DAILY CALL SHEET: MARCH 4, 2024

Panther Squad (1984) Inexplicably clad in two sizes too small leather fetish fashion for the entire film, Sybil Danning leads an all-female mercenary team to rescue an astronaut kidnapped by environmentalist wackos. The action scenes look like they filmed the actors practicing their fight choreography and then decided, eh, good enough, no need to do it for real. For those who thought French film was just about Jean-Luc Godard and Jerry Lewis, may I introduce the mind-boggling oeuvre of Pierre Chevalier.

TIL: France's most famous fighting female was, of course, Joan of Arc, whose own fashion choice was one of the few reasons given by the English for her execution. This was despite the fact that St. Thomas Aquinas himself wrote that women might wear men's clothing “without sin on account of some necessity, either in order to hide oneself from enemies, or through lack of other clothes, or for some similar motive."

Now Showing at a Blog Near You: My latest for Aleteia is a review of "Cabrini," a faith-based film even a surprising number of secular critics seem to like.

I HAVE SOME NOTES: For better or worse, more scribbled down musings on my daily Scripture readings.