Below are Mini Reviews from Cineman Syndicate for three movies opening on September 18, 2009.

JENNIFER'S BODY. Megan Fox supplies the titillation, Diablo Cody (Juno) the lingo, and every teen-oriented horror flick ever made the blueprint for this enjoyable, if skin-deep, lark. Think Mean Girls meets Carrie. Best friends since childhood, plain-looking Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and hottie Jennifer swap spit with the occult in their small Midwestern town. Teens speak the way they do here only after seeing Juno for a fourth time and Jennifer's Body sometimes treads water until the next quip. Yet it wears its trashy superficiality the way a hip homecoming queen does her crown -- proudly but with tongue-in-cheek. More funny than scary, it's a bodacious tease. Ogle and get eaten alive. (R) GOOD HORROR-COMEDY. Director - Karyn Kusama; Lead - Megan Fox; Running Time - 102 minutes. (Capsule review by John P. McCarthy)

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS. Best not to load up on too much popcorn and candy before seeing this family-oriented fantasy about the pitfalls of gluttony and the satisfactions of persistence and ingenuity. While the mutated food on display isn't always appetizing, the animation is a veritable feast for the eyes. Based on the popular children's book, it depicts the misadventures of a maligned young inventor (voiced by "SNL"'s Hader) who devises a machine that makes comestibles rain down on his hometown -- an island backwater where sardines were previously the only thing on the menu. Packed inside dazzling visuals, the movie's salubrious message is plenty entertaining. (PG) GOOD ANIMATED FANTASY. Directors - Chris Miller & Phil Lord; Lead - Bill Hader; Running Time - 81 minutes. (Capsule review by John P. McCarthy)

THE INFORMANT! Beneath that wig, that disturbingly fuzzy mustache, and thirty tacked-on pounds lies Matt Damon, delivering an outstanding performance as the title character in Steven Soderbergh's latest. He nails the part of a loyal company man at a Midwestern plant who reports suspected price-fixing to ambitious FBI agents. But then his own tiny lies expand into webs of deceit that ensnare good guys, bad guys and everyone in between. Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Burns turn an otherwise serious book about a real-life case into a twisty and twisted comedy (notice the exclamation point) that blends corporate greed and mental instability into an intelligent and often uproarious cocktail. (R) GOOD COMEDY. Director - Steven Soderbergh; Lead - Matt Damon; Running Time - 108 minutes.(Capsule review by Sean O'Connell)

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