Reviews

Woli Arole

January 24, 2019

Review: Woli Arole takes on Nollywood with ‘The Call’; He doesn’t succeed

For Hollywood’s latest remake of A Star is Born, the titular character, Ally, played by pop star, Lady Gaga has her pivotal, starmaking moment the old-fashioned way, belting out a tune to a live, appreciative audience. If A Star is Born were to be made to reflect Nigeria’s contemporary pop scene, perhaps Ally would have... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor

Baby steps

January 23, 2019

Review: Enyinna Nwigwe and Bimbo Akintola in dull, nondescript Baby Steps

Enyinna Nwigwe headlines this dramatic comedy about a chronic bachelor whose playboy lifestyle is jolted into reset mode when he wakes up to a baby- the product of one of his numerous sexual encounters- at his doorstep. Confused and frustrated, Ransome (Nwigwe) must learn to accommodate the newest member of his life while jumping through... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

baby steps, bimbo akintola, Enyinna Nwigwe

Genevieve Nnaji

January 22, 2019

Profile: How Genevieve Nnaji became Queen of Nollywood (again)

In December 2018, two decades after starting out with a bit part in the crime drama, Most Wanted, Genevieve Nnaji entered yet another phase of her eventful career with a limited theatrical release of her directorial debut, the family comedy, Lionheart. Earlier in September, just a day before Lionheart’s world premiere at the Toronto International... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Reviews, The Cutting Floor

Akin Omotosho, Genevieve Nnaji, Lionheart, Road to yesterday

knockout blessing

January 16, 2019

Review: Knock Out Blessing delivers more hits than misses

The prodigious Dare Olaitan announced his arrival in audacious form with the 2017 crime drama Ojukokoro (Greed). A welcome breath of fresh air, Ojukokoro was quite unlike anything that had come before it, a hugely impressive showcase of Olaitan’s gifts as a storyteller, writer and director. Two years later- with a brief and better forgotten... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Dare Olaitan, Knockout Blessing, Ojukokoro

up north

January 15, 2019

Review: Up North is big, beautiful and bland

Geography was big in Nollywood in 2018 with films like Lionheart, King of Boys and Kasala looking within to reflect worlds and create narratives that are distinctly local. While the former films spread themselves across various regions in the South, Anakle, a digital media agency took the road less travelled- at least as far as... Read More

Reviews, The Film Blog

Banky W, Up North

Lionheart

December 26, 2018

Film Review: Lionheart is the feel-good movie of the year and everyone should see it

Genevieve Nnaji isn’t a fan of the division of the film industry into old and new Nollywood. These boxes and labels, convenient but ultimately far from all-encompassing were employed by the media in response to the pivot of Nollywood films to cinema, as distributors began to seek out new ways of reaching audiences. “People come... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Genevieve Nnaji, Lionheart the movie, Nkem Owoh, Onyeka Onwenu

Vonne

December 14, 2018

Vonne Couture Presents Dudu Collection

Womenswear label, Vonne couture has unveiled its latest collection named ‘Dudu’- which means black in Yoruba language. The creative director, Yvonne Nwosu who poses as her own model for the lookbook expressed that ‘Dudu’ was inspired by the ‘African Woman’ who is an embodiment of strength and beauty, and with all that she is burdened... Read More

fashion, Vonne Couture

Kasala

December 13, 2018

Film Review: In an industry drowning in cliches; Kasala is a breath of fresh air

In an interesting twist, one of the most refreshing movies to come out of Nollywood in a long time has no big name leading lady attached, isn’t fronted by a comedian turned actor, wasn’t made by committee and appears to have little marketing spend. Set over the course of a single day in a Surulere,... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Ema Edosio, film, Kasala, review, Wilfred Okiche

Ayoola Ayolola

December 10, 2018

Film Review: Ayoola Ayolola is the best thing about If I am President

What better time to put out an old school drama about aspiring for the highest political office in the land than electoral season? As the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) lifts the lid to allow for active campaigning, and political parties and their candidates scramble for a piece of the pie, filmmaker Bright Wonder Obasi... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Ayo Ayoola, Mac Arthur Foundation, Wilfred Okiche

Chief Daddy

December 10, 2018

Review: Chief Daddy is ready to take all your money

You have seen the trailer. It is no spoiler to report that Chief Beecroft (Taiwo Obileye), the character for which EbonyLife Film’s latest extravaganza is named, has just kicked the bucket. This unfortunate event, the film’s inciting incidence is pretty much dispatched with in the opening sequences. The real drama lies in what happens after.... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Chief Daddy, Wilfred Okiche

Tolu Akinyemi

December 8, 2018

With “Dead Lions Don’t Roar”, Tolu Akinyemi opts for relatable simplicity

Poetry can be likened to spades, whose ability to dig deep and unearth largely depends on who is handling it. It’s fairly obvious, but the fate of a line or a paragraph, in terms of its resonating effect, has a lot to do with the thumb and index (and all other accompanying) fingers wielding the... Read More

Dead Lions dont roar, Poetolu, Poetry, Tolu Akinyemi

Uphopho, Minister

November 11, 2018

Theatre Review: Our Son the Minister is the story of all of us

In 2016, the Beeta Universal Arts Foundation, founded by Bikiya Graham-Douglas, launched the Beeta Playwright Competition to give a voice and create opportunities for emerging writers. Our Son the Minister, a political satire, back for a second run from 9 through 11, November 2018 at the Terra Kulture Arena, was the inaugural winner. Written by... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor

Our Son the Minister, theatre

King of boys

November 7, 2018

King of Boys: An unvarnished look into the seedy underbelly of the Lagos elite

Kemi Adetiba’s King of Boys is a coming of age film and a departure from the mundane theme of comedy prevalent in Nigeria’s movie space. King of Boys is a movie of grit, dialogue and character, laced with auteur brilliance intent on making a strong statement in Nollywood. The movie begins with a party scene... Read More

Editor's Pick, Reviews

Adesua Etomi, Kemi Adetiba, King of Boys, movie review, nollywood, Sola Sobowale

King of boys

October 29, 2018

Film Review: ‘King of Boys’ is everything and nothing you expect

Director Kemi Adetiba is one of Nigeria’s experimental auteurs. That much was made clear from the scene that played out at the Sunday night premiere of her hotly anticipated King of Boys. The version that screened to a crowd of industry people- most seeing the film for the first time- came in at over three hours..... Read More

Featured, Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Adesua Etomi-Wellington, k1 de ultimate, Kemi Adetiba, King of Boys, Sola Sobowale

September 27, 2018

Odunlade Adekola’s The Vendor is barely salvaged by a few laughs

Meme king Odunlade Adekola takes his lowbrow shtick to the big screen with The Vendor, a ribald screwball tale of a young man hustling to make ends meet in the city. It isn’t the most original of concepts that The Vendor saddles itself with and the production values are reflective of the makers’ obvious limitations,... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

odunlade adekola, The Vendor

From lagos with love

September 26, 2018

‘From Lagos With Love’ had so much material but played out as cheap melodrama

There is no shortage of films- Nollywood, Hollywood and beyond- that trace the dramatic unravelling of the family, nuclear or extended. The larger, the trashier, the better. Cue in the mandatory lunch or dinner scene where tongues let loose, secrets come tumbling out and weaves get snatched. The family drama is so dependably regular that... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

From Lagos With Love, Melodrama, Wilfred Okiche

Femi Kuti

September 24, 2018

Concert Review: A splendid night with Femi Kuti

After about two months on the road touring Europe and the Americas, Afrobeat’s first son, Femi Kuti and his Positive Force band, Saturday night, brought the groove to a different kind of Lagos setting. The Pool Bar at the Sheraton Lagos hotel was the venue of a sizzling one night only event promoted as an... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor

concert, Femi Kuti, review

Corruption

August 29, 2018

Fighting Corruption is Dangerous is an interesting retelling of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s legacy

2018 173 pages MIT Press According to Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the global average tenure for a finance minister is two years. In Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala served in this capacity for seven, three of them (2003-2006) during the Olusegun Obasanjo second term administration, and four under the leadership of Goodluck... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Reviews, The Cutting Floor

Book Review, ngozi okonjo iweala, Wilfred Okiche

August 20, 2018

Omoni Oboli has done her best work yet on ‘Moms at War’

In Moms at War, the latest collaboration between FilmOne and inkblot productions, box office magnet Omoni Oboli rejoins the team, this time actively involved both on screen and behind the scenes. Not content with her leading lady duties in last year’s lukewarm, My Wife & I, Oboli has for the first time in her career,... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Film Review: Alexandra is a near sterile immigrant hustle story

The Nollywood-diaspora collaborations are pretty much a staple of the film industry. In the last decade, they have become so consistent, they might as well be classified as their own genre. A common feature of these films is the near absence of quality control, or at least a vanity check. He who pays the piper... Read More

Featured, Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Alexandra, Freda Steffl, hollywood., nollywood, Vivica A Fox

Concert Review: Becoming FalzTheBahdGuy was solid but Falz hasn’t quite arrived yet

On the creative level, Falz’s entire career so far has gone through the three major stages; the climb, the peak and the dip. Every creative pretty much follows this trajectory, but the fleeting nature of pop stardom ensures that performers tend to complete this arc sooner rather than later. For evidence of this, look no... Read More

Editor's Pick, Featured, Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Music Blog

Becoming Falz TheBahdGuy, review, Trace Live

Ghetto Bred

Review: Eniola Badmus gives us Ghetto bred, another Nollywood Rom-com nobody asked for

Enola Badmus has Funke Akindele-Bello to thank for her career. Or at least for her star making appearance in the pop culture phenom, Jenifa. As Gbogbo Big Girl, the plus sized pimp preying on greedy University girls, Badmus made quite the impression. Even though she left the Jenifa franchise in its early days, the appeal... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Eniola Badmus, Ghetto Bred, nollywood

Crazy People

Film Review: Moses Inwang’s Crazy People is clumsy, but redeemable

Director Moses Inwang is steadily building a profile as the definitive chronicler of the mental health issues that afflict Nigerians. Throughout his career, Inwang has made involved, if flawed, efforts to explore conditions and situations that Nigerians would very much prefer to keep hidden in dark cupboards. Inwang hasn’t achieved maestro status yet in his... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Crazy People, Kunle Afolayan, Moses Inwang

Nokia

The Nokia 1 brings the durability and accessibility we’ve come to expect of Nigeria’s most loved brand

Unless you live under a rock, then you know about the enduring love affair Nigeria has with the Nokia phone brand, (currently manufactured by HMD Global) and how it was instrumental to Nigeria’s transition into mobile technology. It might lagged a bit it when the world abandoned Symbian technology and that whole detour (who could... Read More

The ghost and the tout

See The Ghost and the Tout, but only at your own risk

Emboldened by the financial success of Alakada Reloaded from last year, actress/producer, Toyin Abraham has reteamed with FilmOne for another clumsy attempt at filmmaking. This time, Abraham trades the gloss of reality television and faux luxury for a blurry snapshot of life in a ghetto beachside community. For The Ghost and the Tout, Abraham casts... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Media Blog

Sambasa Nzeribe, Toyin Abraham, Wilfred Okiche

abdullahi

Book Review: Bolaji Abdullahi’s On a Platter of Gold shows a surprising side of Jonathan

The Goodluck Jonathan Presidency is sure to go down as one of the most eventful periods of Nigerian history. Surprising, inspiring yet ultimately disappointing, that the Jonathan presidency happened at all was a triumph of democracy, and an event only a handful of persons could have envisioned. Keeping it going as long as it did... Read More

Featured, Reviews, The Cutting Floor

Goodluck Jonathan, On a platter of Gold, review, Wilfred Okiche

The Eve

Review: The Eve is too lightweight to matter, but it is fun

Like the title clearly states, it is the day before a wedding. A union between a spoiled rich kid, Yewande (an eager Beverly Naya,) and her coddled heartthrob, Funsho, played with fumbling charm by Adeolu Adefarasin. The young couple at the center of The Eve have convinced themselves of the genuineness of their love and... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

adeolu adefarasin, Beverly Naya, The Eve, Wilfred Okiche

Film Review: New Money is awkward, clumsy

Some would argue that if ever there was such a thing as the Nigerian Dream, unmerited favour would come closest to capturing this lofty ideal. And why not? In Nigeria, equal opportunity is a mirage, inclusion is a pipe dream. And as for that often repeated line about finding strength in diversity? Surely only politicians... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

dakore akande, FilmOne Distribution, Inkblot productions, Jemima Osunde, Kalu Ikeagwu, kate henshaw, Naz Onuzo, New Money, Tope Oshin

Gidi Culture Fest

Brymo, Wizkid, Efya…The 10 best performances at Gidi Culture Fest 2018

The biggest news coming out of this year’s Gidi Culture Fest is sure to be the utter lack of time management. Countless productive hours lost to sound checks, malfunctioning equipment and band changes resulted in patrons staying at the Hard Rock Cafe beachfront long after the shows were supposed have ended. It was an exercise... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Music Blog

Adekunle gold, Gidi Culture Fest, Maka, tiwa savage

Mummy Dearest

Film Review: Mummy Dearest – The Wedding is the sequel you didn’t ask for

Willie Ikedum’s first feature, Mummy Dearest released in 2015 is notable mostly for handing a plum role to Liz Ameye, whose career trajectory lately has been stuck in the comeback mode. Ameye who used to be queen of Nollywood at one time, played Rose Chinda, a mother of five adult children scattered in different cities... Read More

Reviews, The Cutting Floor, The Film Blog

Daniel K Daniel, Liz Ameye, Mummy Dearest

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