Notables: As I noted in Wednesday's Weekly Intersections: The box office success of apocalyptic thriller 2012 (it made over $65 million in its opening weekend) has a lot of folks reflecting on our obsession with the end of the world.

Notables: And just like that, Disney jumpstarts the holiday season a littler earlier than usual with another cinematic take on Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The folks at CT Movies say this one is one of the more faithful adaptations out there. Still, if you read the review, they didn't like it all that much. In my opinion, Dickens’ classic tale is one of the more powerful conversion stories in literature—and the Christmas backdrop only adds to its potency. This one might be worth a look. Still, when I see the Disney-fied aspects that have been pasted on to the old narrative—Scrooge being flung into the sky like a rocket or riding some sort of icy rollercoaster, trying his best to dodge perilous icicles—I cringe to no end. Your best bet is to actually grab a copy of Dickens’ book and work with the original. I think there are amazing moments in the story that can be used appropriately from the pulpit. Maybe the movie will allow you to draw from the source material and people can hang with you because of this new adaptation.

Notables: Pop singer Michael Jackson died during the final stages of preparation for his highly-anticipated "This Is It" tour (50 sold-out dates in London). In fact, when you read reports of the last few months of Jackson's life, it sure seems like it was the pressure of these make-or-break shows (plus one very, very troubled life) that sent him spiraling into drugs and wild abuse of his body. Nonetheless, people want to see what they never got a chance to see. So producers dutifully combed over hundreds of hours of video and cobbled together a glimpse into what might have been. Here's a review from the folks at CT Movies. A lot of other reviews for This Is It insist that there is nothing morbid about going to see this one. But I'm not sure how it can't rattle you from beginning to end. You're watching archived footage of a man wasting away for entertainment's sake. Even the title is eerie to the point of turning your stomach. Count me out. (Of course, I was never a Jackson fan, so this isn’t geared toward me.)

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Notables: The only thing worth looking into is Where the Wild Things Are. Director Spike Jonze—along with Gen X hero/author Dave Eggers—are behind this adaptation of a beloved children’s book that runs just a little over 300 words. How do you get an hour-and-half movie out of that? Well, you interpret its big ideas and add, add, add anything that can exist within those big ideas. Jonze and Eggers felt the big ideas bravely explore the darker, harder side of childhood and their movie boldly does the same. The reaction? Well, it made over $30 million dollars, but folks are passionately for or against it, with seemingly no middle ground. Interestingly, people love and hate it for the same reason: it’s willingness to explore the darker side of childhood. Check out the review from CT Movies for more thoughts on this one.

Take a few minutes to read The Defiant Ones, an essay about a disturbing trend in today's children's books.

Notables: I’m out of the office tomorrow, so I’m posting the Friday Pop Culture Roundup on Thursday. Keep in mind, then, that the top searched-for items listed below are from the Google Trends report for Wednesday.

There’s not much to report here. Couples Retreat looks like a basic October comedy (just funny enough to draw a decent crowd) and the success of Paranormal Activity reminds us that Halloween is just around the corner. Still, a few links to check out:

Notables: Let's talk about the two newbies on the list (Toy Story 1 & 2 don't count, because they are the same 'ole flicks rereleased with 3-D treatment).

First up is Zombieland. It's a horror-comedy flick that is playing quite well with audiences. It's safe to assume there's not much you can do with the actual movie itself, but the sudden interest in an old genre (zombie movies) might hint at something deeper. Consider this little thought that Ruben Fleischer, the move's director, dropped in an interview with Movieline.com:

What a curious little article from Time magazine: How Moses Shaped America.