUT TOO MANY STOOPID PEOPLE THEIR AND ITS JUST WAS NOT WORTH IT. I went home about 730 am and then crashed.
So that was day 1 of 2007.
Happy 2007 Everybody!
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