Two items of possible interest:

At Film.com, I wrote “The Differences Between Nicholas Sparks and Shakespeare,” which was necessitated by Sparks actually comparing himself to the Bard. Seriously. He repeated it again in Entertainment Weekly last week. This guy needs to be punched.

And at Cinematical, Scott Weinberg interviewed me and Will Goss about our respective reviews of “An American Carol,” and the reaction they got. Will reviewed it for Cinematical, totally hated it, and got ripped to shreds. I reviewed it here, expressed milder feelings about it, and, um, also got ripped to shreds. Anyway, the conversation about the whole thing might interest you, if you like reading conversations about things.

Remember music videos? And remember how they often had nothing to do with the songs’ lyrics? Here, courtesy of Funny Or Die, someone has taken A-ha’s famous video for “Take on Me” and rewritten the lyrics to match the video.

I am pleased to announce a new weekly column at Film.com: “Eric’s Time Capsule.” The inaugural edition is here. I hope you enjoy it — so much that I’m ending this sentence with an exclamation point!

The Time Capsule works like this: Each Monday, I’ll discuss a movie that was released that same week X number of years ago. I’ll review it, briefly, but focus more on its impact, its legacy, what moviemaking trends it might have been part of, how it fit into the zeitgeist of the time, and so forth (though I think I can promise not to use the word “zeitgeist” too often).

I’ll also talk about what else was going on in the world then: what the hit songs and TV shows were, what other films came out that week, etc.

For my first trip to Eric’s Time Capsule, I’ve chosen “Midnight Express,” released on Oct. 6 (that’s today!), 1978. The fact that this was 30 years ago, a nice, round number, is a coincidence, as I’m not restricting myself to “milestone” anniversaries. Also, 1978 is probably about as far back as we’ll go. The older a movie is, the harder it is to find accurate contemporary information on it, and the less likely it is that our readers will be able to say, “Ah, yes, this brings back memories….”

I’m very excited about this feature. It lets me write about movies in a broader context than just “I liked it/I didn’t like it,” and it gives me a chance to do research, which I enjoy. It also gives me an excuse, in some cases, to watch movies that I’ve never seen before.

Suggestions for the feature aren’t needed, since it’s the release dates that matter, not the films’ quality. I’ll probably focus on good movies, but not necessarily. In general, we’re going to stick to films that are well known, while avoiding those that have been discussed so extensively that anything I had to say would be redundant.

Feedback is always welcome, especially in the form of posting comments at Film.com. (Click that “Recommend” button at the top, too!) Also, note that Eric’s Time Capsule is in the “DVD” section at Film.com, not the “Movies” section, just in case you go looking for it one week and don’t know where to find it.

I hope you enjoy it!

This week’s “Snide Remarks” is focused on pachyderms, and the babies that sometimes come out of them. It’s entitled “The Elephant in the Womb.” Please to be clicking and then reading.

More news later today. Stay tuned!

This week’s “Snide Remarks,” including the audio version, is here.
The audio version (i.e., the podcast) is also here.
Subscribe to the podcast’s feed with this URL.