Mercenaries.

You've heard of imperialism? European industrial interests, mostly Belgian, were getting as much **** as they could from the Congo. In the 1960s the Western world decided that that was uncool if you didn't at least prop up some kind of small group of wealthy locals.

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner was a mercenary.

The days and nights they battled
the Bantu to their knees
They killed to earn their living
and to help out the Congolese

Thanks microbet, that about covers it.

gotcha....man, those Belgians loved them some Congo

Riphagen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4969044/

Incredible story of Dutch traitor Dries Riphagen who collaborated with the Nazi SD, enriched himself with jewels, gems and money swindled from Jews and helped destroy Dutch resistance groups.
After the war he led the authorities on a wild goose chase in an attempt to escape justice.

Great wartime drama.

Punch Drunk Love

I've been in a Paul Thomas Anderson mood lately, so I re-watched this movie some 10 years after I first saw it. When I saw it originally, I'll admit that I wasn't paying that close of attention to it, so it was pretty much a throwaway movie for me. This time I payed attention, and boy did this pay off.

When Anderson announced at a press conference that he was going to make his next movie as a comedy starring Adam Sandler, everyone in the room laughed as they knew he was kidding. Then he blew them all away with this wonderful romantic comedy, the likes that hasn't been equaled in quite some time.

Adam Sandler, believe it or not, plays a role very similar to his roles in his stupid movies. A tortured man-boy, who is equal parts nervousness and rage. The difference, is that PTA actually knew how to make his character dark, instead of slapstick silly. He's still funny, but you feel for this man. He plays Barry Egan, a guy who sells novelty toiletries, and on the side has a plan to get a bunch of frequent flier points by buying a bunch of pudding (this is based off of a true story).

He is controlled (or corralled) by his 7 sisters, and probably has been his whole life. He tries to play nice, but once in awhile, he explodes and punches through a plate glass window, or destroys a public bathroom. He gets caught up in a scam by a phone sex place, while at the same time starting to date Emily Watson, who for some reason that is beyond explanation is into this awkward guy.

The filming of this movie is gorgeous. The hallways, the shadows, the colors, and the noise (yes, I'll call it noise, and I'm pretty sure that was completely intentional as PTA wanted us to start getting aggravated like Barry would), are all key to making this story work. There are a few memorable moments, such as them kissing in the shadows as a bunch of tourists walk by, or when Sandler is running down the hallway with that piano, and it just plain works.

The ending of this movie could not be more perfect. His confrontation with Phillip Seymour Hoffman at the furniture store is just awesome, and then he has to try and win back his girl, and it's just amazing how much I was moved by that whole sequence.

This movie should not be good. The plot is weird, the romance is unbelievable, the choice of main actor is of course a red flag, and yet it all worked. Sometimes directors have a vision for a movie, and PTA apparently saw this one a mile away. It took such courage, or maybe chutzpah, to try and put this film together, but it was so worth it.

Sandler has tried a few more serious roles since, with varying success. Reign Over Me was too over the top for me, Spanglish was decent but nothing memorable, and Funny People was good but hampered down by a few too many side plots, but basically Sandler has never returned to this greatness. He needs someone other than Judd Apatow or Dennis Dugan to bring it out of him. Come on Scorsese, come on Cuaron, take a chance and make another gem with this guy who can act if given the right vehicle.

Punch Drunk Love is my favorite PTA. Good review!

I'm totally psyched for this new Ben Affleck movie after watching several dozen ads for it during baseball games. There's no accountant for taste, as they say.

For some reason, I find the Emily Watson and Adam Sandler pairing completely believable, which probably says more about me than the film that I've seen about eight or nine times since I began using it in film class. This analysis is totally insane, but fun: https://youtu.be/2untlg3bFmk

You never disappoint, kioshk.

Captain America somethingorother There were some superheroes fighting, with some witty banter interspersed. Presumably this particular superhero fighting with witty banter movie was different because the good superheroes were fighting the other good superheroes.

Yawn...

I may never watch another superhero movie again.

The Theory of Everything A biography of Stephen Hawking, focusing in his family life and their sruggles with his disease.

I think most people know his story so there isn't a lot of new ground here. The relationships with his wife and caretaker, though, weren't something I knew in such detail.

There was quite a bit of hollywoodizing but it never went into eye rolling territory. The acting was good in general, but spectacular from Redmayne.

It did a good job of illustrating Hawking's struggle with his condition. I've always had this weird vision of him sort of rising above it emotionally, but he's human like everyone else and the movie portrayed this well.

Overall a good, not great, movie.

bone tomahawk was awesome. some of the dialogue was great and hilarious too, the deadwood comparisons kind of write themselves with the dialogue

Boiler Room - 7.5/10
If you liked The Wolf of Wall Street, then you'll like this film.

Even if u didn't like TWOWS (like me), you'll still like BOILER ROOM (like me).

I don't know, this seemed like a poor man's version of Wall Street with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas. It's ok, but nothing great like Oliver Stone's portrayal of greed.

Ben Affleck is no Gordon Gecko. Vin Diesel is in this movie not blowing anything up which is a problem. Any time he says a line, I feel like he has an earpiece where they are feeding him his lines one at a time because he's too stupid to do it otherwise. Ribisi is very good in it, but the love story between him and Nia Long is nothing like that of Sheen and Daryl Hannah. Everything is just more watered down. The honest father is way better with Martin Sheen than with Ron Rifkin.

The pacing is good, the dialogue is relatively sharp, but this is just a 2nd rate movie IMO.

Finally... after 24years, nearly a quarter century of waiting.

Is your table a giant sponge?

There are more supporting characters in Boiler Room than in Wall Street, so it would seem watered down comparing Affleck to Douglas. I agree about the love story not being as good as in Wall Street.

of course... what else could it possibly be.

vinyl Radiohead casually strewn about, sick visual brag!

Calamity Jane, starring Doris Day. Refreshingly backward. Some songs and dance numbers were snappy and fun. And that Doris Day is quite the hot sassy gal. A good roll in the hay with that blonde hair and tight buns. Or so it seems. The reality may not live up to the expectations. But that's the movies.

It's was purely accidental K... nothing to see here except the Sponge.

finally watched Sicario. I was expecting it to be a lot better. It was just okay to me. Traffic was a much better movie

I feel the opposite, Traffic had a lot of eye roll type moments as I recall. Sicario was lean and mean.

I agree with this 100%, although I'll admit I've only seen Sicario once so far, so this opinion subject to change if I ever do see it again.