I didn't cry

[andygates]

It was a close-run thing, though.  Went to see Rocky Balboa.  If you didn't 'get' Rocky, you won't get this - it's the same downbeat, understated, very human and surprisingly warm stuff.  If you just thought he was a dumb slurring lump, steer clear.  Of course, if you did get it, this is grand stuff.  There's lovely rich continuity and it's nicely shot, making economic use of the changing cityscape to tell the times-they-are-a-changin' motif.  The training montage made me grin a face-cracker of a grin (thudthwacker, note the lateral raises with chains - Westside brutality at its lowbrow best); and the fight was a delight.  Having Mike Tyson do a five-second cameo, like the end-credits scenes of the general public running up those steps, really blurred the line between fact and fiction, deliberately laid on with a trowel - HBO PPV logos everywhere, Bruce Buffer saying "Rockyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Balboaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" (something I bet he used to do while warming up the mic) - it didn't put a foot wrong.

It's not a perfect film, but it's a damn fine final round to Rocky's career and better than all of the other sequels (yes, even the one with Dolph).  "A cute kinda ugly, y'know?" 

Comments

[andygates.livejournal.com]

I agree totally about the Rambo series; mostly what I've been realising over the last few years is how underrated Stallone is as a character actor. Not a creature of great range, perhaps, but that's why he's best in his own stuff. He got a chance to do that very understated character thing here, with moments that were reminiscent of Pacino and others that were pure hangdog Bill Murray (I'm not kidding).

Rocky's disappointment with his son (and the other characters who get involved in that) is there as a layer; Pauly's disintegration into someone really quite unpleasantly pathetic; and in the middle of it is this guy who just isn't quite done yet but can't let go of his past.

It's certainly not the cartoons of the mid-series sequels.

[thudthwacker.livejournal.com]

I've been realising over the last few years is how underrated Stallone is as a character actor.

I recommend to you, if you haven't seen it, "Oscar." I thought he did a really great job, and the rest of the cast was stellar and really had the slapstick timing down. I think "Oscar" would have done a lot better if it hadn't been lumped in with "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot," as "the Stallone comedies." It was like trying to win a beauty contest with a dead possum nailed to your head.