Film & 40s: Film & 40s: Rocky IV

@drewbert @danryckert

Do more of these. Forget worrying about dead air or lulls or whatever, that was great. Never seen a Rocky movie. Loved it

enjoyed this a lot, bring in Jeff!

Now i need to watch Raging Bull as a palette cleanser.

Well, guess I'm watching Rocky 4 this weekend.

In all seriousness. Lets talk Cobra.

@danryckert Is it wrong that I root for Drago in Rocky Iv? He seems liek a decent guy and Apollo was being a total dick towards him, Rocky could've saved him by throwing in the towel and Drago was a slave to the Soviet Union which he was born into and didn't have the choices in life that Rocky did so Rocky going overseas to humiliate him was kinda dickish on his part. IDK I like Drago and thought he got a bad wrap.

Now we play the waiting game until the Substitute track is here.

Up next - Sphere rewatch commentary!

Anyone else feel like this site is pulled more in more of the "Wacky Dan" direction? Not complaining at all, it seems to be great for the site. But insightful and interesting looks at games and gaming seems to be pushed way to the wayside for cheesy movie quotes and drinking stories. When I first subscribed it seemed to me that it was the thinking-man gamer's site while still being fun. Or has it always been so "slapstick", for lack of a better word? Genuine questions, thanks for any responses.

well, I will have to go to the corner store for a 40oz. (I think I will get an Olde English.) And in 24 hours or so Rocky IV will come on one of my movie channels, and I will record it, and then I will be ready to go. Rocky IV is my favorite Rocky movie

This was my first Rocky movie and now after seeing it I now understand why people love this movie!

Feedback on the premium podcast:

• Watched the movie via streaming
• Had no syncing issues at all
• I am very interested in more of this content
• Dan and Drew are 10/10 together

Thank you for the amazing content GB!

I just found out that Adrian is Jason Schwartzman's mom, I've known her from Rocky and The Godfather and have seems many JS movies and loved "Bored to Death" but I never knew.

This is what I really want from my #Danime

Dan, how could anyone ever doubt your endless contributions to this amazing site. I can't wait to pop in my Blu-Ray of Rocky IV and watch it again with your help :D

This is exactly how Dan should watch Pootie Tang for the first time.

What if I told you a Rochefort 10 is no more than two euros over here, to be found in any supermarket alongside many, many other Trappist beers?

Rocky IV is garbage. It's, like, 20 minutes of original footage and the rest is all clips from previous films. Not to mention that Rocky is directly responsible for Creed's death because his one fucking job is to throw in the towel and make the right decision for Creed and he doesn't do it. Don't even get me started on how idiotic the ending of this shit show is where they all stand up and clap for Rocky.

Awesome, guess I'm watching Rocky IV today

Hm, I'm curious how this will sync up to 24FPS/1080p (blu-ray/true HD stream) and PAL 50Hz versions of the film... I guess there's only one way to find out!

@danryckert@awkwardloser For those who think Drago deserves another chance, I'd like to point everyone in the direction of this fantastic Ivan Drago/Rocky IV fan game, from way back in 2006. Featuring dozens of references to the original movies, raptors, surprisingly-decent pixel art (for a fan game), Rocket Chair Balboa, and miscellaneous retro touches, it's a lovingly-crafted little homage. Sure, the gameplay's a little dated and simple, but it's pretty fantastic for what it is. Ding ding!

This is... not that great listening to as a pod-cast. :/ I probably shouldn't have tried to do that.

I love that you guys are finally doing these.

There's so much potential for stuff to talk over.

@danfess: The site's always been super goofy, but yeah it tended to be a different kind - the comedy on the site used to be really improv-heavy, and I think seeing guys like Vinny and Dave be so quick with that stuff made it way easier to appreciate how smart they are. Now it's way more movie quotes and other references, which at least for me gets old a lot faster.

The combination of Dan and Drew being responsible for so much of the content and no more Patrick or Bombin' has made the site feel a little weird to me lately, though, not gonna lie. All the work they've been putting in is awesome to see, but I hear what you're saying about the tone of the site feeling a little off lately.

Vinny and Alex have done a fantastic job keeping the old style going, though. Some of their quick looks have felt like they were filmed during the Sausalito/Whiskey Media days.

Having only ever seen Rocky I and V I've been working my way through these movies. I just watched IV last week, out of all of them I enjoyed it the least so far but I gotta to watch it again now with this!

Shouldn't it be "Films & 40s"? Sounds a bit better.

Mr. Balboa, tear down that wall!

This was actually great. Please do more.

I think Dan would like the Korean film "Crying Fist" a lot. Different tone but still totally the Rocky story with two great lead performances.

Probably the best movie ever?

I watch Rocky IV 3-4 times a year. It'll be fun to listen to it with this accompanying it.

worked pretty well, hope they do more. of this kind of stuff

@danfess: I've been away from the site and gaming in general for the last few months now but when I do poke my head in, it feels very much like a Dan and Drew run site for a majority of the content. I can't help but feel the site has lost a lot of balance. I love the content they make such as Metal Gear Scanlon & Demo Derby but it just feels like they're making the bulk of the content on this site at the moment with Jeff and Brad on the side lines, Jason and Rorie in the background and Vinny and Alex MIA. In a lot of ways, this is going from the reverse of Patrick in 2013/2014 who was doing a lot of insightful work for the site with in-depth write ups, a morning show and looking at a broad spectrum of games where now we find ourselves in the pit of Dan where wrestling and movie-quotes rule the day. Maybe I just miss Vinny.

If Jeff is not involved in that, then I don't want to hear it.

I love how drunk Drew kinda turns into Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when talking about muscles, it was quite funny

I feel like Dan missed the point re: Apollo; he's not fighting for America, but for for his own ego, in a futile attempt to recapture his lost glory. His vanity drives him abandon all reason, and he dies as a result. I see it as a cautionary tale.

This website....just priceless

With the exception of Clubber Lang, I really like that all of the "villains" in the Rocky series are fairly sympathetic (which, not for nothing, is a big reason why I think Rocky III is the worst in the series). That said, I do agree that Apollo is a real asshole in this movie. But in his defense, although Rocky IV doesn't dig too deep into Apollo's character, if you've seen the entire series you know that a lot of that is just an act.

In Rocky II, it's clear Apollo doesn't have any ill will towards Rocky whatsoever, but he says a ton of awful demeaning stuff about him in the press because he knows that making himself out to be the bad guy will draw more attention to their rematch. He's shown as a guy who is very shrewd about using the media to his advantage, and in this movie it's all about deliberately stoking American patriotism at a time when the Cold War is still going on. It's what makes his "Living in America" entrance so amazing and hilarious, he's perfectly happy to play the ugly American for the sake of hyping up the match, even if that's not who he is in real life.

It's not surprising that he's Dan's favorite character because he has a sort of wrestler's mentality, he's more than willing to create a persona for himself that will add drama to his next bout. I mean, one of his nicknames is "The Count of Monte-Fisto" for Christ's sake. Of course Dan loves him, and so do I.

worst RiffTrax ever. lol

Well this is a new thing that I am interested in.

Rocky IV is actually the only one I own, this is great.

@drewbert@danryckert I just got to the point where Drew was saying he wanted to meet the guy who designed the robot for this movie. I have to point out the fact that it wasn't designed for the movie at all -- it was a real retail product that rich people could purchase in the 80s. That was an actual robot that Sylvester Stallone actually owned.

You can see one in the background in Wall Street too, so apparently Gordon Gecko owned the same model. Although his didn't retrieve beers or speak in a sexy voice.

EDIT: Also, Dolph Lundgren was married to Grace Jones, not Grace Slick. Kind of a big difference there.

(I'm just going to play the part of podcast ombudsman apparently, because I know a whole lot about the Rocky movies and I won't be able to help myself. I'm sure I'll be editing this post at least three more times before I'm done listening.)

this is rad, thanks guys!

It's time for Rifftrax~

Magruber any good?

@danfess: I don't think Giant Bomb has ever been the "thinking man's" anything. Since its inception, this site has been pretty consistently devoted to dumb shit (which, incidentally, is how I like it). Dan's certainly changed a lot of the content that they put out these days, but I don't think he's changed the overall tone much, unless you came mainly to the site for Patrick's stuff.

oh man, giantbomb rifftrax? Jeff needs to get in on this, and Rorie. Vinny and Alex! This is fantastic guys, thanks.

Imo you should use movies that are available on Netflix/HBOGO (enough to choose from), as a lot more people will have access to those movies than own whatever movie you're watching without having to do additional purchasing (or pirating :-/). Not to mention convenience of both the track and the movie being accessible from the same device.

Also might be cool to also do some movies you both haven't seen, as hearing raw reactions to what happens from both of you could be good.

I'm fairly positive Rorie and Alex did a community movie night and watched Cobra, didn't they? I'm almost certain I watched them do that.

Fuck all y'all talkin about Cobra, they need to do THE SUBSTITUTE. GET THAT SHIT DONE WITH.

(but yes, do Cobra too)

We call those "tallboys" here.

@compulsiveliar: I really can't get behind Rocky IV either. It's a ridiculous departure from the earlier movies in tone and character, and killing off Creed was the worst decision the series ever made. Creed and Rocky's chemistry was one of the best parts of the series, and to throw it away was a disastrous decision that the movie never recovers from. Then again, I'm one of those crazy people that actually likes Rocky V, so people tend to ignore my opinions of this franchise. (For the record, it's Rocky>Balboa>Rocky II>Rocky V>>>>Rocky III>>>>>>>>>>>>Rocky IV.)