Dan and Brian continue their “train” month of movies about teachers, training, and self-improvement with a look at the entire Rocky and Creed series. Come celebrate 50 years of Sylvester Stallone’s epic saga as Dan and Brian go all nine rounds and discuss Rocky as an unlikely success story that claimed Best Picture among an unusually stacked class of candidates. Then they look at each of the Rocky movies one by one, lingering for a bit on Rocky IV and its generational montage sequence. Join as they discuss the terrific screenwriting of the original, the many flavors of Rocky follow-up, the surprising wholesomeness of Rocky and Adrian, the insufferable Paulie getting a cool robot, the mirror images of Rocky V and Rocky Balboa, Ryan Coogler’s fresh reframing of the Rocky saga, and the dueling approaches to sequels between Creed II and III. Then, Dan and Brian rate and rank all nine films.
Episode Number
262
Films Reviewed
- Rocky (1976)
- Rocky II (1979)
- Rocky III (1982)
- Rocky IV (1985)
- Rocky V (1990)
- Rocky Balboa (2006)
- Creed (2015)
- Creed II (2018)
- Creed III (2023)
Is It Good?
- Rocky (1976) – Exceptionally Good (7/8)
- Rocky II (1979) – Good (5/8)
- Rocky III (1982) – Good (5/8)
- Rocky IV (1985) – Good (5/8)
- Rocky V (1990) – Good (5/8)
- Rocky Balboa (2006) – Good (5/8)
- Creed (2015) – Very Good (6/8)
- Creed II (2018) – Very Good (6/8)
- Creed III (2023) – Good (5/8)
- Rocky (1976) – Exceptionally Good (7/8)
- Rocky II (1979) – Good (5/8)
- Rocky III (1982) – Good (5/8)
- Rocky IV (1985) – Very Good (6/8)
- Rocky V (1990) – Not Not Good (3/8)
- Rocky Balboa (2006) – Good (5/8)
- Creed (2015) – Good (5/8)
- Creed II (2018) – Very Good (6/8)
- Creed III (2023) – Good (5/8)
Ranking the Series
- Rocky (1976)
- Creed (2015)
- Creed II (2018)
- Creed III (2023)
- Rocky III (1982)
- Rocky IV (1985)
- Rocky II (1979)
- Rocky Balboa (2006)
- Rocky V (1990)
- Rocky (1976)
- Rocky IV (1985)
- Creed II (2018)
- Rocky III (1982)
- Rocky Balboa (2006)
- Creed III (2023)
- Creed (2015)
- Rocky II (1979)
- Rocky V (1990)
Supplemental Media
Brian Terrill is a filmmaker and horror host.
Dan Stalcup writes reviews for The Goods and is a member of OFCS. Follow Dan on Letterboxd.