What are the opening hours?

Monday 7am - 10pm Tuesday 7am - 10pm Wednesday 7am - 10pm Thursday 7am - 10pm Friday 7am - 10pm Saturday 8am - 6pm

https://www.facebook.com/2330872720571274/

HSNHS SSG - Republic Campus, Quezon City (2026)

08/07/2026

** Talia Shire and Sylvester Stallone were the lead actors in Rocky II (1979), and they have maintained a close professional relationship for nearly 50 years **

Rocky II, released in 1979 and directed by Sylvester Stallone himself, gave the world something the original film had only hinted at: a full, unhurried portrait of a love story built not on glamour or grand gestures but on the quiet, stubborn loyalty of two ordinary people who had chosen each other against every odd.

Stallone returned as Rocky Balboa, the South Philadelphia club fighter who had shaken the world by going the distance with heavyweight champion Apollo Creed in the first film. Now married to Adrian and trying to build a life beyond boxing, Rocky discovered that the world outside the ring offered its own brutal challenges. Unable to find steady work, facing financial pressure, and haunted by the knowledge that he had come closer than anyone expected to defeating Creed, Rocky was pulled back toward the rematch he had promised himself he would avoid.

Talia Shire returned as Adrian Pennino Balboa, and Rocky II gave her character dimensions the first film had only sketched. Adrian's pregnancy, her coma after a difficult childbirth, and her eventual awakening became the film's emotional backbone, with her quiet instruction to Rocky to win carrying enough weight to launch the entire third act. Shire played every moment of Adrian's physical and emotional journey with a restraint that never tipped into sentimentality, earning the sequence an authenticity that audiences responded to with genuine tears.

Shire had already been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the original Rocky in 1977, a recognition that placed her alongside the most celebrated performances of that year. Her portrayal of Adrian across the franchise remains one of the most beloved supporting character arcs in the history of popular cinema, built on a precise understanding of how quiet strength could be more powerful on screen than any amount of dramatic display.

Born Talia Rose Coppola on April 25, 1946, she came from one of Hollywood's most extraordinary creative families. Her brother was Francis Ford Coppola, her father was the composer Carmine Coppola, and her niece and nephew are Sofia Coppola and Nicolas Cage. Despite that remarkable pedigree, Shire deliberately adopted her professional surname to distance herself from any suggestion of favoritism, determined to build her reputation entirely on her own talent.

That talent was already established before Rocky arrived. She had received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work as Connie Corleone in The Godfather Part II in 1975, making her one of the very few actresses in history to receive nominations for two different franchises in consecutive years. She appeared in three Best Picture Academy Award winners across her career, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Rocky, a record that speaks for itself.

For Stallone, Rocky II marked the beginning of his role as director within the franchise he had created, a responsibility he embraced across multiple sequels and which gave him a creative control that shaped every aspect of Rocky's world from that point forward. His performance in the sequel balanced the humility of a man uncertain of his place in the world with the physical ferocity of a fighter who had tasted greatness and could not let it go.

Today, Stallone turns eighty and remains actively working, with Tulsa King continuing to demonstrate his range as a television performer. Shire, who also turns eighty in 2026, has stepped back from high profile film work, choosing a life of privacy focused on family and occasional creative projects. She remains a deeply respected figure in Hollywood, one of the rare actresses whose legacy spans two of the most celebrated franchises in cinema history, and whose quiet, resilient Adrian Balboa continues to be recognized by new generations as one of the screen's most genuinely moving portraits of love and endurance.

08/07/2026

**"I Saw Greatness" — Rocky Balboa, Apollo Creed, and the Brotherhood That Changed Hollywood Forever**

Rocky, released in 1976 and written by Sylvester Stallone himself, gave the world one of cinema's most enduring rivalries and, in time, one of its most genuine off screen friendships. Stallone played Rocky Balboa, a small time Philadelphia club fighter living in obscurity, working as a debt collector and dreaming of something more. Carl Weathers played Apollo Creed, the flashy, supremely confident heavyweight champion of the world, loosely inspired by Muhammad Ali, a man who turns Rocky's shot at the title from a serious bout into what he believes will be a promotional spectacle, only to discover that his opponent has something no one anticipated.

The casting of Weathers was one of the most important decisions Stallone ever made, and he knew it. The role of Apollo Creed demanded a very specific combination of qualities. Stallone said it himself years later: the part required incredible athleticism, brains, spirit, talent, and speed. When Weathers walked into the audition room, Stallone saw greatness immediately. He later admitted he did not realize at the time just how great Weathers truly was, and that he never could have accomplished what Rocky became without him.

Weathers was already a formidable athlete before he ever set foot on a film set. Born in New Orleans in 1948, he had played professional football for the Oakland Raiders and the BC Lions before transitioning into acting in the early 1970s. That athletic foundation gave Apollo Creed a physical authority that no conventionally trained actor could have replicated, and his natural charisma turned what could have been a straightforward villain into one of the most beloved characters in the entire franchise.

Their dynamic on screen worked because it operated on multiple levels simultaneously. In the first film, Apollo was the obstacle, the seemingly unbeatable champion who underestimated the heart of a fighter he had chosen for the spectacle of his name. The final round of their bout, with Rocky refusing to go down and Apollo barely holding on, landed with an emotional power that stunned audiences and critics alike, earning the film ten Academy Award nominations and the wins for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing.

By Rocky III and Rocky IV, the relationship had transformed entirely. Former enemies had become the closest of friends and training partners, with Apollo dragging Rocky back from the edge of defeat and complacency. When Apollo died in Rocky IV, killed in the ring by the Soviet Ivan Drago, the loss was felt not just by Rocky on screen but by audiences around the world who had watched the friendship build across three films. Weathers played Apollo's final moments with a defiant, heartbreaking dignity that made the scene impossible to forget.

Off screen, the bond between the two men ran just as deep. Weathers spoke warmly about the franchise in interviews, saying the Rocky scripts were always compelling and that every film in the series was worth making, worth being part of, and worth seeing. Stallone reciprocated that warmth at every opportunity, and when the two reunited at the 2017 Golden Globes to present the final award of the evening, Weathers told the audience he could not believe it had been forty years since Rocky, prompting Stallone to shoot back with perfect comic timing that he could not believe he had let Weathers win the fight considering he wrote the screenplay. The exchange drew one of the night's longest laughs and captured everything about their friendship in thirty seconds.

When Carl Weathers passed away peacefully in his sleep on February 1, 2024, at the age of seventy six, Stallone stood in front of a painting of Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed and delivered a tribute that left no doubt about what the man had meant to him. He said that Weathers was such an integral part of his life and his success that he gave him incredible credit and kudos for everything. He called him absolutely brilliant, praising his voice, his size, his power, his athletic ability, and above all his heart and his soul. He ended with five words that said everything: Apollo, keep punching.

Carl Weathers was magic. And Sylvester Stallone was so fortunate to be part of his life.

08/07/2026

** Brian Dennehy and Sylvester Stallone starred together in First Blood. On screen, Dennehy played the sheriff who relentlessly harassed Stallone's character, John Rambo. Off screen, however, the two shared a very close and friendly relationship **

First Blood, released in 1982 and directed by Ted Kotcheff, gave the world John Rambo and, in doing so, changed the trajectory of Sylvester Stallone's career forever. At the center of that transformation stood not just Stallone, but a large, commanding actor from Bridgeport, Connecticut named Brian Dennehy, whose performance as Sheriff Will Teasle turned what could have been a forgettable action villain into one of cinema's most memorably hateable antagonists.

Stallone played John Rambo, a drifting Vietnam veteran who wanders into the small town of Hope, Washington, and is immediately run out of it by Teasle, who takes one look at the long haired stranger and decides he does not belong. That decision, made out of petty local pride and thinly veiled class contempt, sets in motion one of the most influential action films ever made. Dennehy played Teasle as a small man in a position of large authority, a former Korean War veteran whose rigid sense of territorial power led him to poke a stick at something he could not have imagined.

What made Dennehy's performance so effective was its refusal to be simply evil. Teasle believed he was right. He believed he was protecting his town. And Dennehy played that conviction with enough humanity that audiences could understand, even while despising, the choices that drove Rambo into the mountains and the nation into chaos.

Behind the scenes, Dennehy contributed something Stallone never forgot. Stallone credited him publicly for helping build the character of Rambo himself, describing Dennehy as a Vietnam veteran whose experiences and insights shaped how Stallone understood the emotional core of the character. In reality, Dennehy had served in the United States Marine Corps from 1958 to 1963 but had not served in Vietnam, a distinction that became clear in later years, and one that Stallone graciously acknowledged when the truth emerged. It did not diminish the genuine contribution Dennehy made during production, offering perspectives on military service and post war psychology that gave Rambo's trauma a lived in credibility.

Dennehy also shared an extraordinary piece of behind the scenes history. Around three weeks into filming, the original script still had Rambo dying at the end. The producers flew to Los Angeles for a market screening, showed a portion of the footage, and the audience response was so overwhelming that they returned to set with a single instruction: Rambo was not dying. The sequel potential was immediately apparent, and as Dennehy later recalled, that weekend changed everything for Stallone, with studios suddenly understanding what they had on their hands.

Their connection predated First Blood. The two had worked together four years earlier on F.I.S.T. in 1978, making First Blood a reunion between two actors who already understood each other's rhythms. That familiarity showed in the film's most tense exchanges, scenes where Teasle and Rambo's conflict felt less like scripted drama than two men genuinely sizing each other up.

For Dennehy, First Blood was one highlight in a career of more than 180 screen credits spanning four decades. He earned two Tony Awards for his stage work, won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of W***y Loman in Death of a Salesman, received Emmy nominations for work in Tommy Boy, Cocoon, and The Blacklist, and played real life serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the miniseries To Catch a Killer. He was, as Stallone put it, simply a brilliant performer, one of the great character actors of his generation.

When Dennehy passed away on April 15, 2020, at the age of 81, Stallone went straight to Instagram and posted a photograph of the two of them together. His words were brief but carried everything: the great actor Brian Dennehy has passed away. He simply was a brilliant performer. The world has lost a great artist.

It was the tribute of one craftsman to another, from the man who played Rambo to the man who made Rambo necessary.

07/07/2026

** Jennifer Flavin, Sylvester Stallone’s wife—who is 22 years his junior—wished her husband a happy birthday with an affectionate message. This milestone marks over 40 years of love, commitment, and a passionate journey shared by the couple **

Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin have built one of Hollywood’s most enduring love stories, a relationship that has survived decades of fame, challenges, and personal changes. When Jennifer Flavin celebrated Stallone’s birthday, her message was seen by fans as another reminder of the deep bond between the couple and the admiration she has continued to show for her husband.

The couple first met in the late 1980s, when Stallone was already one of the biggest action stars in the world. Their relationship developed over time, and after years of ups and downs, they married in 1997. Since then, Flavin has remained one of the most important sources of support in Stallone’s life, standing beside him through both his professional achievements and personal struggles.

While Stallone became famous for iconic characters such as Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, Flavin played a different but equally meaningful role behind the scenes. She supported his career, encouraged his creative ambitions, and became a strong presence in his family life. Their relationship has often been described by fans as a partnership built on loyalty, patience, and mutual respect.

Throughout their marriage, Flavin has frequently expressed pride in Stallone’s accomplishments and celebrated his milestones. Whether honoring his birthday, his legendary film career, or his contributions to cinema, her messages often highlight not only the actor the world knows, but also the husband and father she loves.

After more than two decades together, Stallone and Flavin continue to represent a rare example of lasting commitment in Hollywood. Their journey has included difficult moments, but their ability to reconnect and remain devoted has made their love story even more meaningful to fans.

For Stallone, Jennifer Flavin has been more than just a life partner — she has been a source of strength, encouragement, and stability throughout his remarkable career. Their enduring relationship remains one of the most admired romances in the entertainment world.

07/07/2026

**The cast of The Expendables wishes legendary Sylvester Stallone a happy 80th birthday **

Eighty years ago, on July 6, 1946, a boy was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York, with partial facial paralysis caused by nerve damage during a difficult delivery, leaving him with the drooping lower lip and slurred speech that would follow him for the rest of his life. Nobody looking at that child could have predicted what was coming. Nobody, it seems, except the child himself.

Sylvester Stallone grew up in circumstances that would have broken most people before they even started. His parents divorced when he was young, he was shuffled between relatives and boarding schools, struggled academically, and was voted by his high school classmates as most likely to end up in the electric chair. He arrived in New York City as a young man with next to nothing, sleeping in a bus terminal on at least one occasion, taking any acting job he could find while writing scripts obsessively in whatever spare time he had.

The script that changed everything was Rocky. He wrote it in three and a half days in 1975, inspired by watching Muhammad Ali fight Chuck Wepner and being moved by the sight of an ordinary man refusing to quit against impossible odds. Studios offered him significant sums for the screenplay on the condition that he not star in it. Ryan O'Neal, James Caan, and Burt Reynolds were among the names suggested instead. Stallone turned every offer down, insisting he would play Rocky Balboa or the script was not for sale. He was eventually paid around thirty five thousand dollars and given the lead role. Rocky grossed over 225 million dollars worldwide, won three Academy Awards including Best Picture, and made Sylvester Stallone one of the most famous people on the planet overnight.

What followed was a career unlike almost any other in Hollywood history. John Rambo arrived in 1982 with First Blood, giving the world a second iconic character and a second franchise that would span four decades. At his commercial peak in the mid 1980s, Stallone was the defining face of American action cinema, his name above the title a guarantee of global box office success. Rocky IV alone grossed 300 million dollars in 1985, making it one of the highest grossing films of the year worldwide.

Then came the years that tested him. The late 1980s and early 1990s brought a string of commercial disappointments and critical dismissals that suggested the peak had passed. He responded by doing something few stars of his magnitude have ever chosen to do. He stripped everything away. For Cop Land in 1997, he gained forty pounds, abandoned every trace of his action hero image, and delivered the most quietly devastating dramatic performance of his career as the hearing impaired, spiritually broken Sheriff Freddy Heflin. Critics who had dismissed him for years were forced to reconsider. He won Best Actor at the Stockholm International Film Festival, and Roger Ebert called his work in the film extraordinary.

He did it again with Rocky Balboa in 2006, returning to the character at sixty years old and delivering a film so emotionally honest that audiences who had grown up with Rocky found themselves crying in theaters. He did it again with the Creed films, handing the franchise to a new generation while earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Creed in 2015, his first nomination since the original Rocky nearly forty years earlier. And he did it again with Tulsa King on Paramount Plus, proving at seventy six that he could carry a television series with warmth, humor, and an emotional intelligence that surprised even his most devoted fans.

Eighty years old today, Sylvester Stallone stands as one of the last true self made Hollywood legends, a man who built everything from nothing through a combination of talent, stubbornness, physical discipline, and an almost irrational refusal to accept the limits that others tried to place on him. He wrote himself into history not once but repeatedly, across five decades, always returning when the world had written him off.

Rocky said it best, in words that Stallone himself put on the page: it ain't about how hard you hit. It is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. At eighty, the man who wrote those words is still moving forward. Happy birthday, Sylvester Stallone. The legend earned every year.

07/07/2026

A terrifying on-set accident nearly claimed Jason Statham's life during the filming of The Expendables 3. While shooting an action scene in Bulgaria, Statham insisted on driving a 3-ton truck himself. Suddenly, the truck's brakes failed completely, sending it plunging nearly 18 meters into the sea. Read the full story in the comments 👇👇👇

06/07/2026

** Sylvester Stallone and Yvette Monreal in the film Rambo: Last Blood (2019). A mutual relationship of respect between the two on set has continued even to this day **

Rambo: Last Blood, released in 2019 and directed by Adrian Grunberg, gave Sylvester Stallone's legendary John Rambo something no previous installment had ever offered him: a family worth fighting for. At the center of that family was Gabriela, played by Yvette Monreal, a seventeen year old girl raised on Rambo's Arizona ranch alongside her grandmother Maria, and the one person in the world that the battle scarred veteran genuinely loves as his own.

Monreal's Gabriela is intelligent, headstrong, and quietly haunted by the father who abandoned her. When she defies Rambo's warnings and crosses into Mexico alone to find answers, she is immediately seized by a brutal cartel and forced into trafficking. Her kidnapping becomes the fuse that ignites Rambo's final, most personal war, transforming the film from a quiet character study into a relentless revenge thriller.

The relationship between Rambo and Gabriela gave the film its emotional weight, and critics consistently noted that it was the warmth between Stallone and Monreal that made the story's violence feel earned rather than gratuitous. Stallone himself had long wanted to give Rambo a family context, and Monreal's performance delivered exactly the kind of genuine connection he needed to anchor the story.

Off screen, Monreal described working alongside Stallone with open admiration. She admitted feeling nervous at first, aware of how many extraordinary credits he carried, but said that once they were on set together he made her feel completely secure in her choices, creating a natural family dynamic that required very little effort to sustain.

Their first meeting came during a chemistry read for the role. Midway through the audition, Stallone stepped in personally to read the scenes with her rather than letting another reader continue, a gesture Monreal later described as immediately putting her at ease. She recalled him as someone who knew precisely what he wanted from every scene and from his acting partners, while also being grounded and generous enough to create space for everyone around him to work freely.

Stallone passed along advice to Monreal that she carried with her long after filming ended. He told her that no matter how exhausting a sixteen hour shoot became, she should always give one hundred percent, because the performance would always be there once the film was released and could never be redone. It was the kind of counsel that only someone who had built a fifty year career on total commitment could give, and Monreal received it with the respect it deserved.

06/07/2026

** Sylvester Stallone and Javon Walton in the film Samaritan (2022). The young boy had once dreamed of acting alongside his idol when he was still a child, and that dream eventually came true **

Samaritan, released in 2022 on Amazon Prime Video and directed by Julius Avery, brought together Sylvester Stallone and young actor and boxer Javon "Wanna" Walton in a gritty superhero drama that felt unlike anything else in the genre that year.

Stallone played Joe, a reclusive garbage man living quietly in the crime ridden Granite City, who is gradually revealed to be Samaritan, a legendary super powered vigilante long presumed dead after a catastrophic battle with his villainous twin brother Nemesis twenty years earlier.

Walton played Sam Cleary, a resourceful thirteen year old obsessed with finding proof that Samaritan is still alive, who becomes convinced his mysterious neighbor is the hero the city desperately needs.

Their on screen relationship became the emotional engine of the entire film. Sam's relentless energy and idealism slowly pulled the weary, isolated Joe back toward a sense of purpose, with critics noting that the genuine warmth between the two performers gave the story a human dimension that lifted it above a typical superhero action picture.

Off screen, their bond was every bit as real. Walton had grown up watching every Rocky film from a young age and openly described working alongside Stallone as something truly special, saying it was crazy that he actually got to work with the man he had admired since childhood.

He recalled that Stallone was an amazing actor who taught him the value of improvisation, showing him how to find unexpected moments within a scene rather than rigidly following the written page.

The connection deepened through their shared passion for boxing. Walton was no ordinary teenage fan. A five time Georgia State Boxing Champion and four time USA Boxing South East Regional Champion with over eighty competitive bouts before his sixteenth birthday, he was one of the rare young actors who could genuinely hold his own in a boxing conversation with the creator of Rocky Balboa.

The two talked about boxing every single day on set, and Walton was personally invited to Stallone's home, where he was stunned to discover an extraordinary private collection of antique boxing memorabilia including old school gloves originally stuffed with horsehair.

He later recalled being genuinely shocked at how deeply Stallone knew the history of the sport, including obscure fighters from generations past that most people had long forgotten.

Stallone returned the admiration fully and publicly, praising Walton's talent, energy, and total dedication to the craft during press appearances for the film. For both men, Samaritan became something more than a film credit. It was a meeting between generations of performers connected by a love of storytelling and a love of the fight game, a combination that gave one of 2022's most unexpected streaming releases its truest and most lasting strength.

06/07/2026

Before they became Hollywood legends, Sylvester Stallone and Richard Gere were involved in an explosive on-set feud that changed both of their careers forever. What began as a simple lunch break reportedly spiraled into a shocking confrontation involving spilled mustard, flying tempers, and a physical altercation that stunned the entire crew. The situation escalated so badly that Richard Gere was ultimately replaced by Perry King, changing the film’s dynamic forever. Was it just a misunderstanding—or a clash of two unstoppable egos destined for greatness? The incredible story behind The Lords of Flatbush (1974) remains one of Hollywood’s most unforgettable behind-the-scenes dramas.
I’ve pinned the story in the comments section of this post 👇👇👇

05/07/2026

** Sonny Landham was known as a “backstage terror,” with a reputation for occasionally losing his temper and even getting into physical confrontations with co-stars during filming. However, when he was cast by Sylvester Stallone as a prison guard in Lock Up 1989, Landham showed a highly professional attitude and deep respect toward the legendary actor, maintaining a disciplined and cooperative presence on set **

Lock Up, released in 1989 and directed by John Flynn, brought Sylvester Stallone and Sonny Landham together in a gritty prison drama that placed them on opposite sides of the cell block. Stallone played Frank Leone, a decent, hardworking mechanic serving the last months of a minor sentence, who is suddenly and illegally transferred to a brutal maximum security prison by a sadistic warden seeking personal revenge. Landham played C***k Weber, the prison's most feared inmate, a powerful and violent enforcer who becomes one of the main threats standing between Frank and survival.

The two men brought very different energies to their confrontations on screen. Stallone played Frank as a man of quiet determination and compressed rage, someone who absorbs punishment until he has no choice but to fight back. Landham, physically imposing and radiating genuine danger, made C***k Weber a memorable prison villain, one whose menace felt earned rather than performed.

Off screen, Landham's reputation as a genuinely volatile personality was already well established in Hollywood before Lock Up. During the production of Predator two years earlier, the film's insurance company had demanded that a bodyguard be hired specifically to protect the rest of the cast and crew from Landham, not the other way around. Director John McTiernan later recalled the arrangement plainly, confirming the bodyguard's sole purpose was to keep Landham from harming others. First assistant director Beau Marks put it more bluntly, saying that if Landham started drinking, all bets were off.

Despite that fearsome reputation, those who worked with Landham consistently noted a clear distinction between the man's volatility and his professionalism when the camera was rolling. Stallone, who was known for his discerning eye for casting and for the physical authenticity he demanded from his films, cast Landham deliberately, recognizing that the genuine danger lurking beneath his surface was exactly what the role of C***k Weber required.

Landham's career spanned a remarkable range of roles, from Walter Hill's 48 Hrs and Predator to Lock Up and beyond, always bringing an unpredictable, coiled intensity that few character actors of his era could match. In his later years he lost both legs due to heart problems and became involved in political activism in Kentucky. Sonny Landham passed away on August 17, 2017, in Lexington, Kentucky, at the age of 76, from congestive heart failure, leaving behind a career that was as complicated and forceful as the man himself.

HSNHS SSG - Republic Campus

08/07/2026

08/07/2026

08/07/2026

07/07/2026

07/07/2026

07/07/2026

06/07/2026

06/07/2026

06/07/2026

05/07/2026

Address

Opening Hours

Website

Alerts

Contact The Organization

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request

Monday	7am - 10pm
Tuesday	7am - 10pm
Wednesday	7am - 10pm
Thursday	7am - 10pm
Friday	7am - 10pm
Saturday	8am - 6pm