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