There really was a Broadway musical called TITANIC. Had nothing to do with the movie. Premiered a few months ahead of it. #iknowthings

Today: AVATAR, by Cameron, who made TITANIC. Also today: NINE, songs by Maury Yeston, who wrote the Broadway musical TITANIC. #coincidences

High school recreates 500 DAYS OF SUMMER musical number. Backwards. You will smile at this. http://bit.ly/7eVnlr

Did you know that there is a movie called “Avatar”?? It was made by James Cameron, his first non-documentary feature since “Titanic,” 12 years ago (almost to the day). Considering it’s not a sequel or based on a book or a superhero or anything, it’s pretty impressive how much attention “Avatar” has gotten. The visual effects are stunning. The rest of it — you know, the story, the dialogue, the characters — not so much.

The only other new wide release today is “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” (review at Cinematical), which isn’t as bad as it looks. That’s about all I can say for it. A curious thing occurred at the press screening, though, when two of the film’s reels were shown out of order. If it’s a six-reel film, we saw them in the sequence of 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 6. The funny part is that we didn’t notice anything was amiss until the end. I noted, when we jumped from 3 to 5, that it seemed like the story had progressed faster than I thought it would, but then reel 4 didn’t really seem like it was backtracking. Apparently the only crucial action in the movie occurs in the first and last reels; everything in between could be shown in any sequence.

In limited release is a fantastic drama called “A Single Man” (review at Film.com), starring Colin Firth as a 1960s college professor mourning the loss of his partner. It’s probably the best performance of Firth’s career, and it was directed by Tom Ford, a fashion designer who’d never made a movie before. Quite impressive.

And I guess I forgot to do one of these roundups last Friday? Huh. Well, for the record, Disney’s delightful “The Princess and the Frog” and Clint Eastwood’s meh “Invictus” (review at Film.com) opened. I happened to be at Disneyland the week before, when “Princess and the Frog” was only playing on one screen in L.A. and one in New York. The vast majority of people hadn’t seen it yet, but Disneyland sure was pimpin’ it like it was already a beloved treasure, with a live show, employees in character costumes, the whole shebang. I admire the boldness: “Even though you have no idea who these characters are, you will love them because they are in a Disney cartoon, and because we have told you to love them. SO LET IT BE DONE!”

“Nine,” “The Lovely Bones,” and “Up in the Air” are now playing in limited release and will go wide next week. I’m cranking out the reviews as fast as I can. I hope to have those — plus “Sherlock Holmes,” “It’s Complicated,” “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” and that damn Chipmunks thing — in next week’s edition of “In the Dark.” Watch for it on Wednesday, to get it out of the way before Christmas Eve, whereupon I will rest from my labors for a season.

To sign up for the “In the Dark” e-zine, which brings you all the new movie reviews, DVD releases, and other pertinent info in one handy weekly e-mail, visit this page.

Here’s a first for Eric’s Bad Movies at Film.com: a movie that has the same title as another Bad Movie I already wrote about. The title is “Jack Frost.” Last year we covered the one from 1998, with Michael Keaton as a father reincarnated as a snowman; today we cover the one from 1996 (or so), where a serial killer’s soul is transported to a snowman. There’s a third “Jack Frost,” too, a Russian-Finnish production from the ’60s that was handled by “Mystery Science Theater.” Apparently the title “Jack Frost” is cursed. Do not call your movie “Jack Frost”!

There is some question of when this “Jack Frost,” the killer-snowman one, was released. Internet Movie Database just says 1996, no specific date, and I can’t find any evidence that it actually showed in theaters (no box office data, no reviews even from Variety or the New York Times, which generally review everything). IMDb says it was released on video Sept. 22, 1998; some review sites have the year of release as 1997; basically, it’s a mystery. If anyone connected to the film happens to read this and would like to clarify the timetable, I’d be grateful. I do like to have my facts straight.

Also at Film.com is my What’s the Big Deal? column, this week focusing on Federico Fellini’s “8 1/2″ (1963). It’s timely, too, because “8 1/2″ was the basis for the Broadway musical “Nine,” of which a film version is being released this week. I am on top of things!

Eric’s Bad Movies at Film.com: JACK FROST (the one about the killer snowman) http://bit.ly/5T5WUi

My AVATAR review: What’s blue, pussycat? http://bit.ly/7mw9l8

I have no clear favorite film of the year. My top 10 list might be in alphabetical order, even though that’s lame. I hate being lame.

AVATAR is anti-gay, says crazy person who has a blog: http://bit.ly/8pOQM0

@moiseschiu Well, fine. Am I still allowed to think the story and dialogue are weak, though?