Actress Natalie Martinez first gained attention for her leading role opposite action star Jason Statham in Death Race, but has recently earned critical acclaim for her performance in two gritty action thrillers. The first was for her role in last year’s cop drama End of Watch, the second came earlier this year in director Allen Hughes’ crime noir film Broken City starring Mark Wahlberg, which will be available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning April 30th. 

In Broken City Martinez plays Natalie Brown, the actress girlfriend of ex-cop-turned-private eye Billy Taggart (Wahlberg). Early in the film, Taggart is arrested for the murder of the man who raped and killed Natalie’s 16-year-old sister. His police Captain (Jeffrey Wright) and the Mayor (Russell Crowe) decide to help Taggart by eliminating the evidence against him, making the murder look like self-defense, yet forcing him to leave his position with the police in shame. The film’s story begins when seven years later the Mayor asks Billy to return the favor and investigate his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who he believes is cheating on him. However, Taggart soon realized that things are not as they seem and the Mayor may be involved in several crimes himself. Meanwhile, the years of guilt start to weigh heavy on Billy and begin to tear a riff in his relationship with Natalie, who is still haunted by the ghost of her sister and is trying to move on with her own life. 

I recently had a chance to speak with actress Natalie Martinez about her work on Broken City, as well as her new TV series Under the Dome based on the novel by Stephen King. The up and coming young actress discussed Broken City, her character, working with actor/producer Mark Wahlberg, director Allen Hughes, her favorite cop genre movies, what she looks for when choosing a role, Under the Dome, her character on the show, and working with producers Stephen King and Steven Spielberg. 

Pain & Gain, hitting theaters nationwide today, April 26th, is the sort of story that could only really happen in Florida.

Mark Wahlberg (Ted), Anthony Mackie (Gangster Squad), and Dwayne Johnson (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) are a trio of burnout bodybuilders, none of whom are especially bright or industrious.  Despite that, the three team up to execute Lugo's criminal plan to elevate himself out of his life as a gymrat and trainer.  Lugo aspires to his piece of the American dream, and he intends to get it by kidnapping a wealthy businessman in a harebrained extortion scheme.  Naturally, not everything goes according to plan and all hell breaks loose.

The movie is a longtime passion project for Michael Bay (Transformers, The Rock), who frames the action comedy with the gaudy style of mid-nineties South Beach.  Not only is Miami the perfect place to tell this story, it is perhaps the only place to tell this story.

And that got us thinking, kicking around ideas here at IAR HQ.  In some films, location is purely a product of which state offers the best tax incentives; it's incidental.  In fewer films, though, setting is inextricably connected to story.  And in even fewer films, Florida is essential to the telling of the tale.  The peninsula down below Alabama and Georgia is a tropical wonderland of beaches, gators, crocs, the Everglades, Disney World, neon-soaked cities, diverse and vibrant cultures, manatees, and eccentric human behavior.

With its humid tropicality, beautiful landscapes, and general sexiness, Florida is the perfect setting for many a film.  In recognition of Pain & Gain's theatrical release, we've compiled a ten-spot of movies that could take place nowhere other than the great state of Florida.

If you thought the Transformers  movies pandered to American audiences – what with the unapologetic product placement,* ball jokes, and misogyny – but wait until you see how Transformers 4 is pandering to the Chinese.

Roles for Chinese actors in the sequel will be filled not through a traditional casting process, but with a reality competition series entitled Transformers 4 Chinese Actor Talent Search.

Starring as Billy Taggart in Broken City, Mark Wahlberg joins the ranks of actors who have memorably portrayed private investigators, cinematic seekers of the truth who operate in a moral grey area, without a badge or a uniform.

In the thriller from director Allen Hughes, Taggart is a former cop, an incorruptible officer disgraced by a controversial shooting.  Now an alcoholic private eye, he's contracted by New York Mayor Nicholas Hostetler (Russell Crowe) to spy on his wife Cathleen (Catherine Zeta-Jones).  Taggart expects a fairly standard cheating spouse case, but through his investigation, Taggart discovers a conspiracy that goes to the highest levels of power, a plot that could change New York forever.

Broken City is now available to purchase on DHD, or Digital High Def, weeks before Blu-ray and DVD.  Early availability of DHD isn't the only advantage, either, as a download of Broken City comes equipped with bonus features, scene selection, and a high-definition presentation that can be viewed on your television, your computer, or portable electronic device, be it a phone, tablet, or anything in between.

With Broken City on DHD, we here at IAR have been thinking about Taggart's forebears, the onscreen private investigators who aren't just good at their jobs, they're great at their jobs.  These are PIs who go above and beyond the call of duty, solving seemingly insoluble mysteries and getting to the bottom of dangerous cases like seasoned professionals.

So, for your enjoyment, we've compiled a list of cinematic private investigators who go all the way in the course of their jobs.

You know it's not your average Michael Bay movie when you can watch two promotional clips without seeing a single gunshot, robot in disguise, supermodel in a bra, or even an explosion.

Yet the first two official clips for this month's Pain & Gain are now online, and rather than they usual standbays™, they're concerned with impotence and incompetence.

Synopsis: Based on the unbelievable true story of three personal trainers in 1990s Miami who, in pursuit of the American Dream, get caught up in a criminal enterprise that goes horribly wrong.

A pair of new TV spots and a poster promoting Pain & Gain don't just suggest that this is the rare Michael Bay picture with a theme. 

They proclaim it.  They scream that though there will most assuredly be Bay standbys (from here on out, let's call them "standbays," okay?) like scantily clad supermodels, copious gunfire, fast cars, happily regressive sexual politics, and merrily juvenile humor, Pain & Gain is also some sort of populist commentary on the the current state of the economy.

You know what's gone regrettably out of fashion?  Action movies centered around a pair of mismatched, contentious heroes who simultaneously love and hate one another.

Luckily, 2 Guns looks determined to bring this kind of buddy-cop actioner back into style, with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg handling this two-hander.  Universal Pictures has zigged rather than zagged, opting to drop an extended 2 Guns trailer, theatrical poster, and five official images all in one go.

The aggro comedy on display in a new red band trailer for Pain & Gain – a trailer which is accompanied by four new stills and a behind the scenes picture – suggests that the impossible may have happened. 

Michael Bay may very well have become self-aware.

Michael Bay's new movie is definitely a comedy.  A new TV spot for Pain & Gain makes that abundantly clear.