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I respect your dedication to the Rocky films, but
I enjoyed all of the little tributes in Rocky VI.
The actual fight aspects were silly, but everything
outside of the fight was well done and touching to
me
I'll be back at this one later though
>It failed, but it was a noble failure. Stallone tried to take
>it in a different direction. The first two were dramas. The
>next two were action movies. The 5th one tried to explore the
>question of how a superstar athlete copes when he's out of the
>spotlight. He lose all the money, had trouble relating to his
>family, tried to live vicariously through another athlete,
>dealt with seriously health issues. That's some real shit
>right there. Look at what boxers and NFL guys go through
>regularly now. He tried to tell a story about Rocky outside of
>the ring. It didn't work as well as it could have. I give him
>credit for doing something bold in a sequel. It would have
>just felt cheap and pandering to have Rocky still in the ring
>at age 45...Oh wait, that's what he did 15 years later at age
>60 in that 100 minute pandering shitbag of a movie?
>
>All the bullshit in that movie...Like all of the sudden Rocky
>went from having 57 wins, 29 by KO (even though I've always
>asserted that the Drago fight was an unsanctioned exhibition
>bout and shouldn't have counted towards his professional
>record thereby making it 56 (28)) to having 57 wins with 54 by
>KO. Did they think no one would notice? Why did they feel
>the need to take it up a level? The man ate lightning and
>crapped thunder. There 's no need to lie about his
>accomplishments to build him up to be more than he already
>was.
>
>Also, what the fuck happened to Rocky's irreversible severe
>brain trauma? What happened to "You can't get licensed in any
>state"? Did we just retcon that out like Chuck Cunningham and
>Judy Winslow? I mean he definitely lost the mansion and the
>talking robot who had a crush on Paulie, so I am operating
>under the assumption that the bankruptcy from V happened.
>This movie seems to take place in some bizarre
>semi-continuation that's never sufficiently explained.
>
>They started the Mason Dixon story line with his quest for
>respect. Taking him back to his roots. It feels like we're
>supposed to empathize with him. But then they turn around and
>play him off as a dick after the fight's set. Then at the end
>of round 10 Dixon and Rocky embrace and Rocky tells him he's a
>great champ. Was that the "baptism by fire" that was
>foretold? A guy who qualifies for the senior special? Are we
>supposed to feel good about Dixon going the distance with a 60
>year old man who's been out of boxing for 15+ years. Dixon
>wasn't embarrassed by this? It'd be the rough equivalent of
>Floyd Mayweather fighting Julio Cesar Chavez.
>
>Jim Lampley, Larry Merchant and Max Kellerman -- For three
>guys who live in front of a camera, they were about as wooden
>as possible with thei r lines. There were times where it
>really felt like I was listening to the audio track from
>Sports Talk Football.
>
>When Rocky's glove touched the canvas in the second round,
>that was a knock down. Cortez would have issued a standing
>eight count for that one. Furthermore, that fight, without a
>doubt, would have been stopped in today's hyper sensitive
>boxing culture. You put a 60 year old man in the ring and put
>him down three times in 45 seconds and that's getting waved
>off without hesitation. This isn't the good ol' 70s where we
>let guys like Jerry Quarry get pounded into a vegetative
>state.
>
>What was up with the relationship with Marie? At times it was
>friendly, at times it was almost familial, at times it was
>bordering on creepy romantic (that whole exchange where he was
>in the street with the dog really sounded like he was
>desperate for a date). And then we see her sitting ringside
>and she gets the cut-aways at the emotional moments? Like
>she's a fill-in for Adrian or something? There was way too
>much Marie and their scenes were too undefined and awkward for
>me.
>
>Not to mention that the whole thing was really just a spin off
>of a cut scene from Rocky V. I think that as much as anything
>shows that Stallone didn't really have anything in the tank.
>He took a two minute cut scene from a movie he made 15 years
>ago that got panned and turned it into 20 minutes in Rocky
>Balboa.
>
>And her son? It seemed like they were setting Rocky up for
>some kind of mentor role. He gives the kid a job. The kid
>looks at his old trophies and photos. They pick out a dog
>together. And then he's completely relegated to the
>background for the last hour of the movie. What was the point
>of that? If they cut every scene with that kid out, they
>would lose nothing.
>
>The dog? Not necessary. Another weak sentimental tie-in that
>added nothing and went no where. Rocky picks out and old and
>ugly dog. Oh, I get it. He had a dog in the first movie. Now
>he has a dog in this movie. We get no further interaction
>with that dog aside from running up the steps with it. Butkus
>was about 10x cooler than Punchy could ever be.
>
>What was up with the internal Rocky voiceover in the last
>round? I think they were trying to play off that "no need to
>prove anything to anyone but yourself". But it's inconsistent
>with the entire Rocky franchise. Rocky is a journeyman
>fighter. He's a total loner. Then he gets a shot, but it's
>only after he connects with Adrian that he can rise above what
>he was. Rocky II, he's got nothing until Adrian comes out of
>the coma. Rocky III, he's lifeless until Apollo throws his
>support behind him. Rocky IV, with Duke acting as the
>lifebridge to Apollo's spirit and Adrian showing up at the
>end. Rocky V, "Get up you son of a bitch, 'cause Mickey loves
>ya". Rocky is elevated by the support of the people that love
>him to heights beyond what he would otherwise be capable of.
>He's feeds off others. And in his darkest moment in 15ish
>years, he hears his own voice? Bullshit.
>
>Also, why did the fight scene look like those Gatorade
>commercials with the black & white where they sweat in flavor
>colors?
>
>I barely felt a thing that entire movie. I felt no tension, no
>drama, no triumph. Sterile. It felt like watching surgery on
>one of those late night cable channels. The scene where he's
>yelling at his son in the street might have been the only part
>where I felt myself getting into it. Most of the time it was
>just heavy handed references from the original Rocky and some
>cute loveable dopey shit from Stallone.
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Young Broadway Star Urgently Needs a Bone Marrow Donor. Is it you? http://MatchShannon.com/
O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"
"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."
(C)Keith Murray, "
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