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 […]
Rundown Dwayne Johnson thankfully has long since gotten out from under the thumb of one Vince McMahon, but back when McMahon and his wrestling empire were trying to launch his movie career for the profit and benefit of his own WWE Films, ol Vince proved that just like with his wrestling product, he sure has […]
Running Man Movies set in the future, particularly a dystopian one, always tend to run a few risks, particularly if that depiction of the future is intended as a “warning” to us in the present day which then opens the floodgates for many rounds of political moralizing throughout the story in terms of its dialogue. […]
Rush Hour 3 The third entry in this buddy-cop action franchise makes it clear that series director Brett Ratner has little intention of straying from the familiar formula, and in the context of these films, that seems perfectly alright. Chan and Tucker continue to make an enjoyable team, and the stuntwork plus sharp comic writing […]