When Love is not enough

It was a Saturday evening and Clifford had returned with a feeling of guilt. He knew he had been a very bad husband and father. So when he came home, he felt ashamed of himself. Not that what he did was a one-off act, in fact it was used to be his habit, but after that morning before he left for a game at the stadium with his colleagues, and drove around town with one of his mistresses with whom he ended up in a hotel room, he returned like a man who had been struck with a flash of lightening from above and a voice asking him the reason he hated his wife so much and treated her like a piece of shit.

            At forty-three, became a professor of art at thirty-seven, dark, and with the looks of a stage artist, Clifford Ekpenisi was the youngest professor at the university of Lagos, at least a few months younger than five or six others with four of them his close friends.

             Clifford lived a double life. An every-Sunday Christian, devoted to work, and often admired by many especially women, as a man any woman would be lucky to possess. Nobody, not even his friends, knew how badly he treated his wife. Though, his colleagues knew of his mistresses because they too were not innocent of this. The usual drill was to go back home and continue to love your wife after screwing with other ladies in hotels and clubs. It had been twelve years since they got married, with just a six year old daughter to compliment. Clifford had lost interest in his wife a long time ago, and hadn’t slept with her in the last six months even though he had sex at least twice every week.

            Rachael was one of those not-bad-looking ladies who in their few years of marriage became the opposite of what they had looked like because their marriage had turned bad with a man who no longer cared for them, a man who quarrelled at them every day and beat them up once in two weeks. She had forgotten any joy marriage ever had since their daughter was three.

            This morning had looked like the worst of all. Her first conversation with her husband ended badly. She was beaten up, kicked in the stomach, whipped with a belt, slapped in the face and was left sprawling on the floor. How it all started was always unknown.

            When Clifford got to the stadium that morning, he discovered one of his colleagues came along with his wife.

   ‘No one forced me to marry her.’ The colleague began to say, when they sat to discuss. ‘I felt ashamed of myself when I discovered she does not deserve the way I treat her.  I mean, she has done nothing wrong to me and has always tried to be a good wife.’ Clifford knew what his colleague was saying was the truth but he wanted to convince himself otherwise. People always look for reasons to do the wrong things. He also knew his own wife was more beautiful than this colleague’s – at least before he began to kick her around. The colleague ended, ‘Every good woman deserves the best treatment. Your wife is one of the good women I’ve known.’

            It was after having it with a lady that Clifford was struck with a thunderbolt of apprehension. He had stopped in the middle of the road and had asked the girl out of his car and out of his life. He looked at the dashboard; the time was 5:20pm. He didn’t know exactly how he felt, but he knew there was pain in his heart. He loved his wife before he married her. What the hell happened to that love? He was not particularly happy that she had given him just a daughter but he knew that was not the reason he treated her the way he did. He had no reason. He had been loving and caring to the ladies he slept with but not to the woman he married. He had beaten her up severally without any reason even while their daughter watched and cried. He had no objection when she suggested they send their little girl to her mother’s because he would be more comfortable slapping his wife without her daughter in the house. He had left her this morning crying on the floor because she accused him of coming home every night, smelling of women while he refused to sleep with her. He cursed himself and cried.

            He drove with his mind lost.  He stopped at a florist’s shop and paid for a bunch of flowers. He drove to a lady’s wear boutique and bought a dozen of dresses. Those he loved so much on women. He paid for the loveliest perform one of his girls had worn. He would take her out to dinner and try to be the husband she deserved. Through the night he would hold her in his arms while in bed and they would have non-stop blissful sex till Sunday morning.

            When he walked in, it was almost seven o’clock. His wife was lying down on the couch. He figured she must be badly asleep as she did not notice he was in the room. His first reaction was to go to the kitchen and prepare dinner but he had arranged for a dinner outside where he would apologise to her in public. He noticed she was almost frozen, and then he went to the air conditioner and raised the temperature to above 25⁰c. He set the bouquet of flowers just in front of her so it would be the first thing she saw once she woke up. Then he was able to look at her closely. Her face was pale and her hair snowy. He wondered if that was how his wife looked or had he distanced himself from her that long that he no longer knew how she looked?

            He reached for a blanket to cover her while he went for a bath. As he moved closer, something struck his attention. His wife had not moved a bit. She was not breathing. He touched her wrist. There was no pulse. Then it dawned on him.

            Rachael, his wife, was dead.

Why you got dumped

This article is for both gender but specifically for women who always feel used and dumped by men. I may not tell you what you expect exactly, but trust me this will definitely worth it.

I believe you read across the word ‘feel.’ So to begin with, getting dumped is not an action by the second person; rather it is a feeling by the first person. Did you get that? It means you never got dumped! You just feel dumped. You have to first understand the person you call your partner. And that reminds me, a lot of ladies call guys their men when the latter don’t hold the same view. That is, most times the person you see as your boyfriend/girlfriend does not have the same view of you.

Like I said, you have to understand certain things about men, especially their view on sex and relationship. We live in a country where sex is more fun and game to men than it is to women. What I mean is, as long as most dudes are concerned, sex is simply fun and game. They don’t take as seriously as women do; whereas the latter is more connected during sex than the former. So when, as a woman, you have sex with a man as an act of love, the man does it as an act of fun. When you crave for inward satisfaction, the man simply wants to ejaculate, enjoy himself at the moment, and go away. So you don’t get ‘used and dumped,’ you only feel dumped because you thought the guy was for real whereas, he is not. In the next article, we will discuss some tips on how to know a fake guy.

About relationship: men don’t define relationship in the same way as women do. In this part of the world, where this kind of thing is not taken so seriously by most people, understanding how a man’s mindset works is a way of avoiding feeling dumped. You won’t feel dumped if you are aware that your partner is not serious about the relationship. But in most cases people tend to keep carrying on even when they know the relationship is not for real. And when the other person walks away, they feel dumped. Well, something to be happy about: you got dumped because your partner is a lying bastard and you fail to notice it on time – or you probably failed to make a decision on time.

The end point of it all is that being dumped is just a feeling, and you don’t need to let it get into your system.

We Want More Nigerians In Germany – Consul General

Ingo Herbert, the new German Consul-General to Nigeria, has expressed his country’s readiness to accommodate more Nigerians, as there is currently no form of racial discrimination in the country.
Herbert, who spoke to journalists on Monday in Lagos, said about 30,000 Nigerians were already living in Germany, a population he described as not a “big community”.
According to him, the Nigerians already living in Germany are either working, studying, engaged in different businesses or married to Germans.
While he disclosed that the number of Nigerians in Germany was “increasing gradually”, he advised any Nigerian seeking to live in Germany to learn the German language.
He said: “I can assure Nigerians that they are still welcome to Germany, and are fully protected by the country’s functioning rule of law, policing and dependable judicial system.”

Adele’s ‘25’ Sells Record-Shattering 3.38 Million Copies

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Adele performed last week on the "Today" show. Credit Heidi Gutman/NBC

The final numbers are in, and they confirm expectations: Adele is a phenomenon.

Billboard reports that the singer’s new album, “25” (XL/Columbia), sold a record-shattering 3.38 million copies in the United States through its first week, according to Nielsen Music. That’s nearly a million more than the previous high mark for first-week sales — ’N Sync sold 2.4 million copies of “No Strings Attached” in 2000 — and makes “25” the first release to sell three million copies in a week since Nielsen (and previously SoundScan) began tallying hard sales data in 1991.

Adele’s coup comes in a climate far less hospitable to blockbusters: At the turn of the millennium, retailers were selling about 700 million CDs a year, while last year just 247 million albums were sold in CDs and downloads combined, according to Nielsen. (Sales of “25” are expected to be split about evenly between digital and hard copy.) Only 20 albums have ever sold more than a million copies in a week.

Its opening puts “25” easily atop the Billboard 200 and makes it the best-selling album of 2015 so far, besting Taylor Swift’s “1989,” which was released in 2014 and has sold nearly 2 million albums this year. One thing the albums have in common is that the artists chose not to stream them on Spotify, favoring potential sales over free streams and probably contributing to their monster numbers.

The industry-shaking release rollout — which included an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” and a promotional partnership with Target, the biggest retailer for physical “25” sales — comes after a period of public silence following Adele’s previous album, “21.” That album has sold some 30 million copies — 11.2 million in the United States — since 2011, but Adele, 27, has avoided steady appearances in the press and on social media.

Her public, however, proved patient, loyal and willing to spend. (Nielsen has said the typical Adele fan is a college-educated woman aged 25 to 44, according to its demographics research.) The album’s first single, “Hello,” which was released on Oct. 23 and made available on streaming services, immediately shot to No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart and has not budged since. “Hello” became the first track to sell more than 1 million downloads in a week, nearly doubling the previous record of 636,000, held by Flo Rida’s “Right Round.”

For “25,” which in addition to Adele’s trademark heartbreak ballads includes weary meditations on aging, it took just over three days of the sales week to surpass ’N Sync’s record.

One question remaining is whether Adele can top herself: “21” spent 24 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. “25” is just getting comfortable there.

Source: NYT

Court dismisses suit seeking creation of Christian courts

Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN)

A Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed a suit filed by Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) against the Attorney General of the Federation and the National Assembly over non-creation of special court to preside over Christian affairs, including marriage solemnisation and divorce.
Agbakoba had argued that since there were Sharia Courts for Muslims and Customary Courts for those who practice the African Traditional Religion in Nigeria, the respondents had violated his right to freedom from discrimination by not creating Christian Courts to preside over Christian affairs.
He had challenged the provisions of sections 21-26 and 33(2)(a)(b) of the Marriage Act and Section 15(1)(2) of the Matrimonial Causes Act, which implied that “marriages celebrated by Catholics and other Christians without resort to the Marriage Registry and the Registrar’s certification is void in the face of the law.”
He had also challenged the situation whereby Christian marital disputes were adjudicated upon at the high courts “by persons with little or no knowledge of the Christian religion”, while Muslims and ATR adherents had the benefit of taking their disputes before the Islamic and Customary courts manned by Islamic scholars and people knowledgeable in customary laws respectively.

The former President of the Nigerian Bar Association had sought a declaration that sections 21-26 and 33(2)(a)(b) of the Marriage Act as well as Section 15(1)(2) of the Matrimonial Causes Act interfered with his right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
He urged the court to nullify sections 21-26 and 33(2)(a)(b) of the Marriage Act and Section 65(1)(2) of the Matrimonial Causes Act for being inconsistent with sections 38(1) and 42(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution.
But in a judgment delivered on October 5, 2015, Justice C.J. Aneke said Agbakoba failed to show how the non-provision of courts in his religion had subjected him to any disability or discrimination and therefore dismissed the suit.
The judge said Agbakoba failed to show how he would benefit from the reliefs that he was seeking since he was already married and did not depose to any affidavit that he was contemplating a divorce.
He rejected Agbakoba’s argument that the right to marry in accordance with Christian belief is part and parcel of his (Agbakoba’s) constitutional right to freedom of religion.

The judge said, as opposed to Agbakoba’s argument, the word ‘marriage’ did not appear at all in Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution, neither did the section stipulate the procedure for solemnising a marriage or dissolving it.
“The court is therefore of the opinion that the right to freedom of religion does not include the right to a particular marriage or a particular procedure for dissolution of marriage.
“This court is also of the opinion that the applicant has not established his locus standi and his cause of action in bringing this suit. The applicant is already married and did not depose that he is contemplating divorce. Moreover, he has not proved how the reliefs, if granted, would confer a benefit on him,” Justice Aneke held.
He added, “The applicant failed to show how non-provision of courts in his religion has subjected him to any disability or discrimination…All the reliefs sought by the applicants are hereby refused.
“This suit is one for the interpretation of sections 38 and 42 of the Constitution, I make no order as to cost,” Aneke held.

Video: Watch this exciting video on the Value of Time - and learn

 

Pope Francis holds open air mass in Uganda

Catholic devotees wait for Pope Francis to arrive to lead a mass in Kampala, Uganda, November 28, 2015.

Over a million people are expected to gather Saturday at a shrine in Uganda, where Pope Francis delivers an open-air mass on the second leg of his African tour.
The mass is being held at a shrine in Namugongo for dozens of now canonized martyrs burned to death by a local king in the late 1800s for refusing to renounce their faith.
Later the pontiff will hold a rally with young people, visit a charity, and meet with local religious leaders as he continues the second day of his visit to Uganda.
On Friday, Pope Francis praised Uganda for its “outstanding” response in welcoming refugees from other parts of Africa.
“Here in East Africa, Uganda has shown outstanding concern for welcoming refugees, enabling them to rebuild their lives in security with a sense of dignity,” the pontiff said after flying into the town of Entebbe Friday. “How we deal with them is a test of our humanity.”

The U.N. refugee agency says Uganda hosts more than 500,000 refugees, most of whom have fled conflict and violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
Pope Francis also said the “world looks to Africa as the continent of hope,” noting that his three-nation tour is aimed at drawing attention to Africa’s “achievements and struggles.”
The pontiff flew to Uganda from Kenya, where he urged Kenyan youth to avoid tribalism and make the choice to listen and reach out to one another.
He spoke to tens of thousands of young Africans at Kenya’s Ksarani Stadium Friday, addressing their concerns about violence and corruption with a call to them to pray, seek to understand, and cooperate with one another, rather than give in to the impulse to commit violence against one another.

He told his audience they have the power to choose: either the path of “difficulty and division,” or the path of overcoming one’s self-interest and one’s difficulties.
Pope Francis spoke after a triumphant entrance to the stadium, standing and waving in his open-sided white vehicle — the so-called “popemobile,” as children and young adults greeted him with signs, cheers, and song. Members of the crowd blew horns, sang, and waved back, some flapping Kenyan flags in the air.
One fan carried a sign that read “Keep Calm and Welcome the Pope.”

Lagos NYSC swears in 2319 corps members

No fewer than 2319 corps members deployed to Lagos State in the 2015 Batch B, Stream 11 were sworn in by Justice Lateef Lawal- Akapo at the Lagos State Orientation Camp, Ipaja, over the weekend.
The 1058 males and 1268 females took their oath at an official swearing- in ceremony promising to be of good behaviour throughout their service year.
Speaking to the corps members, the Lagos State Coordinator, Mr Akhanemhe Cyril said the service year comprises of four cardinal programmes including orientation course, primary assignment, community development service and winding-up and passing out exercise.
He explained to them what is expected of them during each stage.
On his part, the Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode challenged the corps members to strive to surpass the achievement of their predecessors by participating actively in activities that have been scheduled for the orientation programme.

Represented by the Director General Service, Ministry of Education, Mr Tinubu Hassan, he said: “The success of each service year is dependent on the foundation laid during the orientation exercise. It is s platform for your physical, mental, emotional and psychological development, which no doubt is needed to enable you face the challenges of the service year.”

In Makurdi, court nullifies David Mark’s election

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Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, has nullified Senator David Mark’s election,representing Benue South senatorial district.
 
The court in its judgment on Saturday mornging, ordered that a fresh election be done in 90 days.
Mark had been returned as winner of the March 28 election in Benue Zone C senatorial district ahead of former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Daniel Onjeh of the All Progressive Congress.
He polled 99,583 votes, while Onjeh got 50,115 votes.
Onjeh, however, challenged the outcome of the election, it was marred by irregularities, ballot snatching and manipulation of figures.
Mark has been in the senate for about 16 years since 1999.
He spent 8 years in the senate as a floor member and another 8 years as Senate President.
On October 6, the National and State assembly election petitions tribunal sitting in Makurdi had, however, dismissed Onjeh’s petition, saying he failed to establish a case against Mark.
Mark who was Senate President from 2007 to 2015, has been in the Senate since 1999.

Toyota Tops Global Car Sales For 4th Straight Month

 

Japanese automaker, Toyota Motor Corporation on Friday said it sold a total of 8.35 million vehicles between January and October, making it the world’s top-selling automaker for the fourth month in a roll, Reuters reported.
This takes Toyota’s total sales figures beyond the 8.26 million vehicles delivery declared by scandal-hit world’s biggest automaker, Volkswagen AG for the same period.
Toyota’s dominance, which began in July, was helped by the diesel emissions scandal that hit the German automaker, Volkswagen, in September, leading to the resignation of CEO, Martin Winterkohn. Volkswagen announced earlier this month that its sales figures had receded by 5.3 percent year-on-year in October.

Kano blast: We have no death figure, Shi’ite took away the corpses – Police

The Kano State Police command said on Friday it was yet to ascertain the casualty figures in the bomb attack at Dakasoye village in Garun Malam Local Government Area of the state.
Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Muhammad Katsina, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Kano on Friday that the members of the Shi’ite Islamic sect had taken away the corpses and injured persons.

“I cannot give you the official figure of casualty and the injured because the members have taken them away.

“So, since I have not seen them physically, I cannot tell you the number of persons affected’’, he said.
He, however, said the leader of the Shi’ite movement in Kano, Malam Muhammad Turi had told some journalists in his presence at the scene that 21 persons lost their lives and many others injured in the blast.
According to him, the command had directed its officers to check at the various hospitals in Kano if they had taken the corpses to any.
He said the suspected member of Boko Haram said to have been arrested by the sect had not been handed over to the police.
Katsina added that police would make official figure of casualty public as soon as it was available.
He said the police anti-bomb squad had defused one bomb which was planted on the road. (NAN)

Natural Ways to Treat and Tighten your vagina & the True Reason for a loose vagina

This is a sponsored post. Not written by me. Read below...

One of the biggest complaints among women is that they feel their vaginas are too loose. I hear it all the time when consulting other women. It is the reason why this product is still the #1 seller in my shop. I know that the feeling of a loose vagina leaves many beautiful women with low self-esteem and unable to have the sex life they desire.

(An enhanced sex life has to do way more with the mind then the fact that the vagina is a bit more loose) There are many myths surrounding the cause of vaginal looseness that I quickly want to dispel such as: having too much sex, you were at your tightest when you were a virgin so when you start having sex you will start to lose tightness immediately, and that having a baby loosens the vagina forever. All of these, yes all of these are myths and are not true in the slightest! Phew.

It’s not the vagina that’s loose; it’s the pelvic floor muscle

It is important to know when going about looking for a natural way to fix a loose vagina that you target the correct area. The pelvic floor muscle is what surrounds both the vagina and vaginal wall muscle. When the pelvic floor muscle is tight everything else will be nicely held and supported in place. The reason the vaginal wall muscle becomes loose is because it sort of looks and acts like a folded, very elastic and stretchy accordion.  So when the pelvic floor muscle stretches, the vaginal wall muscle can’t help itself and will unfold more and more with it to.

The 3 Main Reasons for a Loose Vagina

 #1 Natural Aging process (because of wonderful gravity kicking in)

#2 Vagina loosens after multiple births (e.g. four babies over four years, and not having a break in between to strengthen the pelvic floor muscle after each one.)

#3 There are rare cases where vaginal looseness happens due to severe medical conditions

 Natural ways to tighten the Vagina

Never fear ladies there are many natural solutions for you to try & tighten your little lady. Trust in nature & the strength of your body.

#1 Have an Orgasm – the fun part about toning your pelvic floor muscles

When you have an orgasm – that is actually your pelvic floor muscle contracting. So the more you orgasm the more you start toning up your pelvic floor muscle. As your pelvic floor muscle becomes stronger, so will your orgasms – BONUS!

#2 Kegel Exercises are also known as pelvic floor exercises

Kegel exercises are also known as pelvic floor exercises because they specifically target this area and prevent weakness in the pelvic floor area. The pelvic floor is often referred to as a “hammock” of muscles that hold all of the pelvic organs in place. Kegel exercises are a great place to start treating vaginal looseness, especially if you are struggling to reach climax temporarily. Plus, they can be done in the privacy of your own home, when no one is around, so no one has to know you are doing them. Kegel exercises can only help though if they are done on a regular basis.

#3 Insert Ben-wa Balls (Geisha Balls)

Sometimes Kegel exercises are not enough to tighten the vaginal muscle, so if this is the case for you, then try inserting Ben-wa balls also, to try get a deeper strengthening of muscles in your vagina. Ben-wa balls are weighted, therefore once inserted, you have to really engage the muscles down there to keep them in!

Of all the muscles you want to tone for summer, the pelvic floor — otherwise known as your vagina muscles — is probably dead last. But Kegel weights, which do for your pelvic floor what crunches do for your abs, have myriad benefits: They help with urinary incontinence, pelvic prolapse, and supposedly make you some sort of lady sex wizard and also give you great orgasms! So if you want to be better at sexing and don't like peeing on yourself and you are tired of changing your pants every time you sneeze or cough, then Kegel weights are for you!

#4 Eve’s Intimate Secrets – I love this Magic Stick

This magic stick is the sh***. It is the reason I started promoting a natural way of healing& beautifying the lady parts. Eve Intimate Secrets helps you regain a tight vagina which is more pleasurable for both you and your man during sex, it’s more visually pleasing, and it can make you feel more youthful and therefore more confident. Don’t be surprised if you become super tight after the first week of using it, as some users report to have found!           

 Just as we care for the skin of our faces. As we exercise our legs and our arms. We eat foods that will nourish our bodies. So must we care for our intimate areas.

Eve’s Intimate Secrets’ active ingredients’ antifungal and antibacterial properties effectively counteract conditions that arise as a result of a state of imbalance of the flora, such as fungal infections (Vaginal Candidiasis), vaginal dryness, itching/inflammation of the vagina (Vaginitis), unpleasant odour/ smell (Vaginosis) or vagina discharge (Leucorrhoea).

In our culture, not much mention is given to taking care of ourselves in this way. After using this product, I wish there was an effective way to scream from the mountain tops that every woman in Nigeria and in the world should try this product!

When I agreed to use this product myself, I researched the ingredients first. All natural is important to me - especially if I'm using it in a highly absorb-able membrane area as is the vagina.

#5 Exercise, Sweat, Exercise, Sweat

Do explore other forms of exercise too, like yoga and pilates, as these all incorporate working on the pelvic floor muscle and strengthening your core muscles which together will help keep your pelvic floor muscles tighter for longer.

#6 A Healthy Diet – Fruits, Vegetables, Juices, Smoothies

To keep the muscles in your body strong, you don’t just need exercise, you also need to feed the muscle correctly daily to ensure its correct growth and repair. So, ensure you get a healthy diet full of wholegrain organic carbohydrates, organic lean animal protein (excellent muscle builder), and organic fruits and vegetables if you wish to keep your vaginal muscle healthy and strong.

To all the wonderful women out there who currently have vaginal looseness, don’t fret, there is so much you can do about it starting today. Try my suggestions above right away, and you could start feeling the benefits of a tighter vagina, and raised confidence levels sooner than you think! You have the power to do anything after all

The 5 Best Sylvester Stallone Movies That Aren't 'Rocky' Or 'Rambo'

Just for fun, as we wait for the Thursday Creed box office figures, here are my picks for my five favorite Sylvester Stallone films. But the catch is that none of these films involve either Rocky Balboa or John Rambo, because that would be too easy. So yeah, by default, these won’t necessarily be his most successful films but nor will all of them be so-called flops either. With one obvious exception, you might argue that some of these are underrated as well, which explains my fifth choice as it’s a film I like to defend when the occasion presents itself. And in order of release date, here we go…
Nighthawks (1981):
Consider this the best Stallone film you’ve probably never seen.  It’s also, all things considered, his first action movie. And it’s worth noting that Stallone didn’t immediately start out as a would-be action hero but rather slowly morphed into one as his Rocky franchise grew more fantastical and he found a second franchise when Johnny Rambo became “Rambo.” It was also originally planned as a third French Connection movie before being reworked into an original project. Considering the behind-the-scenes scuffles that went on during and after production (the film was heavily edited this way and that by Universal, by Stallone, and by the MPAA for violence issues), it’s remarkable that it remains a solid action movie.
Aside from being well ahead of its time in terms of its subject matter, this tense and frankly terrific action thriller involving a European terrorist in New York City serves as a preemptive rebuttal to the more overtly fascist ideology found in Cobra and perhaps wrongly found in Stallone’s Rambo sequels (they are more complicated than you think, but I digress).  This is actually Stallone’s first time playing a cop (something he only did twice more in the 1980′s, in Cobra and Tango and Cash) and he is far from the prototypical hard-ass movie cop who will bend any rule to get the job done.
He is actually a by-the-book police officer,  explicitly stating at one point that he did not become a cop in order to hurt people.  He is repulsed by the methods proposed by the anti-terrorism INTERPOL agent (Nigel Davenport) and wants little to do with an operation that sees the rule of law as an inconvenience.  Rutger Hauer is superb in his US debut as the lead terrorist, as he is loosely based on the notorious Carlos the Jackal. I would argue that is he is among the earliest examples of a somewhat colorful and charismatic villain for this kind of action picture, paving the way for Hans Gruber in Die Hard and every scene-stealing baddie that followed.
The violence is both potent and somewhat restrained (several murders happen entirely off-screen, with much of it neutered by the MPAA), and even the climactic carnage is treated not as catharsis but as a tragedy. In a genre where the hero is defined by how little regard he has for the rules and/or the authority he serves, Stallone’s DaSilva stands out as a cop who desperately wants to follow the rules and who believes that due process trumps the temporary emergency that terrorism represents. It’s also a terrific action thriller. Yet like almost every Stallone film from 1976 to 1985 that didn’t involve his marquee characters, this Stallone action-er was a disappointment. Although, at a cost of around $5 million, it’s eventual $19.9m worldwide total qualifies as “not a disaster.”

Recommended by Forbes

Oscar (1991):
Contrary to popular belief, Stallone can be a funny guy, both on and off the screen. But when most people think of Sylvester Stallone comedies, they think of the disastrous Rhinestone or the equally abysmal Stop or My Mom Will Shoot! But this sadly under loved slamming doors mob comedy actually works on its own low-key, small-scale terms. It was heavily advertised as “See Stallone be funny!!” with such pandering aggression that most critics watched it with their arms folded and audiences mostly stayed away. That’s a shame, as this John Landis caper is genuinely amusing and downright entertaining. And it also boasts a super early appearance from Marisa Tomei. Her next film,  My Cousin Vinny,  would win her an Oscar (which yes, she darn well deserved), turn her into a star, and become the go-to movie for first-year law students.
Based on the Claude Magnier stage play, this Walt Disney (via Buena Vista) release is actually a remake of the 1967 French film of the same name. The film is set in Depression-era Chicago and centers on a mob boss trying to go straight. What follows is a day of romantic calamities, financial struggles, shocking revelations, and mistaken identities. It’s no comedy classic, but I discovered it as a teenager on a random HBO showing and found myself genuinely enjoying it. Away from the hype and the fact that it landed right towards the end of Stallone’s “slump” (just before Cliffhanger), it is a perfectly amusing little farce with the kind of material that Tim Curry could do in his sleep back in the day.
The film cost a frankly insane (for a comedy back in 1991) $35 million, so its eventual box office take of $23.5m makes it a clear-cut flop. But in terms of Stallone comedies, it’s much better than Stop or My Mom Will Shoot! although it’s not Stallone’s funniest movie. Speaking of which…
Demolition Man (1993):
I was tempted to call this list a grouping of Stallone’s “underrated” movies, but I think this film is about as beloved as it should be. I saw it on opening weekend when I was thirteen and thought it was one of the greatest movies ever made. So it is with some shock that it still mostly holds up every time I have revisited it over the last 22 years. Stallone’s career was odd in that he would often have a year where he had two big hits within months of each other. Think 1982 with Rocky III and First Blood or 1985 with Rambo: First Blood part II and Rocky IV. So it was in 1993 when Stallone’s first “comeback” launched with Renny Harlin’s big-scale (and ultra-violent) Cliffhanger and continued with the arguably just-as-violent but noticeably more cheerful Demolition Man.
The latter, written by Daniel Waters (Heathers,  Batman Returns) among many others (with an uncredited rewrite by Fred Dekker), and directed by Marco Brambilla, is something of a modern classic. The film  concerns a present-day cop (Stallone) and a present-day crime boss (Wesley Snipes, delivering the kind of utterly outlandish super villainy not seen outside of the first batch of Batman movies) who are cryogenically frozen and then thawed out to chase each other yet again in a futuristic utopia. The would-be future world is a parody of the then-modern political correctness movement,  with a seemingly perfect and harmonious world coming at a cost in terms of conformity, but nor was it overly wistful for the would-be present day in which the diabolical Simon Phoenix flourished.
The action is rock-solid, but the joy comes from a host of genuinely delightful characters. Sandra Bullock became an overnight star running with as perhaps one of the best-written “tag along” girls ever seen in a macho male-centric action picture. Dennis Leary pops up too as the leader of an underground resistance group, and it’s amusing when the film stops dead for two minutes to let him do his stand-up act. Benjamin Bratt amuses in a pre-Law & Order turn, and even Stallone himself is having a blast. And once again this Stallone cop is a bad-ass without being a monster, as he takes real offense when he realizes that the criminals he just ruffed up in a second act skirmish were just scavengers are looking for food. The jokes all land, the production values are spectacular (this film cost $55 million back when that meant something), and the portions of the movie that have dated (like Jeffrey Dahmer being one of the frozen prisoners of the future) only add to its quirky charm.
The film is weirdly light on its feet despite wallowing in just as much violence as the likes of Cobra or Cliffhanger  and the fact that the varying genres and tones mesh together is something of a Kindergarten Cop-level miracle. Released in October of 1993, this Warner Bros. /Time Warner Inc. release was an early attempt to drop a would-be summer blockbuster into an offseason release date. The film set an October record with a $14m debut weekend, but it wasn’t super-duper leggy and ended its domestic run with just $58m. That was still the third-biggest movie ever in October at the time, behind Disney’s Cool Runnings (which opened a week earlier and legged it to $68.5m off a $7m debut) and the 1989 smash Look Who’s Talking ($140m and $296m worldwide off a $12m debut). The expensive sci-fi action comedy earned $159.1m worldwide, and although a potential sequel and/or prequel were planned, nothing ever came of it, and Stallone’s franchises remained limited to Rocky and Rambo for another 17 years.
Daylight (1996):
This one was released at the tail-end of Stallone’s early 90′s comeback run, which basically went from Cliffhanger in 1993 until Copland in 1997. As I discussed back when Bullet to the Head came out in early 2013, this film is also a product of the mid-90′s disaster movie boom, as 1996 alone brought us Twister,  Independence Day, and Daylight while 1997 would give us Dante’s Peak, Volcano, and oh yeah,  Titanic.  Anyway, this was the third of three surprisingly not-terrible Rob Cohen films, following Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Dragonheart.  The disaster drama, starring Sly as a former EMS chief who finds himself attempting to rescue survivors trapped in a sealed off tunnel, is a no frills but mostly engaging genre exercise.
The film is lean and mean, with an emphasis on mean, as the picture is arbitrarily cruel about who lives and who dies along the way.  Like the variations on The Poseidon Adventure, it presents a situation where most of the would-be victims are already dead or soon will be and then ask us to focus on the lucky few who have a token shot at survival.  With a strong cast (Amy Brenneman, Viggo Mortensen, Dan Hedaya, Stan Shaw, Jay O. Sanders, Danielle Harris, etc.) a relentless pace, and a solid and polished production (the film cost $80 million back when that meant something), Daylight is, along with the better-known Copland the following year, is the last truly wholly (artistically) successful genre film Stallone has yet made outside of his marquee franchises.
But coming on the tail-end of said comeback, it was a domestic disaster, opening with just $10m and ending its run with $33m. But it was saved by overseas strength where the picture earned a robust $126m for a $159m total. It’s not a hit, but back in 1996 a movie could theoretically crawl to break-even status on just double the budget.
The Expendables (2010):
It was a coin toss between this underrated action homage and the gritty cop drama Copland. While the James Mangold picture is pretty darn good, it also bases at least some of its impact on the somewhat false notion that Stallone hadn’t done any “real acting” in decades. As someone who has been a fan of his acting and his action from the get-go, I’d rather highlight this genuinely underrated franchise-starter. This long-gestating “action movie all-stars to the rescue” genre homage didn’t quite deliver in terms of who came to play (it’s mostly the Stallone and Jason Statham show, with the likes of Jean Claude-Van Damme, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger waiting until the next round to do more than a cameo) and it’s not all that spectacular of an action movie. But what it has over the sequels is that it makes an effort to be a real movie.
The story is cut-and-dry, with Stallone’s group of do-gooder mercenaries being hired by a devious CIA operative (Willis) to interfere with a Latin American country. What they discover is a corrupt General being strong-armed by American corporate interests (personified by Eric Roberts) and, of course, our reluctant heroes eventually make the call to do the right thing for the right reasons. Oddly enough,  The Expendables seems to almost be a rebuttal to the hopeless pessimism of Rambo, as our heroes find themselves fighting to protect one person (Giselle Itié) who might be able to make a difference all on her own in a revolution-wracked nation. In the end,  The Expendables is a throwback to that optimistic era where America still believed it could solve the world’s problems, even ones that America created.
The film doesn’t shy away from rubbing our noses in the blowback of American imperialistic interference, but it makes a point to clarify that American overseas engagement can still theoretically do good if they don’t burn the village to save it. In a skewed way, the film was both an homage to and a rebuttal of the might = right machismo that defined the 80′s era of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, and Chuck Norris movies. Today, whether or not we get to win seems no longer up to us. The most potent nostalgia found in The Expendables was rooted in the idea that America still believed that it was the good guy and could save the proverbial day (while also tossing out periodic internal bad apples) without breaking a sweat.
The second film may have all the cameos and bigger action while the third has some solid third act action beats from director Patrick Hughes, but the first film, written and directed by Stallone, is the only one that feels like it’s trying. Anyway, this Lions Gate Entertainment release opened in August of 2010 with a $35 million debut, eventually earning $108m here and $288m worldwide on a $90m budget. The Expendables 2 earned $305m worldwide in 2012 while the PG-13 and otherwise neutered Expendables 3 earned just $204m worldwide in August of 2014, mostly thanks to strong business ($72m) from China. We shall see if the threatened Expendables 4 comes to fruition. But a film with the story of the first film and the action of the second could be something to sing about.
And that’s a wrap!  As mentioned above, I basically flipped a coin on Copland. As for Cliffhanger, I like it but not as much as the others above. It has a great opening and some strong action beats, but it’s a needlessly cruel movie that nonetheless still works thanks to John Lithgow’s devilish performance and the strong production values.

Source: Forbes