NEW TRAILER FOR "HAYWIRE"

Still from Haywire

"You better run.".

Move over Angelina - there's a new Girl in town.  Mixed Martial Arts star Gina Carano looks super-convincing in Steven Soderbergh's new Action Thriller Haywire, in theatres January 2012.  She stars as a Secret Agent who gets betrayed ...and she looks rather pissed about it.

The Film which did the rounds at Comic-Con in San Diego this weekend looks rather promising with an A+-list Cast which includes Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas and Ewan McGregor.

Haywire isn't the only anticipated Film inspired by Mixed Martial Arts as Warrior starring Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton, gets a release this September.  And possibly a TIFF Premiere in September too after doing the rounds at Comic-Con?  Soderbergh last was represented at TIFF with  The Informant! in 2009, although his Contagion looks more likely to surface at TIFF with its forthcoming September release. Relativity Media will be distributing Haywire in the U.S.

Check out the Trailer in full below:

CHANNING TATUM & STEVEN SODERBERGH TO COLLABORATE ON MALE STRIPPER STORY "MAGIC MIKE"

Channing Tatum in Toronto - August 2010

Yes, please. Deadline reports that Channing Tatum is set to star in a new Steven Soderbergh Film titled Magic Mike, inspired by Tatum's days as a Stripper. This quashes rumours that the Director of Traffic, Erin Brokovich and Ocean's Eleven is in fact ready to retire.  Magic Mike is said to be about the bond of Friendship among a circle of Exotic Male Dancers. 

Tatum, who was just in Toronto last Summer filming Sony Pictures' The Vow said in a Statement, "This was a wild and pivotal time in my life and I couldn't be more thrilled to go down the rabbit hole with Steven.". Substitute "stripper pole" for "rabbit pole" in that sentence for maximum effect.

Soderbergh is entering Production with Liberace, a Biopic which has Michael Douglas making his big comeback as the world-renowned Pianist.

In case you had any doubts about Tatum's talents, why don't we enjoy this Clip together?

MICHAEL DOUGLAS IS KING OF THE BOX OFFICE STILL

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

He's still got it.  Michael Douglas is King of the Box Office with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 23 years after being debuting in third in December 1987 with its predecessor.  Despite some negative reviews, the follow-up to the Oscar-winning Oliver Stone film brought in a total $19 million this weekend from 3,565 theatres.  Although some of this could be coming from sympathy support for the actor after his recent Cancer announcement, here's to hoping for a quick recovery to the legendary Douglas from one Cancer survivor to another.

Warner Bros.' Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole 3-D boasts an all-star cast including Helen Mirren, Abbie Cornish, Joel Edgerton and Ryan Kwanten, but doesn't boast the big numbers of its $100 million budget.  Still though, it's enough to land it in second spot this weekend with $16.3 million.  I'd expect this will perform much better overseas.

Although The Town slips to third spot this weekend, its drop is only minor as it still was able to pull in $16 million this weekend.  In only two weeks, it has pulled in $49.1 million.  The same applies to Emma Stone's star-making Easy A which debuted in second last week but slips to fourth this weekend with $10.8 million.  Both The Town and Easy A's commercial success have also matched their critical success.

Disappointing though is Disney's You Again which I loved, but only managing to debut in fifth spot with $8.3 million.  Despite poor reviews, I can't agree that the negative remarks actually mean that this  is not worth a visit to the theatre.  

Miraculously, Inception is still hanging onto the Top Ten at the bottom end with $1.2 million from 907 theatres.  Shall we see if it hangs on for a twelfth week?

CATHERINE ZETA-JONES WINS BIG AT TONYS

Oscar winner Catherine Zeta-Jones added a Tony to her Trophy Cabinet after winning the coveted award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Although she was absent for much of the crucial evaluation period for Voters due to a Virus, there was no doubt that Mrs. Michael Douglas' performance left enough of an impression to carry her through.

Many of Hollywood's biggest names showed up to the Awards last night at Radio City Music Hall in New York City including Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Lucy Liu, Cate Blanchett, Kristin Chenoweth, Naomi Watts, Liev Schrieber, among others.  In addition to Zeta-Jones, other Hollywood film actors took home key awards like Scarlett Johanssson who won Best Featured Performance as an Actress for her turn in A View From a Bridge, while Denzel Washington and Viola Davis also won Best Performance by a Leading Actor and Actress respectively for Fences. Red won the evening's top honour of Best Play and Memphis won for Best Musical.  Click here for a full list of winners.

TIFF DAY 3 - HUGH HEFNER BIOPIC REVIEW

Day three of TIFF has been the most exciting yet! I wound up not going to see the new Almodovar film Broken Embraces after all and will wait for its theatrical release December 11, 2009. My friend Cathy and I decided to scope out the Press Conference for the new Michael Douglas film Solitary Man. Douglas who arrived a little groggy but nonetheless co-operative, did a round of photos and autographs. He even posed for a quick photograph for me as per request and signed my copy of Fatal Attraction (best. movie. ever.)!

Shortly after, the celebfest continued with George Clooney promoting his second film at this year's TIFF titled Up In The Air. The film, directed by Jason Reitman (Juno), screens at Ryerson Theatre tonight. And get this, I even tagged along for a photo with Clooney along with my TIFF friend S! Too hot for words!

I also got to chat quickly with Jason Bateman who also stars in Up In The Air and as expected, he was very approachable, adding his signature to my DVD copy of Juno which Diablo Cody had signed yesterday. If this weren't enough, Reitman arrived shortly after and a third signature was added to the DVD. The collection will be complete when Juno alumni Jennifer Garner, Ellen Page and Michael Cera all arrive later this week.

Cathy and I trekked down to Elgin Theatre to catch Oscar-winning director Brigitte Berman's documentary based on the life of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The Canadian-funded film, titled Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel is an in-depth look at Hefner's active involvement in policitics, philanthropy and social activism. The film wasn't so much a look at his personal life persay, as much as it was about the great things he did. Regardless, it was fascinating.