All posts by Kev Brock

I'm a musician, singer/songwriter, blogger, writer, poet, bodybuilder, movie lover, music lover, video gamer, history/political buff, conservative/republican, etc. I like to do a lot of things.

I am noticing that more Sly Stallone posts getting more views on this site…weird…

Ever since the announcement of Sage Stallone’s death, more of my Stallone posts from the past have been getting more views. Not sure if it’s some die hard fans looking around for info or just new fans just getting into Sly because of Sage. Could be a little bit of both. Plus, “Expendables 2” is coming out soon.

Just recently Sly put out a statement asking people to leave Sage’s death at peace and treat it with respect, and I agree.

No matter what you think of the film, “Rocky V”, Sage was the important part of that film. Sly admitted he didn’t even like that movie himself, which is the main reason why he wanted to do one last Rocky movie, “Rocky Balboa”. Everyone watched “Rocky V” because of Sage’s performance in that film. His performance in that movie may not be as great but the kid helped draw people to that movie. Sage could have had a big movie career if he wanted to, but he decided not to do the big time and just do indie films with his company, Grindhouse Releasing, mostly low budget horror flicks. Sage wanted to follow his father’s footsteps in film making, he didn’t really want to become a big megastar like his Dad.

Sage may have had his personal problems, but he was just like all of us. A human being. He was not perfect, like we all aren’t and we all make mistakes. Sage’s death was a sad loss in Hollywood, no matter what you think of it. His performance in “Rocky V” meant a lot to so many people. If his character in that film didn’t matter, then he wouldn’t have been all over the news, and fans wouldn’t be showing all this support he’s been getting. It’s a shame, I’m thinking of re-watching “Rocky V” in Sage’s honor.

I hope Sly himself is staying strong and hope he’ll be able to make, the “Expendables 2” premiere. If he backs out of the premiere because of the loss of his son, that’s understandable and everyone else should respect it too.

Kev

RIP: Jon Lord 1941 – 2012

I was a huge fan of Deep Purple, especially the earlier days, with the original lineup of: Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Paice, and of course, Jon Lord. Jon Lord is a pianist, Hammond organ player and a keyboard player. He was one of the founding members of Deep Purple in the early 70’s. He was the one who helped get the band formed.

Jon was born in Leicester, England. At the age of 5, he studied classical piano. His influences range from Bach to popular Medieval music. Later on in the years, he started listening to the blues, being inspired by Hammond blues organists: Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Brother Jack McDuff, and he was also inspired by the piano rock icon, Jerry Lee Lewis. In late 1967, Lord started to listen to rock music after seeing, Vanilla Fudge live, ’cause they were known for playing organ rock. As Lord got older, he studied acting and drama in London, while there, he played piano and the organ at clubs as a session musician. Lord’s first band before Deep Purple was, the Bill Ashton Combo, which is a jazz ensemble. Then he went on to join, the Art Woods.

In 1967, Jon Lord formed Deep Purple, after former Searchers drummer, Chris Curtis had plans in forming a supergroup called, the Roundabout. Ritchie Blackmore wanted the band name to be changed to, Deep Purple, in which the band name stuck even to this day. Jon Lord was leader of the band for a while since he was the one who helped form the band, but he gave up being leader later on and continued to play organ for them. Lord was organist of Deep Purple from 1968 – 1976. Later in the years, Lord rejoined Deep Purple in 1984 and continued to play with them up until sometime in 2012. In between the years, he hasn’t been with Deep Purple, Lord was also member of Whitesnake for quite some time, and he started his own, classical composing career.

Jon Lord died of cancer, he was 71, years old.

Kev

Finished reading, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey… (***Spoilers****)

I may have read “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, once a long time ago in high school, but I had to give it a re-read, to see how different it is than the movie. Yes, both the movie and the book are very different. I find the book way better than the movie, of course. The movie version only took a few scenes from the book, but the rest of the film, they made it their own movie, pretty clearly. The movie left so much out and changed so much around.

A few examples below with a spoiler warning:

 

**************SPOILER*********************************

– The only scenes that the movie took from the book, were McMurphy’s request to vote to watch the World Series. Billy Bibbit’s death was pretty much the same. Chief killing McMurphy by smothering him with the pillow to escape the ward was the same.

– The patients do go on that deep sea fishing trip in the boat, but it’s a little different than the movie version.

– In the book, the character Cheswick kills himself by drowning himself in the pool, but in the movie version, the character lives.

– McMurphy’s character is a little different than the movie version. In the book, McMurphy was described as a muscular red head. Jack Nicholson’s version is a little different, although the dialogue is pretty similar.

*********************************************************

 

“Cuckoo’s Nest” is one of my favorite movies ever made, but I have a feeling that a remake of the film is on the way so it can be more adapted from the book. Wouldn’t surprise me if Hollywood is planning a remake of this film. It is a great book though, I couldn’t put it down.

Kev

Finished watching all of the “Underworld” movies, and I love all 4 of them!

Man, those “Underworld” movies are so damn good. I love all 4 of them! They’re all great movies and I’m already looking forward to “Underworld 5”. I definitely would love to collect all of these movies on Blu Ray soon. It’s very rare that I would like an entire franchise of sequels. For some reason, I kept watching the “Underworld” movies, and I want more, Selene, please! I’m pretty sure, Hollywood is already planning an “Underworld 5”. “Underworld: Awakening” got mixed reviews, but I thought it was a really fun flick! Kate Beckinsale just rocks as that Selene character. I hope “Underworld 5” gets in the works soon, but if it does, it probably won’t come out until 2014. Not only that I like the action in these movies, which are a blast to watch, I also like the storytelling. I think the writing is pretty good. They’re probably gonna keep going with these movies too ’cause there’s more story to tell. Glad I finally got into this series.

Kev

Brock discussses more on “Man of Steel”…

So the new Superman movie, “Man of Steel” has been the most talked about movie of the year on the internet. Which is expected, because every time a new Supes movie comes out in theaters, he is usually the most talked about superhero than all the others. Why? Because Superman is king of all superheros. The legacy of the character is bigger than all the others. Batman maybe up there, pretty close, but he’s not in Superman’s league. When Bryan Singer was making, “Superman: Returns” Warner Bros. got the same thing from the fans. A lot of skepticism going around and mixed opinions. When “Superman: Returns” came out, it got mixed reviews and it did okay in the box office. “Superman: Returns” wasn’t a hit, but did pretty good in the box office.

Now that Zack Snyder is director of the new Superman movie, “Man of Steel”, the skepticism continues even more. Zack Snyder is not everyone’s favorite director, he gets criticized for his past movies like “300”, “Watchmen” and, “Sucker Punch”. People think Zack is talented at the visuals and cinematography which I agree with, his visuals in his films are amazing, you can’t deny that.  It’s just that people complain about the writing, and the way Zack uses too much Slo Mo effects in his movies. I can understand why people are having a hard time trusting Zack because of his past work, but I totally believe in Zack and trust in Zack, that he just made a Superman movie that we’re all going to love.

Between Facebook, AICN, and other movie forums/blogs, fans have been having interesting debates and discussions about, “Man of Steel”. Some say Zack is going to make a shit Superman movie and some actually trust him. It’s all mixed. I’ve always believed Zack was the right choice to make this movie. The point of this re-boot is that it’s an introduction of a new era. Ignoring the Christopher Reeve/Donner era completely. Warner Bros., and Christopher Nolan wants to try a fresh start on Superman. Like I said, this movie is just going to be an introduction, to help build up the sequels later on. In other words, an “origin” story.

I believe we’re finally going to get a beautifully made Superman movie, that we’ve all been wanting for years. I think the movie will be action packed, dark, and the film will be told with heart also. Warner Bros. have been trying really hard to make a great Superman movie. Why have the last few Superman movies haven’t been that great? Because Superman movies are really hard to make and they’re hard stories to tell to bring on the big screen. They really are challenging stories ’cause it’s all science fiction and a lot of mystery surrounding the stories. You can tell great Superman stories in the comics, graphic novels, and animated movies easily because you can do anything with the stories. For the big screen, it’s a different thing, ya know? This is why I believe Zack Snyder got the job to direct, “Man of Steel”, ’cause he has what it takes to bring these stories to the screen. He knows his shit, he’s no joke.

People mistakenly believe that “Man of Steel” is for the longtime die hard fans, but to me, it’s looking more aimed at the new fans who don’t know anything about Superman. The new film, wants to school us in. Get really deep into the stories and characters, which “Superman: Returns” never did. All “Returns” did was concentrate on the love story between him and Lois Lane. In “Man of Steel”, it’s all about learning more about Superman. It’s about learning more about his past and why he came to Earth. Trying to figure out why he became who he is later.

And about the John Williams score, I still say the movie should still use it. If they don’t want to use it, I’m cool with that now, after seeing the bootleg trailer before it got taken down in youtube.

With all this being said though, I’m very excited and stoked for the movie. Whether it’s action packed or not, I think it’s going be an amazing film. I don’t think this film will disappoint everyone at all. People will walk out of the theaters with smiles on their faces. I’m pretty sure. I wish we didn’t have to wait next Summer to see it. They will make us happy this time around. As soon as the high quality version of the trailer arrives online, I’ll post it asap.

Kev

Cool Photo: “Man of Steel” official teaser poster revealed at San Diego Comic Con…

So the teaser trailer was shown at SDCC and so was this teaser poster, posted, here.

You know how in the “Dark Knight: Rises” teaser posters, you see a hint of Superman on them, mysteriously? Well, Nolan has done it again with the Superman “Man of Steel” poster, but this time, there’s some Batman secrecy on the “MOS”, poster. Look closely, the shining light on Supe’s chest. Does that shining light remind you of something? Yep, that’s right. That shining light is a shape of a Bat.

I hope I’m not that first one that noticed this?

Kev

Cool Video: Casting revealed for “Game of Thrones – Season 3” but they are still missing 2very important characters…

The season 3 casting of “Game of Thrones”, is looking great so far, but still they are missing a few very important characters. Where is Mance Rayder, and Ramsay Bolton? Hopefully, they’re not gonna leave those characters out.

Check out this great video that was shown at SDCC during the “Game of Thrones” panel.

Kev

RIP: Sage Moonblood Stallone 1976 – 2012

This is really sad news. I’m sure Sylvester, had to pull out of San Diego Comic Con today, when he heard the news that his son, Sage Stallone, has passed away. My heart goes out to Sly and his family. I’m pretty sure, Sly is very heartbroken and emotional about this news. Sage is mostly famous for his role as Rocky Jr., in “Rocky V” and he also co-starred with Sly in the film, “Daylight”.

Sage did not have a very big movie career. He was mostly a big fan of horror films. I believe, he even started his own horror film production company. He directed a few horror films and starred in several of them. Sage is the son of actress, Sasha Czach, who Sly was once married to.

Read more on the story, here.

I’m pretty sure the entire Stallone family is devastated, not just Sly, again, my heart goes out to them. Will this affect Sly’s movie career? Maybe a little bit, but not bad. I’m sure Sage would want his father to keep going.

Kev

Brock wishes Michael Clarke Duncan well, and hope he pulls through!!!

While Michael Clarke Dunncan is best known for the Stephen King film, “The Green Mile” also starring Tom Hanks, I’ve always admired Duncan’s talent for years. Like most people, I first learned about the guy when I saw the fantastic film, “The Green Mile” which is one of my favorite films of all times. Duncan can also be seen in Tim Burton’s remake, “Planet of the Apes”, and he was in “The Scorpion King” with the Rock. He is a talented actor.

As everyone should know by now, he was hospitalized for cardiac arrest. It doesn’t look good either and he could be the next one to go. So sad, ’cause I’ve always liked him. He’s an interesting guy who had a career on a positive note. This really sucks!

Kev