Movie Review - Shooter

Pretty Damned Good.

Shooter is a suspense/thriller that came out early this year and did fairly well at the box office. It made almost $47,000,000 in the US, but the budget was an estimated $61m. So the international releases and DVD sales will have to make up a bit.

Running time is 124 minutes, pretty much all suspense-filled.

The rundown. Marky Mark is no longer with the Funky Bunch unless you've smelled a United States Marine sniper in the Ethiopian desert. Basically, he's the best, but his partner/spotter/friend is killed as they are supporting the escape of some U.S. forces from hostile forces.

Jump ahead 3 years and he's holed up in a cabin in the mountains with his hunting dog and gets a visit from Danny Glover (not as Sgt. Murtaugh from Lethal Weapon). They tell him there's a plot to assassinate the president and they want him to scope out the three potential locations it could happen, and give them advice on where a sniper would shoot from. Duty and Honor, he agrees. The President is not shot, but an Ethiopian Bishop IS. The government guys frame him for the murder and he has to go on the run to find out how wide this conspiracy goes to clear his name, while falling in love with his dead partner's widow, dealing with Elias Koteas (from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Ned Beatty (Superman, Deliverance) who I did not know was still alive.

Along the way he gets the help of a rookie FBI agent who is the only one smart enough to notice a lot of things don't make sense without a conspiracy of massive proportions. The actor is named Michael Pena, but he reminds me too much of M. Night Shyamalan.

The ladies might not like the plot, but they can drool over Wahlberg. For the guys there's lots of shooting, explosions, revenge, and one girl wearing just a bra.

What Classic Movie Are You?

What Classic Movie Are You?
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Monday Trivia and a Logical Question

Amy had to work tonight, and though I was tired after working a turnaround closing shift Sunday and opening today, I went out to play today with our church small group.



We were in 6th place at the midpoint, and leading by 3 points at the end of regulation. We bid 0 on the final bonus and won 2nd place by 1 point. A team with 46 got all 15 and passed us for first.



The final bonus was this - According to the newly updated top 100 American films of all time (as ranked by the American Film Institute), two actors (male) each appear in 6 movies on the list. Name either of these two actors. Most of our team thought we had to name both, so we bet 0, had they known it was one fo the two we would have bet and won with Robert Deniro. The other answer was Jimmy Stewart. I have not looked for the AFI list, but I imagine the Deniro films are Godfather II, Cape Fear, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, and Taxi Driver. We discussed Stewart and had Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Rearr Window, and It's a Wonderful Life.



The fun question (which I got right for us) was on music videos. Name the top 10 song by Wham, for which the video was the first music video by a Western band to be shot in China.

Now for my general logical question, regarding French toast.



If you go to Paris and order toast, do they bring you the bread dipped in egg and grilled, or do they bring you toasted bread with butter and fruit spreads? If it's not the egg stuff, what do you call or request each one?

Thursday Thirteen #31




Thirteen Things about Michael 13 Favorite Lines from Ghostbusters! The bonus edition because I listed 22! 1. Tell him about the Twinkie. What about the Twinkie? 2. We came, we saw, we kicked it's ____! 3. Everything was fine until ____less here turned off the power to the containment system. Is this true? Yes sir, it's true, that man has no ____. 4. Would you like some coffee? Would I? Yes, have some. Yes, have some. 5. Ray, When someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES! 6. Nobody steps on a church in MY town! 7. We've been going about this all wrong, this Mr. Stay Puft's okay, he's a sailor, he's in New York, we get this guy laid we won't have any trouble. 8. Mother puss bucket! 9. It's different in the private sector. They expect results. 10. What are you guys, some kind of kosmonauts? No, we're exterminators. Someone saw a cockroach up on 5. Must be some cockroach. It'll bite your head off. 11. If there's a steady paycheck involved, I'll believe anything you tell me. 12. Do you want this body? Is that a trick question? 13. Gozer the Gozerian... good evening. As a duly designated representative of the City, County and State of New York, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension. 14. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, no job is too big, no fee is too big! 15. All right, this chick is TOAST! 16. (to NYPD at the door) Dropping off or picking up? 17. Maybe now you'll never slime a guy with a positron collider, huh? 18. She's not my girlfriend. I find her interesting because she's a client and because she sleeps above her covers... *four feet* above her covers. She barks, she drools, she claws! 19. I want you inside me. It sounds like you've got at least two or three people in there already. 20. I'll take Miss Barret back to her apartment and check her out. (pause) I'll go check out Miss Barret's apartment. OK? 21. As they say in T.V., I'm sure there's one big question on everybody's mind, and I imagine you are the man to answer that. How is Elvis, and have you seen him lately? 22. Where do the stairs go? They go up. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)




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Follow Up to the New Job

Yesterday was a slightly interesting one. I got my call from Walgreen's wanting me to confirm my acceptance of their offer and to have me come down to sign off on some paperwork and get the forms I needed to go take my drug test.

I left to find the place (which I did) and discovered they stopped taking samples about two weeks ago, so I called my hiring manager to find the other location.

On the way there I stopped at a blood mobile because I had planned to give blood since the Red Cross got off their butts and reinstated me as an authorized donor (I have O positive).

I had two difficulties there, first the Goodwill people hosting the bloodmobile wanted me to fill out some information-gathering form for them and their career center. I knew this was not necessary and brought it to the attention of the bloodmobile employees who had no idea they were trying to force people to give them personal information.

I made it onto the bloodmobile and got denied anyway because my iron level was too low. I guess it could be because of my using Alli (the new fat-burning OTC drug). I missed by one measurement, 38 was needed and I read 37.

So I went on down to the drug test, took it, and came home. I had about an hour to relax and change to head out to the mall for an interview there at Lids. Lids is a baseball cap store that sells about 90& ballcaps and the rest is other headwear and some accesories like cleaning supplies. I told them about the Walgreen's job and with my other experience, so I might have a good opportunity to add a second PT job on top of the Walgreen's job.

Amy went with me to the interview and she hung out in the mall while I was busy and we then went to see Knocked Up. Funny movie.

Ten on Tuesday #5

Ten favorite/memorable movies from my childhood.

1. The Muppet Movie
2. Savannah Smiles
3. They Went Thattaway and Thattaway (Tim Conway)
4. Smokey and the Bandit
5. The Aristocats (Disney)
6. Star Trek - The Motion Picture
7. Jumping Jacks (Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis)
8. The Great Muppet Caper
9. Take the Money and Run (Woody Allen)
10. The Jazz Singer (Neil Diamond)