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Haywire will throw you to the ground and leave you to die! Well, that’s what the female protagonist will do to you if you cross her. Her name is Mallory Kane and she is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor. Doesn’t that sound exciting? Well, let me tell you that it made quite the impression on me. Mallory Kane has been double-crossed and she is out to seek the truth and kill whoever gave the order. Mallory works with some heavy hitters who are just as dangerous as her, so she must use her training to fight for her life and survive the heavy threats that are on her tail. The film is only an hour and a half long, so I do not wish to reveal too much of the plot because it is very cleverly written and leaves you wanting more.

The great Steven Soderbergh delivers once again with this well directed smart espionage film. He reinvents the crime-espionage film and brings it into the 21st century. He liked the idea of added drama and conflict behind a female lead and how she functioned in a male dominated world. Who did Soderbergh pick for his lovely leading lady? He chose the incredibly dangerous Gina Carano. Gina is a very impressive MMA fighter and champion. She knocked out her first ever opponent in 39 seconds and is considered to be the face of Women’s Mixed Martial Arts. Gina underwent special ops training and was pushed to her physical peak for this film. Aaron Cohen, who, amongst other incredible achievements, spent three years in Isreal's special ops undercover unity, trained Gina and the other cast members. What I admire about Gina’s performance is that she did all of her own stunts and no wires were used. She is the one doing everything. She is leaping from roof to roof, she is taking down men who are larger than her and she is doing it successfully.

The other actors in this film helped this newbie find her self-confidence on set. They knew she could bring it during the fights and could hold her own physically but the acting part apparently made her nervous. Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Bill Paxton and Ewan McGregor are all cast in this smart thriller and each of their roles is well done and well developed. They act as Mallory’s list of dirty laundry that she desperately needs to air out.

The fight scenes are almost endless and they are truly a masterpiece. The actors rehearsed for weeks and weeks to get everything perfect. The locations were re-made into rubber sets so that the actors could viciously throw each other around without actually harming each other. Oh Hollywood, sometimes you can make me a very happy woman, and with this film you hit the target with grace.

I highly recommend seeing this film because of all the hard work that went into it, the incredible cinematography and the heart pounding action. Haywire is smart, well organized, entertaining and a different kind of espionage that should be further developed. For example the fight scenes had no music during them so that the audience could really get the sense of reality, all the grunts and groans are real and the choreography was unbelievable. Plus, who doesn’t love a fucking bad ass beautiful woman who kicks the shit out of the bad guys? Everything Gina Carano did was right, despite being a first time actress; she is truly blessed being able to work with Soderbergh for her first film. Together they created an interesting and fearless female protagonist that you will cheer for while the ending credits roll.

4.5 out 5 stars

-Andrea Boulet

The Shafia trial is finally over. 

According to the CBC, Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed were all convicted Sunday of first-degree murder.

They were accused of killing Shafia’s three daughters and his first wife in a polygamous marriage. 

The bodies of the four drowned women were found in a car at the bottom of the Kingston Mills lock.

They have been sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years. 

The trial took almost three months to complete and the verdict came after only 15 hours of deliberations. 

The three individuals maintained their innocence until the very end. The son’s lawyer told The Canadian Press his client would appeal the ruling.

If elected to government, the Parti Québecois plans to lower the voting age to sixteen years old.

The PQ also plans to adopt citizen-led referendums in Quebec.

These are just two of a series of plans adopted by the delegates of the provincial opposition party at this weekend’s meeting in Montreal.

The young are among the strongest supporters of the PQ’s sovereignty movement.

The proposal of the citizen-led referendum means that there could be a referendum if fifteen percent of the population was to vote for one on any topic.

This also goes for future referendums on Quebec’s independence.

Pauline Marois is now the official PQ leader after weeks of rumors that former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe might replace her.

Duceppe has announced last week that he was not going to return to active politics after he was accused of mishandling public funds.

The PQ is still third in the polls, not far behind the Liberals, while the CAQ is still leading the polls.

After a hot first weekend that provided us with awesome acts like Buraka Som Sistema, A-Trak and Mala, it was going to be hard for the second weekend to top it, but it did, in a big way. On Saturday night, more then 10 000 fans flocked to the site in the Old Port, making it the first ever sold-out night in the history of Igloofest. The stellar lineup may have helped them reach such an achievement. The three days featured big names like Tiga, Pearson Sound, Sébastien Léger, Terence Fixmer, and Max Cooper, all guaranteed to make the fans dance all weekend long.

Friday, January 20th

Friday night got started with the sounds of Seb Fauteux and Max Reynolds who played a groovy set. The duo mixed an upbeat and well-balanced blend of house, techno and some disco, an excellent recipe for a cold night where temperatures hovered around -15°C. You can catch them at the Fizz Factory and Beat Boutique nights at Le Salon Daome on Mount-Royal Boulevard.

They were followed up by the brilliant UK DJ/Producer and Hessle Audio head honcho, David Kennedy, aka Pearson Sound, who was playing in front of a Montreal crowd for the second time in a year. He played a nice set with loads of great tracks, but it felt as if he was holding back and his set never really peaked; considering the immense talent that he’s blessed with, his set never really reached it’s full potential. Luckily, German DJ D. Diggler saved the night by continuing along the same pace as Seb Fauteux and Max Reynolds, making the 9000 plus fans dance the cold winter chill away. I didn’t know what to expect from Diggler, but he turned out to be a pleasant discover. I’m looking forward to hearing more from him.

That same night, I discovered the sounds of electro-swing music being played in the Virgin Mobile Igloo for the first time. Electro-swing is the merging of 1930’s swing music with bass heavy electro songs, making it a very enjoyable and interesting new genre to discover. DJ’s Khalil, Eliazar, Don Mescal (all part of the Speakeasy Electro Swing nights) got the Igloo packed –there was a big line up just to get in.

Saturday, January 21st

Hakim Guelmi opened the Saturday night edition with his own blend of techno and tech-house. He is a regular of Piknic Electronik, Igloofest’s summer counterpart, so you may have heard him before. Last summer, Max Cooper got stuck in the wake of Hurricane Irene and unfortunately had to cancel his Piknic Electronic show. Fast forward five months later; he now gets the chance to perform for the Montreal crowd at Igloofest. The UK DJ brought an assortment of techno and house beats that kept people dancing throughout the set. He was certainly one of my favourite DJs of this year’s edition. But Saturday night was Sébastien Léger’s nights. The French DJ was highly anticipated. Léger’s Chicago/Detroit inspired house got the crowd so worked up that I think he even trended on Twitter at one point. On stage, you could see his energy, as he danced along while mixing his tracks.

It was a great way to end the second weekend of Igloofest, and the last one promises to be a record breaker as well. If you missed this past weekend, I feel sorry for you, but you better not miss the third one.

-MNJIVR hosts AutoBeat every Tuesday from 10-11pm