Category: Rocky 4

Lady Gaga Talking Rocky Again

Craig / / 2011, Celebs, Rocky 4

On May 25, 2011, The Hollywood Reporter posted a piece titled, “Lady Gaga: I Have to Make the Music Industry Bleed“  and once again, Gaga was back with the references to Rocky. 

  • Referencing Sylvester Stallone‘s Rocky IV, the “Born This Way” singer tells Rolling Stone she wants to put the human element back into music: “My favorite part is when Apollo’s ex-trainer says to Rocky, ‘He is not a machine. He’s a man. Cut him, and once he feels his own blood, he will fear you.’ I know it sounds crazy, but I was thinking about the machine of the music industry. I started to think about how I have to make the music industry bleed to remind it that it’s human, it’s not a machine.”

 

Top Five Stallone Eighties Movies

Craig / / 2011, Cobra, First Blood, Rambo 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4

AMC recently posted their choices for the Top Five Stallone Eighties Movies.  Here’s a taste of the piece:

1. Rocky III (1982)
The third movie in the saga changes the pace, and Sly deftly walks a fine line between the Oscar-worthy drama of the movie’s predecessors and straight-up action… Rocky III is bigger, better, and more exciting than any sports movie that came before (or after)…

2. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
… one of the greatest action flicks of all time.

3. First Blood (1982)
…First Blood has a realism that is lacking from many eighties action movies…

4. Cobra (1986)
… Cobra is like Dirty Harry after five shots, three Red Bulls, and a trip to a military arsenal.

5. Rocky IV (1985)
The Rocky formula is taken to a whole new level with better training scenes and musical montages, bigger opponents (the truly monstrous Russian, Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren), and Cold War themes…

You can read the whole article here.

Dolph Talks Expendables & More

Craig / / 2011, Celebs, Expendables, Expendables 2, Rocky 4

On Wednesday, March 16, 2011, Jason Rugaard at Movie Mavericks posted an interview with Dolph Lundgren who happened to mention Sly a few times.  Here are a couple of tidbits:

  • Physically ‘Rocky IV’ was very special. We didn’t use any doubles, there was no CGI, and you couldn’t augment anything. We just had to be in great shape, and both Sly [Stallone] and I were…  I enjoyed ‘The Expendables’ too, even though I didn’t take my shirt off, I had to bulk up a bit because I was surrounded by guys like ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin and a few boys that aren’t exactly small. In cinema today there aren’t that many big guys around, but in that film we had a bunch.
  • J: Recently some footage surfaced of you and Stallone in Mexico. Internet speculation was that you were location scouting for ‘Expendables 2′. Can you comment on this? 

    DL: Ya, we were scouting a couple of locations, but I don’t think it will be shot there for whatever reasons. Though It will be filmed on multiple locations in France, China, and Ukraine. I’m not 100% sure when it will happen because Stallone is doing a couple of movies and I have a few other movies, but I’ll find out in the next couple of weeks.

  • I have always been grateful towards Stallone for giving me my shot in ‘Rocky IV’, and then again in ‘The Expendables’. Anytime he wanted to use footage of Ivan Drago, that was fine with me.
  • J: In early drafts of ‘The Expendables’ script your character was a clear-cut drug addict and psychopath. Was it a conscious decision to scale the character back? 

    DL: The original drafts were good, my character was a loose cannon a little more out there, but I think Stallone made the right decision by pulling him back a little. Some of it was cut out before it was shot, you kind of understood that he maybe had problems with drugs, but you weren’t sure. You never saw the guy use in the movie, I think that it made him easier to forgive. In the long term, I think it was a good choice.

You can read the full piece here.  Thanks to Jason Rugaard the great interview and heads-up! – Craig

 

 

 

Ranking the “Rocky” Movies

Craig / / 2011, Rocky, Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Rocky 5, Rocky Balboa

On February 9, 2011, ChicagoNow.com posted Ranking the Rocky Movies by Kyle Trompeter.  While I don’t agree with Kyle’s rankings, he does make a good case for each choice… and there is a surprise or two in his list.

And for the record, here is how I rank them:

1.  Rocky and Rocky Balboa.  {Perfect bookends to the series]
2.  Rocky III
3.  Rocky II [Depending on my mood sometimes I flip positions on II and IV]
4.  Rocky IV
5.  Rocky V [While many fans really dislike Rocky V, I am thankful that because of it we got Rocky Balboa]

– Craig

6 Stallone Movies Crack Top 100

Craig / / 2010, Honors, Over the Top, Rocky, Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Victory

On October 13, 2010, Matt King, a senior analyst at BleacherReport.com posted his choices for the 100 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time.  Not surprisingly, Sly had six movies that made the grade.  Here are Matt King’s choices and commentary.

#79   Over the Top

You can thank Sly Stallone for knowing why you turn your hat around when you arm wrestle somebody. That’s valuable information there.

Seriously, though—it’s a movie about arm wrestling. How awesome is that? It’s Stallone right around the time he discovered steroids, facing off against some guy with more neck rolls than a pug. As a man, you just have to love this. It’s man law.

#62 Victory

What’s this? It’s a sports movie and we’re playing the Germans during WWII? Yes, please.

You could make a water polo movie where a team faces off against the Germans during WWII and I would be all in. It’s too easy. The villain is built in. You don’t need to build them up or give them any depth. It’s cool. We hate them. Let’s move along.

I also have a soft spot for sports movies ending a ridiculous note. Sly Stallone catching a penalty kick pretty much fits that bill.

#46 Rocky IV

It’s hard to rank the Rocky movies. Usually when a sports movie comes out with a sequel, it sucks. But Rocky managed to make not one, but three sequels that are extremely watchable.

Somebody has to bring up the rear and, while I do have a special place in my heart for Ivan Drago and Rocky IV, it can’t compete with the others.

It does however give us some amazing lines (I must break you) and a training montage that set the gold standard for cheesy goodness. I’ll always be thankful to Rocky and the fourth installment for singlehandedly winning the Cold War.

#32 Rocky II [and if you take a look at their original post, notice where they got the Rocky II photo]

At the end of Rocky, Apollo tells him that there won’t be a rematch and Rocky says that he doesn’t want one.

Good ending, but that’s hard for us sports fans to accept. We need some kind of resolution.

It’s the same reason most Americans hate soccer for three out of every four years: we hate ties.

Thankfully, Rocky II gave us that rematch and managed to do so without seeming like a horrible cash grab and was a really solid movie.

#24 Rocky III

Rocky III is probably the most entertaining Rocky movie. It’s got over-the-top characters like Hulk Hogan and Clubber Lang, Mickey dying, and a great final fight.

Mr. T really did kick ass as Clubber. With the first two Rockys, you always liked Apollo at least a little bit. He was mouthy, but it came with charm. Clubber Lang was just big, scary, and mean.

#6 Rocky [and don’t ask me why the photo for Rocky is from Rocky Balboa]

The ultimate underdog story.

The first Rocky was the ultimate everyman. He’s just an unassuming, humble guy from Philly who ends up getting a shot at the champ through a series of events and making the most of it.

Eventually, Rocky turns into this super fighter in later movies, but in this one he’s just your average guy with a bigger than average heart. Nothing special.

Stallone will never be considered a great actor, but he’s terrific in the movie. He nails the “aw shucks” attitude.

And who could forget Mickey. That gruff voiced little troll is one of my favorite sports movie characters of all time.

*****

I was happy to see that Over the Top easily made the top 100.  I was surprised that Rocky Balboa didn’t appear on the list.  What’s up with that?  It should have been right there along side Rocky.

If you’d like to see Matt King’s entire list of 100 Greatest Sports Movies of All Time, you know what to do.

Top 10 Training Montages: Rocky Series Wins

Craig / / 2010, Honors, Rocky, Rocky 3, Rocky 4

When IGN.com decided to post their choices for The Top 10 Training Montages, you just knew that some from the Rocky series would make the cut.  I’m happy to say that Rocky, Rocky III and Rocky IV all made the top ten.  Both III and IV made the top five and IV came in at #1.  Here’s a bit of why…

10.  Rocky: The original and most iconic, Rocky demonstrated how powerful and popular a movie montage could be. Set to Bill Conti’s rousing ‘Gonna Fly Now’, the locals cheer on Rocky as he pounds the pavements of Philadelphia in preparation for his David vs. Goliath battle. The final shot of Rocky running up the 72 stone steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art became so culturally significant that it’s now a popular tourist destination, was re-named ‘Rocky Steps”‘ and has a bronze statue of Stallone by sculptor A. Thomas Schomberg at the foot of the building.

05.  Rocky III: It’s a given that any scene set to ‘Gonna Fly Now’ will be thoroughly enjoyable and writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone knew better than to tinker with greatness. The music may be the same but everything else is different; old foe Apollo Creed is now helping Rocky train, the ‘Rocky Steps’ have been replaced with a beach and the cheering children have been swapped for homoerotic slow-mo shots of Rocky and Apollo’s bulging thighs.

01.  Rocky IV: Rocky may have inspired the movie montage as we know it, but it’s Rocky IV’s fantastically ludicrous four-minute training sequence that gets the fan vote every time. With John Cafferty’s synth-tastic ‘Hearts On Fire’ blasting in the background, Rocky and his opponent Ivan Drago’s hardcore training sessions overlap throughout, allowing the audience to judge which is the most ridiculous. Whilst Rocky crumples photos of his opponent, lifts the weight of three people and does sit ups at an impossible angle, Drago trains the old fashioned way, with injections, a bank of hi-tech computers, and Brigitte Nielsen. It also has the distinction of the greatest end to a montage, with Rocky’s triumphant sprint up a mountain followed by a primal scream that says he’s ready to do battle. Endlessly watchable and ripped off by everyone from Family Guy to fans on YouTube, Rocky IV dealt a knock-out blow to the competition and remains the montage champ.

To see the full list, simply click here.

Sly & Dolph Receive Awards

Craig / / 2010, Celebs, Expendables, Honors, Rocky, Rocky 2, Rocky 3, Rocky 4, Rocky 5, Rocky 6, Rocky Balboa

From Yahoo News!

Actors Sylvester Stallone (L) and Dolph Lundgren receive an award from the Guinness Book of World Records for creating the most successful sports franchise in film history with their movie “Rocky” during a news conference for the upcoming Lionsgate motion picture “The Expendables” at Comic Con in San Diego, California July 22, 2010.

REUTERS/Mike Blake