Movie, "Shooter"

[siloram]

There is a movie coming out this week called Shooter. It is based on the book "Point of Impact" by Stephen Hunter. He is very accurate on describing how a long range rifle is built and handloading for it. It will be interesting to see what Hollywood does with it. It stars Mark Walberg

[arky65]

I have read several of his books Great read. The hero and most of his other books I have read take place in my neck of the woods.
I do not go to movies but it will be interesting to see if the movie is as good as the book.

arky65

[sqeeter91]

It looks like Hollywood has already used artistic license. The dog in the preview looks to be a yellow Lab-Golden Retriever. In the book,"Mike " was a Beagle! Also Bob Lee Swagger would be about 10-12 yrs older than Wahlberg, and Donny Fenns wife is middle aged, not a young to mid 30 yr old "Babe". Nope, the movies are never as ggo d as the book!

[Sourdough]

Was reading where Walberg actually went to a camp and learned about the things he needed to do in the movie.  It covered the meticilous reloading, concealment, and shooting at long distances.

[WmRoy]

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/

Based on the review by Debbie Schlussel, I think I'll pass on seeing this one.  She mentions it in 2 different articles.

After reading her commentary, I think I'll pass on any future movies by Mr. Walberg as well.......

[Brett]

What was the name of the movie staring Will Smith and Gene Hackman?  The primes sounds somewhat similar.

[Sourdough]

I don't listen to the reviews of critics, they generally say what they are paid to say or what applies to their personal agendas. I have read the reviews of others that say just the opposite.  I will go and see the movie and make my own decision as to wheather I liked it. 

[WmRoy]

I don't listen to the reviews of critics, they generally say what they are paid to say or what applies to their personal agendas. I have read the reviews of others that say just the opposite.  I will go and see the movie and make my own decision as to wheather I liked it. 

Did you follow the link?

She's not a movie critic........... she does post reviews, but she is a political blogger.  You'll see her on Fox every once in a while.  She offers some history on Mr. Walberg as well as on the movie itself.

[williamlayton]

Walberg did not write the book, produce the movie, or write the dialogue---How in the world can you write him into any kind of scenario of collusion of leftist or righist actions.
He played a part--and was directed on how too play it.
Some read the author and enjoy his writings but jump on Walberg--I am at a loss on this issue.
Walberg did some bad things and on this account you can justifiably not support him by spending money to see it.
Right or Left is not the issue with him--he has showed that he is a self-serving individual, using both left and right too meet these ends.
The movie, as revued by most ctritics, is just another action thriller, no better or worse than any other, and without any realistic behavior.
I think you may need to be jumping on the author of this book, perhaps the producers and director, and not an actor trying too earn a million bucks or so.
Blessings
 

[OLDHandgunner]

I don't listen to the reviews of critics, they generally say what they are paid to say or what applies to their personal agendas. I have read the reviews of others that say just the opposite.  I will go and see the movie and make my own decision as to wheather I liked it. 

I agree. They are critics!! I'll rate it myself after I see it. Saw the previews. Looked like a good movie.

[Sourdough]

Yes, I read the posted review.  But like I said before I don't believe the reviews.  I have gone to see some movies that was reviewed as trash and loved them.  Also went to see some that got rave reviews and walked out half way through it.  I make my own decissions about what I like and don't like.  Previews look good so I am going to see it.

Also don't blame Walberg, He's only an actor.  He was told every move to make.  And he did not write the book or script.
One of my favorite movies was "The President" staring Michael Douglas.  While I totally disagreeded with the charictor's stance on gun Control, I enjoyed the movie.  After all, it was only a movie.

[oldandslow]

Looks like Hollywood has worked their special magic on another book. "Point Of Impact' was a very good book. I read it years ago and just finished re-reading this morning in fact. Swagger was a Marine sniper in Vietnam in the book and never shot anyone at a mile, more like 800 yards. Also he never made any comments about the USA being criminal.

Even though I like Walberg as an actor I'll miss seeing the movie as it would be too unbeliveable.

[dukkillr]

I just got back from the movie.  I enjoyed it.  Do you guys have questions about it?

[Sourdough]

You enjoyed it.  Enough said for me.

[WmRoy]

I just got back from the movie.  I enjoyed it.  Do you guys have questions about it?

Apparently, you wouldn't agree with Debbie's opinion of the 'undertones' of the film.........

Lies, Damn Lies & The Movies: "Shooter" Thug Mark Wahlberg Hates America, Defames Troops


By Debbie Schlussel

To update Mark Twain, there are lies, damn lies, and Hollywood movies.

The latest Hollywood offering starring "former" thug Mark Wahlberg--"Shooter"--is the epitome of that. It's in theaters today and looks like a great movie, with all of its cool shooting and explosion scenes. On the contrary, it is anything but.

Aside from being a sad combo rip-off of "Enemy of the State" and "Rambo II," this movie is a withering attack not just on the Bush Administration and our soldiers in Iraq, it is a flat-out attack on America with no basis in fact.


Mark Wahlberg: Criminal Thug Has "Message" for America On-Screen, Off
The movie begins with a scene of genius Marine sharpshooter Bob Lee Swagger (Wahlberg) taking out Ethiopian soldiers a mile away with a single shot. He's that good. But the American soldiers in what he believes is a legitimate military operation decide to cut and run and abandon him and deny his existence. Disgruntled, he retires from the military to a rustic mountain log cabin.

Then, the plot gets preposterous. A group of men--one of whom identifies himself as a Colonel (Danny Glover, not a word of whose dialogue you can decipher)--come to visit him and appeal to his patriotism. But for a smart guy, he sure is stupid.

The men tell Swagger that an "inside man" wants to assassinate the President in the next two weeks. They want him to plan his own assassination as a sharpshooter and report back to them on how it would be possible to kill the President, so they can prevent it (riiiiight). And they want him to go with them to the scene of the likely assassination scenario to help them "spot" the shooter. (Yeah, even more believable. NOT.) Without verifying who they are in the least, Swagger immediately agrees to participate.

And--surprise! surprise!--they frame him for an attempted assassination of the Commander in Chief. It's not like I'm spoiling the movie for you. All of this is in the trailer. And any ninny with a base IQ would know this dude is being set up. Come on.

But what will actually spoil the movie for you are the stark, absurd political statements in the movie. In the end, these mysterious plotters--who are apparently a rogue CIA operation working with an overdramatic, corrupt U.S. Senator (but it's never really clear who they are)--were really out to kill an Ethiopian Bishop who was going to speak out against American corruption.

You see, America has been raping, torturing, and mass-murdering whole Ethiopian villages for years. And we've been doing it all to get cheap oil. Aside from the fact that gas is yet again nearing post-$3 levels per gallon, the fact is that America hasn't and doesn't rape, torture, or mass-murder, ANYONE in Ethiopia . . . or even Africa. No, that would be the Muslim Arab government of Sudan, which was doing that to its own people, until they wiped out its Black Christian population, and is now doing the same to its Black Muslims.

But, hey, why tell the truth, when an absurd movie plot can frame and blame America instead? That's so much more exciting, right?

Then there are the obnoxious statements riddled throughout this movie and even its . . . wardrobe?! Actor Mark Pena, playing an incompetent FBI agent, wears a Che Guevara T-shirt. Nothing like a side of Che chic to go with the main meal of America-hatred.

Mark Wahlberg delivers several monologues against the country that made this accused attempted-murderer and drug dealer into a multi-millionaire and Academy Award Nominee, including dialogue like this:

This is a country where the Secretary of Defense can tell the entire country on TV that it's about freedom, not oil. Because it's all a big lie.
And this:

Abu Ghraib--We knew their [the few U.S. soldiers who participated)bosses knew.
And this:

We killed raped, tortured, and killed people for oil in Ethiopia.
Since he has a lot of lines against America's presence in Iraq and the lack of WMDs, it's clear Ethiopia is a proxy for Iraq in this movie.

And Wahlberg goes on and on and on and on about how America is a criminal country (and that's beside the utterances of other characters about the conspiracy on the Grassy Knoll in the JFK assassination).

Well, here's a little news (for anyone planning to see "Shooter") on the identity of the real criminal:

Mark Wahlberg.

In 1988, Wahlberg, after a series of arrests (he's an admitted car thief and drug dealer), attacked a Vietnamese immigrant. Respected news sources say he took the man's eye out with a meathook, in order to steal his beer. But I can't see the full details of his assault because Wahlberg--who was 17 and tried as an adult--had the records sealed, according to officials at Boston's Suffolk County courthouse. The one court document that was mysteriously obtained by The Smoking Gun states that in the process, Wahlberg called the man a "Vietnam f-cking crap." When police brought him to the victim to have him identified, Wahlberg responded:

You don't have to let him identify me. I'll tell you now that's the mother-f-cker whose head I split open.
Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder and was sentenced to two years in the Massachusetts' Deer Island House of Corrections. He served only 45 days.

Before that, in 1986, Wahlberg was convicted of assaulting a 12-year-old Black boy and his brother and sister near Walberg's Dorchester neighborhood. Wahlberg and two friends chased them on bikes, through rocks at them, and told them:

We don't like Black ni--ers in the area so get the f-ck away from the area.
While throwing the rocks, Wahlberg and friends yelled:

Kill the ni--er. Kill the ni--er.
A Black girl was hit by one of the rocks.

Wahlberg bragged to USA Weekend:

I was arrested so many times.
In another interview, he bragged that the number of arrests was in the teens or twenties.

And he bragged to ABC's "Nightline" that he has never contacted the Vietnamese victim he mutilated or his other victims (to apologize or make things right) because he doesn't feel he has to. He's "made amends" by making a lot of money in successful pop music, modeling, and acting careers. He says he sleeps very well at night.

This is the kind of man who stars in a movie calling America a criminal nation and our generals and lesser-ranked soldiers criminals, rapists, and murderers for oil.

Wahlberg claims this movie

speaks to the sort of stuff we as a country are going through right now. I really wanted to make it.
Uh, no, it doesn't speak to anything America has ever done or gone through, Mark. It's fiction, unlike your criminal past.

Mark Wahlberg needs to stop delivering lectures to moviegoers about this great country that unfortunately gave so much to someone so undeserving--and unrepentant criminal thug.

Pot. Kettle. Black. Mark Wahlberg. "Shooter." This is one Calvin Klein model you don't want to emulate.

Skip this awful movie.

The fact that Danny Glover is in it tells me I don't care to see it..................

[dukkillr]

Some of what she said is lies.  Some of what she says is damn lies.  The rest is a gross distortion.  I don't know anything about this woman but it never ceases to amaze me the cr*p that gets referenced on this board.  If no one read this stuff it would go away.

If you like action movies, you'll like this movie.  If you were a fan of the Rambo movies this is a must see.  If you think it's Unamerican you're probably already crazy, and there isn't much I can do about it. 

[Sourdough]

Guess, He's pushing his own agenda, just we ain't buying it.  Keeps repeating himself.

[Sourdough]

Finally went and seen the movie tonight.  It was really good.  I liked it, and would recommend it to anyone that likes action movies.  You got to remember it's only a movie, for entertainment.  I did not see any political message, of course I was not looking for one anyway.  I went to be entertained.  This movie did just that entertained me.  As for the shooting scenes, what is so rediculious?  I know guys that can do that.

The only thing I saw that looked hokey was when he was shooting his AR-50 at the beginning.  His dog was right in the blast zone for the muzzle brake.  The dog would only have laid there for one shot, then moved quick, and been deaf (and gun shy) for the rest of his life.