Friday, November 10, 2006
** Rocky V. Drama.
Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Starring: Sylvester Stallone
We watched this one courtesy of Netflix. Over the past several months we'd watched the series--probably one a month--and the boys in particular loved them... and were quite entertained when the face-pounding made me squeamish. This one, however, was a different story. We watched the first 40 minutes or so, and quit to watch an episode of Knight Rider. It was a couple of weeks later when I finally talked everyone into finishing it so we could return it for something better.
Rocky's returned from Russia (Rocky IV), with permanent brain damage curtailing his boxing career. But his comfortable retirement is likewise cut short when the accountant Paulie hired absconds with all their money, and they have to move back to the old neighborhood. A slick fight promoter nags him to return to the ring, and he resists, but sees a way to recover some of his glory when a young boxer asks Rocky to train him.
Rocky gets so caught up in the training that he neglects his family, and his son gets in trouble, and then everything is solved by a quick father/son chat and a fistfight outside a bar.
Mostly, it was boring. The beginning of the movie was just flashback after flashback of the previous movies, interspersed with repeated nagging from the promoter and incessant reminders that if he fights, he'll die. Adrian was her usual annoying, whiny self, and Paulie was more useless than ever. The son (who was several years older than he was in the previous movie--presumably because he's played by Sage Stallone) was unrealistic.
There was quite a lot of unrealized potential in the movie. If some of those interminable flashbacks from the first half and training montages from the second had been cut, there might have been time to develop a more realistic conflict resolution with the son, and a more meaningful climax to the movie than a fistfight.
Yes, I know, the fighting is a big part of the series, but it's pointless without a meaningful context. I don't think it's just a girly reaction on my part, because my 3 guys didn't like it either.
...more
Categories: Movies, 2stars, Drama
Labels: 2 stars, drama, Movies
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I like the first one best - I guess every one did.
I've been renting as lot of movies from Blockbuster Online myself.
Isn't it great to just get them in the mail? There is a Blockbuster right in my building, and we can return the ones we get by mail to the store for new movies if we like.
I watched two good ones this week.
Walk on Water & Mini's First Time
Take care,
Frances
I've been renting as lot of movies from Blockbuster Online myself.
Isn't it great to just get them in the mail? There is a Blockbuster right in my building, and we can return the ones we get by mail to the store for new movies if we like.
I watched two good ones this week.
Walk on Water & Mini's First Time
Take care,
Frances
It is great, especially over here, where rental possibilities are extremely limited. I was pleasantly surprised that Netflix would ship to APO addresses.
Haven't seen either of those--I'll check them out.
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Haven't seen either of those--I'll check them out.
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