From: www.denverpost.com

Bio-pic. **. When Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra takes off to soaring music, it might have been a sign of rousing things to come for this biopic starring Hilary Swank as the aviator and Richard Gere as her husband, the publisher and PR inventor George P. Putnam. Instead it stalls, never really connecting audiences to Earhart's passion for flight. Directed by Mira Nair, "Amelia" isn't a flying machine with an adventurer at the wheel. It's more like an Airbus with attractive passengers. (Kennedy) 111 minutes

Sci-fi. ***. PG. The hero, who is about the same age as his target audience, is smarter, braver and stronger than the adults in his world. Toby is also a quick learner; after he dies in an accident, he's reborn inside a robot that looks just like him and retains all of his memories. (Roger Ebert) 90 minutes

Documentary. **. R. Michael Moore stars in a Michael Moore doc about the wages of capitalism. Having just marked the anniversary of the $700 bailout of Wall Street, the timing is spot on. But overly familiar jests (showing up at the AIG headquarters blowhorn in hand demanding our money back) and jousts (talking to a Wall Street Journal columnist who values the free market over democracy) don't make Moore's assault on greed as informative or entertaining as his own works. Moore's the pity. (Kennedy) 127 minutes

Horror. ** 1/2. PG-13. Darren is a good kid with good parents but a boy under the influence classmate Steve. Steve recognizes Larten Crepsley (John C. Reilly) from his vampire books and is eager to escape his miserable life by joining the undead. But the guy whose "destiny" it is to join the vampires in their war is Darren. Reilly is well cast as a playful, seen-it-all blood-sucker who explains what awaits Darren if the kid chooses to earn his fangs. (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel) 108 minutes

Animation. *** 1/2. PG. This is a delicious farce and a backhanded slap at America the Obese, it may be the funniest animated film of the year. "Meatballs" is about fathers and sons, daring to be smart and the price of gluttony. And in between the Jell-O mold diving, ice-cream sledding and the derivative, overdone action finale, the movie deliverS a biting message that parents should love — celebrate smartness and ease up on the "easy" (junk) food before it kills you. (Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel) 81 minutes