One of the most anticipated sequels of the year is Machete Kills, which opens in theaters on September 13th and is the follow-up to director Robert Rodriguez’s 2010 throwback action film Machete starring the great Danny Trejo. 

Much like the original film, the new movie features an eclectic group of actors in addition to Trejo including returning co-stars Jessica Alba (Escape from Planet Earth), and Michelle Rodriguez (Resident Evil: Retribution), as well as new cast members Mel Gibson (Get the Gringo), Charlie Sheen (TV’s Anger Management), Antonio Banderas (Haywire), Sofia Vergara (The Three Stooges), Zoe Saldana (The Words), Vanessa Hudgens (Spring Breakers), Academy Award-nominees Demian Bichir (A Better Life) and Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver), Academy Award-winner Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire), and singer Lady Gaga who makes her acting debut. The movie follows Trejo as the title character, an ex-federale who is recruited by the US President (Sheen) to stop an arms dealer (Gibson) from launching a deadly missile. 

I recently had a chance to speak with Oscar-nominee Demian Bichir at the Sonoma International Film Festival in northern California, where he was receiving the festival’s Spotlight Award along with his former Weed’s co-star Mary Louise Parker. I took the opportunity to ask the acclaimed actor about his his work on Machete Kills, collaborating with visionary director Robert Rodriguez, his unusual character, facing-off against Danny Trejo, and working with the rest of the film’s interesting cast, as well as his role in the upcoming buddy-cop comedy The Heat, and what it was like sharing scenes with Academy Award-winner Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side). 

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over twenty years since the release of Goodfellas! It’s even harder to believe that actor Ray Liotta has not played a mobster since his career-making role in the Martin Scorsese classic. 

While he’s portrayed a string of dirty cops in films like Unlawful Entry, Copland, Narc, Street Kings: Motor City, and Son of No One, as well as The Place Beyond the Pines, which is currently in limited release in theaters and opens wide on April 12th, the veteran actor who’s name seems synonymous with the Mafia has not revisited the genre that made him famous until now. 

Liotta can soon be seen in director Ariel Vroman’s new movie The Iceman, which opens in theaters on May 2nd and is based on a true story. Liotta plays real life mobster Roy DeMeo opposite Michael Shannon (Man of Steel) as convicted serial killer Richard “The Iceman” Kuklinski. The film also boasts an impressive cast of supporting actors including Winona Ryder (Star Trek), Chris Evans (The Avengers), David Schwimmer (Madagascar), Stephen Dorff (Immortals), Robert Davi (The Goonies), and James Franco (Oz the Great and Powerful). As if that wasn’t enough, the actor also has small roles in two highly anticipated upcoming sequels. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, opening in theaters on October 4th. As well as The Muppets … Again, which is scheduled for release on March 24th, 2014.

I recently had a chance to speak briefly with Ray Liotta at the opening night of the Sonoma Film Festival in Sonoma, California, where The Iceman was kicking off the five-day festival. In addition to talking about The Iceman, we also had a chance to discuss his work on The Place Beyond the Pines, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and The Muppets … Again!

Opening in limited release on April 5th and wide release on April 12th is the new drama thriller entitled Trance from Academy Award-winning director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting). The film stars an excellent cast that includes James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class), Vincent Cassel (Eastern Promises) and Rosario Dawson (Sin City).

IAR's Managing Editor Jami Philbrick recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Rosario Dawson to talk about her work on Trance, as well as her upcoming sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. The stunningly beautiful actress discussed her new film, what it is like on a Danny Boyle set, her string female character, and learning hypnotism from Mrs. Brady (Florence Henderson), as well as reuniting with director Robert Rodriguez on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, the upcoming sequel to Sin City. 

It's been eight years since Sin City set a new standard for fidelity to source material in a comic book adaptation, essentially using Frank Miller's Dark Horse comic as storyboards.  Since then, co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Miller have promised a sequel.  For years, that sequel looked like a pipe dream.

But Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is currently scheduled to hit theaters in 2D and 3D on October 4th.

When the follow-up finally came together last year, Rosario Dawson was one of the first Sin City actors to enthusiastically announce her renewed participation.  Now that she has completed her work on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Dawson is talking exclusively to IAR about playing Gail again after such a long break, promising that the return to Basin City will be "incredible."

If we told you that the new poster for Machete Kills has Sofia Vergara using her boobs as automatic weapons, you'd probably assume we were being figurative.

We're not.

Ever since Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller ended years of quixotic promises by actually getting Sin City: A Dame to Kill For underway, almost all the news we've heard from the next collection of Basin City stories have concerned casting.

Not this time, Dear Rogues.  Co-director Rodriguez has revealed a first look at the Sin City prequel, a pair of before and after images showing Josh Brolin as Dwight McCarthy, a character who ends up looking a lot like Clive Owen.

Actress Jessica Alba is best known for playing heroes in such films as Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World, and Machete, as well as the TV series Dark Angel. But she can soon be seen playing a villain for the first time in the new 3D computer animated family film Escape from Planet Earth, which opens in theaters on February 15th. 

In the film, Astronaut Scorch Supernova (Brendan Fraser) finds himself caught in a trap when he responds to an SOS from a notoriously dangerous alien planet called …  Earth. When his straight-laced brother Gary (Rob Corddry), the head of their planet’s mission control, wants to launch a mission to save Scorch, their boss, the no-nonsense Lena (Alba) tries to stop him. Gary then begins a secret mission, along with the help of his family, to save his brother from Earth’s evil General Shanker (William Shatner). However, things are not as they seem, and Lena has been secretly helping Shanker, who she is desperately in love with.  In addition to Alba, Fraser, Corddry, and Shatner, the film boasts an incredible cast of voice talent including Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City: The Movie), Ricky Gervais (TV’s An Idiot Abroad), Craig Robinson (Hot Tub Time Machine), Sofia Vergara (The Three Stooges), Jane Lynch (Wreck-It Ralph), and George Lopez (Rio).

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Jessica Alba to discuss her work on Escape from Planet Earth, as well as two of her highly anticipated upcoming films – the Robert Rodriguez directed sequels – Machete Kills, and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. The beautiful actress discussed her new animated movie, why she wanted to make it, how her daughter reacted to seeing the film, playing a villain, poking fun at her own image, working with director Cal Bunker, voice acting, reuniting with Robert Rodriguez on the upcoming sequels, her role in Machete Kills, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Rodriguez and comic book legend Frank Miller’s relationship, Nancy’s larger arc in the new film, and having scenes with both Bruce Willis and Mickey Rourke. 

Later this year, Jessica Alba will star in not one, but two different sequels for director Robert Rodriguez. 

These sequels, Machete Kills and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, are set for nationwide release within just weeks of each other, and even though they're both more than eight months away, Alba is sharing some exclusive insights on the Machete and Sin City follow-ups.

Hey, how about another update on the currently filming prequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For? 

This time, the update comes from no less a source than co-director Robert Rodriguez.

Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller have convinced three more notable actors to shoot on a green screen in Austin for a few days.

The already ridiculously stacked cast has added three more names: Ray Liotta, Juno Temple, and Jeremy Piven.