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The Good The Bad The HBK said:
Movie 13: Rocky III

2b122e8347e4a7a47d9cfc70d6fdde8a.jpg


Synopsis: Rocky faces the ultimate challenge from a powerful new contender, and must turn to a former rival to help regain his throne as the undisputed fighting champion.


My rating: 9.25/10

One of my favourite and underrated sequels of all time. Here we have Rocky as champ (he defended the title 10x) and he's making a lot of money doing commercials and advertisements (which was something he couldn't do in the 2nd film)

However Rocky's success isn't against the best boxers, he was being protected by his manager the entire time. The real #1 contender (Mr T) seeks out the fight with Rocky just before Rocky is about to retire. I liked this scene a lot and was hoping Mr T would have used the race card and made it more personal but then he brings up Adrian which is personal enough.

Mr T is also the reason why Rocky and Apollo form a friendship. Mr T had beef with everyone and his disrespect to Apollo before the first fight with Rocky is what makes him train Rocky after his loss resulting in some of the best training montages of all time.

Also the short appearance from Hulk Hogan is still one of my favourite scenes to watch.

This film really has it all. We get the debut of Eye of the Tiger, a wrestling match with Hulk Hogan, a retirement bout that leads to a revengeful rematch, Mickey's passing away but the best of all, Rocky & Apollo are best buds training together, and the final scene where Rocky repays the favour back to Apollo and they settle the trilogy bout is one of my favourite endings of all time.

It's an excellent sequel and my favourite Rocky film to watch even though I think the first one is the best.

The only thing I didn't like too much was the 2nd fight between Rocky and Clubber, I thought it was the 3rd best fight in the franchise up to this point, the fights with Apollo were better.
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I think 1 is a masterpiece but 3 I've probably watched more often. 3 and 4 are just different kind of films from 1 and 2 although they are all a linear story.

I think the change to a more popcorn/action type direction in 3 and 4 was the best direction the franchise couldve taken anyway. Sly was never going to develop another oscar contender by this point in the franchise and Rocky 2 pretty much wrapped up that particular tone and story. When he tried it in 5 that kinda failed and he had to wait years until he could get the style right again in Balboa.

I dont really have any problems with 3. Maybe it could've delved into Clubber Lang's character a bit more.
 
The Good The Bad The HBK said:
Movie 13: Rocky III

2b122e8347e4a7a47d9cfc70d6fdde8a.jpg


Synopsis: Rocky faces the ultimate challenge from a powerful new contender, and must turn to a former rival to help regain his throne as the undisputed fighting champion.


My rating: 9.25/10

One of my favourite and underrated sequels of all time. Here we have Rocky as champ (he defended the title 10x) and he's making a lot of money doing commercials and advertisements (which was something he couldn't do in the 2nd film)

However Rocky's success isn't against the best boxers, he was being protected by his manager the entire time. The real #1 contender (Mr T) seeks out the fight with Rocky just before Rocky is about to retire. I liked this scene a lot and was hoping Mr T would have used the race card and made it more personal but then he brings up Adrian which is personal enough.

Mr T is also the reason why Rocky and Apollo form a friendship. Mr T had beef with everyone and his disrespect to Apollo before the first fight with Rocky is what makes him train Rocky after his loss resulting in some of the best training montages of all time.

Also the short appearance from Hulk Hogan is still one of my favourite scenes to watch.

This film really has it all. We get the debut of Eye of the Tiger, a wrestling match with Hulk Hogan, a retirement bout that leads to a revengeful rematch, Mickey's passing away but the best of all, Rocky & Apollo are best buds training together, and the final scene where Rocky repays the favour back to Apollo and they settle the trilogy bout is one of my favourite endings of all time.

It's an excellent sequel and my favourite Rocky film to watch even though I think the first one is the best.

The only thing I didn't like too much was the 2nd fight between Rocky and Clubber, I thought it was the 3rd best fight in the franchise up to this point, the fights with Apollo were better.
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Huge fan of the franchise. I think a lot of people are aware of how Ali vs. Chuck Wepner influenced part 1.

But, I tend to think Sylvester was influenced by real life events even in this one. Hulk vs Rocky reminded me of Chuck Wepner vs. Andre The Giant. The second fight vs. Mr. T felt like a fast paced Hollywood interpretation of Rumble in the Jungle.
 
TheTickG said:
Huge fan of the franchise. I think a lot of people are aware of how Ali vs. Chuck Wepner influenced part 1.

But, I tend to think Sylvester was influenced by real life events even in this one. Hulk vs Rocky reminded me of Chuck Wepner vs. Andre The Giant. The second fight vs. Mr. T felt like a fast paced Hollywood interpretation of Rumble in the Jungle.
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Wait Chuck fought Andre? I didn't know that. I assumed the Rocky vs Hulk match was influenced by Ali vs Inoki. Now I'm going to have to YouTube this!

I knew Chuck vs Ali was the reason the first film was made but had no idea he was a further influence in the franchise down the road. I sort of remember Chuck sueing Stallone over it.

I agree with the Rocky/Clubber 2nd fight resembling Ali/Foreman, I just thought it should have went longer than 3 rounds.
 
The Good The Bad The HBK said:
Wait Chuck fought Andre? I didn't know that. I assumed the Rocky vs Hulk match was influenced by Ali vs Inoki. Now I'm going to have to YouTube this!

I knew Chuck vs Ali was the reason the first film was made but had no idea he was a further influence in the franchise down the road. I sort of remember Chuck sueing Stallone over it.

I agree with the Rocky/Clubber 2nd fight resembling Ali/Foreman, I just thought it should have went longer than 3 rounds.
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Chuck vs Andre was right before Ali vs Inoki, I think. But, it was in the US.

Both probably influenced the movie. But, I think Andre threw Chuck out of the ring similar to the Rocky 3 scene.
 
The Good The Bad The HBK said:
Wait Chuck fought Andre? I didn't know that. I assumed the Rocky vs Hulk match was influenced by Ali vs Inoki. Now I'm going to have to YouTube this!

I knew Chuck vs Ali was the reason the first film was made but had no idea he was a further influence in the franchise down the road. I sort of remember Chuck sueing Stallone over it.

I agree with the Rocky/Clubber 2nd fight resembling Ali/Foreman, I just thought it should have went longer than 3 rounds.
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It's some Chuck Wepner but also some Joe Frazier. I'm pretty sure the meat punching thing came from Joe Frazier. Also Rocky's fighting style in 1 is very similar to Joe Frazier.

In fact, Joe Frazier was supposed to be the villain in rocky 3. If you remember Joe Frazier shows up in the first one and asks Apollo to stop ducking him. So 3 was going to be a continuation of that story with Frazier now following Rocky around for the shot.

So apparently they tried it but Frazier wouldn't play nice with Stallone and hurt him several times. So then they made the switch to Mr. T.
 
revoltub said:
It's some Chuck Wepner but also some Joe Frazier. I'm pretty sure the meat punching thing came from Joe Frazier. Also Rocky's fighting style in 1 is very similar to Joe Frazier.

In fact, Joe Frazier was supposed to be the villain in rocky 3. If you remember Joe Frazier shows up in the first one and asks Apollo to stop ducking him. So 3 was going to be a continuation of that story with Frazier now following Rocky around for the shot.

So apparently they tried it but Frazier wouldn't play nice with Stallone and hurt him several times. So then they made the switch to Mr. T.
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Dang I didn't know that either lol when it was all said and done, Rocky got a statue in Philly before Fraser did, Sly being sly.

Personally I'm glad Fraser didn't become the next villain, Mr T is a better choice.
 
The Good The Bad The HBK said:
Dang I didn't know that either lol when it was all said and done, Rocky got a statue in Philly before Fraser did, Sly being sly.

Personally I'm glad Fraser didn't become the next villain, Mr T is a better choice.
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Yeah I'm not sure Frazier had the right kind of charisma for that role. They would've had to change a lot of the character to make it work.

Frazier did get a statue eventually but it took way too long.
 
Rocky III played a significant role in the explosion of the wrestling business in the 80's
Supposedly Vince Sr wasn't in favor of his star villain Hulk Hogan going to Hollywood to play in this picture so he fired Hulk(not sure if I actually believe that story) so after filming was done, Hulk went to Minnesota to work for Verne Gagne which is where he became a main event babyface and created Hulkamania
Vince Jr saw what Hogan was doing in the Midwest and brought him back to New York to lead the WWF's national expansion from a Northeast regional territory into a nationwide phenomenon
They heavily leaned on Rocky III during the early years of Hulks WWF title run, using Eye Of The Tiger as his entrance music and bringing in Mr T as his tag team partner for the first WrestleMania
 
The Good The Bad The HBK said:
Wait Chuck fought Andre? I didn't know that. I assumed the Rocky vs Hulk match was influenced by Ali vs Inoki. Now I'm going to have to YouTube this!

I knew Chuck vs Ali was the reason the first film was made but had no idea he was a further influence in the franchise down the road. I sort of remember Chuck sueing Stallone over it.

I agree with the Rocky/Clubber 2nd fight resembling Ali/Foreman, I just thought it should have went longer than 3 rounds.
Click to expand...

Yea, Andre fought Wepner at Shea Stadium on the undercard for the Ali vs Inoki bout, which was broadcast on the Shea Stadium jumbotron from Japan

Theres also this incident between Gorilla Monsoon and Ali in Philadelphia, which was done to try and build interest in the Inoki fight, which was a massive financial failure here in the US, contrary to what urban legend would have you believe

 
Movie 14: Lock Up

bebdcd0e4a63eff081f2ab822d1541d1.jpg



Synopsis: With only six months left of his sentence, inmate Frank Leone is transferred from a minimum security prison to a maximum security prison by a vindictive warden.

My Rating: 7.5/10

This was my first time watching this, and I thought it was really good. Stallone, Don Sutherland, John Amos and Tom Sizemore were all very good, especially Sizemore. The story starts off alright but picks up immediately once Stallone enters prison. Sutherland has prior beef with Stallone and is going to make his stay a living hell. Stallone has to survive the inmates and the warden without getting in trouble and making his sentence longer.

DTA - Don't trust anybody

The story gets better and better as it goes, I thought the movie was great until the ending.

it was kind of obvious Sizemore was going to turn on Stallone. I thought Sutherland confessing to the Crimes and Stallone getting off scotch free was a letdown. Amos character doesn't hold any authority over Sutherland, he can't just forgive Stallone for trying to escape or holding the warden hostage. They went for the happy unrealistic ending, I wanted something else.

I still thought it was really good, it's an underrated prison movie that deserves more due.
 
Movie 15: Rocky IV

rocky4-robot3.jpg


Synopsis: Rocky Balboa proudly holds the world heavyweight boxing championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago, a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union.

My Rating: 7/10

I think this is easily the most overrated Stallone movie of all time. It's good but not as good or great as most make it out to be. If anything this made me appreciate the director's cut of Rocky v Drago a lot more. The robot is stupid and it was good to cut her out. The seducing music when the robot comes on screen lol it's terrible.

I also think the entire fight with Drago is dumb and wouldn't ever happen. A scary Russian with 0 professional bouts gets to fight the 2 best boxers back to back, killing one, which was retarded. Apollo deserved better. He makes a comeback for an exhibition bout which means they should have been wearing protective gear. Either way it doesn't make sense at all for Apollo to fight him.

Rocky then decides to fight him for free which is laughable.

I do like the new theme song 'Burning heart' a lot. The training montages are still fun to watch. But I think all future viewings will be the directors cut version Rocky v Drago instead of Rocky IV. But this isn't a Stallone movie im dying to ever see again. Rocky 3 was the perfect ending to the franchise. Rocky 4 was just pointless and unnecessary. I also don't like in the beginning of every Rocky sequel they have to replay the ending of the previous film. The only time I liked when they did this was for Rocky 3.

Rocky 4 also did the bad sequel move of using footage from the previous films as flash backs which I can't stand.

I will say the actual fight Rocky v Drago is a really good fight. It's the best part of the movie.
 
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The Good The Bad The HBK said:
Movie 15: Rocky IV

rocky4-robot3.jpg


Synopsis: Rocky Balboa proudly holds the world heavyweight boxing championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago, a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union.

My Rating: 7/10

I think this is easily the most overrated Stallone movie of all time. It's good but not as good or great as most make it out to be. If anything this made me appreciate the director's cut of Rocky v Drago a lot more. The robot is stupid and it was good to cut her out. The seducing music when the robot comes on screen lol it's terrible.

I also think the entire fight with Drago is dumb and wouldn't ever happen. A scary Russian with 0 professional bouts gets to fight the 2 best boxers back to back, killing one, which was retarded. Apollo deserved better. He makes a comeback for an exhibition bout which means they should have been wearing protective gear. Either way it doesn't make sense at all for Apollo to fight him.

Rocky then decides to fight him for free which is laughable.

I do like the new theme song 'Burning heart' a lot. The training montages are still fun to watch. But I think all future viewings will be the directors cut version Rocky v Drago instead of Rocky IV. But this isn't a Stallone movie im dying to ever see again. Rocky 3 was the perfect ending to the franchise. Rocky 4 was just pointless and unnecessary. I also don't like in the beginning of every Rocky sequel they have to replay the ending of the previous film. The only time I liked when they did this was for Rocky 3.

Rocky 4 also did the bad sequel move of using footage from the previous films as flash backs which I can't stand.

I will say the actual fight Rocky v Drago is a really good fight. It's the best part of the movie.
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When I was a kid, this was my FAVORITE Rocky. Proably b/c it's the one I remember most watching with my dad and brothers and it was like the big scary Russian getting beat by the underdog Rocky. Rocky trained like a man in the mountains while Drago cheated and had every luxery.

Now I realize it maybe isn't technically the best but it was much more a popcorn flick/easy to rewatch vs the first few Rocky that were much deeper IMO. Rocky running up the Mountain with "Hearts on Fire" playing!!
 
TheNinja said:
When I was a kid, this was my FAVORITE Rocky. Proably b/c it's the one I remember most watching with my dad and brothers and it was like the big scary Russian getting beat by the underdog Rocky. Rocky trained like a man in the mountains while Drago cheated and had every luxery.

Now I realize it isn't that great but it was much more a popcorn flick/easy to rewatch vs the first few Rocky that were much deeper IMO.
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Yeah this was my favourite as a kid too. It's not the 2nd best Rocky movie that's for sure. 3 is way better. 2 is better too imo

There was no purpose for Rocky 4. The first 3 movies actually make sense and were well written.
 
IV is the perfect epilogue and send off. No need to watch anything after that.

(And IV is still my favorite -- easily)
 
Adamant said:
IV is the perfect epilogue and send off. No need to watch anything after that.

(And IV is still my favorite -- easily)
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No 3 was the perfect way to end the franchise. Rocky proves he is the best by beating Clubber, while becoming friends with his rival Apollo.

4 was basically made because Sly became friends with Dolph. There was no point to the movie. A Russian hype job with no professional bouts gets to fight the 2 best boxers back to back in meaningless exhibition and unsanctioned bouts for no money lol
 
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