Fox Searchlight has released the first trailer for director Alexander Payne's adaptation of The Descendants, Payne's first feature-length directorial effort since 2004's Sideways.

Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants stars George Clooney as a father who tries to reconnect with his daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) after his wife suffers a boating accident and he discovers she has been having an affair.

The story seems perfect for Payne, who has successfully mixed humor and pathos into past projects like Sideways, About Schmidt and Election. Payne wrote the script along with Nat Faxon (Beerfest). The Descendants co-stars Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, and Matthew Lillard.

One of the best-reviewed movies to debut at the currently-ongoing Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is the comedy-drama The Descendants, co-writer (with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) and director Alexander Payne's long-awaited follow-up to Sideways (2004). Based on the book of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings, the movie stars George Clooney as a wealthy land baron living in Hawaii who tries to reconnect with his daughters after his wife slips into a coma following a boating accident. The talk coming out of TIFF is that The Descendants is "a major Oscar contender," with one reviewer describing it as "a sweet tender movie that never lunges for the heart-strings" and trumpeting Clooney's performance as "one of the best" of his career.

Even if you weren't able to make the trip to Toronto, you can still get a sneak peek at what everyone is talking about by reading the informative TIFF "Programmer's Note" on The Descendants and watching the two new preview clips that have just been made available online.

A new theatrical poster and trailer have been released online for one of the best-reviewed movies to debut at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, director Alexander Payne's long-awaited follow-up to Sideways, The Descendants. Based on the book of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings, The Descendants stars George Clooney as Matt King, a wealthy Hawaiian land baron who is forced to re-examine his life and his relationship with his daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) after his wife (Patricia Hastie) slips into a coma following a tragic boating accident off of Waikiki and he learns that she had been having an affair with a young real estate broker (Matthew Lillard).

The Oscars are still months away, but that doesn't mean we don't already have a surprisingly good idea what voters will be picking. A few of these pictures have already been released, but as usual most of the real front-runners have been kept for the final weeks of the year. The assumption is that voters usually choose whatever happened to be the last flick they saw in theaters (which, sadly, seems to be true in quite a few cases). The expanded Academy Awards Best Picture category once again means that up to 10 movies may be nominated.

We've made our predictions about which 10 movies will get Best Picture nominations, and ordered the list by likelihood of winning. We also pick five more that we think won't quite make the cut.

see our Best Picture Oscar predictions >>

Actor Matthew Lillard first sprang to national attention with his performance in the 1996 horror movie Scream, but is now more well-known as Shaggy to children who seen him play the character in the 2002 live-action adaptation Scooby-Doo and its 2004 sequel or heard him provide the voice of Shaggy in several direct-to-DVD cartoon movies.

Lillard's latest role is in the upcoming comedy-drama The Descendants, which stars George Clooney as a father of two girls living in Hawaii who has to re-examine his life after he discovers his comatose wife has been having an affair with a local real estate agent (Lillard). In an interview with Black Book, Lillard revealed that the part did not come by easily. "It was an audition," Lillard admitted. "Nobody ever comes to me. Nobody in the history of filmmaking has ever gone, ‘You know who we need for this? Matt Lillard.'"

The Descendants, which originally opened in only five theaters in New York and L.A., expanded into a wider release just this week. It is currently in over 425 theaters nationwide and a new international trailer has recently been released.

Because the movie doesn't arrive in international markets until January, this new trailer is probably intended to serve double duty. It will get the attention of an international audience, but also will be a nice reminder to American moviegoers who read rave reviews for the flick weeks ago, but have only recently have had the opportunity to actually go see it. The new trailer features a lot of voice over by George Clooney and a focus on the family drama at the center of the flick.

The Independent Spirit Awards nominations are out and guess who isn't pleased?

With silent movie The Artist and apocalyptic drama Take Shelter receiving the bulk of the nominations, including Best Feature (along with cancer comedy 50/50, father-son drama Beginners, noir thriller Drive, and family dramedy The Descendants), director Kevin Smith questioned why his horror movie Red State got completely snubbed. Smith took his complaint to his Twitter, where he called out the Spirit Awards for ignoring his cast.

The Hollywood Foreign Press was seemingly nostalgic this morning, handing out six nominations to the black-and-white silent movie The Artist. Tying for second place with five Golden Globe nods each are The Help and The Descendants. Top nominees in the TV categories include new shows Homeland (with best actor, actress, and drama series nods) and New Girl.

In one of the funnier moments, Woody Harrelson — who announced the nominations along with Gerard Butler, Sofia Vergara, and Rashida Jones — used the airtime to plug his upcoming police drama. Pausing after reading the best dramatic movie list he said, "Rampart... opens January 27, but I don't see it on the list here."

The 69th Golden Globe Awards ceremony will be held January 15 and broadcast on NBC. Morgan Freeman is scheduled to receive the Cecil B. Demille Lifetime Achievement Award. Tune in to Hollywood Dailies for full coverage of the upcoming awards show, as well as the full red carpet season.

The Hollywood Foreign Press spread the love around at tonight's Golden Globe Awards. With three awards, The Artist lead the night. The Descendants and Homeland tied for second place, with two awards each. The biggest honor of the night, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, was presented to Morgan Freeman by Sidney Poitier and Helen Mirren.

Don't miss our special edition of Hollywood Dailies tomorrow at 7:30 PM ET (4:30 PM PT), where we'll take a look at the Golden Globes best moments. It's preceded by Fashion Fanatics at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT, where our panel of celebrity style experts (Alicia Davis, Kym Douglas, Michael O'Connor, Sam Saboura) review the best and worst dressed at the 2012 Golden Globes. Dayna Devon hosts the special. Reelz is Dish 299, DirecTV 238, and available on your cable system.

Back by popular demand, Billy Crystal... And our Academy Awards BINGO. Print out a set for your Oscar party and watch as they enliven your living room. Use them as a way to ignore that friend who saw only two movies in 2011 (X-Men: First Class and Harry Potter) yet has an opinion on every movie up for best picture. We can’t guarantee every one of these events will happen, but we have a sneaking suspicion you won’t have much difficulty using these cards for a game of Blackout BINGO.

Get the 10 BINGO Cards + Markers >>

Just in time to help you make those picks in your office Oscar pool, Reelz movie expert Richard Roeper is here with his predictions in all 24 Academy Award categories — including the more obscure sound mixing and best documentary — in one race-to-the-finish clip. After that check out his more detailed looks at the Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories and the odds-on favorites in each.