Day Break (kukurukuuuu)

According to Omotola's website, http://www.omotola.tv, she's been acting since 1995 when she starred in Venom of Justice. Then she went on to do over 250 movies, WOW! Day Break is one of her earlier movies. I heard about it when I was watching this short documentary, Welcome to Nollywood, on YouTube and they were interviewing Chico Ejiro, Mr. Prolific, my correct Igbo guy. He was talking about some of his first movies and he mentioned Day Break so I decided to check it out.

I could not find a picture for it, so Omotola's picture will just have to do, the movie is that old!
So, it stars OmoT, Olu Jacobs, Emeka Ike, Tunde Obe, Okey McAnthony, Rachel Oniga, Sandra Achums and Sunny McDon.
Summary
Ella is dating father and son but this has repercussions that she never saw coming.

Spoiler Alert!
Storyline
OmoT plays Ella, a University student who is also the mistress to Chief. He sets her up with a nice apartment which she shares with her friend, Tosin (played by Sandra Achums), pays her mother's hospital bills, puts Ella through school and has plans to marry her after she has graduated and make her his second wife. But Ella wants to leave Chief and get married to her BF, Jerry (played by Tunde Obe, who was quite dapper back in the day). When Ella tells Chief of her plans, Meme, the Chief's right hand is set to the task of making Ella's life hell. Throwing her and and Tosin out, cutting her off financially and beating up Jerry. After Jerry dumps her and her mum dies because the hospital would not treat without money, she decides to go back to Chief but with a vengeance this time.
Chief accepts her back, but this time he keeps a closer eye on her, having Meme spy on her and make sure she does not stray. He gives her a job at one of his companies and still plans on making her his second wife.
Then comes Junior, played by Emeka Ike, who is Chief's child from the US. He and Ella meet and they like each other. At first, Ella does not know who Junior and tries to warn him about how dangerous her sponsor can be. When she finds out later on, she decides to keep the relationship going as payback, kind of to Chief. When Chief finds out Ella plans on running with another guy, he sends Meme to roughen the guy up. However, Meme has to go to his village so he hires some thugs to do it but when they get to Junior's place, Junior fights one of them and in the panic, the other shoots Junior. They knock out OmoT and place the gun in her hands. The first part ends with Ella being arrested

The second part is just so sad, I wanted to cry. Chief makes sure Ella gets convicted and sentenced to 21 years imprisonment for the crime but he has so much grief and guilt, as Junior was his only child. Even his wife does not believe Ella did it. Ella finds out she's pregnant and Meme, who is trying to get back Chief's favor is given the task to kill her and the child but his plans fail. Ella asks Tosin to take care of her child and Tosin who is about to be wedded agrees. However, after a few years, Tosin's marriage has turned sour because she has not been able to conceive. Her husband is cold towards her and she decides to leave town with the child, making Ella believe her child is dead.

Acting
This was the age in Nollywood when actors just spoke English without trying to sound American or worse, a cross between Jamaican and British. The performances were not overly dramatic, with just the right amount of subtlety. This movie made me smile, thinking about OmoT now because, in my opinion, she has really gone down from here. She played the vixen not too obviously and her clothes were actually age appropriate. Her words were not rushed and she seemed so....fresh. Wish she'll come back to do this and stop trying so hard.
Emeka Ike is also another actor that should not have changed anything because he was so convincing as the lovestruck JJC who believes in love and such, trying so hard to woo the girl he fancies.
Olu Jacobs, he's always been really good at emoting his expressions. When Ella leaves him, you see his frustration and anger in the way he starts stuttering and looking around anxiously. In Part 2, when Junior's son comes to confront him about the Junior's death, I just started tearing up, the look of resignation in his face, like how useless life mist have seemed to him, having all that money and no one to enjoy it with.
Rachel Oniga was the wife who had accepted her husband was cheating and took comfort in her son's success. Then, when he dies, she was the wife who supports her husband even though she does not believe Ella killed her son. When Tosin tries to convince her to plz do sth about Ella's imprisonment, she insults Tosin and Ella. For me, I thought that was very realistic.  
Dude, Sunny McDon was so creepy as Meme, he seemed to genuinely love making people's lives hell. And he always had this creepy smile, it was really disturbing.

Music
The music was just nostalgic for me, it was like olden days instrumental, with the jazz flair and all. I was just smiling when I listened to it. Thank goodness, there was no shrieking banshee in the background reciting what the movie was about and passing that of as a soundtrack.

Make Up and Costume
So, like whoever did it was amazing. Like Ella's clothes were not over the top but classy and sexy. And then, when she's supposed to be 21 years older, I believed completely. She looked so worn out and mehnn, so sad.

All in all, I would recommend this movie. Mostly because it takes you back to the days of video cassette players and how simple and classy things were back then, how the acting was excellent. The picture and the sound are outdated and all but you'll love the storyline which is pretty original as I did not see the end of Part 1 coming. It kept me guessing.
Let me know what you think about my review though. I'm open to suggestions on how to make the blog better.

Thanks and God bless!
Deuces!

I Sing Of A Well

Saw this movie over the weekend and I was so impressed, I can't explain just how much but wowwww!!!

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67eVQijlbx4

So, this movie was directed by Leila Jewel Djansi, think this was her first movie. And what a success it was, it earned 11 African Movie Academy Awards (2010)  nominations and won 2.
The story is an epic, set in pre-colonial Ghana and it's protagonist is Soraya (Akofa Edjeani Asiedu), a beautiful woman who still lives in her mother's house, despite being above the marrying age; she is waiting for her love, Dume (played by Godwin Kotey) to raise the exorbitant bride price her uncle has set on her head. But even though, Dume is from a poor background, Alaka, a mysterious old woman that stays by a well keeps calling him 'Father of Kings'.
At the same time, their kingdom is in turmoil, as the people live in constant fear of slave raiders. The king, who is tired and does not know what to do about the slave raiders, makes his son, Wanambe, king provided he can solve the slavery problem. However, to become king, Wanambe (played by J.O.T. Agyeman) needs a wife and he chooses to have Soraya.
In their grief, Soraya and Dume make love, knowing the prince will not accept a tainted maid. The day Soraya finds out that she's pregnant, she learns of Dume's death, by Wanambe's doing. Soraya, then, decides to marry the prince, finding a way to fake her virginity, all so Dume's son can enjoy a privileged life. During his reign, Wanambe submitted to tyrant, Mansa Musa for protection. In exchange, Mansa Musa demanded high taxes and 50 men every six months. Most the villagers moved away or died from starvation due to high taxes.
In the end, Dume's child takes over the kingdom with a promise to deliver the people from Mansa Musa.

Spoiler Alert!!!!
Acting
I love the casting in this movie so much. The actors were so mature and said their lines so well. Everybody acted their roles convincingly and with passion. I was not surprised when I found out that all three main actors earned nominations. When Soraya offered that Dume should sleep with her, the look in his face when he sees her body just made me so emotional, you could see his love for her coupled with the fear of getting in trouble or being banished. When Wanambe hits Soraya because she was crying over Dume's death, one gets a glimpse at his anger and exasperation.

Music
The music is awesome, in that it was all tribal music, no 50 cent hip hop, or dance hall, all tribal music that reminded me of the times I spent in my village, learning songs and climbing guava trees. When Dume was being buried, there was this guy singing/shrieking in some language but weirdly enough, I enjoyed it because it had this cultural element that was so soothing.

Originality
I would say that the story is not excitingly new, seems like the same old storyline; girl likes poor boy, rich boy likes girl so rich boy kills poor boy.
But to me, what made it work so well was the authenticity. As in, the location, the mud houses, the costumes, the absence of foundation on the faces of the women. The style of speaking for me was just amazing, their English was perfect without them trying to westernize it or add an accent.
The only problem was Soraya's hair, I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure Brazilian weave was not available then.

Lesson
Wanambe grows to become sad, lonely, depressed, a drunk and the worst king they had had. The wife that he so desired, to the point of killing a man, never grew to love him but rather was cold and distant. You reap what you sow. It was a really sad ending for him.

In conclusion, I would 150% recommend this movie. Anything you hate about African movies - horrible lines, poor picture or sound, unbelievable acting, bad directing, time wasting in scenes and more - all of those are absent from the this movie. The story kept you interested as to know what happens next but I do think the movie could have ended better. Like the end was just blahhh. We do not know if and how the new king saves his village. A little insight would have been perfect.
But I hail Leila oh, she seems like truly a jewel, so intelligent. I'm so proud to be African but I gotta say, Nigerians pls step it up oh, Ghana is dusting us oh.
Her next movie, Sinking Sands is being released soon. Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWZjzBvySh8

References
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=185237

Temptation!!!

Alright, so I've been away for a while and I sincerely apologise. But nothing could keep me away from my favorite thing in the world, watching Nollywood movies.

So, I'm gonna review..... (drum roll plzzzz).... Temptation (1, 2 &3 but it ain't that long)! It stars Majid Michel, Liberian actor Frank Artus and Martha Ankomah. It's  a Ghanian movie that I love, we Nigerians gotta step up mehn

Summary

Mike, a movie director who is married with a child, engages in a one night stand that leads to more trouble than he could have anticipated.

Spoiler Alert!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2FDs6VlDHw

StoryLine

The story is about Micheal (Majid) who is a movie director. He's married with a child who has some genetic disease, we are not really told what she has. But he sha blames his wife, Nicki, (Martha) for their child's disease and because of that, he has a cold attitude towards his wife and his unhappiness is also affecting his work. You really feel bad for Nicki because he refuses her meals, insults her and is so mean to her.
Anyways, one day, Micheal meets a lady, Tricia, in a restaurant (I don't know what her real name is but she's fiinnneeee but she should lose those contacts) and when he approaches her, she tells him a sad story about how her husband is rich and abusive, saying that she's scared to divorce him because he will take custody of her daughter . So, I guess to relieve both their pains, they go to a hotel and when they start doing their business, Raymond (Frank Artus) walks into their room with a gun. He takes pictures of them together, knocks Mike unconscious and rapes Tricia. The rape scene is pretty disturbing but I was so glad they showed nothing.

From then on, Raymond proceeds to blackmail Mike threatening that he will show the pictures to Nicki and embarrass him. He and Tricia don't go to the police because she is worried her husband will find out she was cheating and take their daughter.
In the end we find out Raymond and Tricia were working together and that Nicki's sister, Queen, orchestrated the whole thing.

Mike was stewpid, thaz all I can say. That or there was some plot holes.
First of all, Tricia is supposedly rich, why doesn't she help to cover the blackmail or at least contribute?
Secondly, as in after Raymond has collected money from Mike, Mike still goes on sleeping with Tricia, like are you dense or just plain dumb?
Thirdly,how did he not notice that for someone who was raped the night before, Tricia was seriously composed the next morning?

Apparently, Queen blackmails Mike because she hates Nicki. Apparently, Nicki made her have an abortion and wash clothes.....ermmmm OK! At this rate, if my sister steals my meat from my plate, I should be allowed to cut off her hand. A better reason would have been really nice.

Now, this was the most ridiculous plot hole, So, in the end, Nicki confronts her sister about blackmailing Mike and that's when Queen is giving that her excuse. As Queen leaves, Nicki is crying and taking comfort with Mike. Now, if Mike told Nicki about the blackmail, he had to have told her about the adultery right? As in, there's no mention of this at all. In the end, we see them as a happy family with their daughter. Babes, he cheated on you, and you are only angry at ur sister???

Acting
Frank Artus as the bad guy was so sexy to me. I mean, he was suave and all. The only scene that I was a bit iffy about was the rape scene and that's cos he was supposedly raping a babe with a gun to her head, it was pretty disturbing.
I swear, y'all will laugh in a scene in  Part 2 where Raymond comes to Mike's house, after Mike changed his number. They start laughing and creating a story for Nicki of how they are long ago friends, you will die laughing, trust me.

Martha, as the mother, to me was really good. She was so believable as the bitter wife who is still trying to save her marriage despite her suspicions of adultery.

You will finish this movie and say the daughter was the best actor in the entire thing. I mean all the other performances were really nice but you will be amazed by the daughter, her words did not sound forced and you will actually believe her.

Picture and Sound
Picture was great, like no goofs there and sound was pretty nice, I had no problem with that.

Time Wasting scenes
There were some unfinished stories:
There was a murder investigation going on and it just stops, like we don't know what happens
One time, Nicki has a miscarriage and the doctor says her womb has to be removed to save her life, Mike refuses, mostly bcos the doc used to date his wife. However, Nicki is still alive and we don't know if she had the operation or not.

Oh yeah, OMGEEEE, to waste time, the director, or whoever, decided to insert quotes about temptation b/w almost every scene, it was irritating but you kinda get used to it

In conclusion,
So, apparently this movie was copied from Derailed, like scene by scene kinda but I still love it even though it ain't original. I would recommend everyone to go see it cos it's really nice. The performances were really stand out. What more, Majid is in there, that's reason enough for me to see any movie, lol, sike nah. But still, GRAB UR COPY NOW!!!!! lol

Movies I Have Not Seen, But Desperately Seeking

Hmmmm, so I'm just gonna talk about movies I have not yet seen but I'm pretty sure they're good. Mind you, some of these movies might already be out in naij or sth, while some are still not released. If anybody has any tips on how to get them, legally will be nice, you know me now, Law Abiding Citizen, like Gerard Butler, told you I'm razz.

Sha, let's get this going

TANGO WITH ME.

So, the movie starrs Genevieve Nnaji, Benjamin Joseph, a hottie in his own right, Joke Silva. Probably more importantly it is being directed by Mahmood Ali-Balogun, a man who believes in working very hard to achieve near perfection. Shot on celluloid, and cost of production running up to N50 million, the film promises to be one of a kind, Mahmood even hired a group of American film crew.

The story is about a newly wed couple, whose happiest night takes a horrible turn for the worse. The story is test of love and faith and it appears to address the issue of rape also.

The trailer came out this week and I love it! Pretty sure you'll love it too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAohvqeHsSQ
The movie's website is www.tangowithmefilm.com


RELENTLESS...OMGEE!!!

When I saw the trailer for this movie, I remember thinking the picture quality and imagery seems good and the soundtrack just give you goosebumps....but WHAT IS THE STORY???????
Then I read the treatment and I almost, almost oh (can't be smearing my makeup with tears). The film starrs, Gideon Okeke, my guy from BBN, Tinsel, Nneka Egbuna, like the musician that appeared on David Letterman, and Jimmy Jean Louis, Heroes, Phat Girlz.

The story is about the effects of war on our psyche. According to the synopsis, "A haunting story about loneliness, love and self-discovery that explores Africai's throbbing megacity Lagos, and the effects of war and loss."
Obi, Gideon, is a peace keeping officer in Sierra Leone, along with his friend Ola. He meets Blesing and falls in love, but he is devastated when Blessing is mutilated by child soldiers and he pumps her with bullets to end her pain.
He goes back to Nigeria and sets up a security company with Ola, but he is haunted by his past. He saves Honey, Nneka, one night and she enters his life.
I would not want to bore you with the details but if you want the complete treatment, go to website,
www.clamfilms.com
In the teaser, Gideon's brooding face really is a testament of how good an actor he is. If you watch Tinsel, you have an idea about what I'm talking about.
You can also check out the video at http://vimeo.com/4471734

Again, I emailed the director and he said the film might be showing at the London Film Festival, and I said to myself, if it means robbing a bank to go to London, I would do it, lol. But seriously though.


THE MIRROR BOY

I know it might seem like I'm very partial to Genevieve's movies but I've gotta praise that girl for for her choice of movies to act in, they are always On Point. This movie is no less. It is set in both London and Gambia, starring Genny, Edward Kagutuzi, newcomer and protagonist, Osita Iheme, was quite surprised as this movie isn't comedy, Fatima Jabbe, and Felix Cisse. It is directed by Obi Emelonye
The story is about TJ, a young boy in London who stands up to a bully. When his single mother hears if his fighting, she decides to take him to Gambia, where he would stay with her sister for a while.

On his arrival to Banjul, he encounters what he considers to be a simple apparition, a boy at him in the mirror and vanishing afterwards. The next day, in the marketplace, he sees hte same boy which leads to a series of events that eventually gets him lost

While his mother is searching desperately for him, TJ is led on an amazing journey of self discovery.

The movie is coming soon, think it'll be premiered in London. For people that want to see the website
www.themirrorboy-movie.com
The trailer can be seen on http://vimeo.com/13567921



So that's it for now, super sleepy and tons o homeowrk to get done but I'll remember a couple and let y'all.

P.S, I'm sleepy oh, so try to ignore all the shells, I  know there must be a lot.

Thanks and God bless!!!

Silent Scandals

Aight, so the first movie I'm gonna review is Silent Scandals. The movie features Genevieve and Majid Micheal, alongside Uche Jumbo and newcomer Chelsee Ada, who was a Most Promising Actress nominee at this year's African Movie Academy Awards. It was produced by Vivian Ejike

The story is about Jessie, a successful entrepreneur, we are not really told what she does but we know she also has political aspirations. All seems perfect from the outside but she struggles with her daughter, Emmanuela, who is free spirited, and rebellious. When Jessie can't take it anymore, she sends her daughter to England to live with her father.
All seems well until she hires a new driver, who also happened to be her daughter's former boyfriend, and all of Jessie's principles are tested, emotions are hurt, loyalties are tested and trust is betrayed.

Spoiler Alert!
Script
The storyline is interesting and most of the dialogue were believable. The only thing I would find hard to swallow is that Jessie went to the club with her driver, and danced with and got drunk. Even if the driver is as hot as Majid, I think it is quite unbelievable but I'm nt gonna be a hater, a large part of the movie is engaging. Also, another problem is that we are supposed to believe Majid set himself up with a big office, workers, secretaries and all, only after a year with a a bank loan.

Casting
So, the casting, in my opinion, was convincing, even though Genevieve does not really look like a mother but she acted the part well. Emmanuela (Chelsea Ada) goes on to be a model and that's quite plausible since she has the shape for it.

Acting
Hmmmmm, the acting was good but Genevieve was way to serious and she had no maternal connection with Emmanuela. Uche Jumbo plays the fun loving, supportive friend of Jessie but I felt if she toned down her energy a notch she would have hit the nail on the head, but she was fun to watch, especially since she seems to always give Jessie the worst advice.

Time Wasting scenes
There are a lot of these but I assume, Vivian Ejike is just trying to get her money back by making a Part 1 and 2.
There's two fashion show scenes, with clothes from Zizi Cardow. When Ella remembers how her Grandmother saved her from going to England and how she came to live in Abuja and become a model.When Neto (Majid) is crying with his mother about how there's no money in the house.

Picture and Sound
Picture is pretty good. And one can tell the director did not do wuru wuru to the answer. Sound on the other hand, they should have worked more on that. There were time i had to strain my ears to hear what was being said.

Fashion
Of course this is the most important, and it was awesome! Genevieve's costumes were always on point and she was rocking. Even Majid who was supposed to be poor was dressing better than my brother.
The only dress I had problems with was this dress Ella wore that looked like wrapping paper!


Conclusion
This movie was extraordinary, because it looked like time and money were actually spent and I actually bought it, with real life money oh! The end was quite horrible as it was not definite but just hung in the air, I can tell you about 10 versions of that end but forgetting that, and the other minor problems, I love this movie, so much so that I watched it 3 times in one weekend!
I would give it a rating of 80%


So I hope this review has been helpful and I hope you enjoy the movie

Later and God Bless!

Welcome

Hey guys,


So, I created this blog because I just love (heart) Nollywood movies and African movies in general. The main point of the blog is basically to do movie reviews, let y'all know movies that are coming soon that I think would be On Point.
Also, I'll be letting you guys know where you can watch a particular movie or something. I know this will be important because, for me, who is schooling in Maryland, omo I wanted to die when I was remembering those old movies like Full Moon and I was wondering how i was going to watch them. But someone saved me oh!
I might also dabble a little in Music, but let me just say this about Nigerian music, I'm very partial oh. I love M.I so much that if he comes out with an album with only one song on it and that song was like Soulja Boy Crank That, I will buy it and recommend it to everyone, lol. Just kidding, but seriously though, i love M.I

So you guys should just be checking and commenting and giving me tips on how I can make my blog better.

Peace and God Bless!