Monday, May 31, 2004

Who Cries for Sly?

Starting in the late 70s and leading up until the middle 90s it seemed like Sylvester Stallone could do no wrong in Hollywood. His characters and movies became a part of the pop culture lexicon. Thanks to characters like Rocky Balboa, John Rambo and Snaps Provolone, Sly reached a level of success that few actors have ever seen.

In spite of his past successes though his last few films have gone straight to video, and although they aren't as good as some of his classics, they at least deserved a theatrical release. The box office of "Spy Kids 3D: Game Over" looked like it was going to change all that. It was a huge success and I was sure that it was going to put Sly back on the map.

Imagine my surprise then when I saw his latest "Shade" for sale at the local video store this weekend. When I first saw the write-up for "Shade" a few months back, I thought things were looking up for Sly. It had a solid cast of active Hollywood actors and seemed like it was on its way to a theatrical release.

Sadly that did not happen.

Who knows why "Shade" didn't see any real theatrical release and arrived on home video with very little fanfare. That's a question that I would like answered. But there is another question that I would like to see answered first: What did Sylvester Stallone do to piss off Hollywood?

2 comments:

T-_Bone said...

Maybe he's a republican.

Guy Hutchinson said...

I love Stallone, and I have pulled my hair out over the same question.
I saw Eye See You, and I LOVED it. Avenging Angelo was bad, but with sooooo many bad films getting theatrical releases, why not this?
Stallone is one of my all time favorites and I don't understand his apparent black listing.
Perhaps Rocky VI or Rambo IV will have to be released to put him back in theaters. Personally, I want to see Cobra 2.

By the way T-bone, from what I understand he is a Republican. Perhaps he'll be the next Governor in CA or President of Iraq.