DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 26, 2019

Giant from the Unknown (1958) Revived conquistador runs rampant in California. Well, as rampant as its minuscule budget will allow. TIL: Not that the conquistadors cared, but priests threatened to excommunicate whole dioceses if they didn’t cease exploitation of Native Americans.

Still Voices - Meet The Feebles (1989) “Golf: A plague invented by the Calvinistic Scots as a punishment for man’s sins.” - James Barrett Reston

Dad Rock Daily: Justin Hayward and John Lodge - Blue Jays (1975) Not quite the Moody Blues, but close enough so that you'll barely notice the difference. Laudable Lyrics: I could live a lie for you, but truth is the road I choose.

And finally, for Aleteia this week I take a look at Love and Mercy, the new docudrama on St. Faustina and her vision of the Divine Mercy image.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 25, 2019

Strange Invaders (1983)  Estranged wife returns to take back her child... to another planet.... because she's really a weird extraterrestrial. If only Kramer vs Kramer played out this way. TIL: See, this kind of problem is just one of the reasons the Church opposes divorce.

Still Voices - Masters Of The Universe (1987) "A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction." - Oscar Wilde

Dad Rock Daily: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Texas Flood (1983) Yikes! Believe the hype. This blues rocker blisters right from note one and never stops. Laudable Lyrics: I'm tellin' you one thing right now little baby, I won't be the one to pay for your mistakes.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 24, 2019

Errementari: The Blacksmith and the Devil (2017) Fantastic fairy tale has the meanest man on Earth and a little girl matching wits with a demon. TIL: Polls show most people believe demons are not real, and yet numbers also indicate the demand for exorcisms continues to rise. Hmm.

Still Voices - The Toxic Avenger (1984) "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind." - William Shakespeare

Dad Rock Daily: Triumph - Just A Game (1979) Somewhere in the multiverse is a planet where every 80's action movie ever had this album as it soundtrack. Laudable Lyrics: Another day, another dollar, another pretty face, another chance to lose yourself in the endless race.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 23, 2019

Saint Bernard (2013) Composer carries severed dog's head through one surreal metaphor after another. Requires a high tolerance for artsiness for full enjoyment. TIL: As what God is cannot be fully comprehended, scripture often relies on metaphor and anthropomorphism to help out.

Still Voices - Howard The Duck (1986) "If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands." - Douglas Adams

Dad Rock Daily: Ultravox - Vienna (1980) Look, a seven minute synth opus opens the album, so don't act like you don't know exactly what you're getting. Laudable Lyrics: Moments caught across an empty room quickly passes. Time goes, time goes by too soon.

And finally, while I gave Joker a positive review, Alexi Sargeant over at First Things has a somewhat different take. His advice, don’t go see it. Obviously I disagree, but arguing has always been part of the fun of the moviegoing experience hasn’t it?  Read’em both and then let’s squabble.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 22, 2019

Chopping Mall (1986) Plan to replace mall cops with laser wielding robots goes horribly wrong for trespassing teens. Ah, Wynorski of old, we miss you. TIL: The Church sees labor as part of human dignity, so prudential judgement should be used before replacing jobs with machines.

Still Voices - Oblivion (1994) "Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction." - Anonymous

Dad Rock Daily: Box of Frogs - Box of Frogs (1984) Yardbirds rhythm section and a bevy of recognizable guitarists crank out solid, though nonessential, 80's rock. Laudable Lyrics: Another day, another wasted day, I've gotta beat this thing before I waste away.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 21, 2019

House of 1,000 Dolls (1967) Stage magician Vincent Price hypnotizes women for sex traffickers. Alas, even Price can't save this lukewarm mix of dull and tame. TIL: For those who need to escape, Catholic organizations around the world operate rescued sex victim's mission centers.

Still Voices - Super Mario Bros. (1993) "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." - Martin Luther King

Dad Rock Daily: Badfinger - Straight Up (1971) Ignore the critics and love it for what it is, a power-pop version of the Beatles produced by Todd Rundgren. Laudable Lyrics: There's no good revolution, just power changing hands. There is no straight solution except to understand.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 20, 2019

Kuroneko (1968) Raped and murdered mother/daughter team return as seductive samurai killing cat demons. Yet another lyric, beautiful Japanese ghost story. TIL: Catholic theology admits that God might allow certain souls to manifest to the living. But for vengeance? Not his M.O.

Still Voices - Fright Night (1985) “There is no weapon in the feminine armory to which men are so vulnerable as they are to a smile.” - Dorothy Dix

Dad Rock Daily: Ohio Players - Honey (1975) To the absolute surprise of no one, Love Rollercoaster dominates, but there's plenty good sweaty soul here to back it up. Laudable Lyrics: This song I'm about to do today is like a spiritual song, it's a piece of my heart.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 19, 2019

I Was a Zombie for the F.B.I. (1982) G-Men fight aliens and their lobotomized lackeys. Endearing homage to no-budget 50's sci-fi. TIL: Following WWII, Fr. Edwin Conway, S.J. spied for the FBI to help ferret out communists on the National Committee for Atomic Information (NCAI).

Still Voices - Used Cars (1980) "The devil is a cross between a really good used-car salesman and a game-show host, but with a lot more style and charm." - Ray Wise

Dad Rock Daily: The Marmalade ‎- Reflections Of The Marmalade (1970) Sweet soft-psych from Scotland should be found in any respectable 60's collection. Laudable Lyrics: Never ending battles roar, people die of strife. I'd like to be of help to them and weep the joys of life.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 18, 2019

El Topo (1970) Don't fret, it's likely Jodorowsky himself doesn't even know what this film is about. Just relax and bask in the glory of its impenetrable weirdness. TIL: While God allows us to know him personally, his ultimate depths remain incomprehensible to human intellect.

Still Voices - The Unknown Terror (1957) "To be prepared against surprise is to be trained. To be prepared for surprise is to be educated." - James P. Carse

Dad Rock Daily: The Flock - The Flock (1969) Jazz/rock doodling displaying a heaping dose Jerry Goodman's violin before he hauled it over to Mahavishnu Orchestra. Laudable Lyrics: See that clown spreading love around? Let him be.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 17, 2019

Riders to the Stars (1954) Astronaut training drama is sometimes the right stuff, but more often the stodgy and wildly inaccurate stuff. TIL: In 1994, astronauts Sid Gutierrez, Thomas Jones and Kevin Chilton became the first Catholics to receive Holy Communion in space.

Still Voices - Hellboy (2004) "Burdens become light when cheerfully borne." - Ovid

Dad Rock Daily: Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand The Rain (1974) Al Green's team helps with some slow funky grooves, but it's Peebles' style that ultimately delivers the goods. Laudable Lyrics: There's a troubled man, confused within, stumbling in darkness because of sin.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 15, 2019

Heavy Metal (1981) Magazine for horny teens gets turned into animated movie for horny teens. Non-horny non-teens may enjoy the soundtrack. TIL: The Catholic journal The Wanderer has been publishing continually since 1867. No movie for horny teens has been made from its contents.

Still Voices - Howling III (1987) "From silly devotions and sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us." - St. Teresa of Avila

Dad Rock Daily: Head East - Flat As A Pancake (1974) Perfectly fine Midwestern rock that really doesn't get the airtime on AOR stations that it deserves. Laudable Lyrics: People, stop your pushin' and try to learn that nothin' can be gained by tryin' to hurt.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 14, 2019

Repo Man (1984) Infinitely quotable cult classic follows one punk's meaningless journey into the intense world of debt collectors and alien hunters. TIL: God calls us to service, not servitude. It's our culture which urges us to spend beyond our means, making us slave to debt.

Still Voices - Mesa of Lost Women (1953) "You have given my heart more joy than they have when grain and wine abound. In peace I will lie down and fall asleep, for you alone, Lord, make me secure." -Psalms 4:9

Dad Rock Daily: Billy Preston - Encouraging Words (1970) The Let It Be sessions gang reunites for some nice gospel-tinged funk. Laudable Lyrics: You know sometimes when I stop and think about how good God has been to me, I have to raise my voice and sing one to him.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 13, 2019

Dark Angel (1990) Rule breaking cop Dolph Lundgren must deal with a very 80's looking alien. Who knew mullets were so universal? TIL: The Bible never says what hairstyle Jesus wore, because it just doesn't matter. All pictures of him are based on artistic/iconographic tradition.

Still Voices - Destroy All Monsters (1968) "If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money." - Abigail Van Buren

Dad Rock Daily: Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967) There's good reason every song on here has been covered ad nauseam. Laudable Lyrics: The sun pours down like honey on Our Lady of the Harbour, and she shows you where to look among the garbage and the flowers.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 12, 2019

Little Monsters (2019) Lupita Nyong'o shines in this fun zombie flick. Seems the genre of the dead still has life left in it. TIL: Lots of saints were said to have risen from the grave after the resurrection. As no one freaked, it's safe to assume they didn't start eating brains.

Still Voices - Destination Inner Space (1966) "It has always been my private conviction that any man who pits his intelligence against a fish and loses has it coming." - John Steinbeck

Dad Rock Daily: Boz Scaggs - Down Two Then Left (1977) While Punk was breaking, most people were elsewhere sipping Galliano cocktails and listening to this kind of stuff. Laudable Lyrics: Oh some things never change, the perfume and the promise, merely rearranged to look like new.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 10, 2019

Death Metal Zombies (1995) Almost worth it for the band names alone. Sure, it's cheap, amateur shot-on-video junk, but somehow still endearing. TIL: While Benedict XVI was no fan of metal, the Church does not wholesale condemn any genre. Conscience and discernment is the key.

Still Voices - King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) "When you are dancing with your partner, for that two and a half minutes, you are in love with each other." - Frankie Manning

Dad Rock Daily: Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Safe As Milk (1967) Zappa's weird buddy begins to find his weird footing while exploring the weird side of the Blues. Laudable Lyrics: Go into bright, find the light, and know that friends don't mind just how you grow.

DAILY CALL SHEET: OCTOBER 9, 2019

One Cut of the Dead (2017) Crew filming a zombie flick meet the real thing, and then... nothing you'll expect. Fantastically fun, inventive, and uplifting. TIL: Pius XI claimed cinema teaches better than abstract reasoning, so filmmakers should avoid anything demoralizing.

Still Voices - Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961) "We must stop regarding unpleasant or unexpected things as interruptions of real life. The truth is that interruptions are real life." - C. S. Lewis

Dad Rock Daily: The Who - Quadrophenia (1973) Musically superior to Tommy in most every way, but unfortunately occasionally sounds like it was recorded from inside a shoe. Laudable Lyrics: No one can love without the grace of some unseen and distant face.