'Strangers' Sequel '2 Strange 2 Maskier' Gets Greenlight

First 'Burn After Reading' Reviews Suggest It's Either Brilliant Or Crap

With the exciting news that Brad Pitt has won his second best actor chalice today at the Venice Film Festival—for what the judging committee deemed his "indomitable spirit both on and off the screen, his effortless embodiment of the American masculine ideal, and the way sucking up to him will facilitate future access to his impossibly fertile and glamorous life partner, Angelina Jolie"—we thought it time to finally time to take a look at the movie which ushered him to victory. We speak, of course, of the Coen brothers' Burn After Reading, which had its world premiere tonight at the festival. If Pitt, as Javier Bardem did before him, could win top accolades with a hairstyle this ridiculous looking, then this truly must have been another masterwork from the sibling geniuses. Let's see what the critics are saying. (And yes, spoilers ensue.)

· The Guardian uses the word "triumph" and gives it four stars out of five, calling it "a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy that couldn't be in bigger contrast" to No Country for Old Men, but that the Coens film it most closely resembles is "the divorce-lawyer comedy Intolerable Cruelty." Everyone gets a chance to shine comically, but "Pitt, in fact, gets the best of the funny stuff, [though] has by some way the least screen time of all the principal cast." [The Guardian]

Need a New Car? Let George Clooney Hit You From Behind

Though he can usually be found perched upon his yacht in the still, blue waters of Lake Como, even a movie star like George Clooney must occasionally climb inside a car like a common plebe. When he does, accidents happen (though none on the level of Ocean's Twelve), and they could happen to you — that is, if you're an unnamed woman in Pennabilli, Italy. According to Showbiz Spy, Clooney recently rear-ended the woman (ahem) and he made it up to her in a major way:

George Clooney To Explore His High-Minded Side In Terrorism Drama

· George Clooney gets back to what he does best—terrorism, law firms, and car explosions—by buying the rights to The Challenge, a book about the trial of Osama bin Laden's bodyguard and driver. [Variety]
· Tom Cruise is close to signing on for the lead in The Tourist, a Spyglass remake of 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer, about an American abroad made the patsy to flush out a master criminal. Cruise would play the patsy. [Variety]
· Las Vegas parking lot nuisance and prematurely ejected HBO head Chris Albrecht has left his job at IMG sports and entertainment management after just one year of a three-year contract. A "terse" statement blamed an inability to "raise substantial funds." [Variety]
· Chick-flick-plundering network ABC follows up their pilot-order of a The Witches of Eastwick series with another for a show inspired by Maid In Manhattan. [THR]
· Lionsgate has purchased scripts from screenwriting duo Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain for Conan and Amazon, with Scarlett Johansson attached to star in the latter. Open casting call for 3-foot-tall mainland extras to follow. [THR]

George Clooney Latest Obama Ally to Face Charges of Improper Text-Messaging

Signore Clooney, Signore Clooney! Stop, Please Check Out My Spec Script!

Scar-Jo Blames Her Ladyparts For Spurring Obama Email Frenzy

Now that Scarlett Johansson is finally hitting the road to stump for the upcoming Vicky Cristina Barcelona, reporters have seized on the opportunity to ask her about the important man in her life. No, not her fiancé Ryan Reynolds — we're talking about presidential candidate/father figure Barack Obama. You may recall how the actress made headlines back in June for discussing her email relationship with Obama, a sexy media fantasy that titillated reporters before the Obama campaign itself debunked it. Now, Johansson is claiming that the whole affair got too much attention because of the media's "extreme sexism":

"I kept thinking to myself, 'God, if this was just, like, Kal Penn or George Clooney, or any of the other [Obama] surrogates or supporters ... there wouldn't be [any] question about it," the actress, 23, tells the Associated Press. "Nobody would even talk about it."

George Clooney Preaches 'Safety First' Aboard His Yacht

George Clooney, Unsexiest Dancer Alive

Matt Damon's Weight Gain Puts Him In The Running For 'Sexiest Schlub Alive'

From High Atop His Lake Como Villa, George Clooney Preaches Solidarity In Looming SAG Non-Crisis

Like clusters of onlookers awaiting the Vatican smoke signals that announce a new pope, all of Hollywood stirred abuzz today learning that George Clooney would finally weigh in with a letter addressing the conflict between SAG and AFTRA. And weigh in he... didn't, instead choosing a neutral stand essentially saying everyone's right and would they please just sit down and try hammering out something constructive for once? Seriously, folks:

At the risk of being yet another actor giving his opinion about the ongoing fight between SAG and AFTRA, I'm hoping that there might be a way out of this. Rather than pitting artist against artist, maybe we could find a way to get what both unions are looking for.

Clooney Sells Showtime On A Suicide Comedy

Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks Ready to Join Other Hollywood Players Outsourced to India

Months of speculation over whom DreamWorks might be courting to help underwrite its ugly exit from Viacom ended late Tuesday when The Wall Street Journal reported that Reliance ADA Group, a massive Indian conglomerate, is close to sinking $500 million to $600 million into Steven Spielberg's breathless bid for autonomy. As presumed, the deal would expedite David Geffen's eventual departure from the DreamWorks fold and allow Spielberg to keep the DreamWorks name, if not the projects currently in development with Paramount/Viacom — alas, Transformers 2 stays behind. CEO and Spielberg right hand Stacey Snider would follow as well.

The rest of the picture is still taking shape, but after the jump we have a few educated guesses as to where things might land — and it looks curiously like Bollywood.

Olivia Munn And Boatload Of B-List Castaways Rescued Off Lake Como By George Clooney

If you, like us, were beside yourselves with worry when National Wiener-Biting Champ [NSFW] Olivia Munn abruptly announced she would be taking some time off from her co-hosting duties on Attack of the Show!, we can offer by way of comfort the above recent photo. We assumed correctly that she was in Europe—only where we thought she'd be found in the tiny German town of Osendorf in Land Sachsen-Anhalt, where the World Wiener-Biting Championships are held every June, she was instead spotted in a small boat on Italy's Lake Como, accompanied by boyfriend and October Road star Bryan Greenberg, trash TV veteran Tate Donovan, and a third, unidentified brunette we'll refer to as Signorina X. All, it turns out, were guests of Lake Como's most famous resident, George Clooney, who'd later invite them to dry their garments on a medieval sock-toaster and retire to Villa Oleandra's dedicated pizza room for an anchovy-and-burrata pie so transcendent, none would ever again question the existence of God.

[Photo: Bauer-Griffin]

• Ocean's two: George Clooney messes about on the water with a pair of beautiful brunettes [dailymail.co.uk]

The Old Clooney And The Sea

Unencumbered By Boob-Job Drama, George Clooney Mulls His Next Step

· Warner Bros. is developing the spy thriller novel The Tourist as a potential George Clooney vehicle which will explode in the first reel and set the entire plot in motion. What about the goat movie? When does that one come out? [Variety]
· The WGA will hold a referendum next month to simplify its credit procedures, hopefully eliminating screenwriter name-gumbo like this. [Variety]
· If you're currently in production, we hope you're shooting in Waiverland, as SAG head Alan Rosenberg doubts any agreement will be reached by the deadline date of June 30. [Variety]
· Jack Black has dropped out of Borat-writer/director Todd Phillips's Man-Witch, a movie about a man who's a witch, supposedly because Black is concerned Phillips will shoot another movie called Hangover, about a bachelor party who wakes up in Vegas and realizes they lost the groom, first. May the best wacky premise win! [THR]
· Universal buys a comedy spec called Raindrops All Around Me, about "a socially inept high school teacher who learns to 'dumb it down' in order to fit in with the people around him." Said a Universal rep, "We think after a few more drafts to broaden the humor, Middle America will really eat this up!" [THR]

Clooney Super Fan Almost Finished With 'Women Of Clooney' Scrapbook

Boob-Job Shocker! Model/Escort Sarah Larson May Have Opted To Surgically Increase Chest Size!

In a breaking celebrity-dumpee cup-enlargement stunner, In Touch Weekly is reporting that Sarah Larson, the woman who spent one year as George Clooney's girlfriend before being unceremoniously relieved of all arm-candy-tendering services, was actually recovering from breast enhancement surgery when she received the life-changing news. They report:

George Clooney broke up with his model girlfriend, Sarah Larson, shortly after she had a breast augmentation in mid-May. Was surgery the final straw in their already fractured relationship?