Character actor Luis Guzman is probably best known for his collaborations with director Steven Soderberg on Out of Sight, Traffic, and The Limey, as well as his work with director Paul Thomas Anderson on Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love, but the iconic actor has also appeared in such popular films as Carlito’s Way, Yes Man, Arthur, and The Taking of Pelham 123. The talented Puerto Rican born actor, who now resides in Vermont, was most recently seen starring on the HBO series How to Make it in America but now returns to the big screen with his latest film Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, which opens in theaters on February 10^th in 3D.

The film serves as a sequel to ‘2008s Journey to the Center of the Earth but only features actor Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right) from the original film reprising his role as Sean Anderson. The new cast includes the addition of Dwayne Johnson (Fast Five) as Sean’s new stepfather Hank Parsons. When Sean finds a clue that was sent to him by his long lost grandfather (Michael Caine) explaining that the islands in the novels Treasure Island, Gulliver’s Travels, and Mysterious Island are all the same body of land, Sean begins to believe that the island really exists and that his Grandfather is stranded there. Wanting to prove to Sean that it doesn’t exist, and grow closer to his stepson, Hank agrees to travel with Sean to Palau to find the lost island and save his grandfather. Along with a partially incompetent tour guide named Gabato (Guzman) and his daughter Kailani, played by Vanessa Hudgens (Sucker Punch), Sean and Hank embark on finding the island and rescuing Sean’s grandfather. But what they find on the island … maybe stranger than they ever could have imagined.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with actor Luis Guzman on the phone while he was in Hawaii promoting Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. Guzman discussed the new movie, his character, the film’s special effects, working with director Brad Peyton (Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore), Dwayne Johnson’s improvisational skills, acting opposite screen legend Michael Caine, and his next film Last Stand, which will mark actor and former-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fist starring film role in almost a decade.

Synopsis: In this follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the new 3D family adventure “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” begins when young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, reprising his role from the first film) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. It’s a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.

Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzmán) and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

For the world premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Disney kicked open the doors to Casa de Mikey and rolled out a Blackbeard-style black carpet at Disneyland.  None other than Kermit the Frog was on hand as a special correspondent. This five minute 'Kermit-Cam' video of Kermit on the black carpet features the lead muppet rubbing elbows with Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Penelope Cruz, Vanessa Hudgens, Teri Hatcher, and Ian McShane, among others.  Well worth watching just to see Keith Richards lapse into giggles when confronted by Kermit.

So Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch didn't debut at number one last weekend; despite our consensus-minded culture, popularity and quality don't necessarily go hand in hand.  There's always next weekend, anyways, and in order to entice you into paying hard-earned money to see the fetishized action-fantasy, Warner Bros is offering the first five minutes of the film online for free.  So take a few minutes and get acquainted with Baby Doll, played by Emily Browning.

After just three live action feature films, director Zack Snyder has developed a signature visual style, and with his fourth movie, Sucker Punch, it looks like he's taken that style to new extremes.  The story – which has certain thematic similarities to Pan's Labyrinth – contrasts stunning, action-packed fantasy sequences with the oppressive daily reality faced by an institutionalized young woman known only as Baby Doll.  You can see Emily Browning in action as Baby Doll in four new clips from Sucker Punch, which jumpkicks its way into theaters this Friday.

Watchmen and 300 director Zack Snyder director sure knows how to create visuals that leave an impression, particularly when what looks like a whole movie's worth are crammed into a minute-and-a-half long trailer.  The latest trailer for the director's first original feature, Sucker Punch, is a rush of imagery, most of it the product of much labor from visual effects artists.  Starting at about 26 seconds in, the whole thing is just a whole lot of money shots, featuring battle bots, flying bullets, fire-breathing dragons, sexy women, and an ungodly amount of slow motion.  Check it out, folks, or be doomed to square-dom for all time.

Since his Dawn of the Dead remake first crotch-kicked audiences, both of director Zack Snyder's live action films have been released in March.  Comic book adaptations 300 and Watchmen both hit theaters early in the month, but the director's latest for Warner Bros, the original action fantasy Sucker Punch, will assault your feeble senses on March 25th this year.  Seeing as how that's next month, the marketing for the film, starring Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Vanessa Hudgens, and Jon Hamm is about to begin an assault of its own.  Pretty soon Sucker Punch will be everywhere, but in the meantime, enjoy these two new television commercials for the film.

It's possible that it's something you have to see on the big screen, and it's also possible that so much goes on that you can miss a ton of coolness, but the teaser trailer for Sucker Punch doesn't do a whole lot for me. What it reminds me most of is how sweet Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow looked when it was teasing back in 2004. I want to be psyched, but I won't be burned again...

Then again, it's Zack Snyder at the helm, and he's got a good track record; the man who directed 300 and Watchmen has quickly made it apparent that he has a specific style, and it's all on display here. Lots of CG, lots of slow-mo fighting... In addition, you've got hot girls firing machine guns, fire-breathing dragons, samurais and steampunk WWII battles. I know, how could I not be thrilled? Let's just say I'm being cautious. Don't want to throw my optimism around willy-nilly.

Synopsis: “Sucker Punch” is an epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, but her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary…with potentially tragic consequences.