2013 3rd quarter Movie review

In my last review, I did mention a ton of movies I had watched but didn’t have the time to review and you can bet by now I’ve watched a whole lot more. So for this piece, I’ll be tackling two categories of movie reviews; the movies worthy of in-depth review and those not worthy of any more than a couple of lines. I’ll start with the latter.

Category 1

1. Justice League (Flashpoint Paradox) – Not a cartoon for children or teenagers at all. The level of violence is off the chain plus it was the story of a parallel universe. Quite enjoyable.

2. Evil Dead – A nice remake according to critics but for me, it was just boring. The horror was gross. Also try watching the end without sound, just whack; pitiful really.

3. Looper – As confusing as its title but amazing just a love story with a less than memorable ending.

4. Iron Man 3 – Awesome!!! Nice twist at the end, tight plot, great stunts, fantastic performance by the cast and it’s truly a cinema worthy movie.

5. Elysium – Yawn. A colossal waste of time. Interesting story, slow paced and too much action that left me dosing off in different parts of the movie till it ended.

6. R.I.P.D. – A poor remake of the idea behind Men In Black even though the producers would say the two films have nothing in common. In the words of my brother (nick name Emandes), the film went “from a tight anticipated movie to a dumb sad boring whack spoof-like movie.”

7. Incredible Burt Wonderstone – It started out as a dull movie when compared to other films on magic like Now You See Me or the Illusionist. But in the end, it had a nice moral ring to it as it showed the pitfalls of letting success get to your head. I won't recommend you go out of your way to watch it though. It's the kind of movie you watch when you are bored.

8. Red 1&2 – I don’t know what the critics at Rotten Tomatoes were talking about when RED 2 came out but I enjoyed it just as much as the RED 1. Compared to part 1, part 2’s storyline might not have been as exciting but the stunts and extra characters made up for it. I loved it all the same.

9. Pacific Rim – Interesting. It’s like merging Real Steel with Aliens Vs predators. I couldn’t take my eyes off Idris Elba, for the first time I was really impressed with his character. Slightly clichéd dialogue. It had its ‘Hollywood’ moments that reminded me of Deep Blue Sea yet I failed to connect emotionally with this movie. I wonder why.

10. Pain and Gain – A funny movie except that it was a true life event and that kinda took the fun out of the movie for me. Loved the choice of actors that played the lead characters and the director’s reason for shooting this movie. In the end, it was simply to show the repercussions of taking motivational teachings too far.

I’m so eager to give you category two with in-depth reviews but on the advice of my little sister, I’ll leave it at category 1 for now and maybe next month, I’ll share category two with you.

As the last Muslim break for the year comes around, do make an effort to relax and spend time with your loved ones.

HAPPY 53rd INDEPENDENCE NIGERIA!

Yesterday, tons of youths began changing their blackberry dps to show anticipated solidarity for the progress of our dear country. It was almost like Christmas watch-night celebrations in December. But come October 1st, our national Independence Day where we celebrate freedom from colonial rule, the guns all came out in form of BCs, PMs, blog posts, online notes etc. with the same question on everyone’s minds, WHAT ARE WE TRULY CELEBRATING? We are still dependent on China, Europe and America for foreign investments to boost our economy; we are still facing corrupt leaders and politicians and to top it all, we now have national security challenges like Boko Haram. Most of all, poverty has not been eradicated from the land and its effects are felt in all aspects of our society. Bear in mind that poverty is not necessarily the lack of money but also the fear of having that lack.

This issue of poverty brings me to an issue that I’ve been wanting to blog about since last year on civil service corruption. Maybe I’ll leave that for another day. Just look out for a subsequent blog post called Public enemy no. 1.

So exactly why are the youths excited about today, Nigeria’s Independence Day? One thing is for sure, we may not be where we need to be as a nation and as a people but we are certainly not where we used to be. We’ve survived military regimes, persecution for voicing our opinions, lack of involvement in governance, dissention from extremist groups both religious and political etc. Today we in a new phase embracing reforms, freedom of information and speech, active participation in the law making process that governs our society, technological advancement, entrepreneurial spirit and the future indeed looks bright because of what we are doing now.

According to a quote by Peter Drucker, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Yesterday’s leaders of tomorrow are taking a stand and acting today so their children can have a better tomorrow. We know there are differences that divide us but we chose to look at the positives that unite us as a people. One thing is for sure, we all want a better country and a brighter future. We know it may seem bad right at the moment but we don’t want to be reminded of how bad it is. After all, every society has its demons why publicize ours on a day when the world will be watching? I’ll close this article in the words of a friend, CEO Brand Effectiveness and owner of eventiso.com , an event marketing platform, “today we celebrate the 53rd independence anniversary of our Nation Nigeria ... we chose to see things differently. This month do something about the result you desire - with unity of thought (focus) and faith make bold moves... Celebrate Nigeria @ 53 for unity and faith, peace and progress.”