Luke MacFarlane Movies
Canadian-born actor and musician Luke MacFarlane studied his craft at Juilliard in New York before graduating in 2003 to pursue a professional acting career. He soon cultivated a successful career on-stage, playing a leading role in the Playwrights Horizons Theater production of Juvenilia in 2003, and the 2004 Vineyard Theatre production of Where Do We Live. He also made forays into film, appearing in movies like 2004's Kinsey and 2005's Over There. In 2006, he joined the cast of the series Brothers & Sisters playing Scotty Wandell. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi- 2005
Veteran U.S. Army campaigner Sgt. "Scream" Silas (Keith Robinson) more than lives up to his name when he finds out he's been assigned an additional 90-day stint in the Iraq war as the TV drama series Over There begins its 13-week run. Not only is Scream sick of being stuck in "the middle of downtown Sh*tville," but he must also wet nurse a platoon comprised entirely of combat "virgins." The horror of war hits home immediately when former football star Pvt. Bo Rider (Josh Henderson) loses a leg in a roadside bombing. Later episodes show the soldiers facing moral dilemmas regarding the treatment of prisoners and the handling of civilians, the latter problem particularly affecting the street-smart Pvt. "Smoke" Williams (Kirk Jones) when he's suspected of the wrongful death of an innocent Iraqi, whereupon the insurgents put a price on his head. In another all-too-common crisis, a journalist imbedded with the platoon is taken hostage by terrorists. And in less common but no less vexing predicament, the soldiers mull over the possibility of petty larceny when they stumble upon a million dollars squirreled away by Saddam's minions. Elsewhere, preppy private "Dim" Dumphy (Luke MacFarlane) must deal with the fact that his wife, Vanessa (Brigid Brannagh), is not only cheating on him but is hitting the bottle big-time; the invalid Bo has trouble making ends meet when his military pay is cut off; PFC "Doublewide" Del Rio (Lizette Carrion) ends up going AWOL out of concern for her autistic son; abrasive and resentful Pvt. "Mrs. B" Mitchell (Nicki Lynn Aycox) makes a public spectacle of herself cavorting around with anti-war movie actors; and in the waning days of the tour, the lives of the platoon members are placed in serious jeopardy by the miscalculations of new CO Alexander Hunter, aka "Captain Underpants" (Josh Stamberg). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Keith Robinson, Erik Palladino, (more)
Executive produced by Steven Bochco and Chris Gerolmo (who also wrote the theme music), the weekly, 60-minute Over There was the first TV war series to air while the war it was dramatizing was still being waged. Set in Iraq (with California and Mexico serving as location-filming substitutes), the series followed a platoon of the Third Infantry Division, most of whose personnel were serving their first tour of duty as part of "Operation Iraqi Freedom." The platoon was led by veteran soldier Sgt. Chris "Scream" Silas (Erik Palladino), who despite his profane gruffness cared deeply about his charges. Among the boots on the ground were Private Bo Ryder (Josh Henderson), a college football star who early in the campaign lost a leg in a roadside bombing; Pvt. Frank "Dim" Dumphy (Luke MacFarlane), a college boy born into privilege who had a lot of trouble adjusting to the horror and bloodshed all around him; Pvt. Maurice "Smoke" Williams (Kirk Jones, aka Sticky Fingaz), an abrasive, street-smart tough guy who held any form of idealism in the highest disdain; Pvt. Avery "Angel" King (Keith Robinson), a devout Christian who enlisted on an impulse and lived to regret it; PFC Tariq Nassiri (Omid Abtahi), a Detroit-born Arab-American, in many ways the most fervently patriotic member of the platoon; and two female soldiers, PFC Esmerelda "Doublewide" Del Rio (Lizette Carrion), a rambunctious Puerto Rican wife and mother, and Pvt. Brenda Mitchell (Nicki Lynn Aycox), who'd signed up just for the military benefits and whose constant whining and complaining earned her the nickname "Mrs. B" (and it didn't stand for "Beautiful").
The graphic depiction of the carnage in Iraq alternated with scenes back at home, where we met Bo's wife, Terry (Sprague Grayden), who bravely dedicated herself to helping her amputee husband adjust to the new restrictions in his life; Dim's spouse, Vanessa (Brigid Brannagh), an alcoholic and serial philanderer; Frank's troubled stepson, Eddy (Jimmy "Jax" Pinchak); and Sergio Del Rio (Lombardo Boyar), Esmerelda's long-suffering husband. Although the producers insisted that the tone of Over There was apolitical, a certain amount of criticism aimed toward the Bush administration inevitably crept in. But what sustained interest were the various moral crises encountered by the platoon members, as they picked and scraped their way through a war like none other in recent American history. Prepared for the UPN network but ultimately picked up by the FX cable service (mainly because of the series' excess of violence and bad language), Over There launched its 13-week run on July 27, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The graphic depiction of the carnage in Iraq alternated with scenes back at home, where we met Bo's wife, Terry (Sprague Grayden), who bravely dedicated herself to helping her amputee husband adjust to the new restrictions in his life; Dim's spouse, Vanessa (Brigid Brannagh), an alcoholic and serial philanderer; Frank's troubled stepson, Eddy (Jimmy "Jax" Pinchak); and Sergio Del Rio (Lombardo Boyar), Esmerelda's long-suffering husband. Although the producers insisted that the tone of Over There was apolitical, a certain amount of criticism aimed toward the Bush administration inevitably crept in. But what sustained interest were the various moral crises encountered by the platoon members, as they picked and scraped their way through a war like none other in recent American history. Prepared for the UPN network but ultimately picked up by the FX cable service (mainly because of the series' excess of violence and bad language), Over There launched its 13-week run on July 27, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The traditional horror anthology makes a triumphant comeback in this collection of four frightfully horrific tales from directors Monte Hellman, Ken Russell, Sean S. Cunningham, John Gaeta, and Joe Dante. When seven strangers accept a mysterious invitation to tour a Hollywood studio lot, they become trapped in a room and discover that their only hope for escape is to reveal the most terrifying tale they know. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Henry Gibson, Jayce Bartok, (more)
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