Comments on: Lingering Excuses: Films That Have Changed My Life

By: FrankenPC

FrankenPC — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 02:25:37 +0000

@Steve2 Fight Club had the same effect on me. Also, The Matrix, The Silence of The Lambs, Alien, Seven. They all warped my brain. I might as well have taken LSD.

By: Steve2

Steve2 — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:38:03 +0000

Well, as much as I like you guys stating a case for 4, the truth is, just from a tone-wise perspective, 3 and 4 are really the odd ones out. 5, for all it’s flaws IS more in tune with the rest of the franchise.

But that doesn’t mean I now prefer to watch my fan edit of Rocky 5: the 80′s edition instead, hehe. Look it up on fanedit.org

By: E. Lee Zimmerman

E. Lee Zimmerman — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 19:13:09 +0000

@Rob & @Steve2: oh, yeah, Rocky V is just BAD bad. I’d agree that Rocky IV is a near-perfect popcorn flick. Personally, I love III and IV (I and II were a little too squeaky clean dramas for my tastes) as well as Rocky Balboa … but Rocky V? Yeah. That was just embarrassing.

@Steve2: I’m one of those rare folks who just didn’t see all that much special about Fight Club, mostly ’cause it just didn’t do anything for me. I have mucho respect for it; just didn’t do much for me personally.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 17:25:10 +0000

@Steve2
Great list but I have one minor gripe; Rocky 4 is not the weakest entry into the franchise, Rocky 5 takes that title, it’s awful. Sure it recycles the formula of Rocky 3 almost exactly but Rocky 4 is the perfect cheesy 80′s sports movie.

By: Steve2

Steve2 — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 16:33:12 +0000

Fight Club. After that movie, I finally began seeing the world for what it really was. It was definitely the stepping stone of the loss of innocence (and naive-ness) for me. And the best part? I’m not even talking about the fighting itself. I feel sorry for anyone who dismisses this film simply because the title makes them automatically assume that’s it’s just Brad Pitt and Ed Norton fighting people for 2 hours, because they’ll truly miss out on a film that really does come only once in a generation.

Taxi Driver. Similar theme, but this time it’s more geared towards personal commentary rather than social. Now, I have no plans on trying to kill any politicians or even taking my date to a porno theater (do they even exist anymore? lol), but I did resonate with the isolation and loneliness that Travis Bickle feels, and the need for life to have a sense of direction. At the time I really didn’t know my place in all facets of my life. Family, friends, school, work, etc… It was a dark time for me to say the least (same time as Fight Club affecting me as well, btw). There’s really nothing much else that can be said about TD that hasn’t been said already, but I will say this. It’s one of the few (if not the only) movies I can watch Deniro in and actually see him as the character. Anything else I watch him in (for the most part), I just see Deniro being Deniro. I think this is because he lost so much weight (as well as being a lot younger) that he doesn’t really “look” like Robert Deniro, if that makes any sense.

Rocky 4. Favorite movie ever. Yes, typical summer popcorn movie fluff, and definitely the weakest in the franchise, I know. However, this movie is what cemented my love for all things health and fitness related. No matter how much exercise I do, it’s never enough. The gym is my playground, and I get goosebumps sometimes when I just think of the workout I’m gonna do later that day. Stallone may not have invented the training montage, but with Rocky 4 he perfected it. Look at some of the commercials on tv to this day, 27 years after it came out. You STILL see parodies of the training montage.

Put it this way: How many people do you know who, at the young age of 7 or 8 would actually wake up early at 6-7am and go running on the beach every morning? This guy.