Director Ryan Coogler delivers a knockout with Creed

After falling to Creed in the original 1976 Rocky, Balboa earned enough of the champ’s respect to be granted a rematch.

“What I was interested in with this movie was these two guys in this accelerated father-son relationship”, Coogler said. I couldn’t really find a story of a fictional boxer who was black, even though most American boxers tend to be black or Hispanic. It doesn’t get any more basic than this bloody brawl. Rocky, still played by Stallone, is now the mentor. The hero of the spin-off movies is a driven young kid who had an upper middle-class background but deliberately chooses boxing as a vocation because he wants to be live up to his father’s legacy. It culminates with this street fight between teacher to student … and let’s just say, the teacher didn’t teach his pupil all of his tricks. I never got lost in the shadow, and that’s a good thing considering this film was all about getting out of the shadow of someone else’s name.

In May 1982, Mr. T was a bonafide Hollywood attraction – not to mention, a true American bad ass in every sense of the phrase. If so, it is a fitting tribute to a legend and the man who portrayed him. He’s undefeated and obsessed with boxing, and retreats to a room at night where he watches YouTube videos of his father fighting Rocky, which he projects on a wall.

Jordan was immersed for almost a year in training for a movie that probably has more fight scenes than any of the first six movies.

Written by “Fruitvale Station’s” Ryan Coogler, “Creed” puts an aged Rocky Balboa into the screen, this time as a coach to Adonis Creed – the son of Rocky’s first rival Apollo Creed. Director Ryan Coogler and his co-writer Aaron Covington come up with plot developments that can be seen miles off: the romance between Donnie and a musician neighbor (Dear White People’s Tessa Thompson), the unlikely circumstances that give Donnie a sudden shot at the title, the revelation that Rocky is gravely ill. Sylvester Stallone is fantastic in his most infamous role.

“You’ve got that moment when they both go down”.

Stallone is trying to make a point and he is absolutely killing it as a Rocky Balboa. Who said pro wrestling is fake?

Rocky returns to the ring as a trainer in “Creed”. A rigorous training amid the cold winter snow in Russian Federation led to Rock knocking out Drago, who was juicing on steroids.

In theory, “Creed” isn’t even about Rocky. The movie is chock full of Rocky references, including some footage from the earlier films itself, but I don’t think anyone will have a problem with that, considering how great they were. Adonis seeks Rocky’s help to train for the ring.

Pixar Animation hits paydirt once again following the phenomenal success of “Inside Out” with “The Good Dinosaur”, a prehistoric tale that doesn’t have quite the complexity of this summer’s smash brain tale, but contains just as much emotion and heart. Ideal for the movies, the match ends with Rocky rising off the mat at the nine count, earning the knockout win. We are not ever shown, aside from one fight in juvenile hall, how hard it is to grow up as a ward of the state.

Be sure to follow T-Lounge on and visit our page.