The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Film of the Week!

I recently saw Steven Spielberg's latest film, Disclosure Day.  I've heard it described as the third film in a trilogy that began in 1977 with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and continued in 1982 with E.T. the Extraterrestrial.  Spielberg clearly has a fascination with what may exist beyond our planet, given that he's made so many movies about it over the last half century.

Personally, I was moved by the film--not to tears like I am when I watch E.T., but moved, nonetheless.  It's one of the best films I've seen this year--possibly even the best--so far.  And it got me thinking about the portrayal of aliens in our popular culture.

We frequently depict aliens as invaders, intent on taking over our planet and wiping us out.  From The War of the Worlds (even the original 1898 novel) to Independence Day, we seem to have this notion that any species not of this planet would want nothing more than to take over and colonize this measly little blue dot.

Honestly, I feel this says a lot about us as humans.  Are we really that terrified of "the other"?  Of course, I ask the question and then I look around and I see how we treat other humans because they don't have the same language, nationality, skin colour, sexual orientation, religion, etc.  If "they" are different from "us," we panic and claim they're invading us, stealing our jobs, and eating our pets.  (Okay, admittedly ALF liked cats, but still...)  And this is how we act toward other humans, so... yeah, I can only imagine how we'd act toward an extraterrestrial species.

And--let's be honest here--we're concerned about the invasion, colonization, and potential testing and anal probing because that's what we would do if we landed on their planet.  Of course, we would be doing it in the name of science, so that makes it alright.

(Wow!  I knew I could be cynical, but... damn!)

I've always been fond of the science fiction in which aliens are portrayed differently.  Perhaps the best example of this is the classic 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still in which an alien species comes to Earth and, recognizing our warlike nature, declares that if we don't start getting along with each other, they will essentially view us as a threat to other planets and destroy us.

Personally, I've always liked the "backstory" described in 1997's Men in Black--that a bunch of aliens "wanted to use Earth as an apolitical zone for creatures without a planet.  Did you ever see the movie Casablanca?  Same thing, except no Nazis."  And to this day, aliens of different species from all over the universe live among us, just trying to make a living.

The aliens in Spielberg's films never tried to take over.  Hell, E.T. was just a botanist who was accidentally left behind.  I don't really see that as much of a threat.  If anything, those films show how cruel we as humans can be.  I would even argue Disclosure Day is no different.

Perhaps my favourite film alien is the subject of this week's film.  Like E.T., he was kind of accidentally stuck on our planet and just wanted to go home.  He even had a pretty wicked sense of humour and enjoyed a good time as much as any human I've ever met.

In the film, Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings (Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who also wrote the film) are two English comic book artists who come to America to attend Comic Con and take a road trip through all of the alien hot spots in the desert southwest.  Along the way, they wind up picking up an alien who goes by the name Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen).  Paul has just escaped from a government facility that has been holding him for many decades.  He's managed to make contact with his "people" (for lack of a better word) who are going to come pick him up.

Graeme and Clive agree to help Paul return home, despite the fact that he is being pursued relentlessly by Agent Zoil (Jason Bateman) who enlists the help of Haggard and O'Reilly (Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio), two rather immature agents who are intentionally left somewhat out of the loop.  Along the way, Graeme, Clive, and Paul get some more help from Ruth (Kristen Wiig), whose ultra-religious father owns the RV park where they've decided to temporarily hide out.

Directed by Greg Mottola and featuring appearances by Jeffrey Tambor, Jane Lynch, David Koechner, Jesse Plemons, John Carroll Lynch, Blythe Danner, and even a voice cameo from Steven Spielberg himself, from 2011, please enjoy Paul.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill

The Reverend Will the Thrill Presents the Album of the Week!

I've never really made much of a secret of the fact that, traditionally, I tend to root for older people--especially in entertainment and sports.  This has been true ever since I was little.  So many people my age would complain about the stories their grandparents would tell, but I was always fascinated by them.  I never found them boring and loved hearing about how things were 50 years before I was even born.

I remember when I was in college and seeing news reports of Nolan Ryan pitching no-hitters and George Foreman winning heavyweight boxing championships--at the time, both were in their mid-40s--and thinking that was pretty awesome, especially for an athlete.  Today, it's commonplace for star athletes to play as long as they possibly can.  Just look at LeBron James.  He's 41, which I still think of as old for someone in his profession.  But in spite of that, he's still one of the best players of the game... and I don't even particularly like basketball!

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, artists like Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones were often looked at by the press as being a bit "old," but when I look at concert footage from that time, all I can think is how young they looked.

It seems hard to believe now, but around that same time, the legendary Johnny Cash had been kind of forgotten about by the music establishment.  Sales of his albums had dropped off considerably starting in the 1970s.

After seeing him perform at Bob Dylan's 30th anniversary concert in 1992, the equally legendary producer Rick Rubin--founder of Def Jam Records and a man known for producing primarily rap and heavy metal music--felt that Cash, then in his early 60s, was still relevant.  Rubin offered Cash a contract with his label, promising a lot of creative control.  So began both a professional and personal partnership that lasted the rest of Johnny Cash's life.

And while only they knew what that relationship entailed, we all can still revel in what came out of it.  Over the next decade, the two gave us one of the most celebrated series of albums ever produced, American Recordings.

For the first volume, released in 1994, Cash recorded for the first time with only his own guitar accompaniment.  As he did on the rest of the series, he chose not only his own songs, but songs that he admired by other songwriters including Kris Kristofferson, Loudon Wainwright III, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, and former stepson-in-law Nick Lowe.

Throughout the series, Cash took songs, many of which were written by hard rock artists, and made them distinctly his own--sometimes becoming more popular than the original versions.

This week, I wanted to highlight one of those albums which, for some reason, I find myself repeatedly playing.  Released in 1996, this was the second of Johnny Casn's American series.  While his first album featured only Cash's own guitar accompaniment, here he was backed by an actual band, specifically Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

The album won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album and Cash received a nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his cover of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage."  (Personally, I like it because he does a great cover of one of my favourite country songs, "Sea of Heartbreak.")  Featuring appearances by Marty Stuart, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and Flea, please enjoy the one and only Johnny Cash with American II: Unchained.

Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.

Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!

The Reverend Will the Thrill