The Vigil (2019) Shomer-for-pay sits with the body of a holocaust survivor, and maybe something else. Creepy and surprisingly respectful of Orthodox Judaism. TIL: Vigils started, in part, due to the ancient belief that the soul hovers near its body for 3-7 days before moving on.
For those interested in the subject matter, Alyssa Kortright is starting a new blog about Catholic and pro-life messages in movies, books, and music. Her first article discusses Natasha Romanoff and the Dignity of Life.
Voodoo Woman (1957) Treacherous treasure seekers discover a doctor creating jungle monsters. As typical a 50's B-movie as it gets. TIL: The parable of the hidden treasure suggests salvation is something planted by God that can be discovered in particular places, i.e. the Church.
Still Voices - The Frozen Dead (1966) "A Popsicle may be a simple treat, but there is still a lot of science involved." - Prof. Richard W. Hartel
Save Yourselves! (2020) Phone-addicts attempt to disconnect just as alcoholic tribbles attack Earth. Enjoyable gentle satire of Millennials. TIL: Inter Mirifica asks all Catholics to use social media responsibly for the common good and to enhance the Church's apostolic ministry.
Dad Rock Diary: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1972) Way, way too much for one sitting, but an essential roots music celebration. Laudable Lyrics: No more darkness, no more night, now I'm so happy, no sorrow in sight. Praise the Lord, I saw the light.
Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983) Crazy Evelyn dispatches stranded travelers. Unextraordinary, but points for characterization over carnage. TIL: The word usually translated as "inn" in the Nativity narrative is "kataluma", which actually means family guest room, not motel room.
One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Urban Cowboy (1980) "When we leave room for the Holy Spirit, we say yes to being an active listener to God’s whispers in our heart." - Rebecca Ruiz - (I'm sure anyone who grew up Catholic will get the connection between the one sheet and the quote.)
Shadow Builder (1998) Foul-mouthed doubtful priest Michael Rooker (!) protects a potential saint from a demon. Sinfully bad CGI, but otherwise watchable. TIL: Even if the presiding priest is in a state of mortal sin, a mass is still valid if the proper matter and form is used.
Short Feature: Shadow Builder (1998) In which Father Michael Rooker is having none of your ignorance today. Language warning, though that's probably redundant since we already mentioned Michael Rooker is in the clip. Obviously the 96% of clergymen who never touched a child in their life would handle this situation with more charity, but on the inside... And yes, 96% innocent indicates 4% guilty, and that's 4% too many, but it is less than, say, public school teachers, who come in at 5% to 7%. That being said, let's all keep praying and working to get that number down to 0% while attending to the healing of those who suffered from any type of abuse.
The Wind (2018) Is a demon troubling a lonely woman on the plains, or is she just plain nuts? Takes its time answering, but oodles of moodiness along the way. TIL: John 3 compares the Holy Spirit to the wind. You can't see it, but you can see the effects of its actions on people.
Tinseltown Testaments: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) "Remember, no matter where you go, there you are." - (For wherever you go, you take yourself with you, and you will always find yourself. - Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ)
Feeders 2: Slay Bells (1998) Family besieged by aliens gets a hand from Santa. More fun YouTube-quality (before YouTube) homemade horror from the Polonia bros. TIL: In OT times, bells were part of the Jewish high priest’s garb. Christmas bells remind us Christ is our High Priest.
Funny Book Philosophy: Batman 239 (1972) It's Christmas Eve, when even Batman knows who to credit miracles to. Also, that's an impressive wad of cash he's keeping in that utility belt.
The Lodge (2019) Suicide cult survivor is stranded in a cabin with her new A-hole stepchildren. Great atmosphere but asks too much suspension of disbelief. TIL: There has never been a suicide cult within the Catholic Church, though some apostate breakaway groups kept the imagery.
Dad Rock Diary: Montrose - Montrose (1973) Ah, so this is why Van Halen thought Sammy Hagar was a good idea after Dave left. A hard rock classic by any standard. Laudable Lyrics: Whether I'm twelve or whether I'm sixty-four, spend my time like there ain't gonna be no more.
The Angry Red Planet (1959) Mission to Mars finds red-tinted trouble. Cool creature design (rat-bat-spider!) enhances an otherwise average undertaking. TIL: In 2016, NASA's Curiosity sent images from Mars some claimed were ruins of a church. Maybe C. S. Lewis was onto something.
Still Voices - Attack the Block (2011) "There are those whose teeth are swords, whose teeth are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among men." - Proverbs 30:14
First Men in the Moon (1964) Astronauts find the moon inhabited. It's Harryhausen doing Wells, so what's not to like? TIL: Orlando's bishop is also the bishop of the moon as newly discovered territories fall under the jurisdiction of the diocese from which the expedition left.
One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Crocodile (1980) "Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first." - Steve Irwin
Fatal Images (1989) Frumpy fashion photographer unleashes ghost from cursed camera. SOV thriller comes oh-so-close to being an actual movie. TIL: The first alleged photo of a Marian apparition was of Our Lady of the Fjords on an iceberg taken on June 24th, 1905 in Newfoundland.
Dad Rock Diary: Silverhead - 16 and Savaged (1973) Michael Des Barres' vocals stand out on this foray into grimy glam rock. Fun, but no real hooks to remember. Laudable Lyrics: How do you fight a monster from way back? Shine the light on the demon, make it lay back, yeah.
Speak of the Devil (1989) Televangelists turn to Satan worship to keep the cash flowing. Eh, there's worse religious satire out there. TIL: Despite some invaluable (unsellable) assets, the billions spent on charities, hospitals, schools, etc. keeps the Church mostly in the red.
Grotesque (1988) Punks slaughter a family. Someone, or some thing, seeks revenge. Valiantly goes for the triple twist ending, but can't stick the landing. TIL: With the ancient Jews expecting a military leader, to have the messiah be a crucified carpenter was quite the twist.
My Stepmother Is an Alien (1988) Alien weds widower just to save her planet, only to find real love. Cute, especially nearly fetus Alyson Hannigan & Seth Green. TIL: The Church is fine with remarriage after a spouse dies, but someone of the same religion & species is recommended.
Evil Toons (1992) Reading a cursed book unleashes a deranged doodle. Unfortunately it's more lingerie catalog than Looney Tunes. TIL: While it won't kill you, St. Gregory the Great warned that reading Scripture only out of a desire for personal knowledge is a sin of pride.
Still Voices - Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008) "There are no grades of vanity; there are only grades of ability in concealing it." - Mark Twain
Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies (1992) Motel Hell but with oodles of silicone gumming things up. Feel free to skip any scene without Karen Black. TIL: One of the theories why the Church requires occasional abstinence from meat was the medieval belief that it provoked baser human passions.
One Sheet Words of Wisdom: Midnight Madness (1980) "The modern world is a crowd of very rapid racing cars all brought to a standstill and stuck in a block of traffic." - G. K. Chesterton
Taking Tiger Mountain (1982) Best I can tell, lesbians brainwash Bill Paxton into being gay so he'll assassinate their dystopia's prostitution czar. Umm, it's art? TIL: The Church opposes coercive conversion therapy, but not voluntary reparative therapy by those seeking chastity.
Shocking no one, stats show Zappa once again reigns as my most listened to artist on Spotify. My playlist of his instrumentals gets heavy rotation. What was surprising is that my most played song for 2021 turned out to be this little gem...
I'm not sorry. Prisencolinensinainciusol is absolute joy and the video is pure 70's Italian cool. What's even better is the story behind the song itself. As American music was big in Italy at the time, singer Adriano Celentano figured he make a song emulating them.
However, rather than play it completely straight, Celentano decided to have a little fun with the fact that most Italian listeners didn't really understand English enough to actually understand what the Americans were saying in the songs they were hearing on the radio. So, with the exception of the phrase "all right," every word in Prisencolinensinainciusol is utter gibberish. It sounds American, but it's saying absolutely nothing. Sort of. Celentano actually did want the song to highlight our inability to communicate due to language barriers.
Scientists are still debating the origins of why we all speak in different tongues, blaming everything from environmental factors to physiological variations in the throat. Whatever the cause, Scripture, as is its wont, uses the language barrier to point out certain truths. In the tale of the Tower of Babel in Genesis, it is man's hubris that ultimately creates the barriers represented by differences in language. Basically, if we weren't such arrogant a-holes, we'd be able to find a way to communicate with to one another.
Fortunately, Scripture offers a solution by bookending Babel with the story of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit arrives, its message of peace, love, and reconciliation suddenly allows everyone to understand one another again. All we have to do is accept it. All right? All right!
The Advent Calendar (2021) Wheelchair-bound woman unlocks daily blessings, but sacrifices are required. Decent chiller from Belgium. TIL: Though the celebration of Advent is first mentioned by St. Gregory of Tours in 480, the advent calendar didn't show up until the early 1800’s.
One Sheet Words of Wisdom: King Kong (1933) "First impressions are always unreliable." - Franz Kafka
Night of Terror (1972) Pink-suited thug Chuck Connors terrorizes a teacher. Nothing spectacular, but it's hard to hate on these old TV thrillers. TIL: The Pink candle during Advent signifies Joy over the coming of the Lord. On Connors, it just signifies bad 70's fashion sense.
Sing A New Song: Yes - The Quest (2021) Some pretty good Steve Howe licks (he's still got it), but otherwise it's mostly background music for chilling out. Laudable Lyrics: Those that have lived before, they breathe and walk through us, a course relayed round our sacred fires.
Phantom of Death (1988) Concert pianist/occasional samurai (sure, why not) handles his rapid aging poorly. A wonky, muddled mess even by Giallo standards. TIL: Nearly 3/4 of Bach's 1,000 compositions were written for use in worship, earning him the nickname the Fifth Evangelist.
Dad Rock Diary: Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart - Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart (1975) It's a Monkees album in all but name, and a pretty darn nifty one at that. Laudable Lyrics: Blessings unto the world of man, a child shall be born unto them, just as the prophet prophesied.
Blood Sisters (1987) Sorority riles ghosts in a deserted brothel. Roberta Findlay again proves a woman can direct exploitative schlock as well as any man. TIL: The first continually operating school for girls in the US was New Orleans' nun-run Ursuline Academy, founded in 1727.
Big Trouble in Little China (1986) Bumbling trucker bothers a centuries-old evil sorcerer. Endlessly quotable Shaw Brothers homage from John Carpenter. TIL: Nestorians reached China first, but Christianity made few inroads there until Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in 1294.
Tinseltown Testaments: Big Trouble in Little China (1986) "A brave man likes the feel of nature on his face, Jack." "Yeah, and a wise man has enough sense to get in out of the rain!"
Mirror Mirror 2: Raven Dance (1994) Possessed mirror from Part 1 returns to trouble a Church-run orphanage while babyface Mark Ruffalo mumbles his lines. TIL: The Book of James compares hearing God's word and ignoring it to turning away from a mirror and forgetting your own face.
Funny Book Philosophy: Superboy And The Legion Of Super-Heroes 213 (1975) A little Last Supper done Legion-style.
Blood Quantum (2019) Native Americans immune to a zombie virus are hassled by dead white men. Clever colonization analogy, fair action. TIL: The 1537 papal bull Sublimis Deus declared that native people "discovered" by Christians were not to be deprived of liberty or property.
Dad Rock Diary: Walter Egan - Fundamental Roll (1977) Gets a nice boost from producers/backup musicians Buckingham & Nicks, but overall it's just inoffensively average pop. Laudable Lyrics: I gave my love and I gave my best. God only knows how good it felt to try.
Crawlspace (1986) Nobody creeps better than Klaus Kinski. This time he's a voyeuristic Nazi landlord. So, pretty much right up his alley. TIL: Kinski once put on a one-man stage show depicting Jesus as a hippie anarchist. The audience revolted, the police were called. Look it up.
Still Voices - Idiocracy (2006) "Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other." - Ann Landers
Wicked Stepmother (1989) Mother/daughter witches use a shared body to take over a family. Probably not the film Bette Davis was hoping to go out on. TIL: The 4th commandment binds stepparents to the same obligations as parents, such as not trying to ensorcell or kill your kids.
Dad Rock Diary: Free - Tons of Sobs (1968) Underappreciated touchstone in the heavy blues rock timeline. Not bad for a band that is just getting started. Laudable Lyrics: The trees hold their arms out to catch what life gives, but the people try to snatch all there is.
