DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 26, 2026

Showgirls (1995) Ambitious exotic dancer Nomi heads to Las Vegas to make it as a showgirl, but must take work as a stripper until she gets her big break. While visiting a friend at a casino, Nomi meets Cristal, the lead dancer in the revue Goddess. Though attracted to Nomi, Cristal insinuates the young woman is little more than a prostitute, and to prove her point, shows up at Nomi's workplace to humiliate her. Eventually, Cristal does arrange for Nomi to get a spot on the chorus line of Goddess, but more humiliations follow. Fed up, Nomi pushes the older woman down a flight of stairs, breaking Cristal's hip. Sensing the chance to realize her ambitions at last, Nomi fights for and lands the lead role in Goddess. However, the new star soon discovers that life at the top of the world may not be all she dreamed it would be. Campy out the wazoo, Showgirls is another Paul Verhoeven cult classic where, like Starship Troopers, the film wallows so much in what it intends to satire that the joke almost gets lost and you end up laughing at the movie instead of with it.

 

Aquinas defines ambition as the inordinate desire for honor. Of course, honor itself is not a bad thing as it's the recognition of real excellence, but the desire for it can become disordered in basically three ways, These would be wanting honor for an excellence you do not actually possess, wanting honor for yourself without referring it back to God from whom every gift comes, or resting in the honor itself instead of using whatever excellence you have for the good of others. Now, despite Aquinas' definition, not all ambition is disordered, as it can be a sign of magnanimity to aspire to great and difficult goods. Basically, if ambition is ordered toward holiness, service, the common good, and the glory of God, it is a virtue, but if it is ordered toward status, power, applause, or self-sufficiency, it is a form of pride, and will lead your soul to ruin. Just ask Nomi. Once you stop laughing, that is.

The Pyx (1973) Elizabeth, a drug-addicted prostitute, throws herself off a building while holding a crucifix and a pyx. The detective assigned to the case, Sgt. Henderson, learns that Elizabeth, a lapsed Catholic, was struggling to turn her life around,  but things weren't going well due to her involvement with a new client. Making his way through Montreal's network of hookers and druggies, Henderson learns that Elizabeth fell in with an ex-priest and other occultists who have plans for the confused woman that don't involve helping her improve her situation. But what does that have to do with the pyx she was holding and what will Henderson do when he learns the truth?  Karen Black and Christopher Plummer headline this surprisingly well-done thriller. Bonus points for having Black write and sing all the original songs on the soundtrack, which adds an extra layer of pathos to her character's story.

 

Most Catholics know a pyx is small container, usually round, that is used by a priest, deacon, of Extraordinary Minister to transport a consecrated communion wafer to those who can't make it to mass, particularly the sick, homebound, or dying. But have they ever wondered what happens if, God forbid, somebody loses the thing while the host is still in it? Well, if it's subsequently found, it goes back to the priest immediately, who consumes it on the spot. If it isn't though, there are processes in place, depending on the reason it was lost. Most parishes keep a record of when a pyx goes out the door and who has it. So, if the loss was accidental, the person responsible is considered gravely negligent, but the matter is handled pastorally, usually involving a prayer of reparation. If the loss (or theft) is intentional, though, as happens in the movie, then you're talking automatic excommunication. Best just to be careful with it.

DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 23, 2026

A Fistful of Dollars (1964) A man with no name drifts into San Miguel, a small frontier town where the criminal Rojo and Baxter families compete for total control. Recognizing an entrepreneurial opportunity when he sees one, the nameless stranger begins covertly working for both sides. When the Rojos nab a chest of gold from the Mexican army, the stranger concocts a scheme to secure the treasure for himself, but with all the double and triple crosses going on, things quickly get complicated and bloody, much to the enrichment of the local coffin maker. With the right source material (Kurosawa's Yojimbo), the right director (Sergio Leone), the right star (Clint Eastwood), and the right composer (Ennio Morricone), this is one of cinema's perfect storms, a rare coming together of talents at just the right time to reinvent the western. Not only is the film undeniably great, but it would lead to even greater ones down the line.

 

While playing both sides makes for good movies, the Bible isn't too fond of the idea, especially when the two sides are God or anything that tries to rival Him, be it false idols, the self, or whatever else the world offers in God's place. When the choice is between God or something else, there is no safe neutrality or divided loyalty, you have to make a decision. As it says in Joshua 24, "And if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Of course, you're free to choose any of the options on the table, but choosing God’s side is the only choice that leads to life.

 

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) Sometime in the near future, Freddy has killed off every teenager in his hometown of Springwood except for one boy. After that lone lad wakes up with no memories outside Springwood's city limits where Freddy's powers cannot affect him (who knew Freddy had a specific jurisdiction), he is picked up by the police and taken to a nearby youth shelter. Once there, the facility's kindly psychologist suggests the best way to return the boy's memories is to go right back to Springwood, so the pair pack up a van and head off, unwittingly taking a bunch of teenage stowaways with them. It turns out this is just what Freddy wanted, as he was sorely in need of fresh dreamers to terrorize. What nobody counted on is one of the group pulling into Springwood is Freddy's long lost child, and that person might just have a way to kill Freddy for good. This film was supposed to be Freddy's big sendoff, but with its silly 3D dream demons, some out-of-place celebrity cameos, and the all-around stench of a last desperate cash grab, this is less goodbye and more good riddance.

 

Of course, even though Freddy was finally dead, they managed to find a couple of clever ways to bring back Robert Englund's Krueger before the franchise was ultimately sentenced to reboot hell. That was always a major complaint about these kind of horror series, the fact that the evil was never truly defeated. In a way, though, that's the way it really works. While Christ’s death and resurrection have already broken Satan’s dominion and won the decisive victory, the devil is not bound yet, meaning he can just keep showing back up in various ways until the end of time. As the Catechism notes, "It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.” As Aquinas explained, temptation is allowed so that our merits become greater, our virtues purer, and our spiritual progress more rapid. In fact, the continuing struggle itself, when we resist evil with grace, humiliates the devil and glorifies Christ in us.

DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 15, 2026

Strange Days (1995) It's 1999 and the most popular illegal "drug" on the streets is human memories and sensations which can now be recorded and experienced by others through a headset known as a SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Interference Device). On the eve of the new millennium, Lenny Nero, a former cop turned dealer of black market memories, accidentally comes into possession of a SQUID disc containing the violent recollections of an assault and murder. Deciding to look into the origins of the disc, Lenny is drawn into a dangerous conspiracy of cover-ups and double-crosses where the countdown to the new year may also be the countdown to his own death. Alas, Kathryn Bigelow's first foray into sci-fi bombed when it came out, which is a shame, because it's ideas were a little ahead of their time and the loaded cast is good all around.

St. Thomas Aquinas talks about knowing another person's thoughts in the Summa Theologica, explaining there are two ways this can be accomplished. They can be reasonably be figured out through their effects such as words, facial changes, varying pulse rate, or other bodily signs. Angels, demons, observant humans, just about anybody can learn to discern another's thoughts in this way, at least to a certain degree. However, as far as being able to 100% know another's thoughts, only God has immediate access to the interior of a rational creature. ⁠So, because we humans can't truly know what's in another person’s heart, we are warned to be slow to judge others.

 

Being John Malkovich (1999) Out of work puppeteer Craig Schwarz takes a job as a file clerk on the 7 1/2 floor of an office building where he discovers a small portal that allows him to enter the mind of renowned actor John Malkovich for 15 minutes at a time. Addicted to the experience of inhabiting another person, Craig shares his discovery with his co-worker Maxine and his wife Lotte, both of whom also become obsessed with being John Malkovich. Once Craig's puppeteering skills allow him to start exercising some control over the actor's body, Malkovich himself becomes suspicious and goes to Charlie Sheen for advice, but unsurprisingly finds no help there. Things begin to spiral out of control as Maxine beings to charge others for use of the portal, Craig learns of a cult that plans to achieve immortality by using the portal to jump from person to person for eternity, and Malkovich decides to enter the portal himself to see what's on his mind. And, of course, there's the monkey. It's all as weird as it sounds, but it works brilliantly, especially since John Malkovich is so good at playing John Malkovich.

 

There's an overabundance of themes at work in Being John Malkovich. You've got identity and the unstable self as suggested by the LA Times. There's celebrity as an empty shortcut for unmet needs as suggested by the Village Voice. And obviously there's the issue of free will. But one that has been mentioned by a few sources is the idea of escapism versus self-actualization, the notion of trying to become someone else rather than your true best self. Now, the Church doesn't quite teach self-actualization in the way Maslow's hierarchy of needs defined it, which is the autonomous realization of one’s inner potential as the highest human goal. In Catholic teaching, fulfillment is received as a gift and realized through relationships with God and neighbor, not through self-centered growth. Or, as Augustine put it, the restless heart finds rest in God, not in Malkovich's head. Okay, I added the part about Malkovich's head, but the point stands.

DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 6, 2026

Blue Velvet (1986) After running across a human ear in a field near his home, curiosity leads college student Jeffrey Beaumont to launch his own investigation into the matter. With the help of Sandy, the most innocent of girls next door, Jeffrey traces the ear to lounge singer Dorothy Vallens, whose family is being held hostage by vicious drug lord and Pabst Blue Ribbon fan Frank Booth. Though he knows he should report everything he's discovered to the police, Jeffrey instead finds himself seduced into a sadomasochistic relationship with Dorothy while simultaneously being drawn into his hometown's dark underbelly where Frank dwells. Can Jeffrey crawl his way back to the surface and salvage his burgeoning romance with Sandy, or is it too late to save his life and his very soul? Perhaps too seedy and brutal to recommend to everyone, Blue Velvet is still the film that cemented David Lynch as one of my all-time favorite filmmakers and left me determined to watch anything he made from that point on.

 

Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest opening scenes in '80s cinema, the movie starts with the picturesque Americana of red roses, white picket fences, and blue skies, after which the camera slowly descends deep below the grass into a world teeming with squirming, crawling insects. As the Catechism notes, God made the world good, but original sin fractured its harmony, making visible creation alien and hostile to mankind, with both creation and man now bound hostage to decay. The world is still good because God made it that way, but it is wounded and fallen hostage to evil. And like Jeffrey in Blue Velvet, we must be on guard when we confront that evil, "for when man looks into his own heart he finds that he is drawn towards what is wrong and sunk in many evils which cannot come from his good creator." Fortunately, despite the underlying corruption, there's always hope as God will not let his work go, and the world is constantly being redeemed and healed.

 

Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985) Following the first movie's on-air killing of Dee Wallace as she transformed into a werewolf, Christopher Lee enlists her brother Big McLargeHuge to travel to Transylvania and confront the queen of werewolves, Stirba (Sybil Danning), who also happens to be Lee's sister. So, the movie should be called Howling II: Your Sisters are Werewolves. Of course, some video covers name it Howling II: Stirba – Werewolf Bitch, so best not to complain about what we've got. Anyway, Lee, Big, and a female journalist wander around the Balkans while werewolves from around the world gather at a nearby castle where Stirba holds court and shows off her massive… fangs. Hilariously awful, with slipshod werewolf makeup, completely out of place punk and new wave costumes, and one of the most notorious end credit sequences ever put to celluloid. Joe Dante, director of the original Howling, claims the first thing Christopher Lee did when he arrived on the set of Gremlins II was to apologize for appearing in this film.

 

With movies like The Castle of Fu Manchu and End of the World on his resume, Howling II is probably not the worst film Christopher Lee ever made, but it's nice he was willing to own up to his mistake anyway. Speaking to a general audience in 2022, Pope Francis recommended a daily examination of conscience as “an invitation to learn from our experiences” and “not to continue to repeat the same mistakes…  Before finishing the day, stop for a while. What happened? Not in the newspapers, not in life — what happened in my heart?” Not all mistakes are sins, of course. Mistakes made when we erroneously thought we were doi9ng the right thing, or just simple errors of fact or judgement, don't require confession. But even for honest mistakes, the Church still suggests we examine our conscience daily precisely so that we notice patterns in thought and behavior, take responsibility for them, and stop repeating the same faults.

DAILY CALL SHEET: SEPTEMBER 2, 2026

Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971) Fresh from a stay in a mental institution, Jessica is picked up by her husband and their best friend and taken to recover in what is supposed to be an empty house in the country. Instead, they discover it occupied by a comely red-haired drifter who ingratiates herself with the group and is invited to stay. Things begin to get strange when Jessica starts hearing voices, but is reluctant to tell anyone because she thinks they'll recommit her. It doesn't help her mental state when the nearby townies tell the friends about a red-haired woman who drowned in the lake next to their house and supposedly now roams the area as a vampire. Jessica wants to dismiss the story, but there's the nagging fact that nearly everyone in town has a band-aid on their neck. Is Jessica losing her mind again, or is the situation as weird as it seems? Honestly, not a lot happens in the movie, but it's so drenched in atmosphere and moodiness you'll just want the nothing to keep happening for as long as it can. A classic in slow-burn '70s cinema.

 

Given the movie's title, one wonders if the Church thinks it's okay to scare people, not to death obviously, but just in general? Well, there's certainly no encyclical on such an oddball question, but we can piece some thoughts together from various sources. Aquinas warned about play that harms a neighbor, stating, "the pleasure in question should not be sought in indecent or injurious deeds or words." However, as Fr. Francis Spirago noted in The Catechism Explained, "Moderate jesting is not derision if the motive is reasonable and it does not aim at the other person’s confusion." So, it would seem a good scare in the name of mutual amusement or good fun is okay, but not if the goal is to instill true fear, which would be uncharitable and injurious. In short, scare unto others as you would have them scare unto you.

Shock Treatment (1981) Having survived the events of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Brad and Janet have married and moved to Denton, a town completely under the control of fast food magnate Farley Flavors and his television network DTV. Duped into participating in the game show Marriage Maze, Brad is declared an emotional cripple and committed to a mental institution, while Janet and her parents are seduced into seeking superstardom on some of Farley's popular reality shows. Luckily, reporter Betty Hapschatt is immune to Flavors' influence and has uncovered his true motives for wanting to separate Brad and Janet. But has she made her discovery too late? While nowhere near catching the lightning in a bottle that was Rocky Horror, Shock Treatment really isn't as bad as it was declared upon release. Yes, it's weird having characters from Rocky Horror played by new actors while having actors from Rocky Horror play new characters, but the satire of pop culture zombies hits its mark and some of the new songs are actually decent, so it balances out.

 

From the way it's portrayed in movies, you'd think shock treatment would be condemned by the Church. Not so. Despite pop culture's continued laughable insistence that Catholicism rejects science, Church-run medical institutions have always followed (within ethical limits) the scientific standards of the time. As noted in the book Psychiatry and Catholicism, methods such as shock treatment are treated as legitimate medical options under the ordinary conditions of proportionality. So, if a person's mental illness is serious enough, there are no better alternatives according to the science, and the benefits outweigh the risks, then shock treatment (electroconvulsive therapy if we want to use the nice word) is allowable. Therefore, since mainstream psychiatry continues to regard modern ECT as safe and highly effective for certain severe cases where medications have proven ineffective, documents like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services do not prohibit its use.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 26, 2026

Hercules and the Captive Women (1961) As seems to be his modus operandi in a lot of these flicks, Hercules is drugged and kidnapped, this time by his good pal Androcles, who needs Herc's help to save Thebes from bad weather. Put on a slave ship with his son Hylas and his sidekick Timoteo the dwarf, Hercules handles the situation the way he usually does, laying around doing nothing. Events soon force the dazed demigod into action, however. First, he must save a captive woman from the shape-shifting Proteus (a guy in a lizard costume). Then he must travel to Atlantis to save a bunch of captive women and men from a cult who worships the power of Uranus. I'm not above chuckling at that sentence, which is good, because a lack of seriousness is the best way to approach these silly old sword and sandal movies. This one, featuring Reg park's first outing as the musclebound one, is sillier than most.

 

When Christianity first kicked off, the Romans often persecuted believers for refusing to honor the Roman gods. However, after the Edict of Milan, Christianity became the realm's legal religion and the tables turned somewhat. Public sacrifices to the Roman pantheon were banned, temples were closed or converted to Christian use, and their festivals were suppressed. Now, Uranus (or Caelus as the Roman's called him) wasn't missed too much as he had no real cult of his own. Still, he did come under ridicule due to the well-known myth of his castration by his son Cronus (Saturn). Apologists like Lactantius used this story as proof that the Roman myths (and therefore the Greek ones before them) were based on tales of ancient humans, not divine beings. After all, if these figures had truly been gods, then such acts as castration would be an impossibility. And if the stories had human origins, then the cults that grew up around the false gods were grounded in error and deception.

 

 

Perfect Victims (1988) After contracting AIDS from a prostitute, a mentally disturbed man goes completely over the edge and blames all women for his inevitable demise. To ensure he takes as many hated hussies with him before he goes, the psycho puts on a very Michael Myers-like mask and begins to stalk and assault women so he can infect them with HIV. When it becomes apparent he has set his sights on two models who have just moved to the big city, their agent and the police desperately try to protect them. This is the kind of weird variation on the genre that '80s slasher completists run across now and then, but unfortunately this one is too mean spirited, and the killer just a bit too misogynistic, to fully enjoy. Who knows, maybe that's the point of the movie given the subject matter, but slasher fans watch these things for some gross grand guignol fun, not to actually feel gross.

 

Back in the early '80s when AIDS was still considered just a disease for gay people and junkies, and nobody wanted to get too near anyone with it, Catholic institutions became major providers of care for the inflicted through hospices, clinics, home care, orphanages, and pastoral ministries. This may be shocking to some considering the Church's stance on homosexual actions and drug use, but the Church sees no conflict between compassionate care and doctrinal consistency. In fact, around the time Perfect Victims came out, the U.S. bishops issued two documents entitled The Many Faces of AIDS (1987) and Called to Compassion and Responsibility (1989) which insisted on loving care for the ill, the release of accurate information about the disease, and the rejection of discrimination, but also reiterated the Church's clear moral teaching on sexuality. You know, the same kind of thing Jesus used to do.

DAILY CALL SHEET: AUGUST 21, 2026

Volunteers (1985) To escape serious bodily harm over unpaid gambling debts, snooty trust fund layabout Lawrence Bourne III hitches a ride on a Peace Corps plane to hide out in Thailand, only to discover his parents have arranged for him to be an involuntary volunteer in the organization's bridge building project. Having learned nothing, Lawrence spends his time teaching the locals how to play poker, unsuccessfully wooing fellow American Beth, and making deals with the region's drug lord. However, as Lawrence begins to develop real human feelings for Beth and various nefarious forces reveal plans of their own for the proposed bridge, Lawrence must decide what kind of person he really wants to be. Volunteers is one of those movies you know you've seen, but can't recall anything about it. Once you rewatch it, you remember why you forgot. Even though it has Tom Hanks. John Candy, the Donger, and the director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and there's nothing blatantly awful about it, Volunteers just has little of the memorable quirkiness that defines so many of its 1980s contemporaries. It just is.

 

Unsurprisingly, the Church is big on volunteerism. In fact, in March 2025, she held The Jubilee of the World of Volunteering to celebrate those who take time out to participate in humanitarian works. In his homily, Pope Francis told volunteers their generosity and small, free gestures of service offer hope to society, especially in the “deserts of poverty and loneliness.” He went on to say In societies “too enslaved to market logic” where everything risks being measured by interest and profit, volunteering is a “prophecy and a sign of hope” that witnesses to the primacy of gratuitousness, solidarity, and service to those most in need. In short, volunteering is a concrete, visible living out of the Gospel message. And if you're looking for something more Church related than the Peace Corps, the Catholic Volunteer Network (CVN) is a membership organization of roughly 200 domestic and international Catholic (and some broader Christian) full-time volunteer and mission programs who would be more than happy to put you to work.

 

The Octagon (1980) Renowned karate champion Scott James accompanies a date home only to be attacked by ninjas. As Scott is played by Chuck Norris, he beats the living crap out of anyone dressed in all-black, but his date and her entire family are all murdered. Both an earring-wearing Lee Van Cleef and a millionairess whose hobby is assassinating terrorists attempt to enroll Scott in their efforts to track down the ninjas, but Scott wants nothing to do with it as he highly suspects the ninjas are being led by his estranged step-brother Seikura. The two had a heated rivalry as young ninja padawans, but after Seikura dishonored the family, he was exiled and Scott was ordered by his step-father to avoid Seikura for the rest of his life. That may no longer be possible, though, as events will soon force Scott to confront his step-brother at his secret ninja-training facility, The Octagon. This is early Chuck Norris and it shows, but if you ever dreamed of listening to Chuck gruffly whisper his internal monologue for an entire movie, this is the one for you.

 

It's commendable that Chuck didn't want to fight his step-brother, even though Seikura was the world's biggest d-bag even as a child. However, sometimes that kind of thing can't be avoided, especially if you're a Christian. As Jesus said in Matthew 10, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household." Now, that sounds bad on the surface, but obviously Jesus isn't promoting family hatred and violence. That would be a bit off-brand. What He was getting at was the inevitable cost of true discipleship. When a person truly follows God, putting His Kingdom first, the occasional conflict with non-believers is unavoidable, even if they're family. So, Jesus wasn't encouraging strife, he was just being honest about the potential cost of following his teachings.