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25 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the eleventh race in Germany are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Hungary next weekend on 1st August.

11 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Bulgaria are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Finland on THURSDAY 29th July (a day earlier than usual!).

11 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
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27 / 06 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the ninth race in Valencia are in, including the penalties for the naughty boys driving too fast. Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Silverstone on 11th July.

13 / 06 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the eighth race in Canada are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Valencia on 27th June.

30 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Portugal are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Bulgaria on 9th July.

30 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
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16 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The Monaco scores have been updated to reflect Michael Schumacher's ridiculous penalty for daring to overtake a Ferrari. Check the updated results, see how your team did or enter a new team.

16 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the sixth race in Monaco are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Turkey on 30th May.

10 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the fifth race in Barcelona are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Monaco on 16th May.

10 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally New Zealand are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Portugal on 28th May.

19 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Turkey are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is New Zealand on 7th May.

18 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the fourth race in China are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Barcelona on 9th May.

06 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The JWRC driver lineup has been released, so you can make your selection before teams are frozen for Turkey on the night of 15th April. If you don't pick anyone, you'll get Aaron Burkart by default.

05 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the third race in Malaysia are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is China on 18th April.

03 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Jordan are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Turkey on 14th April.

29 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the second race in Melbourne are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Malaysia THIS WEEKEND on 4th April.

14 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the first race in Bahrain are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Australia on 28th March.

09 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1!
Yes, there's a brand new Fantasy Formula One game! Check the rules or enter your team by Friday night to qualify for the first race in Bahrain!

08 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Mexico are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Jordan on 1st April.

17 / 02 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The points awarded for a win have changed in the real WRC, so we've reflected the changes in our scoring too. Check the rules to see the details. Next rally is Mexico on 5th March, teams will be frozen at midnight on the night of Thursday 4th March.

16 / 02 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Sweden are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team.

31 / 01 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The new rally season is upon us - 2010 Fantasy Rally is now open! Check the rules or pick a team ready for the start on 12th Feb.

25 / 10 / 2009
Fantasy Rally:
All previous years' Fantasy Rally results are online - Check the 2009 season.

02 / 08 / 2009
Reviews:
Sorry, there won't be any more movie reviews for the foreseeable future. Events have overtaken me. Catch up on reviews you may have missed.

18 / 08 / 2005
Sudoku!
Have a go at the online Sudoku game.

 

Rocky Balboa

Rocky Balboa

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Tarver, Burt Young, Geraldine Hughes.

Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone.

Story: Rocky Six.

Running Time: 1hr 42 minutes.

UK Certificate 12A.

 

You must bear in mind that I never liked the Rocky movies much - so when I tell you that Rocky Balboa is a waste of everybody's time, you might want to take it with a pinch of salt.

Rocky finds an oak tree to stand next to, so that he won't look so wooden. I've always considered the original Rocky's winning of the 1976 Best Picture Oscar, beating Taxi Driver in the process, to be one of the most outrageous miscarriages of justice in the Academy's history. The fact that Stallone was nominated for best actor makes a mockery of the whole process. He was a bad actor 30 years ago and he's a bad actor now.

In Sly's own words, he "dropped the ball" on Rocky 5 and this, the final instalment, intends to put things right. Unbelievably, the story actually puts the tired Stallone, now 60, back in the ring against the current heavyweight champion Mason Dixon (ho ho). The man himself looks more like his mum Jackie these days, with a face uncannily resembling a children's drawing, and the delivery of his lines is still as convincing as a politician's promise.

Antonio Tarver obediently pretends to be punched by a pensioner. You'd have thought that with sixteen years to write a story, the final result would've been pretty special. It's not. It's boring, predictable, and as clichéd as any movie you've ever seen. At least with the Rocky series you never knew whether the big rocky chap was going to win or not, so there's some uncertainty over this episode too, but it's a struggle to give a toss. As with all the prequels, it's clearly not easy to fill the running time - the side stories are just fillers - very drawn-out and tedious fillers - between the obligatory training montage and the long-awaited fight itself. These keystone parts are at least passable, mostly because of the stupendously stirring classic soundtrack, wisely unchanged from the original, but they're still cheesier than a mouse's ringpiece. However there are plenty of rodent arsephiles around, metaphorically speaking, and there are many viewers who will find Rocky's final fling evocative and fulfilling. If you're a hardened Rockomaniac, you're likely to consider this a worthy conclusion to the series.

Rocky Balboa is exactly what you'd expect - a completely unbelievable and unnecessary conclusion to a series that ran out of ideas well over twenty years ago. Anyone who's too young to have seen any of the predecessors will wonder what on earth all the fuss was about. Much like I do.

I enjoyed this film: 2/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 3/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 3/5 - it's a man's movie - just not this man.

To enjoy this film you should be: a Rockyholic.

 

Rocky Balboa was released in the UK on 19th January.

 

Your comments

The comments printed here are not necessarily the views of Forwardcharm!

 

Most reviews on this site are very good but a few fail tragically wide of the mark. As this one does. This film is a fitting climax to a legendary series of films. Rocky Balboa is NOT what you would expect as the review suggests. The style, pace and feel of the movie provide a very distinct new side of the Rocky story. Few similar film series have gone in this direction before and Balboa really gets it right.
Jonathan Marchini

 

Yeah, but you think The Girl Next Door is the best movie ever made ;o)
Jimbo, Forwardcharm

 

I agree with Jonathan
Sylvester Stallone