My Own Worst Enemy, starring Christian Slater

Posted on April 20, 2010 Written by ripitup

Christian Slater in My Own Worst Enemy. Image from: http://www.impawards.com

It is no secret that I love my spy gear, secret agents and a good mystery.For instance it might be about a secret agent who has been tricked and hanging in to take revenge while leading a dual life (Alias). By the way, Christian Slater does appear in 2 episodes of Alias.

However, the “mystery” and the conflict in My Own Worst Enemy is even more complicated. No, fellow fans of Alias, I haven’t lost it. I know all about Sydney Bristow and her family background. But despite all the tricks and lies, she wanted to be an agent. She just didn’t know she was recruited by the wrong men.

Henry Spivey (Christian Slater) is a family man. He loves his wife (Mädchen Amick) and his two kids (Taylor Lautner and Bella Thorne). He doesn’t mind working hard to keep the comfortable domestic bliss that they’ve got going.

Edward Albright (also Christian Slater) is a highly-skilled and deadly operative working for a secret government agency. He doesn’t mind having sex with his target and then killing her on the spot. He is good at everything, including sex.

The deal? There is a chip in our Henry/Edward (yep-same body)’s brain- implemented by the agency and used at their convenience. When an operation needs Edward, Henry is supposedly sent on a business trip and our gentle husband/dad is put the sleep. Edward is awakened and he gets the job done. Then the memories are erased for Henry and he wakes up. Henry isn’t supposed to know about Edward…However this dual life-one guy system hits a bump. Edward starts to wake up in the middle of Henry’s life and Henry starts waking up in the middle of Edward’s operations. The agency threatens Henry that they will kill him if he tries to talk about this to anyone, so he tries to co-exist. Edward doesn’t mind sleeping with the hot wife Angela. He has a hard time with the mundane family life, though. And Henry is more than freaked out having to participate in the spy game. Especially, every time he uncovers a truth, it is more disturbing than the last. He also hates the fact that his wife is unknowingly having sex with Edward and enjoying it a lot!

It might have lasted only a season (9 episodes) but it is definitely not because the show is not interesting. It has a great storyline and a solid leading actor. The rest of the cast are also doing a good job. Edward’s superior is played by Alfre Woodard. That woman really gives me the creeps. It is not really just about her talent but the shady characters she plays as well. You might remember her from Desperate Housewives, where she played the mysterious new neighbor who had one son locked in the basement. Edward’s partner/ Henry’s colleague Raymond/Tom (also dual identity-played by Tom (Mike O’Malley). Saffran Burrows plays the firm therapist. Mädchen Amick has appeared in many tv shows such as Joey, Freddie and Gossip Girl but she is most memorable in her role in Dream Lover, starring with James Spader. And of course Taylor Lautner who made quite a name for himself, playing Jacob Black in the Twilight Saga movies, Twilight and New Moon. He will continue his role in the two remaining movies of the series. But mind you, he doesn’t have that many lines. It is Christian’s show.

Watch it if you like your spy stuff. Christian Slater is also a plus.

The Forgotten starring Christian Slater

Posted on April 7, 2010 Written by ripitup

The Forgotten cast- Christian Slater — The Forgotten Cast (from the left): Bob Stephenson, Heather Stephens, Christian Slater, Michelle Borth, Anthony Carrigan and Rochelle Aytes. Photo from: http://www.idsnews.com/blogs/

The Forgotten is about a group of volunteers, who try to identify the nameless victims after the police have had to give up on the case. There are groups of volunteers all over USA and our story focuses on the group led by Alex Donovan (Christian Slater), an ex cop.

Alex’s daughter has been kidnapped 2 years ago. Alex still doesn’t have a clue what happened to her. So he helps other families- by identifying the victims and notifying the parents/relatives/loved ones. One way or the other, they will know and the guilty will face the trial.

Alex has 4 other friends in his group: Lindsey, Walter, Tyler and Candace.

Lindsey (Heather Stephens) has had a similar situation with her husband.

Candace (Michelle Borth) doesn’t like her job and this gives her a sense of purpose.

Walter (Bob Stephenson) likes to play detective.

Tyler (Anthony Carrigan) is a sculptor and he uses his art to help find more about the victim.

Their other co-star is Rochelle Aytes, playing Detective Grace Russell. Grace is Alex’s contact at the police department.

If you like to play detective and love watching cases get solved despite the bumps in the road- like your characters to succeed, but have a lot twists and turns in the meantime, you might like this show. I loved it. It will also help to be a Christian Slater fan.

Just like every show, there will be lots of mixed reactions. Why don’t you give it a try and see how you feel about it?

Note: I heard that ABC has canceled the show. Fingers crossed it is just a rumor. Because it is fun and exciting to watch. And if it is true, you still have 15 episodes to enjoy.

Other Christian Slater Posts:

The Deal with Christian Slater

ALIAS

Alias TV Show starring Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Bradley Cooper and Victor Garber

Posted on November 2, 2009 Written by ripitup

Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow in Alias — Some of Sydey’s many disguises in Alias

Before 2001, I had no idea who Michael Vartan, Jennifer Garner and Bradley Cooper were. I had no idea the terrific actor that is Victor Garber existed and that Ron Rifkin made such a great villain. In 2001 – before Lost- there was Alias. The connection between the two shows? The creator/executive producer J.J. Abrams. The two shows could not have been more different. Yes, both include mystery, some unexplained supernatural possibilities (Alias will remember “Rambaldi”) and lots of action. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out why Lost became the phenomenon that it still is. Sure it is captivating and all, but Alias had created an addiction in me that Lost didn’t. For those of you who never caught Alias, here’s the plot (although I should mention that the order we are given the story is more complicated & intriguing than my orderly version).

THE BACKGROUND

Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow

Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is a promising college student, with a great boyfriend Danny (Edward Atterton) and loving friends (Will and Francie; played by Bradley Cooper and Merrin Dungey). Her estranged father Jack (Victor Garber) is a businessman she barely talks to and her mother died when she was a kid.

What she told Danny and her friends:

Graduation is taking a tad longer, since she is “working at the finance department of a bank called Credit Dauphine”.

REALITY, as Sydney knows it:

It’s not really a bank. It is SD-6, a secret branch of the CIA and Sydney is a secret agent there. She fights well, speaks many languages and knows her hi-tech gadgets, prepared for every mission by the fast -talking and nice geek Marshall

(Kevin Weisman). Every time she tells her friends, she is going on a business trip, she is actually going on a deadly assignments with her partner/trusted friend Dixon (Carl Lumbly). But Danny proposes ans she feels obliged to tell him. So she does..

He gets into shock and leaves a drunken message on her machine. The agency guys has him killed. Why would CIA kill an innocent civillian? They wouldn’t. They also wouldn’t go after her to kill her.

REALITY

She’s rescued by her absent businessman father and is told the truth: SD-6 is not CIA, in fact SD-6 is an enemy of CIA. Also, he is not a businessman; but a senior SD-6 agent. He offeres Sydney an escape route. But Sydney is upset and she wants vengeance. So she proves herself useful to her boss Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin). She further proves her loyalty by undergoing tests/interrogations and is cleared. After all, she is the best agent they have. Then she goes to the real CIA and joins them.

There she meets her “handler” Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan– the guy who is supposed to tell her about the counter-missions. Oh,that’s right! Now she is only pretending to be loyal to SD-6, while being true to the actual CIA. Now each mission has a counter one, making the timing harder, the missions more dangerous. She also has to pull this off under the unsuspecting nose of her SD-6 partner, who is genuinely a good guy that doesn’t know what SD-6 is really up to…

Then of course her father isn’t really only SD-6. He is also CIA, and he is loyal to them, not Sloan.

It is full of action. Car chases, gadgets ( lipstick with cameras and all that nice stuff), disguises, plane crashes, travelling all over the world- even 3-4 countries in each episode back to her resident location: Los Angeles.

MISSIONS

Jennifer Garner as Sydney Bristow

Michael Vartan and Jennifer Garner in Alias.

Of course as smart, gorgeous and dangerous as she is, Sydney is only human and taking all of the below very badly:

Arvin Sloane:

*Arvin is the man whom she regarded as a father figure until he turned out to be a psychopath and her fiancée killed. He also sent men to kill her. We also know he has lied to her everyday, since her recruitment. Now she has to see him everyday and smile to his face; so that she can bring the whole organization down when the time comes.

Not to mention the fact that she has to live with the fact that she worked for that organization for 7 years, thinking that she was helping the government whereas she had been betraying it.

Jack Bristow

* What is worse than an absent father? Probably a father who lied to you all your life, and seems to be revealing the truth at his own convenience: Oh yes, he has more secrets. He is not just SD-6, he is also CIA-a double agent. He also seems to be deprived of emotion. The guy has a poker face that makes him a great agent and the social bonding skills that make Hugh Laurie’s House seem like a teddy bear. He does love his daughter but he really has to work on the honesty issue. Her mother may not have been a school teacher after all. Telling what happened to her will be a spoiler, sorry…

WILL & FRANCIE

Will and Francie played by Bradley Cooper and Merrin Dungey

*Oh, she has great friends who know nothing about this secret life so she can only talk about trivial stuff with them and hang out. They love her and for the lives of them can not figure out why Sydney doesn’t leave her boring bank job. Pl?us, Will is a journalist and nosy by nature; and he suspects Danny’s murder was no ordinary crime. If he gets close, he too will be killed so she has to protect him from himself. It gets tricky to lead a double life when you live with one of your friends (Francie) and the other is fixed on solving your dead fiancé’s mystery.

DANIEL HECHT

* She has to live with the fact that her fiancée Danny was killed by her boss, and because she told him who she is.




MICHAEL VAUGHN



If her cover is blown, and he is discovered to be of CIA, they are both screwed (as in risking to be murdered by SD-6)…It really doesn’t help matters that they keep getting closer and become increasingly attracted to each other…

Their relationship never lacks adrenaline, friendship, honesty, sexual chemistry, bottled up feelings and not to mention the fact that they both face death almost everyday. It is nerve-wrecking to go on missions and fight together on the field- without being detected by SD-6 and it is worse for Michael to sit and watch as Sydney overtakes one deadly mission after another. So she can tell Michael anything. But she can’t even go out with him. Another thing about her life that drives her mad.

This is as close to a date it gets for Syndey Bristow and her handler Michael Vaughn. She’s being briefed about her missions while pretending to be too strangers streching on the benches.

So this eventually happens: Sydney and Vaughn get together. But how many episodes does it take? You are just going to have to see it for yourselves.

The Guest Stars

Yes, of course each episode has many guest stars but some of them are remarkably famous and it was certainly fun to see them in those kick-ass episodes: Ethan Hawke, Christian Slater and Quentin Tarantino.

Ethan Hawke appears in Alias episode Double Agent (Season 2, Episode 14)

Christian Slater appears in two episodes of Alias: Endgame (season 2, episodes 15 & 19)

Quentin Tarantino appears as McKenas Cole in 4 episodes of Alias.

TO SUM UP:

Season 1 is brilliant with an incredible season finale.

Season 2 does not dissapoint. Moreover it features guest stars that I love; such as Ethan Hawke and Christian Slater.

The whole season is amazing and the finale is arguably even more shocking than the first season’s. In season, 3 the show is still good- you hardly get upset with the script but with some actions of some characters (major actions of major characters, to be exact) but after season 3…The show is no longer addictive. It lose its vibe. The characters and their actions aren’t interesting anymore. The story twists are sort of desperate and you say “Come on,what the…?” a lot. Don’t even get me started on the 5th season. Of course they are worth watching in the sense that you want to know what eventually will happen to characters you have come to care about but still, if you quit with the 3rd, I am not gonna blame you.

My guess is J.J Abrams found a new show idea that he liked (Lost) and fell out of love with Alias. Writers wrote with the philosophy of “anything goes” and since this is not a soap opera, they failed.

However I watch the first 3 (and especially 1st &2nd) seasons over and over. After all, real life is never going to get that interesting and exciting. It is fun to be in a world of lies, deceit, passion, fights and chases and espionage for about 40 minutes each episode.

The Deal with Christian Slater: Christian Slater Tribute and The Deal Movie Review

Posted on September 7, 2009 Written by ripitup

Christian, growiing up nicely — Christian Slater is growing up nicely,

I’m so living in the 90s when it comes to movies. I believe that’s when most of the great movies have been made. Feel free to disagree but for me that was a time when movies were at their best, especially when it came to entertainment; whatever the genre. That was also an era when I had many actors to follow the filmographies of. Christian Slater was denifinitely one of them. His name still draws me to the movie. I know I can trust him to make a good one. I know I will have fun.

Yes, I believe him to be cute. But we are not talking about hot, hot, hot. We are talking about a sort of unique, maybe quirky but totally appealing attractiveness. He carries on anger and angst very well,just as well as he plays the bad boy/bad guy. When he does get to play romantic, we girls feel lucky. He has that innocent, boyish charm- and he can be sexy at the same time. It is a dangerous and irresistable combination. Have you seen “Untamed Heart” ?

He skillfully plays a clueless, highly sensitive and an unintentionally reclusive young guy; who is in love with his co-worker (Marisa Tomei).

Bed of Roses (1996) with Mary Stuart Masterson

Or “Bed of Roses” ? Too romantic for your taste? But, hey- Christian has the ability to make you forget about your cynical side.

He is not a big guy, but he is nicely built and he sure can carry an action film. I absolutely love the John Woo flick “Broken Arrow”. Christian versus a psychotic John Travolta… What a team. Good vs. Evil, nuclear weapons…The works.

I don’t want to forget Basil, where he is the guy of my nightmares. Murder in the First is an excellent legal thriller/drama where he plays the dedicated lawyer of the abused Kevin Bacon…The list goes on so let’s come to this century, shall we?

I still watch the movie if Christian is in it. Yesterday I saw the 2005 ‘s : “The Deal”.

thedeal2005 — The Deal starring Christian Slater and Selma Blair

A thriller about big companies, oil deals and how far people will go to get what they want. Strategies, lies and deceptions – nicely written, beautifully acted: right up my alley.

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The Deal with Slater is that he can play the lead and be in a supporting role. He is in his 3rd decade of movies. He doesn’t mind getting ugly for a role (please check out “He was a quiet man” and you will know what I mean).

He can pull off any genre. But I guess because he is a bad boy in real life (I forget how many times he got arrested), when he plays a romantic role; he is at his best. Add some action to the mix. We have a talented and good-looking actor who can kick ass.

christian500

All I can say to Chris is : Cheers and keep up the good work…

Other Christian Slater posts:

The Forgotten starring Christian Slater

Job Security? What Job Security?

ALIAS

My Own Worst Enemy

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