The Point Radio: Stallone and De Niro Deliver The Punch

If you think GRUDGE MATCH is just ROCKY MEETS RAGING BULL, thick again. Sylvester Stallone and co-star, Robert De Niro, explain how boxing isn’t the message here. Plus Marvel finally admits that Paul Rudd is Ant Man, and finally an end to HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. THE POINT covers it 24/7! Take us ANYWHERE! The Point Radio App is now in the iTunes App store – and it’s FREE! Just search under “pop culture The Point”. The Point Radio – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or on any other mobile device with the Tune In Radio app – and follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

Transcript

The Point Radio It's Mike Raub, Raging Bull vs Rocky. There's a lot more than that to Grudge Match. We'll let Bob DeNiro and Sly Stallone explain it all for you. Plus Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and how does the technology in your house stack up?

Let's get to The Point. This is The Point, The Point Radio, get The Point Radio. Okay, so you've seen the trailers for Grudge Match and the first thing you're thinking, Ants Rocky meets Raging Bull. Well, there's a lot more to it than just a boxing movie.

And a lot more to it than just a story of a couple of old guys getting in shape. Of course, that was part of it as Sylvester Stallone explains. No, it's like we've always enjoyed working out, but this thing was pretty extraordinary because I thought, all right, here we get the proof that you don't have to be crawling around in a certain age and you're obliged to start winding down.

Kind of like you're going against trend. Plus if you still have something to prove and I think a lot of people as they reach 60 and above and go, you know what, I have some unfinished business, but unfortunately, life does not afford you the opportunity to go back and kind of like right to wrong. This is the beauty of fantasy and imagination and to be able to have these guys go and correct a moment

in their life that will make their life feel somewhat fulfilled. You know, so that's the fantasy. That's why I think the empathy comes in with the audience. There was some training involved for both Sly and his co-star Robert De Niro. We had a trainer named Bob Sally who has worked with Sylvester for about 10 years.

Yeah, at least. And he's great. And so he was a big, big help. And I'm so glad that I met him. In fact, I used him or we used him.

I'm going to move called Hands of Stone where he's not just a trainer. He's a guy who's like an authority on boxing. He reads up on it very smart. And so he was a big help for me. Director Peter Segal told me that the boxing theme is actually a life message.

A metaphor for life, you know, life knocks you down and what makes a person is if you can get back up again. And what attracted me to this story was the second chances. As a matter of fact, only about nine minutes of the movie is really boxing. The rest is about relationships and people and father-sons and, you know, girls and boys and coming to terms with your age. And I think set against the backdrop of boxing, it seemed really appropriate.

Sly ended his take on that. I think that people have done it. They're not boxing movies or documentaries. They are biographies and these guys happen to be fighters. But boxing is just everyone knows what it's like to be frustrated and want to fight back on any emotional level.

And that's what we pull from. I just have an affinity for it. So to say, you know, a lot of people. And that's why there's probably been more boxing films done than any kind of film possible, except to get probably past the Haze code where you can basically be in your underwear and sweaty for two hours and get through the code at that time.

But no, I'd like to say too, because I never got to say it. It's like, what really made this thing fly? It's the inspired casting of Kevin Hart. I really brought in a whole new demographic that was really I thought it was inspired. You know, it's one thing to see grumpy old man fighting.

Okay. But then you bring in you bring in Kevin Hart and I said, wow, of course, Kim Bass here brings an essential reality to it. So I thought it was very, very clever. Meanwhile, it was a whole different situation for comedian Kevin Hart. His experience consisted of well, just being in awe of the people he was surrounded by in the film.

I'm up here as a student of the game with a bunch of stars right now, you know, from Sly to Bobby to Alan to Kim. You know, I was in great company. So I was a kid in the candy store. I got to work with people who have been doing this for a long time and who all have successful careers. And for me, it was just about sitting back, watching how they work and appreciating how they approach their craft.

So having so much time with these guys was a dream come true. You know, just it makes you feel good when you're in good company. And that's what Grudge Match was for me. So that's just alone. Robert De Niro, Adam Arkin, Kevin Hart and Kim Basinger too.

All in Grudge Match in theaters right now. Jump into the latest in pop culture. Here's a piece of trivia to amaze your friends with how many versions of the office that there been? Well, you know, there was the American one, of course. And the original one from Britain created by Ricky Gervais.

But all in total, there have been nine, including a stage one that was done overseas. And now a new version of the office that's been ordered for checks television. There'll be six episodes of that produced sometime over the next year. That will debut on TV there. Hannibal is officially headed back to NBC.

New episodes will begin on Friday, February 28th. It'll be 13 episodes of this new season. And of course, we're going to sit down with the folks behind the scenes and in front of the cameras to from the show. Look for that coming up early in 2014. But again, new season second one for Hannibal debuts on February 28th from NBC.

Probably the worst kept secret in Hollywood the past few weeks is the fact that Paul Rudd will be Ant-Man in the 2015 film set to be directed by Edgar Wright. There is a lot here. We don't know, for example, which particular version of Ant-Man Rudd will be playing either Hank Pym or Scott Lang. There's also a rumor that Rashida Jones may be taking the role of the Wasp in the film, but that is also no confirmation. A character will even be a part of this particular incarnation.

Again, Edgar Wright has been set to direct the film for a while. He's were also co-written it with Joe Cornish and the film is scheduled to be released by Marvel on the 31st of July in 2015. A collective sigh of relief all around the world as CBS has finally officially announced the finale date for how I met your mother. The season will end on the 31st of March on CBS. Of course, between now and then, look for a lot more news about the upcoming spinoff for this series that may be scheduled as early as next year's TV season.

So what's the technology factor in your house? Well, according to a recent study by Nielsen, TV technology is getting more sophisticated. 16% of the homes in America have Internet enabled televisions. 83% have HDTVs. That's versus 41% just four years ago and about half of the country has a DVR in their home.

Cable still rules, though, over satellite content. 54% of the homes in America use digital cable. 31% get their TV entertainment from satellite. All right. So what's the deal between Shia Labouf and Dan clouds?

Well, here's how it all started. The actor and occasional cartoonist released an online short film called HowardCantor.com that features comedian Jim Gaffigan and it's very, very, and there's underlines under the word very there, similar to a thing that Dan did in a comic back in 2007. Even the opening narration in both pieces are very similar. When approached about this, of course, on Twitter, Labouf replied with a statement saying copying isn't particularly creative work.

Being inspired by someone else's idea to produce something new and different is creative work. Check out the facts and evidence online and decide for yourself on this one. Maybe it was early holiday buying. Maybe it was Black Friday, but it was a great month for graphic novels and comic stores in November. Sales were up a huge amount of 14 and a half percent, even a little over that for the month.

And when you compare the whole year, well, they're still doing well. Graphic novels up so far in 2013, a little over five and a half percent where they were in 2012. Top 10 best selling graphic novels and comic stores in November started number 10 with Hawkeye volume one from Marvel. Shield Origins at number nine, number eight, Batman and Detetu Comics volume two, number seven, Nowhere Men volume one, number six, The Collection of Injustice, Gods Among Us, number five, Manhattan Projects volume three, number four, best selling graphic novel in November, Batman Night of the Owls from Vertigo, The Fairest in All the Land came in at number three.

Yu-Gi-Oh! volume five is the second best seller. And the number one that was best seller for November in the graphic novel world in comic stores. Yep, it's Walking Dead volume 19 from Image. All right, that does it for now. Busy weekend ahead for the entire universe as the holiday looms just around the corner.

We'll be back for you on Christmas Eve with our fifth anniversary here in the podcast. And in the meantime, plenty of pop culture 24-7 at GetThePointRadio.com. Perfect thing to have in the background when you're rapping or whatever particular event you have going on this weekend. Listen free as I said at GetThePointRadio.com or take us along anywhere on your busy schedule with a free app called iNet Radio. Get it in your app store for Android or Apple or an iNetRadio.com.

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