Hey! This bandwagon just pulled up outside my house, and I figured I might as well jump on it! At the bottom of this post is a link to the very first edition of the “In the Dark” movie review podcast!

That’s right, kids, a podcast, just like all the hipsters and fancy-pantses are doing. I’m still sorting out what the content of each Friday’s ‘cast will be, but essentially, it will be an audio version of “In the Dark,” with reviews of the new films and stuff like that.

This first one is 13 minutes long, and it feels too long to me. I’ll probably work on that in the future. (Since I don’t listen to any podcasts regularly, I truly don’t know what a good length is.) I might also try to get some guests with me now and then, just so my voice isn’t the only one you hear. Let me know if you have other ideas for what you think the “In the Dark” podcast should contain.

Click on the link below to listen to this week’s edition. Also, if you click on “‘In the Dark’ Podcast Feed” in the right-hand column of this page, that’s the URL that you can use to subscribe to it in iTunes.

CLICKY-CLICKY-CLICKY

(P.S. Will there someday soon be a podcast of “Snide Remarks,” too? You never know….)

UPDATE: We’ve fixed the problem with the file size. It was huge before, and now it is smaller. Also, it’s now hosted on EricDSnider.com instead of some anonymous third-party site. Not that it matters to you, but still.

Three wide releases open today, this first weekend in the last month of 2006. (Where does the time go?) One is appropriate for the season, and two are not.

The one that fits is “The Nativity Story,” a faithful and modestly uplifting reenactment of, um, the nativity story. You know, from the Bible and stuff. The 16-year-old star of the film, Keisha Castle-Hughes, got pregnant a few months ago in real life, which I think is a fantastic publicity stunt.

Then there’s “Turistas,” a bad horror movie that would be more at home in October or January (the latter because it’s where lousy movies often get shuffled to). I’m actually surprised they screened this at all, since it’s the type of movie the studios have been hiding from us lately. So kudos to Fox for screening it so we can tell everyone in a timely manner how bad it is.

Finally, “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj” opens today. You can probably stop at “National Lampoon” and know it’s lousy, though if that fails to tip you off, surely “Van Wilder” will do the trick. It screened last night (at the last minute, fittingly), and afterward I had two phone calls to make. Both people I talked to, when I told them what I had just seen, said, “Why?” And for a minute I couldn’t think of a good reason. Why HAD I seen “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj”? Then I remembered: because it’s what I do. I see the bad movies so you don’t have to.