Sylvester Stallone

Hillary spent the morning touring a sheet metal factory in Philadelphia. She's using "Eye of the Tiger" as her theme song and referencing Rocky in her remarks.

With Rambo on his side, presidential hopeful John McCain has nothing to worry about. In this clip from Fox News, an anchor asks actor Sylvester Stallone (a.k.a. Sly) who he supports in the upcoming presidential race. Considering Mr. McCain’s cinematic war-hero history—you know, the whole Hanoi P.O.W. stint back in the 60’s—Mr. Stallone has got to love the guy.

After the Republican senator from Arizona, 71, has a bit of trouble hearing the Fox anchor through his earpiece, they deliver the goods. Here’s what the 61-year-old actor had to say about his primo politico:

“I like McCain a lot, a lot. And you know things may change along the way, but there’s something about matching the character with the script. And right now, the script is being written and the reality is pretty brutal and hard-edged, and like a rough action film, you need somebody who’s been in that to deal with it.”

Despite taking an astronomical dip at the box office, Cloverfield (No. 1) managed to hold on to the top spot here in the city. (Nationally, it wasn’t so lucky, coming in fourth. But then that wasn't the head of Jebediah Springfield bounding down Main Street, was it?) Meanwhile, Meet the Spartans nabbed the country’s number one ranking, while it only ranked seventh in Manhattan. Maybe we like our action flicks to be smart. But then how to explain Rambo’s (No. 2) success here? And swinging back on the pendulum, how again to explain the fact that Juno, in its eighth week, beat out Spartans here?

OK, we'll give it a try. In the city, believe it or not, there is still a robust audience for old fashioned pump-the-bad-guys full-of-lead vigilante flicks, even as the politically sensitive places to stage them in are dwindling—Thailand? Burmese rebels? Really? You just can't stretch them too thin: the plethora of Manhattan man-boys who ran out to see the resurrection of the Sylvester Stallone character explains the Cloverfield drain (that and poor word-of-mouth), the shlockiness of Spartans and the Oscar-fuel behind Juno explains the rest.  read more »

On the night of Nov. 16, Jon Stewart gave a rare stand-up performance at the grand opening of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas. His act was introduced by Planet Hollywood founder Sylvester Stallone ("I would like to introduce the man who taught me how to do one armed pushups,") and was followed by a blues concert by another Planet Hollywood founder Bruce Willis. ("I got to get out that window, I'm too young to die," he sang.)

In between the two action stars, Stewart, dressed casually and free to curse, observed that the junk-cluttered walls of the theater, which is usually the site of the all-things-bangable percussion spectacle "Stomp," looked like they were made out of a magnet.

He riffed on O.J. Simpson's arrest for armed robbery, and joked that since O.J. got off for murder last time, he was probably now thinking to himself, "I should have killed those motherfuckers."  read more »

Sly Stone's long-in-the-works Edgar Allen Poe biopic is making progress, according to Cinema Blend.
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