Rock Star In many ways a loving recreation and tribute to the 80s heyday of heavy metal arena rock, director Stephen Herek certainly gets the look right: the screaming crowds, the pyrotechnics, and the blow-dried pretty boy singers evoke that musical phenomenon at its height. As Chris Cole, leader of a tribute band to his […]
Rocky If there can ever be said to have been a so called feel good movie that has proved to be so defining, so untoppable in concept and execution, that it has been defined by every generation afterwards as the ultimate underdog inspirational movie with nothing really ever having taken its place, then this can […]
Rocky 2 The art of the sequel was something that was often derided by critics back in the day, at least until the unholy modern day horror of remakes became more and more a Hollywood reality. This follow up to the 1976 groundbreaker that created an unforgettable lead character and made Sylvester Stallone into a […]
Rocky 3 As the Rocky series became THE premiere movie franchise (along with Star Wars) of the late 70s and 80s, thus came this third entry from 1982 in the ongoing story of Rocky Balboa, street hood turned World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. In so doing, it gave a running start to two of the biggest […]
Rocky 4 Sometimes in a popular film franchise, the oddest thing happens. When the writer / director has become comfortable enough with his core group of characters that having them play off each other is now effortless, he then drops these characters into a storyline where the intimate drama aspects are stripped away in favor […]
Rocky 5 Sometimes a franchise runs out of gas because of a lack of audience interest. Other times it happens because the creative powers that be behind that franchise decide to go in a “new” direction and thusly ruin it with the botched newness of said direction. Nowhere has that been so obviously the case […]
Rocky Balboa For the return of Stallone’s most iconic character to the big screen, admittedly I had high hopes. However, that began to fade early on when the viewer (and Paulie) are dragged along on the so-called “Adrian Tour”, with Rocky visiting various locations from the first film while reminiscing about his late, beloved wife. […]
Romeo Is Bleeding One of the first and maybe the best of the wild and crazy so called “Tarantino style” crime movies was this 1993 release that actually came out BEFORE Pulp Fiction but after Reservoir Dogs, and like Dogs, shared the same propensity for over the top violence and bodily mutilation (i.e. the infamous […]
Rosemary’s Baby Horror movies about witchcraft and Satanism generally run the severe risk of becoming hokey, corny pieces of crap, usually because the screenwriter is making up his so called lore about the subject as he goes along or because the director is using the initial premise to create an over the top, unrealistic and […]
Royal Tenenbaums For Wes Anderson, this film is a HUGE step up in quality from the dismal and overrated Rushmore. The opening minutes build a rhythm rarely seen in today’s films, letting you know this is going to be something good. Gene Hackman is truly the star of the show amongst the ensemble cast, getting […]