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This Is Not My Life starring Charles Mesure, Tandi Wright, Tania Nolan & Miriama McDowell

Posted on March 9, 2011 Written by ripitup

This Is Not My Life starring Charles Mesure. Charles is in the front center, in case you can't recognize him without the beard and gun.

New Zealand. 2020s. When Alec Ross (Charles Mesure– V’s Kyle Hobbes) wakes up in a nice suburban house and realizes that he is supposedly married to Callie (Tandi Wright) with two kids, teenage Christian (Tom Cameron) and little Becky (Ariana Brunet), he is sure this is not his life. He doesn’t remember any of it, yet his wife seems genuinely concerned. She tries to convince him that he is going through a head trauma after an incident at the house. He tries to run but there is nowhere to go.

So he agrees to see their family doctor, Natasha Collins (Tania Nolan) at the Wellness Center. Everyone at the center, especially Collins, is very controlled and annoyingly composed. But it is not until Alec is taken through a back door, all tied up, that he realizes there is something seriously wrong. He runs, but soon he realizes that the cars are only “charged” enough to run within the town limits, he doesn’t seem to have enough “credits” to book a flight and the “Wellness” guys are after him.

After he is captured, he finds himself back in the hospital. This time, however, he wakes up –totally sure that he is Alec, a happily married man. His “memory” is slow, but intact. But just when he is about to go on with his life, he sees the message he recorded during his escape- the message says that he is not sure who he is but he can’t trust anyone, his family included…

Later, he starts to realize that there are even more wrong things with their town and that maybe, there are a few others who don’t fit in, like him… As he digs deeper and meets Jessica (Miriama McDowell), things get even more complicated. What the hell is this place? Why are they there? And can they make it out alive?

This Is Not My Life is a very intriguing and gripping sci-fi/drama/mystery series from New Zealand. Charles Mesure does a great job as Alec. The first two episodes are combined, so brace yourselves for a 85-minute pilot. And while the pilot is not exactly very fast-paced, it does a good job with setting the mood, introducing the characters, giving clues about the potential and building enough suspense to make you watch the third episode. And from the 3^rd episode on, the show becomes a great, gripping ride that you don’t want to get off of.

I like the show’s realistic sci-fi attitude. The technology is quite advanced, but not so advanced that you can’t imagine their tech can’t really happen 10-15 years from now. It really plays the mystery card well. The human factor in everyone is also explored pretty well. To say how would be giving things away, but know that it shows you that you can’t just create a perfect, flawless community with human beings. You can’t just create a master plan for people’s lives and not think that things will not go out of control

Great context, good-writing. Every episode gives you exciting twists and turns.

Don’t worry about the show being from New Zealand. The theme is extremely universal and all the episodes can be easily found online.

The only bad thing about This Is Not My Life is that there’re only 13 episodes. In the end, there are still some questions that aren’t answered, but that’s not the screenwriters’ doing. I have a feeling they were counting on a second season. Still, 13 episodes have prevented the writers from screwing up. All episodes are terrific and the series end with a fantastic finale, even if it was meant for a season finale. Yes, I have seen and loved all 13.

Enjoy!

Also feat. Charles Mesure:

V 2009 TV Series – starring Elizabeth Mitchell, Joel Gretsch, Charles Mesure, Scott Wolf

Trivia for V’s Elizabeth Mitchell (Erica Evans) and Charles Mesure (Kyle Hobbes)

Golden Globes 2011- The Best of Host Ricky Gervais

Posted on January 23, 2011 Written by ripitup

The 68^th Golden Globes – Best of Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais at 2011's Golden Globes: He was outrageous, politically incorrect and downright hilarious! image via tvverdict.com

If there is one thing good about not being a Hollywood star, it is that Ricky Gervais won’t get to joke about you at the Golden Globes. The guy is hilarious, but let’s face it, he is not gentle and he is definitely not politically correct. And we love him for it. But I am not sure I’d want to be at the receiving end of his jokes.

Here’re my favorite Ricky Gervais lines from the 68th Golden Globes – the words may not be exact but the punch lines are intact:

on Charlie Sheen:

– It’s gonna be a night of partying and heavy drinking, or as Charlie Sheen calls it: “breakfast”. Wow, so… Let’s get this straight. What he did was he picked up a “porn star”, paid it to have dinner with him, introduced her to his ex-wife: “how do you do?” went to a hotel, got drunk, got naked, trashed the place while she was locked in the cupboard… that was a Monday! What did he do on New Year’s Eve?

on “The Walking Dead” Hugh Hefner and his 24-year-old bride-to-be:

– Talking of the “Walking Dead”, congratulations to Hugh Hefner, who’s getting married at the age of 84 to 24-year-old beauty Crystal Harris. When she was asked why she was marrying him she said: “‘Cause he lied about his age. He told me he was 94.

on Robert Downey Jr.:

– I love this next presenter. He’s so cool. He’s the star of “Iron Man”, “Two Girls and a Guy”, “Wonder Boys”… Sorry, are these porn films? “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, “Bowfinger”, really? Here… “Up the Academy”. Come on… He was in all those films, but many of you in this room probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and Los Angeles County Jail. Please welcome Robert Downey Jr.

on Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor and “Scientology”

– Also not nominated “I love you Philip Morris”. Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor: two heterosexual actors pretending to be gay, so the complete opposite of some famous scientologist thing. Um, probably. My lawyers helped me to get away with that joke; they’re not here.

on Tom Hanks and Tim Allen:

– What can I say about our next two presenters? The first is an actor, producer, writer and director whose movies have grossed over three and a half billion dollars at the box office. He’s won two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes for his powerful and varied performances starring in such films as “Philadelphia”, “Forrest Gump”, “Cast Away”, “Apollo 13” and “Saving Private Ryan”. The other is… Tim Allen.

on The Tourist and the nominations of Angelina Jolie & Johnny Depp … AND Cher

– It was a big year for 3D movies: “Toy Story”, “Despicable Me”, “Tron”. Seems like everything this year was three dimensional… except the characters in “The Tourist”. Uh, I feel bad about that joke. I… no… I’ll tell you what… I’m jumping on the bandwagon ’cause I haven’t even seen “The Tourist”. Who has? But, no… It must be good ’cause it’s nominated tonight. So shut up, ok? And I’d like to squash the ridiculous rumor going around that the only reason “The Tourist” was nominated was so that the Hollywood Foreign Press could hang out with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. That is rubbish, that is not the only reason, they also accepted bribes… No. All that happened was some of them were taken to see Cher in concert, how the hell is that a bribe? Really? “You wanna go to see Cher?” “No.” “Why not?” “‘Cause it’s not 1975.

on Robert Pattinson and Olivia Wilde

– The next presenters are very young, thin and beautiful. Which is just as well because they are presenting a category no one in America cares about: Best Foreign Language Film!

on Sex and The City 2

– There were a lot of big films that didn’t get nominated this year, nothing for “Sex and the City 2”. I was sure the Golden Globe for special effects would go to the team that airbrushed that poster. Um, great job! Girls, we know how old you are: I saw one of you in an episode of “Bonanza”.

on Scarlett Johansson & Mel Gibson

Our first presenter is beautiful, talented and Jewish, apparently. Mel Gibson told me that. He’s obsessed. Please welcome Scarlett Johansson.

on Lost:

– One of the biggest events on TV this year was the finale of “Lost”. One of my favorites. And all the questions were answered… yeah. I have to say, though, It was a complicated finale. I’m not sure I totally understood it all, but from what I can work out, I’m pretty sure the fat one ate them all.

– **

Also one of my favorites, he presented Bruce Willis as Ashton Kutcher’s dad!

Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham & Kari Matchett

Posted on January 22, 2011 Written by ripitup

Covert Affairs starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham & Kari Matchett. Image via screenrant.com

Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) is a talented and beautiful CIA trainee who outperforms others at pretty much anything. And she speaks 6 languages so Langley can’t wait to get her on the field.

The reason she wanted to be CIA was because she no longer wanted to suffer from deception. A while back, the love of her life – Ben (Eion Bailey) walked out on her, with a note that said “truth is complicated”.

Annie does her best to adjust to CIA protocol as well as her cold yet confident boss Joan (Kari Matchett), who is married to the Arthur Campbell (Peter Callagher), who happens to be their boss. While Joan and Arthur try to solve their marital problems, they also strategize on how to make the best use of Annie, without truly revealing the truth. Annie’s ex Ben was right. The truth is complicated and he just might be a big part of everything.

Blind and brilliant tech guy Auggie (Christopher Gorham) becomes Annie’s best friend and ally, as well as the series’ main sense of humor.

Of course Annie is expected to hide her real job from her sister Danielle (Anne Dudek). Danielle is happily married with two kids and Annie is staying at their guest house. Living close to them makes keeping secrets harder and stressful.

Each episode covers a new case as well as some foreshadowing on “the complicated truth”. We get action, deception, role play, a little drama and more action, with some comedic relief attached.

Covert Affairs is a fun action/drama with a decent cast. It looks like Kari Matchett decided her supporting role in Leverage as Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton)’s ex-wife didn’t cover enough espionage or screen time so here she is in one of the leading roles.

Peter Callagher (The O.C., Sex Lies and Videotape, While You Were Sleeping) is getting older and more charismatic, certainly looking his powerful position. And isn’t it fun to see Anne Dudek in such a domestic role after she was the bitch of a doctor on House and beat the crap out of Josh Radnor’s Ted Mosby on an episode of How I Met Your Mother?

Sure, my favorite CIA agent ever will be Jennifer Garner’s Sydney Bristow of Alias. Covert Affairs started at a fun but medium pace. So far, it lacks the excitement level of the first Alias seasons, but it is very entertaining and promising. Since I no longer have Alias, I might as well have another spy show with a female lead.

Certainly recommended for Alias fans, lovers of the spy genre and definitely anyone who loves to see the female lead a girl kick ass.

7.7 on IMDB.

Fun notes:

Piper Perabo was nominated for Golden Globe this year for her role as Annie. She lost out to Katey Sagal, who won for her role in the series Sons of Anarchy. I don’t know about you, but for me Katey Sagal will always remind me of her hilarious role of 11 years as Peggy Bundy on Married with Children.

Canadian actress Emmanuelle Vaugier plays the beautiful and charismatic reporter who might give CIA a hard time. She also plays The Morrigan, head of the local dark Fae government in Lost Girl.

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

Posted on January 18, 2011 Written by ripitup

Veronica Mars starring Kristen Bell, Teddy Dunn, Jason Dohring & Enrico Colantoni. Image via dizim.org

Californian high school student Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) is an outcast. She is pretty and smart, yet the popular circle despises her since her best friend Lily (Amanda Seyfried) got murdered at her own house and Veronica’s sheriff father Keith (Enrico Colantoni) blamed Lily’s dad for it. But Lily’s dad being a rich and powerful man, Keith got fired and ridiculed. Lily’s friends asked her to choose, and she stuck with her dad. So her boyfriend Duncan (Teddy Dunn) dumped her, and so did his circle of friends. Moreover she was raped at a party. Oh, and Veronica’s mom couldn’t handle the pressure, loss of income/reputation and left the family “for a while”.

But being an outcast made Veronica the strong, sassy and the independent girl she is today. Her father was replaced by the jerk of a sheriff. Keith Mars now runs a private investigation business and Veronica helps him .

The episodes include that week’s case for Keith, sometimes a separate case for Veronica while father and daughter try to solve the mystery of Lily’s death and Veronica’s mom’s whereabouts, usually keeping their efforts from each other.

Of course being the high school student, Veronica needs to deal with Logan (Jason Dohring) – Duncan’s best friend and constant trouble-maker, the local motorcycle gang and possible romantic involvements.

Veronica Mars is a really fun crime/mystery/drama that is not quite like your other high school series. Veronica has really original and entertaining ways of dealing with trouble and cracking her cases. She is more than able to take care of herself. But of course things with Duncan are really complicated. It seems like Duncan isn’t over Veronica and doesn’t quite know how to handle it. Who can Veronica really trust apart from her new friend Wallace (Percy Daggs III)?

Rated at 8.7 on IMDB (voted by nearly 14,000 people) Veronica Mars is a must-see for mystery lovers. The cast and writers do a good job, although I strictly prefer season 1 and 2 over season 3.

Fun notes:

You might remember Enrico Colantoni as the fashion photographer from the comedy series Just Shoot Me.

One of the guest actors is Sydney Tamaiia Poitier. As the name suggests, she is the daughter of Oscar-Winning actor Sydney Poitier.

If the name and face of Jason Dohring seemed familiar, it is because you might have watched him as a fun-loving, 400 year-old, rich vampire in Moonlight. He played Josef, Mick St. John’s best friend.