Jim Carrey’s career has been on the upswing lately. From hitting with the success of Yes Man to playing just about every character in Disney’s A Christmas Carol, he’s had a good year, and he plans to continue that with the new comedy I Love You Philip Morris.

From the writing/directing team of John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (Bad Santa, Bad News Bears), the film stars Carrey as Steven Russel, a conman who recently discovers his own homosexuality. Russel gets incarcerated for his crime and meets Philip Morris (Ewan McGregor), who he then falls in love with. Things then become zany as the film turns the Romantic Comedy on it’s head.

The movie will most certainly turn heads, as this is one of the first mainstream comedies to boast the flamboyancy of male homosexuality (outside of I Love You Man dancing around the subject). Lots of interesting tones that the film deals with, which you can catch a glimpse of in the trailer after the jump.

I Love You Philip Morris also stars Leslie Mann, and is hitting a theater near you on March 26th.

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“More of this is true than you’d believe” –opening credits for  The Men Who Stare At Goats. Irreverent, sarcastic, and funny as hell, The Men Who Stare At Goats is based on a non-fiction book by Jon Ronson. Ronson is a journalist who stumbled upon a secret military group that was formed in 1979 specifically to harness paranormal and psychic powers to use in warfare. The men in this group were training to become “psychic warriors” who could walk through walls, read thoughts, and kill someone just by staring at them.

Ewan McGregor plays Ronson in the movie. His wife has just left him (for his one-armed boss), and he has no sense of purpose. He goes to interview a man who claims that he used  to be in  a psychic military unit. His story is so crazy that Ronson writes him off as being a kook. He decides to go to the Middle East to cover the Gulf War, partly to impress his ex-wife, and partly because he has nothing to lose.

Upon arrival, he runs into Lyn Cassady (George Clooney) who just happens to be one of the people mentioned by name by the crazy man he just interviewed in the states. Astonished by the coincidence, he starts tagging along with Lyn pleading with him to tell the truth about whether he was in the secret unit. Bit by bit, Lyn tells the story (through flashbacks) of the formation and eventual disintegration of the military unit known as the “New Earth Army” in military circles.  The story finally leads up to what Lyn is doing in the Middle East.

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The new biopic Amelia stars two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank as the aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. Often remembered more for her mysterious disappearance than her aerial accomplishments, the new movie tries to steer focus back to her highly publicized, if short lived career as a professional female pilot. Only eight years after the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote, Earhart burst onto the public radar in 1928 by being the first women to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming an instant celebrity. Just nine years later, on July 2, 1937 while attempting to circumnavigate the globe, her plane disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, giving birth to several theories and myths regarding her death.

Directed by Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake) Amelia is a visual feast, as expected by a director that seems to delight in filming rich colors and textures—the only thing Vanity Fair had going for it was the exquisite Indian-influenced production design, while Monsoon Wedding, a personal favorite, burst with it’s saturated color choices. What impressed me the most was the aerial footage, vast and luscious and beautifully shot, they transported the audience and inviting us to experience the wonder and infatuation Earhart must have felt while in the cockpit.

Watching the film, you GET why Earhart risked her life and spent a fortune financing her voyages. At a time when women were barely able to work outside of the home, she was sailing through the sky (phenomenon that is viewed more as a tedious hassle by modern day travelers, than the improbable feat it actually is) and accomplishing feats that only a few men had successfully done before her.

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For those unaware about this film, but intrigued by the title; you’re in luck. The premise is a bit bizarre, and supposedly based on a true story in which reporter Bob Wilton, played by Ewan McGregor, is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental government program that trains psychics.

Originally based on the book by Jon Ronson, the film was adapted for the screen by writer Peter Straughan (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People) and directed by actor-turned-writer-turned-director Grant Heslov, who penned Good Night and Good Luck. The film has the same feel as Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind or even Burn After Reading in it’s ability to stay quirky and funny. The cast also includes Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, J.K. Simmons, and Robert Patrick.

Check out the trailer after the jump. The Men Who Stare at Goats hits theaters on November 6th.

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