Sylvester Stallone Previews 40 Years Of Rocky Documentary

Sylvester Stallone Previews 40 Years Of Rocky Documentary

Rocky Balboa has been showing us the power of heart, perseverance and training montages since 1976’s Best Picture, Rocky. Last year’s Creed II, the eighth film in the Rocky saga, seemingly marked the cinematic end for Sylvester Stallone’s Italian Stallion after over 40 years. Now, after the final bell has rung at the end of the final round for film’s most famous pugilist, Sylvester Stallone is previewing a new documentary that looks back to the beginning. Take a look:

If you’re a fan of Rocky (and who isn’t), this sounds awesome. With Rocky’s cinematic journey now seemingly at an end, this documentary, 40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic, will give audiences the opportunity to look back on the film that started it all. It was an underdog in its own right with an unknown star, and it wound up launching a successful multi-decade franchise that defined Sylvester Stallone’s career.

Rather than look at the franchise as a whole, it appears that this documentary will really zero in on that original film and the alchemy that turned the underdog story into a true classic. What’s especially exciting is that, as Sly says in his Instagram post, this new documentary will feature behind-the-scenes footage from Rocky that has never been seen before.

That there is footage we haven’t seen before in the past four decades is really cool. That means that this documentary could give us new and even greater insight into a movie that we thought we knew pretty much everything there was to know about.

We’ll hear it all through Sly’s own voice too as he narrates the doc, so you’ll be hearing about this life-changing experience from the actor who lived it. The anecdote in the preview is endearing and classic Sly too, as he recalls being overwhelmed in the moment, but having his inner Rocky come through from the start.

40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic comes from documentary director Derek Wayne Johnson, who brings a wealth of experience and seemingly a lot of interest in tackling this subject. Derek Wayne Johnson wrote and directed the documentary John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs, about the Oscar-winning director of Rocky who also brought the world The Karate Kid and Lean on Me. He also wrote and directed the documentary Stallone: Frank, That Is, about Sylvester Stallone’s brother, Frank Stallone, and his less heralded, but still impressive career.

This isn’t the first documentary about the Rocky franchise. In 2011 there was a TV documentary movie called The Rocky Saga: Going the Distance, which covered the entire franchise to that point. Also, coinciding with the release of Creed in 2015, there was a one-hour documentary From Rocky to Creed: The Legacy Continues, narrated by Michael B. Jordan.

There was no release date or platform revealed for 40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic, but we’ll keep you updated. In the meantime check out our 2019 release schedule to see all the biggest movies headed your way this year.

Captive State Was Inspired By Some Surprising Classics

Captive State Was Inspired By Some Surprising Classics

When new science-fiction films are about to be released, it’s common that we hear a lot of filmmakers talk about what are fairly standard inspirations – films like Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Obviously this makes sense, as it’s logical to take cues from some of the best genre films of all time, but interestingly that’s not the story behind the new film Captive State. As while the movie is definitely a sci-fi tale featuring a full-scale alien invasion, it wasn’t actually classic alien invasion movies that gave co-writer/director Rupert Wyatt ideas of what he wanted to do with the feature.

The subject of Captive State’s sources of inspiration came up early in a conversation that I had with Rupert Wyatt last week, talking over the phone about his work on the new film. I started the interview asking him about where the initial idea came from, and how it developed as a movie he wanted to make, and I’ll admit that he sincerely surprised me with the titles that he namedropped:

I've always been a fan of stories about characters that rage against the machine, and that'll fight back against the institutions. So Randle P. McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, or Paul Newman [as Lucas "Luke" Jackson] and Cool Hand Luke. And I've also been a real fan of stories, or films, rather, that deal with that on a macro level - on a national level. So Battle Of Algiers is one of my favorite films, and Army Of Shadows about the French resistance, Jean-Pierre Melville.

Rather than approaching Captive State from a purely genre perspective, Rupert Wyatt was compelled to tell this story because of a personal fascination with iconoclasts, which he brought to his work on the script alongside co-writer Erica Beeney. What’s more, he was particularly interested in the idea on both small and large scales, noting examples of both personal struggles – namely battles within the walls of mental hospitals and prisons – as well as full scale revolts.

This certainly tracks with the plot developments of Captive State, which is an ensemble film set in the not-to-distant future following an invasion of extraterrestrials known as the Legislators. The story tracks a number of different narratives to show life in this world, including those both trying to maintain a level or order, and those who are trying to take down what they see to be an oppressive system.

Rupert Wyatt is no stranger to science-fiction, having previously directed Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, but his approach to genre with this one was a bit secondary. Taking the inspiration he did from the films mentioned above, he felt he wanted to tell a story in America, but not one that has already been told. As a result, it was felt by the filmmaker that the best move would be to tell a story set in the future instead of the past. Said Wyatt,

I thought it would be really interesting to be able to tell a story like that, but on the footprint of America - North America. And rather than delve back to the American revolution when they were kicking the likes of me out of the country, I thought what about if I kind of push into the future and put a documentary film crew into the future and tell that story - but in a very near future, and the occupying beings being an alien species. It really sprung from that.

It’s ultimately an impressive juggling act, but one that Captive State pulls off – both creating a heavily-detailed world and a number of engaging characters with compelling specific missions. The film, which stars Ashton Sanders, John Goodman, Vera Farmiga, Alan Ruck, James Ransone, and Kevin Dunn, arrives in theaters this Friday, and we’ll have more for you about the movie heading your way in the next few days here on CinemaBlend.

Captain Marvel Directors Agree Carol Should Team Up With This MCU Character

Captain Marvel Directors Agree Carol Should Team Up With This MCU Character

After debuting in her solo movie, Captain Marvel finally got to meet the rest of the MCU in Avengers: Endgame. While she ultimately didn't have a very large part, fans were still happy to see Carol with the Avengers. However, there's one character above all others that fans really want Carol to team up with, and that's Valkyrie. The paring is popular on the internet and the directors of Captain Marvel, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, told CinemaBlend they'd love to see the two heroes team up some day.

While Captain Marvel made a very large billion dollar-sized first impression, Valkyrie made her debut in Thor: Ragnarok. Played by Tessa Thompson, Valkyrie quickly became a fan favorite character. Seeing as they are two of the most physically strong female characters, it's no wonder fans want to see a team-up.

Stars Brie Larson and Tessa Thompson have also been cheering for a team up between their characters. So when CinemaBlend's own Eric Eisenberg asked Captain Marvel co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck which character they'd like to see Carol team with in the future, they went for the obvious choice.

Ryan Fleck: There's been a lot of... look, I have no idea what the plans are for the future. But the speculation online about Carol and Valkyrie teaming up, I think, is a pretty cool, pretty cool idea.

Anna Boden: She's one of my favorite women of Marvel.

Part of the joy of the MCU is pairing wildly different personalities together and seeing what sticks. It's how we got grade-A team ups like Thor and Rocket or Tony Stark and Doctor Strange. While only a handful of people know what the future of the MCU looks like, there's every possibility that Captain Marvel and Valkyrie will cross paths one day.

While Captain Marvel and Valkyrie would kick a lot of butt together, one hope for the pairing is romantic. There's no love interest in Captain Marvel, and some fans have identified queer themes in the film. While Carol's sexuality has yet to be addressed in the MCU, this is the internet, and it didn't take long for people to start pairing Carol up with Valkyrie, who was almost confirmed to be bisexual in Thor: Ragnarok.

Whether that's a romantic pairing is anyone's guess at this point. Marvel has promised that more LGBTQ characters are on the way, with rumors circulating that the first openly gay character will appear in The Eternals.

The future is a little unclear for these two characters, as Marvel Studios has yet to make any official announcement on its Phase 4 slate of films. However, you better believe that news will be coming soon, so stick right here at CinemaBlend, and we'll be sure to keep you updated with new information as soon as it becomes available.

The 6 Best Brad Pitt Movies, And The 4 Worst

The 6 Best Brad Pitt Movies, And The 4 Worst

Brad Pitt is Hollywood royalty, with a career spanning 30 plus years and a remarkable number of box office smash hits. Though he’s never won an Academy Award (really), he has put on some powerhouse performance in movies like Fight Club, Se7en, 12 Monkeys, and Ocean’s Eleven. He’s also put out a fair amount of duds, a few of which are really quite bad.

We put together a handy-dandy list of some of his best performances and movies as well as a few of his worst. As with anyone with a CV as long as Brad Pitt’s, some major performances just missed the cut, like Inglourious Basterds, 12 Years A Slave, The Big Short, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and the movie that launched his career, Thelma & Louise. Brad Pitt's had quite an amazing career, to say the least, let's take a look.

The Best Brad Pitt Movies

Fight Club (1999)

Fight Club was not a huge hit when it was released, but it’s become a classic. It's often called a cult classic, but it’s far too popular for that these days. Based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk and directed by the great David Fincher, Fight Club features Brad Pitt as The Narrator’s alter-ego, a man called Tyler Durden, who encourages The Narrator (Edward Norton) to start an underground fight club. Brad Pitt’s performance is pitch perfect as a jumpy, angry figment of The Narrator’s imagination.

12 Monkeys (1995)

12 Monkeys, directed by Terry Gilliam has everything people have come to expect from a Gilliam film. It’s visually amazing and disturbing, filled with crazy characters and a twisting plot that leaves viewers questioning humanity. Brad Pitt plays an eccentric patient in a bizarre insane asylum opposite Bruce Willis. It was the first time Pitt the heartthrob was recognized for his acting chops. The first time he proved he was more than just a pretty face, really.

Se7en (1995)

Brad Pitt’s first collaboration with director David Fincher (they've worked together three times now) is scary, twisted, and disturbing yet incredible, especially the first time you see it, before figuring out the twist at the end. Pitt’s performance as a young detective working with his partner, played by the amazing Morgan Freeman, is fantastic as the two work to solve the case of a terrifying serial killer who recreates the seven deadly sins with his victims.

Moneyball (2011)

Unlike some of the other movies on this list, Moneyball is a more straightforward film with a more straightforward performance from Brad Pitt. Based on the book by Michael Lewis about the radical new way of doing business in baseball by Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane (Pitt), the movie is a bit of revelation. Though the book was a fascinating look into modern baseball, few thought it could translate to the big screen, but director Bennett Miller and writers Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin made it work brilliantly, with huge help from an Oscar-nominated performance by Brad Pitt.

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

There are few movies that are as much fun as Ocean’s Eleven. A remake of the legendary Rat Pack classic from the '60s that was famous for its cast and their shenanigans in Las Vegas while they were filming, the updated Ocean’s Eleven features a similar all-star cast, including Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts. It also has a similar loose vibe where all the cast members look like that are genuinely having a great time making the movie. It’s the kind of flick you can turn on at any time and at any moment in the movie and watch until the end. As for Brad Pitt, he sure was hungry when he made this one.

Snatch (2000)

Brad Pitt’s performance as a sketchy Irish gypsy underground boxer in Guy Richie’s Snatch is the highlight of a very entertaining movie. His stylized accent is almost completely unintelligible, yet absolutely charming and funny. When viewers do catch a word or a line here and there, they are hilarious. It’s a completely different role than a lot of his parts and it’s truly one of his best. Snatch is easy to compare to Ocean’s Eleven, as it's a heist movie with a heavyweight cast, including Benicio Del Toro, Jason Statham, Dennis Farina, and Vinnie Jones, but it’s also totally different as it’s a movie that only Guy Richie could have made.

The Worst Brad Pitt Movies

Cool World (1992)

Cool World is a disaster of a movie from 1992, it was early in Brad Pitt’s career and frankly, he may feel lucky that it didn’t completely derail said career. Directed and drawn by legendary animator Ralph Bakshhi (Felix The Cat), Cool World is a mess in every way. Pitt plays a hardboiled live-action detective in an animated world in a sort of Who Framed Roger Rabbit for adults – or at least that was the goal. It’s 4% rating on Rotten Tomatoes pretty much says it all. It’s not even fun in a campy way.

By The Sea (2015)

By The Sea, directed by Brad Pitt’s then-wife Angelia Jolie, feels more like an excuse for the couple to hang out in the Mediterranean (it was filmed during their honeymoon in Malta) than anything else. Frankly, it’s a boring movie with a tired plot about love and betrayal in the South of France. It’s not worth exploring the plot more than that, because it’s exactly what you expect. It was a total bomb at the box office too. What else is there to say?

Johnny Suede (1991)

Johnny Suede is an impressively bad movie that star Brad Pitt and his hair. His hair, like Rami Malik’s teeth in Bohemian Rhapsody, is the real star of the performance here. Everything else about the movie is completely forgettable. He was cast in this right after filming Thelma & Louise, but before it was released, so he was still an unknown actor at the time, and thankfully for his career, this movie is completely overshadowed by his breakout performance in Thelma & Louise. Again, with different timing, his career might have been quite different.

Seven Years In Tibet (1997)

Seven Years In Tibet is a movie that SHOULD be good but… just... isn’t. Brad Pitt’s performance is uneven, with him taking on a pretty poor Austrian accent. Let’s just say it wasn’t his finest performance. Pitt plays famous mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in a story based on his real life as a POW during World War Two that escaped British capture and hid out in Tibet for rest of the war. Seven Years In Tibet really should be a great movie! It’s sad that it isn’t. It also suspiciously leaves out a crucial aspect of Harrer's life - he reportedly was possibly a Nazi.

With more than 75 acting credits over the years, Brad Pitt has had remarkably great track record, both as an actor and the in the movies he picks. There really are quite few duds on his resume and the future also looks great with the much-anticipated Once Upon A Time In Hollywood set for release this summer.

What do you think is Pitt’s best role? What about his worst? There are plenty to choose from, so we'd love to hear more.

What Surprised Jude Law and Gemma Chan The Most About The Captain Marvel Set

What Surprised Jude Law and Gemma Chan The Most About The Captain Marvel Set

The MCU family continues to expand with each new release, perhaps until each and every actor in Hollywood has a Marvel Comics inspired role. Captain Marvel brings in some red-hot names – on the planet of Hala, we will meet a handful of Kree officers including Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg and Gemma Chan’s Minn-Erva. The two actors had some of the buzziest adapted roles in 2018, as Law took on playing a younger Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald and Chan played Astrid in summer hit Crazy Rich Asians.

I got the chance to speak to Jude Law and Gemma Chan together, during recent press in Los Angeles for Captain Marvel, and asked them if there was something unique about starring in a Marvel film for the first time that took them by surprise. They both chipped in agreement with these words:

Gemma: Secrecy. I’ve never had to wear a cloak before to get from the trailer to catering, that’s very cloak and dagger.

Jude: Yeah, cloaks all over, cloaks wherever you go and you’re just aware that you’re entering into something that has huge amounts of curiosity surrounding it and prying eyes, spies and hunger for any kind of information, so you have to be on your guard.

Cloaks, huh? If only Jude Law could steal away Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility. Too bad, wrong timeline! Jude Law had to be especially covert, as the identity of his character was kept under wraps until just recently. We’d been speculating between the actor portraying Mar-Vell and Yon-Rogg for months and after hopping off set, Law had to dodge questions left and right about his Captain Marvel role.

Few movies have the combination of being high-profile and extremely secretive as Marvel films are – except maybe Star Wars. Check out the actors talk about their experience on set of Captain Marvel from our interview, below:

Being in the MCU sounds a bit stressful. The two actors sound like they are describing their lives as spies, though it’s all about going the extra mile to give audiences a good experience at the movies when Captain Marvel comes out. Even though much of the time Marvel fans are hungry for any sliver of info about coming releases, many of us can say we do appreciate the actors remaining a little concealed on set and tight-lipped in service of their characters.

In Captain Marvel, the pair are members of a Kree military unit called Starforce that Carol Danvers is also a part of when we first meet the character. Jude Law’s character has been teased to be a mentor to Danvers, while Minn-Erva looks like a bad-ass soldier fighting at their side. You can see for yourself when Captain Marvel hits theaters on March 8.

How If Beale Street Could Talk Reminds Regina King Of A Classic TV Show

How If Beale Street Could Talk Reminds Regina King Of A Classic TV Show

If you've seen If Beale Street Could Talk then you know that it's one of the most original love stories ever put on the big screen. The film focuses on Tish Rivers (KiKi Layne), a 19-year-old pregnant woman whose life long friend and now fiancé, Fonny (Stephan James) has been imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. As we follow Tish and Fonny's love story, we also see the efforts of Tish and her family to prove Fonny's innocence as the young couple struggles to keep their love alive through near impossible circumstances.

While the movie is far from a comedy, it turns out that Oscar-winning star Regina King, who plays Tish's mom Sharon, actually feels that the strong family bonds exemplified by the Rivers family (which is also comprised of Colman Domingo as dad Joseph and Teyonah Parris and sister Ernestine) remind her of those of a popular sitcom family from a classic show. Here's what King had to say:

The Rivers family is a family that exists, but even now, in 2018 when this comes out, we don't get the opportunity to see that family; where the father is there and the mother is there, and the children. You know Good Times? It's like that. That was a [TV] family in the '70s. They were poor, but there was a lot of laughter in the home, music in the home. I always say the Rivers are very similar to the Evans family!

I have to say, as I was watching the special features on the Blu-Ray for If Beale Street Could Talk (which is out now), I was very surprised to find that Regina King could make any comparison between the Rivers family in this sad, yet hopeful and lyrical love story and the Evans family from Good Times, which ran from 1974 through 1980 on CBS. But, after seeing how King manages to make the connection I can certainly understand how she came to such a conclusion.

As King mentioned, the Rivers and Evans families both share an easy closeness and are capable of having lots of fun with each other. Both families also deal with poverty and the dire circumstances that can cause, especially when things go wrong, but each group is also completely dedicated to supporting its members and showering them with as much love as possible to help them get through all the trials that life throws at them.

As you might imagine, getting a cast together that feels like a real family can be difficult, and director Barry Jenkins, who spoke about If Beale Street Could Talk during the same featurette, explained how the cast became like a real family during shooting.

Filming it, it was really important in the casting process to cast these actors who could literally, legitimately, you know, become a family. So, casting Regina King and Colman Domingo and Teyonah Parris, like, if you were on set with us you would see they all kind of huddled around KiKi, because this is KiKi's first role. She was literally the baby of the family.

No wonder the positive feelings of love and never-ending support for one another, no matter the situation, came through so well in If Beale Street Could Talk. If you want to check the movie out for the first time, or give it another watch, it's available right now on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital HD.

The Russo Brothers Confirm That Hulk's Avengers: Endgame Damage Is Permanent

The Russo Brothers Confirm That Hulk's Avengers: Endgame Damage Is Permanent

A lot of things changed for a lot of our favorite heroes in Avengers: Endgame. Some heroes died, others exited the main stage in other ways. We knew the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was going to be something quite different, and now we know many of the ways those changes will manifest. However, one often overlooked Avengers is Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk, and the events of Endgame have also changed his life in a major way.

The Hulk is the one who risks his life by being the one to use the Infinity Stones to return life to the universe. The act very nearly kills him, and leaves him with one severely damaged arm. Endgame directors the Russo brothers have now confirmed that Hulk won't simply heal from this damage, instead, it's permanent damage that Bruce Banner will have to deal with going forward. According to Joe Russo...

He’s lost an arm. He lost Natasha. That’s not coming back. He’s damaged himself. I don’t know. It’s interesting. That’s permanent damage, the same way that it was permanent damage with Thanos. It’s irreversible damage. His arm, if you noticed, is a lot skinnier. It’s blackened. So, he loses a lot of strength there.

An Incredible Hulk who has lost a lot of strength is certainly a very different Incredible Hulk. Mark Ruffalo's character is one who we expect will continue forward in the MCU, but this change will go with him.

Joe Russo admits to ComicBook.com there's really no such thing as truly "permanent" when it comes to this sort of thing in Marvel movies. In a world of magic and super advanced science, the possibility for Hulk being healed is certainly there, but the point is that Hulk will need to be actively healed in some way for this damage to go away, he's not simply going to heal if he puts some ointment on it and wraps it in a cast. Also, as Joe Russo puts it, for him the damage is permenant, because it's somebody else's job to figure out what happens next...

Maybe someone helps him repair that. Maybe someone gives him a new arm. I have no idea where that character goes from here. The nice thing is we didn’t have to pay attention to where it goes after this, we just try to tell a satisfying ending.

Joe Russo draws something of a parallel between Hulk's arm an Natasha Romanov. Both are gone, seemingly forever. One has left physical scars, the other has certainly done some emotional damage. While the relationship between Bruce Banner and Black Widow was never fully explored on screen, it was made clear that there were feelings there, and Bruce will now have to deal with them without her.

Of course, how the future of the MCU will deal with Hulk is a significant question on its own. Hulk has only been a supporting players in the various Avengers movies and Thor: Ragnarok since Mark Ruffalo took on the role. The only Hulk solo movie in the franchise was the second MCU movie made, and there has been no indication that a Ruffalo-led Hulk movie is even being considered. Marvel Studios shares the film right to the character with Universal, so making a Hulk focused movie is a bit tougher than it is with other characters.

Since the future of Avengers movies is also a big question mark, we have basically no idea wen we'll see Hulk again, or how this change in the character could manifest if and when we do.

Hopefully, we will see more of Mark Ruffalo and the Incredible Hulk very soon. Hopefully Marvel will give us a hint when that might be soon, since the entire future of the MCU is a big black box right now