Category: Demolition Man

Sylvester Stallone: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked.

Craig / / 2013, Cliffhanger, Cobra, Cop Land, Demolition Man, Get Carter, John Rambo, Judge Dredd, Nighthawks, Rambo, Rambo 2, Rambo 3, Rhinestone, Rocky, Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Rocky 5, Rocky 6, Rocky Balboa, Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot

On February 1, 2013, WhatCulture! posted Sylvester Stallone: 5 Awesome Performances and 5 That Sucked.

  • According to WhatCulture! 5 that were Awesome: Rambo [First Blood and sequels], John Spartan [Demolition Man], Gabe Walker [Cliffhanger], Freddy Heflin [Cop Land], and Rocky Balboa [Rocky and sequels].
  • Their Choices for Not-So-Awesome: Judge Dredd [same name], Ray Quick [The Specialist], Marion Cobretti [Cobra], Jack Carter [Get Carter], and Joe Bomoski [Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!].

To Awesome I would delete Spartan and Walker to make room for Jack Carter and Deke Dasilva [Nighthawks].  To Not-So-Awesome I would delete Carter and add Nick from Rhinestone. – Craig

Thomas Boatwright Sends in a Maniac

Craig / / 2012, Craig's Sly Art, Demolition Man

Thomas Boatwright is back and with a vengeance.  He knows you have to send a maniac to catch a maniac.

If you’d like to see more of Thomas Boatwright’s art check out his blog and his DA site. Send him some love.

If you get commissions, you should consider a piece from Thomas. He keeps you totally in the loop on his progress, finishes his commissions on or ahead of schedule, has very reasonable prices, is a fantastic artist and always gives you more than you’re expecting! – Craig

LotofSly: Elliott Goldenthal Autograph

Craig / / 2011, Demolition Man

That’s an autographed card for “Demolition Man” starring Sly Stallone and Wesley Snipes. It’s autographed by Elliott Goldenthal, the composer for Demolition Man. How cool is that?

My pal, Alex surprised me with a package containing it and several other Stallone-related autographs that I’m going to post on the SZ over the coming weeks. Alex, as you’ve probably guessed is also known as LotofSly on the SZ message boards where he also serves as one of our moderators [and now has his own section Me &…]. Alex has met more celebrities than anyone else I know, and he somehow always manages to get photos with them. That’s in addition to being an all-around nice guy… and as nice as Alex is THAT has to be a full time job!


Mike Torrance: It Takes a Maniac…

Craig / / 2011, Craig's Sly Art, Demolition Man

Mike Torrance aka The Krayola Kidd knows what the three shells are for and so he decided that it was time for Sly as John Spartan aka The Demolition Man.

You can see more of Mike’s art at The Daily Sketch with The Krayola Kidd and his Deviant Art site. Mike is available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable. You’re also going to be happy to know that once a month Mike has a contest for someone to win a free sketchcard!  That is how I came to own this cool sketchcard.  I won the contest and told Mike to pick a Sly character.  He chose Spartan and I couldn’t be happier.

 

 

Welcome to Rockyland

Craig / / 2010, Demolition Man, Expendables, Rambo, Rocky 5, Rocky Balboa

On December 29, 2010, IFC News posted Matt Singer’s article, “Welcome to Rockyland: Sylvester Stallone’s Viagra Cinema.” In the piece Singer explores Sly’s resurgence to the top at an age when “action stars” have long since retired.  Here are some excerpts:

  • On July 6, 2011 Sylvester Stallone will turn 65 years old. At an age when most Americans are considering their Social Security benefits, Stallone’s career is the healthiest it’s been in decades.
  • His latest film, “The Expendables,” was the first he’s headlined to gross over $100 million in the U.S. since “Rocky IV” back in 1985. Ten years ago, Stallone’s career was dead and he was a joke. Now he’s the world’s leading manufacturer of viagra cinema, movies designed to showcase the aging male frame as it performs unnatural but remarkable physical feats.
  • What Stallone’s done is basically without precedent. All of his former rivals for action film supremacy have faded away or moved on; all of his predecessors turned to moodier and more reflective work by the time they were his age.

  • …the world of Stallone’s viagra cinema: a place of physical and moral decay, the Philadelphia of “Rocky Balboa,” the Burma of “Rambo,” or the corrupt fictional island of Vilena in “The Expendables.” The heroes Stallone plays in these films refuse to concede to the decay around them or bend to the physical limitations of their age. The world may decay; Sylvester Stallone does not.
  • Given Stallone’s age, and the fact that he surrounded himself in “The Expendables” with fresh action stars like Statham and Terry Crews, it seemed reasonable to assume that he was making the film as a symbolic passing of the torch; that it would be about what it’s like to realize you’re not faster than light anymore. Nope. Ross is correct about his skills… “The Expendables” isn’t about making way for a new generation. It’s about putting that new generation in their place and showing them how it’s done. Casting Stallone’s old contemporaries like Dolph Lundgren and Mickey Rourke was good for some chuckles; it was also good for showing how good Stallone looks in comparison to them.
  • In “Rocky V,” when Rocky was forced into retirement (a first time), his constant refrain was “I didn’t hear no bell!” signifying that his life is not over and that he continues to endure. Twenty years later, Stallone is still fighting, still refusing to hear the bell. The longer he refuses, the deeper he gets into Rockyland, the more strangely compelling his viagra cinema gets.

Singer has written an excellent piece and I highly recommend it to all SZoners. – Craig