Rocky Balboa - The Early Years: Part V

I wanted to hate this movie, I remember it being awful, but honestly it’s not that bad. It’s got some good themes in it, it’s just that some of them are executed poorly. The story continues in the dressing room after Rocky has beaten Ivan Drago. He’s not doing well and after returning to America and being challenged to a fight with Union Cane by his Don King-alike promoter George Washington Duke, Rocky is told he has brain damage and can’t fight anymore.

As usual though, he wants to and when it turns out his accountant has lost his millions he moves back into his old neighbourhood and is depressed. Then Tommy ‘Machine’ Gunn (not sure the ‘Machine’ is necessary) turns up looking for Rocky to train him and, to cut the film down to a sentence, he does but then he defects to George Washington Duke, wins the heavyweight title, turns up at a bar to taunt Rocky and they end up having a street brawl, the end.

It’s actually an okay film, there are some good themes in there - the fact that Rocky neglects his own son and tries to live his life through Tommy, that Adrian and his son (bizarrely about eight years older than the previously film and named after a seasoning) are struggling to cope with their new lives, and that Tommy is seduced by the uncaring glitz of George Washington Duke. It’s just the ending really that annoys me. Not just the fight which is a major misjudgement, but Tommy’s sudden change in character from a likeable guy to a Rocky-hating spoilt brat is not believable, and the stuff with Sage at school doesn’t interest me. I’d like to have seen more of Adrian really and the scene where they’re going through their old stuff - the hat and the glasses - is a highlight.

So, not as bad as I thought and at least the one-armed push-ups make a (brief) comeback.

Now it’s time to see the sixth film which opens on Friday in the UK.

Song of the Day - Long Day by Matchbox Twenty

Morning all, just looking out the window today at this “amazing” weather, feeling like the day isn’t really moving as fast as I would like, so this song seemed appropriate. Enjoy.

The Venice Project now called Joost

The excellent streaming TV Internet service, The Venice Project has been officially launched under the name Joost.

The BBC reports:

It is designed to enable broadcasters to get their programmes in front of a global internet audience. It will allow viewers to access all kinds of television over the internet.

The chief executive, Frederik de Wahl, showing off the service in Joost’s London offices, claimed that it provided a different experience from other internet television ventures.

“We are trying to replicate the complete television experience,” he explained as he flicked through channels using the Joost interface on a widescreen television.

“It’s full-screen, broadcast quality, you’ve got instant channel flipping, and interactivity - a viewer can come to us and get all their TV needs.”

The service is still undergoing trials, but thousands of people have taken up an invitation to download the software and try it out.

Win an invitation to test Joost/Venice Project from Life Goggles!

Rocky Balboa - The Early Years: Part IV

After half an hour of Rocky IV, I thought I was watching Rocky III again. Well instead of Rocky losing the fight, it’s Apollo, and instead of Micky dying, it’s errr Apollo again. Basically there’s a big new Russian on the block - Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) and he’s huge and strong (with a very short robe too). He kills Apollo in the ring and Rocky feels guilty as he didn’t throw the towel in because he promised he wouldn’t. So off he goes to Russia for the rematch.

There’s a formula here that’s being followed, the makers love a montage and we get a treat earlier on with clips from the earlier films to the sound of Robert Tepper’s No Easy Way Out. The music is great throughout and gets you going. The whole idea is brilliant as released in 1985 at the height of the Cold War we see a brave American tackle the emotionless and technological advanced Russians. Except it actually doesn’t say that. By the end I ended up feeling for Drago as he’s a victim of the system and isn’t as unfeeling as we thought.

There are a lot of good points - Adrian gets more to do, the settings are great and the overall story is a lot of fun. However you need to switch your brain off really, compared to the first film Rocky hardly says anything and if I hadn’t seen the earlier ones I wouldn’t care about the character at all. As for the robot, don’t get me started.

Right, time to buy the soundtrack and go onto the fifth film. I’ve noticed these reviews getting shorter, I’ve got a feeling the next review won’t be an epic…

Who cares about the DVD format war?

Not me! When people (by people I mean the media) aren’t talking about the iPhone, they’re talking about the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD. Never heard of either of them? Then you’re not alone, recent surveys have shown that most people have never heard of either of them.

They’re the next DVD format that will deliver high definition (HD) movies to you new HD TV. However they will involve you buying a new DVD player, either a Blu-Ray one (currently very expensive) or a HD-DVD one (cheaper), or one that plays both (unreleased and unpriced). Manufactuers and film studios are battling out to see who will become the dominant force, as in the old VHS and Betamax battle.

However am I the only one who knows about it all, but doesn’t care? I won’t be buying either format, and instead will just continue with DVDs for a few years and download films on demand. Many legal download services are available, and whilst the bugs and kinks are sorted out I’ll just rent or buy them. Here at Life Goggles, we’re beta users of The Venice Project (win an invite here), a legal piece of software that allows you to watch TV shows on different “channels” streamed (not downloaded) over the internet. From what we can tell so far, it’s going to be great, especially as it has The World’s Strongest Man on there.

DVD format war? I couldn’t care less, could you?

Update: It might be over already - warning, it’s for, er, “adult” reasons….

New Words for a New Year

The Washington Posts “Style Invitational” asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, and alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. These are this year’s winners:

1. Bozone (n.) The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

2. Cashtration (n.) The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

3. Giraffiti (n) Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

4. Sarchasm (n) The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it.

5. Inoculatte (v) To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

6. Hipatitis (n) Terminal coolness.

7. Osteopornosis (n) A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

8. Karmageddon (n) It’s like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it’s like, a serious bummer.

9. Decafalon (n.) The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

10. Glibido (v) All talk and no action.

11. Dopeler effect (n) The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

12. Arachnoleptic fit (n.) The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.

13. Beelzebug (n.) Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

14. Caterpallor (n.) The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you’re eating.

Originally found via email ThatFridayThing.

Rocky Balboa - The Early Years: Part III

Ahh, Clubber Lang. Now there’s a name that inspires boxing excellence. Rocky III unsurpisingly follows on from where Rocky II left off (you can read my review of that here and the original here) and in a brief montage covers the next three years. I was immediately worried as Stallone looks a lot different even though it was released just three years later (1982) and Rocky does adverts and public appearances which he couldn’t do in the second film.

However it’s not that bad, Stallone still knows his character and Rocky is a more mature family man, but still stupid in his own way. About to retire, taking part in exhibition shows against wrestlers (Hulk Hogan on good form as Thunderlips) and raising a family, up and coming boxer Clubber Lang (Mr T) challenges him to a final fight which he can’t resist. This is when the problems start for Rocky and for the film. Rocky loses the fight, Mickey dies and he feels a waste. What follows in surprisingly short time is his rematch and the predictable conclusion.

I liked some bits, such as the fact Rocky trains in a flash gym and Lang in a basic gym - a reversal from when Rocky fought Apollo. The introduction of Apollo as a friend rather than foe is interesting and fun, it’s just I prefered Rocky when he was broke and struggling to cope. Now he’s in a suit and a little bit smug. And Stallone has pumped himself up from filming Rambo and looks too perfect. Even Paulie cleans himself up. There’s too much boxing and too little character development. I enjoyed the match with Hulk Hogan more than the boxing proper, it’s even more realistic.

It’s a decent film and the introduction of the Eye of the Tiger gets you going, but it’s not a patch of the previous outings.

Now for the Cold War of Rocky IV…

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