It seems that this is shaping up to be the Summer of the Cowboy! The video game, Red Dead Redemption has become a major sensation with even Rolling Stone proclaiming it as “the best movie of the year” — even though it’s a video game. “Red Dead Redemption” is the sequel to “Red Dead Revolver” and takes place in the Old West at the time things were changing over to the modern age.

“Red Dead Redemption” isn’t the only cowboy-themed media presentation that has been generating a lot of buzz. “Jonah Hex,” the supernatural/Wild West DC comic (now under the comic book publishing house’s “Vertigo” imprint) is now being made into a major motion picture scheduled for theatrical release on June 18, 2010. The film stars Josh Brolin as the title character, Jonah Hex, a seriously scarred bounty hunter in the Old West following the Civil War who must stop Quentin Turnbull, a wealthy plantation owner and terrorist from unleashing “Hell on Earth.” By his side is his right hand woman, a hooker with a heart of gold named Lilah, played by Megan Fox, dressed to the nines in skimpy saloon girl costumes throughout. You can check out the trailer for Jonah Hex right here.

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If you stayed until the ending credits of “Iron Man 2,” you got a glimpse of Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir in the desert. They didn’t say it was Thor’s hammer but longtime fans of Marvel comics know Thor’s magical weapon when they see it.

While it was a slightly predictable teaser with the new Thor movie coming out in 2011, it was pretty much a given that Marvel would throw in a plug for their next big franchise. And why not hype it up? The big-screen version of Thor looks pretty promising. Chris Hemsworth plays the title role of Thor, a Norse warrior god whose bull-headed actions spark an old war among the gods. As punishment, Thor’s father Odin (Anthony Hopkins} casts him down to Earth in the body of a disabled medical student by the name of Donald Blake. Blake eventually remembers that he is Thor and vows to protect mankind from his evil brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Along the way, he befriends a beautiful med student, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) who helps him in his quest.

The cast looks stellar and the possible new logo (see above) makes me think that Marvel is really taking this one seriously. No trailers for the new Thor movie are available just yet, but with San Diego Comic Con just around the corner, you just know Marvel will whip out the big guns and show us the goods in late July. So far, there’s just one image from the film available featuring Chris Hemsworth in full Thor regalia:

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Will costumes depicting cheating celebrities and their mistresses replace the classic pimp and ho costumes as the top skanky, campy costume idea for couples?

No one knows for sure, but the abundance of philandering celebrities making the headlines with their myriad of mistresses has been great costume fodder recently. Tiger Woods had at least 18 ladies. John Gosselin cheated on Kate Gosselin, leaving her along with their “plus eight” and to go “Dancing with the Stars”. And most recently, “Biker Build Off” and West Coast Choppers motorcycle entrepreneur, Jesse James cheated on his Oscar-winning wife, Sandra Bullock. Although Jesse James might not have racked up quite the tally that Tiger Woods had, his mistress, the heavily-tattooed fetish model, Michelle “Bombshell” McGee has become the female face of “the other woman” — complete with a “Pray For Us Sinners” tattoo inked on her forehead.

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Iron Man 2” released this week at the top of the box office. While it wasn’t as good as the first “Iron Man” flick, the sequel is definitely worth checking out and highly entertaining. As a self-proclaimed comic book nerd, I can appreciate so many cool details and nods to the “Iron Man” comic book and Marvel Universe in general. However, I thought they tried to cram too much into a single serving. There were multiple “villains” and a lot of plot twists (Stark trying to cheat death with the tech keeping him alive slowly killing him; the government trying to seize his Iron Man suit as a weapon; a romance gone awry with secretary-turned-CEO, Pepper Potts; and all of his bestest buddies seemingly turning against him) that seemed to overload the movie.

While the plot seems a bit overstuffed, the acting was awesome. As always, Robert Downey Jr. completely makes the role of Tony Stark his own. It’s unimaginable for anyone else to play Stark but Downey. He’s snarky and cocky, yet extremely likable as the billionaire inventor/superhero. Mickey Rourke doesn’t get as much screentime as previews would make you believe as Whiplash — alias, Ivan Vanko, the ornery Russian physicist whose inventor father got the shaft from Tony Stark’s pappy.

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Were you of the thousands who flocked to theatres to see the remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” this past weekend? If not, maybe you’re looking for a reason to see the flick or an unbiased opinion of how this remake stacks up to the original series.

For starters, it wasn’t the best remake, but it certainly wasn’t the worst. Thankfully, it was not a scene-for-scene remake and the writers attempted to add some new twists to the film. Unfortunately, some of those twists made the iconic character of Freddy Krueger very unlikeable. Jackie Earle Haley’s Krueger was EVIL. Great pains seemed to be taken to make Haley’s version of Freddy completely reprehensible. To be fair, 2010’s “Nightmare” didn’t say the “m-word,” but it was more explicitly implied that Fred Krueger was a child molester than the 1984 original. The newer film showed Freddy directly interacting with the kids at the preschool where he was a gardener/handyman, forging bonds of friendship with the kids and then betraying them with abuse. The scenes of child abuse were (mercifully) absent from the film, but it was much more implied than it ever was in the original.

Comparing Haley’s version of Krueger to original recipe, Robert Englund: Haley was just creepy and disturbing. There wasn’t anything likeable about his Freddy. He was just evil in the worst way. For instance, when he said to an adult Nancy “I’m your boyfriend now,” my skin crawled. Ick. However, when Robert Englund’s Freddy said it, I thought, “Yeah… Maybe you could be my boyfriend. You’re a little burnt up, but I can work with this.” Englund’s Freddy was much more charming. Villanous, but still charming He had what the kids today call “swagger.” Haley’s Krueger was just completely malevolent and creepy.

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With the new Iron Man 2 movie scheduled to blast its way into theatres on May 7, 2010 of course it means that new costumes will be accompanying the film. While snippets about the plot of the sequel have been leaked out, fans got a more fleshed-out image of things to come on Oscar night with an expanded trailer for “Iron Man 2.” The trailer (which can be seen here) gives fans a better look and understanding of some of the new characters featured in the film.

Having revealed his dual identity as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor/venture capitalist/playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) finds himself under pressure from both the government and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agency helmed by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to hand over the secrets of the high-tech armored suits he wears as Iron Man. Things get further complicated when he finds himself in the crosshairs of tattoed Russian ex-convict/inventor, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) who has used a Stark-like generator to power his own suit and brutal “light whip” weaponry to try to take down Stark.

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Tim Burton’s newest film, his interpretation of the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland, opened to record numbers at the box office this weekend, pulling in $41 million since Friday. Pretty impressive, considering critics have panned the flick.

Having seen it myself, the film certainly dispells the bad rap that critics have given it. I will fully admit that I’m a sucker for anything Tim Burton does (with the exception of the unforgivable Planet of the Apes remake), so bear in mind the review may be a bit biased. That said, while Alice in Wonderland isn’t my favorite Burton film by a longshot, it’s still a very good, very enjoyable film that adults and children can both enjoy. It’s not overly long and the scenery and CGI renderings of the fantastical world of Wonderland (or “Underland” as we learn it’s properly called) are beautiful to look at. The characters’ costumes also help to create the characters and striking visual images.

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He makes life-saving inventions out of household materials. He gets in and out of sticky situations. The guy’s a friggin’ genius! Of course, there’s only one man that we can be talking about: MacGruber.

A character designed as a parody of ’80s action-adventure show, MacGuyver, about a secret agent who could make any sort of weapon or create scientific inventions to save the day at the last minute out of any random object at hand, MacGruber is the latest Saturday Night Live character to find himself hitting the big screen.

Played by Will Forte, MacGruber is an ex-special ops man who is called back into action by the government. He assembles a crack team of freedom fighters (played mostly by such WWE wrestlers as Mark Henry, Chris Jericho, Kane, The Great Khali, and The Big Show) to take out a German supervillain, played by Val Kilmer.

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Are you one of the many people who saw James Cameron’s the sci-fi epic is so hum-drum and boring, officially licensed Avatar costumes are coming soon! A video circulating on YouTube (that has since been made “private”) was circulating, showing the costumes in their actual packaging. Given the success of Avatar (and the fact that sequels to the film have been planned), it’s a lock that these will be out in full-force by the time Halloween rolls around. When screen shots and the actual product has been released, CostumZee will be sure to have photos and info as to where you can buy them!

For now, Avatar fans will have to be content with concocting their own homegrown costumes. It’s not nearly as hard as it sounds. If you’ve been dying to figure out how to craft your own Na’vi look on your own without having to head to Pandora for a makeover, check out our step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own Na’vi Neytiri costume. While we used Neytiri as the basis for the costume and makeup, you can easily modify it to come up with your own favorite character — male or female — from the film.

Who would have thought that a reality show could make for such an abundance of great costume ideas?! Jersey Shore, the show that offended some Italian-Americans and a good chunk of New Jersey residents with its club-hopping and fist-pumping antics, has become a breakaway hit and has been renewed for a second season by its network, MTV, with the entire cast returning for another summer at the shore.

While it’s doubtful that MTV will come out with officially licensed Jersey Shore costumes (hey, stranger things have happened… Look at how long Ronnie and Sammi Sweetheart have lasted as a couple!), you can still dress up as your favorite characters from the show. Guys can skip the gym time and check out how to make a Mike “The Situation” costume with our simple tutorials. And ladies, you know you’ve been dying to know how you, too, can transform your blah, limp hair with a poof as perfect as Snooki’s if you check out our simple DIY how to make a Snooki costume. (Yes, there is a step-by-step walk-through on how to get your hair that high with teasing and getting that ultimate guidette eye makeup!

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