Rocky Balboa opened today and I went to go see it tonight. There has to be a few Rocky fans here, so I thought I'd give some general thoughts in case anyone was wondering about it.
It's far better than Rocky V, which for 16 years stood as a sad ending for a great series of movies. It's better than the far-fetched Rocky IV too, and at least as good as II and III. It's not as good as the original was, but that can't be expected.
This one really returns to all of Rocky's roots in Philadelphia, something that made the earlier ones so good. You see a lot of the little things like outside of Mick's gym, the pet store, the tavern on the corner, and he still has two turtles and eventually gets another pooch too. His world changed as much as it stayed the same - Adrian passed away and now he owns an Italian restaurant named after her. One of the great lines was Paulie asking, "what's so special about Italian food when a bunch of Mexicans are cooking it?" You get a great sense of community within the restaurant too with old Rocky telling stories of the old days to anyone who listens.
It's interesting to see an aged Rocky living life back in Philly so much later in life. The fight at the end with "Mason Dixon" was really secondary to the rest of the movie, which was filled with some great lines from Stallone, especially in the scene with his son after it's announced he's going to fight again. I'd say it's more of a movie about life than boxing.
Definitely recommended.
and some trailers / various clips can be found at ifilm.com ... this specific scene was good, but I won't say what it was unless you go here and see for yourself:
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2806093
