eeax2 Reviews

Bus Driver (2005 Video)

Excellent in parts, very very messy in others.

[6/10 · 17 August 2007]

This movie is about the struggles of a man who drives a mini-van for an informal Lagos public transportation system. First thing to say in the defense of this work is that it was viewed online in a cobbled together version with a less than ideal picture and almost unbearably bad sound. It should also be mentioned that it is shot on videotape and while this puts the viewer closer to the action, it also adds to the low-budget quality of the film. It is well-acted by the principals and genuinely entertaining in parts, but surprisingly for a low-budget film, needlessly long. The best thing about Bus Driver is that it sugar-coats very little and in many instances provides believable glimpses into day-to day Lagos life.

If you are unfamiliar with the dialect/accents then you may find the story's intricacies a little hard to follow. One imagines locals/expats willget many more inside jokes and remarks than a newbie to Nigerian speech. Nonetheless, the story is straightforward and the lead actor a very compelling flawed and occasionally straight out corrupt everyman. With a little patience this extremely frayed offering will provide a colorful diversion from the usual more polished but less engaging fare. As my first Nollywood movie I have to imagine that there are more accessible ones than this, but I did like this one for its unflinching yet never graphic story-telling.

Spring Break Lawyer (2001 TV Movie)

As good a spring break movie as you'll ever see.

[8/10 · 12 August 2007]

This movie can be best described as a cross between "Legally Blonde"(the first one, the funny one) and "Old School". The actors are younger and don't have quite the same chops as the big-guns (Ferrell or Vince Vaughan), but its that same type of smart/stupid guy movie. One good gag involves hookers who take credit cards and have the same almost sympathetic attitude as the checkout lady at a department store when the payment is declined. It is in no way an intense or edgy film. The sexual content is about at the level of a Carry On movie. All in all a very good-natured, funny but also sensible film that never gets ahead of itself isn't preachy, employs gross-out gags without being tasteless, and probably could be run on late night TV every spring break. Recommended alongside "Big Shot: Confessions of a Campus Bookie" as two near movie-theater-quality made for TV flicks.

Children of Men (2006)

highly overrated *minor spoiler*

[2/10 · 16 January 2007]

What a piece of garbage. I don't see what the big deal is. Its opportunistic use of the theme of immigration is potentially inflammatory and definitely exploitative. The fact that the "wonderchild" is gonna have a "west-African" mother is just the director covering his tracks. As an allegory for Europe's declining indigenous population it's just weak. In 2027 the illegals would more likely be from the current developed nations who are supposed to have fallen apart. Places like America, Germany, Canada, and Japan. The whole movie is just a meaningless mess. Don't waste your money Don't waste your time

Tristram Shandy (2005)

too subtle

[7/10 · 30 July 2006]

Mostly this movie was too subtle and the little womb dream sequence was crap, and I said to my wife "someone needs to get hit in the nuts real soon". And lo, the gag materialized. Also this movie reminded me of a cross between The Player and lookswise Barry Lyndon because it was about making films but this time it seems like the filmmakers duped Hollywood andkept their idea intact. Fastforward to the chestnut scene where possible. Mostly this movie was too subtle and the little womb dream sequence was crap, and I said to my wife "someone needs to get hit in the nuts real soon". And lo, the gag materialized. Also this movie reminded me of a cross between The Player and lookswise Barry Lyndon because it was about making films but this time it seems like the filmmakers duped Hollywood andkept their idea intact. Fastforward to the chestnut scene where possible. Mostly this movie was too subtle and the little womb dream sequence was crap, and I said to my wife "someone needs to get hit in the nuts real soon". And lo, the gag materialized. Also this movie reminded me of a cross between The Player and lookswise Barry Lyndon because it was about making films but this time it seems like the filmmakers duped Hollywood andkept their idea intact. Fastforward to the chestnut scene where possible.

Chewin' the Fat (1999–2005)

like many other sketch shows

[5/10 · 16 July 2006]

Like so may other sketch shows before it this one is spotty. When its good then it is very good and I wiped many a tear away watching it. But I also just sat there a lot waiting for something funny and often even thru an entire show there was nothing. Compared to other sketch shows like Saturday Night Live and Python and Dave Chappelle it has about the same hit-miss ratio but only occasionally does it do anything new whereas the aforementioned have all broken their own particular patches of fresh ground. I like the way they kept the thick Scottish accents tho'. I think that made the jokes all the more rewarding when I could understand them. Definitely not for everybody, but I did manage to find a bunch of downloads out there about 18 months back.

Inside Man (2006)

couple of things bugged me about this 6 and a half out of 10 flick (minor spoiler)

[6 April 2006]

I liked the style of the movie Especially the flash-forward thing with the interviews That was about the best part cos it showed peoples characters Especially the chick with the big-boobs Like Chris rock said "Everybody loves a big ti**y woman!!" But Why does Spike have to do that thing where Denzil is moving like on a skateboard or floating inches above the ground. That's his signature I know but its kinda lame. Plus, no-way dude hides in the back of the office supply room. Cmon !! plus, no way one of the like half-dozen robbers doesn't slip up under interrogation. Never-mind that they, apparently,didn't actually steal anything, the fuzz still are not gonna let it slide after a like 12 hour or whatever hostage taking siege in a NYC bank. No-way! they'd be hounding everyone that came out of that bank for months on end and someone would slip-up. Still it was good fun if (like in Face-Off) you were prepared to suspend belief a little bit. The dude who played Dezil's sidekick was the best thing in Four Brothers (the Marky-Mark, Andre 3000 flic)

I Accidentally Domed Your Son (2004)

Mostly douche

[2/10 · 13 February 2006]

This movie was crap as hell. Hard to think of a worst movie. Strangely paced too, like when them two guys were dressed up as old men. Boy that scene dragged. Mostly douche. Lotsa slow-paced douche cant think of one funny or poignant scene There may have been a half a one but I can't remember it. This movie was crap as hell. Hard to think of a worst movie. Strangely paced too, like when them two guys were dressed up as old men. Boy that scene dragged. Mostly douche. Lotsa slow-paced douche cant think of one funny or poignant scene There may have been a half a one but I can't remember it.This movie was crap as hell. Hard to think of a worst movie. Strangely paced too, like when them two guys were dressed up as old men. Boy that scene dragged. Mostly douche. Lotsa slow-paced douche cant think of one funny or poignant scene There may have been a half a one but I can't remember it.

Pootie Tang (2001)

God wept

[10/10 · 12 February 2006]

Louis C.K conceived of the story which would become Pootie Tang on Long Island, where man, in the person of a crew of Dutch sailors, was placed "face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder." That was in the spring of 1924. He wrote most of it, though, in a villa above St. Raphaël on the Riviera, with Roman and Romanesque aqueducts within sight, and beneath a skyline that reminded him of Shelley's Eugenean Hills. There was a beach where he swam daily, and came to know a group of young French naval aviators. Otherwise, he worked steadily at what he jokingly spoke of to friends as "a script better than any script written in America." By late October the script was ready to be mailed to Maxwell Perkins, his editor at Scribner's.

He knew very well that Pootie Tang was far finer than anything he had attempted before. In April, on the eve of his departure for Europe, he told his limo driver "I cannot let it go out unless it has the very best I am capable of in it or even as I feel sometimes, something better than I am capable of." He would not be alone in that feeling; many would say that the novel possessed the "Fitzgerald" glamor, but also "a kind of mystic atmosphere at times." They may have been remembering C.K's words in that April letter: "So in my new script I'm thrown directly on purely creative work—not trashy imaginings as in my stories but the sustained imagination of a sincere yet radiant world."

Flavor of Love (2006– )

tough to call

[1 January 2006]

They are showing the whole first episode of this on the vh1 TV website Vspot at VH1.com. I liked it because it is like the bachelor but with Flavor Flav. In truth he isn't as nuts as he was probably because he is clean from doing crack. I think his charm will shine thru and that will be the real reward for whatever chick gets with him and also for the viewers. I personally hope he is smart and doesn't just choose some broad who is SOLELY in it for the money. On the other hand its kinda demeaning for the chicks but I guess thats how dating is anyway, there's always a level of either a) giving up your dignity or b) compromising the dignity of whoever your pursuing romantically.

King Kong (2005)

I don't get it

[9/10 · 27 December 2005]

what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it what was King Kong supposed to be ? A giant bear ? I don't get it

Roll Bounce (2005)

Mixed

[4/10 · 26 November 2005]

this movie has some bright moments to it. Mostly because of the subject matter and the fact that they had the god sense to have the song Rol Bounce in it. It mostly shows that roller skating is fun and its probably a nice movie for mom and the kids to see but with regard to race which came up in a lot of earlier posts there was a bit more comment on race in this movie than in a comparable film like Lords of Dogtown,but not so much to distract from a universal if nostalgic appeal. The camera-work disappointed me a bit during the skate scenes and i thought they could have been a bit more creative and played up the whole art of movement thing that you get with rollerskating. I only saw it on a small screen though and imagine it would be better on the moviescreen with a booming system than on bootleg (albeit a high quality one). Bow wow was actually much better in this movie than in that Like Mike thing and I would say has potential to do well as an actor if he improves at this rate. The material he had to work with was not so good though, although a more accomplished young actor might have done only a bit better. Mostly the movie made me thing "I wonder if there is a roller-disco anywhere in town?" cos it looks fun.. till the skin on your ankles start to chafe from the cheap rentals that it.