Has anyone seen In the Name of the Father and In America? I love both of these films and the emotions Jim can evoke from actors...His next project is Get Rich or Die Tryin' and I think it's going to be very interesting to see how he takes on this subject matter... I'm looking forward to it.

I haven't seen In the Name of the Father, but In America was great. It was really emotional, without being sappy, which I liked. I had no idea he was doing the 50 Cent movie-- I hope he can pull it off. Although, I had similar doubts when I heard Curtis Hanson was directing a movie with Eminem, but 8 Mile turned out to be a pretty good film.

Yeah I know. It's definitely new terrain for him to do a rapper movie, but something obviously attracted him to the story and I am sure he will be able to tell it in a really thought-provoking manner...who knows? 50 might be a triple threat!

I think I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I have really liked everything he's done beginning with "My Left Foot." I think my favorite is probably "The Boxer."

I saw an episode of Inside the Actors Studio with Will Smith, where James Lipton asked him why so many successful rappers are able to be successful actors. Smith attributed it to the confidence most hip-hop artists have to exude in that line of work. 50's a great rapper, so it wouldn't surprise me if it turns out he can act. If you'd have told me that Will Smith, Ice Cube, and Ice-T would've turned out to be good actors based on their musical output in the late 80s/ early 90s, I'd have laughed.

On a side note, there's nothing funnier than watching Ice-T play a cop on a prime time television show, after the huge controversy surrounding his song "Cop Killer".

Yeah, I have to tell you I was blown away with 50's acting in the trailer (granted it's just the trailer, but it's what we've seen so far...). There is the obvious brute strength that the role calls for, but he also seems to portray this vulnerability about him and desperateness that seems central to the story. It takes a director like Jim Sheridan to pull that out of him-- I think that's what's got me most intrigued to see this...

The movie opens next Friday...I'll be interested to start reading the reviews as they start coming out...Seems like a lot of the advance word has been positive!

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I did a double-take when I read that the very Irish Jim Sheridan was helming a film that starred a rapper. After the reviews came out as much as I like JS, I gave GET RICH OR DIE TRYIN' a wide berth.

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER is one of my all-time favorite films and THE BOXER is right up there. Hell, MY LEFT FOOT is also terrific. You have to give the incomparable Daniel Day-Lewis as much credit for those films as you Sheridan.

I must admit, despite good reviews and my fondness for Sheridan, I didn't care for IN AMERICA. For whatever reason that film didn't work for me.