There’s a special kind of joy in watching an underdog story that can’t be replicated or replaced. Watching a character win against all odds reinstates the feeling of hope and catharsis in the audience. Seeing the father-son duo walking down the street at the end of The Pursuit of Happyness, the miraculous success of Jamal at the end of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, or the rise of Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine, as core contributors of NASA’s program in Hidden Figures, these films and characters stay with the audience long after the TV is turned off.
When it comes to underdog films, no one does it better than Sylvester Stallone’s Rockyfranchise. First made on an indie budget and written by a struggling Stallone, Rocky became a cultural phenomenon. Directed by John G. Avildsen, it went on to become a sensation, earning $225 million worldwide and picking up 3 Oscars. We follow Rocky, a small-time fighter who gets a shot against boxing Champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers).
Rocky II continued his story with Stallone back to act and direct from his own script. We follow Rocky now, dealing with fame and personal drama before stepping back into the ring for a redeeming rematch with Apollo Creed. The thrilling premise and an exciting finale helped the movie gross $200 million worldwide. It was praised for its emotional narrative, vision, and for adding a compelling turn in Rocky’s story. The third feature presents a complacent Rocky reaching out to his former enemy, Apollo, in his time of need, and also showcases one of the biggest turns in the franchise, which will change Rocky’s direction significantly in Rocky IV. Over the course of five movies and 2006’s intimate Rocky Balboa, we have spent decades with our favorite character. The brilliance of Stallone’s work is that the themes of the movies always resonated beyond their time.
Collider Exclusive · Oscar Best Picture Quiz Which Oscar Best Picture Is Your Perfect Movie? Parasite · Everything Everywhere · Oppenheimer · Birdman · No Country
Five Oscar Best Picture winners. Five completely different visions of what cinema can be — and what it can do to you. One of them is the film that was made for the way your mind works. Ten questions will figure out which one.
Parasite
Everything Everywhere
Oppenheimer
Birdman
No Country for Old Men
01
What kind of film experience do you actually want? The best movies don’t just entertain — they leave something behind.
02
Which idea grabs you most in a film? Great films are driven by a central obsession. What’s yours?
03
How do you like your story told? Form is content. The way a story is shaped changes what it means.
04
What makes a truly great antagonist? The opposition defines the protagonist. What kind of opposition fascinates you?
05
What do you want from a film’s ending? The final note is the one that lingers. What do you want it to sound like?
06
Which setting pulls you in most? Where a film takes place shapes everything — mood, stakes, what’s even possible.
07
What cinematic craft impresses you most? Every great film has a signature — a technical or artistic element that makes it unmistakable.
08
What kind of main character do you root for? The protagonist is the lens. Who you choose to follow says something about you.
09
How do you feel about a film that takes its time? Pace is a choice. Some films sprint; others let tension accumulate slowly, deliberately.
10
What do you want to feel walking out of the cinema? The best films leave a mark. What kind of mark do you want?
The Academy Has Decided Your Perfect Film Is…
Your answers have pointed to one Oscar Best Picture winner above all others. This is the film that was made for the way your mind works.
Parasite
You are drawn to films that operate on multiple levels simultaneously — that begin in one genre and quietly, brilliantly migrate into another. Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a film about class, desire, and the architecture of inequality that manages to be darkly funny, deeply suspenseful, and genuinely shocking across a single extraordinary running time. Your instinct is for cinema that hides its true intentions until the moment it’s ready to reveal them. Parasite is exactly that — a film that rewards close attention and punishes assumptions, right up to its devastating final image.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
You want it all — and this film gives you all of it. The Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once is one of the most maximalist films ever made: action comedy, multiverse sci-fi, family drama, existential crisis, and a genuinely earned emotional core that sneaks up on you amid the chaos. You are someone who responds to ambition, who doesn’t want cinema to choose between being entertaining and being meaningful. This film refuses that choice entirely. It is overwhelming by design, and its overwhelming nature is precisely the point — because the feeling of being crushed by infinite possibility is exactly what it’s about.
Oppenheimer
You are drawn to cinema on a grand scale — films that understand history not as a backdrop but as a force, and that place their characters inside that force and watch what happens. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a film about the terrifying gap between what we can do and what we should do, told with the full weight of one of the most consequential moments in human history behind it. You want your films to feel important without feeling self-important — to earn their ambition through sheer craft and the gravity of their subject. Oppenheimer does exactly that. It is enormous, complicated, and refuses easy comfort.
Birdman
You are drawn to films that foreground their own construction — that make the how of the filmmaking part of the what it’s about. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, shot to appear as a single continuous take, is cinema examining itself through the cracked mirror of a fading actor’s ego. You respond to formal daring, to the feeling that a film is doing something that probably shouldn’t be possible. Michael Keaton’s performance and Emmanuel Lubezki’s restless camera create something genuinely unlike anything else — a film that is simultaneously about creativity, relevance, self-destruction, and the impossibility of ever truly knowing if your work means anything at all.
No Country for Old Men
You are drawn to cinema that trusts silence, that refuses to explain itself, and that treats dread as a form of meaning. The Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men is a film about the arrival of a new kind of evil — implacable, arbitrary, and utterly indifferent to the moral frameworks we use to make sense of the world. It is one of the most formally controlled films ever made, and its controlled restraint is what makes it so terrifying. You want your films to haunt you, not comfort you. You are not interested in resolution if resolution would be dishonest. No Country for Old Men is honest in a way that most cinema never dares to be.
‘Rocky’ Franchise Has a New Home
For fans who’d love to revisit the franchise or parts of it, the time is right. The entire Rocky franchise is now available to stream on Netflix. Apart from having a great story and compelling sports drama, Rocky also touches upon the themes of self-worth, the bonds of brotherhood, family, and legacy. Boxing only provides a backdrop in these films while the narrative centers on emotional, psychological, and social struggles. If you want to continue the run, Michael B Jordan-led Creed spin-offs are also available on the platform.
Stay tuned to Collider for more streaming updates.
