Our VOTE for AMVCA 2015

So as most people know, this past week the Africa Magic Viewers Choice awards nominations for 2015 were announced. And like last year, we on NR are going to announce who has our votes and who we hope wins.

Before we move forward though, it is important to remember that ‘the way nollywood is set up’ most of us have not seen this movies even if we wanted to or not and some of these movies are not even from the past year. The nominees in this award range from “The Meeting” from back in 2012, to “Folly” which I don’t even think is out yet. For this reason, we are going to stick to the movies that we have seen and ignore all nominations for performances in movies that we haven’t.

P.S: our votes are based on the actors’ performance in the movie in which he or she was nominated for and not based on his or her body of work. 

BEST MOVIE (COMEDY):

Now even though the picture ahead seems to have two separate nominations for “The Meeting” there is really only one. Now amongst all of those movies, we have only seen “The Meeting” therefore our vote goes to “The Meeting“. However, this is not by default because the meeting was a great movie.

BEST MOVIE (DRAMA)

So… yes! Right about now, I am jealous of anyone who has actually seen this complete line up (especially October 1.. cough cough.. yes! I fan girl hard). However, since I can’t dwell on things beyond my control, from this lineup we have seen “Devil in the Detail“, “Make a Move” and “Secret Room“. First of all, Secret Room wasn’t much of a drama as it was a piss-your-pants-from-fear fest (aka a ‘thriller’). There is also the fact that ‘Devil in the Detail’ might have had some grand intentions alongside its beautiful set design but it was mostly really boring.

When it comes down to it having to choose amongst these three, as a viewer (and thankfully it’s a viewer’s choice award) I think Secret Room was the better movie of the three.

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY (MOVIE/TV SERIES)

Alright, out of all of these, I have seen everything asids from “The Last 3 Digits” and “Fundi-mentals”. So when it comes down to the choice between Frank Donga from “The Interview”, Femi Jacobs in “The Meeting“, Wale Ojo “Meet the Adebanjos” and Kelechi Udegbe from “Horn Free Day”, who is it going to be?

So I saw Horn Free Day and it was an interesting concept but it wasn’t that funny or special, I actually thought that it got quite silly after the first few minutes but that’s just one person’s opinion. I am a huge fan of Frank Donga and “The Interview” both in their own rights as separate entities. I usually can’t stand comedies but “The Interview” is amazing stress relief and the things Donga does with his face…. Then there is “the meeting” and Femi Jacobs who I simply adore but personally it’s about perspective. Everywhere you look, ‘the meeting’ is classified as comedy (and it is even on NR), however, personally like I said I can’t stand comedies but the underlying message in “The Meeting” rose above the comedy for me. So when I think of “the meeting” I don’t think ‘ah so funny’, I think it was a real story with funny moments.

In the end, it comes down to Wale Ojo from “Meet the Adebanjos” and Frank Donga. Fact is that Donga is great but you cannot underestimate the work that Wale Ojo does in Meet the Adebanjos so it is MEET THE ADEBANJOS (WALE OJO) for the win.

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA (MOVIE/TV SERIES)

So again, here I have seen everything but “A Place in the Stars” and “Honeymoon Hotel” (I will not divulge which I am happy about not seeing but I am sure you can guess). Therefore we have Mike Ezuruonye in “Unforgivable“, Adjetey Anang in “Devil in the Detail“, Wole Ojo in “Brave“, OC Ukeje in “Confusion na wa” and OC Ukeje again in “Secret Room“.

We are so thrilled for O.C’s double nomination because that means that other people which is great. It is important to remember though that we are deciding based on the work that you are nominated for. Because of that, we’ll just go ahead and take away Adjetey Anang in “Devil in the Detail”. Adjetey is a fantastic actor, no questions; maybe we still don’t get the movie, but the fact is that it did not seem that spectacular to watch him sleep with the other woman, lie to his wife, then do it all over again for over 60 minutes of film time.

Wole Ojo in Brave was just beautiful and lovely. OC Ukeje in Confusion na wa was effortless and suave and OC Ukeje in Secret Room was a whole new angle. Mike Ezuruonye in Unforgivable was gut wrenching and cutthroat.

Thankfully I get to be a viewer when choosing and not the judge, and as a viewer the most impacting performance was Mike Ezuruonye in “Unforgivable”.

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY (MOVIE/TV SERIES)

Here I have only seen Rita Dominic in “The Meeting“. I chose not to see, I come Lagos (at least, not yet) but even if I had I doubt that it would have blown Dominic out of the water. Like I said earlier, when I think of ‘the meeting’ I don’t think comedy. However, Clara Ikemba (the fact that we even remember the character’s name) was the embodiment of the comedy. Now here’s how it was different from others, she was the embodiment of comedy but not in a Mr. Ibu goes to School, Mercy J runs the town kind of way. She was the embodiment of comedy with a purpose. Therefore, not by default, our vote goes to RITA DOMINIC in THE MEETING. 

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA (MOVIE/TV SERIES) 

In this line up, I have only seen Make a Move. And our vote goes to Ivie Okujaiye for MAKE A MOVE not just because it is the only one we have seen but also because if you take Ivie away from that movie it would not have been as good as it was. Do note that I did not say it would not have been as ‘great’ as it was because it wasn’t great, it was good and a chunk of that was thanks to Ivie.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (MOVIE/TV SERIES):

In this line up I have only seen “Knocking on Heaven’s Door“. I am a bit perplexed as to why Blossom is being referred to as a ‘supporting actor’ in this movie, I thought he was the lead? So Majid was the lead then? Or were they both supporting. Regardless, Blossom takes it because he is the only one I have seen. I highly doubt that he would have taken it if I had seen Segun Arinze in “A Place in the Stars” or Yemi Blaq in “Iyore”. This is no indictment on Blossom but after seeing the movie so many times you begin to notice lapses.

So our vote goes to BLOSSOM CHUKWUJEKWU for KNOCKING ON HEAVEN’S DOOR.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (MOVIE/TV SERIES)

I’d just like to take this moment to apologize to all the other actresses that had to be in the same category as Ireti Doyle. It is pretty obvious that our vote goes to Ireti Doyle in Gidi Up but not just because she is Ireti Doyle. But did you see her character’s introduction in Gidi Up? It was all uphill from then. From the exposition of her character’s real personality, Doyle held the pace, she held conviction, she held everything and everything in between everything.

I will mention that from this category we have also seen “Confusion na wa” and “The Meeting”.

Let us know who you voted for and for those who still haven’t voted, voting is currently running at http://amvca2015-awards.dstv.com/