A new international trailer for Magic Mike is now online, and it gives us a better idea of just what's at the heart of Steven Soderbergh's sweaty, humorous drama loosely based on the real-life experiences of erstwhile male stripper/current movie star Channing Tatum.

In May, it's the Cannes International Film Festival that rightly maintains the spotlight, but once all the craziness from the French Riviera's all over, June belongs to another sun-drenched, world-famous locale.  That would LA, home to the Los Angeles Film Festival, currently gearing up for its 18th annual iteration.  Today, Film Independent officially announced the LAFF lineup, consisting of just under 200 features, shorts, and music videos from all around the world.

The first theatrical trailer for Steven Soderbergh's latest endeavor, Magic Mike, has arrived online, full of abs, humor, dollar bills, and shirtlessness.  It opens with a pair of police officers busting up a raucous party consisting entirely of women, but you can tell immediately that Channing Tatum and Alex Pettyfer aren't really cops, because, in the immortal words of Gob Bluth, "These are just strippers.  Look how hot they are!"

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.

Traditionally, January is seen as a time of box office doldrums during which there's little scratch to be made after the orgiastic movie-going of the holiday season.  As such, it was generally a time when studios would dump less-than-exciting fare.  This year, however, has seen a bunch of bigger releases that have pretty consistently exceeded expectations, and so the last three weekends have consistently seen busier business than comparable weeks in years before.  Leading the charge this weekend is Underworld Awakening, the latest sequel to follow the tried and true formula of Kate Beckinsale + pleather catsuit + guns, guns, guns = profit.

Opening in theaters on January 20th is the new action-packed spy/revenge film from Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Contagion) called Haywire. The movie marks the feature film debut of women's MMA fighter Gina Carano, and also boasts an impressive cast of all-star actors that includes Ewan McGregor (Beginners), Channing Tatum (The Son of No One), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Bill Paxton (Aliens), Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In), and Oscar-winner Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps). Haywire also reunites Soderbergh with screenwriter Lem Dobbs for the first time since their work together on the seminal revenge film The Limey. 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to speak with the film's technical advisor Aaron Cohen about his work on Haywire, as well look at some of the weapons that were used in the film. Cohen discussed the new movie, his unique background, training Gina Carano for the film, and how director Steven Soderbergh set out to make the action in the movie unlike anything that you've ever seen before. 

In Haywire, the new action film from director Steven Soderbergh, Mixed Martial Arts star Gina Carano plays Mallory Kane, a special ops-trained mercenary who finds herself betrayed by her superiors and those she trusted most.  The unstoppable Kane must then get to the bottom of the mystery negotiating between a cast of enemies and allies played by Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, and Michael Angarano.

Inspired by Soderbergh's unique command of stylish action and Carano's badass heroine, Go Haywire is a new interactive thriller, a series of shorts that transpose the bone-crunching action to the realm of YouTube.  After her facebook friends abandon her online, YouTube star Olga Kay vows to take her two-fisted revenge.  With the help of Aaron Cohen, the Special Forces adviser on Haywire, Kay trains herself to be a whirlwind of supercool action, taking on her nemeses Joe Nation, Toby Turner, and Michael Gallagher of Totally Sketch.  Since Go Haywire is an interactive thriller, you get to choose the order in which Kay decimates her opponents.

Opening in theaters on January 20th is the new action-packed spy/revenge film from Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Contagion) called Haywire. The movie marks the feature film debut of women's MMA fighter Gina Carano, and also boasts an impressive cast of all-star actors that includes Ewan McGregor (Beginners), Channing Tatum (The Son of No One), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Bill Paxton (Aliens), Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In), and Oscar-winner Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps). Haywire also reunites Soderbergh with screenwriter Lem Dobbs for the first time since their work together on the seminal revenge film The Limey. 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with Ewan McGregor to talk about his work on Haywire. The actor discussed the new film, Carano's acting chops, their characters complicated relationship, and whether or not he was intimidated to go one-on-one with her in their fight scene. 

Opening in theaters on January 20th is the new action-packed spy/revenge film from Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Contagion) called Haywire. The movie marks the feature film debut of women's MMA fighter Gina Carano, and also boasts an impressive cast of all-star actors that includes Ewan McGregor (Beginners), Channing Tatum (The Son of No One), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Bill Paxton (Aliens), Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In), and Oscar-winner Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps). Haywire also reunites Soderbergh with screenwriter Lem Dobbs for the first time since their work together on the seminal revenge film The Limey. 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had a chance to sit down with Channing Tatum to talk about his work on Haywire. The actor discussed the new film, his character, joining the Soderbergh alumni of actors, his love for The Limey, special forces training, and going toe-to-toe with Carano in their fight scenes.

Opening in theaters on January 20th is the new action-packed spy/revenge film from Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Contagion) called Haywire. The movie marks the feature film debut of women's MMA fighter Gina Carano, and also boasts an impressive cast of all-star actors that includes Ewan McGregor (Beginners), Channing Tatum (The Son of No One), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class), Bill Paxton (Aliens), Antonio Banderas (The Skin I Live In), and Oscar-winner Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps). Haywire also reunites Soderbergh with screenwriter Lem Dobbs for the first time since their work together on the seminal revenge film The Limey. 

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had the immense pleasure of sitting down with the beautiful, yet dangerous, MMA fighter-turned-actress Gina Carano to talk about Haywire. Carano discussed the new film, acting opposite Douglas and Banderas, fighting Tatum, Fassbender, and McGregor, working with director Steven Soderbergh, choreographing her own fight scenes, and whether or not she'd like to do more acting in the future.