Yes, it's another mini-review!

I've been extremely busy and preoccupied. It's always like that during the holidays. So much to do and so little time. Next thing you know, it's another new years. At work, no one is allowed to be off for the months of December and January. That's what I get for working in a payroll company!

I've decided to post a mini-review again. I know. I know. A blog is better with visuals but just bear with me for another quick mini-review :) Again, in alpha order...


Acid Factory

Another multi-star film! Irrfan Khan. Fardeen Khan. Dino Morea. Aftab Shivdasani. Manoj Bajpai. Danny Denzongpa. Dia Mirza. Wow! Honestly, I mainly watched the film for Dino. He has been tweeting about it. Besides, the cast is good. As hot as I think Dino is, I wasn't feeling the long haired, very stubbed look. It was Aftab he wowed me again with his looks. Acting wise, Irrfan never disappoints. Everyone was actually really good. I'm glad to see Fardeen take on a better role. Dia was really wasted but did good on what she could. She was looking stunning and had the Charlie's Angels look.

Oh yeah, storywise. Five guys wake up and have no memory of what just happened. They don't even remember their names! All of a sudden, they get a phone call indicating that two of them are hostages and this Max person is not suppose to kill them yet. As each of them try to remember what is going on, their memories start to slowly come back. They must all find out who they are before the guy behind the cell phone comes back.

I thought it was an awesome film. However, since it's a Sanjay Gupta film, I just knew it had to be "inspired" somewhere. Honestly, after watching it, I thought I was watching a slick Hong Kong film. So I did my research and found out that the film was a remake of a Hollywood one instead. Ironically, the title of the film is called Unknown, yep, it sure was uknown to me since I've never heard of it but the cast is good too -- James Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Bridget Moynahan, Joe Pantoliano, Barry Pepper, Jeremy Sisto, Peter Stormare, Adam Rodríguez.

Seems like a frame-by-frame remake to me. Regardless, I really do like Acid Factory.


Darling

One day I was in the mood for a dark type of film, so I chose to watch Darling. How can I forget this film? I've read positive reviews on Esha Deol's performance. Look, another film of Fardeen. Not only that, there is Isha Koppikar, who I absolutely adore and think is underrated.

It wasn't a creepy thriller like I thought it would be. Esha looks really good and does an awesome job. I'm glad to see her try another type of role. Critics bash her all the time for not being as good as her mother, acting and looks. I'm sure it's already hard enough being the daughter of Dharmendra and Hema. Fardeen really didn't impress me much but he was overshadowed by E(I)sha. He was the timid, annoying, lying, cheating husband. Isha looked so gorgeous and simple as the perfect housewife.

Overall, not a bad film. Not great either. Definitely worth watching once.


Dev D

Dev D is the modern version of Devdas. I'm not a Devdas fan. Too melodramatic for me. However, I was blown away with Dev D.

Abhay Deol. I swear this man is underrated. His choices of films is very interesting, he goes beyond what is "typical" and goes a different route from his cousins, Sunny, Bobby, & Esha. I am loving him more and more, the more I see him. He's that great. Seeing him playing Devdas, makes me hate him, only cause he was so good in his role. No wonder I'm not a Devdas fan! Devdas is the most selfish, annoying man ever.

Mahi Gill has such a natural beauty. I am blown away. I'm sure many was going to compare her to Aishwarya, hello Mrs. Rai-Bachchan is Miss World. Mahi's beauty is breath-taking, so simple and gorgeous. I like this Paro much more. She is not whining, nor does she take crap.

Kalki Koechlin looks so young and has kissable lips. Why is this white girl playing Chandramukhi? She is good. So we have to go beyond the skin color. I like the backstory for her, makes me sympathize with her more. Love the modern turn. I was expecting her to do some dances but instead, she was the upbeat role-playing-prostitute instead.

Some may disagree but I loved the ending. So far, Dev D is my second favorite film of 2009 (Luck By Chance is my favorite so far) Keep in mind, I haven't seen the recent films from October till now, except for Dil Bole Hadipaa. (Update - now Wake Up Sid is my fave!!!)


Fox

Deepak Tijori directed another interesting film. However, some parts were dragging. The suspense was good. He had potential. What I liked is Arjun playing a lawyer again after Moksha. He is a lawyer who defends criminals and has a conscious. Later he takes credit for a book he claims he wrote and gets money from it. His world turns around when all the events in the book were true events of unsolved crime.

Arjun Rampal is the main reason to watch this film. He has the sexiest voice, and I could just listen to him talk all day. For some reason, when Arjun plays a supporting role, he is recognized more. When he has the lead role, he kept hold it up or something. I feel bad for the guy. He's good looking, can act, and has the sexiest voice.

Another reason to watch Fox is to see Sagarika Ghatge act again after Chak De India, who played Preeti. Honestly, she hardly had much to do. Not sure if she will get cast anymore, but I would like to see her in  more films. She has a good screen presense but am not sure if I can imagine her in short skirts and dancing in trees. Sagarika reminds me so of much Sophie Chaudhary in the looks department.

Udita Goswami is so gorgeous, yet does not get notice. I used to think she was a much better actress than what she has become now. Adored her in Paap, but after that, she hasn't been in a lot of films to show her acting. Instead, she is portrayed as the sexy girl. Her role as the sexy book editor in Fox could have been played by anyone else.

Sunny Deol. I almost forgot he was in the film. You won't see him until a while later but I didn't understand since he is credited before Arjun. Maybe he's the veteran actor, and his name goes first?

Overall, Fox is worth a watch.


Wanted

It's no secret that Wanted is a remake of the famous Telugu blockbuster hit, Pokiri, with Prince Mahesh Babu. Hey, if Ghajini can be a hit and worked in Bollywood (remaking Tamil Ghajini), why not Pokiri, aka Wanted? There are so many Hindi films that have remade South Indian films (another reason why I wanted to see Southies)

Success for Wanted. I am happy for Sallu and hoping that more people will be open minded to venture out to Southies.

Before Wanted hit the theater, some people were skeptical of Sallu pulling it off. Well, you know. He did, plus more. I was very impress with his dancing. Of course, credit goes out for the choreographer but dang, Sallu did such a superb job, I was watching the vids on YouTube nonstop.

I ain't gonna lie. Wanted is an almost exact frame-by-frame remake. But it's okay because I still enjoyed it a lot!! However, Pokiri still rules with the music.

Many people have said that Sallu is no Mahesh Babu. I agree, but Mahesh is no Sallu either. What I mean by that is Mahesh's filmography is a lot shorter than Sallu and most of Mahesh's films is the superhuman type of roles. Didn't you know he is the Steven Seagal of Tollywood? That's in no way a diss to Mahesh. I'm only using that comparison because in Steven's movies, he is always ass-kicking and hardly has a stratch. When he's beaten down, he gets back up without a hair in place. That's Mahesh Babu.

If you think I'm dissing Mahesh, you are wrong. I looooove Mahesh. He's adorably dorky-cute with a hint of sexy. I just feel that Sallu has the action look, body-wise. His look reminds me of The Rock and Vin Diesel.

I will have to do a comparison and a much more detailed review later on. All I have to say is Wanted is everything I wanted from Sallu and more. Loved it! Just as much as the original but in different ways.