Thanks for the memories!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"Grudge Match" is certainly a fun and entertaining movie, although it was also somewhat of an odd movie at the same time.Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro do play their parts quite well. There is a good cast list to support the movie, and people were definitely doing good jobs with their given roles and characters. And there is a good storyline with lots of flavor and background.The movie did, however, feel a bit long dragging in the build up to the actual match between Stallone and De Niro.And while we are on the fight, then it was rather enjoyable to watch.All in all, an entertaining movie although I feel like some parts of it could be been more polished for a better final product.

GRUDGE MATCH feels a little like the boxing version of THE EXPENDABLES at times. It fears a world-weary Sly Stallone (a typical type of character for him, these days) playing a former boxing champion who comes out of retirement for one last match with his old rival, played by Robert De Niro. Yep, it's a simple film built around the premise 'Rocky vs. Raging Bull', with no more depth to it than that.Well, there is depth, but it's TV movie-style sentiment and family affairs-type material which I tend to avoid like the plague. It's a pity, as both Kim Basinger and Jon Bernthal have given great performances elsewhere but are wasted in minor roles like this. Stallone remains as likable as ever but De Niro plays a largely unsympathetic role, which is mainly down to the script. As a comedy, this isn't very funny at all, as it's way too mean-spirited and ugly with constant jokes aimed at physical appearance and the like. The only good thing about it is the brutal final fight, which is almost worth the wait.

I enjoy this movie. It's interesting. It's a bit different to what I thought it was going to be, but it was still a very enjoyable time.This movie is about two former boxers who were rivals thirty years ago. Henry "Razor" Sharp and Billy "The Kid" McDonnen have been fighting ever since Razor retired because he slept with Billy's girlfriend and got her pregnant. Awkward. But now, thirty years later, a promoter wants them to fight each other in one of the most popular matches of all time. People would love to see them fight again, but Razor doesn't want to. But when Razor loses his job and finds out that he's broke, he has no choice but to play the game. Coming out of retirement for one final match, both our leads get ready to knock the other one out.Overall, I give this movie an 8 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Awesome.

Grudge Match 2.5/10- I came into this movie with much higher expectations than Sylvester Stallone's other recent movies. I thought it could be good simply because I think that Stallone can only act well when he is boxing and he has in my opinion one of the best and most versatile actors ever-Robert De Niro. I believed that with the two together, the movie would be at least passable, and that is what it is, passable. The first half of the movie was awful. They did not really mention boxing that much other than the fight between Henry "Razor" Sharp, who is played by Stallone, and Billy "The Kid" Mcdonnen, played by De Niro, that took place thirty years earlier in the first half. The jokes were off the mark and surprisingly Kevin Hart was not that funny. I was just really hoping that the second half would be better. Thankfully it was slightly better. The boxing scenes and training were at least entertaining enough to enjoy. Basically the second half of Grudge Match gets the audience to remember how great Rocky and Raging Bull. The thing that irritated me throughout the film was it seemed like the movie relied on the two actors previous roles in Rocky and Raging Bull to sell tickets. Someone should have told the director that it is nearly 35 years later since Stallone and De Niro's boxing movies and therefore they cannot be the same characters with just different names. The acting was not good to say the least. I think everyone could tell De Niro was not very interested in this movie because it was evident that he did not give his best effort. Sylvester Stallone is really just not that good of an actor and the studio knew that so they kept making references and quotes from Rocky to make him at least decent in his role. Too bad in did not work because I really enjoyed the most recent Rocky Rocky Balboa in which Stallone gave a great performance. Really the best part in this movie was Alan Arkin. But saying Alan Arkin gave the best performance in this movie is like saying he was the best looking person at an ugly convention, its just not saying much. Still, he was without a doubt the funniest person. The thing that was probably the worst about this movie was the plot. There are things that do not fit in the plot. I do not want to ruin the movie for you if for some reason you decide to see this but there are certain common points that sports movies tend to follow and Grudge Match is no exception, but there is no build up to these almost essential plot points. The movie is cliché to say the least, and I have no problem with that, but if they decide to make the movie with Robert De Niro beginning to change so he can have a better relationship with his son, he will not just out of the blue decide to ruin that. This is just an example, there are plenty more. This movie is terrible at the beginning but it does start to find itself toward the end, but unfortunately there is just too much bad directing, screen writing, and poor acting to really make this movie worthwhile. I do not recommend you wait till this movie comes out on DVD. For more of my reviews, go to my website at reviewsbywest.com