Ugliest cars in India - 2008 Honda Accord

Chris Bangle does have a long lost son and probably junior is working for Honda. What else could probably explain the mangled (Bangle'ed) look of the 2008 version of the luxury sedan from Honda? Its predecessor was an icon here as a performance king and was often referred to as the big brother of the first Honda City. Sharp as a razor in styling and handling it was indeed a slick package.
The replacement is disastrously ugly. I often find it odd as it gives the impression of being designed by more than one designer. There is a hell lot of Chris Bangle's BMW designs flashed all over it. The dented look of the doors, right below the waistline, the arrow-straight shutline of the rear door, even the confused rear end design, all these speak volumes of a BMW 7-series inspiration. Not to mention the fact that the latter is not a good example to emulate.The Accord is an unpleasant amalgamation of BMW, Audi and Hyundai signatures. Check out the way in which the rear section of the roof flows down to the boot - pure Audi lines. The front section is a clear rip-off of the new Hyundai Sonata. The rectagular headlamps with those blisters makes matters worse. It's good in pieces but as a whole it's a really ugly picture.

Accord has a gem of an engine, but it's not a jewel of a car.

50 Fast and Furious days

And we have crossed fifty days. Critically panned (banned!?) car racing flick Fast and Furious is well on its way to crossing the finish line anytime soon. The total collections on the 50th day stand at $345 million worldwide. Breaking it up that would be a total of US gross $153,524,010 and international gross $192,231,401. You may have to give or take a couple of millions from that, as box office numbers aren't so much reliable to the penny.

Anyway, it beats the other three movies which came before it and that too by a huge margin. If that doesn't prompt the makers to come back with the same cast in a sequel, what else does? :)

Mayhem in May - T4 disappoints, Museum receives more vistors

Am I disappointed today? Of course I am. What was hailed and screamed from the rooftops as one of the biggies of the year, surrendering to a "does-anyone-really-care" fantasy comedy - just what I needed. :(

If the opening weekend estimates are anything to go by, Terminator Salvation received something more than a kick on the butt. A dismal $43 million is all that it had on its first weekend. Lower than expectations, lower than its unimpressive predecessor and lower than its current opponent, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Museum had a fine start at $53 million. Not so bad a performance, during these times. But the shock which T4 has given me and the number-crunchers still persists. If Fast and Furious (non-brainer) and Wolverine (some-brainer) could get a sumptuous opening then why didn't T4 manage a similar feat?

Mayhem in May - Terminators to battle the Museum boys

Another face-off of the unlikely kinds is brewing in the box office. Two different contenders in the ring.

On the left, we have the resurrected Terminator movie, Terminator Salvation. Powered by Christian Bale, this one is be counted on as the big hit which will boost up the collection counters from the former booster rockets (read Fast and Furious, Wolverine, Monsters v/s Aliens). A brand new cast with the right use of CGI and real action, T4 is just what the doctor recommended to the franchise. Hopefully we are about to witness Terminator “Resurrection”.

On the right, we have the ever dependable funny little man Ben Stiller with Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, the sequel to his previous hit, Night at the Museum. The theatre count of the fantastical action comedy is on the higher side compared to Terminator Salvation’s 3480. The museum parade will be on display in 4096 centres. The return of the good old cast isn’t that bad. Ben stiller teams up with fellow smileys Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Hank Azaria, Steve Coogan and Bill Hader. Amy Adams forms the romantic angle here.

T4 definitely has the edge as Bale is flying high, post TDK and Stiller is on a bit of a low after the mediocre run of Tropic Thunder. Give it a week’s time and the image of the winner will be more clear. Till then T4 holds the cards.

Take home your own Bumblebee Camaro...life size

GM is all set to cash in on the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen buzz. Rumour has it that Chevrolet is planning to launch a special edition Camaro along the lines of the Bullit Mustang from arch-rival, Ford. The car will have Bumblebee and Autobots splashed all over it(not literally). If the tip is accurate, Sam Witwicky wannabes will be able to book their own Bumblebees on the same date of the movie release. Do I have to say that date is June 24th?

Hope it doesn't relieve on someone's head like the real Bumblebee did in the movie. GM must be infusing some manners along with goodies like the Autobot insignia on the inside and on the special wheels.

Mayhem in May – Angels and Demons not in Da Vinci league

Two good reasons why Angels and Demons didn’t have an opening weekend run similar to its predecessor. One, the book on which it’s based was not as controversial as The Da Vince Code. Two, the response of the church was rather cold than its hot-headed approach last time. Thanks to these, Ron Howard’s adaptation of Dan Brown’s book has garnered a rather ordinary $46 million in its first week. In the international markets it fared much better. A $102 million collection in the foreign markets once again confirms the fact that the movie will be performing like The Da Vinci Code.

We are speaking about ratios here and not necessarily about numbers. The Da Vinci Code made $217 million in the U.S and $540 million in the international box office. A whopping $758 million in total. A&D will sell in the foreign markets at a higher rate than in the U.S just like the Holy Grail escapade of 2006. It may not be able to match the numbers of the Code.

New releases and the strong ones which are settled and building in the box office are posing a major threat to A&D. Though Wolverine is losing strength, Star Trek is holding strong and that’s a huge threat to A&D. May is getting tighter with more release lined up. Next up are two biggies - Night at the Museum : Battle of the Smithsonian and Terminator Salvation. Now the Angels and the Demons will need a lot of faith or divine intervention for a box office sweep.

Mayhem in May - Star Trek lifts off

To be totally honest, I have a very bare-basic idea on Star Trek, be it the series or the movie franchise. The less operatic version of Star Wars, that’s my take on the series. No offence intended to the followers of the ever popular space adventure.

So except for the fact that the 11th movie comes in the action packed summer season, there isn’t much which makes the latest Star Trek appealing to me. I loved the way director J.J Abrams treated Mission Impossible 3. His TV series, Alias and Lost are quite good too though Lost has lost its grip. So definitely he has done his homework before working on this major reboot of a franchise which has seen its share of ups and downs.

If the opening weekend numbers are anything to go by, then he has either done his job well or the marketing team has done its job better. A production budget of $150 million has been splurged on this one and the movie grossed a fine figure of approximately $76 million in its first weekend. Not so punchy a number as Wolverine’s outing, yet fabulous.

Definitely Star Trek will take will take a huge share of the box office away from the Mr. Retractable Claws a.k.a Wolverine. But the shadow of Angels and Demons looms over Trek as the former is expected to hit shores on May 15. So more to fear than to cheer about. May the best movie win.

Mayhem in May - Wolverine claws in

X-Men Origins: Wolverine ripped apart competition raking in $85 million in its first weekend. The collections are equal to those of X2: X Men united and way better than the first X-Men movie. In the process it neatly displaced Fast and Furious from the top position in the 2009 opening weekend chart. To add to the harvest, the movie also clawed in $73 million from the foreign markets.

Swine flu threats and the much worried about issue of the leaked workprint of the movie didn’t take away the enthusiasm from the fans. All the critics who gave this one a terrible rating will be hiding their faces in the shadows as the popularity is expected to rise in the coming days.

Made on budget of $150 million, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the second most expensive movie in the franchise. I seriously doubt those numbers since the packaging doesn’t look or feel as big as X3 or X2. Not so hard to believe that Hugh Jackman was paid a whopping $20 million for the part. The producers who must have had a lot of trouble to pay that sum will now be glad to be paid back in full for the investment.

Mayhem in May - X-Men Origins: Wolverine

“May day, May day…Wolverine is out of the cage”

Kicking of the summer season this year is X-Men origins: Wolverine. More than a fine way to raise the curtains on the blockbuster season to follow which stretches out all the way till August.

The multi-layered character who carried on his broad shoulders a considerable weight of the X-men trilogy is finally a solo hero. The first movie in a series of prequels on the major characters in the X-Men series, X-Men Origins: Wolverine traces the disturbed and violent past of Wolverine.

Hugh Jackman reprises his role as the hot-headed and at times arrogant mutant. Directed by Gavin Hood who has won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 2006, the movie finally sheds some light on the mysterious history of the character. The movie clarifies many questions on his origins, his love life, his association with the Weapon X programme, the fellow mutants who he met and his acquaintance with Col. William Stryker. A better of picture of Logan (Wolverine) and his character will make Wolverine followers who couldn’t get enough of him in the X-Men trilogy, run to the theatres. Liev Schreiber in the role of Victor Creed (Sabretooth), Wolverine’s half brother fills in the shoes of one of the many battle royale adversaries. The worst nemesis, Weapon XI tests the real mettle of Wolverine’s Adamantium claws and the claws do get up close and personal with a Helicopter mid-air.

For the viewers there is a catch, as the director has stated that the movie will have multiple endings. Box office numbers are difficult to predict. But given the positioning of the movie’s release date and cashing in on the popularity of the character, it can open big at the box office. $80 million is a reasonable figure for the opening weekend count. We’ll have to wait till Monday for the actual figures as it remains to be seen on how much furious can Wolverine get at the box office battle.