FEATURING A LIVE PERFORMANCE BY DRAGON SOUNDS!
Rocky Balboa is at the top of his game and headed toward retirement. Apollo Creed, his best friend and fellow boxer, is struggling to let go of his time in the ring. When the new kid on the scene, Ivan Drago—a fighting machine from afar—challenges Apollo, he jumps at the chance. After a tragic outcome, Rocky heads to Russia to settle the score on Christmas Day.
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The night will kick off by celebrating the music from ROCKY IV performed by Toronto’s best Miami Connection tribute band, DRAGON SOUNDS!
We started with a New Year’s Day fight—Apollo Creed vs Rocky Balboa. Now we bookend the year: Balboa in snowy Russia, training and fighting on Christmas Day. It is a perfect look at how Stallone understands his audience and how to fill people’s hearts, gets them excited, and pulls them together to create a lasting cinema experience. Stallone as a filmmaker was often ahead of his peers about the direction of the industry. He understood the power of his IP at the box office and tapped into the power of the original film, reworking the heart and grit of it for the mid 80s. Stallone created a big bad audiences would love to hate, and painted an idea that was the new David and Goliath. He packed the film with a punch-the-sky soundtrack and outfitted it with multiple dynamic montages that would appeal to the MTV crowd of the era. Though Stallone wanted to make some changes with his director’s cut, the original stands strong and is a time machine to that era that he should be proud of. The industry certainly owes a lot to ol’ Sly. Happy Holidays! (VANYA GARRAWAY)