Review of 2nd London screening of Nelson Spyk's London Na Wa

The movie London Na Wa was screened for the second time in London at the Lighthouse Camberwell on Saturday 23rd November 2013. I must commend the Director of the movie Nelson Spyk for the boldness to premiere the movie a second time in London. I am aware that it costs a lot of money to premiere these movies especially in a setting where people are not willing to pay for tickets.

The red carpet had members of the cast and crew and some of the big wigs in Nollywood UK including Collins Archie Pearce, Ruke Amata, Rita Nzelu, Toksy Bello, Toyin Moore, Theodora  and Ayo Oyebade, Fatima Jabbe Bio, Maureen Okafor and the cast of Purity of Heart, Riyike Alayande, Desmond Finney from Sierra Leone and a few others.

I would like to say to Nelson and to other Producers and Directors in Nollywood UK not to be discouraged but continue what they believe in and aim to attain to excellence.

The night was compered by Collins Archie Pearce. The premiere started with a musical performance with King Kaz and also featured performances by I Rise, UG and Don D.

Sound: There was a lot of feedback and humming and some sort of echo on the sound and in some scenes, one could not clearly hear what was being said. To me and to some of the viewers that I spoke to that was a major concern. People need to be able to hear with clarity what is being said to be able to understand the movie. Therefore overall for the sound, I would award a mark of 6.

Picture quality: My first impressions of the picture quality was that although they did not have much problems, they were a bit distant. This view was echoed by some people I spoke to after the movie. This might have been deliberately done by the Director.  However, the cinematography in the movie must be commended. There was for example the beautiful skyline. I must also commend Nelson on the effects he used in the film. Due to the storyline that the Director was trying to portray, I did not even recognise some of the actresses who were made to look big, whereas they are small. The film was all about having breasts and in totality, I would award a score of 8 for the picture quality.

Cast: The movie starred a lot of upcoming artists and included Marie Gomez (Class Act Winner 2012 and Zafaa Award winner), Eleanor Agala, Olivia Eze, Kevwe Ogunje, Akinosho Oluwaseyi, Collins Archie Pearce, Nonso Nwaiwu, Jull Kay, Lillian Gonese, Christiana Awotayo, Pam Pam, Tosyne Raymond, Rich Daniel Don and a few others. I must commend the likes of Elenor, Kevwe and Nonso who in my view did brilliantly and within the scope of the storyline sold the story very well. The other members of the cast did what they were briefed to do just act and express themselves. This is a first in Nollywood, but I believe that with a script and more direction, the movie would have been clearer and the expression would have been better. I see a lot od potential in most of the upcoming cast in the movie, but the truth is that sometimes, I got so bored just seating and watching the same thing. Overall, I give the cast and the way the story was presented 6.5

Story line: To me when I watch a movie, within the first few minutes, I want to know what the whole movie is about even if I don’t know the conclusion. I did not get this from London Na Wa. Although, it was comical, in my view it was here and there. The film was basically about three main characters who were willing to go to any extent to protect their relationships. There were relationship experiences from church based solutions to the use of voodoo. The film highlighted in most parts how various ladies took to diabolic means to either tie down the destinies of men or to get things from the men

it is a comical movie meant to make the audience laugh and there were elements of the movie that made the audience laugh. For me, I fell off my chair at the end of the movie as I could not stop laughing at the last scene. Some of the scenes typified an African setting where everybody is talking together and so no one understands what is being said or the message that is being passed. According to one of the people I spoke to at the end of the movie, one of the Producers of a movie, she did not understand 90% of the movie, but all she saw was women with big breasts and big butts. On the whole, while I got it in the end, the general view was that most people got bored of trying to understand what was going on. In spite of this I would award the storyline because of the fact that it is comical 6.5

Overall performance: While I know that people may give me a flack over this review, credit must be given to the Director for trying to do something different. The movie is in no wise perfect and I believe that some structure would have done justice, but non the less, the movie was produced and a message was sent out. Overall for effort and for trying to be different, I award the movie a 6.

In totality of a possible score of 50, the movie has scored 33 which means 66 out of 100 which give it 6.6. Nelson is a brilliant Cinematographer so I am expecting him to top up with his next project. Would I recommend this movie, yes I would so that people can make their own impressions about the movie.

Watch the trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_erPB4Fdvg

Review of London Premiere of Maureen Okafor's Purity of Heart

The film Purity of Heart premiered on Saturday 2nd November 2013 at the Lighthouse in Camberwell. To my knowledge this is the first christian Nollywood movie Premier here in the UK. As usual the red carpet featured the cast and crew of the movie, celebrities from industry including celebrity fashion designer Adebayo Jones, actors, producers and memberss of the Nollywood Movie industry in the UK, Pastors and Ministers and members of the public.

The premiere being a christian movie started with Praise and Worship and also a special number rendered by celebrity fashion designer Adebayo Jones backed by Femi Ologundana on keyboard.

Purity of Heart is a movie about betrayal and murder carried out among church members especially an ordained Deacon in the Church. Its appeal is about how rewarding forgiveness is, when a widow decides to not only forgive the man who killed her husband but even offers to pay for a contract he executed for her even after she realised he killed her husband.   

The movie featured several Nollywood stars including Theodora Ibekwe-Oyebade, Yvonne Hayes, Danny Erskine, Christianah Awotayo, Nnenna Ani, Ayo Oyebade and Theo Anguah. It was produced by Maureen Ukamaka Okafor and Nancy Okoji and directed by Dr Ayo Coker.

In her message about the movie, Maureen stated that the movie was inspired by the Holy Spirit. She stated that God had asked her to fast for 40 days and to do the movie. She said that from conception God was in the movie and that the movie was a means of seeing God and standing in His presence. She stated that we can only be purified by the Word of God. She referred to faith in God, forgiveness and the wisdom of God stating that supernatural wisdom supercedes every form of wisdom. She was very appreciative of all the cast, crew and everyone involved in the movie including family, stating that they suffered and went through a lot to make the movie. She finally appreciated everyone who came to watch the premiere. 

I must commend the Director and producers foe being obedient and bold to come out with such a heavenly vision. Although there were issues in the movie which I would be addressing below, an effort has been made and a production that could be watched has been produced. I understand that making a movie takes guts and I must commend them for being novel by producing a solely christian Holy Spirit movie and premiering it.

Starting from this movie, I would talk about each of my criteria and give an individual mark and the average mark over 10 would be the final score.

Sound: The sound quality could have been much better,There were some scenes where there were hissing and buzzing sounds and even external interference. In some scenes as well, one could not hear what was said. One of the Nollywood actors told me that this was regrettable as a member of the cast invited friends and was a bit dissapointed with the sound. People speaking on the background when George was confessing to Mary about her husband's death This could have edited out. While this is a major issue in any movie, I believe it can still be corrected and for the sound, I award 5.5 out of a possible 10.

Picture Quality: I had nothing to fault with the picture quality and that seemed to be the views of all the people I spoke to. Nothing to add. I give the full marks of 10 out of 10

Story line: For someone watching the movie for the first time and having no clue about what it was about, it took a long time to know what the theme of the story was. In a movie, in the first 15 to 20 minutes, the audience should have an idea of the theme or what the story is about even though there might be surprises and the story may not necessarily end the way people expect. To me and to those I spoke to, this was an issue and should be addressed in future. For the story line, in spite of the above, i award 6.5 out of a possible 10

Cast: I would like to start by commending all the cast for their part in the movie. Let me start by commending Yvonne who played Mary for making the story look so real. I wish someone was giving me money, I definitely would not refuse it. I would also like to mention Ayo Oyebade, who although he played a minor role of the Insurance man played the role to point and his diction was second to none. However, I would not be doing this review and the Producer and Director justice if I do not mention the negatives.

I believe there was some over acting in some cases. Sometimes, unfortunately, I felt that Ben the lead actor over exaggerated the role, same thing with the Deacon. In fact sometimes, it looked as if he forgot his lines. Also there was a scene when they discovered someone had low sperm count, the pastor in my view over acted that part. As a Pentecostal pastor who believes in divine healing, the reaction was over rated for low sperm count. I appreciate that these are new actors to the Nollywood industry and can get better if they try and play the part and convince their audience. Overall for the cast and their roles in telling the story, I award 6 out of a possible 10.

Overall performance: For a Christian movie, the turn out was encouraging. There were scenes where people laughed, but I believe that in the end the message of God forgiving us our trespasses and the need for us to forgive others who trespass against us was  clearly sent and everyone who watched the premiere got the message loud and clear. I therefore award the overall performance an 8 out of 10

In total, I have awarded this movie 36 out of a possible 50 which gives it 7.2 out of 10. I would like to say a big well done to all that were involved in this movie and encourage them that if they take heed to the above comments, not only would they be sharing a message from above, but also they would stand tall in the ladder of Nollywood Movies.

Would I recommend this movie, my answer is yes.

Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2CRPzshNfc&feature=youtu.be&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Ds2CRPzshNfc%26feature%3Dyoutu.be&app=desktop

Rejoinder

After speaking with one of the Godfathers in Nollywood UK, a man i respect, a man of honour and integrity, i have decided to write this rejoinder about my review of Ibu in Sierra Leone and subsequent reviews.

Ibu is a Sierra Leonean film and as we know the industry is much newer in Sierra Leone than it is in Nigeria. My review and score of the movie which i stand by are based on the efforts of such a new industry to come up with such a movie. From what i watched, the sound and picture quality were good especially for the location it was shot, there was a good story line and while in hindsite people are commenting on the role played by I u, in my own view and i think people are entitled to their views, he did well.

Let me make it clear, when i issue a 10or 1 film and a 7 for another, i am not saying the 10is better than the 7. There might have been issues in the 7 which were major. This is not meant to grade films as i don't have the power to do so, but to let each producer/director know major issues with their films that they should pay attention to in subsequent movies. May i boldly say and my general agrees with me, were i to review movies and critic nollywood movies in all areas, most of the mov es would not get anything near a pass mark.

After due consultation and sincepeople are seeing my review marks as a competition, i have decided to keep reviews simple henceforth. While i would not be bullied by people who should know better, i would henceforth review and critic movies without putting scores. I STAND BY ANY SCORES i have given in the past and chalkenge those that are unhappy to make comments boldly with their names and let us have an honest debate about these reviews.

In the time being, all that is left to say is this blog has come to stay.

Review Criteria

It has come to my attention that people do not understand my criteria for reviewing movies. I must say categorically that Nollywood are like babies when it comes to movies. If I were to look at everything in a movie that I consider wrong, then possibly non of the movies would pass or just a few. I keep saying that I am not looking at little things that can be worked on, but on what I consider major issues. Nollywood has to grow and as such I review movies as if dealing with babies. For those who know me, I am fastidious and I believe a lot of Nollywood movies especially the ones we watch on TV have no place in the industry, but we must grow and a child does not just grow in a day. A child crawls, walks and then develops, so is our industry.

In the light of this, these are the basic criteria I use to review all my movies:

• THE SCRIPT & STORY LINE
• THE CAST AND HOW THEY CARRY THE STORY LINE ALONG, INCLUDING DICTION
• PICTURE QUALITY
• SOUND
• OVERALL AMBIANCE & PERFORMANCE

In some movies I have reviewed, some of these things might have been wrong but not to the extent of affecting overall performance, so I let it go but still indicate the movie was not perfect, whereas in others, they are so obvious, I have to deduct points.

I started these reviews on my own without being forced into it. I seek views of people who watch the movie before writing my reviews. My reviews are to the best of what I have seen. 

IT PAINS ME THAT PEOPLE WANT TO SEE THE INDUSTRY GROW AND ARE NOT BOLD ENOUGH TO CHALLENGE WHAT I SAY ABOUT FILMS AND HAVE BEGAN TO CHALLENGE MY INTEGRITY. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO WRITE A COMMENT AS LONG AS IT IS NOT ABUSIVE. I WOULD READ IT AND RESPOND. WHO KNOWS, I MAY HAVE MADE A MISTAKE AND IF I THINK I HAVE, I WOULD RE-REVIEW

If there is a Q & A session, I would in my review consider and raise any issues that have been raised. Let us work together to get the best of Nollywood. Please I am not claiming to be perfect, challenge my reviews!!

London premiere of Collins Archie Pearce's Ibu in Sierra Leone

The much awaited Ibu in London premiered at the Odeon Cinema on Friday 25th October 2013. Although I was not available for the red carpet as I had to be at the BEFTA awards, the movie attracted one of the largest crowds in the history of Nollywood Premieres showing in the Odeon Cinema.

Amongst those that attended included HE Edward Mohammed Turray High Commissioner of Sierra Leone to the UK and Ireland, cast and cre of the movie including John Okafor aka Mr Ibu and Fatima Jabe. Others in attendance included members of the press, members of the business community, the Sierra Leone community in the UK and distinguished members of the public. Of couse members of the Nollywood UK community including Obi Emenloye, Theodora Ibekwe (who apparently had just picked up two awards at BEFTA), Nelson Spyke (who also picked an award at BEFTA in absentia) were all present to support Collins Archie Pearce.

The movie produced by Collins Pearce & directed by John Solo was shot in Freetown and features John Okafor reprising the infamous role of Mr. Ibu, Fatima Jabbe, Ifunanya Igwe, Alunette Karama, Jeneba Pearce, Salami Carew and other Nollywood stars.

The movie is about Mr. Ibu Okonkwo (John Okafor), a jobless, London-based professional boxer with a big mouth, who desperately wants to stage a comeback, but faces obstacles that centre around his nagging wife, Nina (fatima Jabbe), who he hates very much. Ibu leaves Nigeria to contest in a boxing match in Freetown and he is accompanied by his wife, which makes him very uncomfortable.

John Kingston (Desmond Finney) is a ruthless crime boss who for many years has been the chief mastermind behind the violent spate of criminal activities across Sierra Leone. JK, as he is widely known, has managed to stay one step ahead of the police in their desperate attempts to nail him, but the relentless pressure from the law enforcement body means he must go underground and lie low for a while to cool off the heat.

Now, after two years of inactivity, JK is beginning to feel the pinch. With a handful of his vicious henchmen raring to return to action, JK knows he must cook up a plan fast to get out of his premature retirement and back in business. The new plan requires something that carries less risk, less violence, less manipulation. Something that will turn in the Leones in their millions and leaves little room for suspicion – JK and his henchmen unveil the boxing scam as his new line of business.

The scam involves pairing a potential heavyweight basher and a pint-size, sure-to-lose lightweight in a fight that is heavily publicised. With the unsuspecting betting, the public throw their weight and money behind the bigger man. The fight is thrown by the heavyweight as pre-arranged by JK, and either of the two mismatched fighters later grab a 20% cut of the huge chunk of betting profit and leaves JK and his henchmen with the bigger slice. 

Those who refuse to play by JK’s rules are subdued by issuing death threats to their wives or closest family members. On boxing match day, Banky, thinking that the fight is already fixed, faces the menacing glare of IBU, with his usual confidence. There was the hidden suspense of Ibus daughter. You need to watch the movie. In the fight that ensues IBU gives Banky the beating of his life, and sets the stage for a head-on collision with JK and his bunch of trigger-happy thugs.

The movie was top class and the sound and picture quality were top class. Credit must be given to the Director John Solo, and the e D.O.P Raymond Finney for a job well done. Seeing that the people of Sierra Leone speak Creole, there was a need for subtitles and that again was very good although majority of the people could follow the movie without the subtitles.

I must commend the producer Collins Archie Pearce as this movie was well researched. Little things as the numbers of bullets in a gun being researched is commendable. (Those that watched the movie and those that would watch it understand what I am saying). The cast was on point. What can I say of Mr Ibu. People have known him for playing particular roles impressed me and the audience playing an unconventional roke and speaking impeccable English. Fatima Jabbe was just great. Having watched her in various movies, she impressed me that she is able to play various roles in different countries. Fatima well done! Desmond Finney, Ifunanya Igwe and the rest of the cast all blended together to produce a top class movie. The story line was easy to follow and the movie ended with an applause from those present.

I spoke to random people who watched the movie and some Nollywood UK industry members to seek their views about the movie. Everyone I spoke to was anonymous that it was a good movie. I even asked if people would do anything different and the response was unanimous in the negative.

Now to the crunch of the review, my score for the movie. I must say there were little issues here and there, but they can be overlooked as they did not really impact the movie. My role as a reviewer and critique is not to deliberately go fault finding, but to give an honest review of what I see. I intend to use this as a medium to encourage Nollywood attain excellence, so the small things can be forgiven.

That said, I score this movie a 10 out of a possible 10. This is a rare thing for me to do as the sound and picture quality must be right, there must be a story line, the cast must be right and bring together the story and there must be an ambiance in the movie. The question is would I recommend this movie. As those I interviewed at the end of the movie seem to be in one accord, I would recommend you to watch this movie whenever it is being shown again.

All that is left to say is well done to Collins and his team. Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11wuPqlBb4c

London premiere of Obi Emenloye's Onye Ozi Movie Premiere

The much talked about film Onye Ozi premiered at the Lighthouse in Camberwell on Friday 18th October 2013. The cast of the movie included Oke Bakassi, Ngozi Iswebike, Stephen Moriaty, Anthony Aclet, Adesua Atuanya & D'Kachi Obi-Emenlonye. The movie was Directed and produced by Obi Emenloye and co produced by Ngozi Ideh.  

People started coming into Lighthouse anticipating to watch a good movie and some of those that attended included those in the Nollywood UK industry, top film, television & music stars, those in the world of African fashion, sports personalities,  businessmen and women, members of the press and of course Nollywood UK lovers and supporters. Generally, the turn out was very impressive. The premiere started of with with a stand up comedy show, music performances and clips from a short film. The expectation of the crowd had built up and then one of the 2 comperes for the night introduced the movie.

Onye Ozi subtitled the messenger is a movie in Ibo language one of the three primary languages in Nigeria but with subtitles in English. Briefly, the movie was about this Graduate from Nigeria (played by Oke Bakassi who arrived in the United Kingdom to meet up with his heart throb (Ngozi Iswebike). On arrival, he discovered that she had 2 children abd while they were celebrating, tragedy struck, Someone was killed and gave him his final wishes before passing on, slipping something into his hands. The bottom line was that this man more or less haunted him until he actually kept his promise and did what he promised the dying man. I leave the rest of the movie to those of you that would watch it later.

To me, there was an excellent script with a bit of suspense, The good thing is that this is the first indigenous Ibo film I know of, at least in the UK that all the cast including the British cast had to speak in Ibo. The dilemma was that how would none Ibo people follow the movie. I for one do not speak or understand Ibo. However, there was much laughter in the room and I know that none Nigerians talk not of Ibos attended the movie. That meant something was right and that was the sub-titles. I commend the lady that did the sub-titles. I spoke to people after the movie especially indigenous Nigerian who watch and do not watch Nollywood and the comments that came out were that the subtitles were to the point and that unlike most Nigerian movies with sub-titles, there were no grammatical errors. For me a non Ibo speaker to understand the movie that someone asked me if I understood or spoke Ibo, that is a positive.

I commend the Director for his choice of the cast as the mixture of Ibo speakers, non Ibo speakers, British actors and children all speaking Ibo and the entirety of the movie shot in the UK, there was a balance. All the actors from Oke Bakassi, to Ngozi, to the British actors especially the one that played TJ, the man that was killed sent home the message of the film perfectly.

The picture quality was excellent and watching the trailer of the movie and the making of the movie prior to actually watching the movie itself, with the amount of work and effort put in the movie, I was not surprised. In the making of the movie, we saw that 60 odd cameras were used to capture a scene. That showed the heartbeat of the Director and Producers of the movie.

Having said all the good, I must as a Nollywood critic  who has promised to be unbiased and always be objective make the following comment. At the beginning of the movie, there were echos in the sound and as such people seemed to be muffling and background sound actually over shadowed the voices of the cast. However, this was only brief and the sound improved so much that even when someone was running, you could hear the sound of his shoes. 

The overall experience was brilliant and usually before writing my reviews, I speak to a few people in industry and people who attend premieres. One of the comments I got from a guest was that she does not watch Nollywood premieres but because of this movie, she would shout on roof tops that people should go out and watch Nollywood Movies. From those I spoke to, the views were unanimous.

I would have given this movie the perfect 10, which is 5 star because it deserves it all round, but that issue of sound in the beginning of the movie cannot be overlooked. Therefore I rate the movie 9.5. The big question is would I recommend people to watch this movie. The answer is definitely yes. I have not told you half of the story. On whatever platform the movie would be showing, please watch it. I commend Obi and his team for a job well done!!

Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlGtW591Uuk

Upgrade of points scored in reviews

Hi all,

I have decided to upgrade the total scores achievable in my reviews from 5 to 10. I have accordingly amended all the reviews I have done. The reason is simple. With a score of 10, I am able to make up my mind easier where to place a movie and hopefully people would agree with my scores.

I have not started this as a competition to see which movies are better than the other or to favour any movie, but to try and ensure that we improve in every aspect of our production which includes the message portrayed, the actors and how they are able to drive home the message, location, sound etc, I do really look forward to a time when Leicester Square Odeon would be begging Nollywood Movies to come premiere and when we get peak times both at premieres and at cinemas.

Enough of 11pm starts and let us have something to show that we can do a movie premiere at peak times. Like I always say, be bold enough to write what you think of my reviews, but if I notice that it is abusive in nature, I would remove such comments.

Well done Nollywood

London Premiere of Fatima Jabbe's Film Battered: A critical review of Battered by Babso

The much awaited film Battered premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Saturday 28^th September 2013. The premiere started with the red carpet which had the producer, cast and crew, Nollywood Directors and Producers, Nollywood film promoters, those involved in the Nollywood industry in the UK and members of the public that came to support the movie.

The movie was produced by Fatima Jabbe and is about domestic violence in the home. Miss Jabbe who won the best female actress at the African Oscars in the US recently  wrote the story and played the lead role in it. The movie saw the introduction of Nigeria's finest footballer John Utaka in his debut in to Nollywood filming industry.  Other cast members and stars in the film included Atto Erick, Yvonne Hays, Theodora Ibekwe, Jay One, Marie Gomez, Olivia Eze, Collins Archie Pearce, Happiness, Tim Uche and many more. The movie was directed Lanre Balogun who also played the lead role and Alaba Festus. Official sound tract for the movie was by Cashino NDT, Libeks was the makeup artist and Nelson Spyks was the Associate Producer and responsible for the cinematography.

Ann (Fatima) was a victim of domestic violence. She shot her Fiancé Derek (Lanre Balogun) because her heart was full of pains from torture and other cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment and punishment she suffered in his hands.. She narrowly escaped court charges because of an alibi from a friend Tina who was with her on the day of the incident.

I must start by saying this is going to be a bit of a long review as many stakeholders are waiting to see my objectivity on the review. However, as usual, I would be as objective as possible and include in this review one major issue that arose from the question and answer session and the Producer’s response to it. I would also like to say that this review as usual is open to comments.

Firstly, I would like to commend Fatima for being bold to tell such a story. Maybe by coincidence, Theodora Ibekwe who recently produced a movie about another social ill in the black community that of child molestation was the one that came to the rescue of Ann in the movie. While Fatima concentrated her story on women being the subject of domestic violence (and I agree with her that in most cases, they are), even Lanre Balogun stated that men are also victims of domestic violence and I agree with him.

The picture quality was good in most cases, but I don’t know if it was deliberate in certain scenes where two actors appeared, one was clear and the other seemed to blur out in the face. With regards to the sound quality, it was generally of a high quality only that in certain scenes especially at the police station, there were buzzy sounds that kept interfering. At times the sound of the mobile phone in the movie itself was so loud and a bit distracting.

While I am not interested in looking at every little thing about the movie, I need to make mention of one or two things that glared me in the face. The whole reason why I started to review movies was to give a true feedback of the movie and push Nollywood Producers and Directors to a new level. I therefore believe that in any Nollywood Movie, the whole storyline including the props and locations used should be as close to reality as much as possible. While I cannot fault the arrest as it was presumed done properly, to me the police station scene was far from perfect. In the first place, that was not a proper custody suite that was used even though we saw the outside of Belgravia Police Station. Secondly, interviews are done on tape in the station and you never see a police officer recording a statement on a dicta phone for obvious reasons. You may call me petty, but these are the things that make Hollywood stand out. Things are done properly. Talking to one of the people in the Nollywood industry, she was not happy with both the way in which the lawyers were portrayed in the office with legs on the table and also made mention of the fact that the office of the Victim Support did not look professional and looked like a secretary’s office. To me that bit was cosmetic but since my reviews take into consideration what the audience especially those in the Nollywood industry say, I have to mention it.

Two issues came out in the Question and Answer session that I think are of importance and that I think if I do not mention in this review, I would be seen as bias. The first was the issue of what happened to the pregnancy. That was a question I asked Fatima myself. Fatima joked and asked the audience to wait for part two of the movie, but she also stated that with all the violence she lost the baby. Although I believe that one could have presumed that, a few lines with Ann crying about the loss of the baby would have been a good addition to the movie.

The second issue had to do with the issue of domestic violence and how it is dealt with. One of the viewers asked if the movie had been properly researched with regards to how this issue is dealt with and the message that was being sent out to those that watched the movie. Fatima in response to that said that the movie was in fact a true life story that happened in the UK, She would not give away if the story was her own story or that of another person. While I agree with the issue of research 100%, I also believe that if someone is telling a true story, it should be as close to what happened as much as possible. What should have happened and this can be corrected before the next viewing is that a kind of disclaimer be put at the end of the movie explaining that this case was a unique one and that cases of domestic violence are always treated individually and the results differ from case to case.

Still on this issue, personally I had an issue with how the detective handled the matter. I do understand as a lawyer that prosecutors use what is referred to as plea bargaining especially when they want to get a witness to give evidence for them. However, that being said, even the Met Police would not be happy about the picture that was painted of the police. He used words stating that a crime that was committed would not be mentioned and said the proposed witness should trust him as he is a detective. Again, this paints a picture that as long as the state needs you to give evidence, you would be able to get away with crime no matter how small it was and in this case it was not ordinary stealing but using a knife to threaten the victim.

I would be seen as bias if I do not mention lie I did in one of my previous reviews about my views about murdering someone because he has been violent towards you. In this case, Ann had a gun under her pillow which means the murder was pre-planned. Although the story told us she lied to the police about the gun and that always happens in our present day society, to me painting a picture that violence is the best way to defend one’s self in these days when the fight is against knife and gun crime is sending a wrong message. I think victim support was right, but since she was a victim of violence, a restraining order would have been an option and the whole story would have taken another dimension. Although Fatima stated that the person Derek represented was powerful and could not be touched, in my stay in the UK, I have observed that the police like to prosecute high profiled people irrespective of who they are, so as long as this happened in the UK justice would have taken its course.

In writing this review, I have taken into consideration the view of those in the Nollywood industry and those that attended the movie. In spite of all the comments which I believe would be seen by Fatima and her crew as positive criticisms to make the Nollywood industry greater, I still want to say well done to Fatima for her boldness in translating this issue into a movie. If one is going through domestic violence, male or female, they should not keep quiet but deal with it. With Lanre Balogun in any movie of such magnitude, there must always be comedy. I commend Fatima for her choice of multi cast from different nations.

The question then is what score out of 10 would I give the movie. I have thought hard about this and I think I would score between 7 and 8. I would therefore give a score of 7.5. My reasons for these have been clearly stated above. Would I recommend the movie? My answer is yes. it would be good for people to reach their own conclusions about the issue of domestic violence and how it was presented by Fatima and all said and done, we really need to create awareness about any social ill and domestic violence is one which must be crushed!!

Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7sT25LWNSs

London Premiere of Michelle Bello's Flower Girl: A critical review of Flower Girl by Babso

The movie Flower Girl premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Thursday 26^th September 2013. After a long time, the last time being Amina, a Nollywood Premiere was taking place on a weekday. One would have thought this would discourage people, but the turnout was very encouraging. On the red carpet were Nollywood celebrities, other celebrities including sport stars, promoters and supporters of the movie. For the first time according to the MC for the night, DJ Abass, the  Producer/Director of the film Michelle Bello and her two lead actor/actresses Chris Attoh (Umar) and Damilola Adegbite (Kemi) arrived for the premiere on schedule and to meet with fans. On getting into the screen, one could see that the premiere was properly thought of and the organisation was super. On each of the seats was a gift bag of the movie and one of the contents was a booklet which amongst other things gave a brief introduction of the movie and the actors in it.

In the movie itself Kemi is dying to get married while Umar is dying to get ahead with his career. When their relationship hits troubled waters, Kemi seeks the help of a movie superstar Tunde (Chuks Chukwujekwu) and they hatch a plan to get Kemi what she wants. However, the plan does not quite work out as they anticipate and soon they realise why people say love is a funny thing.

The script was easy to understand and straight forward and although it was for approximately 95 minutes, I feel some parts of the movie dragged on unnecessarily. Having said that, the movie was full of anticipation and comedy, people kept laughing. It profiled a true picture of the good aspects of Nigeria and not the Nigeria the foreign media always portray. It showed that in Nigeria, there are good places and that it is not only a land of slums. One of the realistic parts of the movie was when in the midst of dinner Power Holdings (NEPA) as some people know it struck and the house was in darkness. The whole cinema erupted in laughter. The sound was of high quality and so was the picture quality.

I must give kudos to the Producer/Director Michelle for her casting. While Damilola and Chris are well known and are household names particularly for their roles in Tinsel, people like Bikiya Graham Douglas (Stella), Chuks Chukwujekwu (Tunde) and Eku Edowor (Sapphire) brought the whole script together and made the movie even more comical and interesting. Kudos to all the cast.

The night ended with an open reception for everyone that attended. This again is a first since I started attending premieres and there was plenty food and room to network and mingle with the stars, although this was done under the watchful eyes of security personnel and Odeon staff. Before rounding up this review, kudos to Talking Drum Entertainment Ltd who brought the movie not only to be premiered in Odeon Greenwich but to be shown in cinemas across London.

In reviewing the overall performance of the movie, I would like to refer to the comments of one of the key players of the Nollywood industry in the UK. In his comments during the question and answer session which featured Michelle, Damilola and Chris, he said he observed that all the comments about the movie had been positive and that there had been no critiques and he gave a kudos for that. Every single person I spoke to after the movie including those involved in the UK Nollywood industry had good reviews for the film and I cannot but agree with them. I have tried as a Nollywood movie critique to look for something negative to say that would be enough to deduct points from the movie but I just cannot find any. In awarding my marks for this movie, I would like comments and for people who attended the premiere to positively critique my review and I would take all comments on board and if necessary re-review the movie.

In the light of all the above, I award this movie my first 5 star a total of 10 out of a possible 10 and like I always ask at the end of any movie I review, would I recommend the film. My answer is if you want two hours to chill, go and watch Flower Girl when it comes to the cinemas from 4^th October 2013. My answer is a most definite yes and I am sure that the over 200 guest that attended would agree with me.

watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Mc7bNsXUU

Room for improvement

Hi all. I am encouraged by the number of Nollywood Pemieres coming up. I may have even lost count. On September 26th, Flower Girl would be premiering, on the 28th September Battered would be premiering and on October 25th Ibu in Sierra Leone among others would at Odeon Greenwich. On the 18th October, Onye Ozi would be premiering at Light House Camberwell. I am also aware that there is an audition for Wedding day on 21st September.

While all these are good, I would like to encourage that in future before spending loads of money, time and effort to premiere, Producers should organise a viewing for people in the industry to watch the movie and give positive criticism and feedback. When I say positive, it may be that it is not what you want to hear, but that may be what would take your movie to the level you want it to go.

On my own part, I would continue to give an objective review of all movies I watch. Even if I am the script writer, Director and Producer, I would still use the same criteria in reviewing all movies without bias. I would welcome comments and critics on my reviews so that I can give my own stand on what I have written and if possible acknowledge any mistakes I may have made and re-review such movies. My desire is for Nollywood to be a household name and for Premieres to be shown at peak times because they can compete with Hollywood Movies.

Well done to all Nollywood script writers, Producers, Executive Producers, Directors, Marketers, Promoters and fans. We would definitely get to the place of excellence!!!

London Premier of The Briefcase Diary of a thief: A critical review of The Briefcase Diary of a Thief by Babso

The film The Briefcase Diary of a Thief was premiered at the Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 16th August 2013. Although the turnout was not great, the Red Carpet attracted the normal Nollywood Movies big guns including Ngozi Ezeonu, producer of the movie Izuchukwu Okeke, Uche Odoputa, Ruke Amata, Nelson Spyk, Fatima Jabe, Nollywood PR guru Egor Efiok and many more VIPs. Please pardon me if I did not mention your name. The film was publicised for ZAFAA Global by Nollywood upcoming star Theodora Ibekwe and promoted by Sam Anwuzia and the ZAFAA team.

The film featured stars such as Yul Edochie, Joy Helen, Ngozi Ezeonu, Livinus Nnochiri, Esther Audu, and Prince Eke, The movie was produced by Izuchukwu Okeke and directed by Ugezu J Ugezu. The film started with a daughter (Nina) coming home without the knowledge of her parents and stealing the briefcase of her father containing N1.5m to give to her boyfriend (Jeff) to enable him travel to the US. There was a lot of intrigue and surprises in the story, yet the story line was maintained.

I believe that this script was well thought out and the more you thought you knew where the story was going to end, something new came up without actually distracting from the story line. I believe for a Nollywood Movie that was very brilliant. So in the movie we saw a crazy father who had millions but yet was willing  to send his daughter to prison for a mere N1.5m, we saw a wife of 24 years who had lived a lie (I leave you to find out what the lie was yourself), in the midst of all this saga, we saw various scandals and a case of manslaughter, but I re-iterate the story line tied up and did not mess the message and expectations of the viewers. Although there was quiet in the hall maybe due to all the suspense, there were still moments of comedy and laughter.

In my view, the correct actors were chosen for the movie and they played the roles they were given properly. The choice of actors went to choosing the correct gate man. Diction in my view was perfect for the roles played. A typical example is that of the gate man who though he played a minor role typified a real gate man in Nigeria from that part of the country.

Having said all, there was a problem with sound which was not too good especially at the beginning of the movie, but which improved as the film went on. This seems to be a problem with Nollywood Movies and should be considered when making movies especially if the producer intends to premiere such movies. There were also minor issues with pictures in some scenes, but this does not take away anything from the overall performance of the movie itself.

I would score this movie 8 out of a possible 10. I would however recommend that the producer tries to do something about the sound before sending it to cinemas or to other premieres. The question that remains is would I recommend this film. I would definitely recommend watching this movie with an open mind and with patience as you would not know what to expect next.

Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb6ZV2sxnwo

Welcome to my blog page

Hi all, welcome to my blog page. I am a fan of Nollywood Movies and I really want the Nollywood industry to prosper. I watch Nollywood, BEN, AIT when I am in the UK and African Magic when in Africa. My desire is to see a Nollywood industry that is excellent in all fields. I ensure that as long as I am around, I am available for any Nollywood Premiere. I have started this blog to positively critique and commend any new movie on the scene. Put it this way, just like you have food critiques, I am a Nollywood Movie Critique. If a food critique goes into a restaurant and praises the restaurant, they are likely to get Michelin Stars, that is my utmost desire.

I have watched so many Nollywood Movies in various languages and believe me, some of the movies have no right to be on air, the actors are bad, the language, the props etc all have reasons to be corrected. Some actors go into speaking phonetics when they just cannot do it, some try the American or Caribbean accents and are aweful. On the other hand, we have some that are polished and deserve credit. I trained as a lawyer and hate it when i see court scenes with lawyers wearing wig and gowns and ties or not going through proper procedures, same in the medical field. Scripts should be researched before a movie is made.

In scoring movies, I would look at the script itself, the story line, the actors and how they act their roles, relevant diction, the message sent and overall performance and issue between 1 to 10 marks, 5 being excellent. My viewers would be allowed to comment and i would justify my scores. As much as possible, I would try to be objective and fair.

All that is left to say is welcome to my blog

London Premiere of Theodora Ibekwe's Shameful Deceit: A critical review of Shameful Deceit by Babso

I would like to start the blog with a critical review of Shameful Deceit produced by Theodora Ibekwe and directed by Ruke Amata.

I would like to commend Theodora for her boldness in thinking of such a story line. i also believe that the actors especially the lead actors were properly chosen. Moji Bantefa and Lanre Balogun played their roles very well and so did the cast of the movie. For this I salute them.

However, when Theodora addressed the audience before the movie started, she gave the impression, the theme was about child abuse. However, watching the film, the major theme centered around an unfaithful husband and playboy Simon/Alex and it was only at the end of the movie, we actually see him abusing his daughter.

While I understand Theodora's thoughts that the issue is not dealt with properly in our culture, I would have liked to see Simon prosecuted and his estrangled wife forming an NGO or charity to fight child abuse instead of getting a gun and killing him. That has actually promoted violence and people that face such things like that would think it is right to take the laws in their hands.

The film was shot in the UK and if there is a report if gun shots, a specialist team and not regular police attend. Similarly, where an arrest is made, there must be a caution, which was absent for such a grievous offence as murder. These are minor issues, but Nollywood should be moving towards excellence.

On a good note, the film was full of comedy and laughter and I would recommend people to go and watch the movie. It would be worth your while. The turnout was great at the premiere and in fact has been credited as one of the largest turn out in the history of Nollywood Premieres in Odeon Cinema. To this I say well done to Theodora and her team.

Overall marks out of 10, to be honest, and bearing in mind my criteria for scoring movies, I would give it 7. I do hope my readers understand these are positive criticisms so that the next production is better.

Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg5VxFxycLQ

London Premiere of Onochie: A critical review of Onochie by Babso

This movie was premiered at the Odeon Cinema at Greenwich with star actresses Patience Ozokwor and the Aneke twins amongst those on the red carpet.

The story line was about a king who had more than one wife.but in order to inherit the thrown, one of the wives (Patience Ozokwor) had two girls and pretended from birth that one of them was male making him the heir to the thrown instead of Onochie born to another wife. At the end of the movie, the gods reject the fake/counterfeit son and the truth is revealed.

In terms of the script, I understand what the story was trying to project. The message was clear right from the beginning to the end but i think the story line was too long and in some cases was dragging. What I did not understand or possibly missed out was the fact that the twin sister did not know that her sister was a female and not male. In reality, I wonder if that is possible. At least that is what was potrayed when the truth was revealed in the movie.

With regards to the actors, I believe it was typical of Patience Ozokwor at her best and the Aneke twins. However, it was obvious to the viewer that the said male child was female and the producer should have used someone that had more of a male/female look to make it look real. The diction of the said male child was female, so if the viewer closed their eyes and just listened to the movie, they would have thought she was a woman. I think that point which is critical was missed. A look alike may have worked out.

Overall, the movie was nice to watch and i would recommend going to watch it. Although the movie started late, the ambiance was great. There were enough Nollywood actors/actresses not in the movie that came to support the premiere. There were comic scenes in the movie, but as a Nollywood film critique, I would like to see movies where the film potrays as close as possible to the story line.

We are getting there. My marks overall for this movie is 6 out of a possible 10.

Please note these are positive critiques so the next movie is better. Were you at the premiere or have you seen the movie, what do you think?

Well done

Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3dNpjYVIhA

London premiere of Roseline Sanni-Ajose's Labo The Movie: A critical review of Labo The Movie by Babso

Today I would be reviewing the film LABO which premiered at Odeon Cinema Greenwich on Friday 2nd August 2013. I must confess that I had so much high expectation for this movie as people had already rated it the greatest Nollywood Movie. I also worked with the team to ensure that the premiere was successful although I had nothing to do with the film itself. That being the case, I am going to write an objective critique and review of what I saw on Friday.

Let me start on a positive note by commending the enthusiasm of the producer of the film Roseline Sanni-Ajose. She took ownership of the film and was proud of her work. As usual the who in who in Nollywood were present at the red carpet and after all the socials, it was time to watch the much celebrated film. For this review I would stick to my criteria for reviewing films.

According to their literature, their Mission statement of the film was that whatever position or status a person holds in a foreign land, they should not forget where they come from. Furthermore, as parents, it is our legal obligation to raise our children with the incorporation of Afri- can culture, whether they accept it positively or negatively.

The script was based on a family with a daughter Desola who changed her name to Dessy and refused to go back with her parents a Nigerian father and a Caribbean mother to Nigeria. While I agree with the mission statement, in my view there was not much content to push the message home. In my view as a critique and reviewer, once you choose a theme for a film, the entirety of the message of that film should be clear and concise to anyone watching the movie. At the premiere, i listened to people who passed their comments on the movie and the consensus was that the message was not clear in as much as Desola tried to push the point home.

With regards to the actors and actresses, I must congratulate the team on trying to mix the cast which consisted of Nigerians, Ghanaians and Caribbean actors and actresses, in my view on lya the Nigerian crew especially the likes of Iya Awero and Jide Kosoko did the film justice. I am sorry to say, though I used to watch Village Headmaster, as the lead character and the one that was meant to send the message of the film home, Dejumo Lewis did not do the movie justice. As for the Director Ore Femi Fadeyi, in my view when he acted the role in Yoruba, he was okay, but when he came to his role in English, to me it was obvious that English movies is not really his forte.

Personally, and this is the view of some people in the industry that I have spoken to, the fact that you write a script does not mean that you should act the lead role. I commend the producer Roseline Sanni-Ajose for all her passion but again, I think that playing a role of someone that had lived in the United Kingdom for all her life, I would have expected more. Her Yoruba diction for one that does not go back to Nigeria was over exaggerated. I believe someone else could have done that role justice.

I cannot conclude this review without mentioning overall ambiance. Firstly for a film that was highly rated, the sound was terrible. It looked as if the film had been recorded with a camcorder, too much background. The subtitles left a lot to be desired. If I did not speak Yoruba, I would have missed out. If you use subtitles in a movie, make sure it is concise, clear and covers everything being said. There were also some typographical errors. There was part of the story line that dealt with immigration and lawyers demanding money. Although the Director explained the conclusion of that part of the script which was not shown, to me it was an unnecessary addition to the script. It had nothing to do with the message, so if it was to be used, the whole story should be told. I sat there as some of our English guests left the movies halfway. There was also a sexual scene and although no nudity was shown, the scene showed too much smooching that it may have to be cut out if it is classified as safe for 15 above.

I understand it took years to make this movie and I commend the team for it, but overall bearing in mind all my criteria for review, I cannot score this movie more than 4 out of a possible 10. I believe producers and Directors need to think through what they want to achieve before presenting the movie as a premiere. This review is open to comments, but I have tried to be as honest as I can be with what I saw. Would I recommend the movie, my true answer would be no in its current state.

Watch the trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GraOPPwGfA