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We're told at the beginning of The Men Who Stare at Goats that "more of this is true than you would believe." But the story of the U.S. Army's attempts to harness psychic powers to create super-soldiers is so bizarre it almost HAS to be true, in accordance with the "how could anyone make this up?" principle. In fact, I believe more of this admittedly fictionalized story than I do of The Fourth Kind, which claims to be 100 percent true. Surely there's a lesson in there.

Based on Jon Ronson's nonfiction book, The Men Who Stare at Goats stars Ewan McGregor as Bob Wilton, a journalist covering the Iraq War in 2003. Bob meets a man named Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), a private contractor with an unusual past: He claims to have worked for the government as a psychic spy. Bob once met a man, back home in Michigan (played by Stephen Root), who made the same claims, and who named Lyn Cassady as one of his colleagues.

You can see why the military would be interested in psychic spying. Surveillance is a lot less dangerous when you can do it entirely with your mind, rather than having to actually sneak up and eavesdrop on people. And if we could harness things like telekinesis, well, forget about it! We'd beat the Russkies for sure!

In the 2007 awards season, Fox Searchlight had two strong films in the mix with Juno and The Savages, and then in 2008, they dominated with Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler. As many other indie arms were folding (Paramount Vantage, Warner Independent, Picturehouse), Searchlight managed to keep things up on their end.

2009, however, hasn't been so kind to them. January's Notorious didn't do bad actually, though March's Miss March was indeed D.O.A. June's My Life in Ruins similarly underperformed, while July's Adam failed to catch on as that same month's (500) Days of Summer had. Post Grad was dumped in the doldrums of August, while Whip It failed to find a crowd in October.

Cut to now: Amelia has been effectively neutered as a ready-made Oscar contender, while Gentlemen Broncos (from the director of Napoleon Dynamite, which did particularly well for the same studio) is being pulled from wider release after this weekend after posting modest numbers on two screens and earning savage reviews for the most part.

With Miramax also facing tough times, it's a shame to see studios like these have an off-year, though there's time for a turn-around yet so far as Searchlight is concerned. Summer's summer release means the timing could work out to earn a push for Original Screenplay as a happy-go-lucky alternate to many dour contenders. This month's similarly light Fantastic Mr. Fox is an Animated Feature candidate at the very least, and -- according to THR -- the Jeff Bridges drama Crazy Heart is getting a last-minute test run of sorts at the moment to see if it can merit a move to be positioned for this year's race instead of next year's.

Click below to view the full versions of all posters

Cinematical has just received these four exclusive character posters for The Men Who Stare at Goats, which hits theaters this Friday, November 6th. And yes, we freely admit that it sorta freaks us out to see four dudes eerily staring down goats in the above (and below) posters, partly because we never ever thought we'd be premiering posters that feature George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey all staring at goats, but also because, well, Spacey looks like he wants to make out with the animal.

Based on the book by Jon Ronson and directed by Grant Heslov, The Men Who Stare At Goats follows a reporter (Ewan McGregor) who stumbles across a fantastical story about a secret unit in the US military that employs paranormal powers in their missions. Reviewing the film from Fantastic Fest, Cinematical's William Goss called it "unpredictable" and "amusing", and after you scope out the four character posters below, feel free to check out the trailer after the jump.

It's impossible to top an icon like John Wayne, but the Coen Bros' True Grit is shaping up to have a better supporting cast than the original did. (Hey, Wayne supposedly didn't like Kim Darby either.) Variety has just announced that Matt Damon and Josh Brolin are in talks to join Jeff Bridges in the Coens' remake.

Bridges will play Rooster Cogburn, while Damon is in talks to play La Boeuf, the Texas Ranger who pairs up with Cogburn and Mattie. I'll probably anger the Glen Campbell fans out there, but I think this is a vast improvement over the original casting. I can actually buy Damon as a Texas Ranger.

Brolin will be taking a walk on the nasty side, as he'll be playing Tom Chaney, the man who gunned Mattie's father down for the gold he had in his saddlebag. While Chaney wasn't the most pleasant fellow in the original, there's no doubt that Brolin will increase the menace and nastiness. I think we can all agree Brolin has done no wrong since his No Country For Old Men comeback, and this is the kind of role that'll be delicious to watch him tear into. The film is set to go into production in March 2010, and the Coens won't waste any time in the editing room as it's slated to be released in late 2010.

War, as they say, is hell. So what's to be said of peace, of employing any and all means necessary to avert violence instead of propagating it? If The Men Who Stare at Goats is to believed, the forces of peace are crazy and covert and even at war with themselves, and if fellow Fantastic Fest attendees are to believed, it's at best a loose adaptation of journalist Jon Ronson's truly remarkable true-life tale.

After all, Ronson from Wales is now Bob Wilton from Ann Arbor (as played by Scotland's own Ewan McGregor), a journalist newly keen on covering the Iraq invasion after a cheating missus robs him of a purpose and a place to call his own. While waiting in Kuwait for a story, any story, he bumps into Lyn Cassady (George Clooney), who is not the contractor he says to be, but rather a man on a mission, and sensing a story, any story, Wilton decides to tag along...

Rooster Cogburn will abide, if the Coen Bros, Jeff Bridges, and Paramount come to terms. Variety reports that Bridges and the Coens are in talks for Bridges to play the iconic Rooster Cogburn in the Coen Bros' remake of True Grit. It would be their first collaboration since The Big Lebowski.

When the True Grit remake was first announced, the Coens were said to be making a more faithful adaptation of Charles Portis' novel, and it seemed like it might head into darker No Country for Old Men territory. But the book features a lot of deadpan humor mixed with Old Testament lessons, and if they stick to it for the script, it'll play to their talents extremely well.

At first glance, Bridges seems a pretty offbeat choice for Rooster Cogburn. But having just rewatched the John Wayne original last week, I think it might just be casting heaven. Rooster is a killer, but he's also a fall down drunk, full of sarcastic quips, and surprisingly tender-hearted. He's far from the typical stoic John Wayne character, and it was a bigger departure for Wayne than I had remembered. Bridges would be a perfect choice for blending the rugged charm, the humor, and the "true grit" of Rooster, and he's talented enough to not just play it as an imitation, but make it iconic on its own. If this comes together, it's one remake that could actually equal or outdo the original.

Just the other day, we debuted the sour-faced poster for The Open Road -- a road trip movie starring Justin Timberlake, Jeff Bridges, Kate Mara, and Mary Steenburgen. On the heels of that release, MSN has nabbed the official trailer, which is full of difficult dads and aggravated offspring, but not as many laughs as the poster would hint. The film follows a son who, on the request of his dying mother, reunites with his estranged father, a minor-league baseball player, to bring the family back together.

I wasn't sure what to expect from the film. It's written and directed by Michael Meredith, the man who wrote Wim Wenders' Land of Plenty -- a quite somber film starring Michelle Williams as a missionary returns to LA from Palestine and gets wrapped up with a post 9/11 conspiracy nut and the murder of a homeless Muslim man. But this project isn't very political, and only partially serious.

If the trailer is any indication, this will be one of those chuckle-inducing and heart-warming melodramas, like a father-and-son version of Boys on the Side. Well, a version of the story where a fairly talented but new actor tries to play it straight and hold his own against Bridges' charisma and talent. How far the film will go ... it could grab some Timberlake momentum, or come and go without a sound, like the similar kooky father/angry son film $5 a Day.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for the film The Open Road, starring Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges. The film follows a minor league baseball player (Timberlake) who, along with his girlfriend (Kate Mara), travel to reunite with his estranged father (Bridges) and bring his family back together to help support his sick mother (Mary Steenburgen). Lyle Lovett and Harry Dean Stanton also star.

Written and directed by Michael Meredith, we first reported on this dramedy wayyy back in 2007, and again in 2008 when Timberlake and Bridges signed on. It's hard to argue against this cast -- Bridges always brings his quirky A-game, and Timberlake, in my opinion, is only a year or so away from really landing some big roles. But it's these smaller flicks that will convince people of Timberlake's on-screen talent; the ones that strip away his celebrity and expose a little more substance. Definitely seems like one you should seek out when it hits theaters on August 28.

Check out the full poster by clicking below. Full synopsis after the jump.

Cinematical got an early start on Thursday at the San Diego Comic-Con, commensurate with the effort put forth by the studios this year: in just one day, Disney, Fox, Summit, Sony, Overture and Focus all promoted big movies they're releasing between next week and 2011. The 'Con itself made history by offering the first panels in its 40-year existence that made serious and substantial use of 3D presentation, showing eight films at four separate panels, all of which looked terrific, even in the cases of the few that employed the technology as a gimmick rather than a storytelling tool.

But rather than boring you with the minutiae of a day spent making one's butt sore in Hall H, the geek-mecca of Comic-con, we figured we'd just give you a list of the best moments of the day, whether they were reinforced by the rest of the attendees, or simply segments or even seconds that rewarded our dedication, if not our relinquished personal time.

The first day of Comic Con is upon us, and what a busy day it is. The Disney 3D panel seemed to be a success, with the biggest news perhaps being that Tron 2 finally has a legitimate title: Tron Legacy. You can see the just-released official logo for the film above. Here's the most brand new synopsis for the highly-anticipated (at least for you 80s kids) sequel:

"TRON is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that's unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (GARRETT HEDLUND), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (JEFF BRIDGES), looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidant (OLIVIA WILDE), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous."

Check out the Jonah Hex poster over at SciFi Squad