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Ringer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ioan Gruffudd & Kristoffer Polaha

Posted on November 22, 2011 Written by ripitup

sarah-michelle-gellar-ringer-tv-series-poster — Ringer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ioan Gruffudd & Kristoffer Polaha. Image via fansshare.com

Twin sisters Bridget and Siobhan (Sarah Michelle Gellar) couldn’t have been more different. Bridget Kelly is a former stripper/drug addict/alcoholic on the run from the mob. She has witnessed a murder, and her best bet is to testify against the murderer so that cops will drop the prostitution and drug charges against her.

Siobhan Martin on the other hand has long cut Bridget out of her life as she got sick of being disappointed by Bridget, and that Bridget caused a horrible tragedy regarding Siobhan. She has been married to the charming and successful Brit Andrew Martin (Ioan Gruffudd) and is living a glamorous life, and hasn’t told anyone about Bridget.

But when Siobhan contacts Bridget inviting her for a visit, Bridget decides to ditch the cops & the FBI to reunite with her sister. However Siobhan kills her during their boating trip, and Bridget realizes that posing as her sister might be her only way out. As upset that she is, she assumes Siobhan’s identity. But she just wasn’t expecting Siobhan’s life to be so complicated: As it turns out, her relationship with her husband is cold and strained, she is cheating on him with her best friend Gemma (Tara Summers)’s husband Henry (Kristoffer Polaha) and that Andrew has a drug-using teenage daughter named Juliet (Zoey Deutch) who hates her. However Bridget is determined to make the most of this new life- so she tries to make her relationship with Andrew better and ditches Henry.

While his “wife” ’s sudden nice and easy-going attitude makes Andrew suspicious, he eventually welcomes the fact that their marriage has a shot after all. Even Henry eventually has to give up trying to get her back as “Siobhan” seems more into Andrew than she ever was before. She even gets through to Juliet a bit.

But complications for our ringer never ends: FBI agent Machado (Nestor Carbonell) keeps questioning Bridget’s whereabouts, Gemma is sure her husband is having an affair, Siobhan is pregnant and Andrew overhears this, there seems to be a hitman after Siobhan and worst of all-and unbeknownst to Bridget, Siobhan is actually alive and well. She has orchestrated this whole thing, and is trying to get rid of Bridget.

There are only two people know that they switched places: Siobhan and Malcolm (Mike Colter), Bridget’s sponsor & former flame…

Ringer is one complicated and engaging drama. The audience is always kept in suspense, and even though we know more than Bridget does, we are still left with good cliffhangers and questions every episode. After 9 episodes into the season, we still don’t know what exactly is Siobhan planning. We don’t know if/how/when Andrew will find about the truth. We don’t know if Malcolm can survive, or Machado can/will discover what the twins have done. And we still don’t know what exactly Bridget did to piss Siobhan off this badly.

The story also has scenes in Paris, France where Siobhan is executing her plan. As the story progresses, Bridget makes some drastic calls, and she even has to admit to having a sister named Bridget. The mob is still after her, and we don’t know about how she will solve the pregnancy issue…

I’ve been a Sarah Michelle Gellar fan ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While I’m glad that the show is over, it is good to have her back as the leading actress. She pulls off the calculating Siobhan and the emotional and struggling Bridget very well. Rest of the cast is also good, and I won’t deny having a crush on Ioan Gruffudd- that guy does principled/decent leading guy well (check Amazing Grace for proof). And as if the characters aren’t way over their heads already, we are also introduced to Juliet’s new teacher- Mr. Carpenter Jason Dohring (Logan from Veronica Mars/Josef of Moonlight). I’m guessing they wouldn’t have cast Jason Dohring just to be a good teacher, but I could of course be wrong…

So yes, Ringer is a good show. I love its pace, twists and characters. I love the moral dilemmas they put Bridget through, and I love that how the former drug addict sister is actually the more moral one. At least she doesn’t try to get rid of anyone who makes things complicated, and is more loyal to Andrew/and nicer to Juliet than Siobhan has ever been. I don’t know how many seasons Ringer will last, but so far, it is one of the most fun shows around.

Fun Cast Facts:

– Ioan Gruffudd is not actually old enough to have a 16-year-old daughter. Having born in 1973, the 38-year-old would have had to impregnate his character’s first wife at the age of 21, which hardly seems to be the age a financial wizard would settle down… Or Andrew is supposed to be older than Ioan.

– Ioan Gruffudd is from Wales.

– We have to hope that Kristoffer Polaha, who plays Henry, is not a cheating bastard in real life. Because Kristoffer is also married and has three sons!

– Sarah Michelle Gellar was born in 1977, the same year as Kristoffer Polaha.

Other Posts on the Cast:

Sarah Michelle Gellar Trivia

Stardust, The Air I Breathe, Playing by Heart, The Good Shepherd, Hairspray & He’s Just Not That Into You: 6 Good Movies with Brilliant Casts ,

Possession starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lee Pace and Michael Landes

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: A Love Story with a Real Twist

Jason Dohring

Veronica Mars starring Kristen Bell, Teddy Dunn, Jason Dohring & Enrico Colantoni

Moonlight starring Alex O’Loughlin, Sophia Myles and Jason Dohring

Revenge starring Madeleine Stowe, Emily VanCamp, Gabriel Mann & Nick Wechsler

Posted on November 11, 2011 Written by ripitup

revenge_2011_poster — Revenge starring Madeleine Stowe, Emily VanCamp, Gabriel Mann, Joshua Brown & Nick Wechsler. Image via tvposter.net.

Revenge Plot

Amanda Clarke (Emily VanCamp)’s happy childhood with her father David (James Tupper) was destroyed when her father was betrayed by his girlfriend (the married Victoria Grayson – played by Madeleine Stowe) Victoria, her husband Conrad (Henry Czerny), their security consultant Frank (Max Martini), Clarke’s secretary Lydia (Amber Valetta) and pretty much whoever else he trusted. He was tried and found guilty of funding a terrorist organization whose acts resulted in the death of a plane full of passengers. Amanda was taken away from her father and it was made sure that she spent the rest of her childhood and teenage years away from her father, in correctional facilities.

As her father rotted away in prison, she grew up believing he really was guilty. However as Amanda got her freedom at 18, she was met by an eccentric rich entrepreneur named Nolan (Gabriel Mann)- who told her a few surprising facts: Her father was innocent, and he had the whole story written in his journals, along with information about everyone and everything related to the case. He had also been the only person to believe and invest in Nolan’s company, and he owned almost half of the company- and now it was all Amanda’s.

Enraged that his father had been betrayed so horrifically, she decides to use the information and money to take down everyone responsible. After that, she changes her identity to Emily Thorne, pays for a whole different past, makes the connections and moves to the Hamptons as the new rich girl. She starts dating Victoria’s son Daniel (Joshua Brown), and while a clueless Daniel is falling in love with her, she is taking her revenge.

But of course there are complications: Victoria thinks that no one is good enough for her son and starts digging deep into Emily’s past; Nolan keeps interrupting her plans by trying to bring her together with Jack (Nick Wechsler) – her childhood friend who doesn’t know that she’s Amanda but he is increasingly drawn to Emily; and her other adversaries might be more resilient than she originally thought…

Is it any good?

Revenge is such a compelling drama with many satisfying avenging moments that I just can’t call it a soap opera. Granted, in some ways it is a modern soap opera. But the acting isn’t over the top, dialogue is fun and the characters are really gray. I personally love justified revenge stories- and having grown up in the 90s, it is a lot fun to see Madeleine Stowe in a starring role again. It is also a pleasure to see that the sheriff’s annoying son from Roswell (Nick Wechsler played Kyle in the series and pissed off people with his behavior towards our aliens in the beginning) has grown up to be a very handsome guy that you can’t help but root for. Of course the rest of the cast also rocks, especially Amber Valetta as the backstabbing bitch, Max Martini as the overly loyal security man who’ll do anything for the Grayson’s and Gabriel Mann as Nolan who is reminding people more and more of James Spader’s younger self. Nolan’s attitude and personal agenda also bring comedic relief to the show and make it more interesting.

So yeah, I like Revenge. Would I have started watching had it not been for Madeleine Stowe? I doubt it. But I am glad I did. It is very entertaining and having seen all of the broadcasted episodes so far, I really hope they keep it up…

Strongly recommended, especially to the fans of Madeleine. ABC show Revenge is currently rated at 8.2 on IMDB.

Fun Facts about the Cast:

* One of Madeleine Stowe’s most popular movies is the Tony Scott movie Revenge from 1990. Interestingly enough, she was both taken revenge upon and avenged in the movie. Details are in my Revenge movie review, but let’s just say that her husband Anthony Quinn lost it when he found out she was having an affair with husband’s much younger and hot friend Kevin Costner. But of course when Anthony hurt Madeleine, it was Kevin’s turn to go mad…

* Declan (Connor Paolo) who plays Jack’s younger brother played the brother of Blake Lively’s character in the drama series Gossip Girl.

All Posts on Madeleine Stowe

Gorgeous Actresses of the 80s and the 90s: Madeleine Stowe, Michelle Pfeiffer and Demi Moore

Blink starring Madeleine Stowe & Aidan Quinn

The Last of the Mohicans starring Daniel Day-Lewis & Madeleine Stowe

When adultery is okay: Revenge starring Kevin Costner, Madeleine Stowe and Anthony Quinn

The Company Men starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello & Kevin Costner

Posted on November 10, 2011 Written by ripitup

The Company Men starring Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello & Kevin Costner. Image via prlog.org

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Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) has really made it: he is a white-collar that makes 120K a year+ bonuses, he drives a Porsche, goes golfing, has a beautiful house he can barely afford as well as a wife and 2 kids.

Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) is pushing 60, and has climbed up considerably well in the corporate ladder.

Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) is in the board of directors of the company both Bobby and Phil are working for, and is leading a very comfortable lifestyle.

However when a economic crisis hits the US, James Salinger (Craig T. Nelson), the CEO of their company, starts letting a lot of men go, starting with Bobby, who has been one of Gene’s favorite employees. Bobby finds that he hasn’t exactly saved money, and the expenses seem too much for an unemployed man to cover. He also realizes that his 12-year-experience doesn’t mean much in a competitive marketplace where much younger guys are willing to work for less. As he begrudgingly gets unemployment assistance, the CEO lets more people go and the company starts getting out of Gene’s control. Phil is also fired, and Gene’s reaction doesn’t reflect well on his affair with the head of human resources, Sally Wilcox (Maria Bello).

Bobby’s wife gets back to work, and he unwillingly accepts the job offer of Jack (Kevin Costner), his wife’s brother. He doesn’t enjoy having to work in construction under a man who believes all corporate white-collars are unworthy of their salaries, but he doesn’t have any other options left. Phil takes it much, much harder and Gene struggles with his values and keeps disapproving James’ actions…until Sally has to fire him as well.

3 former company men all get depressed and furious, and they all come up different solutions to their problems…

Thoughts, Other Criticisms and Endnote

The Company Men is a slow-paced, albeit effective drama about how much people give to their careers, what these careers demand and how they cope when the company they have built their careers at suddenly lets them go. It is realistic, a little sad and does offer some quite obvious (yet valuable) life lessons.

While some viewers have criticized the movie for aiming to make us feel sorry about a bunch of rich white guys, they are actually missing the point. The movie is about how the lives of 3 white collar men turn upside down. What, because they earned much more money than the average movie-goer, their story is not worth telling? Would those viewers not be crushed if the careers they gave their life to/depended upon/defined themselves with were taken away from them?

With Ben Affleck’s character, he suddenly finds himself without any money- with a family to take care of, his frustration is understandable. He wasn’t always upper middle class. And you know the last job Jim Carrey would want on earth? It is being a custodian. Not because he looks down on the profession. It is because he was actually broke, and worked as a custodian. It is understandable that Afflec’s Bobby doesn’t want to do construction work until he absolutely has to….

With Chris Cooper, it is how he defines himself. He is from a generation where people gave their lives to one company. He doesn’t know what to do. Sure, it is sad, and a little pathetic maybe. But his job is all he knows…

With Tommy Lee Jones, it is the betrayal of a friend, the lack of empathy in his friend and how values millions over the lives of other people…

So of course you can criticize the characters for caring too much about one company, the course of one career. You can judge them for not being prepared. But it is hard to prepare for a big downhill, if things went on very smoothly for a very long time.

So, no, this movie is not about 3 rich guys who suddenly find themselves penniless. The only guy who finds himself penniless is the one who wasn’t rich to begin with. The Company Men is about how much value we place on our careers/jobs, how precaution matters, how we should have more than just our jobs/education to define us and how life really requires us to have a back-up plan. It may not be the most original story around, but guess what- my father experienced what Affleck went through. He went through what Cooper went through too, although thankfully he got over it just fine because my mom has always been great with managing money. I find it hard to believe that people who really watched this movie-from beginning to end- couldn’t find something they could relate to.

Some complained that the women in the film weren’t depicted in the best light. At best, they had been loyal wives who picked their husband’s career over theirs. At worst, they were either successful businesswomen who didn’t mind sleeping with married men or materialistic women who just lived through their husband’s wealth. But come on…Not all movies have to give us amazing female characters. There are a lot of women who prioritize their husband’s money, their career and just sit at home and look after the kids. It’s their choice. And just because I am not like that, I am not going to give up on a perfectly good movie because the female characters aren’t that great. And look at the title of the movie…Does it look like it’ll be an effective study of the modern woman?

Is this a movie you absolutely have to see? No. It is good, emotional and has good acting. Sure, you can ignore it. After all, it is not life-altering. It is not mind-blowing. It doesn’t reinvent anything. And it’s more about facing reality than being entertained. But it is solid, the actors are great and it doesn’t make you regret you saw it. Rated at 6.8 on IMDB, it all depends on how interested you are in the core story. Because it is delivered well.

Written and directed by John Wells.

Body of Proof starring Dana Delany, Nicholas Bishop & Jeri Ryan

Posted on November 2, 2011 Written by ripitup

body-of-proof-abc-poster — Body of Proof starring Dana Delany, Nicholas Bishop and Jeri Ryan

Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) is a former successful neurosurgeon-turned-brilliant medical examiner due to a car accident and the loss of a patient. Her career as a surgeon cost her marriage and her relationship with her 12-year-old daughter Lacey. Now, she is solving cases with the wit of Patrick Jane (Simon Baker’s character in The Mentalist). While Megan is deemed to be anti-social and difficult to work with, she is the friendliest and most agreeable person compared to House.

Show’s comedic relief comes both from the banter between Megan and her co-workers- especially Peter Dunlop (Nicholas Bishop), and the interactions of young Dr. Ethan (Geoffrey Arend) and Curtis (Windell Middlebrooks), Megan’s superior. After the first couple episodes, Megan’s genius pretty much accepted, and she starts developing friendlier relationships with the two cops, Sam (Sonja Sohn) and Bud (John Carroll Lynch) that are usually assigned to her cases.

Body of Proof is a very fun crime drama. Sure, it has the obligatory emotional moments as leading characters of these shows usually come with baggage, especially the head crime solvers. Megan’s often criticized by caring too much about the dead, and she replies that 1) she has to, because no one else will listen to them now, and 2) she is feeling guilty about her former career when she did hundreds of operations and yet didn’t know any of her patients on a personal level.

While the characters of the show constantly joke that Megan has no friends, I’d say that she has become pretty good friends with Peter. Their relationship borders on flirty, and it wouldn’t exactly shock the viewers if they started dating. Fortunately though, this is a show that works perfectly fine with or without romance. The show is more about the murder case they are trying to solve each episode, as well as Megan’s personal growth.

It might not be the most original thing on the block, but it is sure capable of entertaining you for over 40 minutes. The dynamics between the characters are fun, the murder cases are interesting –even if you pride yourself in being able to guess who’s guilty during these kind of shows. Get over it, folks! After seeing our share of the crime drama/thrillers, it is no longer about finding the killer. It is how the killer is found, which one-liners are provided and who the main character pisses off in the process.

6.9/10 on IMDB. A solid 9/10 from me.

Fun Body of Proof Facts:

– Dana Delany co-starred in Desperate Housewives for many episodes, from season 4 to season 6. She was the neighbor Mike dated when he and Susan were divorced. Interestingly enough, one of her character’s love interests was played by Nathan Fillion, who went on to star in his own crime drama Castle.

– In season 6, one of the Desperate Housewives guest stars was Jeffrey Nordling, who played the husband of Angie Nolan, the new neighbor. In Body of Proof, he plays Megan’s ex-husband.

– Dana Delaney just might be the proof of Hollywood is growing up. At 55, she is the leading actress of a criminal show. She is gorgeous, and from the looks of it, it is natural.

– Dana Delaney co-starred with Timothy Hutton in the movie Multiple Sarcasms. Timothy Hutton is the star of another crime/mystery/thriller TV-show Leverage.

– Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Riley Marc Blucas co-stars in the episode Dead Man Walking (Season 1, Episode 5). He is one of the main suspects. Marc Blucas is no stranger to crime or medical dramas as he also guest-starred in Castle & House.

– Jeri Ryan, who plays Dana Delany’s boss, played the DA in the first season of the crime/law drama Shark. She also guest-starred in the two episodes of Boston Legal.

Recommended TV Shows: Other Crime or Medical Dramas You Can Enjoy

Castle starring Nathan Fillion & Stana Katic

House starring Hugh Laurie

The Mentalist starring Simon Baker

The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick (esp. the first seasons)

Leverage starring Timothy Hutton

Bones starring David Boreanaz & Emily Deschanel

Crossing Jordan starring Jill Hennessey