Eminem- "The Eminem Show" (Aftermath/Interscope)

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

On "The Eminem Show" - the follow-up to the 8-million-selling "The Marshall Mathers LP" - he's by turns a bad-boy rapper, a sensitive father, a neglected son and a disaffected American.

At its best - which is most of the time - the 20-track disc spotlights Eminem in peak form with clever lines and fierce delivery.

At its worse, it's predictable posturing with swaggering talk of self-importance, guns and the usual potty-mouth rants.

The Detroit rapper is angrier than ever, but he swings wildly from mood to mood on this more personal disc.

Album opener "White America" echoes "The Real Slim Shady," stressing at once his popularity and his persecution.

In "Without Me," Eminem rightly points out the hip-hop world "feels so empty without me."

We see Eminem at his corniest in "Hailie's Song," a doting number he wrote for his daughter. But the venom flows again when he lashes out at the government, his ex-wife Kim and - most chillingly - his mom.

"Remember when Ronnie died and you said you wished it were me? Well, guess what, I am dead. Dead to you as I can be," he spits in "Cleaning Out My Closet."

The posing and misogynism are tiresome, but "The Eminem Show," while flawed, proves that Eminem deserves to be master of ceremonies.

Tucker Sees Pink

Chris Tucker is the latest actor to read for the part of Inspector Closeau in the remake of THE PINK PANTHER, which Peter Sellers made famous. Tucker read for the part on Thursday with director Ivan Reitman and other MGM execs. If Tucker wins the role, he would be the first African American actor to take on the role, following Sellers, Roger Moore, and Alan Arkin.

So Why, Exactly, Do C3P0 and R2-D2 Not Remember Obi-Wan Et Al In STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE?

E! Daily News interviewed Star Wars creator George Lucas and finally got an answer on the mystery surrounding what R2-D2 and C-3PO should and shouldn't remember of their adventures in the prequels.

A slight SPOILER warning is given for what Lucas had to say...

"Well, one, his brains have, his memory system has been erased and so has R2's. So, they don't remember anything from the first trilogy. I'm telling you something from Episode III, but I shouldn't be telling you that, but I think most of the fans already know that."

Two More Actors Join X-MEN 2

As Bryan Singer gears up to begin work on X, the sequel to 2000's X-Men, the film's cast of all-singing, all-dancing new mutants is beginning to fall into place. Blue-skinned demonesque character Nightcrawler has been confirmed and will be played by Ethan Embry (Can't Hardly Wait, Empire Records).

An acrobatic little sprite, Nightcrawler sports a prehensile tail and uses inhuman agility and acrobatic skills to flummox his foes. Add the fact that he can teleport in a puff of smoke and you've got one slippery customer.

Joining Nightcrawler in the sequel's superhuman line-up is Pyro, a mutant with the ability to control fire - observant souls may remember a brief cameo in one of X-Men's classroom scenes. Played by relative newcomer Aaron Stanford, Pyro is best known as a villainous mutant rather than a super hero but, for the film's purposes, he'll be getting caught up with the good guy this time around.

A New WW Candidate?

"Enough" star Jennifer Lopez told MTV recently that if she could be any superhero she would like to be Wonder Woman. "I kind of look like Wonder Woman right now," added the singer/actress.

In The Old Days, One Of These CD's May Have Sold A Million!

Prior to the sharing of music files, one of this week's new CD's would have come close to the all- time sales record for the first week of a new release. Nowadays, the latest release from Eminem, will likely only do around 600,000 units.

If it does less than that, expect to hear several record company insiders, the ones who keep leaking the music in the first place, sprout off at the mouth about how internet users keep stealing music.

Oh well, hopefuly the Eminem disc will sell over 600,000 units and keep everybody happy...

Including the Eminem disc, here are the new CD releases for Tuesday, May 28th, 2002:

* BAD COMPANY OST Bad Company (Hollywood)
* DEADSY Commencement (DreamWorks)
* EMINEM The Eminem Show (Interscope)
* FREESTYLERS Pressure Point (Hollywood)
* GREENWHEEL Soma Holiday (Island)
* JEFFREY LEWIS The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane And Other Favorites (Sanctuary Records)
* JOHNNY CASH Kindred Spirits
* KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Alive or Just Breathing? (Roadrunner)
* MARC JORDAN Living In Marina Del Rey & Other Stories (EMI)
* QUARASHI Jinx (Columbia)
* SEVEN WITCHES Xiled To Infinity and One (Sanctuary Records)
* SOMETHING CORPORATE Leaving Through The Window (MCA)
* THE SOMATICS The Somatics (Beggars Group)
* TOMMY LEE Never A Dull Moment (MCA)
* TRICKY A Ruff Guide To Tricky
* UNDERCOVER BROTHER OST Undercover Brother (MCA)
* VIRGIN STEELE The Book Of Burning (Sanctuary Records)
* VIRGIN STEELE Hymns To Victory (Sanctuary Records)

Today Will Be A Record Breaking Day

No matter how you slice it, the biggest selling DVD in the history of the format goes on sale today. Even before it even hits the shelves, I can tell you that it will usurp Shrek as the Number One All- Time DVD.

And that makes me sad. But short of buying 3 to 4 million Shrek DVD's, what can I do?

I can buy the much delayed Memento: Special Edition DVD, thats what I can do. Unless it gets delayed again...

Let's get to today's new releases before I get mad!

Here are the new DVD and Video releases for Tuesday, May 28th, 2002:

FIRST UP, THE BIGGIES

Memento: Special Edition- If you don't know what it's about, then just go and pick it up! Do it now!!!

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone- A young child joins school that trains witches and wizards. (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson)

Slackers- Geek blackmails cheaters to woo heart of girl. (Devon Sawa, Jason Schwartzman, Laura Prepon)

Firestarter 2: Rekindled- A sequel to Stephen King's Firestarter. (Malcolm McDowell, Marguerite Moreau, Danny Nucci)

Rare Birds- Two man fake rare bird sightings to help their restaurant. (William Hurt, Andy Jones, Molly Parker)

AND ALL THE REST

The 10th Kingdom (2 Disc Collector's Set)
Aladdin And The Adventure Of All Time
Alice In Wonderland
Alone
Animal Alphabet
Animal Numbers
Arabian Nights
Dark Blue World (Widescreen)
Dunston Checks In
The Eccentricities Of A Nightingale
An Enemy Of The People
An Erotic Vampire In Paris
Fighting Ace
First Blood (Special Edition)
The Game Of Death
The Gift Of Love
Hammerlock
Hollow Man (Superbit)
Home Team
Jason And The Argonauts
Kiss Of The Tarantula
Kung Fu For Sale
Lightning Kung Fu
Macho Man
The Man From Snowy River
The Master Of The Rings
Merlin
MLB: Rising Stars
Mountain Bike: Third Down
The Odyssey
The Pagemaster
Passion
The Patriot (Superbit)
Pressure Point
Redemption
Resfest: Best Of Shorts Vol. 1
Roughnecks: The Homefront Campaign
Roughnecks: The Klendathu Campaign
Run The Wild Fields
Silver Lode
Starship Troopers (Special Edition)
State Property
Sting Of The Dragon Master
Storm In Summer
Swordsman With An Umbrella
Termination Man
Thousand Mile Escort
Traffic (Criterion Collection)
Who Wants To Be An Erotic Billionaire
Wishing Tree
WWF: NWO - Back In Black

My Mother Still Watches The Show Every Night

Alf is mounting a comeback.

Fred Durst Makes Plea To Get Borland Back In Bizkit

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has made a plea to Wes Borland, the band's former guitarist, to return to the band. "We are hoping Wes will come back and surprise us one day soon...We miss him, but he's doing his thing and he's supposedly really happy," wrote the Bizkit frontman on the band's website.

"Email Wes and tell him to come back to his family."

Gimme Some Money

With "Star Wars: Episode II- Attack Of The Clones" in the driver's seat Hollywood has enjoyed it's biggest weekend ever.