Made for a million bucks and filmed in just 28 days, ROCKY tells the touching
story of an amateur boxer, Rocky Balboa, who was born and raised in a rough, run
down as fuck neighborhood in Philadelphia. Rocky supplements the meager
boxing pay by being a collector for a local small time loan shark. But
he's not really good at it, since he's too kindhearted to revert to physical
violence. He's also in love with a nerd named Adrian, who works at the
neighborhood pet store. He finally, after a long time of trying, convinces
her to go out with him. The date should have been a disaster, but it's not
and they learn that despite all of their differences their two broken halves
make a good whole.
At the same time, the undefeated heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed, has the
opponent in his upcoming title defense fight cancel because of an injury.
Nobody else will step in since the fight is only five weeks away and that's not
enough time to train. Facing a financial disaster, Creed comes up with the
idea of letting a local amateur have a chance at the title. He ends up
picking Rocky "The Italian Stallion" Balboa because he thinks the name will look
good in lights. Rocky reluctantly agrees.
There's much more to the film that I won't go into and ruin it for you.
I'll just say ROCKY is a really, really great film. You might think that
it's completely about boxing (and a large portion of it is), but I think it's
also about unrealized/missed dreams (just look a Mickey's face as he's leaving
Rocky's apartment), being a good human being (Rocky carrying the bum in from the
cold, talking to the young girl, talking to animals, etc.), grabbing that one
chance when you get it, personal growth (Adrian) and most importantly:
love. Rocky's devotion to Adrian is beautiful to watch. I think the
exact moment I decided to add ROCKY to my
Best Film's List
was when he asked where her hat was. All of this shit he's gone through,
damn near had his brains bashed out through his earhole and the very first thing
he does when he sees her is express concern about her.
Beautiful photography, Burgess Meredith snarling, a perfect script, meat
punching, chicken chasing, great acting by everybody, legendary music.
Highly recommended.
Part 2 - Rocky II (1979)
Part 3 - Rocky III (1982)
Part 4 - Rocky IV (1985)
Part 5 - Rocky V (1990)
Part 6 - Rocky Balboa (2006)
Part 7 - Creed (2015)
Part 8 - Creed II (2018)
Part 9 - Creed III
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Saturday, December 14, 2013
LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III (1990)
Following the wacky Part 2, LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III kinda goes
back to the roots of the series with three travelers going off on a side road
and then getting tormented by the evil Sawyer clan. The story is
straightforward with your standard creepy stranger encounter, car trouble,
chased around by Leatherface until finally captured, tortured at the house and
then escape routine.
While III does have a few creepy moments it doesn't even come close to the perfection of the original. The story is highly unoriginal, the special effects are barely satisfactory, the acting isn't very good, the main girl is blah, the budget looks low as fuck and that chainsaw in the swamp scene! That doesn't even make sense! The other main problem is the family itself: Leatherface isn't scary, the side role filled by the Hitchhiker in the original and Chop-Top in 2 is now more annoying than funny, the Cook role filled perfectly by Jim Siedow in the first two films is now wasted by Viggo Mortensen, Grandpa is lame and that little girl character adds nothing.
Overall, it's a forgettable film, but still an alright time waster. That poster does look awesome though.
Part 1 - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Part 2 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Remake/sequel - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)
Reboot 1 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Reboot prequel - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Reboot sequel to original - Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)
Prequel - Leatherface (2017)
Direct sequel to original - Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)
While III does have a few creepy moments it doesn't even come close to the perfection of the original. The story is highly unoriginal, the special effects are barely satisfactory, the acting isn't very good, the main girl is blah, the budget looks low as fuck and that chainsaw in the swamp scene! That doesn't even make sense! The other main problem is the family itself: Leatherface isn't scary, the side role filled by the Hitchhiker in the original and Chop-Top in 2 is now more annoying than funny, the Cook role filled perfectly by Jim Siedow in the first two films is now wasted by Viggo Mortensen, Grandpa is lame and that little girl character adds nothing.
Overall, it's a forgettable film, but still an alright time waster. That poster does look awesome though.
Part 1 - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Part 2 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Remake/sequel - Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1995)
Reboot 1 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Reboot prequel - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Reboot sequel to original - Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)
Prequel - Leatherface (2017)
Direct sequel to original - Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)
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