The Invisible Guest is originally a Spanish crime thriller film released in the name of Contratiempo”, is dubbed in English for Netflix.
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Suspense Ratings: Rotten Tomatoes 4.1/5 ; IMDb: 8.1/10 Written by: Oriol Paulo Starring : Mario Casas ,Ana Wagener, José Coronado, Bárbara Lennie
In the opening scene, Adrian Doria, a young successful entrepreneur wakes up in a hotel room that’s locked from inside alongside the dead body of his lover, Laura. With no possible explanation to exonerate him of the crime, Adrian hires the services of Virginia Goodman- a prestigious lawyer who prepares witnesses.
Despite Adrián’s protests that he is innocent, Virginia reveals that the prosecution has uncovered a new witness and that the judge in charge of the case will most likely call him in to testify in three hours’ time. She tells Adrián that she needs him to lay out exactly what happened with absolute truth, since they only have a limited amount of time to formulate a defense strategy.
From this moment, the movie goes back and forth between flashbacks as Adrián tells Virginia his story and the present day as she pokes holes in every version of events that make him sound like a saint who is being framed by some unknown party. But the screenplay and Virginia’s interrogation fires-up the screen, as the film piles revelation on top of revelation.
There’s much to recommend in “The Invisible Guest”. For one, it looks gorgeous, cinematography is fantastic on the plot of Spanish mountains and forest roadways. Next is the screenplay, the scenes move expertly between present day and Adrián’s recounting, which gives the film a fluid feel.
And, like any good thriller, it’s tense right up to the end. If you like fast paced mystery thriller, you’ll love it! 100% RECOMMENDED! Here's the trailer!
There’s a good chance that many of you haven’t heard of this movie, mostly because it didn’t get a lot of publicity. “Eye in the Sky” is a British military drama that released in the UK in late 2015 but hit rest of the world nearly an year later. The film is actually pretty eye-opening and incredibly tense, and certainly worth a watch.
In Kenya, a group of terrorists have been located by Kenyan agents and tracking them in England is Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) and her team. After planting a bug inside the house of the terrorists, they identify the terrorists as East Africa’s #2, #4 and #5 most wanted. Powell’s original mission to identify and capture the terrorists becomes moot as they watch the terrorists gear up for a likely suicide bombing.
Colonel Powell immediately asks Lt. Colonel Frank Benson (Alan Rickman) for the affirmative to destroy the targets. Once given the all clear by his political advisors, Colonel Benson orders Air Force Lieutenant Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) to take out the terrorists with a drone. Just before he detonates, a Kenyan girl named Alia (Aisha Takow) begins setting up a bread stall, just outside the home of the terrorists. Watts refuses to shoot, and with time running out. What did the crew decide and execute is the thriller plot.
The story involves a huge cast of characters—everyone from US Air Force drone operators to a British war general to the US Head of State and topping off at the British Prime Minister. Rather than an intense ground battle, this was much more political and opens viewers’ eyes to the pressure of those pulling the trigger.
Following chains of command and protocol both give structure to and inhibit military action, and leaves you a deeply disturbing question: Is one certain death better than 100 probable ones?
On paper, it’s probably a pretty simple answer. But in reality, it is not!.
Eye in the Sky leaves you with questions you’ll likely forever be unsure about. But then again, when are there ever any simple answers in war? It’s a must watch, you’ll like every minute of it!.
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Suspense Rating: PG-13 (yet a decent family entertainer with no obscene) Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Writers: Byron Willinger, Philip de Blasi and Ryan Engle Stars: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson One-line plot: A businessman is caught up in a criminal conspiracy during his daily commute home.
Michael MacCauley (Neeson) is a 60 years old, former NYPD detective who turned into insurance salesman. As usual, that morning he gets -up, greets his son, got dropped off by his wife, boards the train and reaches office, as he’s been doing for over 10 years. But then his life turns into hell.
He gets fired on that day. With frustrations, he boards the regular train way back to home. Things take a thrilling turn when Michael meets Joanna (Farmiga) at the train, she puts him on a task that would get Michael a 100K USD cash; failing would cost the lives of his wife & son!.
Has Michael really become capable of what Joanna is asking? Especially if the end result could mean someone getting killed What follows is how Michael deals with the powerful forces following him. That’s the simple, but very strong and fast paced story line that you can only experience it yourselves.
Liam Neeson, at his late 60’s is unbelievable and still proves to be the king of action genre. Arguably, he has been playing the guy from Taken with a new family and scenario for almost a decade now.
It’s definitely a remarkable movie, the kind of energy/performances from this movie make it certainly worth checking out. It doesn’t matter whether you are a fan of Liam Neeson or not, you’ll find yourself having a good time!. It’s also one of those clean movies that you can watch with your family.
Based on the bestselling novel of the same name and adapted for the big screen by the novel’s author, Gillian Flynn, "Gone Girl" stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike as Nick and Amy Dunne, a fantastic-looking couple who met and fell for each other in New York City. Nick, as Amy writes in her diaries, was the man of her dreams. Both were writers, in fact, until life dealt them a few hard blows.
Now they’re in Nick’s hometown of North Carthage, Missouri, where he owns a downtown bar tended by his twin sister, Margo (scene-stealer Carrie Coon). Nick’s nightmare begins when he gets a phone call and races home from the bar, only to find the cat wandering outside and his wife gone. He calls the cops and we have the pleasure of meeting Det. Rhonda Boney (Kim Dickens) and Officer Jim Gilpin (Patrick Fugit). Boney, armed with a smart pantsuit and cup of coffee, has some questions for Nick..
In the meantime, we’re treated to flashbacks to various parts of Nick and Amy’s relationship, accompanied by Amy’s diaries entries. At first, they paint a picture of a couple very much in love, but the relationship devolves, suggesting, along with many other clues, that Nick might have been behind Amy’s disappearance. Is she dead? Where’s her body? Did he kill her? Why isn’t he more distraught? Once the media gets hold of the story, there’s a tidal wave of negative public opinion against Nick.
Gone Girl is one of the best thrillers in visual style as well as in storytelling. If you’re married, Gone Girl may well make you look at your partner in a very different way…
The movie shows you that women can be as crazy and violent as men can. This is actually a good visualization of a man's nightmare 😊. The scenes in the movie often take you aback and gives a whole new perspective about the human psychology and mind games.
A must watch for everyone with psychological and intellectual curiosities.
Have you seen the movie? Or read the book? What did you think?
We have been watching numerous articles/videos on how the "Smart" products may change our homes into "Smart homes". But what many us do not acknowledge is that, some of such dream devices are available already in reality, and making a tangible difference to our daily life.
There are many innovative companies pouring millions of bucks into developing these smart devices/technologies – to seamlessly merge our digital and physical worlds within our homes, in to solutions. I thought I can share some of those such interesting developments/products here.
Let me try to list as I see them in a futuristic home.
Kitchen:
Sereneti Kitchen: Cooking can be fun, but sometimes things are just too hectic to take the time to do it. So this company is building an automated cooking robot; we just have to insert the ingredients for the dish; the device turns those ingredients into delicious food and invites you on your smart phone for the dinner!. For now, the device is limited to a single motion (stirring), but they look promising for a large expansion.
June oven: It’s a smart oven that runs machine learning and computer vision technologies (features multiple cameras inside the oven) to identify and cook food. Needless to say other app-magics and ecosystem support- this device is created by the team of ex- apple, google and GoPro engineers!
Smart Jar from SKE Labs: The Smart Jar has built-in sensors that weigh its contents and adds that item a grocery shopping list on your smartphone when it runs low. The app on your smartphone also tells you which dishes you can make with those remaining ingredients with their nutrition information. It also keeps track of the “best used by” date, and even the developer is trying to integrate a fitness-tracker along.
Living Room:
There are really many devices in this space; Savant, Bidgely, SerraLux, Leeo's smart alarm, Notion (Building sensors),,,etc. One innovation, that I really liked is the “Stir”..
Stir: has built a smart desk aimed at improving the users activity while using the desk. The user presets their preferred heights for standing, sitting and ideal goal for standing height. In active mode the desk will move an inch up or down after an interval, inviting the user to change position and preventing extended periods of sedentary posture. Over time the desk tracks the users burned calories and learns when its best to remind the user to change positions.
Bed Room:
Rest has developed a smart bed using its patented pressure sensing fabric. The ReST Bed senses the sleeping position using the sensor attached near the surface and makes automatic real-time adjustments in bed surface using quiet air pumps. Bed is connected to home wifi and transfers sleep data to be displayed on a tablet which is included in the package.
Hello Inc has designed a product 'Sense' which includes an ambient light sensor, high sensitivity microphone, temperature sensor, humidity sensor, high quality speaker, proximity sensor, particulate sensor, WiFi and Bluetooth Low Energy and tracks user's sleep behavior. As the mobile app collects data, it can offer recommendations on things the user can fix to ensure a good night’s rest. Raised $31.6 million in funding to date.
Garden:
Grove offers a hydroponic growing system, that consists of a cabinet with five boxes. Four of them hold plants, with LED lights that connect to the Grove OS, allowing users to control the lighting schedule, as well as monitor the temperature, humidity, and water level through WiFi. The fifth box is home to a fish aquarium, that uses fish waste to produce fertilizer for the plants, which in turn clean the fishes’ water.
Click and Grow is building a soil less electronic flower pot that grow plants without watering and fertilizing. Each flower pot is wired with sensors, a processor and software that checks on the plant and provides it with fertilizer and water as needed. Each pot uses a combination of hydroponics and aeroponics, and requires an occasional refilling of the water reservoir, about once a month.
Entrance/ Security /Surveillance
Ring Labs provides a video doorbell that allows the user to answer the door at any time. Pairs with users smartphone via WiFi. Motion sensors allow better security with optional cloud recording available. The user is able to answer the visitor without opening the door, helping improve security and avoids common problems like being unable to hear the door bell.
August Smart Lock is a safe, simple and social way to manage home access. It is a lock and access system that allows home owners to grant access to trusted people for specific periods of time. Many of you would have used August locks while staying at AirBnB vacation rentals.
*The above list just a hand-pick from each category, limited to my knowledge; there are thousand other interesting products are on the way to make our homes more intelligent. Just do a google search or even the CES launches in the kitchen space, you’ll be amazed!
Now do you believe, Smart Home is not about the future... It is already here ?
Portugal is often called as a “One-man team”; and that one man - Cristiano Ronaldo proved his talent one more time!. Just before the game coach Fernando Santos said, Portugal should not solely rely on their captain but, once again, it was Ronaldo who proved to be the match winner! (though he’s not that spectacular as in the previous match against Spain).
Portugal has 4 goals so far in the tournament, and all of them were not possible without Cristiano Ronaldo. With 85 goals in total, now Ronaldo has become Europe’s all-time scorer at international tournaments, having exceeded Ferenc Puskas. Ali Daei, with 109 goals for Iron, is the only player in world football to have outscored him.
This match win has got an important edge to Portugal (progressing to the top spot of Group -B) and has put an end to the Moroccans dream. With this defeat, Morocco gets eliminated from the World Cup - 2018.
The World Cup has started dramatically for Colombia. In the meeting with Japan, Carlos Sanchez had to take a red card from the field after three minutes. The defender of Fiorentina made hands and became the first player this tournament that had to finish with red.
Apparently, this is the 1st ever red card in the World Cup – 2018, and the 2nd faster red card ever in the World Cup (2 minutes & 56 seconds).
In the history of the World Cup, a red card was drawn so quick only once before. It was José Batista from Uruguay on 13 June 1986. He had to leave the field in the duel with Scotland after 55 seconds.
With this Red card upset, the game started terribly for Colombia, who already got-in without their star player - James Rodriguez (leg injury). Japan took both the advantages and won the game with 1-2 goals.
As for Colombia, it faces what's likely a must-win game against Poland on Sunday.
It was in a clay-court and Rafa is on his aggressive comeback form as ever - What else one can expect? The King of Clay court grabbed his 11th French Open Title!.
Rafael Nadal has won the 2018 French Open, besting Dominic Thiem in the finals, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. Nadal now has 11 titles on the clay of Roland Garros, tying Margaret Court for the most titles at any one Grand Slam and once again solidifying his claim as the King of Clay.
The tears trickle down his cheeks and he isn’t finished yet. It’s his 17th grand slam title, taking him three behind Roger Federer, who’ll have designs on extending the gap at Wimbledon next month.
"A picture is worth a thousand words". It is so true that some pictures can explain the truths/imports which at times are even impossible to explain by words. The June 2018 issue of National Geographic Magazine proves it once again!
The June 2018 issue features an image which at first glance appears to be an iceberg – until you look closely and realize that it’s a flipped plastic carrier bag. The whole edition of the magazine illustrates the disastrous damage we’re doing to the planet with our plastic consumption.
Here are some of the pictures from the magazine; they are not worth mere a thousand words, but is worth for the 9.2 billion tons of plastic besmirching beaches, sullying waterways, and choking hapless wildlife on land and in our oceans.
A Bangladeshi family, on a branch of the Buriganga River, removes labels from plastic bottles, to sell them to a scrap dealer – these wastes are the life for some😟; they make an average around $100 a month. (then imagine the heights of plastic wastes!)
Plastic bottles choke the Cibeles fountain, outside city hall in central Madrid. An art collective called Luzinterruptus filled this and two other Madrid fountains with 60,000 discarded bottles last fall as a way of calling attention to the environmental impact of disposable plastics.
An old plastic fishing net snares a loggerhead turtle in the Mediterranean off Spain – it would have died had the photographer not freed it. Some animals now live in a world of plastics—like these hyenas scavenging at a landfill in Harar, Ethiopia. They listen for garbage trucks and find much of their food in the trash.
To ride currents, seahorses clutch drifting seagrass or other natural debris. In the polluted waters off the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, this seahorse latched onto a plastic cotton swab—“ a photo I wish didn’t exist,” says photographer Justin Hofman.
There was no plastic available until the late 19th century, the disastrous plastic production started only around 1950, but it went so huge that we already have more than 9.2 billion tons of plastic to deal with😟. Unfortunately, no one could really estimate how much plastic waste is actually being recycled and the rest of everything ends in the oceans.
The plastic-free world may look mere impossible today. But it’s just about putting things into perspective. We don’t have time to wait!. We need progressive policies that shape collective action (and rein in polluting businesses), alongside engaged citizens pushing for change. Let's start from the smallest step that we can make ourselves.
