Rocky Balboa ...

Rocky - Outfucking standing and the soundtrack was awesome
Rocky II - Corny at best. Definitely predictable
Rocky III - I pity the fool who didn't like it.
Rocky IV - The ending was phoney with the political statement but was ok overall.
Rocky V - The Rock going full circle back to being a bum was heart wrenching but the way life is for many boxers. Ending was pretty cool.
I will see Rocky VI but probably not the first day it is released. Besides, after watching Tarver get his ass kicked in real life, the movie won't have the same effect.

 

Nice.

 

I'll chime in here:

Rocky: In my opinion, the finest sports movie ever. How easy is it to let the underdog win? In this, Rocky loses the fight but wins something much bigger. Acting was awesome, some great lines too. Some of Rocky's early exchanges with Mick were hilarious. Paulie was priceless, too.

"YOU WANT THE BIRD?? GO IN THE ALLEY AND EAT THE BIRD!"

Rocky II: Yawn. Predictable. And if you watch the final punch, Apollo never hit Rocky. It wasn't a double knock down!

Rocky III: Pretty good sequal because Rocky regains his underdog status. Clubber Lang was cool too.

"GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN?!?! DON'T GIVE THIS SUCKA NO STATUE! GIVE HIM GUTS! I TOLD YOU I WASN'T GONNA WAIT! YOU GOT YOUR SHOT, NOW GIVE ME MINE!"

Mick: "Why doncha get the hell out of here?"

Clubber: "SHUT UP OLD MAN, I AIN'T GOIN' NOWHERE!"

Rocky IV: Was awesome when the Cold War was relevant. The final speech Rocky gives in the ring nearly ruins the movie. Great soundtrack, especially "Heart's on Fire".

Rocky V: As bad as II. Tommy Morrison was awful, and so was Sage Stallone. At least Paulie was his funny self, drinking from a whiskey flask that looked like a set of binoculors.

I'll go see Rocky Balboa for sure. Surprisingly, I've heard a lot of good things about it.

 

I'd just like to agree that Rocky II: Electric Boogaloo was a terrible piece of shit.

 

Saw it yesterday.

Fantastic!

Sly Stallone can really write the dialogue, and deliver with perfect timing and authenticity.

Don't wanna give to much away, but there's not as much boxing as you'd might like. Otherwise, I think it works. Sure, it's not flawless (I saw it with one of the minor characters, and he told me that there were several scenes cut out that would have filled some of the holes that appear. But, IMO, the holes are potholes -- minor, at best.)

Recapping on what's out there now:

We Are Marshall -- terrible
Rocky Balboa -- great
Curse of the Golden Flower -- if you like martial arts films and big spectacles, worth checking out. Probably the prettiest movie of the year.
Blood Diamond -- good story, Leo miscast.
Dreamgirls -- best movie in theaters right now
Apocalypto -- blood porn.

That's all I've seen lately.

Little Miss Sunshine best movie of the year. Casino Royale, Rocky, Half Nelson and Devil Wears Prada in the mix.

 

Just saw it... Pretty damn good... I don't want to compare it to the early ones since I haven't any of them in over a decade, but this one is impressive...

They do a good job making what happens plausible and I'm a cynical bastard and I was fully into it at the end...

 

Rocky IV = awful.

No movie has ever aged as badly as that one. And it's not even the political Cold War subtext, it's mainly because he has a talking female robot servent.

 

The reason Rocky IV was so awful was the same reason why we all lined up to see it at the time...

"Watch Rocky kick that Russian's ass!"

I'm still stunned at how good this one was....

 

Paid to see it yesterday. Not bad, not bad at all.

Also, there's a good quality DVD screener of it making the rounds in p2p land.

 

It was OK. I kind of liked Geraldine Hughes, too.

 

I, for one, was glad to see this film bring out Colton but am certainly intrigued at why this movie is so important to him.

 

A few thoughts...

1) Rocky IV, I guess the acting sucked and whatnot, but damn if it doesn't get me fired up every time I watch it. And I gotta shake my ass when James Brown sings "Living in America". Great song. Too bad Apollo had to kill the mood by dying.

2) The second Don Flamenco was tough. It was always 50-50 on whether I'd knock him out or go the distance. And Mr. Sandman was one bad mothafucka. Fifteen years before the vibrating controller was invented, you could feel it when he connected with one of those vicious uppercuts.

3) If Rocky were an actual fighter, what would his legacy be? He would've fought between 1976 and 1983 or so. We see in Rocky III that most of his title reign was spent fighting bums. He had three or four truly memorable fights (the Apollo fights, the second Lang fight and, of course, Drago), but Apollo was aging, Lang might have kicked his ass again in a third fight, and Drago was untested. Yet he hit like a mack truck and could take a punch (or 50,000) with the best of them.
So would he go down as one of the all-time greats? As one of the forgettable champions from a bad era? Or as a solid heavyweight champion who didn't have anyone great to fight, ala Larry Holmes?
Yes, I've spent way too much time thinking about this.

4) Why didn't Rocky ever fight Clubber Lang a third time? Seems like a natural, especially in boxing's sequel-happy world. Clubber beat Rocky's ass once, Rocky beat Clubber's ass once. A third fight should've definitely happened. And who'd have won, with no letdowns and no surprises?