Holiday at the movies
While the latest Harry Potter movie waits to be watched, I ended up catching a couple of movies the past couple of days while on vacation.

I really enjoyed 8 Mile, even if it's nowhere close to Curtis Hanson's best stuff. Eminem was solid, even if he's pretty much playing himself. At least it's a start and at least it's not this classic. The story was decent, if cliched, and I guess I enjoyed the music more than I thought. Although someone mentioned that it was odd hearing more mainstream tunes at times in the background ("Insane in the Brain," "This is How We Do It") as opposed to more hardcore/underground/etc. rap.
Oh yeah, it still baffles me that Brittany Murphy (who was raised in my hometown of all things) is the same actress in Clueless.

With my dad being a big James Bond fan, it was only fitting that I saw Die Another Day with him. If you like Bond films and all of its conventions (lots of stuff blowing up, cool gadgets, two-dimensional villains, good looking women, funny but cliched jokes), you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for breakthroughs in filmmaking, you're going to the wrong movie. Halle Berry looked amazing, and thankfully was actually integral to the plot. However, there wasn't as much hubbub about Rosamund Pike, who actually played a young, attractive British agent. Then again, she wasn't playing a typical Bond girl role (nor the greatest miscast in film history -- Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones).