Gah, it’s worse now. Can someone fix it? Minor video I know, but I kinda want to complete James’ Rocky review series… :/

Still freezing :/

I think this movie is wonderful but it only really functions if you’re familiar with the previous Rocky movies, especially the first one. I banked a little too much on nostalgia. But if you’re familiar with the previous five (or four) movies then it really works.

It has a lot of really funny moments (Paulie picked Frank Sinatra as the song to play as Rocky walked into the arena and Rocky wasn’t told before. That face: priceless) and it made me realize why I like Rocky’s character so much:
He’s just who he is. There’s nothing fake about him, he says what he means and means what he says. He’s the last guy that would try to trick or lie to you pretending to be someone else. He does spout a lot of sage wisdom but he’s being completely honest about it. He’s simple but also very relatable.

And those scenes where he remembers when he met Adrian… it was hard not to get a little teary eyed.

Well it doesn’t totally ignore the last one. He and his son in part five had a catchphrase for their relationship, “Home Team”, that’s used once in this one. That is really the only connection I noticed, but it’s a nice one.