Episode two of the metal-mashing, chrome-clashing, steel-smashing show has just aired, so let's review it.
LET THE WARS BEGIN
Gabriel 2 (Macebot) Vs Carbide (Spinning hammer) vs Big Nipper (crusher)
You may remember Gabriel from the first series. They are what is known as a thwackabot. At the end of a long stick is a mace, which they can use to smash into other robots. They also have an entanglement weapon, consisting of nylon ropes, which are designed to mess with spinners. Hitherto, entanglement weapons have always been banned, but this series is a series of firsts.
But the most curious aspect of Gabriel 2 is its massive wheels. The entire robot is made from high-density polyethylene plastic, which is designed to absorb the kinetic energy generated from spinner bots.
And Gabriel 2 needed everything to beat Carbide who is the reigning champion of the series. Carbide is quite possibly one of the most powerful spinner bots, which the wars have ever seen. Armed with a horizontal spinning hammer, they have turned countless robots into scrap metal.
Rounding out the trio is Big Nipper who has competed before, but to no great success. They were armed with a vertical spinning disc.
3...2...1...ACTIVATE
Gabriel 2 was a ponderous machine. The massive wheels made it quite clumsy and its mace was largely ineffective, as was its entanglement weapon. Gabriel were then slammed into the Arena release button, which sent the house robots on the loose. Shunt slammed into them.
Meanwhile, Carbide shredded away into Gabriel's wheels. They buckled them and tore off the tired treads, but the damage was mainly cosmetic. The polyethylene plastic did a good a job, absorbing a lot of the damage. Considering Carbide is the current champion, you think they would have breezed through this, but they did struggle.
Although they did plenty of damage to Gabriel, they couldn't deliver the killing blow. And then Carbide lost part of their wheel. The fight went to the judges in the end who awarded it to Carbide. All credit to Gabriel here. They survived 3 minutes with one of the most powerful robots in the wars.
Oh, you're probably wondering where Big Nipper was in all this. They were nowhere. Complete non-entities. They were immobilised quickly.
Eruption Vs Aftershock Vs Crackers N Smash
Eruption were runners-up last year. They are armed with one of the most powerful flippers since Chaos 2. Their first opponent was Aftershock who were also finalists last year who were armed with a 2400rpm spinning disc. This means that this heat had 3 finalists within it, which I found a bit odd. I'd've expected them to had a finalist in every heat.
But anyway, the final competitor was Crackers N Smash, a clusterbot: with one robot being armed with a lifter and the other a spinning drum.
3...2...1...ACTIVATE
As Craig Charles used to say "controversy reigns on Robot Wars."
Aftershock quickly proved why they were finalists last year. Their vicious flywheel slammed into Crackers and buckled away their lifter, pushing them onto the floor flipper. As the flipper came back down, it hit Aftershock's flywheel, ripping away some of the metal.
Usually, when the arena is damaged like this, the battle is paused while the damage is repaired. Thinking that this was going to happen, Aftershock powered down, allowing Eruption to sneak up behind them and spectacularly flip them out of the arena. They then flipped both clusterbots out too.
Eruption were the clear winners, but the Aftershock team were a little resentful that the battle wasn't paused.
Robot Redemption 1 Gabriel 2 Vs Aftershock
Time for the first loser's melee.
To prepare for this fight, Gabriel 2 attached more nylon rope to their mace, in the hope of entangling Aftershock's flywheel.
While this was a good tactic, it didn't work. Aftershock slammed into Gabriel, sending it flying through the air. Unlike their fight against Carbide, Gabriel could only take so much damage. They were soon immobilised and then Sir Killalot chopped off their mace.
Aftershock had won the first Robot Redemption.
Robot Redemption 2: Big Nipper Vs Crackers N Smash
Time for perhaps Big Nipper's best fight.
Just like how Gabriel attached an entanglement weapon, Crackers did the same. This was about as useful as bringing a wooden robot into the arena. Big Nipper slammed into Crackers and broke off the entanglement weapons. They then drove Crackers into the CPZ and under Sir Killalot.
Sir Killalot is near enough 600kg, while Crackers is under 100kg, so as you can imagine, Crackers didn't fare too well from this.
But they fared better than their brother: Smash. Big Nipper hit Smash with their flywheel with so much force, they sent Smash flying into the arena light rigging, before crashing down outside the arena.
Big Nipper were the worthy winners.
Round 2 Carbide Vs Aftershock
This was a great fight. We've already seen the potency of both spinners. Aftershock began on top. They bashed into Carbide and the sparks flew. Sensing some kind of weakness, Aftershock carried on attacking, sending Carbide flying through their. Their vertical flywheel came into contact with Carbide's spinning hammer, which is where things went around for Aftershock.
This last attack disabled Aftershock's spinner. The tables being turned, Carbide went on the attack and quickly immobilised Aftershock.
Round 2 Eruption Vs Big Nipper
Eruption started the stronger and were generally the more impressive robot throughout. They flipped Big Nipper over who were slow to self-right. Eruption took advantage of this by continually flipping them.
This isn't to say that their control was always the best, but they were far more aggressive than Big Nipper. Eruption actually flipped Big Nipper into the tyre button releasing the thoroughly ineffective Fog of War. I still think this is a stupid modification. It is useless.
Anyway, Eruption continued flipping Big Nipper around the arena and in the dying seconds of the fight, they got the final flip in. Eruption won by a judge's decision and were through to the heat final.
Playoff: Big Nipper Vs Aftershock
In the grand final, there will be an all vs all battle between the ten 2nd and 3rd robots of the series: with the winner going through to the grand final.
Apollo and Sabretooth have already qualified, but let's see who will join them.
This was a fight between two powerful spinning vertical discs. They smashed into each other richocheting away. Big Nipper got the second attack in, slamming into Aftershock's vulnerable underbelly.
Aftershock quickly recovered, but Big Nipper got in two more controlled hits, upending Aftershock. Big Nipper were the winners.
Grand final: Eruption Vs Carbide
Time for a grudge match. Carbide beat Eruption last year to become grand champions. Can Eruption get their revenge this time?
Unfortunately not. From the start, it was obvious that Carbide were the more powerful machine. They slammed into Eruption repeatedly not allowing them to get any flips in. Eruption were sluggish without and just couldn't recover.
One powerful hit took out their wheels and another immobilised them. The grand finalists Carbide have made it through to another final. But maybe Eruption or even Big Nipper could be joining them. Who knows?
Dim the lights
Cue the applause
Carbide is our second finalist
on Robot Wars
Tuesday, 31 October 2017
Sunday, 29 October 2017
Robot Wars Series 3 Episode 1 Review
Series 3 of the metal-mashing, chrome-clashing, steel-smashing show Robot Wars is back on our television screens.
A lot of it is the same: Dara O'Briain and Angela Scanlon are still presenting and there are the same four house robots: Shunt, Matilda, Dead Metal and Sir Killalot. But the format has changed.
The heats within the first two series began with two four-way battles, the two winners of each battle then progressed to a round-robin mini league. This has now been changed in favour of a two threeway battles with the winner of each automatically progressing to the next round.
The losers then fight each other in a Robot Redemption or Loser's Melee with the winners of each progressing to the next round. In short the league format has been replaced with a more straightforward knockout championship.
I prefer this as it is more in the style of the old series and has a bigger emphasis on the killing potential of each machine, rather than how well engineered they are.
And the Robot Wars arena has now been upgraded. There is the now cheesily named "Fog of War," where for ten seconds the arena fills with fog.
But that's enough talking. LET THE WARS BEGIN!
Behemoth Vs Donald Thump Vs Sabretooth
The first heat saw the return of Behemoth- a six-wheeled machine armed with a lifting scoop. While they were regular competitors in the original series, they always fared badly, only once making it out of the heats.
Last series, team captain, Anthony Pritchard, became a viral sensation after he stormed out of the studios upon losing to Gabriel. Will he keep his cool this time?
Their first opponent was the satirical robot Donald Thump, armed with fake hair and a spinner bar. Rounding out the trio is Sabretooth, which is armed with a spinning drum. Similar to Behemoth, they are veterans of Robot Wars, but have never had great success.
3...2...1...ACTIVATE
This battle began slowly with each robot sizing each other up. Then Sabretooth went on the attack, charging into Behemoth and knocking it over. While Behemoth was recovering, Donald Thump smashed into Sabretooth damaged Sabretooth with their spinning hammer. But shortly after, they inexplicably broke down.
By this time, Behemoth had gotten back to their wheels. Bad driving sent them onto the floor flipper, but then they went back on the attack. Both behemoth and Sabretooth charged into one another; the impact of which immobilised both machines. However, the judges picked Behemoth as the overall winner, with Donald Thump and Sabretooth going into the loser's melee.
Apollo Vs Apocalypse Vs the Swarm
Apollo is already a legend. Armed with their flipper, they won the first series and were finalists in the second. I dare say they were favourites in this heat. But it's a long road to the final and to get there, they first have to beat Apocalypse and the Swarm.
Apocalypse was a robot, which looked like Splinter - a competitor in the original series. Apocalypse was armed with an axe and grabbing arms.
Finally, we have the cluster bot, the Swarm. Any eagle-eyed viewers, may have noticed that the Swarm was captained by Ian Watts, driver of the ferocious robot of old: Bigger Brother. Bigger Brother was teamed by Ian's children: Joe and Ellie and I do wonder where they are now.
Anyway, the Swarm was a curious machine. It was four smaller robots each armed with different weapons: an anti-spinner, a flipper, a spinning hammer and a wedge. The idea for the four robots to surround and overwhelm the enemy.
3...2...1...ACTIVATE
Apocalypse started badly with its axe breaking down. Apollo took full advantage of this by launching it through the air. From here, the axebot pondered around, not doing anything.
Apollo then turned its ferocious flipper to the Swarm. While the clusterbots were a creative concept, they were too small to be of any threat. Being so lightweight, Apollo was able to flip them all around the arena. Only the clusterbot with the spinning hammer was any good, but not strong enough to fight off Apollo who dominated this fight and were worthy winners.
Robot Redemption 1: Apocalypse Vs Sabretooth
Time for the first of the new losers' melees. This battle saw the first use of the Fog of War, which was unimpressive to say the least. Other than the arena filling with fog for ten seconds, nothing happened.
The fight itself was more interesting. Apocalypse started strong, going on the attack and chopping down with its axe. True, they missed a lot of the time but this was a big improvement on their first battle.
But just when it looked like Sabretooth were down for the count, they were just lulling me into a false sense of security. In the dying seconds of the fight, they slammed Apocalypse into the wall, immobilising it. A nice comeback by Sabretooth.
Robot Redemption 2:
Donald Thump Vs the Swarm
This was perhaps the Swarm's best fight. While Donald Thump's spinning hammer wasn't working, the Swarm's was. The clusterbot armed with the spinning hammer was lethal and tore away Donald Thump's armour. The rest of the Swarm did very little and i can't help, but think Ian Watts should have made a full-sized spinner robot, rather than four small clusterbots. But considering that they decisively won this fight, who knows?
Round Two: Apollo vs Sabretooth
Having been drawn against an ex-champion, Sabretooth were always going to be up against it.
ANd they were battered. Apollo flipped them around the arena and never allowed them the chance to get their spinning drum into play.
Sabretooth manged to set the house robots on the loose, but this backfired, when the house robots attacked them. Sabretooth then lost in style by being the first robot to be flipped out of the arena this series.
Round 2 Behemoth Vs The Swarm
While The Swarm performed well against Donald Thump,t hey were unable to repeat this success here. Behemoth was too well-armoured to be damaged by the spinning bot, which as we already know is the only robot with any potency.
As for the other clusterbots, Behemoth flipped them around the arena, they broke down or were torched over the flamepit. Behemoth were the clear winners.
The playoff: The Swarm vs Sabretooth
Time for a new addition to this series. The grand final will be fought between six robots: the five heat winners and one wildcard robot.
The wildcard will be picked out of the ten robots who placed 2nd and 3rd in the heats. All ten of these robots will fight in one massive battle until only one remains.
Personally, I can't wait to see this. It sounds like it will be absolute mayhem and certainly bigger than anything the old series ever attempted. Secondly, in the first two series, the judges picked a wildcard option, I think that this new method is much more in the fighting spirit of the contest.
3...2...1 ACTIVATE
Although it wasn't an entirely smooth run, Sabretooth battered the clusterbots. As we've seen time and time again, the Swarm is just too lightweight to be of any threat.
Even the spinnerbot was no match for Sabretooth's spinning drum. The flipperbot quickly ran out of the gas, and as for the other two, I can't remember them doing anything at all.
But like Is aid, Sabretooth made mistakes too. Bad driving sent them onto the floor flipper and Shunt, but they were the overall winners and we will be seeing them again. We also got to see the arena malfunction. In the middle of the arena are spikes designed to stab upwards and topple machines. However, in this fight, they pocked with so much force, they fully flew out of the arena, crashing down.
Heat final Apollo Vs Behemoth
This was a great fight, which could have gone either way. Apollo started strongly, charging into Behemoth and flipping them over. Behemoth quickly recovered, but were then shoved into the CPZ.
And this was where I think Apollo got a bit cocky. They let their guard down, allowing Behemoth to flip them over and go on the attack. It was Apollo who was running away and Behemoth who was doing the chasing. And then with a great drive, Behemoth drove Apollo into the pit of oblivion, which as Craig Charles would say was a "real turn-up for the books." After twenty years of defeat after defeat, Behemoth finally made it out of the heats. And good fort hem.
They took full advantage of Apollo's cockiness. But maybe we'll see a grudge match if Apollo wins the wildcard place.
Cue the lights,
scream your applause,
Behemoth is our first finalist
on Robot Wars
A lot of it is the same: Dara O'Briain and Angela Scanlon are still presenting and there are the same four house robots: Shunt, Matilda, Dead Metal and Sir Killalot. But the format has changed.
The heats within the first two series began with two four-way battles, the two winners of each battle then progressed to a round-robin mini league. This has now been changed in favour of a two threeway battles with the winner of each automatically progressing to the next round.
The losers then fight each other in a Robot Redemption or Loser's Melee with the winners of each progressing to the next round. In short the league format has been replaced with a more straightforward knockout championship.
I prefer this as it is more in the style of the old series and has a bigger emphasis on the killing potential of each machine, rather than how well engineered they are.
And the Robot Wars arena has now been upgraded. There is the now cheesily named "Fog of War," where for ten seconds the arena fills with fog.
But that's enough talking. LET THE WARS BEGIN!
Behemoth Vs Donald Thump Vs Sabretooth
The first heat saw the return of Behemoth- a six-wheeled machine armed with a lifting scoop. While they were regular competitors in the original series, they always fared badly, only once making it out of the heats.
Last series, team captain, Anthony Pritchard, became a viral sensation after he stormed out of the studios upon losing to Gabriel. Will he keep his cool this time?
Their first opponent was the satirical robot Donald Thump, armed with fake hair and a spinner bar. Rounding out the trio is Sabretooth, which is armed with a spinning drum. Similar to Behemoth, they are veterans of Robot Wars, but have never had great success.
3...2...1...ACTIVATE
This battle began slowly with each robot sizing each other up. Then Sabretooth went on the attack, charging into Behemoth and knocking it over. While Behemoth was recovering, Donald Thump smashed into Sabretooth damaged Sabretooth with their spinning hammer. But shortly after, they inexplicably broke down.
By this time, Behemoth had gotten back to their wheels. Bad driving sent them onto the floor flipper, but then they went back on the attack. Both behemoth and Sabretooth charged into one another; the impact of which immobilised both machines. However, the judges picked Behemoth as the overall winner, with Donald Thump and Sabretooth going into the loser's melee.
Apollo Vs Apocalypse Vs the Swarm
Apollo is already a legend. Armed with their flipper, they won the first series and were finalists in the second. I dare say they were favourites in this heat. But it's a long road to the final and to get there, they first have to beat Apocalypse and the Swarm.
Apocalypse was a robot, which looked like Splinter - a competitor in the original series. Apocalypse was armed with an axe and grabbing arms.
Finally, we have the cluster bot, the Swarm. Any eagle-eyed viewers, may have noticed that the Swarm was captained by Ian Watts, driver of the ferocious robot of old: Bigger Brother. Bigger Brother was teamed by Ian's children: Joe and Ellie and I do wonder where they are now.
Anyway, the Swarm was a curious machine. It was four smaller robots each armed with different weapons: an anti-spinner, a flipper, a spinning hammer and a wedge. The idea for the four robots to surround and overwhelm the enemy.
3...2...1...ACTIVATE
Apocalypse started badly with its axe breaking down. Apollo took full advantage of this by launching it through the air. From here, the axebot pondered around, not doing anything.
Apollo then turned its ferocious flipper to the Swarm. While the clusterbots were a creative concept, they were too small to be of any threat. Being so lightweight, Apollo was able to flip them all around the arena. Only the clusterbot with the spinning hammer was any good, but not strong enough to fight off Apollo who dominated this fight and were worthy winners.
Robot Redemption 1: Apocalypse Vs Sabretooth
Time for the first of the new losers' melees. This battle saw the first use of the Fog of War, which was unimpressive to say the least. Other than the arena filling with fog for ten seconds, nothing happened.
The fight itself was more interesting. Apocalypse started strong, going on the attack and chopping down with its axe. True, they missed a lot of the time but this was a big improvement on their first battle.
But just when it looked like Sabretooth were down for the count, they were just lulling me into a false sense of security. In the dying seconds of the fight, they slammed Apocalypse into the wall, immobilising it. A nice comeback by Sabretooth.
Robot Redemption 2:
Donald Thump Vs the Swarm
This was perhaps the Swarm's best fight. While Donald Thump's spinning hammer wasn't working, the Swarm's was. The clusterbot armed with the spinning hammer was lethal and tore away Donald Thump's armour. The rest of the Swarm did very little and i can't help, but think Ian Watts should have made a full-sized spinner robot, rather than four small clusterbots. But considering that they decisively won this fight, who knows?
Round Two: Apollo vs Sabretooth
Having been drawn against an ex-champion, Sabretooth were always going to be up against it.
ANd they were battered. Apollo flipped them around the arena and never allowed them the chance to get their spinning drum into play.
Sabretooth manged to set the house robots on the loose, but this backfired, when the house robots attacked them. Sabretooth then lost in style by being the first robot to be flipped out of the arena this series.
Round 2 Behemoth Vs The Swarm
While The Swarm performed well against Donald Thump,t hey were unable to repeat this success here. Behemoth was too well-armoured to be damaged by the spinning bot, which as we already know is the only robot with any potency.
As for the other clusterbots, Behemoth flipped them around the arena, they broke down or were torched over the flamepit. Behemoth were the clear winners.
The playoff: The Swarm vs Sabretooth
Time for a new addition to this series. The grand final will be fought between six robots: the five heat winners and one wildcard robot.
The wildcard will be picked out of the ten robots who placed 2nd and 3rd in the heats. All ten of these robots will fight in one massive battle until only one remains.
Personally, I can't wait to see this. It sounds like it will be absolute mayhem and certainly bigger than anything the old series ever attempted. Secondly, in the first two series, the judges picked a wildcard option, I think that this new method is much more in the fighting spirit of the contest.
3...2...1 ACTIVATE
Although it wasn't an entirely smooth run, Sabretooth battered the clusterbots. As we've seen time and time again, the Swarm is just too lightweight to be of any threat.
Even the spinnerbot was no match for Sabretooth's spinning drum. The flipperbot quickly ran out of the gas, and as for the other two, I can't remember them doing anything at all.
But like Is aid, Sabretooth made mistakes too. Bad driving sent them onto the floor flipper and Shunt, but they were the overall winners and we will be seeing them again. We also got to see the arena malfunction. In the middle of the arena are spikes designed to stab upwards and topple machines. However, in this fight, they pocked with so much force, they fully flew out of the arena, crashing down.
Heat final Apollo Vs Behemoth
This was a great fight, which could have gone either way. Apollo started strongly, charging into Behemoth and flipping them over. Behemoth quickly recovered, but were then shoved into the CPZ.
And this was where I think Apollo got a bit cocky. They let their guard down, allowing Behemoth to flip them over and go on the attack. It was Apollo who was running away and Behemoth who was doing the chasing. And then with a great drive, Behemoth drove Apollo into the pit of oblivion, which as Craig Charles would say was a "real turn-up for the books." After twenty years of defeat after defeat, Behemoth finally made it out of the heats. And good fort hem.
They took full advantage of Apollo's cockiness. But maybe we'll see a grudge match if Apollo wins the wildcard place.
Cue the lights,
scream your applause,
Behemoth is our first finalist
on Robot Wars
On The Waterfront Review
Number 118 on the top 1000 films of all time is the film that earnt Marlon Brando his first oscar: On the Waterfront.
The decade is the 1950's. The location: New Jersey. The New Jersey docks are rife with corruption and greed. And to make matters worse, the labour union leaders are also corrupt and in league with the local mob. When one longshoreman dies in an apparent suicide, the local priest Father Barry (Karl Madden) calls on the workers to stand against the mob, rather than playing deaf and dumb. Yet the one man that could do something: Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is perfectly content with staying silent.
What I most enjoyed about this crime drama was how the mob wasn't romanticised. In mob thrillers like Goodfellas and The Godfather, which earned Brando his second oscar, the Mafia is romanticised. And it shouldn't be. In On the Waterfront, they are obviously villains. Led by Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) they extort the dockworkers and kill anyone who stands in their way.
And then of course you get Marlon Brando who's the best part of this film. He very much follows the character arc of a reluctant hero. He begins unwillingly, but gradually becomes more heroic. Yet he is also an empathetic hero. We learn that he is bitter, due to an iconic speech, where he claims that he "coulda been a contender." Having once been a promising boxer, he threw a fight and his career, to help his brother win a bet. Ever since then, his confidence has been shaken and it was great to see it be restored. By the film's conclusion, he inspires the other dockworkers into action, and the image of them walking away from the screaming Johnny Friendly was a powerful one.
Ultimately, this was a good film. Brando definitely deserved his oscar and there was a nice range of different characters. And of course, it carries the important message of standing up to anything. This film is definitely a contender for one of the greatest for all time.
The decade is the 1950's. The location: New Jersey. The New Jersey docks are rife with corruption and greed. And to make matters worse, the labour union leaders are also corrupt and in league with the local mob. When one longshoreman dies in an apparent suicide, the local priest Father Barry (Karl Madden) calls on the workers to stand against the mob, rather than playing deaf and dumb. Yet the one man that could do something: Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) is perfectly content with staying silent.
What I most enjoyed about this crime drama was how the mob wasn't romanticised. In mob thrillers like Goodfellas and The Godfather, which earned Brando his second oscar, the Mafia is romanticised. And it shouldn't be. In On the Waterfront, they are obviously villains. Led by Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) they extort the dockworkers and kill anyone who stands in their way.
And then of course you get Marlon Brando who's the best part of this film. He very much follows the character arc of a reluctant hero. He begins unwillingly, but gradually becomes more heroic. Yet he is also an empathetic hero. We learn that he is bitter, due to an iconic speech, where he claims that he "coulda been a contender." Having once been a promising boxer, he threw a fight and his career, to help his brother win a bet. Ever since then, his confidence has been shaken and it was great to see it be restored. By the film's conclusion, he inspires the other dockworkers into action, and the image of them walking away from the screaming Johnny Friendly was a powerful one.
Ultimately, this was a good film. Brando definitely deserved his oscar and there was a nice range of different characters. And of course, it carries the important message of standing up to anything. This film is definitely a contender for one of the greatest for all time.
Saturday, 14 October 2017
Raging Bull review
Number 117 on the top 1000 films of all time is Raging Bull. This film is considered Martin Scorsesee's Magnum Opus and earnt Robert De Niro the best acting oscar.
Raging Bull tells the story of the rise and fall of boxer Jake La Motta. (Robert De Niro) Based on the real La Motta's autobiography, it focusses on the relationships he has with his brother and manager Joey (Joe Pesci) wife Vicky (Cathy Moriaty) and mafiosi Salvy Batts (Frank Vincent) and Tommy Como (Nicholas Colasanto.)
This is not the only boxing film I've seen. I have also seen Rocky, but I much preferred Raging Bull. This is because Raging bull had less of a focus on boxing and more of a focus on Jake La Motta who is a far more interesting character than Rocky Balboa, although De Niro mumbles just as much as Stallone does. Raging Bull only has about fifteen minutes of boxing within it. The rest of the film is dedicated to La Motta's interactions with his friends and family. And we see how these relationships crumble, as La Motta allows his temper and paranoia to get the better of him.
He is constantly paranoid that his wife is cheating on him, going so far as to accuse her of sleeping with Joey. This paranoia develops into a full-grown rage, as La Motta beats Joey in front of his family. La Motta is an anti-hero of sorts who struggles deeply with his demons and seeing these struggles play out made for entertaining watching. Upon watching, Raging Bull, the real Jake La Motta apologised to his wife for being so bad. She corrected him, saying he was much worse.
Another way this film differs from Rocky (and this was intentional on Scorsesee's part) is how Raging Bull is in black and white. He did this to distinguish it from Rocky, but also because the colour of the boxing gloves was throwing off the rest of he film. And this was a great stylistic choice, adding in character and mood.
And lastly, a few words should go to Cathy Moriaty, Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent. of course, De Niro, Pesci and Vincent are all in Scorsesee's mob thriller Goodfellas, but Pesci and Vincent are great in their own respective roles. Pesci was convincing as La Motta's conflicted brother Joey and Vincent was great as mobster Salvy Batts. Unfortunately, Frank Vincent died recently. This saddened me particularly, as not only is he in Raging Bull and Goodfellas, but he also had a starring role in the Sopranos. He is a formidable actor who shouldn't be forgotten.
It is said De Niro relaunched Scorsesee's career by convincing him to direct this film. Thank God he did. If he hadn't, he might not have made great films like Goodfellas, The Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street.
Raging Bull tells the story of the rise and fall of boxer Jake La Motta. (Robert De Niro) Based on the real La Motta's autobiography, it focusses on the relationships he has with his brother and manager Joey (Joe Pesci) wife Vicky (Cathy Moriaty) and mafiosi Salvy Batts (Frank Vincent) and Tommy Como (Nicholas Colasanto.)
This is not the only boxing film I've seen. I have also seen Rocky, but I much preferred Raging Bull. This is because Raging bull had less of a focus on boxing and more of a focus on Jake La Motta who is a far more interesting character than Rocky Balboa, although De Niro mumbles just as much as Stallone does. Raging Bull only has about fifteen minutes of boxing within it. The rest of the film is dedicated to La Motta's interactions with his friends and family. And we see how these relationships crumble, as La Motta allows his temper and paranoia to get the better of him.
He is constantly paranoid that his wife is cheating on him, going so far as to accuse her of sleeping with Joey. This paranoia develops into a full-grown rage, as La Motta beats Joey in front of his family. La Motta is an anti-hero of sorts who struggles deeply with his demons and seeing these struggles play out made for entertaining watching. Upon watching, Raging Bull, the real Jake La Motta apologised to his wife for being so bad. She corrected him, saying he was much worse.
Another way this film differs from Rocky (and this was intentional on Scorsesee's part) is how Raging Bull is in black and white. He did this to distinguish it from Rocky, but also because the colour of the boxing gloves was throwing off the rest of he film. And this was a great stylistic choice, adding in character and mood.
And lastly, a few words should go to Cathy Moriaty, Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent. of course, De Niro, Pesci and Vincent are all in Scorsesee's mob thriller Goodfellas, but Pesci and Vincent are great in their own respective roles. Pesci was convincing as La Motta's conflicted brother Joey and Vincent was great as mobster Salvy Batts. Unfortunately, Frank Vincent died recently. This saddened me particularly, as not only is he in Raging Bull and Goodfellas, but he also had a starring role in the Sopranos. He is a formidable actor who shouldn't be forgotten.
It is said De Niro relaunched Scorsesee's career by convincing him to direct this film. Thank God he did. If he hadn't, he might not have made great films like Goodfellas, The Departed and The Wolf of Wall Street.
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