Starring: Van Vicker, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Reginald Lubin, Carlin Kenol
Story: Darlene Cobham
Producer: Samuel Ameyaw, John Uche
Executive Producer: Samuel Ameyaw and John Uche
Director: John Uche
Year of production: 2010 Country: Nigeria, Ghana, Haiti Language: English Genre: Religious Drama
Prologue:
This movie was initially hyped here as a Nolly-Golly-Belly combo that I was really looking forward to. It’s been out for a while, but I never found the time to watch it until over the Christmas break. Even though I was hesitant because all reviews that I had seen were pretty lukewarm, I felt that I owed it to my readers to review it after hyping it, so I tried it out over the Christmas break. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Story:
Betty (Omotola) is a very pretty Christian girl who attracts a lot of male attention, particularly from Patrick, one of her male coworkers (Reginald Lubin). She falls in love with and marries Richie (Van Vicker), a successful Christian man. They are the perfect couple, very good looking. She starts to live her worst nightmare when after their wedding Richie refuses to touch his wife. For three months, they play cat and mouse with each other, with Richie coming up with every excuse in the book to avoid intimacy. One day, Betty comes home early and accidentally discovers the reason for Richie’s refusal to perform his marital duties. What does she see, and what does she do about it?
Title: A private storm Starring: Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Ramsey Nouah, John Dumelo, Ngozi Ezeonu, Ufuoma Ejebonor Producer: Vivian Ejike Story: Vivian Ejike Executive producer: O Atoki Directors: Ikechukwu Onyeka, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen Year of production: 2010 Country: Nigeria. Genre: Drama Language: English Prologue: This is Vivian Ejike's third movie. The first one, "When the heart lies" was pretty bad. However, I was very impressed by Silent Scandals, her second movie. For this movie, there is only one thing I want to say:
AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaHHHH! That is what I am talking about. Yeah!! Nigerian movies are stepping up BIG time and Vivian is right in the midst of the revolution. What? What!!! I know I am gushing like a schoolgirl, but I cannot help my self. I loved it. Loooooooved it. LOVED IT!! Please do not watch this on youtube, get your own original copy. At the moment, all the online stores have it, so get a copy u hear me? It does not cost that much and you will get excellent entertainment during this holiday season.
Starring:Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Majid Michel, Tonto Dike Geredine Ekeocha, Prince Eke
Producer: Azuka Odgngkwe
Director: Tchidi Chikere
Story/screenplay: Tchidi Chikere
Year of production: 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Country: Nigeria.
Preamble: Tchidi is a very inconsistent writer and director. Sometimes he slams it out of the park and sometimes, he screws things up. Let me by saying that in my opinion, this was a slam dunk, a grand slam, a home run! What I wonder though, is why he had to give such a good movie such a ridiculous name. Who names these things? I almost did not watch it. And yet, what a good movie it turned out to be!
Story: Catherine (Omotola Jalade Ekehinde) is a young girl who lives with her mother (Geredine Ekeocha) and her sister Debbie (Tonto Dike). Problem is, Catherine has been badly disfigured in a car accident that killed her father and left her with facial scars and a bad limp. Now she considers herself ugly and suffers from very low self esteem. Her situation is not helped by her beautiful sister Debbie who misses no opportunity to put her down. Into this dysfunctional setting walks the very handsome and rich Omar (Majid Michel) who for some inexplicable reason seems to be very attracted to the ugly duckling Catherine, much to Debbie’s chagrin. How does it work out for the three of them?
Trailer (although this trailer is pretty bad - a cut and join job if you ask me. Makes no sense!!)
Review Positives: Omotola is one of Africa’s top actresses for a reason – she can act. SHE CAN ACT! Dang!! I loved her in this movie – loved her. Her vulnerability, her self loathing - there were times she almost moved me to tears. She was clearly the star of this flick. I cannot lie – she pulled it off big time. I have never been a big fan of Tonto Dike’s but with performances like this, she is starting to win me over. She was excellent as the beautiful spoilt brat of a sister with clear feelings of entitlement. And Majid – sauve, handsome, compassionate and yet, conflicted – veeeery nice! I loved the casting of this movie. Honestly, I have no complaints about any single cast member. Even the doctor (Prince Okah), I think did really well. Most delightful! I loved the story. While it was kinda cheesy, it was also very sweet, and yet not totally predictable. I did not really expect some of the events that took place, so I really liked that. I loved the fact that Tchidi was able to take a very simple story, requiring such few cast members, and yet make something so engaging out of it. Good job.
Negatives: First, Omotola’s make up. Yeah it made her look funny, but why was the supposed burn green? Abi was it just my eyes? It was green!! They needed to do a better job with the burn victim story and associated make up. Haba!! Secondly, Tchidi needs a better camera. Yes, the pink spot is gone, but his camera is definitely not the same standard as the one Vivian Ejike used in Silent Scandals. That was a pretty film visually. In this one, the picture quality not as crisp. Tchidi, you need a new camera!! Thirdly, while I have heard frequent complaints about Tchidi singing in all his movies, I have not really seen his stuff of recent. Well, in this one, we were subjected to the dude singing some really corny tune, while basically telling the story of the movie. Too cheap to pay someone to write and sing a decent sound track? Na wah o. And then, as I earlier mentioned, there is the stupid name of this movie. Eventually, I figured out why they gave it that name, but its still stupid – honestly. If you take the time to make such a good movie, then take the time to name it properly!
There were also some scenes that were too long - of Catherine walking all over the place for instance - normal Naija movie problems.
In general though – darned good movie. Very nice. I highly recommend it.
Themes and Worldview: This is what I loved most about this movie – its realistic depiction of the role of physical attractiveness in getting people through even the more mundane activities in life. There is a powerful scene where Omotola’s character weeps as she wonders why nobody sees past her ugliness and sees the person inside, why noone believes that any good thing can happen to her. “I am a good person; I am still here” she wept. It was touching, and it hit me on a visceral level, because we are all guilty of this: judging people by what we see – beauty and race being the most obvious characteristics. The film so artfully captured the pain suffered by people who are rejected for attributes they have no control over. Very touching. And even beyond art, the themes in this movie have some powerful real world applications: For instance, study after study have shown that better looking people get better jobs, and are likely to be treated better in general
As one character in the movie said “Yes, beauty is only skin deep, but no one told me how deep that skin is.” In other words, we are all potentially very shallow people, ignoring the person inside because of the outer packaging. Even in the bible, GOD had to teach the same lesson to one of his prophets saying “man looks at the outward appearance, but GOD looks at the heart”.
Great story, powerful lesson, much food for thought.
So everybody has been talking about this movie for a while now, but I decided to wait on the trailer before hyping it. The buzz is really positive. I am so excited about all the good things that are suddenly happening in Nigerian cinema. This appears to be another movie that is once again going to take the industry to the next level. It is the filmmaking debut of Chineze Anyaene who directed and co-produced it with Paula Moreno. The movie has already been screened for some Hollywood high-flyers late last year, and there have been a few private screenings as well. The few available reviews have been effusive - Omotola and Genevieve were said to have knocked it out of the park!! I just cannot wait to see this one.
IJE tells a tale of Chioma, a child growing up in the Nigerian countryside, who warned her restless sister, Anya, about the trappings of the American Dream. Now ten years later, Anya is accused of killing three men in a Hollywood Hills mansion—one of them her record producer-husband. Chioma travels from Nigeria to Los Angeles, and with the help of a young, unproven attorney, discovers that the dark secret her sister wants to keep hidden might be the only thing that can win her freedom." It stars Genevieve Nnaji and Omotola Jalade Ekeinde. It will be released in March 2010...
Trailer:
Just even look at the production quality of that trailer!! And check out the music - she used Asa!! Honestly, I am so excited!!
You can learn more about the movie here and also keep up with new developments on this thread. There is also a website, but it is still undeveloped. Will update this post if any action turns up on that site.
Alright folks, the movie is supposed to hit theatres sometime in March. And then I guess DVD later in the year? Looking forward to it. As usual, we will review when we see it.
Synopsis: After an opening scene of a little girl wandering around in what appears to be some kind of dreamland (no worries, all is explained by the end of the movie), the movie moves on to a scene with a panel of experts arguing over the merits or demerits of female circumcision. This movie tells two stories – one is kind of a short film detailing the experience of two sisters in a village – Maria (acted by Blessing Kalu ) and her sister Eno (Halimat Abubaker) being forced to undergo female circumcision as part of the coming of age and preparation for marriage rites. This story is narrated by one of the experts on the panel. The larger story of the movie involves the return of Dr. April Jodi (Chisom Oz-Lee) to Nigeria. Dr. Jodi graduated from a medical school in America and has decided to do her residency in Nigeria. Initially planning to work in a more elitist hospital, she happens to catch the panel on female circumcision on TV and decides to work in Calsy hospital in Umari village. There she meets Dr. Phil (Kalu Ik) and his girlfriend (Omotola). In addition, she makes friends with a reporter (Bimbo Akintola) assigned to investigate the story of an anti-circumcision priest who suddenly met with some adverse circumstances. When Dr. Jodi decides to join in the fight against “tradition”, things get really interesting.
Trailer:
Review: Positives: It took me a while to dig out the movie and watch it after buying it. I expected it to be preachy, boring, linear, predictable. How wrong I was. I loooved it. LOOOOVED IT. Outstanding effort to deal with a pertinent social issue without being overly preachy.
What did I like?
First of all the village scenes, especially at the beginning - excellent. I don't think even oyinbos could have done it any better. Very realistic, very welldone.
The dialogue: Was logical, flowing, actually intelligent in places! Very nicely done. Somebody gave the screenplay some thought, instead of just throwing crap together on screen.
The casting: Mostly spot on. Kalu and Omot? So cute together. Kalu is just so suave. That is the word – suave. Played the doctor role beautifully. And the scenes with Omot – I liked their chemistry.. Omot, girlfriend delivered as always. The delectable Bimbo A. played a reporter in this movie. She played it with panache. In fact, somebody really worked hard to fill in al the roles here – round peg in round holes -from king to mother to uncle to chiefs to everybody. Excellent casting!
Even the hospital scenes! I hate hospital scenes in Naija movies. HATE THEM. But in this one, the hospital scenes were sooooo good. Believable. The terminology was mostly spot on. The setting was realistic. I was like woohooooo! Das warram talking about. Okay, fine: actual doctors may complain about some of the hospital scenes, but compared to what we usually see in Naija movies, this is on another level completely. What!! They actually tried to get the terminology right? Round of applause!
And the ending - predictable until the end. Then wosai!!! I did not see that coming at all At first, I was like, this ending sef, how could they make the ending of such a good film so boring? Boy, did they surprise me! I actually applauded at the end. That is how impressed I was.
And technically, a very high quality production. Sound was very good, picture quality, camera work, Nice!
Negatives: The weak link was Dr April (Ms. Chisom herself). Here is the thing - She was the producer for this movie, and it felt like a vanity project to me. She cast herself in the lead, and was front and center in the movie. And she wasn't horrible. There were times when she was actually watchable, particularly when she had to give medical related lectures. She is a medical person (a nurse in real life), and it was clear that she know her stuff in that regard. Problem was, everybody else was sooo much better than her. Everybody! And she had this big hair that I found it very, very distracting. The other weak link, though he was not there for too long, was the museum curator. Daang! The dude was baaddd (and not in a good way, LOL)!! I also wish they could have done without some of the falling in love. There was no chemistry for one particular couple (one half of that couple being Dr. April). That was not necessary. At all. It ended up trivializing some of the story to me.
And yes the three part thing, that was annoying too, considering that each part was just about an hour each. I think they do that primarily for the Nigerian market, where they sell each vcd disk separately. For me though, it did not make much difference. All three parts are on one dvd.
Underlying theme/lessons/worldview/philosophy: While our history and culture are very important aspects of our lives, some practices have outlived their usefulness and need to be changed. However, getting people who are committed to a certain way of life to change is a difficult and complicated process. And as we see from this movie, some people will never change their minds, no matter how much evidence they are presented with. I believe this movie did an excellent job of presenting both the opportunities and difficulties associated with this process of change.
Bottomline: The story was actually quite creative - educational and entertaining, which is quite a feat because in many Naija films, those concepts tend to be mutually exclusive.I really enjoyed it. It was able to catch and keep my attention from start to finish. I found it well thought out, well planned, well casted, well acted (in general). Highly recommended! Just for that ending alone - For surprising me!
ps: If you are curious about the producer Chisom Oz-Lee and her other projects, you can check her website and this interview for more information about her. I do hope that she listens to the voice of the people and stays behind the camera though. She has good film instincts, she is just not a good actress.
So, although Van Vicker from Ghana is the hottest thing in Nollywood at the moment, no movie of his has ever made it to this blog, mostly because I am not enamored of his acting, producing or directing (yes, he does the last two!!) And I doubt that any movie of his that I have ever seen will - well there is one exception (Reloaded) but that contained a stellar cast. However, I have chosen to "tentatively" plug this movie, mostly because I am totally in love with the leading lady - the queen herself Omotola! In addition, I am curious as to what a Ghanaian, Nigerian, Haitian combo will look like.
The movie is Mind Game, directed by Nigerian director, John Uche.
Story:
In this heart racing, conflict stricken, suspense cut drama, Betty (Omotola Jalade Ekeinde) gets entangled in her worst nightmare and all hell breaks loose one holy afternoon when she returns home from work unexpectedly to find her husband Richard (Van Vicker) in a compromising position with a friend of his in their study only four months after their wedding, during which he deliberately avoids consummating their marriage...
Shocked beyond comprehension, she is torn between divorcing him, and staying in the marriage...
Trailer:
The movie stars Nigeria's sweetheart Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Ghanaian heartthrob VanVicker, and Haitian movie stars Reginald Lubin and Carlin Kenol.
Fun trivia: The Haitian movie industry is called Bellywood!
This website is devoted to fans of African movies who want to know which ones are worth watching. We only review above average movies on this site. The purpose is to give props to the actors, producers and directors who have squeezed water out of rocks and created decent entertainment against all odds.
If you want to review a movie for us, please email moviemadam@gmail.com.
We would be happy to feature all good african film, regardless of age, or origin.
Thanks for stopping by
