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Carla Gugino has been able to sustain a lengthy career with a wide array of projects. From her early days, she made a mark co-starring with Pauly Shore in Son-In-Law and continued with indies such as Electra Luxx and Women in Trouble. Over her forty years on screen, starting way back in an episode of Webster when she was 17, Carla Gugino was able to bring an ability to play comedy, drama, sci-fi, and action with equal measure. She starred in sitcoms like when she acted opposite Michael J. Fox on Spin City. Recently, she’s been able to parlay a collaboration with Mike Flanagan on projects like The Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor, as well as her recent turn in The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix.

In 2001, Gugino would star as a spy mom in the Robert Rodriguez family film Spy Kids. According to Variety,...

Carla Gugino is amazing. From her early days co-starring with Pauly Shore in Son-In-Law to indies with her partner Sebastian Gutierrez, including Electra Luxx and Women in Trouble, Gugino has shirked the traditional path many Hollywood actresses have taken. The result is a career full of unique work on the big screen and small including work with filmmakers like Robert Rodriguez, Mike Flanagan (Gerald’s Game), Zack Snyder, Ridley Scott (American Gangster), and more. Her series work with Mike Flanagan has included an array of roles in The Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor, as well as her recent turn in The Fall of the House of Usher, which garnered Gugino her first Critics Choice nomination for Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television.

Over her forty years on screen, starting way back in an episode of Webster when she was 17, Carla Gugino has brought an...

Elizabeth Berkley gained fame as Jessie Spano in Saved by the Bell, but she had many other roles in TV shows and films after the series ended. Berkley auditioned for the role of Kelly Kapowski but ended up playing Jessie Spano, which became her big break. After Saved by the Bell, Berkley pursued a film career and starred in Showgirls, which received negative reviews but ultimately shaped her career and led to more suitable roles.

Elizabeth Berkley is most known for her series regular role as Jessie Spano in the late 1980s and early 1990s sitcom Saved by the Bell. But the actress has had a variety of parts in other television shows and films since the series ended in 1993. Before she became an actress, Berkley was a model for Elite Model Management as a teenager. But her first acting role came in 1986 when she starred as "Girl #1" in an episode of Gimme a Break!,...

Cinemax has given a straight-to-series order to drama Jett, from Snakes on a Plane and Gothika scribe Sebastian Gutierrez, with Carla Gugino attached to star and executive produce.

Written by Gutierrez, in Jett, fresh out of prison, world-class thief Daisy ”Jett” Kowalski (Gugino) is forced back into doing what she does best by dangerous and eccentric criminals determined to exploit her skills for their own ends.

Gugino’s Daisy “Jett” Kowalski is an intensely practical and self-reliant thief, an unsentimental woman of action. With the birth of her daughter, Jett planned to put her career in crime behind her, only to find herself drawn into doing one last job.

Jett is produced by Global Road Entertainment for Cinemax. Gutierrez executive produces and directs. Mark Stern, Stuart Ford and Dana Brunetti also executive produce. Stacey Levin is co-executive producer. Kathy Landsberg is line producer.

Jett is part of Cinemax’s recallibrated...

Cinemax has given a straight-to-series order for a new drama series starring Carla Gugino, Variety has learned.

The series is titled “Jett.” It will follow world-class thief Daisy ”Jett” Kowalski (Gugino) who, fresh out of prison, is forced back into doing what she does best by dangerous and eccentric criminals determined to exploit her skills for their own ends.

Jett is described as an intensely practical and self-reliant thief, an unsentimental woman of action. With the birth of her daughter, Jett planned to put her career in crime behind her, only to find herself drawn into doing one last job.

Gugino will also executive produce in addition to starring. The series is written, directed, and executive produced by Sebastian Gutierrez, Gugino’s longtime partner and collaborator. Mark Stern, Stuart Ford, and Dana Brunetti will also executive produce with Stacey Levin co-executive producing. Global Road Entertainment will produce.

Gugino has starred...

It was originally believed that visual effects artist Tim Miller would be making his feature directorial debut with Deadpool, a film based on the much-loved loud-mouthed mercenary comic book anti-hero played by Ryan Reynolds, but given that project hasn't moved an inch in a long while it looks like another movie has caught his eye. The filmmaker is now attached to helm Seasons, a new science-fiction project based on a novella written by Joe Haldeman. Deadline reports that the story follows a group of scientists as they board a space ship to visit an alien world. Unfortuantely, the world is filled with "sentient humanoids" and everything goes to hell in a hand-basket. Sebastian Gutierrez, who is best known for writing and directing movies like Women In Trouble, Elektra Luxx and Girl Walks Into A Bar, is handling the screenplay while Michael De Luca (Moneyball, Fright Night) is set to produce.

Sebastian Gutierrez is that rare director who can make a sleek-looking film while getting actors to say the strangest things in the most sincere ways. His work on Women in Trouble and Elektra Luxx proved as much, elevating B-movies into the A+ range, and now his ensemble sensibilities return with a 1958 detective story flair in Hotel Noir. In the film, the detective (Rufus Sewell) hides away in a hotel waiting for killers to find him, and it looks like he has plenty to hold his attention. Malin Ackerman is dancing and taking showers; Carla Gugino is speaking easy and being smokey; and Mandy Moore is…seducing Danny DeVito. Naturally. Plus, genre legend Robert Forster gets a nice T-bone steak of a role to chew on. Not bad at all. Check out the trailer for yourself: Release dates for the film aren’t firm, but a recent Kickstarter campaign has ensured that it’ll be on more than...

Writer and Director Sebastian Gutierrez has a knack for convincing lots of talented actors to star in his horribly written and directed films like Elektra Luxx, Women in Trouble, and his latest disaster Girl Walks Into a Bar. While his longtime girlfriend Carla Gugino’s involvement is no mystery, somehow he convinced Alexis Bledel, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Zachary Quinto, Rosario Dawson, Danny DeVito, Josh Hartnett, Xander Berkeley, Gil Bellows, and Amber Valletta to star in a cluttered story of stilted dialogue and cutaways worthy of only the worst film school productions. I don’t know how he does it, but each and every time it’s an utter waste of talent, just not his own.

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Today the Gods of Prurience have gifted us with seventy-seven seconds of pure gold.

Behold this excerpt from the motion picture Elektra Luxx, in which Emmanuelle Chriqui, better known to you as Sloane on Entourage, gives a lapdance to Adrianne Palicki, better know to you as the woman who will be Wonder Woman.

Elektra Luxx, a light comedy about a porn star, is out in select cities this weekend and is a sequel to Women in Trouble.  Both films are written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, whose past life as Albert Schweitzer is the only conceivable explanation for how he's able to get so many beautiful women to prance around in their underwear for his modestly-budgeted films.

With that, pull down the shade and take a look at this video.

Release Date: Nov. 29, 2011

Price: DVD $26.98, Blu-ray $29.99

Studio: Anchor Bay

Rupert Friend lives to see another day--for now--in 5 Days of War.

Based on true events, the action-filled movie 5 Days of War tells the story of a group of people caught behind enemy lines during 2008’s devastating five-day war between Russia and the Georgia Republic.

Directed by Renny Harlin (The Long Kiss Goodnight), the film centers around an American journalist (Rupert Friend, The Young Victoria) and his cameraman (Richard Coyle, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) as they are caught in the combat zone during the first Russian air strikes against Georgia. Rescuing Georgian schoolteacher Tatia (Emmanuelle Chriqui, Women in Trouble) from the attack, the two reporters agree to help reunite her with her family in exchange for serving as their interpreter. As the three attempt to escape to safety, they witness — and document — the devastation from the full-scale crossfire and cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians.

Release Date: Nov. 8, 2011

Price: DVD $26.98, Blu-ray $29.99

Studio: Anchor Bay

Mickey Rourke (l.) and 50 Cent get down to business in 13.

The 2010 thriller movie 13 features one of the most testosterone-filled casts we’ve seen since The Expendables, unless you consider Jason Statham (The Mechanic), Mickey Rourke (Passion Play), Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Set-Up), Ben Gazarra (Looking for Palladin), Ray Winstone (Tracker), Alexander Skarsgård (TV’s True Blood) and Michael Shannon (The Runaways) to be shrinking violets!

The independent film stars Sam Riley (Control) as Vince Ferro, a desperate man who assumes a false identity to secure a mysterious job that promises a potential fortune. Things don’t exactly go right for Vince after he finds himself conscripted as a numbered participant in an underworld Russian roulette competition, where gamblers place bets on who’ll survive when the trigger is pulled. The stakes are high, yes, but the payout is more than he can resist.

We can't say we've really watched the CBS psychic police procedural "The Mentalist" but as it heads into its fourth season this fall, it's clear there is an audience for the show and it looks like the cast are beginning to capitalize on that popularity. Lead actor Simon Baker has logged time already in films like "The Killer Inside Me," "Women In Trouble" and upcoming financial crisis drama "Margin Call" and now co-star Amanda Righetti will add a tentpole to her CV. According to The Daily Blam, the actress has joined Joss Whedon's "The Avengers." Details on her role--which is…...

Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki has some time on her hands since the Wonder Woman pilot was dumped and MGM's Red Dawn is struggling to get off the shelf sometime this year. She will be joining the cast of G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes as the team's covert operations specialist, Lady Jaye. The Legion and Women in Trouble actress isn't the only name we've been hearing about when it comes to Joe. Recently we learned that Dwayne Johnson, Wu-Tang's RZA, and D.J. Cotrona have also signed on to play Roadblock, the Blind master, and Flint respectively. Returning cast members include Channing Tatum and Ray Park, but the original Joe – Joseph Colton – has yet to be cast. Deadline says that Cobra Strikes is being fast-tracked for next...

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Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki has some time on her hands since the Wonder Woman pilot was dumped and MGM's Red Dawn is struggling to get off the shelf sometime this year. She will be joining the cast of G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes as the team's covert operations specialist, Lady Jaye. The Legion and Women in Trouble actress isn't the only name we've been hearing about when it comes to Joe. Recently we learned that Dwayne Johnson, Wu-Tang's RZA, and D.J. Cotrona have also signed on to play Roadblock, the Blind master, and Flint respectively. Returning cast members include Channing Tatum and Ray Park, but the original Joe – Joseph Colton – has yet to be cast. Deadline says that Cobra Strikes is being fast-tracked for next...

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Adrianne Palicki, who played our own Tyra Collette on one of the Ology office's favorite shows, Friday Night Lights, has had some crap luck since the acclaimed Texas high school football drama series completed its run. For one thing, she appeared in both Women In Trouble and Electra Luxx from director Sebastian Gutierrez, which feature primarily (half-naked, oversexed) women in (sexy!) trouble.

Oh, and also, Palicki starred briefly in NBC's Wonder Woman, which we heard was terrrrrrible. (On the bright side, she was fab in the wrongly-cancelled Lone Star)

Check out a photo of Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman

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Paramount is fast-tracking its "G.I. Joe" sequel "G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes," and the latest to join the cast is Adrianne Palicki. You may know her from her television work on "Friday Night Lights" and "Lone Star." She also appeard on "Supernatural."

Deadline says Palicki will be playing Lady Jaye in Jon M. Chu's sequel, which already stars Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson (Roadblock) and RZA. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick wrote the script for "Cobra Strikes," which will open next summer.

Palicki, by the way, will soon be seen in "Red Dawn." She also starred in "Elektra Luxx," and her credits include "Women in Trouble" and "Legion." She was supposed to star as Wonder Woman in a TV project, but that pretty much got shut down recently.

Exclusive: Friday Nights Lights series star Adrianne Palicki will play the female lead in the Paramount sequel to G.I. Joe: Cobra Strikes. She'll play Lady Jaye and joins a cast that includes Channing Tatum, as well as Dwayne Johnson, who signed on to play the role of Roadblock in the Jon M. Chu-directed film.  Ray Park is expected to reprise his Snake Eyes character, Byung Hun-lee is expected to bring back Storm Shadow, and RZA just joined the film. The studio's casting quickly; they need the film for next summer because the Star Trek sequel won't be ready and this rebooted film and World War Z are prime candidates to fill summer slots. The big question is who Paramount sets in the role of the original G.I. Joe, Joe Colton. I've heard Bruce Willis as a top choice, but last time I checked the studio was eyeing several actors,...

Adrianne Palicki joins G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes as female lead. Adrianne Palicki (Friday Nights Lights) has been cast in the sequel to G.I. Joe as the female lead in the Paramount Pictures release, reports Deadline. She joins Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson in the actioner helmed by Jon M. Chu. Other cast includes RZA, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung and Erryn Arkin. Aside from G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes, Palicki can be seen next with Thor star Chris Hemsworth the reboot of Red Dawn. He previous credits include action horror Legion starring Paul Bettany, Women in Trouble, Lone Star and Wonder Woman.

Adrianne Palicki joins G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes as female lead. Adrianne Palicki (Friday Nights Lights) has been cast in the sequel to G.I. Joe as the female lead in the Paramount Pictures release, reports Deadline. She joins Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson in the actioner helmed by Jon M. Chu. Other cast includes RZA, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung and Erryn Arkin. Aside from G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes, Palicki can be seen next with Thor star Chris Hemsworth the reboot of Red Dawn. He previous credits include action horror Legion starring Paul Bettany, Women in Trouble, Lone Star and Wonder Woman.

Adrianne Palicki joins G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes as female lead. Adrianne Palicki (Friday Nights Lights) has been cast in the sequel to G.I. Joe as the female lead in the Paramount Pictures release, reports Deadline. She joins Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson in the actioner helmed by Jon M. Chu. Other cast includes RZA, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee, Elodie Yung and Erryn Arkin. Aside from G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes, Palicki can be seen next with Thor star Chris Hemsworth the reboot of Red Dawn. He previous credits include action horror Legion starring Paul Bettany, Women in Trouble, Lone Star and Wonder Woman.

Writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez follows up 2009's Women in Trouble with Elektra Luxx, which continues the further adventures of a retired porn star (Carla Gugino), pregnant with a recently deceased rock star's child, who makes ends meet by teaching a community college sexual education class. Now on DVD, Elektra Luxx also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marley Shelton, and Timothy Olyphant. We have an exclusive 9-minute preview from this release, which features Detective Dellwood Butterworth Timothy Olyphant getting it on with Elektra (Carla Gugino) in her unsuspecting neighbor's (Marley Shelton) bedroom. Check out the playfully sexy scene below.

Click to watch Exclusive: 9 Minute Preview!

What's a pregnant porn goddess to do? Elektra Luxx decides to quit the industry to start a new life - but not until she wrestles with a slew of wild characters. It's one hysterical ride with plenty of uninhibited comedy along the way.

Special Features:

Deleted Scenes

Elektra Luxx was released March 11th,...

Using its own psychic abilities, Warner Home Video has decided that Sept. 20 is a good day to release TV show The Mentalist: The Complete Third Season on DVD. The set will be priced at $59.98, which Amazin has discounted to $41.99, as of this writing.

Simon Baker reflects on The Mentalist.

The third season of the popular tdrama, the season finale of which was aired on CBS just a couple of weeks ago, finds our favorite mentalist Patrick Jane (Simon Baker, Women in Trouble) growing ever-more determined to find Red John, the serial killer who murdered his family. In between feeding his obsession, Patrick uses his unique skills of observation and manipulation to solve a number of other cases dealing with everything from martial arts cage brawls to thoroughbred racing.

Also starring Robin Tunney (Passenger Side), Tim Kang (Rambo) and Amanda Righetti (Role Models), the television series will return for a...

Reviewer: James van Maanen

Rating (out of 5): * * * -1/2 (up it a half-star if you're already an Araki fan)

Be still my heart (and certain other appendages)! Kaboom is out on DVD, and a funnier, sexier, goofier, goosier good time I have not had since last year's delight, Women in Trouble. I wonder, in fact, if Kaboom's writer/director Gregg Araki sees, as do I, any similarities in the two films. Their styles are certainly different, and while Women's filmmaker Sebastian Gutierrez concentrates on the gals, the porn industry and some lesbian fun, Araki gives us gals and guys. Though he makes certain you know his main boy is at least accidentally ambi-sexual, this kid's fantasies always seem to go gay. 

What unites the two films is the state they put the viewer in by the end of the experience: a kind of joyful, giddy, beaming pleasure. Watching them is like taking a vacation,...

Elektra Luxx, the follow-up to 2009.s Women In Trouble, has a plot that is a cross between a Werner Herzog film and soft core Skinemax. If that isn.t necessarily your thing, having a great ensemble cast featuring Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Malin Ackerman, and Timothy Olyphant certainly helps. The film, about a pregnant ex-porn star who quits the business and meets a slew of outrageous characters, didn.t do so hot at the box office. So if it hasn.t been on your radar yet, don.t worry; Elektra Luxx will be hitting DVD on June 21. Unfortunately, the DVD-only set won.t come with a whole lot of extras. The one feature buyers will get is deleted scenes. Since director Sebastian Gutierrez likes to employ loosely connected vignettes in his films, these deleted scenes should fall into place pretty well. Elektra Luxxwill only run you $24.96 and is already available...

Carla Gugino (Faster) stars as a pregnant ex-porn star on a path to redemption in the sexy comedy movie Elektra Luxx, debuting on DVD on June 21st from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Carla Gugino gets down to the business of sex education as Elektra Luxx.

What’s a pregnant porn goddess to do? Well, when that scenario unfolds for legendary adult film star Elektra Luxx (Gugino), she decides to quit the industry, take a job as a “sexology” instructor at a community college and look forward to a new life with her baby. There are only a few obstacles in her way, among them an obsessed web streamer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Inception), a studly private investigator (Timothy Olyphant, TV’s Justified), a pair of porn star gal pals (Friday Night Lights’s Adrianne Palicki and Saint John of Las Vegas’s Emmanuelle Chriqui), a criminal twin sister and even the Virgin...

With Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch out now in cinemas, we interviewed actors Carla Gugino and Oscar Isaac about its production, and its edits for a 12A rating…

Zack Snyder's latest extravaganza has caused quite the ruckus. Women, very little clothing, lobotomies, threats of sexual assault, and guns. Lots of guns. Sucker Punch has all that, wrapped up in a 12A rating.

It also has, in Carla Gugino and Oscar Isaac, two actors who couldn't be more different than their onscreen incarnations. If Gugino's Madam Gorski is a fiercely strict dance teacher (think Vincent Cassell in Black Swan, just without the inappropriate touching), she's the opposite in person – warm, friendly, and chatty to the point where twenty-five minutes in her company seems barely enough time at all.

Likewise Isaac, who's so relaxed and laid back on a plush hotel sofa that he's almost horizontal. His big, bad villain, Blue,...

As you probably know, David E. Kelley, creator of Ally McBeal and Harry's Law, is taking on Wonder Woman. We've talked all about Wonder Woman here at FanGirlTastic. We've talked about the able actress chosen to play her. We've talked about the disappointing new costume. We've talked about the even more disappointing pilot script. We've all wondered, "What the hell is Kelley thinking?" Now, Kelley is talking about Wonder Woman, and he's actually telling us what he's thinking.

Kelley recently gave a wide-ranging interview to Vulture, New York Magazine's "culture" supplement, and he was quite candid about his career. Of course, he said little that was surprising, but he did open up a bit about his take on DC's favorite Amazon princess.

Kelley initially balked at taking on Wonder Woman. He's aware that he is not well equipped to write superheroes. Talking to Vulture last week, Kelley said, "Well I first said no,...

 

Did you miss Movies this Week last week?  We're back, even though we're still recovering from SXSW. 

Movies We've Seen:

Elektra Luxx  -- Sebastian Gutierrez's second film featuring the title character (the first being Women in Trouble), focuses on Carla Cugino as a retired porn star. The first movie left me cold, so I skipped the sequel.  Mike has seen it and can tell you more in his review. (Arbor)

I Saw the Devil (pictured above) -- This near-perfect Fantastic Fest 2010 selection is gritty, violent and suspenseful, and a must-see for those who appreciate Korean crime dramas and/or unapologetically dark revenge thrillers.  Byung-hun Lee plays a government agent out for revenge after his fiancee is murdered. (Alamo Ritz)

Jane Eyre -- Arguably Charlotte Brontë's story of the reclusive Mr. Rochester and the stalwart young Jane Eyre is responsible for more undeserved forgiveness in relationships than any other classic story.

Carla Gugino plays the titular Elektra Luxx, a retired porn superstar making a living teaching an adult sex-ed class ("How to act like a porn star in bed"). She's just found out she's pregnant and is having a really bad week. She's suffering an existential crisis, worried about how she can be a good mother and still explain to her child what she used to do for a living. Just as she's dealing with this, people begin appearing in her life, making her question who she is and who she wants to be.

The movie, written and directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, looks like it would have been more suited to a playhouse stage than the silver screen. This, despite an impressive number of stars: Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kathleen Quinlan (Event Horizon, Apollo 13), Marley Shelton, Malin Ackerman, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Kirk and Julianne Moore. The dialogue, full of random non-sequiturs,...

Sebastian Gutierrez has written movies like Gothika and Snakes on a Plane but recently, he’s directing some small, wonderful films that include some incredibly talented actors.

Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Connie Britton, Timothy Olyphant, Danny Devito, Rosario Dawson and Carla Gugino are just some of the actors that have recently worked with Sebastian. His films, Women in Trouble and its sequel, Elektra Luxx and the very first movie to premiere on the internet, Girl Walks Into A Bar are mostly anthology-based and he says that’s a great way to get actors to come out and work for a couple days.

Elektra Luxx is now playing and it follows Gugino (in a continuation of her role in Women in Trouble) as a pregnant porn star who is trying to reinvent herself.

Girl Walks Into A Bar (watch it below) stars Zachary Quinto as a dentist who teams up with...

With the exception of her southern Supermom Tami Taylor on the now-expired NBC Texas football drama Friday Night Lights, Connie Britton is sorely underrated. She's had a few forays onto the big screen, like in Sebastien Gutierrez' subpar Women In Trouble (Q: What do women do when they're in trouble? A: Wear lingerie and high heels and get trapped in elevators with other naked women), but we've missed her on the small screen lately.

Which is why we're super-pumped that Britton's signed on to star in Glee creator Ryan Murphy's very-adult FX pilot American Horror Story. Remember, Murphy was the man behind the glittery sh*tshow that was Nip/Tuck, so he's capable of writing for us big kids too.

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Plot: A porn star, Elektra Luxx (Carla Gugino) retires from the biz after she discovers she's pregnant. Review: Elektra Luxx is director Sebastian Gutierrez's follow-up to Women In Trouble, an earlier ensemble comedy that featured a lot of the characters popping up here, including the titular Luxx, played by his real-life partner, Carla Gugino (the lucky so-and-so!). I haven't seen that film, so I went into Elektra Luxx somewhat lost- which, I'll admit, probably wasn't the best way to...

If there's ever a question if you can get a star-studded cast to appear in a cheap slapdash project solely on the basis of letting them have some fun, you only have to point to Sebastian Gutierrez, who's done it not once, but twice now. As writer/director, he did it in his debut film Women in Trouble, which boasts the likes of Josh Brolin and Simon Baker in addition to the impressive female cast that includes the talented Sarah Clarke and Connie Britton. Women in Trouble nosedived both critically and commercially, yet here is the sequel, opening in theaters today, with a cast no less inspiring.

It claims to be only about Elektra Luxx, as one would infer from the title, but the film strangely takes the occasional detour to returning beauties Adrianne Palicki and Emmanuelle Chriqui on vacation, a subplot that barely ties into the main story and...

Talking to director Sebastián Gutiérrez and actress Carla Gugino at South by Southwest is getting to be a yearly habit for me. This is the pair's third trip to SXSW (and third SXSW interview with yours truly) in a row after 2009's "Women in Trouble" and 2010's "Elektra Luxx." This year they've returned with "Girl Walks Into a Bar:" ten interconnected narratives set in ten different (and mostly real) Los Angeles bars. Gugino stars as Francine Driver, a fast-talking detective whose search for something very valuable propels us from one boozy location to the next. As usual, Gutiérrez and Gugino have surrounded themselves with an amazing supporting cast including Zachary Quinto, Josh Hartnett, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Alexis Bledel, Rosario Dawson and Danny DeVito.

Though Gutiérrez and Gugino are seasoned SXSW veterans by now, they come to Austin this year with a twist: "Girl Walks Into a Bar" is premiering simultaneously here...

Today we begin what will be a Friday tradition here on the site. Ioncinema.com's Weekend Watch is a basic rundown of cinematic opening weekend offerings with Erica Elson guiding your choices in U.S Indie, Foreign, Documentaries and Studio film releases. This weekend you'll definitely want to skip the studio picks and the duelling alien items and if you're lucky enough to be in L.A or NYC you'll want to check out Abbas Kiarostami’s gem Certified Copy. U.S Indie 3 Backyards – Eric Mendelsohn – Screen Media Edie Falco stars in this atmospheric drama that takes place over the course of an autumn afternoon. It’s been getting very positive reviews and won the Directing Award at Sundance in 2010. This is Mendelsohn's big return since 1999's Judy Berlin. Metacritic: 75% MovieReviewIntelligence: 66.5% Elektra Luxx – Sebastian Gutierrez – Samuel Goldwyn Films A pregnant ex-porn star goes on a series of adventures in an...

By Elliot V. Kotek

(March 2011)

That the SXSW Film Conference and Festival (or “South by,” as preferred by insiders), which runs March 11-19 in Austin, Texas, has changed over the past 10 years is self-evident. Once solely a haven for music lovers, the program is now also bursting with interactive new media events, prominent national sponsors and a film slate so solid that distributors have started coming here with an eye to acquisitions.

With truly original and interesting programming across sections named Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Headliners, Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, 24 Beats per Second, Festival Favorites, Lone Star States, Sx Global and Special Events, there’s too much in store to provide the perfect playbook, but be sure to keep an eye out for the following baker’s dozen:

Gourdough’s: It’s not a film; it’s a food truck — and one of the many that will keep you well-oiled during the festival.

By Elliot V. Kotek

(March 2011)

That the SXSW Film Conference and Festival (or “South by,” as preferred by insiders), which runs March 11-19 in Austin, Texas, has changed over the past 10 years is self-evident. Once solely a haven for music lovers, the program is now also bursting with interactive new media events, prominent national sponsors and a film slate so solid that distributors have started coming here with an eye to acquisitions.

With truly original and interesting programming across sections named Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Headliners, Spotlight Premieres, Emerging Visions, 24 Beats per Second, Festival Favorites, Lone Star States, Sx Global and Special Events, there’s too much in store to provide the perfect playbook, but be sure to keep an eye out for the following baker’s dozen:

Gourdough’s: It’s not a film; it’s a food truck — and one of the many that will keep you well-oiled during the festival.

We featured the trailer for Sebastián Gutiérrez‘s Girl Walks Into A Bar, and now the entire film is streaming on YouTube. Touted as the “First Major Motion Picture Made For The Internet,” the film had a Arclight premiere in Los Angeles earlier this week, and will show at SXSW film festival. Gutiérrez, who penned Snakes on a Plane, and wrote/directed Women in Trouble, recently released Elektra Luxx and you can read our review here.

Girl Walks Into A Bar has a large cast including Carla Gugino (of course), Zachary Quinto, Josh Hartnett, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Robert Forster, and Alexis Bledel. Stream it below thanks to Lexus.

Synopsis: A dentist teams up with a feisty would-be assassin to put the final touches on the plan to kill his wife. Once he makes a play for the assassin’s payment, he unknowingly sets off a chain of events that...

Sebastian Gutierrez has a penchant for writing fun, memorable movies like Gothika and Snakes on a Plane. His recent forays into directing, all anthology-style ensemble comedies taking place in Los Angeles, include Girl Walks into a Bar, the first major motion picture made exclusively for the internet (available for free on YouTube), Women in Trouble and its sequel Elektra Luxx, the continuing misadventures of a pregnant porn star played by Carla Gugino. Mr. Gutierrez kindly took time out of his busy, bombshell-filled life to rap with me for a moment.

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Chicago – Sebastian Gutierrez is the sort of filmmaker who thrives best on the festival circuit. His work is just quirky and distinctive enough to garner overenthusiastic praise from jaded festival goers in the mood for markedly lighter fare. Yet when screened out of the celebratory atmosphere at SXSW, Gutierrez’s films fail to register as anything more than mediocre trifles.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

“Elektra Luxx” is a more assured and likable film than its lifeless predecessor, “Women in Trouble,” but it’s still nowhere near as funny or insightful (or sexy) as it thinks it is. Gutierrez seems to be fashioning these estrogen-fueled ensemble comedies after the work of cinema master Pedro Almodóvar. Imagine “Volver” as a sitcom on TV Land, and you’ll get an approximate idea of this picture’s playful, curiously amateurish tone. The gags are as broad as the drama is campy, yet what more can one expect...

For those that actually saw 2009′s Women in Trouble, the motif of Sebastian Gutierrez’ latest directorial effort, Elektra Luxx, should seem vastly familiar. Luxx is the second film in his indie trilogy depicting a group of wacky female adult film stars that get themselves into, well, wacky situations. The film, which premiered at the South by Southwest festival a year ago, bows in limited release today.

Serving as a continuation to Trouble, Elektra Luxx employs the same quirky, meandering formula, again loosely connecting these women with wordy, Quentin Tarentino-style scenes that feel more like skits than the parts of a cohesive film. This time around, the focal point is former porn star Luxx (Carla Gugino), expanding her role beyond the entrappings of an elevator (though she stills gets briefly trapped in one).

Still mourning her dead rocker husband Nick Chapel, we find her retired from the adult film industry and...

Nearly every man, woman and child has a thing for Carla Gugino. Thanks to her work in Spy Kids, Sin City, Night At The Museum and the series .Californication., she has given performances everybody can root for. The same can be said for her take on ex-porn star Elektra Luxx in the continuation of writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez. Women In Trouble. .Luxx. is hard not to like. Carla.s work as a porn actress looking to change her life around is an exciting new role for this talented actress....

Reviewd by Amy R. Handler

(March 2011)

Directed/Written by: Sebastian Gutierrez

Starring: Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Adrianne Palicki and Emmanuelle Chriqui

When director Sebastian Gutierrez (“Judas Kiss”) made the first of his “Elektra” porn spoofs in “Women in Trouble,” he introduced characters whose life experiences read like panels in a comic strip. But no matter what came before, and what Gutierrez promises next, “Elektra Luxx” the movie stands on its own as a soon-to-be cult classic.

Elektra Luxx, played by Gutierrez’s talented girlfriend Carla Gugino, is a retired porn actress. Resigned but hardly out to pasture, the gorgeous Luxx teaches a course to housewives in need on how to be porn queens in bed. To make matters more intense, Luxx is pregnant, though true to comic-strip style, we never see her pregnancy — even at that critical moment when her water breaks. Much like a really great soap opera — minus...

Reviewd by Amy R. Handler

(March 2011)

Directed/Written by: Sebastian Gutierrez

Starring: Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Adrianne Palicki and Emmanuelle Chriqui

When director Sebastian Gutierrez (“Judas Kiss”) made the first of his “Elektra” porn spoofs in “Women in Trouble,” he introduced characters whose life experiences read like panels in a comic strip. But no matter what came before, and what Gutierrez promises next, “Elektra Luxx” the movie stands on its own as a soon-to-be cult classic.

Elektra Luxx, played by Gutierrez’s talented girlfriend Carla Gugino, is a retired porn actress. Resigned but hardly out to pasture, the gorgeous Luxx teaches a course to housewives in need on how to be porn queens in bed. To make matters more intense, Luxx is pregnant, though true to comic-strip style, we never see her pregnancy — even at that critical moment when her water breaks. Much like a really great soap opera — minus...

Opening in theaters on March 11th is a sequel to director Sebastian Gutierrez's Women in Trouble called Elektra Luxx. Carla Gugino (Watchmen) reprises the title role and is joined by returning cast members Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception), Marley Shelton (Grindhouse), Adrianne Palicki (Legion), and Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage), as well as new cast members Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right), and Malin Akerman (Watchmen). We recently had a chance to sit down and speak with Carla Gugino, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Malin Akerman about the new film, their intriguing characters, making a sequel and director Sebastian Gutierrez's planned trilogy. To watch our exclusive interviews click on the video players below.

Click to watch Exclusive: Carla Gugino Interview!

Click to watch Exclusive: Malin Akerman and Emmanuelle Chriqui Interview!

Recently retired from the adult film industry, superstar Elektra Luxx (Carla Gugino) is pregnant with the child of late rock star Nick Chapel.

In a recent interview with Collider, Saturday Night Live and Paul actor Bill Hader discussed his upcoming projects for his summer hiatus from SNL, one of which is The Hand Job, a script written and to be directed by his wife, Maggie Carey (Chasing the Dream), and with Aubrey Plaza (NBC's Parks and Recreation) in the lead role. Hader revealed that the indie comedy is "trying to get their funding together" but has already attracted a large cast of comedic actors.

It’s a really cool movie. The cast for that is great. It’s got Aubrey Plaza, me, Andy Samberg (SNL), Donald Glover (NBC's Community), Connie Britton (Women in Trouble), Alia Shawkat (Whip It), Mae Whitman (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), and Johnny Simmons (Scott Pilgrim) is attached to it. It’s a really cool movie that is insanely funny. We did a reading of it at the Austin...

From the Department Of Unnecessary Sequels comes Elektra Luxx, Sebastian Gutierrez’s follow-up to his mildly naughty, Pedro Almodóvar-lite ensemble comedy Women In Trouble. Never heard of it, you say? Forgotten about it if you have? No matter. Gutierrez has extended its obscure mythology into a second, equally disposable romp, once again squandering a great, absurdly sexy cast on material that isn’t worth the day or two its actors took out of their lives to bring it to life. As with Women In Trouble, Gutierrez unveils a series of loosely connected characters and subplots that concern players in ...

There are many filmmakers who sound nothing like the films they make. Sebastian Gutierrez is not one of them. Within seconds of opening his mouth, a flood of words escape in all directions, all hurdling towards some greater point. This has served the writer/director well on two fronts - the first being his recent run of films, beginning with 2009's "Women in Trouble" and eventually its sequel "Elektra Luxx," that sprint on the colorful flourishes of its aesthetic and banter, if not the wild tonal shifts from slapstick comedy to musical numbers to melodrama that make the fact that their main characters are porn stars seem tame by comparison. Gutierrez's way with words also helped him out of a jam when a projection problem at last year's SXSW premiere of "Elektra Luxx" resulted in one of the most memorable moments I've ever experienced at a film festival after he...

Malin Akerman and Emmanuelle Chriqui in one room! What is one to do when these two incredibly beautiful talents are together? Just realize how damn lucky you are I suppose. Yet once we started talking, it was much easier. Both were incredibly kind and absolutely lovely and they happen to give terrific performances in their latest film, Elextra Luxx. Luxx is a continuation of writer/director Sebastian Gutierrez. Women In Trouble. Akerman plays the role of every porn blogger.s dream come true...

"Elektra Luxx"; with Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Adrianne Palicki, Timothy Olyphant and Malin Akerman; directed by Sebastián Gutiérrez.

By Sam Weisberg - March 10, 2011

“Elektra Luxx” is infinitely worse than its predecessor, 2009's “Women in Trouble,” which was already pretty damn bad. But Sebastián Gutiérrez, writer and director of both films, is clearly blinded by delusions of relevance. Although virtually no one saw his first outing—no one, that is, except for critics earning money to see it, who in turn hated it—he's convinced that rehashing it will truly reveal his genius. Think again.

“Women in Trouble” gave us a hectic day in the lives of Elektra Luxx (Carla Gugino), a buxom, blonde, forty-something porn star; two of her younger co-stars (Adrianne Palicki and Emmanuelle Chriqui), the former severely brain-damaged; Elektra's rock star boyfriend (Josh Brolin), who accidentally suffocates during an airplane toilet tryst with a stewardess...