Epinions Recent Reviews for jmk444

Black Hawk Down - A Different Kind of War Movie

Tue, 29 Jan 2002 01:32:07 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Ridley Scott’s film Black Hawk Down does a good job presenting Mark Bowden’s book by the same name. After reading the book and seeing this film I was astounded by how little I knew about this particular event.

I recall the CNN tape of Corporal...

Nothing Common About This Album

Sat, 6 Jan 2001 04:36:59 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - If you’ve never listened to John Prine, Common Sense is a pretty good place to start. Prine, like the late Jeff Buckley, is a great lyricist.

The songs on this album all seem driven, almost entirely acoustically, by guitars and piano,...

Modern Mobster Samurai...

Thu, 4 Jan 2001 02:06:55 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is a fascinating flick – an odd hybrid, two parts gangster epic, one part philosophical journey of self-discovery. Forrest Whitaker (Phenomenon) is Ghost Dog, a loner, who considers himself a...

Brother....What an Album!

Sat, 23 Dec 2000 21:10:52 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - The late seventies were an odd time for music. America was still held in the waning grip of "Disco Fever." It was neither my favorite time period nor musical genre. Aside from Donna Summer, Chic, Sister Sledge and Andrew Gold (Yeah that kind of puts...

Juno - A Tale of Two Pops

Sun, 17 Dec 2000 02:30:09 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - I first used Juno as a free backup ISP about four years ago and then switched to Juno Premium as my primary provider. It's New York City Pop worked pretty well...a decent first time connect rate, few disconnects and I had few problems surfing web sites...

The Wisdom of Elder...Larry Elder, that is.

Tue, 12 Dec 2000 22:28:23 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - I live on the East Coast, so I hadn’t heard Larry Elder’s radio talk show, but thanks to his new book, The Ten Things You Can’t Say in America I've now shared the pleasure of his viewpoints.

Larry Elder is part of a growing vanguard of...

Baaaad Medicine!...

Mon, 11 Dec 2000 21:27:09 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Capzasin HP is a topical rub for muscle and joint pain. After fifteen years in New York City's Fire Department, I've begun feeling aches and pains I never experienced before. Getting older is no fun.

At any rate, I've tried a lot of these OTC...

When the Bronx was burning!

Sat, 2 Dec 2000 04:04:03 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Dennis Smith's Report From Engine Company 82 was a huge best seller when it first appeared in 1972 and it immediately put its author into the rarified air of commercially successful authors - no small feat considering that 1 of every 3 books...

The Bomb...(Literally)

Sat, 2 Dec 2000 01:06:07 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - [Thanks to Dave Corbitt for tuning me into this flick.]

The Lunch Time/Air Raid Siren

Trinity and Beyond is a powerful combination of recently declassified footage against a backdrop of oddly fitting...

6th Sense Redux?...Not at all

Mon, 27 Nov 2000 23:11:53 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - M Night Shyamalan’s follow-up to The 6th Sense is no sequel, but it shouldn’t have to be. Maybe Unbreakable tries too hard, in spots, to be metaphysical and that may be why many fans of The 6th Sense seem disappointed, but it’s a well told...

Historic Richmond Town: A Glimpse of Olde New York

Mon, 20 Nov 2000 14:11:49 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 -
Review Topic: Sights & Attractions

Historic Richmond Town

Nestled in the center of Staten Island, lies one of New York City’s most unique treasures. Historic Richmond Town is New York City’s only restored...

The Best Old Style Deli in NYC

Mon, 20 Nov 2000 14:02:46 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - New York City is famous for its delis. There are landmarks like the Carnegie Deli and the Stage Deli, both in the mid-town area, and of course, Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side.

Katz’s Deli, located at 205 East Houston Street (between Allen...

The "Well" is a Distorted Mirror

Tue, 14 Nov 2000 19:19:54 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Former Harvard Law Professor Derrick Bell's book, Faces At the Bottom of the Well defines America's racial divide in terms of the book's subtitle; "The Permanence of Racism". Throughout the book, he uses fictional settings to illustrate...

River Views & Woodlands; The Hudson Heights, Manhattan

Sun, 12 Nov 2000 01:20:50 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 -
Review Topic: Sights & Attractions

Traditionally, for many New Yorkers, Manhattan ended at 96th Street, where the tony Upper East and Upper West sides gave way to Harlem. Despite this imaginary boundary, the West Side, along...

O Tempora Morrisania: The Morrisania Section of the Bronx

Sun, 5 Nov 2000 23:53:33 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 -
Review Topic: Overview

The Morrisania section of the Bronx is right in the center or heart of the South Bronx. It holds no landmarks of note, nor has it ever been my home. I’ve been to literally hundreds of fires in the area...

Rand, Ayn: The Ayn Rand Ideology

Tue, 18 Jul 2000 15:00:16 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Ayn Rand was a brilliant philosopher with an acerbic personality and a ponderous writing style. Her most well known works, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead are thinly veiled polemics whose message punctures the surface of the story like...

“This is how we say goodbye...”

Fri, 14 Jul 2000 04:01:39 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Mitch Albom’s 1997 book Tuesday’s With Morrie has become an instant classic and for good reason. The story chronicles Albom’s belated reunion with a favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz who was dying of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in 1994. The...

Gun Control IS NOT Violence Control

Fri, 9 Jun 2000 22:24:12 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - That’s right, gun control is NOT violence control and you’d think that that’s all that has to be said, but John Lott goes even further in his book “More Guns, Less Crime.” A lot (pardon the pun) further.

Before you start thinking that John R...

A combustible combination of tragedy & comedy

Tue, 30 May 2000 18:05:03 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Only a very trivial person could think that Roberto Benigni's "Life is Beautiful" (La Vita E Bella) "trivializes the holocaust."

It is not, as some seem to feel, a two part film. It is a seamless account of a man blessed...

Historically accurate but dramatically dull

Tue, 30 May 2000 17:31:56 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Steven Spielberg's 1998 movie Amistad has a great subject matter, a cast of riveting characters but very little passion. That's not to say that it's not an enjoyable film...it is, it's just that it could've been so much more.

The initial story...

The Power of Hate

Tue, 30 May 2000 17:00:23 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - David McKenna's powerful script and Tony Kaye's direction combine with some fine performances (Ed Norton, Avery Brooks, Stacy Keach & Ed Furlong) to make American History X a gripping film. It is extremely violent and the language is very vulgar, but...

This is one great grill !!!

Fri, 21 Apr 2000 14:49:10 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - I purchased the George Foreman "Lean Mean Grilling Machine" (Salton) a few months ago. I based much of my decision to buy this item on the number of great reviews it was receiving on Epinions. I haven't been disappointed.

I love...

A Profound Book!

Tue, 21 Dec 1999 01:39:08 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" along with Robert Pirsig's "Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" are two of the most profound books on the human experience that I've ever read. Here, Dr. Frankl (a Psychiatrist)...

A Magical Movie...

Mon, 20 Dec 1999 21:35:35 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - The Green Mile written by Stephen King and directed by Frank (The Shawshank Redemption) Darabont is a magical story with a great cast. It is actually the story of a huge, rather simple minded black prisoner named James Coffey as told through the...

If you like a little levity with your preachy Classics...

Sat, 11 Dec 1999 00:20:55 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author jmk444 - If you like a little comedy to take the edge off of the preachiness of your Dickensian tales, this is definitely the way to go. Rich Little is fantastic as he tells "A Christmas Carol" with W.C. Fields as Scrooge, Paul Lindt as Bob Kratchet,...