The new movie "Margin Call," which opens in select cities today, centers on a 24-hour period in a Lehman Brothers-like firm that finds itself on the wrong side of some very bad investments. First time writer-director J. C. Chandor could have made an overblown movie a la Oliver Stone, with clear good guys and villains squaring off in dramatic monologues against the backdrop of Hamptons mansions and private jets. Instead, Chandor, who is the son of a Wall Street stockbroker, offers a much quieter, and, one surmises, realistic, take. The film takes place in the sterile halls and boardrooms of a Manhattan office building. The conversations are tense and hushed. No one is an overt villain, with one exception: Everyone approaches the crisis, which could be ruinous to millions, with a completely amoral logic.

Indie Roundup: 'The Skin I Live In' >>

The company's problem is discovered by Peter Sullivan (Zachery Quinto), a lowly risk analyst with a great head of hair. His discovery gets kicked

Why do Academy Awards get doled out to everybody in Hollywood except its hottest actors? A list of Oscar's biggest losers looks like a roster of its top matinee idols through screen history -- from Cary Grant, James Dean, Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson to Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp.

Studs have had a much better shot winning Oscars for working behind the camera -- as proven by Best Director victories by Robert Redford ("Ordinary People," 1980) and Warren Beatty ("Reds," 1981) among others

[ More From GoldDerby.com: Do the Oscars hate kids? ]

Measured by box office gold, Will Smith is the biggest star in Hollywood, but he's never earned academy gold.  Twice he was nominated (for "Pursuit of Happyness" in 2006 and "Ali" in 2001), but the Oscar has eluded Smith just as it has most of Hollywood's biggest male matinee idols.

Gorgeous women win Oscars all time (Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman), but when handsome studs come close to victory, they usually get slapped down by the

Photo by Anthony Behar/BravoGeorge Clooney is a respected actor, director, and activist. But he's also a born prankster. The star of "The Descendants" recently visited "Inside the Actors Studio," where he dished about his plans for pulling one over on his good friend and rival Brad Pitt.

In the clip, an audience member asks Clooney about some of his favorite pranks that he's pulled. Clooney says, "I'm a big believer in making (movie) sets fun ... I have done some horrible things to people. Truly, truly horrible. I'm working on one now for Brad Pitt. It might end his career." Clooney then added, "I owe him, so I'm getting him."

What did Pitt do to inspire such a revenge? We're not sure if this is the reason, but according to Matt Damon, while on the set of "Ocean's Twelve," Pitt constructed a fake memo and gave it to the Italian crew. The memoinstructed the crew not to look Clooney in the eye and only call him "Danny" or "Mr. Ocean." Clooney was apparently none too pleased.

George Clooney's bewildering Olympic

Cover courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter Brad Pitt has been mighty chatty lately, what with a lengthy Entertainment Weekly interview in September and now a one-on-one with the Hollywood Reporter. As Pitt faces 50 in less than two years, the Oscar-nominated actor has become more sanguine about opening up--and when he opens up, eye-opening details come pouring out about marriage, "Moneyball," and misery.

Pitt has actually brought up marriage talk with his famous partner of seven years, Angelina Jolie. Pitt dropped hints to Ellen DeGeneres and USA Today in September. "We'd actually like to," he tells the Hollywood Reporter, "and it seems to mean more and more to our kids. We made this declaration some time ago that we weren't going to do it 'til everyone can. But I don't think we'll be able to hold out. It means so much to my kids ... and it means something to me, too, to make that kind of commitment."

Glenn Close (Photo: Jeffrey Mayer, WireImage.com)Before Glenn Close was an award-winning actress, she was a member of a cult. The star, who was nominated today for a Best Actress Oscar for her cross-dressing role in "Albert Nobbs," a film that she also co-wrote and produced, had an unconventional childhood, to say the least.

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The Connecticut native's family decided to join the conservative organization Moral Re-Armament when she was just 7. She stayed for 15 years, finally touring with the musical arm of the group, Up With People, until she left at age 22 to go to college.

Let's face it: We kinda thought "War Horse" might get snubbed, but it landed in the best picture nine. OK, complete confession: I wanted it to be snubbed. But there it was.

That wasn't enough for Stevie Spielberg, movie god. He didn't get a best director nomination for "War Horse" -- and Marty got one for "Hugo." And, darn it, the Academy didn't even toss Spielberg his sure thing: best animated feature for "The Adventures of Tintin." I mean, can that man animate strands of hair or what? How did that make him feel?

[ More: Click for a full list of the nominees ]

Well, short. And overcompensating. So, suddenly, he's taking credit for "The Help." Did he direct it, write it, star in it, or bake a pie for it? No -- but DreamWorks produced it. Oh, girls, this is too much. Talk about taking lemons and turning them into Limoncello. Here's his official statement:

"I am thrilled with our multiple nominations for 'The Help' and 'War Horse.' It is the first time that I have experienced two best

Watch trailers and clips from "Midnight in Paris," nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

Watch the trailer and clips from "War Horse," nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture.