DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 30, 2021

The Deep (1977) Treasure hunters fight thugs and a hungry eel. If the only thing people recall about your film is the lead actress' wet T-shirt, you did something wrong. TIL: Scripture warns to watch what you focus on, "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Sing A New Song: Joe Banamassa - Royal Tea (2020) So this is where all the guitar driven blues/rock went to. A perfect fix for when you need a break from the same ten songs on Classic Rock radio. Laudable Lyrics: Are you a tycoon or a Moses? Do you see what light exposes?

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 27, 2021

Bog (1979) Geriatric lovers battle a bargain basement beast so ludicrous that rubber monsters from the 50's roll their eyes at it. TIL: The Psalmist once praised God for saving him from the bog. Thought the term was symbolic, but maybe it was a literal warning about this film.

Still Voices - Ultra Q - Episode 11 (1965) "Dark clouds become heaven's flowers when kissed by light." - Rabindranath Tagore

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 26, 2021

The Mortuary Collection (2019) Undertaker spins morality tales to snotty teen. Well done anthology would make EC comics proud. TIL: A priest may anoint the "sick" up to three hours after passing as the soul's leaving the body doesn't necessarily coincide with clinical death.

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: House on Haunted Hill (1959) "He who wishes to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year." - Leonardo da Vinci

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 25, 2021

Crazy Knights (1944) Morons run around an old dark house. The most threadbare of Poverty Row productions, but Shemp wears a gorilla suit for whatever that's worth. TIL: Like Popes, Gorillas are not specifically mentioned in the Bible. Obviously, the Catholic Church made them up :)

Sing A New Song: Fleet Foxes - Shore (2020) Listen and know complete contentment, but afterwards, if you can recall one song apart from the overall experience, tell me the secret of how you did it. Laudable Lyrics: May the last long year be forgiven. All that war, left within it.

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 24, 2021

Shiki (2010) Vampires invade an isolated village. Great creepy vibe sadly undone by misguided moral equivalency. TIL: Author Eleanor Bourg Nicholson noted, "If evil isn’t evil, and sin isn’t sin, and vampires aren’t vampires, the thrill of the Gothic is reduced to lame angst.”

Dad Rock Diary: The Sweet Inspirations - The Sweet Inspirations (1967) Backup singers (including Whitney's mom) get the limelight. One of the better girl group albums of the 60's. Laudable Lyrics: If you want a do-right-all-day woman, you've got to be a do-right-all-night man.

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 23, 2021

Sword of Honor (1996) Kung-fu cop battles thugs over an ancient sword that does... not much really. Then again, neither does the movie. TIL: You have to first learn how to wield a sword before it can be truly useful. That's even true for the "sword of the spirit" AKA God's word.

And then there’s this. I'm sure there's two or three of you who will get this reference.

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 21, 2021

1BR (2020) Confused young woman moves to apartment complex with seriously effed-up notions about community. Above average for Netflix. TIL: The Church believes communities are owed loyalty by their members, but only if the dignity of the human person is their guiding principle.

Also, here’s a little something from the archives for #SquirrelAppreciationDay

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 20, 2021

The Pool (2018) Guy gets trapped in an empty pool with a crocodile. Bad things happen. Could trim fifteen minutes and change a few bad character decisions, but mostly okay. TIL: Many scholars believe Leviathan in the Bible was just a Nile crocodile. Could still eat you though.

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 19, 2021

Latitude Zero (1969) Explorers blunder into an undersea war with Cesar Romero. Best just to suspend your cynicism and trust Ishirō Honda to make it fun. TIL: Rumored to have sailed as far as America sometime in the 6th century, St. Brendan is the patron saint of the sea-faring.

Funny Book Philosophy: Monsters Unleashed 007 (1974)

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 18, 2021

VFW (2019) Old war dogs fend off raging tweakers. Desperately wants to be Assault on Precinct 13; gets close enough to be enjoyable. TIL: JPII deemed illegal drug use illicit as it involves an unjustified, irrational abdication of the ability to think, choose and act as a person.

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965) "Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 17, 2021

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) Spaceship has an unwanted passenger. May have inspired Alien, but fun enough on its on merits even it didn't. TIL: Pope Francis says to welcome the stranger is to welcome Christ. I'm sure this assumes the stranger is not trying to eat you.

Dad Rock Diary: The Yardbirds - Roger The Engineer (1966) Psychedelic blues pastiche is kind of all over the place, but each place it goes is pretty dang good, so who cares. Laudable Lyrics: Ever since the world began, Satan's followed every man, trapping evil if he can.

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 16, 2021

Cub (2014) Forest dwelling feral family teaches a bunch of Scouts how to earn a badge in evisceration. Man, the Belgians can be bleak. TIL: Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell chose St. George to be the patron Saint of Scouting for his example of faith, courage and perseverance.

Still Voices - The Twonky (1953) "Future generations will look back on TV as the lead in the water pipes that slowly drove the Romans mad." - Kurt Vonnegut

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 11, 2021

The Platform (2019) Inmates seek solidarity in a vertical prison where lower levels can eat only what the upper levels leave them. Obvious allegory? Maybe, but never boring. TIL: Per JPII, solidarity is not a feeling of vague compassion, but a firm commitment to  the common good.

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: The Mummy (1932) "When I go into a museum and see the mummies wrapped in their linen bandages, I see that the lives of men began to need reform as long ago as when they walked the earth." - Henry David Thoreau

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 10, 2021

Llamageddon (2015) Wait, you've got Adobe After Effects, friends who'll work for beer, AND a llama? Heck yeah, let's make a movie! TIL: The word Armageddon, which refers to a gathering place of the forces of good and evil,  occurs only once in the Bible. No llamas are mentioned.

Dad Rock Diary: Quicksilver Messenger Service - Quicksilver Messenger Service (1968) If you want top tier San Fran psychedelia, skip the bands who made it to the radio and start here instead. Laudable Lyrics: Your pride of might shall be a shame, for only god can lead his people.

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 9, 2021

Butt Boy (2020) Detective pursues man who... traps people inside his butt. Any chance of convincing you this is not Troma, but actually an oddly engrossing surrealistic noir? TIL: Apparently in Biblical times exposed buttocks were a shameful sign of servitude. Times have changed.

Dad Rock Diary: Bobby Brown - Prayers of a One Man Band (1982) I endorse a world where a guy in a van using homemade instruments can produce something this unique and positive. Laudable Lyrics: Some say animals don't go to Heaven, but it wouldn't be Heaven without you.

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 8, 2021

Uncle Peckerhead (2020) Punk band discovers their super-helpful roadie is a flesh-eating monster. Funny and biting (sorry) commentary on chasing dreams at any cost. TIL: Scripture says to first pursue the kingdom of God. Any 'dreams' going in a different direction are bad ones.

One Sheet Words of Wisdom: The Purge: Election Year (2016) "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 7, 2021

Vampires vs. the Bronx (2020) Kids fight the bloodsuckers gentrifying their block. Tween-friendly horror with a Monster Squad in the hood vibe. TIL: Gaudium et Spes claims our dignity demands access to all that is necessary for living a genuinely human life, including housing.

Still Voices - The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988) "Blasphemy depends upon belief and is fading with it. If any one doubts this, let him sit down seriously and try to think blasphemous thoughts about Thor." - G.K. Chesterton

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 6, 2021

Impetigore (2019) Woman's birth village blames her for the town curse in yet another Indonesian horror gem. Includes one of the best cold opens in a while. TIL: The Catholic population in Indonesia has increased elevenfold since 1960. Some are reacting violently to that.

Funny Book Philosophy: Comix International 003 (1974)

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 3, 2021

Swallow (2020) Woman with seemingly prefect life develops Pica. But why? Utterly absorbing movie is so completely ruined by its final two minutes that it made me mad. TIL: The Church advises spiritual direction along with therapy so that the whole person receives treatment.

And then there’s this…

DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 1,, 2021

Underwater (2020) The Abyss as penned by Lovecraft. Big budget B-movie jumps straight to action, wastes no time on anything else. TIL: The Psalms say the ocean "teems with countless beings, living things both large and small" including Leviathan, which could be a whale... or not.

Dad Rock Diary: Paul McCartney & Wings - Red Rose Speedway (1973) The ever versatile McCartney decides the time has come conquer the genre of... soft rock? Whatever, he's the Beatle. Laudable Lyrics: Try a little love, you can't go wrong. Get on the right thing.