Elizabeth

In the days leading up until the Oscars, I'll be featuring the nominees in the various visual categories. This week, I'll be looking at the nominees for Best Costume Design. We've already taken a look at the costumes in Across the Universe, Atonement, La Vie en Rose, and Sweeney Todd. As a final treat, check out the breathtaking creations from Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

Of all the nominees in this category, this movie provides the most stunningly impressive costumes. The first Elizabeth movie also earned an Oscar nomination in 1999, but ultimately lost out to Shakespeare in Love. For a second time, costume designer Alexandra Byrne has dazzled moviegoers with her lush fabrics and vibrant colors to create the regal fashions of the times. I wasn't a big fan of Elizabeth: The Golden Age overall, but these costumes are magnificent. The brilliant colors and pleasing shapes — especially when paired with Elizabeth's pale skin and bright red hairpieces — look good enough to eat. Byrne truly made creations fit for a queen.

Many more images to ogle from Elizabeth: The Golden Age if you read more

Cate Blanchett, in some of the most sumptuous costumes and outrageous hairpieces, can do her best to growl and roar through this follow-up to the 1998 soapy historical piece Elizabeth, but unfortunately she can't save the faulty script and sloppy pacing that is The Golden Age. This is a shame because the more Blanchett and her equally amazing costars (Clive Owen, Geoffry Rush, Abbie Cornish) plunge into this material with all they've got, trying to compensate for the film's many flaws, the more the movie veers into camp. Thus, the mediocrity of this Elizabeth sequel is not Elizabeth's fault. It's everything else, from the uneven direction to the eye-rollingly preposterous "history lite" storylines.

Taking place 27 years into Queen Elizabeth's reign, she is, technically speaking, 52 years old, though you certainly wouldn't know if from looking at the lovely, spry Blanchett. There is a lot going on in Elizabeth's life which starts to resemble a tangled web of melodrama, not unlike an episode of The Young and the Restless. The Queen is now dealing with both a jealous Mary Queen of Scots (Samantha Morton) and a righteous King Philip II of Spain (Jordi Mollà). Add to this mix the roguish explorer Walter Raleigh who needs the Queen's support to continue his expeditions and you've got yourself a slushy spittoon of fantasy/history. To see what I mean, read more

As we ease into October I've been thinking a lot about Halloween and the idea of costuming and masquerade. Many people gain inspiration for Halloween costumes from the clothing they find in movies. For this week's Buzzworthy challenge, let's take a look at those movies that feature some of the best costumes ever. They can be Oscar winners, like Amadeus or Lord of the Rings, or just movies where you admired the costumes, like Elizabeth or even Clueless.

Team members KerryG and tdamji already got us started a while ago by bookmarking a ton of movies with great costumes, so check out their picks, second the ones you also love, and add your own!

Just use Buzzsugar's cool bookmarking tool to bookmark your favorite costume flicks online and tag them with the phrase costume movies. I'll post some readers' picks here next week.

You can also now make a list of your picks. Here are mine:

Why you should watch this trailer for Elizabeth: The Golden Age

1. Cate Blanchett
2. Clive Owen
3. It looks gorgeous

This long-awaited sequel to the 1998 Elizabeth, which was also led by Blanchett's forceful presence, will premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September as their Gala presentation, which is the festival's highest-profile slot. This chapter of Elizabeth's story follows the queen's relationship with Sir Walter Raleigh (Owen), among other highly dramatic things. The movie is in wide release October 12, but to experience this just-released trailer in the meantime, read more