The Resident Bitch's Movie Log

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I didn't like anybody in this movie. My initial impression of Rocky himself was of a dim-witted brute (who surrounds himself with people who are even more brutish than himself) and my impression of his lady love Adrian was of a weak-willed and submissive woman who was equally dim-witted (bitch, grow a spine!).
That sounds like something I would write.

I've never seen Rocky, can you say more on this?
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That sounds like something I would write.

I've never seen Rocky, can you say more on this?
WARNING: "Rocky Spoilers" spoilers below
Rocky is an amateur boxer who makes ends meet by working as a strong arm for a loan shark. He's uneducated and chauvinistic. Also a sh!tty pet owner, but that's neither here nor there.

Adrian is a nearly 30 year old woman who works at a pet store. She initially shows no interest in Rocky despite him stopping by the store every day to talk to her and clumsily attempt to flirt. She's too meek to tell him off and he won't get a clue.

Adrian lives with her extremely chauvinistic a-hole brother (who is Rocky's friend) who, without her knowledge or permission, sets her up with a date with Rocky on Thanksgiving night. When she argues with her brother about it and says she doesn't want to go, her brother screams at her for awhile, then takes the turkey out of the oven and throws it into the alleyway, at which point she gives in and goes out with Rocky.

She seems to have an okay time with Rocky and they end up at his apartment, where she expresses discomfort at being alone in the apartment of a man she barely knows. When she tries to leave, Rocky pushes the door shut and traps her in a corner - with one hand on the door and the other against the wall blocking her from moving in either direction. He then pulls off her hat and glasses and then murmurs about how pretty he thinks she is before leaning in to kiss her. And, of course, being a chauvinist's dream woman, she gives in and kisses him back. Later her brother gets jealous of Rocky's rising fame, calls Adrian a "broken whore" and throws her out of his house, so she moves in with Rocky. Ah, true love.




Meanwhile, your favorite film is about Joaquin Phoenix having sex with a corpse.



Meanwhile, your favorite film is about Joaquin Phoenix having sex with a corpse.
My favorite film is about sex, perversion, censorship, the hypocrisy of religion, and an artist's refusal to be cowed, which happens to include a nightmare about sex with a corpse.



My favorite film is about sex, perversion, censorship, the hypocrisy of religion, and an artist's refusal to be cowed, which happens to include a nightmare about sex with a corpse.
Oooooh. Scandalous! Yet the idea of a woman being submissive to a brutish man bothers you.



Oooooh. Scandalous! Yet the idea of a woman being submissive to a brutish man bothers you.
And?

The women in Quills were not what I would describe as submissive. Madeleine was naive, sure, but not submissive. And I don't personally find anything in Quills to be particularly scandalous. I'm not easily shocked.



Miss Vicky, now that you've viewed Rocky you should watch the sequels because many of your criticisms are addressed - Rocky evolves (as a man, an athlete, a boyfriend, a husband, a father, a mentor and a coach - with each film he learns valuable lessons about life and death), Adrian becomes stronger and breaks from Paulie's shadow. Unfortunately, Paulie himself doesn't grow much - he represents people who don't really change, and that we must accept that some people cannot grow and change. However, Paulie learns to deal better with some of his various inner demons when he experiences the joys of uncle-hood.

The first movie is really about showing us a culture that many of us don't relate to (and wouldn't want to relate to). And that's the theme of the series - how people from a ghetto culture respond when money & fame are thrust upon them via professional boxing and rising celebrity status.

One of my favorites is Rocky III - don't want to give spoilers, but it's got many memorable sequences and I liked it's theme of facing and overcoming fear. It's also the movie that takes the relationship between Rocky and Apollo Creed to a new level.

On a personal level I cut Rocky V out of the canon - I disregard it.
However I did enjoy Rocky Balboa (the 6th in the series). And I have not yet seen Creed.



Not every woman out there needs to be all super tough and strong willed. Sometimes women like that wind up without men and without sex.
At what point did I say she had to be super tough?

I'm not asking that women be ****ing She-ra or something, just that they don't allow themselves to be a doormat.



Not every woman out there needs to be all super tough and strong willed. Sometimes women like that wind up without men and without sex.
Shouldn't everyone be strong-willed?



Miss Vicky, now that you've viewed Rocky you should watch the sequels because many of your criticisms are addressed - Rocky evolves (as a man, an athlete, a boyfriend, a husband, a father, a mentor and a coach - with each film he learns valuable lessons about life and death), Adrian becomes stronger and breaks from Paulie's shadow.
While it's good to know that the characters don't remain this problematic, I'm just going to take your word for it. As a general rule, I don't watch sequels to movies that I don't like.



Shouldn't everyone be strong-willed?
Sure, but all this bitching about Adrian's behavior is silly. The woman found her man, her soulmate. So what if she was pushed into dating him? It's a love story. And I think a lot of women probably liked how Adrian and Rocky got together.



Wait, the characters in Rocky were broken? My whole impression of the film has changed. Here I thought I was watching a story about the cultural ideal. Time to tell the women in my life they can speak up now.
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It's interesting how Adrian, in her own quiet way, goes from her mousy beginnings to being Rocky's equal - his backbone, his strength, his motivation, his adviser, his advocate and the one person who can set him straight with some tough talk as the series progresses.

Another reason I like III - Adrian's speech she gives to Rocky on the beach after he's broken down and admitted he's afraid. Probably the best Adrian moment & performance of all the movies.



She's dead starting in part 6. She gets cancer and she's too weak to tell it to piss off.



She's dead starting in part 6. She gets cancer and she's too weak to tell it to piss off.
Does that need a spoiler alert? Maybe that info will make Miss Vicky want to watch Rocky Balboa?



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Adrian was painfully shy from the way her family treated her growing up. Rocky was the first guy to take an interest in her and treat her like a woman. Everybody may know this but they haven't really mentioned it - not that that would change anybody's mind.
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It's interesting how Adrian, in her own quiet way, goes from her mousy beginnings to being Rocky's equal - his backbone, his strength, his motivation, his adviser, his advocate and the one person who can set him straight with some tough talk as the series progresses.

Another reason I like III - Adrian's speech she gives to Rocky on the beach after he's broken down and admitted he's afraid. Probably the best Adrian moment & performance of all the movies.
I agree but she becomes his motivation and strength in the first one as well. It is almost as if the meek find a way to have their own agency as well.



Does that need a spoiler alert? Maybe that info will make Miss Vicky want to watch Rocky Balboa?
Even I advise Miss Vicky to stay away from Rocky Balboa. Which probably means it would be her favorite Rocky movie.

I like Rocky II more than the first movie, myself.