Rocky- retrospective

The film Rocky may be the greatest underdog story put on film.  These movies show a guy who simply wants to go the distance and his story is inspiring to this day.  The characters have become icons and the moments from the films have become cemented in film history.   All of the Rocky movies spanned a six film series that encompassed not just the story of a fighter but the story of his family and love.

Rocky- Rocky tells the story of how boxer Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone is a bruiser with a heart of gold.  He helps out a kid in his Philadelphia neighborhood and he finds beauty in a shy pet shop worker, Adrian, played by Talia Shire.  When the cocky heavy weight champion Apollo Creed wants to hold an exhibition match he chooses Rocky based solely on his nickname, “the Italian Stallion.” Rocky trains with the aid of Mickey, played by Burgess Meredith.  The day of the fight Rocky goes the distance with Creed in an epic match.

The acting in this movie is great. Everyone does a great job making this world believable and in the 1970s when everyone was an antihero it is amazing to see a character that is so kind-hearted.  The music is like something that we’d expect to hear while summoning a Greek hero.  Rocky touches the underdog in all of us and reminds us that every once in a while the little guy can knock a giant to the ground.

Rocky II- Rocky II follows where the last film left off.  Rocky considers himself retired and starts spending his money and doing commercial work.  He marries Adrian and they get pregnant.  Apollo Creed has wanted a rematch and financial pressures force Rocky to fight Creed once again. This times he goes beyond the distance and actually defeats Creed to become the champion.

Rocky II is almost as good as the first.  The acting is still top-notch and the characters bring a great deal of seriousness to their roles again.  Watching Rocky and Adrian’s relationship bloom is adorable and makes for a really sweet love story.  The only dislike I have is that Rocky is portrayed as especially dumb, which he is not.  He mistakes condos for condoms and so on.  Where it wins me back is that he retains his heart of gold even when people treat him badly. 

Rocky III- After winning his match with Apollo we get a montage of Rocky winning match after match.  Rocky and Adrian are now very rich.  Rocky has an exhibition match with the wrestler Thunderlips.  Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T, challenges him. They fight in the ring and Rocky loses.  Mickey dies during the fight. Left without a trainer Apollo agrees to train Rocky.  Rocky eventually beats Clubber and wins back his title.

This is where the series starts to get weird.  The addition of Thunderlips, played by Hulk Hogan, is a scene that is funny but inevitably doesn’t really add much to the movie.  Otherwise it’s a good movie.  The growing friendship between Apollo Creed and Rocky shows that both men are good at heart but have a warrior-like respect for each other. It is sad to see Mickey go but it is done well and with dramatic dignity.

Rocky IV- A huge Russian boxer named Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren, comes to America.  Apollo challenges him to a boxing match and is killed in the ring.  Rocky decides he will go to Russia to avenge his friend.  He trains in the mountains and eventually is able to defeat Drago.  He gives a rousing speech to the Russian audience, which gives him a standing ovation.

For some reason they added a sentient robot to this movie.  It makes it very goofy.  This movie takes it even more down that road by making the villains over-the-top.  It’s such a product of its time and it is an obvious Cold War statement.   It is a fun movie but it seems to take the serious tone of the series and make it more humorous.

Rocky V- Rocky comes back from Russia and they discover that due to shady accountants they are broke.  So the Balboa family moves back to the streets where they started in Philadelphia.  He goes to work at Mickey’s old gym and takes up training a new boxer named Tommy “The Machine” Gunn. Rocky finds that focusing all his time on his new protégé takes away time from his son.   Tommy is upset because his career isn’t moving fast enough so he calls Rocky out a bar and they get into a brawl.  Rocky wins the street fight and goes home with his family.

Rocky V is the weakest of the movies but it’s certainly not a bad film.  It seems to teach the lesson that violence solves problems.  It also is a downer in a lot of ways.  In the end of the street fight Rocky is still broke and Tommy is still the champion.  So it is really not for anything except pride.

Rocky Balboa- Rocky has retired and owns a restaurant.  His wife Adrian has passed away and he visits her grave regularly.  A sports show takes a computer match-up between the current heavyweight champion Mason “The line” Dixon and Rocky and decides Rocky would be the victor.  Mason then decides to challenge Rocky to an exhibition match.  Rocky is still a sweet guy and helpful to others. His son Robert has lost his way and Rocky helps him find his path as he trains for the fight in Las Vegas.  When he gets there he shows that he still has what it takes to fight hard despite his age.  Like his match with Creed it comes down to a decision and the fight goes to the champion but Rocky still feels like a winner for going the distance.

This was the perfect way to end the series.  I hate seeing Adrian go but adding touches of his life like little Marie and even Spider Rico from the first film were welcome.  What he said “going forward when life hits you hard” is a great message.  The filming during the fight is the most realistic in the whole series and looks like it could have been seen in a pay-per-view.  It really brings the perfection back up to the level it was with the first film.

The Rocky movies are wonderful films and should be enjoyed by anyone.  If you do not desire to see periods where things got silly you can probably watch just Rocky, Rocky II and Rocky Balboa and get the idea of the whole series and love it for what it’s worth.  They are the story of an underdog who beat the odds.  The characters are endearing and the stories are classic.

Magic Magic – review

Magic Magic is a Chilean-American psychological thriller.  The acting is very decent and the plot complex.  The themes of animals, sleep, control, and abandonment are incredibly prevalent and make for an intriguing story.  The only thing that is weak about this story is the ending, which is strange and somewhat confusing.

 Alicia, played by Juno Temple, is visiting her cousin in Chile. While there, her cousin ditches her for a couple of days and leaves her with her friends.  Alicia soon begins loosing her grip on reality. She starts seeing things that are not there and she cannot sleep. Tensions mount and soon she is getting progressively ill and her friends are desperate to find help.

The acting is very good for this movie.  Juno Temple plays her character, Alicia, well and we can see her breakdown and her vulnerability with every scene.  Emily Browning as her cousin Sarah does a good job portraying the confusion and the desperation of someone whose family member is having a mental illness. It was also really great to see Michael Cera as Brink, playing against type for a change, acting creepy and almost coming off sinister in some lights. 

Magic Magic hits you hard with thematic elements.  Sleep and the lack of it is a common theme in the story. Animals such as sheep and collies show up and seem to be symbolic of control or in some cases safety abandoning them.   There are multiple scenes that involve scenes of abandonment- for example, the travelers leave a puppy on the side of the road to basically die, Sara leaves her cousin with strangers to travel alone, and Sara goes and gets an abortion.

The ending is very bizarre.  If you are not into spoilers I advise you to stop reading now.  While trying to find a doctor for Alicia her friends take her to a witch doctor of sorts.  In the end she is told that her soul has left her body and that by rubbing herbs under her nose it will bring her back.  We then see the travelers carrying Alicia’s body with them and rubbing the herb under her nose crying.  Does she eventually wake? I don’t know, but I really doubt it. 

As a whole, Magic Magic is a good movie.  It is reminiscent of movies such as Repulsion and really seems to be a gripping drama.  It will keep you interested and leave you wondering long after the last scene is over.  If you are in the mood for a taut psychological thriller with impressive young talent at the helm, give it a shot.  You will likely enjoy what you see.

The World’s End – review

The World’s End is a sci-fi comedy by director Edgar Wright. Considered the third of the “Cornetto trilogy” following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.  The story is very off-the-wall and fitting like a mixture of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  The acting is fun and the movie itself is okay, considering its decent effects and good fight scenes.  Where it loses me is the bizarre ending and the absolutely atrocious writing of the main character.

Gary King, played by Simon Pegg, is a loser who is mentally stuck in the 90’s. His only fond memory is a pub-crawl he and four friends set out to complete in the 90’s.  He lies to his friends to trick them into returning to the small town to reenact the same pub-crawl with the goal of finishing it this time.  Without warning they are attacked by robots.  They then decide to continue the pub-crawl regardless of the robots, which ends at the World’s End pub.

The acting is fun for the most part.  Nick Frost as Andy is very entertaining.  However, the star of the film, Simon Pegg, is painful.  He is obnoxious, annoying, sexist, pathetic, and a terrible hero.  It would have been really helpful if the writers wrote him some redeeming qualities- instead they made him into a total jerk and expect us to care when he reveals he is depressed. His friends are much more charming and funny than he is. This type of character might sound familiar to anyone who saw Hot Tub Time Machine.

The audience seemed to really enjoy this movie and I can agree it has many funny parts. Some of the jokes come off mean spirited and lowbrow, which seems different for this writer. I do think that it is the weakest of the trilogy.  It felt like there were lots of little winks to the audience, which is not necessary for this type of movie.  The ending seemed like it backed the characters into a corner and wanted to wrap things up quickly.   

The World’s End is an okay movie.  The humor is really not as strong as past films and the main character is wildly unlikable. The fun comes from watching the uptight characters cutting loose. The action scenes are good but that’s not enough to make it theater worthy.  I’d recommend it for a rental if you are into British humor or the other titles of the “Cornetto trilogy.”

The Frozen Ground – review

The Frozen Ground is a 2013 thriller set in Alaska, 1983. The film is about the hunt for serial killer Robert Hansen.  It does a really good job following the true crime novel Butcher, Baker.  The acting is really good and it adds to the grim realism of the film that they filmed a great deal of it in Anchorage and other Alaskan locations.  The Frozen Ground pays a lot of attention to detail to make it look like the dirty, gritty, Anchorage of the 1980s.

Cindy Paulson, played by Vanessa Hudgens, escapes Robert Hansen, played by John Cusack, after he raped and nearly killed her.  The police do not help her. Jack Halcombe, played by Nicolas Cage, figures out that her case is tied to a series of missing person cases.  Hansen is taking women, raping them, and then flying them to the middle of nowhere and hunting them with a high-powered rifle game. Halcombe must find a way to bring Hansen to justice before he can kill again. 

The acting for The Frozen Ground is what makes it stand out.  Vanessa Hudgens gives a decent look at her vulnerable side.  Nicolas Cage gives us a lite-version of his performance from 8mm; fun and believable.  The person that really is amazing is John Cusack who is chilling as Hansen.  He is creepy and plays a very realistic psychopath.  The rest of the cast also fills their roles nicely making for a very enjoyable movie.

The story is decent, however it is a by-the-book police procedural.  It doesn’t bring a lot new to the genre. There are also some strange filming choices.  Clearly the filmmakers loved Alaska because there are tons of establishing shots of landscapes.  

Then there are odd scenes added like a shot of Vanessa Hudgens starring at a moose that walks close to her.  At one point I wondered if it just wandered into the shot in mid-town Anchorage and they decided to keep it in the movie.

The Frozen Ground is an interesting movie.  If you are fan of true crime or thrillers it is worth catching. The movie is certainly creepy and has a cold vibe.  If you have been or are from Alaska it is worth seeing since many of the locations are ones you will be familiar with.  I recommend it to anyone wanting to see something a bit different and see Cusack and Hudgens playing a role that is different from their normal roles.

Kick-Ass 2 – review

Kick-Ass 2 is the sequel to the dark comedy about a teenage boy who dresses up as a superhero and finds it is much more complicated than he bargained for.  The movie has most of the cast back and they seem to be enjoying themselves in their heroic or villainous roles.  Kick-Ass 2 is very violent and a decent follow up the last film but there are some strange choices when it comes to subplot.

Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, puts back on his mask and returns to the streets as Kick-Ass.  Mindy Macready/Hit Girl, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, begins training him in combat techniques. Kick-Ass is approached by some new superheroes to form a team.  Meanwhile, Chris D’Amico, played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, vows to get vengeance for Kick-Ass killing his father with a bazooka in the first film and creates a team of super-villains under the guise of “The Mother Fucker.”

The cast does a good job bringing their characters back for a second round.  The problem is that some of the characters from the first film get written off incredibly fast.  Chris D’Amico’s mother, Kick-Ass’ girlfriend, Katie Deauxma and even Chris’ Uncle just sort of die off, break up, or just become forgotten.  The father gets a much bigger role in this film and even gets a chance to interact more with his son. Jim Carrey seems to be having fun with his role as Colonel Stars and Stripes and John Leguizamo gives the movie some gravitas.

The biggest flaw in this movie is that there is a subplot that is not worthy of the story.  Kick-Ass 2 should be irreverent and witty with its mixture of violence.  Instead we get to watch Hit Girl go to High School and her ups and downs with the popular girls there.  If the movie wanted to tell the audience that Mindy was having difficulty fitting in I could have seen it with a short montage of events instead of a subplot that just seem like scenes that were cut out of the new Carrie.

If you enjoyed the first movie you will likely enjoy this movie.  It’s not nearly the caliber of film as the last movie.  The humor is there but it is not really in the same place.  Much like the comic, which is its source material it is very violent. However, the film is tame in comparison to the comics.  Kick-Ass 2 is certainly an interesting attempt but it falls short in some ways.  All in all it is a good movie, but it would probably be a better rental if you were not already a fan.

Elysium- review

The latest sci-fi movie from director Neil Blokamp, Elysium, gives a wild new vision.  While the story itself borrows from other movies like “Johnny Mnemonic” it makes up for the borrowed material with original characters and dazzling effects.  The dystopian future is really intriguing and the overall message of the film seems relevant with the issues of today.

In the year 2154 the Earth is over-populated, polluted and covered with diseased people.  The rich live in an orbiting satellite called Elysium, which has med-pods that allow people to be cured of all diseases and live nearly forever.  Max, played by Matt Damon, works in a robot factory until one day he is stricken with a lethal dose of radiation.  With 5 days to live he has to get Elysium in order to cure himself.  Can Max get to Elysium in time to save himself?

The only problem I had with the movie is that it really has a lot of unoriginal story elements.  Looking past that it’s a pretty solid action sci-fi adventure.  Matt Damon does a really great job selling the part as a reluctant hero.  However, the person that steals the show for me was Sharlto Copley as Kruger.   He has shown a great range in the parts he has played and this is no exception.  He is chilling as a remorseless killer.  Jodie Foster is pretty good as the icy Jessica Delacourt. 

The effects are fantastic and really bring this world to life.  The ships and the robot guards are seamlessly added to the scenes.  The movie message of the rich only being able to afford the health care is nailed pretty hard at times.  However, it is entertaining so you can excuse a lot. Elysium is very interesting at least but does not bring a lot of new ideas to the table. 

If you are a sci-fi fan you should see this movie. However, if you are not then it’s at least worth a rental.  Matt Damon and the other cast members put on a good show and it’s certainly a fun movie.  The visuals and the action also are enough to at least make it a bold choice for the curious.