Amazon Studios Announces "Comrade Detective" for August 4th

Amazon Studios and A24 to Premiere New Half-Hour Series Comrade Detective August 4 on Amazon Prime Video

Romanian-filmed live action half hour action series features an all-star cast of unique voice over performances including Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the series’ leading roles

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon Studios announced Comrade Detective, a new half-hour live action series that will premiere August 4, 2017 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. A co-production with A24, Comrade Detective comes from creators and executive producers Brian Gatewood (The Sitter) and Alex Tanaka (The Sitter) with Rhys Thomas (Documentary Now!) directing and executive producing. Free Association’s Tatum, Reid Carolin (Logan Lucky), Peter Kiernan (Mad Love) and Andrew Schneider are executive producers along with A24’s Ravi Nandan (The Carmichael Show) and John Hodges (Safety Not Guaranteed).

    “As passionate fans of cinema and television, we have long heard about this genre defining show and are thrilled to work with Free Association and Amazon to bring it to audiences”

Comrade Detective is a one-of-a-kind cop show and comedy set in 1980’s Romania. True to its nostalgic inspiration, the series is presented in Romanian and dubbed in English—as a Romanian show of that time would have been. Channing Tatum (Logan Lucky) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper) provide voice over dubbing performances for the series’ two leading roles, Detectives Gregor Anghel and Iosef Baciu—both characters played on screen by leading Romanian actors, Florin Piersic Jr. (Killing Time) and Corneliu Ulici (The Devil Inside).

In addition to Tatum and Gordon-Levitt, the illustrious roster of talent dubbing other roles includes Jenny Slate (Obvious Child), Chloë Sevigny (Bloodline), Jake Johnson (New Girl), Jason Mantzoukas (The House), Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Fred Armisen (Documentary Now!), Kim Basinger (LA Confidential), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Tracey Letts (The Lovers), Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire), Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Debra Winger (The Lovers), Mark Duplass (Safety Not Guaranteed), Katie Aselton Duplass (Legion), Jerrod Carmichael (The Carmichael Show), Bo Burnham (The Big Sick) and John Early (Search Party).

“In a world of global television it was inevitable that the best comedy of the year would come from Romania. Well that day has come,“ said Joe Lewis, Head of Comedy, Drama and VR at Amazon Studios. “Comrade Detective is unbelievably compelling, visually brilliant, and Gregor and Iosef are the heroes we need. Thanks to A24, Channing Tatum, Rhys Thomas, Brian Gatewood, Alex Tanaka, as well as the incredibly creative team behind this wild new series.”

"As passionate fans of cinema and television, we have long heard about this genre defining show and are thrilled to work with Free Association and Amazon to bring it to audiences," said A24.


About Comrade Detective
In the thick of 1980's Cold War hysteria, the Romanian government created the country’s most popular and longest-running series, Comrade Detective, a sleek and gritty police show that not only entertained its citizens but also promoted Communist ideals and inspired a deep nationalism. The action-packed and blood-soaked first season finds Detectives Gregor Anghel (played by Piersic) and Iosef Baciu (played by Ulici) investigating the murder of fellow officer Nikita Ionesco and, in the process, unraveling a subversive plot to destroy their country that is fueled by—what else—but the greatest enemy: Capitalism. Though the beloved show was sadly forgotten about after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has been rediscovered and digitally remastered now with its main heroes voiced by Tatum and Gordon-Levitt. Comrade Detective is a true portal into a time and place and a powerful reminder of what art can be—and it is now ready to be seen by the modern world on a larger scale than ever before.

About Amazon Video
Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch, and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

    Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed content plus critically-acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, Love & Friendship and kids series Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.

•     Amazon Channels: Over 100 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more, plus Anime Strike – the first curated on-demand subscription by Amazon Channels. To view the full list of channels available, visit www.amazon.com/channels
•     Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new-release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers
•     Instant Access: Instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices visit www.amazon.com/howtostream
•     Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalogue with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

About A24
Launched in the summer of 2012, A24 is a New York-based media company focused on the distribution, financing, development and production of feature films and television projects. Recent TV series include the wildly original buddy cop action-comedy Comrade Detective, produced with Channing Tatum’s Free Association; the critically acclaimed and culturally groundbreaking The Carmichael Show, currently in its third season on NBC; USA's Playing House, also in its third season; and the hilarious standup comedy special Jerrod Carmichael: 8, which premiered this past Spring on HBO.

On the film side, the company recently released Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which won 3 Academy Awards® at the 2017 Oscars - Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor. Other film releases include Yorgos Lanthimos' critical and commercial hit The Lobster, a 2017 Oscar® nominee for Best Original Screenplay starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz; Robert Eggers’ horror smash The Witch; Room, winner of the 2016 Academy Award® for Best Actress for Brie Larson; Amy, Asif Kapadia’s Oscar® winning portrait of Amy Winehouse; Alex Garland’s sci-fi smash Ex Machina; Jonathan Glazer’s singular Scarlett Johansson sci-fi thriller Under the Skin; and Harmony Korine’s record-breaking Spring Breakers.

About Free Association
Free Association, with principals Channing Tatum, Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan, is currently producing Magic Mike Live Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel. The company also produced Steven Soderbergh's Logan Lucky which will be released by Bleecker Street on August 18, 2017. Free Association has produced films including 22 Jump Street and the Magic Mike franchise, among others. On the television side, Free Association is in production on Step Up, the series for YouTube Red.

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Production Begins on Shane Black's "The Nice Guys"

Silver Pictures’ “The Nice Guys” in Production

Cameras roll on Shane Black’s detective thriller starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling, with additional cast set to star, including Matt Bomer, Kim Basinger and more

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography has begun on Silver Pictures’ upcoming detective thriller “The Nice Guys,” from director Shane Black (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” “Iron Man 3”). The film, which stars Oscar winner Russell Crowe (“Gladiator,” “Man of Steel”) and Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (“Half Nelson,” “Drive,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”), is shooting in Atlanta and Los Angeles. It is being produced by Joel Silver (“Non-Stop,” “The Matrix” series, the “Sherlock Holmes” series).

Recently added to the cast are Matt Bomer (“Magic Mike,” HBO’s “The Normal Heart”), Oscar winner Kim Basinger (“L.A. Confidential”), Angourie Rice (“These Final Hours”), Beau Knapp (“Super 8”), Keith David (“Pitch Black,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”) and Margaret Qualley (HBO’s “The Leftovers”).

“The Nice Guys” takes place in 1970s Los Angeles, when down-on-his-luck private eye Holland March (Gosling) and hired leg-breaker Jackson Healy (Crowe) must work together to solve the case of a missing girl and the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star. During their investigation, they uncover a shocking conspiracy that reaches up to the highest circles of power.

Black directs from an original screenplay he wrote with Anthony Bagarozzi. Silver is producing under his Silver Pictures banner, with Ken Kao of Waypoint Entertainment, Hal Sadoff, and Michael Malone serving as executive producers. Waypoint is co-financing, and Alex Walton and Ken Kao’s BLOOM is handling international sales.

The creative team behind “The Nice Guys” includes director of photography Philippe Rousselot (the “Sherlock Holmes” series, “Big Fish”), production designer Richard Bridgland (“Serena,” “Unknown”), editor Joel Negrón (“21 Jump Street”), and costume designer Kym Barrett (“The Matrix” series).

“The Nice Guys,” set for release on June 17, 2016, will be distributed in North America by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.


About Silver Pictures
Joel Silver’s Silver Pictures is one of Hollywood’s leading producers of action motion pictures. The company’s most recent project, “Non-Stop,” starring Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, opened in February 2014. The film has earned more than $200 million at the worldwide box office. Silver Pictures recently wrapped production on the much buzzed about “Autobahn,” starring Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley. Additionally, the company is currently in post-production on “The Gunman,” starring Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Idris Elba and directed by Pierre Morel. In 2012, Silver signed a 5-year non-exclusive distribution deal with Universal Pictures. Silver has produced more than 70 films which have earned more than $13 billion in worldwide revenue. Past credits include the “Sherlock Holmes” franchise, starring Robert Downey Jr., which has earned more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office, the Academy Award-winning “The Matrix” trilogy, the blockbuster “Lethal Weapon” franchise and seminal action films “Die Hard” and “Predator.”

About Waypoint Entertainment
Waypoint Entertainment is a film and television development, production, and finance company cofounded by Ken Kao in 2010. Waypoint’s upcoming slate includes Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” starring Liam Neeson, Andrew Garfield, Andrew Driver and Ken Watanabe, and Terrence Malick’s next two films, “Knight of Cups,” with Christian Bale, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett, and an untitled film featuring Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman and Cate Blanchett.

About BLOOM
BLOOM represents and curates a diversified slate of films ranging from commercial, talent-driven, wide release movies, to specialty films from proven and trusted filmmakers, all the while keeping an eye towards fresh and emerging talent. Alex Walton and financier and producer Ken Kao partnered to form BLOOM, a sales, production and financing outfit which launched just prior to Cannes with two-time Academy Award nominee Gus Van Sant’s “Sea of Trees,” starring Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey, Academy Award nominees Ken Watanabe and Naomi Watts, which recently wrapped principal photography. Upcoming projects include Michael Apted’s “Unlocked,” starring Noomi Rapace, Academy Award winner Michael Douglas, and Orlando Bloom; Renny Harlin’s “Skiptrace,” starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville; and “The Hunters,” which will be directed by John Moore. The existing slate includes Gillian Flynn’s best-selling novel “Dark Places,” starring Charlize Theron; “A Walk Among the Tombstones,” starring Liam Neeson; “The Woman in Black: Angel of Death”; “Pele,” the biopic about the legendary Brazilian soccer player; “Jane Got a Gun,” starring Natalie Portman; and “Out of the Dark,” starring Julia Stiles and Scott Speedman.

Santa Brings De Niro-Stallone Movie Christmas 2013

Hollywood Heavyweights De Niro and Stallone to Hit the Big Screen on Christmas Day in “Grudge Match”

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Comedy Makes a Move Up from January to 12/25/13

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--“Grudge Match,” a comedy starring film legends Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone as rivals in the boxing ring, will bow in the holiday season with a Christmas Day debut, moving up from its prior release date of January 10. The announcement was made today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Fellman stated, “Results of our early screenings have been outstanding, giving us every indication that 'Grudge Match' is a movie that can excel during the Christmas play period. With the iconic pairing of De Niro and Stallone, surrounded by such a terrific cast—including comedy greats Kevin Hart and Alan Arkin—we felt it was a perfect opportunity to jump into the holidays and give audiences of all ages a chance to enjoy the movie.”

Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Grudge Match” stars award-winning movie legends Oscar® winner Robert De Niro (“Raging Bull,” “Silver Linings Playbook”) and Oscar® nominee Sylvester Stallone (the “Rocky” films, “The Expendables”) as old boxing rivals who come out of retirement for one final match. Peter Segal (“Get Smart,” “The Longest Yard”) directs the comedy.

De Niro and Stallone play Billy “The Kid” McDonnen and Henry “Razor” Sharp, two local Pittsburgh fighters whose fierce rivalry put them in the national spotlight. Each had scored a victory against the other during their heyday, but in 1983, on the eve of their decisive third match, Razor suddenly announced his retirement, refusing to explain why but effectively delivering a knock-out punch to both their careers. Thirty years later, boxing promoter Dante Slate Jr., seeing big dollar signs, makes them an offer they can’t refuse: to re-enter the ring and settle the score once and for all. But they may not have to wait that long: on their first encounter in decades, their long-festering feud erupts into an unintentionally hilarious melee that instantly goes viral. The sudden social media frenzy transforms their local grudge match into a must-see HBO event. Now, if they can just survive the training, they may actually live to fight again.

The film also stars Kevin Hart as Dante Slate Jr.; Oscar® winner Alan Arkin (“Little Miss Sunshine,” “Argo”) as Razor’s former trainer, Louis “Lightning” Conlon, who gets to put Razor through his paces again; and Oscar® winner Kim Basinger (“L.A. Confidential”) as Sally Rose, who was once the love of Razor’s life. Rounding out the cast are Jon Bernthal as BJ, who becomes The Kid’s instinctive but untested trainer; and young film newcomer Camden Gray.

Segal is directing from a screenplay by Rodney Rothman, story by Tim Kelleher. The film is being produced by Bill Gerber, Mark Steven Johnson, Michael Ewing and Ravi Mehta. Peter Segal, Jane Rosenthal and Kevin King-Templeton are serving as executive producers.

Collaborating with Segal behind the scenes are: Academy Award®-winning cinematographer Dean Semler (“Dances With Wolves,” “Apocalypto”); production designer Wynn Thomas; editor William Kerr; and costume designer Mary Vogt. Robert Sale, who was the technical advisor on “Rocky Balboa,” is serving as the film’s boxing consultant. The music is by Trevor Rabin.

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Gerber Pictures Production, a Callahan Filmworks Production, a Peter Segal film, “Grudge Match.” The film opens December 25, 2013 and will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Review: 1989 "Batman" Movie Wanders Without a Plot

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 124 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Batman (1989)
Running time: 126 minutes (2 hours, 6 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13
DIRECTOR: Tim Burton
WRITERS: Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, from a story by Hamm (based upon BATMAN characters created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger)
PRODUCERS: Jon Peters and Peter Guber
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Pratt
EDITOR: Ray Lovejoy
COMPOSER: Danny Elfman
Academy Award winner

SUPERHERO/ACTION/CRIME

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, Jack Palance, Jerry Hall, Tracey Walter, Lee Wallace, and William Hootkins

The subject of this movie review is Batman, the 1989 superhero movie directed by Tim Burton. It was the first film in the initial Batman film series, which ended with 1997’s Batman and Robin, before being rebooted with Batman Begins (2005).

Although Warner Bros. had a “Batman” movie in various stages of development for most of the 80’s, the 1989 box office smash Batman was not green lit for production until the film Beetlejuice became a hit. In 1985, Warner Bros. chose Tim Burton, the director of Beetlejuice, to helm the long planned Batman after his first theatrical feature, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, became a box office hit. However, when Beetlejuice’s also became a hit, that success that made Warner Bros. realize that Burton was definitely a director who could make box office hits, and being that Warner was putting so much money into Batman, they needed it to be a hit. Comic book fans raised (un)holy hell over the choice of Burton to direct and Burton’ selection of Michael Keaton to play Bruce Wayne/Batman. Warner Bros. toyed with and appeased their nerdy emotions by regularly releasing Batman movie trailers and other sneak peeks of the film. The choice of Jack Nicholson to play the Joker also got people excited (and quieted angry comic book nerds), and the film went on to be a huge hit.

Gotham City has been astir with rumors of a giant bat, called The Bat, by criminals who claimed that it attacked them; indeed, the mysterious figure is said to prey upon Gotham’s criminal underworld. This figure is actually a costumed hero who calls himself Batman (Michael Keaton), and he gradually comes out of the shadows to investigate the criminal operation of Gotham’s chief criminal, Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). During a police showdown with Grissom’s thugs, Batman causes the apparent accidental death of Grissom’s chief enforcer, Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson). Napier, however, is not dead; nearly-drowned in strange chemicals and scarred by a bullet, he emerges from the shadows as the homicidal and clown-like, The Joker (Nicholson), and begins a murder spree against his rivals for control of the city’s criminal underworld. The Joker also initiates a crime spree on the city as Gotham prepares to celebrate its 200th birthday. Meanwhile, Batman’s secret identity, Bruce Wayne (Keaton), is trying to figure out a way to stop The Joker, while a lovely reporter, Vicky Vale (Kim Basinger), shows interest in both Wayne and Batman.

This movie is a large plot-less beast that meanders into its third act. The movie even starts off with a cacophony of countless actors mouthing awkward sounding dialogue. Keaton is unconvincing as either Bruce Wayne or Batman. Kim Basinger struggles with role made gimpy by a script that treats her like a typical action movie girl-attached-to-the-hero, one the filmmakers only grudgingly accept as necessary. Tim Burton’s signature gothic and darkly comic fantasy hardly ever shows in this film; this is mostly a Tim Burton film in name only. However, Jack Nicholson takes the script and elevates it. Except for a few hammy moments, he’s brilliant and his delivery brings his lines to snappy life.

Compared to the recent Batman Begins, Batman 1989 doesn’t hold up, but the two films are actually quite different in tone and style. This Batman is a combination of the wrong ingredients or at least incorrectly measured ingredients (from director and cast to the music and other production elements) plus a big helping of Jack Nicholson’s miraculously funny performance; both make this an average and (for reasons unknown to me) curiously entertaining film.

5 of 10
C+

NOTES:
1990 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Anton Furst and Peter Young)

1990 BAFTA Awards: 6 nominations: “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jack Nicholson), “Best Costume Design” (Bob Ringwood), “Best Make Up Artist” (Paul Engelen and Nick Dudman), “Best Production Design” (Anton Furst), “Best Sound” (Don Sharpe, Tony Dawe, and Bill Rowe), “Best Special Effects” (Derek Meddings and John Evans)

1990 Golden Globes, USA: 1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (Jack Nicholson)

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Review: I Love Eminem, But 8 Mile... Not so Much (Happy B'day, Eminem)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 109 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

8 Mile (2002)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hour, 50 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong language, sexuality, some violence and drug use
DIRECTOR: Curtis Hanson
WRITER: Scott Silver
PRODUCERS: Brian Grazer, Curtis Hanson, and Jimmy Iovine
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Rodrigo Prieto
EDITORS: Craig Kitson and Jay Rabinowitz
COMPOSER: Proof
Academy Award winner

DRAMA/MUSIC

Starring: Eminem, Kim Basinger, Mekhi Phifer, Brittany Murphy, Evan Jones, Omar Benson, Eugene Byrd, Michael Shannon, Anthony Mackie, and Taryn Manning

8 Mile became the first film to have a rap/hip-hop song win the Oscar for "Best Song." Directed by Curtis (L.A. Confidential) Hanson, the film stars mega popular rapper Eminem, and the film went on to be an enormous hit, much to many people’s surprise. It’s a strange film, part Rocky, part Flashdance, and part Purple Rain, with a star who is very controversial musical figure and who has angered any number of easily offended groups, including gay rights advocates and feminists. 8 Mile also seemed like a strange film for Hanson to direct, considering he’d won an Academy Award for co-writing L.A. Confidential and had also directed the critically-acclaimed, but largely ignored Wonder Boys. Besides, Hanson’s prior work had been so stunningly white bread, one had to wonder if he could direct a film with a very large black supporting cast and set in urban and hip-hop culture.

Eminem plays Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith, Jr., a down-on-his-luck blue-collar worker trying to find his place in the rap game. When he leaves his girlfriend (Taryn Manning), he moves into his mom Stephanie’s (Kim Basinger) trailer, but Rabbit doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with mom’s boyfriend, Greg (Michael Shannon), who went to school with Rabbit. Meanwhile, Rabbit’s homeboy, Future (Mekhi Phifer), is trying to get Rabbit to participate in the MC battles he hosts at a rundown club. MC battles pit two rappers against each other, each rapper getting under a minute to out rap and embarrass his opponent in front of an audience. Rabbit, determined to succeed at his dream, is caught between Future’s ideas about their respective paths to hip-hop glory and the plans of a smooth taking and ambitious hustler (Eugene Byrd) who promises Rabbit that elusive industry connection.

8 Mile is really a dark and depressing film. Rabbit and his friends are mainly poor, young men barely getting by each day; to a man, each one lives with his mother. They have bad jobs, and their neighborhoods are falling down around them. It’s quite stunning how Hanson went the direct path in depicting the squalid living conditions and the sense of hopeless that pervades their environments. Even when Rabbit and his friends are together having a good time, you can’t help but notice how decrepit their city around them is or how everyone seems to own old, rickety automobiles that last saw better days in the 70’s.

Hope seems strangled in this movie, and the film’s very dry story doesn’t help matters. The script is tepid and plotless, and the characters are shallow and simple-minded character types: the violent rivals, the mean boss at work, the pitiful alcoholic parent (Kim Basinger in a performance destined to become a camp classic), the underdog, etc. I especially despised Brittany Murphy as Rabbit’s ho friend, Alex; it’s a bad performance. All Ms. Murphy does in primp and preen, trying to make her character sly, knowing and witty, but only arriving at being whorish, cheap, and dishonest.

The film is decent, but it’s mostly listless and tiresome. Even if real life is like this, art plays with ideals, and a plot would have helped this film seem like it was going somewhere. Even if Rabbit doesn’t reach his goals in the movie, the film should end with a sense of hope, and here, the sense of hope is at best ambiguous. I like Eminem, but I found 8 Mile only somewhat entertaining. If you’re not a fan of his, there’s no reason to see this listless movie. The rapper doesn’t act; he simply pretends to be a character that sulks all the time.

If there’s one reason to see this film, then it’s the rap battle near the end when Rabbit decides to face down his rap enemies on stage. Finally, Eminem seems at home in this picture. He springs to life, smiling, grimacing, frowning, and leering, as the delivery of his arsenal of lyrics requires it. Although the MC battles are fairly energetic and quite hilarious, by the time they arrive, the film is so mired in dreariness that I’d really be reaching if I told you that rap music redeems this film.

4 of 10
C

NOTES:
2003 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Music, Original Song” (Eminem-music/lyrics, Jeff Bass-music, and Luis Resto-music for the song "Lose Yourself")

2003 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Eminem-music/lyrics, Jeff Bass-music, and Luis Resto-music for the song "Lose Yourself")

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