This just might work...

Hello people,

I am getting back on the horse as far as the blog is concerned. You'll see a lot more of me. I'd like to welcome the many new readers we have thanks to a mass e-mail from my sister. Apparently she loved the previous post so much that she wanted "like EVERYONE to see it!"

I just got done watching a trailer for "Rocky Balboa." This is the sixth film in the series and the first in 16 years. Now thanks to "Superman Returns" I am trying not to get overly anxious about a movie because of what you see in a trailer. That is what they are supposed to do; show you exciting clips from a film in order to have the viewer store those images in the back of their head and build up anticipation based on what was shown. The process is repeated again and again, and more frequently as the release date approaches. The problem I had with "Superman Returns" (in a trailer sense) was that it got me anxious the see one kind of story when it turns out that the movie was telling another.

However, after reading the few pages of the "Rocky Balboa" script that Stallone made available and then finally to see this trailer and see how they are visualizing that story...I'm thinking this film just might work.

The question going through your mind is, "yeah, but isn't Sly like 60 years old?"



Well, actually yes...he is. He just turned 60 last Thursday. Do you think he looks it?

I am taking tons of heat in my circle of friends down here for even suggesting that this film might be good. They may turn out to be right, but I am NOT going to pass judgment now on something that I will not see until December. This character is one of my heroes. A perfect movie persona created by the only man who could play him on the big screen. I feel like I owe both the character and the actor, at the very least, an open mind going into the theater. I also appreciate Stallone's loyalty to the actors who have been a part of the series since the beginning... they are all back, with one tremendous omission which the story explains beautifully. He's even got Tony Burton back as Duke. Here was a guy that was Apollo's trainer for the first two films, then brought in by Apollo to help train Rocko in "III" and then Rocky's trainer in "IV" (in which he had the most underrated scene in the whole film). Burton was professional enough to have a short five or six lines at the beginning of "V" and that's it. Sure he's old, everyone you are rooting for in this film is, but so what? This story, at least what I have read and seen, makes fine use of this real life fact. One last note on casting, apparently Stallone even brought back the girl from the original "Rocky" whom Rocky took away from the corner store. Not just the character, the actor as well.

Classy guy, but alas, one who knows where to make necessary changes.

Two actors from "Rocky V" are, thankfully, missing this time around: Tommy Morrison, who just flat out sucked and Sage Stallone, who was worse than Morrison.

Finally, back to the trailer. Antonio Tarver plays the current champ Mason Dixon. Tarver, is the former Light Heavywight champ and still one of the top rated fighters in the world. If what we see in the trailer is any indication then Rocky is going to be taking a serious beating. Now I know what you are saying...

"How is that different from any other "Rocky" movie?"

Point taken, but I don't know. Just something about the way the story works out coupled with the extremely violent final shot of the trailer just makes me think that maybe, juuuust maybe, Rocky is going to go the way of the Apollo at the end of this one. Personally I think that would be devastating to my demographic, but in the context of the story it's a logical and ultimately acceptable fate.

Take a look at what I am talking about. Copy and paste the following link:

http://playlist.yahoo.com/makeplaylist.dll?id=1445131&sdm=web&qtw=640&qth=400