PASTA SHOOTER

[Ace]

Last night's dinner was angel hair pasta with a basil and mushroom sauce, pork chops, and the movie Shooter with Mark Wahlberg as the Killing Machine.

The pork chops were tough.  So's Mark, in this movie.  He's a sniper who's set up to take the fall for killing a visiting Ethiopian archbishop, under the guise of scoping (heh) out a hypothetical presidential assasination.  Having watched Starvin' Marvin in South Park, I was surprised the Ethiopians in the movie didn't talk the same.

It's a nicely crafted and gritty enough story, with some interesting side characters and a good group of villains.  It not a movie where nothing happens, as there are at least 4 climaxes including a nice aftershock.  The best napalm scene since Apocalpyse Now.  And having lived in Call of Duty 4, very familiar armaments.  All in all a nicely crafted and nuanced bloody good show.  There are curses hurled, which to me made sense due to the context.  Not for children, unless you want your kid to learn to scope his bb gun and practice shooting the neighbor at 300 yards while factoring in wind, humidity and the Coriolis effect.

There were some funny lines, too.  The main lesson is; if you're hiring a pro sniper and plan to mess with him, leave his dog out of it.

ace; and best use of Dinty Moore Beef stew I can think of.

[pat]

I watched that about three weeks ago and thought it was a pretty keen show too. I guess there's some folks you don't want to double cross.

Watched Michael Clayton the other night with George Clooney and that was surprisingly good. Again, there's a reason not to go around double crossing folks or try to plant a car bomb when they're out looking a horses.

And for a just plain feel good movie, go out and get a copy of No Reservations with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart along with Abigail Breslin. I did enjoy this show and it's suitable for the entire family.

[Ace]

Shoot, you don't even want to single cross.

Look, speaking of crosses and light hearted clean and wholesome family fun last night we watched Blade 3. 

Killing blood sucking vamps after the've unearthed the origin of the species, who is one ugly spiky bad tempered dude.  In Iraq, no less.  Go figure; an actual WMD from there.

It was bloody good fun.  Here's what I don't get, though... the vampire killers have all these high-tech silver garlic explosive nasty guns and bows and arrows and swords and bullets and spikes and spinning thingys.  But still, when encountering a hideout, they first fight hand to hand.  And foot to face.  And then, after taking out 20 or so, finally try the weapons they're carrying.   I mean, Blade has this blade in a sheath on his back, ok?  But he doesn't even pull the dang thing until he gets to the final solution.  I mean, how dumb can you get...  It's like ultimate fighting, where they always wind up in a toe hold or choke maneuver, and don't bother to actually punch or kick or maim.  You wonder, do they get bonus points if they don't use weapons? 

Ace; I do like it when they flame out and wind up as sparking skeletal debris.  I think kids would like that, too.