Witness Gospel Movie Reviews

“DARK CORNER” REVIEW

Dark Corner is a production of Fruit Bearers’ Films. After getting a seemingly inconsequential opening scene out of the way, it settles into its story centred on Gift, a Christian lady on the verge of next levels in her life. The film shows the importance of illumination for the eyes of our hearts. God knows who everyone really is; therefore, He’s the only One that can reveal the depths of wickedness in a man’s soul, as well as the future ramifications of our present decisions.

Dark Corner further demonstrates the beauty of having godly friends, while avouching how even mentor-mentee relationships need to be umpired by God’s truth. Going forward, it should be noted that more investment in character development is essential to getting the audience emotionally infused to the story.

The link to the movie https://youtu.be/Yj_nbBqldOQ

Film Credits

Dark Corner (2022)
Fruit Bearers’ Films
67 minutes

Cast
MaryAnne Enereba as Gift
Tunrayo Falade as Mama
Olalekan Adesina (Elgee) as Remilekun
IfeOluwa Adejumobi as Faith
Seun Adejumobi as Fred Badejo
Jide Ogunmilade as Baba
John Oguntuase as Raymond

Director
Seun Adejumobi
Writer
Opeyemi Gbadebo
Cinematographer
Dosunmu Davd, Oreofe Johnson
Editor
Abiola Babatola ‘Nattytunez’
Composer
Sewedo Wusa

Till the next review, stay blessed!

“IMA & GOD” REVIEW

Ima & God was released on October 14, 2022 by Zionhome Drama Outreach Ministry. It narrows in on the importance of our actions in correlation to God’s instructions to us.

This is a title that I really like, and coupled with its impressive poster design, I eagerly expected a story that would resonate at a personal level. The matter of “God said…” in potential courtships is an age-long phenomenon that has been severally applied and received by different people. Ima & God tries to illustrate how a child of God backed by God’s word could make a hash of the whole thing. Many that have experienced this will find some wisdom in this movie, in their subsequent dealings with the Holy Spirit.

In the film’s pursuit of dynamism, Ima & God in my opinion, sadly becomes rather too clever for its own good. The entire opening sequence of three scenes was immaterial in the long run. It ambitiously ties viable knots of conflict but gets so tangled in them itself that the resolution was predictably precipitate. Furthermore, its cuts to new scenes were sometimes confusing. Also, the story seems to be more about Richard than the eponymous Ima; she could have done with the development given to Ajim, who really could have just been a random bad guy. Lastly, portraying God as being so detailed to Ima and Denilson at the outset, only to become reticent for no stated or implied factor at the most crucial point could be misrepresenting.

In conclusion, Ima & God is a caution for Christians not to take a word from God and make a paragraph out of it. It is vital that while we follow God’s past leadings, we learn to be patient to know what He has for us at every point in time.

The link to the movie is https://youtu.be/3f9wbqVipy0

Till the next article, stay blessed!

Film Credits

Ima & God (2022)
Zionhome Drama Outreach Ministry
67 minutes

Cast
Bamike Are as Ima
Ayo Afolabi as Richard
Segun Oyeyemi as Denilson
Temitayo Idowu as Omolola
Chosen-Mic Adeniran as Ajim

Director
Tolulope Ibasanmi
Writer
Femi Fakayode
Cinematographer
Tolulope Ibasanmi
Editor
Tolulope Ibasanmi

“APOSTLE BEN” REVIEW

Apostle Ben is a riveting motion picture that centres on life in the marketplace or workplace and what is expected of children of God there. Ushered in by cool jazz music, its opening scenes set the mood for an interesting watch. It was quite refreshing to see a movie whose key setting and tone were official. Hearing a lot of shoptalk in specific fields isn’t a common experience in watching faith-based movies; so, I really enjoyed this one.

Apostle Ben has something that I’ve sorely missed in many Christian films this year – a good story. It’s quite obvious that the concept for the movie was born from a burden, and it was well executed. I love how it initially leads us to Cossy before taking us to Mr Oluremi. That way, its major characters receive the sufficient development its runtime allows. The twist felt organic to the plot and the editing brilliantly navigates a lengthy all-important narration by creating an illusion of oscillation in time passage.

This is not to say that the movie couldn’t have done better in, for example, occasional overacting by a few characters, glaring dialogue replacement, flash-timed reaction shots and B-rolls, unnecessary discrepancies between dialogue and subtitles, and unimportant snapshots at the end – all of which were a bit distracting for me. However, the overall quality and content of Apostle Ben far outweigh any of its shortcomings in my opinion.

Another thing I have to give Apostle Ben credit for is that this is one movie that knows where to insert and commence the right kind of music at different points in time. It furthermore does this justice by including every song and tune used in it at the end credits for easy reference. More impressively, they were composed and performed fully or in part by the producers. The end credits surprisingly came after an epilogue that contained a powerful charge for Christians to reflect Christ in their workplaces and for anyone serving Him to be confident that God never fails His own. They were accompanied by a catchy end credits song intro that has become my new favourite. I recommend this film for your viewing pleasure and blessedness.

The link to the movie is https://youtu.be/r9loYbvIvQA

Till the next article, stay blessed!

Film Credits

Apostle Ben (2022)
A MASS TV production
57 minutes

Cast
Kayode Babalola as Apostle Ben
Deborah Olorunnisola as Elizabeth
Aramide Oloko as Cossy
Segun Adelaja as Archbishop Julius Abaado
Samuel Daniel as Yemi

Director
Tolulope Toluwase
Story
Shobowale Ebenezer
Cinematographer
Olayinka Bolade Emmanuel
Editor
Tolulope Toluwase

“MY DREAM” REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of My Dream, written and produced by Evangelist Gloria Bamiloye and directed by Evangelist Richard Omidiwura. It was premiered on YouTube on September 17, 2022 before being made public a week later.

I consider My Dream’s approach to creating protagonists a bit unique, in the sense that it’s tough to pin it down to one individual’s journey. It felt like four intertwined stories of almost equal measure, all a blessing to me. On first impressions, the story seems to be about Deolu, whose dreams of greatness are tested when he’s faced with a decision that might change the course of his life. Subsequently though, I observed the film also follows Mama Tunde, giving us a bit of her backstory, motivations and desires. Mr Ishola and Mama Deolu also have a bit of screen time for us to learn submission to God. So, as much as I’m a proponent for that one compelling protagonist, I enjoyed having different stories to follow that were able to achieve balance at the end of the day.

All characters played their roles well and it was like music to my ears, as Evangelist Shola Mike-Agboola’s soothing voice and fluid delivery of lines breezed over the Jay-Mikee-led sound department’s film scores in a good number of scenes, as Teacher. Also, Deolu’s friends, played by Tomisin Fasola and Sewedo Wusa, took their exchanges of dialogue very well.

The peaceful atmosphere in My Dream registered to my senses that, in the final analysis, everything would be okay. For every child of His, God has inspired a dream; we have to note though, that there’s always a process and a passage of time. Between ‘little’ and ‘large’ is usually a journey of challenges, as in the cases of Joseph and David in the Bible. Each obstacle has to be a stepping stone to the next level. It is required at such times for us to get more intimate with God in prayer and Bible study, remain on the side of righteousness, maintain a positive attitude while confessing God’s word, count your blessings, and never get discouraged, even if at times, you’d be the one to encourage yourself in God. In all, just keep moving forward.

If you’ve seen My Dream, please share your thoughts about it with me, so we can be blessed together. If you thought this article was valuable, please like and share it. Thank you very much!

The link to the movie is https://youtu.be/cpzR5flVeps

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“BEYOND I DO (EPISODES) 3 AND 4” REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of BEYOND I DO 3 and 4. The movie more or less proceeds from where the first sequel ends.

Before I go any further, I would say that Beyond I Do currently has a need for identity definition – it has shown itself to be either a franchise of sequels or a series of episodes. The first movie was fine and the second was better, only that it ended with no resolution. Now, almost a year after, it seems it has evolved into a series. Hence, it has produced two episodes of about forty minutes each, with cliffhangers for subsequent episodes this year. If that’s what it is now to be, the recaps of previous episodes and previews of following episodes need to be more concisely and stylishly done.

The string of conflicts in Jide’s and Sharon’s marriage continues, and we can all learn as children of God that though unprecedented and shameful situations might occur, opening up to your spouse is a covering for you. Solutions come in the midst of openness and Christians can only thrive under the light of Christ.

Jide and Sharon strangely choose darkness when its symbol in Jide’s mother makes her move. They conveniently forget their pastor and his wife whom they’ve always confided in. The result puts Sharon especially, in a pitiful state. On another end, Jide’s friend, Mike, succeeds in getting him dismissed from work, while he himself receives an unpleasant visit from old allies. Subsequent episodes will reveal what will become of Beyond I Do series’ plot and subplots.

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“MISSED” FANTALK

What’s up, gospel movie lovers all over the world? You’re welcome to this Fantalk edition where we take a look at an upcoming EVOM movie, Missed. As usual, we’ll be making cast, crew and plot guesses. So, let’s do just that!

Information first emerged September 20, 2022 on the IG page of the director, Evangelist ‘Shola Mike Agboola that Missed would soon be released on EVOM Channel on YouTube. The poster reveals that the story was written by ‘Tomisin Agboola, who wrote the short film Corked (2020).

And rather surprisingly from information just seen, that ‘soon’ turns out to be VERY SOON because, Missed will be premiering on YouTube TOMORROW, Friday, September 23, 2022 on EVOM Channel. We don’t have a trailer to get more details from; so, we’ll just have to see what the promising movie is about. Watch out for it!

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“AFAIMO” REVIEW

Hey folks! You’re welcome to the review of Afaimo, which means ‘Not Unlikely’, written and directed by Olasunkanmi Solomon. It is a powerful movie that will take you on a journey of introspection through the use of clear illustrations that will pique you sensitivity to the reality of our lives here on earth.

Afaimo is a well-written movie that achieves remarkable balance in its rhythm and pacing. It treats an earnest theme in a witty way, and for the first time in a long while, if ever, it hurt having to wait a week for a film’s concluding part. The motion picture utilizes the allusion method excellently to pass across its message to the intended audience. This was done by giving prominence to one layer of the story and creating characters that we would care about. Here, we have four personalities that represent different kinds of believers. The imagery really struck me and at different times while watching the movie, all I could do was to ask God to help me.

Seyi Adeniyi, Segun Adedare, Ayobami Adegboyega and Taiwo Solomon shared a chemistry onscreen that made their siblings relationship thoroughly believable. Nike Adebayo really shone in her role here as the character I’d love to hate, Agent 3. We follow them on their expedition and really, you couldn’t tell where the story would end. The cinematography was very much involved in this, timely adjusting to character movements and chase sequences, and using focus to purposefully direct our gaze. Furthermore, the music score was varied and suitably used.

Afaimo creatively portrays the different distractions children of God encounter on their earthly sojourns. The depictions of the devil’s sly operations were vivid, and it’s a wonder how, despite slipups by the enemy, some believers ultimately believe what their ears were itching to hear all along. The importance of togetherness, every word that comes out of the mouth of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit is foregrounded in the movie as well.

In this race of faith, we need to be wary of weariness, so that we won’t shift focus from God’s blessings on us to the circumstances around us. Every child of God must embrace the Bible as our manual for living and ensure nothing takes that away from us. The prize is not for those who quit, but for them that endure to the end. Finally, I would say that on every watch, you would get more insight from Afaimo; it being an allusion ensures that there is more to it than meets the first viewing.

Alright, we’ve come to the end of this review. How many of you have seen it? How many of you will go watch it now? Please indicate in the comments section below. The links to the movie are https://youtu.be/tZz9gYW6R8s and https://youtu.be/5hTSns6cCq8 .

Till the next article, stay blessed!

“BURNING COLES” (PREMIERE) REVIEW

Hey folks! How are you all doing? You’re welcome to this spoiler-free review of the latest Mount Zion movie, Burning Coles, which was screened on the 2^nd of September, 2022 at the Drama Ministers’ Power Night. Pending its release on YouTube, I suggest you read the novel of the same title, which you can get here: ellaswritings.com

So, what’s my view of Burning Coles? One thing you can be certain of is that it is a quality production that is sure to bless individuals and families. The first thing that stood out for me is that the novel’s story written by Emmanuela Mike-Bamiloye was re-written as a screenplay not by one, but two talented screenwriters. The very thought of having drama ministers as Damilola Mike-Bamiloye and Goodness Adegbola writing the script for this movie has a gospel movie reviewer like me licking my lips at the prospect of such a combined effort. I discussed in my midyear review of 2022 gospel movies the benefits of more specialisations and collaborations; so, it’s an absolute delight to witness this first-of-its-kind partnership in gospel film production. Without giving away details, one major result of this is that there are multiple twists that make for a more interesting watch.

There is something this film does with its characters – it unveils and links them in ways that serve as callbacks, which make movies more immersive. There’s a character reveal done in Burning Coles for a cameo that I think gospel filmmakers can learn from. It was a casting choice and camera shot that elicited loud applause from the audience at the premiere. These are subtle elements that give a production that bit more lift. Likewise, for those of you familiar with movies from Free Gift International, you’ll be pleased to see a certain known actress feature here. The young actors in the movie also pulled their weight to make the movie engaging. As usual, the scores were on point, and I identified at least, two unique background tunes, one of which came in fully as a beautiful end credits soundtrack by Jay-Mikee.

Burning Coles is a family movie that does very well to address relatable issues that are not uncommon in this Computer Age, giving practical solutions to the ills that plague the marriage union. As my wife put it, God always places an intercessor in every family. If you’re a child of God, identify that other intercessor and team up. Don’t allow the devil destroy your family with bitterness, strife and envy. In the end, let Christ win.

Alright, we’ve come to the end of this review. I’ll probably do a more detailed discussion on Burning Coles when it comes to YouTube.

Till then, stay blessed.

“BURNING COLES” – FANTALK

Hey folks! You’re welcome to this Fantalk edition where we’ll be doing a preview of the latest upcoming Mount Zion film Burning Coles, a filmic adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Emmanuela Mike-Bamiloye. As usual, we’ll be making cast, crew and plot guesses; so, let’s dive straight into it.

Mount Zion Film Productions began filming Burning Coles on November 18, 2021, and during its one-week shoot, movie stills emerged online from Damilola Mike-Bamiloye, who is presumably the director. The pictures feature a host of drama ministers such as Elvon Jarret from the House on Fire series, Bunmi Bamitale, our beloved Kinkinyinun from the Abejoye series, Tokunbo Jarret from Stalker, Eric Amole-Adams of Games, Ayomide Badejo of the WaT show, Aanumorigba Olumuyiwa in Heart Pain and Mummy Gloria Bamiloye. Similarly, the crew members seen and stated are Ayo ‘Cineman’ Olaleye as the assistant director and script supervisor, Sewedo Wusa, Fada Pentecost and Fabunmi Olawale as the cameramen, Nike Owah as the makeup artist, Tomisin Fasola as the art director, TOluwa Olarewaju as the light man and the production manager extraordinaire is Tunde Owah.

“Burning Coles” trailer

From the trailer and the novel’s back-cover blurb, the story is about Funke Cole, who has come to terms with being married to a drunk. This undoubtedly affects their three children, and in the midst of all that, Funke’s old lover, I think, comes riding on a horse as Prince Charming to save the day…at least, that’s how I see it. But that’s not all there is to it, no? Fire burns in that home and we’ll see whom the family turns to when Burning Coles is premiered at the Drama Ministers’ Power Night today at Jogor Centre, Ring Road, Ibadan, at 7pm. If you loved Gbemi, you’ll definitely be blessed with this one as well, being the writer’s second novel to be adapted to the movie medium.

If you’d love to watch this movie in an amazing atmosphere, there’s no better place than at Power Night. So, please be there. I hope that subsequently, the audience will be given more premiere notification time, so as to build fanbase anticipation and aid planning for attendance. I believe that in time, it’ll be premiered on YouTube too. Perhaps, I’ll do a spoiler-free review of it before then; we’ll see.

Till then, stay blessed!

“GIVE IT TO ME” REVIEW

Give it to me is a movie from Calvary Drama Ministry, written and directed by Evangelist Moses Korede Are. It is a dramatic presentation that conveys truths about the walk of Christians as pilgrims on the earth. It both shows and tells us the different hurdles that children of God have to scale over in their pursuit of their glorious God-given destinies.

Many aspects of its production have much room for improvement, from its acting, monotonous jazz-esque sound design for most scenes, severally out-of-focus and flatly-framed cinematography, to the makeup and costumes, and odd-cutting and reaction shots editing. These are not really a function of quality equipment but a matter of technical know-how and application.

I would always advocate for the supremacy of Story and my observation in Give it to me is that it duplicates a powerful plot by being both a denotation and connotation. This caused a chasm of focus that barely gave me the opportunity to care for or relate to any of the characters. The result was a doubly-long movie that could have done more with less. For a film that would be artistically appreciated for adeptness, only one of these two approaches ought to be given prominence at a time.

Though theatre and cinema share a lot in common, there are nuances which make each unique. Thus, when a movie feels and looks ‘staged’, it amounts to undermining the film medium; the chance to create a lasting impression on both the mind and spirit of the audience has not been optimised. For Give it to me’s allegorical elements, visual effects would have given viewers a memorable element of spectacle that would have enhanced its themes. Also, it’s important for the cast list to always be included in the end credits.

Nevertheless, the illustration of its message is an eye-opener to the ploys of the devil and the virtues we must possess in order to overcome the attacks of the forces against our purpose fulfilment.

If you’ve seen Give it to me, please let me know any enlightenment or illumination you got from it in the comments section below. The link to the movie is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko-4mQ0GRIk.

Till the next article, stay blessed!