TRAVEL TO MOVIES: ARMY OF THIEVES

Director: Matthias Schweighöfer

Cast: Matthias Schweighöfer, Nathalie Emmanuel , Ruby O.Fee , Stuart Martin , Trent Garrett , Gus Khan , Jonathan Cohen , Noémie Nakai , Barbara Meier , Christian Steyer , Dan Bradford

Plot: In this prequel to Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, small-town bank teller Dieter gets drawn into the adventure of a lifetime when a mysterious woman recruits him to join a crew of Interpol's most wanted criminals, attempting to heist a sequence of legendary, impossible-to-crack safes across Europe.

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/army_of_thieves

My Movie Review: The movie is a prequel we don't know we needed but a welcome addition to the world created in Army Of The Dead where precise timing and sychronicity to be all must! Army Of Thieves is a bit quirky and that make things exciting and fun competently shot and put together, the car chases, bank heist and action scenes are all decent they flow as they should:) The bits with the zombies are there but not over powering the heist and vault cracking remains to be the highlight in this feauture as well assemble team based on their expertise to do tasks! Although with this team it's giving Fast & Furious Vibe with Nathalie Emmanuel on command on what to be accomplish; sound effects and tone on the other is giving' 007 James Bond Vibe! The style and clothing in this movie are really commendable chic and effortlessly elegant from the slick coats to winter fur hat are adding layer to the characters both literally and fuguratively! It starts with Gwendoline Starr was a mysterious young woman who planned a series of heists targeting the masterpiece safes of Hans Wagner, Gwen was portrayed by Nathalie Emmanuel in Army of Thieves and was arrested at the end of the film, sacrificing herself to let Sebastian Dieter escape portrayed by Matthias Schweighöfer who became a instant international top star!

Critics Consensus: A prequel that benefits from being only loosely connected to anything we've already seen, this is a fun, light romp that leans on likeable characters rather than CG spectacle. It moves very quickly it's sharp. Army of Thieves doesn't reinvent the heist thriller, but director-star Matthias Schweighöfer proves an appealing presence on both sides of the camera. It's a likeable, generally pacey movie with some energetic action sequences (a chase through Prague borders on exciting) but its strength exposes its greatest weakness. Thanks to Schweighöfer's stylish, "Italian Job"-influenced directing, a sense of its own ridiculous nature and some fabulous performances by the charming and good-looking supporting cast, "Army of Thieves" is the very definition of entertaining... It's a glossy, new-school heist flick that's high on energy but low on sensible narrative... not to say there's nothing to recommend, Schweighöfer and Emmanuel are charming on screen, and the film's comedic notes brighten an otherwise overplayed story. A fun delightful heist movie that adds more to the world of the Army of the Dead & one of its characters. Was the film needed? No but was it delightful? Yes! Army of Thieves is great addition to the franchise! It's very fun film that you can enjoy' over a weekend:)

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/army_of_thieves

TRAVEL TO PLACES: SINGAPORE-- APPLE STORE

My Personal Experience: I went to Outside the Apple Store - Singapore at Marina Bay Sands! last August 6, 2022, together with my sister, husband and baby nephew who I carry on as seen Apple Store is new to me last time I went here it isn't build yet it adds elegance and class to the Singapore Skyscrapers that's becoming even beautiful from everytime visit I made since 2011:)

Apple Store

The Apple Store at Marina Bay Sands is a unique landmark as the world's only Apple outlet surrounded by water. Besides the latest gadgets and sleek accessories, the store also offers a panoramic perspective of Singapore's breathtaking cityscape. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to capture instagrammable shot during your night run at this iconic running route in Singapore:)

Source: https://www.marinabaysands.com/outdoor-activities-around-marina-bay.html

TRAVEL TO MOVIES: HYPNOTIC

Directors: Matt Angel , Suzanne Coote

Cast: Kate Siegel , Jason O'Mara , Dulé Hill , Lucie Guest , Jaime M. Callica , Luc Roderique , Tanja Dixon-Warren , Devyn Dalton , Stephanie Cudmore , Darien Martin , Madeleine Kelders

Plot: A young woman seeking self-improvement enlists the help of a renowned hypnotherapist. But after a handful of intense sessions, she discovers unexpected and deadly consequences:)(

Source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12383460/

My Movie Review: The movie is captivating in the teaser centred on a woman trying to restore her life after a traumatic experience and is met by a doctor who suggests a hypnotic treatment! Kate Siegel is givin' that scream queen vibe in her red dress whose after a handful of intense sessions did discovers unexpected and deadly consequences she's good in this giving her all:) I just wish the story took more turns as the hypnotist engages her in a lethal game of mind manipulation they could have use this as an opportunity to create more scary scenes instead on focusing to the resolution towards the end felt rush and generic outcome if they just go a bit more it could make huge difference on how the viewer see things it can go artsy or more indie:) Jason O'Mara is a very good actor as well convincing as the manipulating doctor sometimes scary perhaps a bit sultry in talking for possible prospects especially to bit mature single ladies! Jenn Thompson has a friend who introduce Dr. Meade in the party Gina Kelman she's the one who convince Jenn to consult to Dr. Meade who have a tragic end as Dr. Meade calls Gina while she is driving and tells her, “This is how the world ends.” Gina, whose greatest phobia is spiders instantly hypnotized into believing there is a tarantula on her, she crashes car and dies! The ending of Hypnotic finds Jenn and Wade Rollins the detective discovering that Dr. Meade is actually named Julian Sullivan, Julian is the son of Dr. Xavier, a man involved in the CIA’s project during the 1960s as who taught his son Julian about hypnosis and hypnotic suggestion!

Critic Reviews: The narrative plays it too safe and straightforward, making for a serviceable but generic effort. What's actually going on here is so simple, yet so insane, that you wish the filmmakers had explored it for maximum screaming-at-the-screen enjoyment. This is the kind of made-for-cable-level movie where a pedestrian script (by Richard D'Ovidio) with the usual horror cliches is elevated by strong acting, no-nonsense direction and a couple of neat twists. While the resulting cat-and-mouse dynamic is predictable, particularly if you've ever watched a Lifetime movie, "Hypnotic" takes its cartoonishness to admirable heights. Given the widening discourse around mental health, you’d think Netflix would read the room. But instead, they’ve gone ahead and set the whole house on fire. It's certainly not the best choice as a release to watch with Halloween right around the corner. The performances from this wonderful cast go well beyond the shallow script and illogical story. Slickly produced and coolly shot, Hypnotic is all surface. A dire attempt at a psychological thriller so mired in predictability you often wish for a zombie apocalypse to liven things up...Why is the woman always on the wrong end? Couldn't they have reversed the genders, or made the shrink a woman as well? It feels like one of those 70s psychological thrillers... dealing with that weird pop psychology. Hypnotic is anything but!?!

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hypnotic

TRAVEL TO PLACES: SINGAPORE-- BLACK TAP PART II: THE FOOD

My Personal Experience: I went to Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer- Singapore at Marina Bay Sands last August 6, 2022, together with my sister, husband and baby nephew who I carry on:) I've created Part II of this cause I didn't much shown the food we ate last time so many pics with so many moments capture my Black Tap visit was definitely one for the books- good food:)

Black Tap Part II: The Food

Feast on award-winning burgers, towering milkshakes, craft beers, and cocktails at the first Asian flagship of this New York City Institution. Black Tap timeless NYC vibe to Singapore, The menu features a wide selection of craft burgers. Highlights include the classic All-American Burger and award-winning Greg Norman Burger wagyu beef topped with house buttermilk-dill, blue cheese, and arugula served on a soft potato bun. Lighter options include burger salads and a vegetarian falafel burger. Fancy some swag? Iconic Black Tap Merchandise: t-shirts and caps are available for purchase at the restaurant' for it take home a piece (or two) of Black Tap!

Source: https://www.marinabaysands.com/restaurants/black-tap.html

TRAVEL TO MOVIES: NIGHT TEETH

Director: Adam Randall

Cast: Jorge Lendeborg Jr. , Debby Ryan , Lucy Fry , Raúl Castillo , Alfie Allen , Marlene Forte , Sydney Sweeney , Alexander Ludwig , Bryan Batt , Hunter Burke , Ash Santos , Jaren Mitchell

Plot: To earn some extra cash, quirky college student Benny (Jorge Lendeborg, Jr.) moonlights as a chauffeur for one night. His task: drive two mysterious young women (Debby Ryan and Lucy Fry) around Los Angeles for a night of party hopping. Taken captive by his clients' charm, he soon learns that his passengers have their own plans for him -- and an insatiable thirst for blood. As his night spins out of control, Benny is thrust into the middle of a clandestine war that pits rival tribes of vampires against the protectors of the human world, led by his brother (Raúl Castillo), who will stop at nothing to send them back into the shadows. With sunrise fast approaching, Benny is forced to choose between fear and temptation if he wants to stay alive and save the City of Angels.

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/night_teeth

My Movie Review: The movie is a fun bumpy night cool ride Netflix vampire thriller set in Los Angeles, would like to make impression in some halfhearted way, to give few spin to the genre! Night Teeth is exciting with its nighty neon backdrop surely to satisfy the blood sucking viewers whose hunger with this kind of carefree vampire kick in as flick like are hard to come this days:) It starts when Benny, a college student and a freelance chauffeur driving in place of his brother Jay, is hired by friends Blaire and Zoe to drive them to several popular Los Angeles nightclubs!! As the night progress, Benny and Blaire flirt and Blaire reveals that she feels like a misfit who fell under Zoe's spell in the '70s and then was turned by her into a vampire. At the meeting between Jay and Victor, he reveals his plan to take over the city and also that he's killed Maria and is eating her, with a fair amount of violence, blood, and killing amidst all that still fun to see! Towards the ending in the struggle that follows, Zoe stabs Blaire and in retaliation, Benny remotely activates his brother's car, smashing a window and exposing sunlight which kills Zoe! Victor then attacks Benny using Jay as bait, and manages to bite Benny before Jay tackles him into sunlight, killing him so what Blaire did lets Benny suck her blood, and then she sucks his blood completing the ritual needed to turn Benny into a vampire' soon he wakes he'll transform!

Critics Consensus: Night Teeth has a solid cast and some interesting ideas, but they're all lost in a listlessly told, generally predictable vampire story. Nothing to sink your teeth into. If considered purely as a straightforward love letter to the vampire genre, and an expression of affection for the clichés and tropes these movies use over and over, Night Teeth can be a good time. Night Teeth is Collateral with fangs by way of Stephenie Meyer and, surprisingly enough, I don't mean any of that as a negative. Vampires are treated like one of many cliches in this underwhelming horror-action-comedy that has little charisma of its own. [Fry's] increasingly unhinged performance ensures that "Night Teeth" isn't an entirely bloodless flop, but even she stalls out as the film crawls along beyond a 100-minute running time. Nothing special, but it is fun. While this Netflix Halloween entry from director Adam Randall has its campy moments, it's just too long for its own good and would have been sharper if it shed 15 minutes or so. A darkly comic and enjoyable Ulyssean journey through the LA nightscape and playing with genre vampire film tropes, supported by fun performances. Despite limited screen time for Megan Fox and a paint-by-numbers plot, the film really satisfies as a visually stunning vampire thriller:)

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/night_teeth

TRAVEL TO PLACES: SINGAPORE-- BLACK TAP CRAFT BURGERS & BEER

My Personal Experience: I went to Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer Singapore at Marina Bay Sands last August 6, 2022, together with my sister, husband and baby nephew who I carry on:) We went there to have lunch this is my first time seeing lots of new restaurants into the Marina on the ground floor last time I went here the restaurants were at the lower nice to see changes!

Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer

Black Tap Singapore- Location Details: 2 Bayfort Ave Singapore 018972 at Marina Bay Sands! Singapore may be on the other side of the world from New York, but we’re already bridging the gap with our award-winning food, signature NYC style and original art. Our Singapore spot is signature Black Tap, rocking an old-school hip-hop soundtrack and a bespoke mural by local artist @has.j. And with 130 seats, our Asia flagship just about 10 times as big as our original joint. Marina Bay Sands just got a stylish splash of SoHo! site: blacktap@marinabaysands.com

Source: https://blacktap.com/location/singapore/

TRAVEL TO MOVIES: FEVER DREAM

Director: Claudia Llosa

Cast: María Valverde , Marcelo Michinaux , Emilio Vodanovich , Guillermina Sorribes Liotta , Germán Palacios , Dolores Fonzi , Guillermo Pfening , Cristina Banegas , Jolene Andersen (V)

Plot: A young woman lies dying far from home. A boy sits beside her. She is not his mother. He is not her child. Together, they tell a haunting story of broken souls, an invisible threat, and the power and desperation of family. Based on the internationally critically acclaimed novel by Samanta Schweblin.

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fever_dream

My Movie Review: The movie is a psychological drama with an element of magical realism set on surreal dream like location a deeply disturbing tale of sickness and the trials of motherhood! Fever Dream is a sensation that's felt a little wishy washy at first but cut deeps as it progresses the sunny whimsical treatment is giving cool calm collected vibes turning chill down your spine! The story starts when a woman named Amanda arrives in a quiet rural town in Argentina with her daughter Nina to spend a few days on vacation, next to their rented house is the house of Carola and David who's not her real son. The two women develop a quick close friendship, but Amanda soon realizes they are not as they appear to be when she found lot of stranger things! From then on, it becomes a very quiet story that lives from flashbacks and thus also tells the actual story. It's all somehow interesting and exciting, but it's also a very slow story that builds up if you always have the feeling of being in a dream where you can't grasp what's happening? Llosa's sensually shot film takes the story of a mother facing strange danger and casts a spell that feels like being dropped into the nuts it will tell the haunting story of broken souls, toxins, looming environmental and spiritual catastrophes, and the ties that bind a parent to its children!

Critics Consensus: The meaning of this alluring drama can feel as elusive as a Fever Dream, but it's steadily absorbing and consistently difficult to look away. The whole thing is bit bonkers but very beautiful too. There's an oppressive malevolence to Peruvian director Claudia Llosa's adaptation of Samanta Schweblin's novel that seeps through Fever Dream like a slow-acting poison. Lllosa's sensually shot film takes the story of a mother facing strange danger and casts a spell that feels like being dropped into the character's mind. After the first few minutes, you'll either be riveted, or looking for something else to watch. If you get on its wavelength, though, it might be the most haunting thing you've seen lately. In this thriller, Maternity is approached from different perspectives and diverse emotional states! Llosa, a filmmaker with an affinity for the unexplainable, mines acute observations on apprehensions of motherhood from the novel designing a serpentine narrative teeming with impending doom for all participants. An ominous and evocative psychological horror that will be divisive for many. A horror movie that begins with such discomfort and slowly evolves into full-blown dread. Horror connoisseurs might be disappointed about the deliberate pace and reliance on erotic and psychological tension to supply the thrills, but its sneaky and surreal genre film isn't interested in textbook horror tactics!

Source: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fever_dream