Movie Review Rocky Balboa

Rocky Balboa (2006) 

Directed by Sylvester Stallone

Written by Sylvester Stallone

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Antonio Tarver, Milo Ventimiglia 

Release Date December 20th, 2006

Published December 20th, 2006

When I first heard Sylvester Stallone was reviving the Rocky series I rolled my eyes and dismissed the idea as a desperate attempt by an aging star to save his flagging career. That, indeed, was the case. Stallone's career has been flagging for years with one disappointing film leading to another to eventually Stallone being unable to open his movies in theaters.

I wasn't the only dismissive skeptic. MGM, the company that holds the rights to the Rocky character, had no interest in another Rocky. It wasn't until Stallone raised the production capitol on his own that MGM agreed to release the film and now that film has been made and to the shock and amazement of many Rocky Balboa is more than just a star's desperate attempt to reclaim the spotlight.

Pretending that the last installment of the Rocky movies, one that found a brain damaged Rocky brawling in the streets with a younger, dumber fighter (played by real life boxer Tommy Morrison), this Rocky picks up the story with the champ running a successful restaurant in his old neighborhood in Philly. A Lot has changed but most devastatingly, Rocky's beloved wife Adrian has passed away.

Spending countless days visiting Adrian's grave and his nights commiserating with his pal Pauly (Burt Young), Rocky somehow gets it in his head that he's got something left in the tank for another fight. His decision to fight again happens to coincide with an ESPN video game stunt that pitted a virtual Rocky in his prime against the current world champion Mason 'The Line' Dixon (Antonio Tarver). Virtual Rocky wins the fight and this sparks interest in seeing Rocky get back in the ring.

Much of Rocky Balboa plays like Rocky's greatest hits. The training scenes have their usual grit and grunts. Bill Conti's score is soaring and inspirational and yes, Rocky is back on the steps running all the way to the top. This sounds like a negative criticism but I must say, as greatest hits go, these are pretty good ones. Think of it like this, you wouldn't turn up your nose at your favorite rock bands greatest hits, so why turn your nose up at Rocky's.

Sylvester Stallone stars in, wrote the screenplay, produced and directed Rocky Balboa and this one man movie company does quite an impressive job. Shooting on handheld digital, Stallone takes Rocky back to his low budget days and it's terrific how the handheld digital is so visually reminiscent of the original film. The big budget slickness of Rocky's 3,4 and 5 were part and parcel of the disgusting excess that took the once beloved character and made him a joke.

Of course,Rocky Balboa culminates with a big time boxing match and as in Rocky 1 and 2 this one doesn't disappoint. The fight between Rocky and real life boxing champ Antonio Tarver never resembles anything remotely like a real boxing match, but as a Rocky version of boxing; it's as rousing and invigorating as the two bouts with Apollo Creed that provided the crescendo of the first two Rocky movies.

The death of Talia Shire's Adrian provides the film with a powerful emotional punch. Adrian is arguably as iconic a character as Rocky, though Talia Shire was never properly honored for her work. This film is a beautiful love letter to Rocky's anchor, the one character who managed to maintain her dignity through the ever more ludicrous sequelizations of Rocky.

Is Rocky Balboa a cynical, last gasp at stardom by an aging action hero desperate for the spotlight? Yeah, maybe a little. But, surprisingly, Rocky Balboa is also a well told story that takes advantage of our nostalgia for a beloved character to tell a pretty engaging and dramatic story. Most of all the film is a reminder of why we fell in love with this character and it leaves us with the memory of Rocky that was taken from us by the goofiness of the other sequels. For that reason alone Rocky Balboa is worth the price of a ticket.

Movie Review Win Win

Win Win (2011) 

Directed by Tom McCarthy 

Written by Tom McCarthy

Starring Paul Giamatti, Burt Young, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale 

Release Date March 18th, 2011 

Published March 17th, 2011 

Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) is struggling. His law practice is not making any money and the stress has begun to manifest itself in breathless panic attacks that mirror heart attack symptoms. Mike needs money and when he stumbles across an opportunity to make some money through an ethical loophole with one of his clients (Burt Young) he takes it.

Since "Win Win" is a movie we know that Mike's decision will have very particular consequences or it wouldn't be in the story. What writer-director Thomas McCarthy creates in order to arrive at those consequences and the wealth of emotions involved in when and how Mike's ethical lapse is revealed is the hook of "Win Win," a small human story about a good man whose flaws cannot mask his true nature.

Paul Giamatti is spectacularly well cast as Mike Flaherty. His unique face communicates worry and sadness while his clipped line delivery makes him sound desperate and close to out of breath even when he's in a relaxed moment. Giamatti's nervous energy has been his calling card since his breakthrough performance in Howard Stern's "Private Parts" through his rise to stardom in "Sideways."

Alex Shaffer plays Kyle in "Win Win." Kyle is the main complication to Mike's money making scheme. Having run away from home and being only 16 years old, Mike and his wife Jackie (Amy Ryan) are forced to take Kyle in while they sort out the situation with his mother and his Alzheimer's afflicted grandfather. The connections between these characters are something I want you to discover by seeing the movie.

The movie poster shows Kyle in wrestling gear sitting next to Mike. Wrestling appears in Win Win as both literal, Mike coaches a High School wrestling team and as a clever undercurrent to the main story as Mike wrestles with his conscience over his scheme, and, more importantly, about how not to get caught while Kyle wrestles with his past including his recovering drug addict mother (Melanie Lynskey) who also has a connection to Mike's scheme.

Writer-director Thomas McCarthy has an eye for small human stories. He was the writer and director of "The Station Agent," a small highly observant and smart picture about unique characters who form an odd family. McCarthy then directed "The Visitor," another film about unlikely family ties, this time an older white college professor and a young, immigrant African man and wife.

McCarthy approaches these stories with compassion and a thoughtful curiosity about how his characters live from day to day and how they interact with changing circumstances that are mundane by movie standards but are things real people are experiencing everyday. "Win Win," like "The Station Agent" and "The Visitor," is a warm, kind and modestly funny movie that compels you with great characters who reflect lives you can relate to, sympathize with and still be entertained by.