Rocky / Creed Franchises (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler/Caple Jr./Jordan, 1976-2023)

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flyonthewall2983
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Re: The Rocky/Creed Franchise (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler, 19

#26 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Mar 20, 2017 7:57 pm

The episode of The Director's Chair on El Rey Network with Stallone is worth checking out, for the stories he tells doing the sequels. Particularly the story of how the two montages in II, and how he put all that together.

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler, 1976-?

#27 Post by Ribs » Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:55 pm

Image

(It's not fanart - presumably the studio wanted to cash in on Black Panther hype and just rushed out this art even though I don't think they've even started filming yet)

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler, 1976-?

#28 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:59 pm

I guess it could work, though in my mind I always imagined that the character would have been eventually killed in combat with Afghanistan

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler, 1976-?

#29 Post by Ribs » Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:01 pm

...by Rambo?

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler, 1976-?

#30 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:04 pm

Don't suppose they'll bring back Brigitte Nielsen. Perhaps they'll do what Oliver Stone did in the Wall Street sequel about Gecko's wife, and write her off as having gone crazy.


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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (1976-?)

#32 Post by Orlac » Tue Dec 18, 2018 8:44 pm

Creed II comes highly reccomended.

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (1976-?)

#33 Post by mfunk9786 » Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:00 pm

Been a lousy trend here recently of people just saying a movie is good or bad and leaving it there - do you mind expanding on why you feel that way?

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (1976-?)

#34 Post by Orlac » Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:07 am

I have a crush on Dolph Lundgren - satisfied? ;)

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (1976-?)

#35 Post by Brian C » Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:28 am

For my part, I thought it was surprisingly well-crafted, not really hitting any unexpected beats but really doing a good job of straddling the line between outright fan-service for Rocky fans while still having a story to tell to people who maybe are too young to know the Rocky films. True, that story is basically the exact same story of Rocky IV told all over again, but I found that actually added to the charm. It's strange to say this of Rocky, but he's become a true folk hero, with the legends being passed down and repurposed and retold from generation to generation.

But even in narrower terms, I like what Stallone's done with the Rocky character. He's allowed to be shown as old and lonely and physically worn down, and while his past glories of course echo throughout his training of Creed, there's more than a tinge of sadness to them, with the memories of the prices he paid to get them and what he's lost along the way. And it gives a very meaningful and moving subtext to Creed's triumphs, because the reminder of faded glory is ever-present in both his professional and personal life.

They can keep churning these out as long as Stallone's alive for all I'm concerned.

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (1976-?)

#36 Post by Orlac » Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:35 am

Rocky IV is a great piece of entertainment, but its ego is such never for one minute does it suggest that Drago is a match for Rocky - Rocky gets hit a couple of time, wacks Drago, then the rest of the match is Drago strangely getting pummelled by a shorter, older man with far less reach. Who then gives a 5min speech.

I do feel the father/son relationships in Creed II are very moving, especially since one sees echoes of Stallone and Lundgren's real lifes in them - were Sly and Sage estranged prior to the latter's death?

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler, 1976-?

#37 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:49 am

flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:04 pm
Don't suppose they'll bring back Brigitte Nielsen. Perhaps they'll do what Oliver Stone did in the Wall Street sequel about Gecko's wife, and write her off as having gone crazy.
SpoilerShow
From what I understand not only did she return, she filmed while pregnant :shock:

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Re: Rocky/Creed Franchise (1976-?)

#38 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:48 am

Brian C wrote:
Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:28 am
But even in narrower terms, I like what Stallone's done with the Rocky character. He's allowed to be shown as old and lonely and physically worn down, and while his past glories of course echo throughout his training of Creed, there's more than a tinge of sadness to them, with the memories of the prices he paid to get them and what he's lost along the way. And it gives a very meaningful and moving subtext to Creed's triumphs, because the reminder of faded glory is ever-present in both his professional and personal life.

They can keep churning these out as long as Stallone's alive for all I'm concerned.
He said after it's release that this is probably it for the character. And just as well, I think the way it ends is a perfect enough way to wrap up Rocky and Creed's stories.

II has it's problems, but I found it overwhelmingly emotional to watch in spots. I think it could have benefited from having more stuff with the Dragos, but what is there is certainly enough and Lundgren is as memorable as he was in Rocky IV but for entirely different reasons.


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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (1976-?)

#40 Post by jazzo » Mon Aug 31, 2020 12:08 pm

"For the 35th anniversary, Rocky 4 Is getting a new director's cut by me. So far it looks great. Soulful. Thank you MGM For this opportunity to entertain," the actor said along with an impressive drawing of the film. He also noted that Paulie’s robot, a very bizarre '80s gimmick, will be cut from the movie entirely. "The robot is going to the junkyard forever, no more robot," Stallone replied to one commenter.

Fucking bullshit.

No sexy "Happy birthday, Paulie" robot dance, no Rocky IV for me. Unless there's more jogging through snow-capped glaciers/mountains in denim. Then, maybe...

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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (1976-?)

#41 Post by Big Ben » Mon Aug 31, 2020 12:30 pm

Everyone knows that Paulie and the robot were fucking Stallone just admit it.


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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (1976-?)

#43 Post by beamish14 » Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:49 pm

I'd be way more excited if they finally cleaned up and commercially released John G. Avildsen's original cut of Rocky V, which is still on YouTube AFAIK.

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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (1976-?)

#44 Post by movielocke » Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:08 pm

beamish14 wrote:
Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:49 pm
I'd be way more excited if they finally cleaned up and commercially released John G. Avildsen's original cut of Rocky V, which is still on YouTube AFAIK.
never heard of this, what's the difference?

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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (1976-?)

#45 Post by beamish14 » Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:17 pm

movielocke wrote:
Mon Aug 31, 2020 2:08 pm
beamish14 wrote:
Mon Aug 31, 2020 1:49 pm
I'd be way more excited if they finally cleaned up and commercially released John G. Avildsen's original cut of Rocky V, which is still on YouTube AFAIK.
never heard of this, what's the difference?
Some more character development and more Bill Conti score instead of the needle drops they used. It's still very flawed, but it's more
satisfying than what ended up getting released.

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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (1976-?)

#46 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Aug 31, 2020 4:51 pm

I wonder if the score in IV is being replaced too. The only place John DiCola's keyboard rockafire stuff works is the training montage.

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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (1976-?)

#47 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Nov 30, 2022 1:18 am

Stallone isn’t in the next Creed movie, and while it makes dramatic sense it seems to be more embroiled in the rights to the Rocky character if Sly’s recent comments about producer Irwin Winkler are any indication.

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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler/Caple Jr./Jordan, 1976-2023)

#48 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed Apr 26, 2023 6:37 pm

For the first half or so of Creed III, I was pretty sure it was going to be the best film in either strand of this franchise — between Michael B. Jordan's more than competent handling of the dramatic and visual elements in his directorial debut and Jonathan Majors' extremely magnetic performance, this was looking like one of the more assured and involving mainstream dramas in a while. Unfortunately, the script and/or editing falter and hold the film back from sticking the landing; I suspect some significant scenes/information in the latter half of the film were cut for time or budget, as the rush into the final stretch leaves the emotional payoffs and final fight sequence less satisfying than they might have been.

Jordan opens the film with an extended vignette in the early 2000s world of amateur boxing, where a teenage Adonis Creed supports an older friend, Damian, who seems bound for bigger things, until a run-in with LAPD changes their trajectories. When that friend reappears two decades later in the form of a hulking Jonathan Majors, Creed's guilt leads him to give him a chance in the world of professional boxing, despite warning signs about Damian's intentions and willingness to do anything to reach the life he was denied.

These early scenes between Jordan and Majors are the highlight of the film, as Creed's turbulent emotional response to this living reminder of a past he's tried to fully escape grinds against Damian's simmering menace and barely restrained bitterness. Once they come into more open conflict, the film drifts away from Majors and can't seem to satisfyingly resolve their relationship; similarly, the heavy stylization of the final fight (my understanding is Jordan was heavily influenced by anime, but my rank ignorance of the genre leaves unable to confirm or deny that) feels out of step enough with the more grounded tone Coogler established in the first entry as to be distracting rather than exhilarating.

Still, like the rest of these movies, even accounting for its flaws, this third film remains an engaging sports drama, a generally promising jump into directing from a good actor, and yet another deflating indication of the huge talent Majors may well have squandered.

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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler/Caple Jr./Jordan, 1976-2023)

#49 Post by Finch » Wed Apr 26, 2023 8:28 pm

I only ever saw bits of the first Rocky and one of the gloriously cheesy montages of IV. I'm curious to see the first Creed though. That seems to be the best liked after the 1976 film.

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Re: Rocky / Creed Franchises (Avildsen/Stallone/Coogler/Caple Jr./Jordan, 1976-2023)

#50 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed Apr 26, 2023 8:37 pm

Yeah, I think that’s right, though I personally prefer Creed to Rocky; I’m also a bit of a softy when it comes to Philly-based movies, and the first Creed hits all the right buttons in that regard.

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