anonymous6:

They cater to the majority of Americans which is white Americans

Sorry but this is not so.  Most current oscar winners and nominated ones are European or not from America and rightly so for they are the better actors.  Not saying that Americans don't win but in this age (continuous performance) only Jack Nicholson and probably Tom Hanks (Caprio has yet to win an oscar) have been able to keep up with the actors of the 40s in terms of nominations and wins.  I would have thought the influx of great non american actors would inspire american actors but that's not the case.  I'm not complaining though.  Granted the oscars lean towards certain movie roles and types. . .they throw in once a while a wild card like Denzel for training day or Sylvester Stallone for   However it cannot be denied that it's the top honor to receive in the movie industry.  Not even the BAFTAs hold the same weight as the Oscars.  It affects the sales of movies, the pull of audience and sometimes luring renowned directors and producers.  The Oscars are a bit tricky.  Sometimes the role you're sure will bring one the oscar doesn't but another role not as solid as the former would give one the oscar.  Case in point, Christian Bale's win for The fighter.  When he could have won for American Psycho or The Machinist.

There was a lot of noise when the superheroes movies starting coming out.  Of all of them, only Captain America has an American Actor.  Not even Superman is portrayed by an American.  And i'm glad.  I've always said not many american actors have the depth or range of european actors.  Maybe it has something to do with their training

When it comes to the black actors/actresses.  I even have less interest. For most of them are below mediocre.  Some seem to be on the right path and then all of a sudden fall down the drain.  I'm not a fan of actresses so i'm not even bowled over by Halle, frankly she has yet to prove to me why she won that oscar.  Denzel on the other hand is a consummate actor.  In any film whether blockbuster or never been heard, he has always maintained same intensity, same delivery.  Next to him Don Cheadle is my man.  Have loved him since he did a little TV movie in '96 called Rebound.  I'm still waiting for him to get his oscar and darn glad he hasn't gone down the drain.

iice:

Sorry but this is not so.  Most current oscar winners and nominated ones are European or not from America and rightly so for they are the better actors.  Not saying that Americans don't win but in this age (continuous performance) only Jack Nicholson and probably Tom Hanks (Caprio has yet to win an oscar) have been able to keep up with the actors of the 40s in terms of nominations and wins.  I would have thought the influx of great non american actors would inspire american actors but that's not the case.  I'm not complaining though.  Granted the oscars lean towards certain movie roles and types. . .they throw in once a while a wild card like Denzel for training day or Sylvester Stallone for   However it cannot be denied that it's the top honor to receive in the movie industry.  Not even the BAFTAs hold the same weight as the Oscars.  It affects the sales of movies, the pull of audience and sometimes luring renowned directors and producers.  The Oscars are a bit tricky.  Sometimes the role you're sure will bring one the oscar doesn't but another role not as solid as the former would give one the oscar.  Case in point, Christian Bale's win for The fighter.  When he could have won for American Psycho or The Machinist.

There was a lot of noise when the superheroes movies starting coming out.  Of all of them, only Captain America has an American Actor.  Not even Superman is portrayed by an American.  And i'm glad.  I've always said not many american actors have the depth or range of european actors.  Maybe it has something to do with their training

When it comes to the black actors/actresses.  I even have less interest. For most of them are below mediocre.  Some seem to be on the right path and then all of a sudden fall down the drain.  I'm not a fan of actresses so i'm not even bowled over by H[b]alle, frankly she has yet to prove to me why she won that oscar.  Denzel on the other hand is a consummate actor.  In any film whether blockbuster or never been heard, he has always maintained same intensity, same delivery.  Next to him Don Cheadle is my man.  Have loved him since he did a little TV movie in '96 called Rebound.  I'm still waiting for him to get his oscar and darn glad he hasn't gone down the drain. [/b]

iice:

I understand.

I don't think the movies cater to just whites. That would either mean, they have too much happening to come up with such stories or t[b]hat we the blacks are too structured and nothing but same ol same ol happens to us. OR that we have limited imagination and they are too far out. I'm ok with something like brown sugar (which i watched for Mos Def ) but how many variations of brown sugar or family road trip or whatever can i handle? They say the movies reflect what happens in our society. Fine. Thing is that movies most of the time are supposed to entertain and in some cases transport us away from our reality if only for 2 and a half hours. Do i want to watch everytime what is happening in my society when i'm already there? Or what happens to my neighbour's family? I could just go ask him instead of going to the movies to go see a variation of his life. Maybe it's why i like fantasy best. It's nothing like our lives for the most part.[/b]

Speaking of hot african dude lol, I think Djimon Hounsou is underrated. I watched this weird movie Tempest based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. A movie with Helen Mirren, Alan Cumming and Chris Cooper. Djimon was the best part of the movie. He always seemed like he had more than what he did in some of his movies, i just never got to see what it was until this movie. I hope he gets choice roles that extend his acting chops.

Hollywood is not the saviour industries for all races, theres nothing wrong in breaking into hollywood but to me I feel cultures and communities around the world should create their own film industries in the world. Bollywood has and has beated hollywood as the number one film industry in southeast asia, Nollywood has and has beaten hollywood as the number one film industry in sub-sahran africa. Even in Mexico the hispanic film industry is booming. Hollywood needs to start feeling competition in order to see the importance of others, and they are feeling it now internationally

When it comes to the black actors/actresses. I even have less interest. For most of them are below mediocre. Some seem to be on the right path and then all of a sudden fall down the drain. I'm not a fan of actresses so i'm not even bowled over by Halle

i'm not even bowled over by Halle, frankly she has yet to prove to me why she won that oscar.

Speaking of hot african dude lol, I think Djimon Hounsou is underrated. I watched this weird movie Tempest based on Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Come to think about it I find it weird that most winners in the Oscars are European, not American. I am not mad because when Europeans act they are in a whole different level

You are right European actors/actresses are much better and it isn't a issue for me as well; for the last part of your comment I am behind you

baby-boy:


Excuse me!!!

Bollywood could churn out 2 movies a day (which was their record) its still not at the same level as Hollywood, its not even a threat to the industry and Nollywood that Churn out rubbish day in day out, stealing other industries storyline or title, am sorry saying Nollywood is a threat to Hollywood is joke! Even the only Cinema group in Nigeria (Silverbird) shows 90% of Hollywood movies

So no it is not a joke when it comes to sub-saharan Africa that Nollywood is seen as a threat now because all levels of Nigerian society & other african society would rather see cheap african movies that some fake hollywood blockbuster that they don't see in their lives because Nollywood shows movies that are relevant to Black africans, hollywood doesn't. Yoruba & Hausa Nollywood movies don't copy from Hollywood it is pure quthentic, when it comes to the the English industry at times they do but the movies most of the time end up as trash and are criticized with their rihanna vs. beyonce movies

Yoruba & Hausa Nollywood movies don't copy from Hollywood it is pure quthentic, when it comes to the the English industry at times they do but the movies most of the time end up as trash and are criticized with their rihanna vs. beyonce movies

baby-boy:


#1 Silverbird shows almost 90% of Hollywood movies in all of its outlet in Nigeria and you still feel Nollywood and Hollywood are on a level playing field?

So because a Nollywood (HOME VIDEO) has part 1, 2, 3, 4 gives you an indication that its bigger that Bollywood! Nollywood cannot afford to pay a Bollywood artist. Genevieve got $25000 for her part in "IJE" compared to $12m Demi Moore got for her role in a movie 15 years ago,  $25k does not cover the fee for sound editing.

We have a very long list of top Nollywood stars on around $6k - $8k per movie, a Nollywood actress died 3 or 4 years due to fatigue and one of her colleague said they earn around N20k a movie thats why they perform week in week out no rest!

Yes you could be patriotic about Nollywood, but dont ever say because it produces over 600 movies a year its better than an industry that produces over 100 movies, no one cares about quantity its about the quality of movie you produce.


I believe you have seen "Slum Dog Millionaire" actually the English have one of the best directors you could find.



Look Hollywood has a yearly ticket sale of around 2.9billion compared to Bollywood that has 3.6billion in ticket sale,

Care to get the figures for Nollywood both Home Video, DVD or Ticket sales


We have Bollywood movies making over $20m in revenue, Even Tsoti a South African blockbuster made almost $10m in revenue, please name a Nollywood movie thats has made even close?


And before I go Theirs a Yoruba version of Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman by Saheed Balogun the execution was rubbish!!!

My argument is not about the money or which level each industry is in, because in the end of the day with all that muscle power Hollywood has it was beaten by Nollywood in sub-saharan africa.

baby-boy:


So because (Nollywood) releases a Movie everyday regardless of the quality that means it has beaten Hollywood ?

You know what? lets agree to disagree!!!

No because they show movies that are relevant about the culture of sub-saharan africans, that quality becomes secondary.

omar22:


I dont know what you are on about, but tell me how does Jennifa, Omo Ghetto and Blackberry Girls relate to the African  Culture?

omar22:

In 1992, the debut of Kenneth Nnebue’s movie Living in Bondage brought a new twist to the then growing motion picture industry in Nigeria.

Shot straight-to-video, it was the first Nollywood blockbuster movie which kicked off the Nigerian cinema industry. By the following year, more film makers tapped into this eye-opening trend and Nollywood was born.

Today Nollywood’s growth has been stunted by piracy and lack of professionalism by many practitioners. It has become an free-for-all affair and avenue for people to attain cheap fame and make quick money. From Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya to Egypt, most of what is known about Nigeria as a country has been through Nollywood.

Yet little or no attention has been paid to the money-spinning industry that would have been a good source of revenue for the country. Efforts by current investors in the industry have been bedevilled by piracy.

Taiwo Ajai-Lycette, a veteran Nigerian stage actress who featured in many productions in Nigeria including a TV series in the 1970s, Winds Against My Soul, expresses her angst with the quality of production and the quantity of works spurned by directors whom she says are not in tune with the times.

“We don’t have to be at the state we are now when it comes to film-making in this 21st Century,” she said. “There are new technologies which some filmmakers are not conversant with. I am knocking the quality. Veteran artistes are those who have travelled on stage. The basic knowledge that you acquire as an actor is on stage which many actors today don’t have.”

These days, people want to be part of Nollywood to gain popularity. This kind of bankrupt thinking has led Nollywood to the stagnant position it is currently.

“You can’t make money without making incredible art,” adds Ajai-Lycette. “You have to be an artiste to make it in the industry. Money is a by-product of creativity. It should come as a direct product of what we do. If we only think of the money, we are going to be poor as artistes. Thinking is a very hard business.”

Most Nigerian films are characterised by badly written scripts which lack depth. Film critics have traced this to the lack of reading culture among scriptwriters, directors and actors. And to be an artist, in Ajai-Lycette’s words, “is to be absolutely widely read.”

Weak scripts

She argues that if an artiste is not educated there is no way he can interpret the works of Wole Soyinka, for example, because as a writer, he translates the philosophy of his people.

Nollywood actress Kate Henshaw-Nuttal agrees with the poor quality of work in Nollywood and the fact that Ajai-Lycette rejected the script sent to her.

“It’s almost three years now,” she explained, “I have not starred in any Nollywood movie. I believe I have reached a point where I have come to be known for good quality work. If the prop guys pay attention to detail and the directors do their work well, Nollywood will be a better industry.”

While some practitioners decry poor quality of production, others like Dejumo Lewis take issue with the name of the industry itself, Nollywood, which is a derivative of America’s Hollywood. “Nollywood is not original. The name Naija Movies would be best.”

In addition, he has problem with the way Nigerian culture is portrayed. “Art is about stating the reality and the ideal,” he said. “It must mirror and give what should be. We should ask ourselves what kind of culture we communicate through our works.”

As a developmental step for the entertainment industry, President Goodluck Jonathan in November last year announced the Federal Government’s investment of $200 million (30 billion naira) into the development of the entertainment industry.

And in January this year, the president through Olusegun Aganga, the minister of finance, announced that the Special Entertainment Fund will be disbursed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) as single-digit interest rate loans.

It is the first time in the country that the Federal Government will make such funds available for the entertainment industry of which Nollywood is a big part.

Returns

At a stakeholders’ meeting held recently in Lagos and convened on behalf of the presidency by Oronto Douglas, special adviser to the president on policy, Mahmoud Alli Balogun, film producer and director, observed that a proper framework must be put in place for the survival of the industry for investors to get returns on their money.

“Nollywood is an industry that survives on the ordinary marketing strategy used by traders in selling their wares,” he says. “Anybody can be a filmmaker in today’s Nollywood. The survival of this industry can be possible if proper structures are put in place. Our services are currently informal. We want to make them formal. It was in 2009 that Motion Picture producers of Nigeria tried to set up a model for selling our works. This can be adopted.”

And Desmond Elliot, an actor who has featured in some films produced in Ghana, decries how piracy has destroyed Nollywood such that Ghana, a new entrant, has a stronger industry.

“We don’t sell more than 1,000 copies of our films,” he says. “Our works are pirated on a daily basis and video clubs give out our works. They make the money more than us. We invest so much and we get little. We still sell our movies in VCDs and not DVDs. It is a shame.”

Speaking from her experience as a producer, Stephanie Okere observes that investing in today’s Nollywood is like putting money into an ocean without getting returns.

“The hawking of movies on the streets should be banned,” she says. “To access the fund made available by the Federal Government through BoI, what we need are guarantors and not going through the Lagos Business School as the list of conditions suggest.”

Segun Arinze pleads with his colleagues to make the fund available to everyone. “Industry practitioners must be careful and must know that the money must go round. We are asking them to go for true industry practitioners and not friends.”

Endowment fund

Nigeria is definitely coming late to the dinner table to take a place among countries of the world which have Arts Endowment Funds and it seems the presidency’s current focus with the $200 million fund is just on Nollywood. There are other aspects of the industry like performing arts which includes dance, theatre arts, music and the visual arts.

What the presidency must work towards, says Jahman Anikulapo, Sunday editor of The Guardian newspaper, is creating a fund which encompasses all aspects of the arts.

“Since 1988 when I started reporting arts, I have been writing and pushing for Nigeria to have a cultural policy. The policy is yet to be passed. It is important for government to pass this policy and then create an endowment fund for the arts.”

Be that as it may, it is crucial that Nollywood practitioners put their house in order. It is an industry that is currently riddled by factions created by longstanding feuds, malice, petty jealousies, supremacy fights, and discrimination along the lines of who belongs to what genre and who does not.

Perhaps it is for this reason some prominent faces in Nollywood were not present at the stakeholders meeting. It is only when Nollywood begins to take itself seriously that other meaningful investors can come in and a better return on investment is assured.

Bury hatchet

Kanayo O. Kanayo, an actor, knows this too well: “We must bury the hatchet and forget whatever we have against one another. We have to become friends. Whoever wants to have access to the money must go through the various associations set up for practitioners in the industry.”

Regardless of its current challenges, Nollywood has taught the rest of Africa how film can be a powerful socio-cultural and economic export to the rest of the world such that Ghana is fast developing its movie industry and is collaborating with filmmakers in Nigeria.

There is a new crop of filmmakers who are combining intelligent storylines with great film techniques. Among these new crop of filmmakers is Kunle Afolayan, the producer of The Figure, which won in five categories in last year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA). Their works show the emergence of a new Nollywood.

Toni Kan, film critic, describes the new Nollywood as an industry that’s looking past the straight-to-video model.

“What the New Nollywood will do is direct world attention to us in a way that begins to bring in much needed interventions to the industry technically and financially. The New Nollywood will engender a paradigm shift. It will see the transition of Nigerian movies from what I call the ‘DSTV ghetto channels’.

omar22:

In 1992, the debut of Kenneth Nnebue’s movie Living in Bondage brought a new twist to the then growing motion picture industry in Nigeria.

Shot straight-to-video, it was the first Nollywood blockbuster movie which kicked off the Nigerian cinema industry. By the following year, more film makers tapped into this eye-opening trend and Nollywood was born.

Today Nollywood’s growth has been stunted by piracy and lack of professionalism by many practitioners. It has become an free-for-all affair and avenue for people to attain cheap fame and make quick money. From Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya to Egypt, most of what is known about Nigeria as a country has been through Nollywood.

Yet little or no attention has been paid to the money-spinning industry that would have been a good source of revenue for the country. Efforts by current investors in the industry have been bedevilled by piracy.

Taiwo Ajai-Lycette, a veteran Nigerian stage actress who featured in many productions in Nigeria including a TV series in the 1970s, Winds Against My Soul, expresses her angst with the quality of production and the quantity of works spurned by directors whom she says are not in tune with the times.

“We don’t have to be at the state we are now when it comes to film-making in this 21st Century,” she said. “There are new technologies which some filmmakers are not conversant with. I am knocking the quality. Veteran artistes are those who have travelled on stage. The basic knowledge that you acquire as an actor is on stage which many actors today don’t have.”

These days, people want to be part of Nollywood to gain popularity. This kind of bankrupt thinking has led Nollywood to the stagnant position it is currently.

“You can’t make money without making incredible art,” adds Ajai-Lycette. “You have to be an artiste to make it in the industry. Money is a by-product of creativity. It should come as a direct product of what we do. If we only think of the money, we are going to be poor as artistes. Thinking is a very hard business.”

Most Nigerian films are characterised by badly written scripts which lack depth. Film critics have traced this to the lack of reading culture among scriptwriters, directors and actors. And to be an artist, in Ajai-Lycette’s words, “is to be absolutely widely read.”

Weak scripts

She argues that if an artiste is not educated there is no way he can interpret the works of Wole Soyinka, for example, because as a writer, he translates the philosophy of his people.

Nollywood actress Kate Henshaw-Nuttal agrees with the poor quality of work in Nollywood and the fact that Ajai-Lycette rejected the script sent to her.

“It’s almost three years now,” she explained, “I have not starred in any Nollywood movie. I believe I have reached a point where I have come to be known for good quality work. If the prop guys pay attention to detail and the directors do their work well, Nollywood will be a better industry.”

While some practitioners decry poor quality of production, others like Dejumo Lewis take issue with the name of the industry itself, Nollywood, which is a derivative of America’s Hollywood. “Nollywood is not original. The name Naija Movies would be best.”

In addition, he has problem with the way Nigerian culture is portrayed. “Art is about stating the reality and the ideal,” he said. “It must mirror and give what should be. We should ask ourselves what kind of culture we communicate through our works.”

As a developmental step for the entertainment industry, President Goodluck Jonathan in November last year announced the Federal Government’s investment of $200 million (30 billion naira) into the development of the entertainment industry.

And in January this year, the president through Olusegun Aganga, the minister of finance, announced that the Special Entertainment Fund will be disbursed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) as single-digit interest rate loans.

It is the first time in the country that the Federal Government will make such funds available for the entertainment industry of which Nollywood is a big part.

Returns

At a stakeholders’ meeting held recently in Lagos and convened on behalf of the presidency by Oronto Douglas, special adviser to the president on policy, Mahmoud Alli Balogun, film producer and director, observed that a proper framework must be put in place for the survival of the industry for investors to get returns on their money.

“Nollywood is an industry that survives on the ordinary marketing strategy used by traders in selling their wares,” he says. “Anybody can be a filmmaker in today’s Nollywood. The survival of this industry can be possible if proper structures are put in place. Our services are currently informal. We want to make them formal. It was in 2009 that Motion Picture producers of Nigeria tried to set up a model for selling our works. This can be adopted.”

And Desmond Elliot, an actor who has featured in some films produced in Ghana, decries how piracy has destroyed Nollywood such that Ghana, a new entrant, has a stronger industry.

“We don’t sell more than 1,000 copies of our films,” he says. “Our works are pirated on a daily basis and video clubs give out our works. They make the money more than us. We invest so much and we get little. We still sell our movies in VCDs and not DVDs. It is a shame.”

Speaking from her experience as a producer, Stephanie Okere observes that investing in today’s Nollywood is like putting money into an ocean without getting returns.

“The hawking of movies on the streets should be banned,” she says. “To access the fund made available by the Federal Government through BoI, what we need are guarantors and not going through the Lagos Business School as the list of conditions suggest.”

Segun Arinze pleads with his colleagues to make the fund available to everyone. “Industry practitioners must be careful and must know that the money must go round. We are asking them to go for true industry practitioners and not friends.”

Endowment fund

Nigeria is definitely coming late to the dinner table to take a place among countries of the world which have Arts Endowment Funds and it seems the presidency’s current focus with the $200 million fund is just on Nollywood. There are other aspects of the industry like performing arts which includes dance, theatre arts, music and the visual arts.

What the presidency must work towards, says Jahman Anikulapo, Sunday editor of The Guardian newspaper, is creating a fund which encompasses all aspects of the arts.

“Since 1988 when I started reporting arts, I have been writing and pushing for Nigeria to have a cultural policy. The policy is yet to be passed. It is important for government to pass this policy and then create an endowment fund for the arts.”

Be that as it may, it is crucial that Nollywood practitioners put their house in order. It is an industry that is currently riddled by factions created by longstanding feuds, malice, petty jealousies, supremacy fights, and discrimination along the lines of who belongs to what genre and who does not.

Perhaps it is for this reason some prominent faces in Nollywood were not present at the stakeholders meeting. It is only when Nollywood begins to take itself seriously that other meaningful investors can come in and a better return on investment is assured.

Bury hatchet

Kanayo O. Kanayo, an actor, knows this too well: “We must bury the hatchet and forget whatever we have against one another. We have to become friends. Whoever wants to have access to the money must go through the various associations set up for practitioners in the industry.”

Regardless of its current challenges, Nollywood has taught the rest of Africa how film can be a powerful socio-cultural and economic export to the rest of the world such that Ghana is fast developing its movie industry and is collaborating with filmmakers in Nigeria.

There is a new crop of filmmakers who are combining intelligent storylines with great film techniques. Among these new crop of filmmakers is Kunle Afolayan, the producer of The Figure, which won in five categories in last year’s Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA). Their works show the emergence of a new Nollywood.

Toni Kan, film critic, describes the new Nollywood as an industry that’s looking past the straight-to-video model.

“What the New Nollywood will do is direct world attention to us in a way that begins to bring in much needed interventions to the industry technically and financially. The New Nollywood will engender a paradigm shift. It will see the transition of Nigerian movies from what I call the ‘DSTV ghetto channels’.

baby-boy:

I could see where your coming from, but when Halle won it, it seems like it was a period when the Oscar in the women category in a leading role goes to whoever has paid their dues to the industry gets the Oscar, because  Paltrow, Hilary Swank, Julia Roberts, H Berry, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron etc they all won but only Hilary Swank and Charlize theron I could truely say they deserve it,  the rest it felt like an honourary award.

True.  I'm just saying she has yet to prove why she won that Oscar.  You cannot say the same for Swank.  Woman disappears for a while and comes back to win another one or to give a befitting performance.  Ok i don't like Kidman, so let me not start on her.  On Halle though, there is one movie i thought she did really well and i could catch a glimpse of why she won the oscar.  I don't remember the name of the movie but it was with Benicio Del Toro.  Jenifer Hudson has yet to come close to her oscar performance.  The Oscar curse!

baby-boy:

He is highly rated in Hollywood knowing that if he had won the Oscar for his role in Amistad, he was going to dedicate it to Steven Speilberg for giving him the chance (someone was saying black people dont get the chance)

baby-boy:

The reason why Europeans pick up these awards is because most of the movies are based on European written books/stories and Helen Mirren not only she acted like the Queen she even looks like the Queen. Charlize Theron is African in the Mens Category only Colin Firth, George Clooney and Daniel Day Lewis where Europeans and Australian  that won the oscar in the last 10 years

I wasn't even looking at Helen Mirren.  But no, i don't think it mostly has to do with the books/plays/stories the movie is based on.  I think its because they are more of method actors as you mentioned Daniel Day who is like the king of it.
You can tell from certain actors how good they are.  Some may have won Oscars may years ago like say Gary Oldman or Sir Anthony Hopkins, but their performances never really fall below par.  The movie might be wack like that Denzel and Gary Oldman movie but they didn't give less than a good performance.  And maybe that's why they still get to make good movies inbetween not so good ones.

I will add that on the TV side, blacks aren't doing too bad.  There's a joke that if you want to win and Emmy, just change your name to Alfre Woodard

baby boy,
you should visit the TV/Movie section sometime

anonymous6:

I agree lol, I love fantasy movies like lord of the rings, harry potter, Dune and etc the stories are more interesting and less predictable. The reason why I don't really watch Black hollywood movies because it is about the same old story; slavery, the ghetto/thug life, segregation, IR jibber jabber, and etc that why I am not as interested in black hollywood movie's. As much as I am happy for Tyler perry, I am not a big fan of his movies or shows, their are only four movies I liked from him so far, and one of them I don't really seeing myself watching again. I only have one DVD from him, and I don't like his show Meet the Browns, it is cheesy and not my style.

I know Djimon Hounsou is underrated & he is a excellent actor; there is a another african actor I like his name is Adewale akinnouye-Agbaje, he is hot(he was on the show lost, appeared in the Mummy and movie bourne identity with Matt Damon)

I've only seen one Medea and that was in passing. Some day i'll get to it but stop at 2. After that it gets a bit redundant to me.
I know the Nigerian actor. I cannot remember his name for i'm not good with names so i just call him Triple A . He's a character actor. He's alright.

True. I'm just saying she has yet to prove why she won that Oscar. You cannot say the same for Swank. Woman disappears for a while and comes back to win another one or to give a befitting performance. Ok i don't like Kidman, so let me not start on her. On Halle though, there is one movie i thought she did really well and i could catch a glimpse of why she won the oscar. I don't remember the name of the movie but it was with Benicio Del Toro. Jenifer Hudson has yet to come close to her oscar performance. The Oscar curse!

iice:

Whiskers!  Thanks for reminding me of Blood Diamond  

@anonymous.
When i said he's a character actor, that means there are only certain roles he's able to play.  That may or may not have been his direction but it's what suits him.  I've seen his work and he's alright (that doesn't mean bad).  Better in Oz though.  If you haven't seen Oz, go watch it for his performance.  Prolly his best so far.