"Michael Jackson's This Is It" *** (out of four): An up-close glimpse of a performer rediscovering his creative fire, Kenny Ortega's often mesmerizing account of Michael Jackson's final months as a performer is a portrait of the artist as an older man.

There are many things "This Is It" - director Kenny Ortega's often mesmerizing portrait of Michael Jackson's final months as a performer - is not. It isn't a concert film. Nor is it a glossy documentary. It most likely isn't even a film the mega-talented and equally troubled star would have wanted his devoted fans to see.

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"Amelia" ** (out of four): Stiff biopic of the legendary flier skims the surface of her achievements but never quite takes off.

Amelia Earhart has been a source of fascination for nearly a century. If not for her numerous historic firsts (first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, etc), then for her famous disappearance in 1937 en route around the world. She's been played on film before (most recently by Amy Adams in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian"), was the subject of a 1976 TV-movie starring Susan Clark, and was even discovered in "cryo-stasis" by the crew of "Star Trek: Voyager". And now, over seventy years after her final fateful flight, she's been given a big budget biopic all her own in Mira Nair's stiff, unenlightening "Amelia".

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"Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" * (out of four): Suddenly, death by bloody neck doesn't seem so unappealing.

What's tall, blood-thirsty and prone to crashing various media outlets? No, not Dr. Phil -- vampires. These fanged plasma suckers are popping up everywhere these days, from "Twilight" and HBO's "True Blood" to the CW's "The Vampire Diaries." Now there's "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," based on a young adult U.K. book by Darren Shan. If the last is any indication, it's time for a new trend, pronto.

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"Antichrist" *1/2 (out of four): If Luis Bunuel directed an unholy union of "Scenes from a Marriage" and "Friday the 13th", the resulting beast would bare some resemblance to Lars von Trier's "Antichrist".

The film is divided into four chapters (Grief, Pain, Despair, The Three Beggars), a prologue, and an epilogue. "The Three Beggars" may be a reference to the appearance of a fox, deer, and crow, as well as to the themes of Grief, Pain, and Despair. The urge to invest meaning, symbolic or otherwise, into "Antichrist" should be resisted, as the film follows a dream logic (or rather, nightmare logic) that is both its strength and, more often, its weakness.

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"Where the Wild Things Are" **1/2 (out of four): Spike Jonze's beautifully audacious and sadly flawed film brings Maurice Sendak's much-beloved, nine-sentence children's story to vivid, CGI-enhanced life. If only he had kept it a short story.

Full disclosure: I've only read "Where the Wild Things Are" - Maurice Sendak's much-beloved, nine-sentence children's story - one time. And that was about four days ago. It just wasn't part of my childhood bookshelf. Don't judge. That being said, I may be the best (or worst) audience for Spike Jonze's beautifully audacious and sadly flawed film adaptation. On the one hand, I don't have a deep-rooted affection for the source material, so I don't approach the original text with the unabated reverence that many do. On the other hand, I don't have a deep-rooted affection for the source material, so I don't entirely understand the veneration in the first place. That being said, Mr. Jonze has done yeoman's work bringing Mr. Sendak's wonderfully edgy vision to vivid, CGI-enhanced life. If only he had kept it a short story.

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"An Education" ***1/2 (out of four): Duty and desire face off in "An Education," the wonderfully stylish and seductive film by director Lone Scherfig.

Duty and desire face off in "An Education," the wonderfully stylish and seductive film by director Lone Scherfig. The story follows bright 16-year-old student Jenny (Carey Mulligan) as her Oxford-bound plans are disrupted by a charming older man (Peter Sarsgaard) who dazzles her with Opera outings and trips to Paris. So much for the whole "statutory rape is wrong" thing.

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"Couples Retreat" ** (out of four): On the surface, "Couples Retreat" appears to be a quickly stitched together comedy that places a bunch of likable actors in a tropical setting for some cheap laughs. And that's exactly what it is.

Remember how Michael Caine once said he would pick his movies based on where the scripts took place? I have to imagine this "Caine Method" had more than a little to do with the making of "Couples Retreat", a loosely stitched together comedy that places a bunch of likable actors in a tropical setting for some cheap laughs. The film looks like it must have been a lot of fun to make. Watching it? Not so much.

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"Whip It" **1/2 (out of four): Drew Barrymore has left her fingerprints all over the film, which means you'll want to hug it and smack it simultaneously.

It should come as no surprise that "Whip It," the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore, veers a bit too far on the precious side. The tagline is "Be Your Own Hero," there's enough giggling to rival a middle-school slumber party, and let's not forget the all-girl food fight set to a symphony. Barrymore has left her fingerprints all over the film, which means you'll want to hug it and smack it simultaneously.

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"The Invention of Lying" **1/2 (out of four): This high-concept comedy, about the first person to develop the ability to lie, is wildly uneven but features a few laughs, cameos galore, and an indictment of organized religion that would make Bill Maher proud.

"The Invention of Lying" is a movie. Ricky Gervais, co-creator of "The Office" and "Extras", is in the movie. The movie takes place in an alternate reality in which human beings have not developed the ability to lie. Mr. Gervais' character is the first human to do it. The way he uses this ability provides much of the humor in the film.

"Invention" is the very definition of a "high-concept comedy" and, in honor of its premise, the above paragraph is an example of what might be written in this alternate universe. A bit dull, eh? Well, "Invention" wears out its welcome too - it might have been better as a "Saturday Night Live" skit - but along the way there are a few laughs, cameos galore, and a wickedly sly indictment of organized religion that would make Bill Maher proud.

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"Zombieland" *** (out of four): The undead live on in this broad, crowd-pleasing - and gleefully gory - comedy about the inevitable "zombie apocalypse".

If you're looking for a "zombie comedy", you're not going to do much better than 2004's "Shaun of the Dead", Edgar Wright's riotously funny parody of the walking-dead genre. So it was with some trepidation that I approached "Zombieland", another comic tromp across the same apocalyptic territory. But "Zombieland" isn't some greedy attempt to reanimate "Shaun's" corpse (or profits). No, unlike the rampant, brain-hungry beasties that infest the film's streets, "Zombieland" has a mind of its own. In fact, if you consider "Shaun of the Dead" a zombie parody, then "Zombieland" may be the first true zombie comedy.

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"Pandorum" *** (out of four): An unexpected and welcome surprise for both horror and sci-fi fans: a taut, creepy, action-filled ride that rations its plot developments to maximum effect.

"Pandorum" will be an unexpected and welcome surprise for both horror and sci-fi fans: a taut, creepy, action-filled ride that rations its plot developments to maximum effect. Said action takes place on a ship designed for long-term, deep-space travel, and the set designers have a field day, providing tight passages to spark a claustrophobic's worst nightmare, doors that slide open to reveal yawning chasms, and a sewage pit filled with decaying - well, let's not go there.

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"Surrogates" ** (out of four): Like the titular avatars in this graphic novel adaptation, "Surrogates" is a rote whodunit masquerading as a techno-thriller.

There are some interesting ideas rattling around inside "Surrogates", Jonathan Mostow's serviceable graphic novel adaptation, and they're all packed into the first five minutes. During an impressively expository title sequence, we are brought up-to-speed on the events of the past fourteen years. It seems the pursuit of brain-controlled artificial limbs has led to the invention of full-sized prosthetic bodies that can leave the house and perform daily tasks while their human owners (or "operators") lay at home on comfortable recliners wearing high-tech goggles. In the fourteen years since the introduction of these "surrogates", human beings have stopped going outside. Crime, racism and disease have all but vanished (for some reason). Only a radical splinter group of humans (called "Dreads") protests the surrogates, but they've been relegated to small, sovereign reservations scattered throughout the world.

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"Jennifer's Body" *** (out of four): Demons and high school and blood thirst, oh my!

Demons and high school and blood thirst -- oh my! "Jennifer's Body," the outlandish new horror flick from "Juno" scribe Diablo Cody, has no shortage of teen angst, flesh chomping and a scantily-clad Megan Fox. If you're looking for high art, there's probably a photography exhibit on the rise of the Ottomans and fall of Constantinople somewhere. But for a chuckle-filled, mindless night out with buttered popcorn and syrupy soda, "Jennifer's Body" will do.

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"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" *** (out of four): Delightfully witty, feature-length adaptation of the popular children's book doesn't have the emotional heft to take its place among the great animated classics, but when it rains it soars.

Watching a movie in 3D requires a certain fondness for wearing an ill-fitting pair of your grandfather's smudged sunglasses for 90 minutes. It's a commitment; if you're going to do it, the movie better at least be worth it. While much of the recent 2D animated fare in theaters has been some of the best stuff out there (particularly if it bears the name Pixar), cinematic forays into the third-dimension tend to be gimmicky ("Beowulf", "Journey to the Center of the Earth"). Of course, this has been the case since the dawn of those cardboard red and blue glasses half a century ago. And though the glasses are still required, the technology has vastly improved in recent years. The latest entry is "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", a delightfully witty, feature-length adaptation of the children's book by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett.

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"Whiteout" ** (out of four): An adequate thriller - complete with scares, red herrings and a nonsensical twist-ending - which exploits its Antarctic surroundings for all their worth.

"Whiteout", perhaps sadly, is not an accounting of the origins of the popular correctional fluid. Instead, the title refers to what the script calls an "unholy combination of climatic events" that results in a person not being able to see more than six inches in the distance. Something like this doesn't tend to happen in your average city. It takes a certain locale. One such location is Antarctica which, as a title card helpfully reminds us, is "the coldest, most isolated land mass on Earth". Brrr.

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