Category: Staying Alive

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2022, Celebs, Family, First Blood, Rocky, Samaritan, Staying Alive, Tulsa King, Unmade Films

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2022, Celebs, Expendables, Family, Paradise Alley, Rambo, Rocky Balboa, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Samaritan, Staying Alive, Tulsa King

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

FAN2FAN Podcast: Craig Zablo Talking Stallone Interview Part 1

Craig / / 2022, Antz, Bananas, Capone, Celebs, Cobra, Daylight, Death Race 2000, Expendables, Expendables 3, Expendables 4, Expendables II, First Blood, FIST, Get Carter, John Rambo, Lords of Flatbush, Nighthawks, Oscar, Over the Top, Rambo, Rambo II, Rambo III, Rambo IV, Rhinestone, Rocky, Rocky Balboa, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, Sly Fan, StalloneZone, Staying Alive, Tango & Cash

The Fan To Fan (F2F) podcast with hosts Bernie Gonzalez, Peter Charbonneau and Doug Ziegler takes a simple idea and does it well.  Each episode of F2F features a conversation between fans.  The subject could be movies, comics, TV, video games, toys, cartoons, or anything pop culture! Bernie, Peter and Doug pick a fan with a love and/or knowledge of the episode’s topic and then do a deep dive.

Recently, the F2F team spoke with me about Sly Stallone.  When I was approached to be a guest, I explained that there are Stallone fans with greater knowledge and bigger collections than mine.  Still, they were interested in how I became a Stallone fan, the creation of StalloneZone and more.  I was already a fan of  Bernie’s Midnight Mystery, so I checked out F2F and became a fan of it as well.

Talking to Bernie, Pete and Doug was a blast.  It was truly fans hanging out.  Here’s part one of the conversation.  I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.

Sly Stallone Directed Films, Ranked

Craig / / 2021, Expendables, Paradise Alley, Rambo, Rocky Balboa, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Staying Alive

Jake Dee at ScreenRant looked at the IMDb to come up with Every Movie Sylvester Stallone Has Directed, Ranked.  I decided to compare the IMDb rankings with my own.  After the chart are my thoughts…

Jake Dee (ScreenRant)

Zablo

1. Rocky II

1. Rocky Balboa

2. Rocky Balboa

2. Rocky III

3. Rambo

3. Rambo

4. Rocky IV

4. Paradise Alley

5. Rocky III

5. The Expendables

6. The Expendables

6. Rocky II

7. Paradise Alley

7. Rocky IV

8. Staying Alive

8. Staying Alive

Dee and I agreed on two rankings: #3 – Rambo and #8 – Staying Alive.

I placed Rocky Balboa in the #1 spot for a few reasons. Sly did a wonderful job of capturing the feel of the first movie, but making sure that it also captured how things had changed with the passing of time. I also have a special place for Rocky Balboa because it was such a longshot to be made and it gave the series a wonderful bookend closing.

Rocky III made the #2 spot because Sly was able to take the classic Rocky format (from 1 and 2) and modernize it. It was a dangerous move (Rocky loses, Mickey dies, new music, fast pace, add pro-wrestling) but it worked.

Rambo is #3. Sly placed Rambo with a team and made the battle scenes more graphic. Many thought an older Rambo wouldn’t work, but Sly showed that it would not only work but be one of the best films in the Rambo series.

Paradise Alley comes in at #4. Paradise Alley doesn’t get enough love. Sly’s directorial debut and he chooses a period piece that walks the fine line between drama and comedy. I’m a huge Paradise Alley fan.

#5 is The Expendables. Don’t call it a comeback. What a cool idea. Sly brings together fan favorite action stars and he makes it work not only for this film, but also a new movie series.

Rocky 2 is #6. Sly taking over the directing chores from the man who won the Oscar for directing Rocky. It was a big step, but Sly didn’t falter. Rocky II is a worthy follow-up.

Rocky IV comes in at #7. I like the idea for Rocky IV but it falters just a bit with the Miami Vice quick-cut editing to music. I have grown to enjoy Rocky IV more over time and especially with the way it sets up Creed.

The final spot goes to Stayin’ Alive. I enjoyed this film, but one of Sly’s movies has to come in at #8. Taking on this movie was a huge challenge and props to Sly for stepping up.

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2021, Celebs, Expendables, Family, Frank Stallone, Paradise Alley, Rambo, Rocky, Rocky Balboa, Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, Rocky VI, Staying Alive

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 2020, Celebs, Cliffhanger, Cobra, Commercials, Expendables 4, Expendables Go to Hell, Homefront, Honors, Jackie Stallone, Paradise Alley, Rocky, Rocky IV, Staying Alive

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week:

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week

Craig / / 1985, 2020, Celebs, Cobra, Daylight, Demolition Man, Driven, Family, First Blood, Jennifer Flavin-Stallone, Lock Up, Nighthawks, Over the Top, Rambo, Rambo II, Rambo III, Rhinestone, Rocky, Rocky IV, Staying Alive, The Specialist

Sly and the Family Stallone News for the Week: