Review: Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Reviews

Rocky Balboa

Solid for 15 rounds

By TOM MEEK | December 19, 2006

2.5 Stars

DEAD HORSE?: We're talking about boxing, here.

It’s been 16 years since the last Rocky, and even then, most thought of star/creator Sylvester Stallone as a has-been kicking a dead horse. But we’re talking boxing, a sport propelled by kitsch and lore. So into the ring the 60-year-old actor goes again, outdoing George Foreman’s return by nearly a decade and a half, but before the big brawl against the undefeated champion (generic, real-life boxer Antonio Tarver) there’s the Rock update: Adrian has passed (perhaps Talia Shire got tired of being a shrew in the later Rockys), and as we learned in Rocky V, the aging pugilist is of humble means and estranged from his son. Stallone, who also writes and directs, is still able to conjure the rough and earnest underdog with infectious results. And the film is surprisingly wry, especially when Burt Young as Rock’s morose brother-in-law, Paulie, is on screen. It’s no knockout, but it does go a solid, nostalgic 15 rounds.

Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movie Stars, More

| More

view all

[ 02/17 ] Bob Marley @ Landing At Pine Point

[ 02/17 ] Brzowski + Lady Essence + Icebox @ 131 Washington

[ 02/17 ] Farren-Butcher, Inc. + Jonny Lang @ State Theatre

More Information

061222_balboa_side

Watch the trailer for Rocky Balboa (QuickTime)

The final chapter: Sylvester Stallone discusses Rocky Balboa. By Tom Meek

ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK

REVIEW: UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING | January 24, 2012
The Underworld series got long in the tooth early, but here, in the fourth installment (directed by Swede Måns Mårlind), it grows new fangs.

REVIEW: JOYFUL NOISE | January 10, 2012
There's not much joy but there's plenty of noise of the rafter-rocking gospel singing variety in Tony Graff's musical dramedy.

REVIEW: IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY | January 05, 2012
Jolie has loosely reworked the story of Romeo and Juliet in an infamous setting familiar from CNN but here seen from the inside.

REVIEW: ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED | December 13, 2011
For 50 years, Alvin and the Chipmunks have been driving parents nuts with their helium-infused banter and shrill bastardizations of pop music.

REVIEW: TRESPASS | October 13, 2011
If Rod Lurie's errant remake of Straw Dogs didn't tickle your morbid fear of home invasion, then perhaps the latest from Joel Schumacher ( Falling Down ) might do the job.