Though many are busy finalizing their predictions for the Best Actor and Best Picture Oscar categories, the Costume Designers Guild today announced nominees for excellence in wardrobe. The nods are split into three categories: contemporary, fantasy, and period. Among the films singled out are superhero fare like X-Men: First Class and Thor, blockbusters franchises Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and dramatic critical favorites like Drive and The Descendants. Personally, I’m thrilled to see the excellent work in X-Men: First Class singled out, and I’m still waiting for a reasonably priced way to own Ryan Gosling’s ridiculously cool jacket from Drive.

Hit the jump to see the full list of nominees. The winners will be announced on February 21st, and the nominees for the upcoming 84th Annual Academy Awards will be revealed this coming Tuesday, January 24th.

As the 84th Academy Awards move closer, we’re starting to get a better sense of how things will pan out. We recently shared the 39 songs that will contend for the Best Original Song category, and now the Academy has announced the 97 original scores eligible for the Best Original Score award. AMPAS is notoriously picky when it comes to eligibility in this category, and as we feared the scores for both Drive and Attack the Block have been deemed ineligible. Also disappointing is the ineligibility of Alexandre Desplat’s mesmerizing score for The Tree of Life.

While it’s upsetting to see some of the year’s best work side-lined, there’s plenty to be happy about. I was a huge fan of Howard Shore’s work in Hugo and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as well as The Chemical Brothers’ brilliant work in the criminally underseen Hanna. Hit the jump for the full list, as well as who I think will make the cut.

From the outset, Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood sounds kind of… great? Seriously. Her best film is easily Thirteen, which dealt with young girls coming to understand their sexuality (and power therein), and Hardwicke brought the right temperament to the first Twilight film – she got the sexuality right and winked at the audience about the material’s inherent silliness. For Red Riding Hood, she has a great cast (Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie), the idea of the wolf as sexual predator, and the same sort of romantic triangle. If the film had done anything right, it might have – if nothing else – achieved cult status. Too bad the film is garbage in any cut. Our review of the Blu-ray of Red Riding Hood (which offers an Alternate cut of the movie) follows after the jump.

The weekend played out pretty much as expected after Friday’s estimates, except for one factor (and I know this is a shocker): final weekend tallies ended up on the low end of projections across the board.  We are still dealing with box office totals that are down over 10% from 2010 but, compared to the 45% we were down last weekend, that’s progress!

The 2011 box office isn’t out of its slump quite yet, but at least it’s starting to make an effort.  On Friday Sony’s PG-13 Battle: Los Angeles debuted to an estimated $13.5 million from 3,417 locations.  That puts the alien invasion pic on track for a weekend above $35 million – right about where Rango finished last Sunday.  The latter lizard landed in third this Friday but could leap back to second when weekend numbers are released.  Warner Brothers’ Red Riding Hood claimed the second spot but will have to do much better than its $5.7 million debut to reach the high teens many were predicting for the film’s weekend.  Finally, Disney has a real problem with Mars Needs Moms.  The last of the creepy toons to come out of Robert Zemeckis’ IMD brand, the $150 million Moms made just $1.7 million on Friday and will be lucky to see $10 million by Sunday.  Full details and analysis tomorrow.

There’s a strangeness that creeps along the edges of Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood.  It’s a PG-13 teen soap opera that wants to sneak in some surprisingly R-rated content like cannibalism and torturing the mentally handicapped.  But what’s surprising and creative in the film is always smothered beneath convention, simplistic design, and insulting themes.  There are directors who could blend a classic fairy tale with a teen drama and a modern attitude, but Hardwicke is not one those directors.  Red Riding Hood feels unbalanced and its stranger elements never feel organically blended into the larger narrative.  The result is an off-putting affair that owes more to Twilight than it does to the Brothers Grimm.

This weekend, audiences will have a choice among a diverse group of headliners: the sci-fi invasion epic Battle: Los Angeles, the animated alien abduction flick Mars Needs Moms, and, if you prefer werewolves over extraterrestrials, Red Riding Hood will be playing in your neck of the woods. Hit the jump to check out our coverage (including trailers and synopses) on these headliners as well as the limited releases 3 Backyards, Black Death, Certified Copy, Elektra Luxx, Jane Eyre, and Kill the Irishman.

In the mystery thriller Red Riding Hood, actor Shiloh Fernandez plays Peter, a poor woodcutter in the village of Daggerhorn, who is in love with the beautiful Valerie (Amanda Seyfried). However, Valerie’s parents (Billy Burke and Virginia Madsen) have arranged for her to marry Henry (Max Irons), the blacksmith son of the town’s wealthiest family. In love with him since she was very young, Valerie is not willing to be forcibly separated from Peter, and the two plan to run away together, until the village’s feared beast – the werewolf – takes the life of Valerie’s sister, changing their lives forever.

During the press day for the film, Shiloh Fernandez did this exclusive interview with Collider and talked about how he had wanted to work with Catherine Hardwicke since auditioning for Twilight and Hamlet, what it was like to work with Amanda Seyfried, and why he thinks fairy tales endure for generations. He also talked about working with Ashley Greene on Skateland (which opens in theaters in May), how he’d like to branch out and do a comedy like 21 Jump Street, for which he recently read the script, admitted that he would like to do a musical, and said he hopes to do a film that his friend, actor Thomas Dekker, will be directing. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

In the supernatural thriller Red Riding Hood, the people in the small village of Daggerhorn have maintained a decades long truce with the werewolf who prowls at every full moon, by offering the beast a monthly animal sacrifice, hoping that it will leave the people of the village alone. When the wolf takes the life of one of their own, the village goes into a panic and turns to famed werewolf hunter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) to kill the beast, once and for all. As the death toll rises and no one is above suspicion, everyone’s lives are quickly turned upside down and the population of the once close-knit village begins to turn on itself.

While at the press day for the film, director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) did this exclusive interview with Collider, where she talked about being a fan of this particular fairy tale since she was a little kid and would dress up like the character, the changes and tweaks that she made to the script once she signed on to be at the helm, how important it was to get the look of the red cape just right, and why she identifies so well with coming of age stories. She also talked about the development of Hamlet, Maximum Ride and Maze Runner, all of which she’s looking to make, at some point. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

With director Catherine Hardwicke’s (Twilight, Thirteen) thriller Red Riding Hood opening this weekend, I was able to speak with the cast as a reporter for our partner website Omelete.  In the film, Amanda Seyfried stars as Valerie, a beautiful young woman torn between a brooding outsider (Shiloh Fernandez) and the wealthy man of her parents’ dreams (Max Irons).  Unfortunately, one of them may be the wolf that terrorizes her village.   Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Virginia Madsen, and Julie Christie also star.  Watch some clips here.

During the interview, Seyfried talked about why she wanted to make Red Riding Hood, what kind of research she did into fairy tales, did she get to keep her costumes, what’s the last year been like for her as she’s been working constantly, and she talks about two upcoming projects: Heitor Dhalia’s Gone and Andrew Niccol’s Now.  Hit the jump to watch:

After writing the horror thriller Orphan for Appian Way, screenwriter David Johnson and that production company had been looking for another project they could do together. Then, he was approached by them with the idea of adapting the story of Red Riding Hood, which he turned into a mystery thriller and coming of age romance, with the fairy tale woven throughout. After finishing that project, he collaborated with Greg Berlanti and Dan Mazeau to develop the story and write the script for Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to the Greek mythology epic Clash of the Titans.

While at the press day for Red Riding Hood, helmed by Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke and starring Amanda Seyfried in the title role, David Leslie Johnson did this exclusive interview with Collider and talked about developing the well-known fairy tale into a full-length feature film, writing a mystery that creates doubt and paranoia for the audience, collaborating very intensely with Catherine Hardwicke on the script, and getting the chance to see what the sets looked like once the world was brought to life. He also talked about the unusual process of breaking the story for Wrath of the Titans, since they were under such a time crunch with it, using action to illuminate the characters, and getting to work with a blank slate, since there was no sequel to the myth of Perseus. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

Yesterday I got to speak with Gary Oldman for his new movie Red Riding Hood.  While I’ll have the full interview online very soon, I was able to get updates on Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises and director Tomas Alfredson’s (Let The Right One In) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

For those hoping that The Dark Knight Rises will be as awesome as The Dark Knight, Oldman (who plays Commissioner Gordon) told me that he’s spoken to Nolan about the story and calls it “fantastic.”  He then said, “You think you can’t top The Dark Knight and I think he may have.”

Regarding Alfredson’s follow up to Let The Right One In, Oldman said it’s probably the greatest role he’s ever played.  Which after looking at his amazing resume, is saying something.  The Cold War thriller centers on semi-retired agent George Smiley (Oldman) who is pulled out of semi-retirement to ferret out a Soviet mole within MI6.  The film has an impressive cast that also includes Oscar-winner Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt and Toby Jones.  Hit the jump to watch the interview:

Warner Bros. has sent over seven clips from director Catherine Hardwicke’s (Twilight, Thirteen) thriller Red Riding Hood. Amanda Seyfried (Letters to Juliet) stars as Valerie, a beautiful young woman torn between a brooding outsider (Shiloh Fernandez) and the wealthy man of her parents’ dreams (Max Irons).  Unfortunately, one of them may be the wolf that terrorizes her village.  (Such virility is a turn-on, but werewolves are notorious commitment-phobes.)  Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Virginia Madsen, and Julie Christie also star.  Hit the jump for the full synopsis and clips:

I can’t watch the trailer for Red Riding Hood without laughing.  It looks like a parody of a real movie with its overly sinister take on the Red Riding Hood fairy tale.  I know the Brothers Grimm’s original tales were dark, but you’re not going to turn “My, what big eyes you have,” into a chilling piece of horror dialogue.  While the story may turn out to be a problem, cinematographer Mandy Walker has done a solid job capturing the gothic tone that director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) wanted to convey.

Hit the jump to check out 43 images from the movie.  Red Riding Hood stars Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Shiloh Fernandez, Billy Burke, Virginia Madsen, and Julie Christie.  It opens March 11th.

With Patrick Lussier’s (My Bloody Valentine 3D) revenge thriller Drive Angry 3D getting released tomorrow, I was able to interview most of the cast at yesterday’s press junket.  Since we’ve been covering the film since its inception, most of you know it’s about a felon (Nicolas Cage) who is chasing the people who killed his daughter (Billy Burke) and kidnapped her baby. The vendetta/rescue spins out of control and the chase gets bloodier by the mile, leaving bodies everywhere.  Also in the film are Amber Heard, David Morse and William Fichtner.

Anyway, during my interview with Burke, we talked about his unique look in the film (long hair, black nail polish), filming in 3D, the action scenes, what did he do while in filming in Louisiana, and he also gave me small updates on Red Riding Hood and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn.  Hit the jump to watch: