In the average action movie the boundaries of realism are pushed and pushed ... and pushed then broken in a wow-that-MIGHT-be-able-to-really-happen sort of way; MIGHT being the key word. In BMonk they don't bother to push realism they just break it … then they stomp on it and kick it when it is down.
Yun-Fat Chow plays a monk with no name whose duty it is to protect a sacred scroll. Seann William Scott plays an independent street pickpocket who happens to run into the monk. The mismatched monk-pickpocket duo band together to protect the scroll and to ward off those who seek its awesome power. Along the way they team up with tight-leather-wearing bad girl Jade played by Jamie King. The plot of BMonk is relatively weak due to the incorporation of those ever so faithful enemies, the Nazis. I shuddered and sort of chortled to myself both at the same time when I saw the first Nazi appear onscreen. The action/fight/chase scenes are well thought out but executed with mediocrity ... entertaining though. The script and dialogue leaves a little to be desired and the acting is a bit melodramatic ESPECIALLY with the non-main characters (like Mister Funktastic … yes, I said Funktastic). Some of the one-liners by co-stars Chow and Scott were very funny and a redeeming quality. This is a movie that tries very hard to be an adventure flick. Consequence? It ends up being a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon parody. If you have an extra night free and want to see a _reasonably_ good film, go see Bmonk. Just be sure your expectations for this movie are to see and overacted, live-action comic book.
Where did I rank this movie? Click here.
Disagree? Leave a comment!
NEW! NEW! NEW! Movie Rankings!! Since I just finished watching possibly the worst movie ever (End of Days) I have decided to chart my own movie rankings and tally how many times I watch each. I chose 11 movies I have seen in the recent past and started the ranking with those movies. Then, I added End of Days to the bottom. Check the page out and keep in mind that the 11 I have listed are not necessarily my favorite 11. I just put down the first 11 I thought of ... but it is a good start!
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There are now a few more infoLinks in the Backpacking/Hiking section!
A VERY basic links page is up for the Backpacking/Hiking section! I wanted to publish this so I would at least have something to work on. I expect to add another infoLinks page sometime soon as well continually updating the existing Backpacking page!
Info, info and more info. The more I search the Internet for information, the more useless brain fodder I gather. In the next couple of days I am going attempt to generate some USEFUL link pages. Basically, I am going to organize all of the USEFUL information I gather on particular subjects into one place for easy access. Expect to see the first link page around Tuesday at 12:00pm EDT.
The current link pages I have planned include: Backpacking/Hiking, Circuit Design (Beginner), Information Technology Conferences and perhaps also a page on News. The link pages won't just be a big list. They will be categorized, sub-categorized and sub-categorized again. Also, each link will be given a USEFULness rating and a one line review. Hopefully, I can come up with an aesthetically pleasing easy-to-use format by Tuesday. Wish me luck.
If you have any suggestions be sure to post a comment!
It has been about 10 days since Rubi-Con and I am very thankful I waited that long before posting this review. First off, even after 10 days I am not quite sure whether the experience was a positive one or a negative one. Second, it has taken me a while to gather my thoughts and to decide whether I would recommend Rubi-Con 6 (2004) to someone.
Most of RC5 was a little like watching a train wreck happen before your eyes. Horrific in the sense that disorganization ran rampant and unchecked. Intriguing in the sense that the information and intellectual stimulation I could attain was VERY interesting and useful. Check-In did not occur until Saturday morning, which was after the keynote and several presentations on Friday. Several of the speakers were missing in action however, some excellent alternative speakers filled some of the open time slots. Possibly the worst speakers of the weekend were part of the hacker group ‘419’. They were timid, ill-prepared speakers who, at best, MIGHT have a tech support job in their future. Perhaps ‘unqualified’ is also a good term to describe the 31337 hacker group, ‘419’. Another speaker (and a popular one at that), who goes by the handle Darkcube, gave a mediocre presentation on a broad variety of hacking, cracking, wireless, phreaking and general security methods. The presentation held my attention only because he is a droll.
Now, before you completely avoid this con next year and disavow any and all knowledge of this review … the con did have a positive side. If a glimpse into a sub-culture of computing is what you crave, this con is worth attending. Also, there were several quality and informational presentations. The panel discussion entitled ‘My distro is better then yours’ was disorganized but had plenty of knowledgeable opinions about which flavor (version, distro) of Linux is right for a hacker or general user. Another excellent panel discussion was about wireless networking and wireless data transmission in general. This presentation was broadcast live on the web. One other panel discussion was worth attending and that was the one on intrusion detection systems. The panel covered mostly IDS' for Linux however, they did briefly make statements about a few Windows compatible IDS'. A top quality speaker I would like to mention was Todd MacDermid. If all of the non-panel presentations were as interesting and as well prepared as Todds, Rubi-Con would have benefited. I also want to plug his presentation topic and a project of his, StegTunnel. If you are a crypto nut DEFINITLY check this site out.
At the end of the day Sunday I did not feel as if the $50 I had spent to gain access to all of the events and presentations had been spent poorly. My only hope for next year is that presentation quality and appropriateness improve. The atmosphere was welcoming, the venue was excellent and the networking/spin room was great. I will attend next year … and so should you.