THE BIG EVENT of the day, if not of them entire week, was a personal appearance by Sylvester "Rocky" Stallone in the ongoing festival sidebar, "Conversations With" -- featured monitored stage interviews with various Hollywood personalities of note. The last was with actor Ben Affleck and still to come is legendary no-budget flix director Roger Corman. Mr. Stallone, now pushing sixty-four (Born July, 1946) but looking more like thirty-four, showed up nattily dressed in a silver grey sport coat o...

'Rocky' actor Burt Young chats with Movie Geeks United Now we know why Burt Young played Sylvester Stallone’s dyspeptic bother-in-law Paulie so convincingly in the penultimate Rocky picture: He was peeved at the he-man. Interviewed on Movie Geeks United, the legendary character actor says it was only his daughter’s fond memories of his earlier collaborations with Sly that repaired an epic rift. CAPTION: Burt (above): Much, ah, happier in the final Rocky fli...

As I settled into my theatre seat to watch "Rocky Balboa", the sixth and final installment in an initially cherished and later maligned franchise, my hopes were high and I was ready to cheer. Hyped by positive pre-release buzz, it seemed that Sylvester Stallone had finally recovered the magic that made him a star exactly thirty years ago. The original film, directed by John Avildsen (The Karate Kid), was sweet, tender, humble and authentic in tone – all qualities that each subsequent sequel la...