There isn't much of a story and it's pretty much the tale of a jealous wife and a husband with a lady friend that features an old Serbian curse, but overall is well crafted and very well told, and engages the audience because of its horror side.
Remember when I complained about some of the entries being just sport movies? Well, "Rocky V" is more of a movie about a teenage boy that wants his father to love him and be proud of him so badly, where the boxing's only purpose is to deliver that drama.
There isn't only one kind of love involved. There's love of music, love of country, love of fame, and then the love of someone else. There's a good balance among them, but the turbulent love story between Chico and Rita is definitely the one standing out. It is both outdated and refreshing; it isn't anything new and quite clichéd but it's beautifully told.
And it could have made for a good short film too. Because, if it wasn't for the running time that seems more like it's taking a slow walk and all the useless nonsense going on, the film kind of delivers a message: we simply spend too much time and effort to find (write in this case) the perfect greeting card for a certain occasion, but we actually forget to say how we feel as if a piece of paper was more important. Which is exactly why the main's character marriage failed.
With this film, Denzel Washington explores the issues that affected a lot of African American families in the 50's, especially the frustration resulting from race. I am not going to act like I know what it was like because I didn't grow up in the 50's and I'm not black, but I feel like the film was able to convey all of that. 
Based on Fredrik Backman's novel of the same name, the film features what at first may seem like a very simple story about a grumpy, old-ish man but that eventually grows into something much bigger as the main character's backstory is gradually revealed in an excellent way that will explain the rude behaviour of the character and will probably change your opinion of him.
The story is also quite unoriginal, predictable and clichéd. I wouldn't have had a problem with that if Barry Jenkins was able to say something new or different. It wasn't so. The film deals with so many issues, from being gay to bullying to dysfunctional mother/son relationships, but it just doesn't seem to convey anything. I'm not even sure what the director was trying to say.
At first, I have to say I wasn't very happy with the plot; I was simply worried it was going to be as silly as it usually gets in spy films - and that kind of happened because there's some nonsense about uranium ore in wine bottles I didn't (and still don't) get quite well - but Hitchcock makes the difference. He is able to transform a ridiculous, absurd plot into a plausible one and he does that by delivering some good suspense and thrills. The storytelling is so good, the story moves slow but you won't even notice it.
Anyway, what makes "Rocky IV" worse than his predecessor is that the filmmakers decided to involve politics, probably to attract the audience. Worst decision ever, especially if you are going to do an unoriginal thing such as portraying Russians and Russia as the bad guys. Also, they make Russians look so ridiculous.
Anyway, the most surprising aspect of this film is that while handling very depressing and tough themes such as redemption and guilt, Kenneth Lonergan still manages to deliver some humour. And it isn't at random, it is indeed well balanced with the drama and the director makes use of it just at the right moment.
I wouldn't care for the plot if the film was able to provide a solid character study. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I am not very familiar with Jackie Kennedy but I walked into the movie knowing she was a beautiful, intelligent and rich woman married to the most famous leader of the free world. I walked out knowing something else: she acted as if she was the only woman in the entire world whose husband died and as if she was the only one who has lost a family member. I don't know what the goal of Pablo Larrain was, but I sure didn't feel any compassion for her, if anything I despised her a little.
Loosely based on the true story of an Italian rally racer, it is very likely to guess how the story will progress as soon as one of the main characters is introduced, nevertheless, it still is gripping and that basically because of how the story is structured; not only it is a fast paced racing story, but a family drama as well, and it's all well-tied together.
It isn't just another fictional story like it usually happens. Instead, it is based on the true story of a remarkable man, Desmond Doss, who volunteered during World War II not to kill the enemies but to save lives. In order to do that, he refused to even carry a rifle. So this is not only a story of war, but a story of bravery that shows how much a determined individual can do.
Anyway, the film still addresses the important issue of racism (in college campuses) decently, but most important, it goes deep into its characters and ends up being a movie about finding one's identity and accepting oneself in a world where issues about race, sexual orientation and more still exist. I particularly enjoyed the inner conflict of Sam, the mulatto leading lady who feels the need to prove she's black just because her father is white.
Boxing, boxing, and boxing. That's all this film is about. Although it sees the "development" and growth of the relationship between Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed - the whole idea of Apollo helping Rocky just doesn't seem right to me, though -, the film is pretty shallow.
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