This movie packs the feels. Like I said with the last review of Rocky 5, I find it works best if you skip the third and fourth installments of this series to keep things on an even keel, and for this movie, perhaps just skipping straight from the first movie this one is best for continuity’s sake. This movie is just one big sentimental moment … Continue reading Rocky Balboa Review
It is not exactly breaking news, that out of all the Rocky movies, this one gets the most flack. In reality, I think with a different release date it might have been much more favorably regarded. This movie attempts the impossible though, as far as bringing a series that had shot into the stratosphere in terms of comic book level mania back into some semblance … Continue reading Rocky 5 Review
Rocky IV is the culmination of the 1980s Ronald Reagan vision of corporate America in all its gaudy excess, and is by far, the most ridiculous of all the Rocky movies, which is quite the accomplishment. It was a big enough stretch that a club fighter on his last legs could go the distance with an Ali like heavyweight champ, let alone defeat him, let … Continue reading Rocky IV Review
This may be the guiltiest of all the big budget guilty pleasure sports movies made in the 1980s. In the 1980s the Rocky movies became pretty much an extended music video. This time around the hit song of the “album” was Eye of the Tiger by Survivor, a song that has become the universal anthem for boxing training, tied perhaps only with the original Rocky … Continue reading Rocky III Review
I reviewed the original Rocky movie a few months back here on QDR and now wished I had waited a bit for the sake of continuity, but, perhaps it is for the best for the original movie to kind of exist on its own in a world where the sequels don’t have to exist as cannon. That said, if you’re looking for a blue print … Continue reading Rocky II Review
I know for a fact that I am under-rating this movie in this review, but I don’t feel too bad about that. The reason I sought out this movie in the first place because it was the favorite film of the man who made me want to write about movies, Roger Ebert. Ebert reviewed this movie at least three times in his life, and the … Continue reading La Dolce Vita Review
I’m a sucker for good coming of age movies, and for music history movies, and this is another one, like Almost Famous that is directly in my wheelhouse. This movie tells the story of the fictional one hit wonder band known as the Wonders (originally the Oneders—not pronounced Oh-needers by the way) who go from obscurity to overnight sensation with the success of the very … Continue reading That Thing You Do! Review
There’s a fine line between inspirational and cloying, and this movie teeters dangerously on the brink the entire film. I found that half the time I went along for the ride, while the other half I had to distance myself from the main character. Walter Mitty is a really old character updated here as a writer for Life Magazine during the period when they were … Continue reading The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Review
As a former employee of Walmart, watching this movie gave me vague flashbacks to those awful corporate brainwashing “orientation” videos we were forced to watch in our first few days on the job that basically informed us that A: unions are the devil and will kill your children, and B: Sam Walton was the greatest person to ever walk the face of the earth sans … Continue reading Saving Mr. Banks Review
Some of my most sacred childhood memories involve walking the local railroad tracks, most of the time with my dad trailing not that far behind. I grew up in the early to mid 90s, so it was not quite the same odyssey that the characters in this movie experience, but I get very fond nostalgia flashbacks whenever I think about this film. This is one … Continue reading Stand By Me Review
Titanquisitor 