8 Mile

Pros: Great rapping, a gripping look at life on "the other side".
Cons: Well, if you don't like profanity...

It's easy to be crude, dismiss the guy as rude, but the dude's got the mood and he knows how to start a feud. Some might see 8 Mile as a pile of regurgitated bile, but I'll have to dismiss these claims as just vile. Saw the movie myself, put my...

Pros: Wonderfully directed, well-acted, killer soundtrack.
Cons: Dude, it's The Karate Kid with rap. And no Mr. Miyagi.

Regardless of what you may have heard from friends, read about in newspapers, and seen in magazine profiles, the star of 8 Mile is not the rapper formerly known and Marshall Mathers. Oh, sure, Eminem is the guy who's gonna fill seats at suburban...

Pros: It's good.
Cons: You probably don't care.

2003 looks to be destined to go down in history as the year of the sequel. More sequels are coming out this year than I can remember ever being released in one year. In fact, it’s not even a close race. And, now that I think about it, 2003 might...

Pros: Mekhi Phifer's and Chloe Greenfield's performances.
Cons: Pacing. Editing. Some failures in character development.

Preamble
Unless you've been comatose for the past two months then undoubtedly, you've been bombarded with media messages about Eminem's movie debut, 8 Mile.

I like Eminem (much to the frustration of some of my...

Pros: Solid performances, an interesting story and okay direction.
Cons: The film appears to fail to explore any real meaning behind the events it portrays.

Eminem's own songs Loose Yourself, White America, Cleaning Out My Closet, Sing for The Moment and When the Music Stops perhaps best illustrate the storyline and themes that underline the restrained and surprisingly ...

Pros: The music, Basinger and Phifer, the rap wars
Cons: lack of character development, lack of plot ...graphic sex, violence, yadda yadda yadda

When I bought this video, it came from a “warning” from the cashier at Wall mart. I looked at her in shock, my lower lip touching my shirt collar.

“This movie is uncensored”.

What?

...

Pros: Slim Shady at the mic, Phifer, Omar Benson Miller
Cons: Evan Jones, Kim Basinger, the scenes without freestylin'

Yo… yo…

To my mind there are two kinds of Eminem songs
One builds and crescendos till it finishes strong
Spewing anger and bile at the world that gives him knocks
While dishing out rough hooks like a rusty tackle box...

Pros: Amazing acting debut for Eminem...raw energy and authenticity to the story and rap "battles"
Cons: Eminem fans may expect something different and those who don't like rap will hate it

You don't have to be into rap music to appreciate the raw, visceral authenticity of Eminem's fictionalized biography.

Named after a road that serves as a physical and psychological boundary between black inner-city Detroit and its...

Pros: Eminem's acting is ably matched by Hanson's direction.
Cons: Poor, second-rate and predictable script.

Here in England there’s a long running advertising campaign conducted by the manufacturers of bread-spread Marmite, in which they proudly boast that it’s a product that you either love or hate. Personally, I’d rather gargle battery acid then ...

Pros: Eminem is a surprisingly good actor. It does sort of serve hip-hop right...
Cons: It's people anything but underground trying to be underground. And I still think Detroit sucks.

Let me put my life on hold, because my review of this movie needs to be told. Is the story of true hip-hop infused in this show? Or does it take conventions and abuse them like a hoe? Unfortunately, it’s the latter. What? Don’t believe my cha ...

Pros: Direction by Hanson; Screenplay by Silver; A frighteningly accurate, spot-on Basinger; also, Eminem, Brittany Murphy
Cons: A somewhat lengthy third act; performance by Mekhi Phifer

"The hand that rocks the mic owns the soul that soars for freedom." This personal quote is a varied take on an excerpt of dialogue from the 1992 Curtis Hanson thriller, "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle". The quote is an intentional tribute towards freedom...

Pros: Eminem
Cons: Bunny Rabbit...?

When it comes to Eminem, it's pretty obvious that the white-boy rapper has proven to not be the latest incarnation of Vanilla Ice. Along with 3 hugely successful albums (instead of 1 bad record that went from high to low as fast as a Suge Knight...

Pros: A natural perspective, a raw power, an unabashed introspect into the roots of rap
Cons: Basinger's performance, a couple of expected twists

The recent tragic death of rap pioneer Jam Master Jay of Run DMC has cast a pall over what could potentially be the culmination of rap’s mainstream crossover. With 8-Mile, director Curtis Hanson has created a raw, honest and powerful look at the...

Pros: Eminem talents, the superb direction
Cons: Not enough development of the ex-girlfriend and the mother.

Eminem can certainly act in his first film 8 Miles. The question is, is he really acting, or is he simply re-living? I'm not convinced that he could act in any other type of role, but that discussion can be saved for his next role, fact is, he...

Pros: Eminem proves he can act, Curtis Hanson's direction is superb.
Cons: Plot is a Rocky clone, abundance of rap music may turn some off.

Upon exiting the theater after seeing 8 Mile, I found myself with the urge to bust out into song. I mean literally bust out into rap music. And in fact I did. I headed back into the theater and joined in an impromptu rendition of the movie's theme song...