The awards given out by professional guilds certainly add to the undeniable and ongoing hoopla of awards season, but they don't necessarily have that teleprompter-reading, what-are-you-wearing public spectacle of the Oscars or the Golden Globes.  Instead, they often provide an opportunity for the sort of work that doesn't get recognized at the big ceremonies to feel special.

The freshly-announced nominees for excellence in wardrobe as chosen by the Costume Designers Guild are good examples.  The nominations are divided into three categories separating period, fantasy, and contemporary films.  While the nominees include movies that are sure to be on the list for Best Picture, such as The Artist and The Descendants, there's also room for the outstanding work of Sammy Sheldon on X-Men: First Class, Jany Temime on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Erin Benach on Drive. 

Legendary visual effects designer John Dykstra is best known for his work on Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the two films that began those beloved franchises, respectively. But Dykstra has also worked on several films adapted from comic books including Batman Forever and Batman and Robin with director Joel Schumacher, as well as Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 with director Sam Raimi. Not to mention his work on other popular films such as Caddyshack, Stuart Little, Hancock, Inglorious Basterds, and the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. So it only makes sense that when 20^th Century Fox decided to make a prequel to their ridiculously popular X-Men franchise, X-Men: First Class … they called him.

The film, which was released this summer to rave reviews has gone on to earn over $352 million worldwide and was released on Blu-ray and DVD last week Friday. I recently had a chance to briefly speak with John Dykstra about X-Men: First Class, his history with super hero related films, the challenges of making this movie, and collaborating with director Matthew Vaughn and producer Bryan Singer. Here is what he had to say:

At the young age of twenty-one actor Lucas Till has already compiled an impressive resume of film work in movies such as Walk the Line, Hanna Montana: The Movie, The Spy Next Door, and Battle: Los Angeles. But it was his role as the energy-wielding mutant Havok in this past summer’s hit super hero film X-Men: First Class that has put the talented actor in the spotlight.

In the movie, which is a prequel to the original series, Till plays Alex Summers, the brother of X-Men leader Scott Summers (Cyclops), who was played by actor James Marsden in the first three films. While Havok was mostly portrayed as a hero in the comics there has always been an edge to the character and he quite often bumps heads with his older brother. In X-Men: First Class, Alex Summers is recruited by a young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) to join his team of heroic mutants along with Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Beast (Nicolas Hoult), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), and Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones). The movie was directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) and based on a story by executive producer Bryan Singer who directed the first two films in the franchise. So far the film has gone on to earn over $350 million worldwide.

Lauren Shuler Donner has produced some of the most beloved films of the last thirty years including Mr. Mom, St. Elmo’s Fire, Dave, Free Willy, and You’ve Got Mail. But to comic book fans around the world she will always be remembered as the woman that successfully ushered the X-Men on to the silver screen.

Beginning with X-Men in 2000, Donner has produced every one of Fox’s mutant themed films including X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In addition, she recently reunited with Bryan Singer (director of the first two movies), and Matthew Vaughn (who almost directed the third) to make X-Men: First Class, a prequel to the long running franchise. X-Men: First Class tells the story of how Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) first met, and includes surprise cameos from Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) and Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), which helped to solidify the film’s place in the overall franchise. The film opened this summer to glowing revues and so far has earned over $350 million worldwide at the box office.

Earlier this summer, we brought you news of a rumor that DreamWorks was already planning a sequel to their upcoming remake of the ‘80s horror film Fright Night, which doesn’t even open until this Friday, August 19^th. Supposedly, the sequel would feature David Tennant’s character, Las Vegas illusionist Peter Vincent, in a new city fighting vampires and other supernatural creatures. The rumor also mentioned the return of Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s “Evil” Ed Thompson in some capacity.

This morning, IAR’s Jordan DeSaulnier had a chance to speak with Fright Night screenwriter Marti Noxon and took the opportunity to ask her about the rumor of a possible sequel already being in the works. Noxon would not confirm that plans for a sequel are on the way but she did say that the chances of a second chapter are dependent on the film’s commercial performance this weekend. “It all depends on how the movie does,” she said.

This afternoon, I had a chance to speak with actor Christopher Mintz-Plasse myself and I decided to ask him about the rumor of a possible sequel and what he knows about the project. “I haven’t heard about that actually,” confessed Mintz-Plasse. I followed up by explaining to the actor the rumored plot for the film and asked him if that was something that he would be interested in taking part in. “I love Tennant, and I think he kills in this movie,” he said. “I would love to do a sequel with him but I haven’t heard about that yet.” Finally, the actor had this to say on the matter. “So we’ll see what happens but if it does well they’re going to want to do a sequel and I would definitely do it again.”

One of the many pleasant surprises in Matthew Vaughn's prequel X-Men: First Class earlier this summer was Kevin Bacon's turn as arch-villain Sebastian Shaw.  From his first scene as a Nazi scientist, Bacon hits exactly the right tone as a Bond-style baddie who toots around in  swankily-decorated nuclear submarine.  The actor also recently played less-than-loveable figures in Super and this weekend's Crazy, Stupid, Love., so it's not hugely surprising that he's currently in final negotiations to play the bad guy in R.I.P.D., the supernatural action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges.

Not many directors can successfully carry the marketing of a major summer movie without recognizable stars, an identifiable source material, or even a clear concept.  Though it is only his third feature film, Super 8 was sold principally as collaboration between writer-director JJ Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg, whose early films served as inspiration for the would-be blockbuster.  The nostalgic adventure opened with an estimated $37.0 million in receipts.  This is not the huge take that would necessarily be expected from a Spielberg-Abrams joint, but it does exceed last week's less-than-stellar expectations.

The fifth entry of the theatrical X-Men franchise was the only major new release this weekend, but despite that, some box office forecasters predicted that X-Men: First Class would finish its first weekend behind last weekend's juggernaut The Hangover Part II.  Alas, the mutant prequel debuted in first place, with The Hangover Part II dropping substantially after its huge opening and Kung Fu Panda 2 also seeing its audience dwindle considerably.  First Class's estimated haul of $56 million is being interpreted as a disappointment by some, but context is crucial.

To comic book fans everywhere Wednesdays mean one-thing … new comics! So in honor of that, every week we will spotlight one classic comic book cover that has impacted the industry, pop culture and our lives in a super-powered way!

This week, with the highly anticipated X-Men prequel, X-Men: First Class opening on Friday, I thought it would be an excellent time to look back at a classic cover from the comic’s long and distinguished publication. Since the new movie will feature the introduction of the classic villains The Hellfire Club for the first time in the film franchise’s history, I decided to choose a cover from writers Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s classic run on the series. So this week we will be examining John Byrne and Terry Austin’s classic 1980 cover of Uncanny X-Men #132.

Are you going to judge that movie based on the trailer? That's such Trailer Talk!

Check out this weekly round up of opinions on our featured movie's trailer from some of the hottest talents entertainment, sports, and music.

This week we take a look at X-Men: First Class.