A Good Day to Die Hard opened number one at the box office over President’s Day weekend proving that John McClane (Bruce Willis) and the long-running franchise is still beloved by movie audiences everywhere.

The film, which is the fifth installment in the action franchise following the original Die Hard, Die Hard 2: Die Harder, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Live Free or Die Hard, is the first film in the series to take place on foreign soil. When McClane’s estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), is arrested for murder, John must travel to Moscow to help save his boy. But all is not as it seems, as Jack is actually a CIA operative undercover tracking a dangerous group of terrorists trying to steal weapons of mass destruction. Now it is up to the father and son team to put their differences aside and do what McClanes do best … fight terrorists. Director John Moore, best known for helming action films like Behind Enemy Lines, Flight of the Phoenix, and Max Payne, takes over the series from former franchise directors John McTiernan (Die Hard, Die Hard with a Vengeance), Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2: Die Harder), and Len Wiseman (Live Free or Die Hard), respectively. 

I recently had a chance to sit down with John Moore to talk about his work on A Good Day to Die Hard, and the challenges of taking over the iconic franchise. The outspoken director discussed the new film, becoming a Die Hard director, collaborating with series star Bruce Willis, the daunting task of casting John McClane’s son, the big name actors who were considered for the role, the organic way he fit in McClane’s famous catch phrase, and if he would like to return to direct the inevitable Die Hard 6.

While Australian actor David Lyons did appear in the Julia Roberts film Eat Prey Love, American audience probably know him best for his work on a string of different NBC television shows. 

Lyons appeared on the final two seasons of the extremely popular series ER as Dr. Simon Brenner, as well as the fan-favorite but short-lived program The Cape, playing the show’s title character. He is currently appearing on the critically acclaimed series Revolution, where he portrays the program’s antagonist, Monroe. But Lyons can soon be seen on the big screen once again in Academy Award-nominated director Lasse Hallstrom’s (The Cider House Rules, Dear John) new film Safe Haven, which is an adaptation of author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, Dear John) popular novel of the same name and opens in theaters on Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14th.

The film centers on a young woman with a mysterious past named Katie (Julianne Hough), who lands in Southport North Carolina. Desperate and alone, she soon bonds with Alex (Josh Duhamel), a widower with two small children, and is eventually forced to confront the dark secrets that haunt her. Lyons plays Kevin Tierney, a Boston police officer with ties to Katie in search of a suspect on the run. In addition to Hough, Duhamel, and Lyons, the film also features a performance by actress Cobie Smulders (The Avengers) in a very unique role. 

I recently had a chance to speak with David Lyons about his work on Safe Haven. The Australian actor discussed the new film, collaborating with Oscar-nominated director Lasse Hallstrom, improvising on set, his complicated character, why actor Josh Duhamel wanted to play Lyons’ part himself, working opposite actress Julianne Hough in her first pure acting role, and what it means as an actor to appear in a Nicholas Sparks film. 

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. 

John McClane is back! Yippee Ki-Yay Mother…. Well, you know how that goes.

On Valentine’s Day, February 14th, Bruce Willis returns to the franchise that made him a household name almost twenty-five years ago with A Good Day to Die Hard, which is the fifth installment of the popular action franchise and was directed by John Moore (Max Payne). Willis first gained attention in the ‘1980s for his role as wise cracking private detective David Addison on the groundbreaking TV series Moonlighting, but it was his portrayal of everyman police officer John McClane in director John McTeirnan’s almost perfect Die Hard that made him a box office superstar. Since then the actor as appeared in such popular films as The Last Boy Scout, Pulp Fiction, 12 Monkeys, The Fifth Element, Armageddon, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Sin City, Red, and most recently Looper, and Moonrise Kingdom, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor-nomination at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards. But it is the character of John McClane and the Die Hard franchise that he is known for best!

As a lifelong Die Hard fan, it was an absolute thrill for me when I recently had a chance to attend an intimate press conference, along with a few other members of the press, and speak to Bruce Willis about A Good Day to Die Hard, the overall series, and the legacy of John McClane. 

In Beautiful Creatures, Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert play the boy and girl in the oldest story in the book: Boy meets the girl of his dreams, they fall madly in love, he discovers she has magical powers that force her to fall on either the good or evil side on her sixteenth birthday.

So goes Beautiful Creatures, hitting theaters this Valentine's Day, February 14th.  Based on the bestselling novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, the first in the planning "Caster Chronicles" trilogy, Beautiful Creatures follows Ethan, a sophomore in the fictional South Carolina town of Gatlin.  He falls for Lena, the first new girl to come to Gatlin since third grade, only to discover that she is a Caster, possessing supernatural powers and claimed by either the Light or Dark side when she hits legal driving age.  As Ethan and Lena fall ever more in love, they attempt to untangle the mysteries of Lena's strange family and why Ethan, though not a magical person himself, is capable of protecting Lena from supernatural threats.

Written and directed by Richard LaGravenese (Freedom Writers, P.S., I Love You), Beautiful Creatures stars Alden Ehrenreich (Twixt) as Ethan Wate and Alice Englert (Ginger & Rosa) as Lena Duchannes. LaGraveness assembled an eclectic and impressive ensemble cast featuring the likes of Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers), Viola Davis (The Help), Emma Thompson (Men in Black 3), Emmy Rossum (the Showtime series Shameless), Thomas Mann (Project X), Margo Martindale (the FX series Justified), Pruitt Taylor Vince (Constantine) and Kyle Gallner (Red State).

While that formidable cast lends the film a whole lot of support, the central romance is entirely on the shoulders of Ehrenreich and Englert. At the Los Angeles press day for the Beautiful Creatures, IAR Managing Editor Jami Philbrick was one of several entertainment journalists lucky enough to sit down with the duo, both of whom were happy to discuss working with LaGravenese, the film's surprising tone, their initial hesitance to join the film, learning from their fellow actors, and the fan reception to this adaptation.

English actor Jeremy Irons began his career on stage in the London theater over forty years ago and since then has gone on to star in countless feature films and television series, win a Golden Globe, an Emmy, a BAFTA, and an Oscar, as well as becoming generally considered one of the best actors of his generation. 

Irons first major screen role was in the 1981 film The French Lieutenant’s Woman opposite Meryl Streep, before starring in such critically acclaimed projects as Betrayal, and David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers. But it was playing real-life accused murderer Claus von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune that earned him his Academy Award and household name recognition in the United States. The actor would continue working throughout the last several decades in films like The Man in the Iron Mask, Being Julia, Kingdom of Heaven, Appaloosa, and last year’s indie hit Margin Call, as well as the popular Showtime series The Borgias. But Irons is probably best known for his villainous roles in two back-to-back box office hits. First, as the voice of Scar in the animated classic The Lion King, then as Simon Gruber (brother of Hans) in Die Hard with a Vengeance.

The acclaimed actor can now be seen on the big screen once again in the new film Beautiful Creatures, which is based on the popular series of young adult novels and opens in theaters on Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14th. The film, which was written and directed by Richard LaGravenese (Freedom Writers), centers on a boy from a small Southern town named Ethan (Alden Ehrenreich) who begins a relationship with a mysterious new girl named Lena (Alice Englert). As the two high school students fall in love, they uncover the dark secrets of their respective families, and their town, including the knowledge that Lena posses supernatural powers. Irons plays Macon Ravenwood in the movie, Lena’s uncle and the patriarch of the family, who also posses strange powers of his own. 

I recently had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons, along with a few other members of the press, for an extended chat about his work on Beautiful Creatures as well his illustrious overall career. 

Every once in a while, an absolutely brilliant film is released that just doesn’t get the credit that it deserves. For me, A Late Quartet is one of those movies. 

Released last fall amongst all the film’s vying for award season consideration, A Late Quartet was for some unknown reason completely ignored, and it’s a damn shame because I think it was one of the best films of 2012. Furthermore, I believe actor Christopher Walken gives one of the best performances of his career as a respected cello player suffering from the onset of Parkinson’s disease, and it is an absolute travesty that he was not at least considered for a Best Supporting Actor nomination at this year’s Academy Awards. As someone who’s own beloved father has been stricken with the terrible disease, I can tell you personally that the film and Walken’s performance are both equally authentic and unbelievably touching. But now you have a chance to judge the film for yourself as A Late Quartet will finally available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning February 5th.

The film, which is directed by documentary filmmaker Yaron Zilberman (Watermarks), revolves around a quartet of respected musicians that are portrayed by a quartet of respected actors including Oscar-winners Christopher Walken (Seven Psychopaths), and Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Ides of March), as well as Oscar-nominee Catherine Keener (The Oranges) and actor Mark Ivanir (Big Miracle). Ivanir plays Daniel, the outsider violinist of the quartet who is at odds with Hoffman and Keener’s married couple. After Peter (Walken) is forced to leave the group because of his illness, Robert (Hoffman) makes a power-play that jeopardizes their dynamic, which is further complicated when Daniel begins a relationship with Robert and Juliette’s (Kenner) college-age daughter, Alexandra (Imogen Poots). 

I recently had the absolute pleasure of speaking with director Yaron Zilberman about A Late Quartet. The impressive director discussed his brilliant film, the idea for the project, developing the script with screenwriter Seth Grossman, Parkinson’s disease, Walken’s exceptional performance, casting his quartet of excellent actors, and teaching them to play their character’s instruments as if they were classically trained musicians.

Marvel’s The Avengers is truly an amazing cinematic accomplishment on so many different levels. 

Not only is it a groundbreaking project in the sense that it took launching five separate successful films first (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger) in order to set it up and make it work, but it has also gone on to gross over $1.5 billion worldwide and become the third highest-grossing film of all time. As if that wasn’t enough, the film’s visual effects team has now been recognized for its outstanding work by being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. The VFX artists who are up for the award include Janek Sirrs (Batman Begins), Jeff White (Transformers: Dark on the Moon), Guy Williams (X-Men: First Class), and Dan Sudick (Cowboys & Aliens).

I recently had a chance to sit down with longtime Marvel Studios film producer Victoria Alonso, as well as VFX Supervisor and Oscar-nominee Jeff Smith to talk about their contributions to Marvel’s The Avengers and the nomination. Alonso discussed the film’s amazing accomplishments, what it took as a producer to bring it all together, and hiring director Joss Whedon to bring it all together, while White talked about Whedon’s contributions to the film, designing the Hulk, and how it feels to be nominated for an Academy Award. 

Seth Gordon first gained attention as a documentary filmmaker for his directorial debut - the critically acclaimed film The King of Kong: A Fistful of Dollars, which chronicles gamer Steve Wiebe’s attempt to take the record for highest score in Donkey Kong away from reigning champion Billy Mitchell. 

He would eventually go on to direct the holiday comedy Four Christmases starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, as well as episodes of such popular sitcoms as Parks and Recreation, Community, The Office, and Modern Family. But his biggest box office hit to date came in 2011 with the workplace comedy Horrible Bosses, which featured Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, Colin Farrell, Jennifer Aniston, and two-time Academy Award-winner Kevin Spacey. Now, the director teams up with Bateman once again for the new road trip action-comedy Identity Thief, which also stars Oscar-nominee Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) and opens in theaters on February 8th.

The film centers on mild-mannered businessman Sandy Patterson (Bateman) who travels from Denver to Miami to confront the deceptively harmless-looking woman (McCarthy) who has been living it up after stealing his identity. In addition to Bateman and McCarthy, the film’s excellent cast of actors and comedians also includes Jon Favreau (Iron Man 2), Amanda Peet (The X-Files: I Want to Believe), T.I. (Takers), Genesis Rodriguez (Casa di me Padre), Morris Chestnut (Think Like a Man), John Cho (Total Recall), Robert Patrick (Gangster Squad), and Eric Stonestreet (Bad Teacher). 

I recently had a chance to sit down with Seth Gordon to talk about his work on Identity Thief, as well as a reboot of the '80s classic War Games, and a sequel to Horrible Bosses. The talented director discussed his new film, working with the comedic duo of Bateman and McCarthy, their instant chemistry, why he thinks Bateman is the best straight man of his generation, balancing the different characteristics of McCarthy’s unique role, improvisation, the film’s fast-paced production, directing action sequences, the inspiration he took from Midnight Run, and two of his possible upcoming projects – a War Games reboot, and a Horrible Bosses sequel.  

Scott Z. Burns has worn many different hats in Hollywood. 

The filmmaker first gained attention for directing the 2006 film Pu-239, and would eventually go on to produce former Vice President Al Gore’s Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, as well as write the box office hit The Bourne Ultimatum. But it is his frequent collaborations with Oscar-winning director Steven Sonderbergh, including The Informant!, and Contagion, that has made everyone take notice. 

Since then the scribe has penned a draft of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, a sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, as well as being attached to write The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which is based on the popular ‘60s spy series starring Robert Vaughn. But first, he has reunited with Soderbergh again on, what may be the director’s final theatrical film, a psychological thriller entitled Side Effects, which Burns wrote and produced, and will opens in theaters on February 8th.

Side Effects centers on Emily (Rooney Mara) and Martin (Channing Tatum), a successful New York couple whose world unravels when a new drug prescribed by Emily’s Psychiatrist (Jude Law), which is intended to treat anxiety, has unexpected side effects. In addition to Law, Mara, and Tatum, the excellent cast of actors also includes Vinessa Shaw (Puncture), Mamie Gummer (The Ward), and Academy Award-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago). 

I recently had a chance to speak with producer and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns about his work on Side Effects. The accomplished filmmaker discussed the new film, its unique concept, his research, plotting its twists and turns, why he writes every role for Matt Damon, the film’s impressive cast, collaborating with Steven Soderbergh, and if he truly thinks Side Effects will be the acclaimed director’s final theatrical film.