It wouldn’t know art if it walked up, won an election, and grabbed its cat.
(Actually, there’s more truth to this than meets the eye. Dallas if full of art-collecting billionaires who hide worth in art, keep it in a continuous state of storage and transit, and dodge that portion of their wealth on their taxes. I retired from that field after a decade. Don’t worry, the book is being written.)
Just because you own art doesn’t mean you know art, and Dallas falls into that trap. Especially when it comes to art-house cinema. Documentaries and such. Credit where it’s due, the Alamo Drafthouse and legendary Texas Theater in Oak Cliff do what they can with what they’ve got, but we need more smaller, special interest theaters. If we already have them, then they need to start blowing up social media so we’ll know they exist. It’s free and in your pocket. I swear, I just needed one more year in New York. One more year!
I really wanted to see this in a larger format, pouty-face.
That said…
Let’s see what the fine folks at Wikipedia have to say about this film:
The Age of Disclosure is a 2025 American documentary film by Dan Farah which proposes the conspiracy theory[1][2][3] that information regarding the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence has been subject to a decades-long government cover-up, and advocates for its declassification and disclosure.[4][5][6] The film received mixed reviews from critics[7] and its premise has been rejected by scientists.
The Rev-iew
Allow me to try and explain how badly I wanted to see this film. It was ten in the PM when I took notice of its released on Amazon Prime. Unfortunately, it was not available on Fandango/Vudu, which is my preferred VOD licenser. I actually gave Bezos $25 to own a digital copy of this film. That’s bad, folks. I feel icky. Violated, even.
To boot, I’d had just spent the afternoon/evening at a family gathering with a two-and-a-half hour round-trip drive. I was spent. Also, my wife had just made it home from a week-long museum conference. It was the worst possible time for me to truly ingest something I’d been dying to experience. I spoke aloud into the cosmos for all to hear, proclaiming:
“This film better be so damned good that it turns me into an avid sky watcher.”
I mean, I spent a decade of my life doing the paranormal investigator thing and appeared in newspaper articles, magazines, books, and a documentary film that was never released. Aliens were cool – I was an X Files fan, same as every Gen X nerd – but aliens were rumored to do things to your butt. Why would I invite that into my life? In my decade of research, no ghost ever diddled in my boo-hole. I’d like to keep it that way.
This film is riveting if it’s real, but it tells me nothing. I’m not one who’s been bold enough to believe we are the only intelligent beings in the universe. I’m a professional writer who uses the television as background noise sometimes, and it’s mostly political rhetoric. I’d already seen a major portion of this film, because I soaked-up every second of the congressional hearings as they happened. I’ve also done some research of my own since then. Needless to say, informed.
For me, the view is only fascinating the first time around the mountain. After that, it’s just a pretty background for selfies.
More questions form, no one will answer them, and it’s frustration all over again. The two most high-ranking government officials I saw or were mentioned in this film have proven themselves to be blithering idiots over the past year, and doesn’t add anything to the film’s credibility – like it should. Perhaps if this all took place during the Obama administration, I’d care more about official government disclosure. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t believe a single word on the subject from the current administration without an actual, living alien standing right next to them. This is not a partisan complaint. Trust me, there are stupid people on both sides. Some of them just had better luck when they were handing out jobs.
(Actually, there’s usually an alien already standing next to all of them. I won’t say who that person is, but you can see it in her eyes. She’s not from this planet. There’s no way.)
I expected more from this film, but it’s my fault for spoiling it with life-altering information as it was being released. Most people don’t do that; they have day jobs and babies to take care of etc.
To those busy people, if you can shut off centuries of generational ignorance, this should be the film to tell you we are not alone in the universe and never have been. Just like in the M. Night Shyamalan film “Signs”, to quote loosely, “everything they’ve ever written about in text books is about to change.”
It’s about time. 4/5 stars, as films go. Mind-blowing information that will make you question your own convictions. The director worked with Spielberg before. Of course it was a good film.
But…
If you’re a Fox Mulder wannabe and have been since the mid-nineties…
I’m upset that I spent twenty-five dollars on this film without a physical copy to show for it. Get together with friends, everyone throw in a five-spot, hit the bong, and revel in what we’ve all been cool enough to know the entire time.
There’s a State Park twenty miles outside of Dallas where sky watcher groups meet, and I have an inflatable mattress custom-made for the bed of my truck. Yeah, this is happening.
Stoned “I told you so’s” still hold water at Sunday morning service. I triple-dog dare you…
The “comments” section is at the very bottom of the page. That way, if you’re going to be a poon, I can try to sell you a book on the way down.
The Reverend’s Reads
To most, 1865 was an eye-opening year. The American Civil War was officially over and the soldiers fortunate enough to survive the bloody conflict returned home to collect the pieces of their former lives. To young Arizonan, Robert Jack, the fateful desert homecoming marked the end to all he once knew. Forgiveness is overrated. Death is final. Revenge, however, dances between the fine lines of mortality and eternity. Love always finds a way.
“Reading Jim Walker and the Redemption Hymn is equal parts quirky fun and riveting action. Cloud’s confident, entertaining voice draws the reader in like an old radio western: the perfect bite-sized story with a main character you’re ready to follow through every adventure he finds himself on. So, tune in next time…”
– Megan Stockton, author of Lovely, Dark & Deep
The history books would read that Jim Walker was brutally executed after the Battle of Goliad, but a few promises in the right ear blurred the contrast between blood and ink. Now an aging bounty hunter on the verge of retirement, his services are requested in the Northern Arizona Territory to solve the terrifying mystery of the Verde River Massacre. With guns from a local Deputy, courage from a saloon proprietor, and a deathbed confession from an all-too-familiar Medicine Woman, Jim sets off on what could be his final adventure. Will he lay the ghosts of his past to rest once and for all, or is he simply whistling his Redemption Hymn?
“Someone call DC and tell them this is how you write a female hero character!” – Lisa Lee Tone, Bibliophelia Templum
Angel Burns is a young firefighter with a shrouded history. During a routine night at work, she stumbles upon a demonic ceremony that brings her memories out of hiding – as well as her repressed supernatural powers. Angel soon learns her life was intended for things greater than extinguishing fires for mortals. Now on the payroll of the Vatican, Angel embarks upon an epic quest to protect the Gutenberg Bibles from evil. If successful, she will secure peace for generations. If she fails, the power of the ancient books will bestow an eternity of darkness upon all humanity!
Toby Liberman is nearing the end of his rope. After a fateful confrontation with his wife’s lover, he is chased into the woods only to be discovered by an unidentifiable creature. He is attacked and rendered unconscious. Upon waking at the scene of a gruesome triple homicide, Toby is arrested as the sole suspect and thrown into a jail cell with a strange man that knows way too much about his predicament. The stranger reveals to Toby that he now possesses the curse of the werewolf. Using his new-found strength to flee his captors, Toby begins to discover that things are not what they seem in the sleepy town of Twin Oaks, TX. Now hunted by law enforcement, as well as the town’s gun toting civilians, Toby seeks vengeance against his false accusers and embarks upon a quest to clear his name once and for all.
A Curse Beyond Comprehension. A Power Beyond Belief. A Girl Far From Home. Katie Liberman is your typical eighteen-year-old college student…or at least that’s what her family thinks. Picking up five years after the events of A Taste of Home, Katie has dropped out of school and embarked upon a dangerous quest to find Kurt Jimmerson, the New York City attorney responsible for her family’s werewolf curse. Unknown to her, the attorney’s grip on the ‘City That Never Sleeps’ is tighter than imagined and she’ll need any and all help available to be victorious. But… where do you find friends when you’re Far From Home?
Twin Oaks, Texas is at war! Taking place immediately after the Far From Home events in New York City, Katie Liberman has returned to rescue her birthplace from the clutches of her nemesis. As the paranormal battle of North vs. South rages in the shadows, the tiny town must decide to fight against the odds or become one with the darkness. Blood will be shed and only one will survive as the final battle of the Home Series concludes.
I know this is the part where I’m supposed to talk about the book, but I feel as though the synopsis needs its own preface to truly understand. 2023 was quite an eye-opening year! I began it by living my dream as a vintage steam locomotive fireman, but that dream was soon squashed thanks to my writing career. It won’t matter that you wrote your extreme horror offerings years ago and under a pen name. Also, it won’t matter that your publisher and author friends from days gone by express pleasantries and kind, nurturing words to your face, because they’ll clique-up and talk trash the minute you turn your back. F**k the biz, create. Create for art, not clicks. Click for love, not hate. Those are words true artists should have no issues living by, yet most seem to hide behind their keyboard shields, flinging ill-thought words of destruction toward once-trusted ears. Don’t pour something into everything; pour everything into something. Do it all by yourself if necessary. With any luck, 2024 will be the year of The Reverend. I’m not exactly sure what that means yet, but we’ll find out together. Anyway, here are a few short stories and poems I wrote as C. Derick Miller in 2023. I stole them from myself. Fair and square. Enjoy.
Poetry has always come naturally to me. Whether it is an expression of emotion toward someone I care about, or a display of humor pointed in the direction of those I loathe, it is my true outlet. Several of these works were written in a passenger seat while exploring the highways of the United States and somehow managed to survive “The Great Ex-Wife/Ex-Girlfriend Poetry Purge” of 2019. Others were penned during COVID-19 quarantine. Although it may not be the most epic poetry collection you’ve ever read, it all contains bits of blood and soul. You will feel something. Guaranteed.
“This profound collection of horror brings classic monsters into new light in the modern day” – B.L. Blankenship, God Walks The Dark Hills series.
The modern world is a crazy place. Worrying about childish politicians, empty grocery store shelves, and our pending membership to the “global disease of the week” club, it leaves very little time for the average reader to finish an entire novel. This is where Six from Five Seven: Short Stories from a Short Man comes in clutch! A story per day to keep the impending apocalypse away, with a single day left over to contemplate why you purchased this book in the first place. That sounds like an entertaining week when compared to the one you were destined to have regardless. What do a cursed husband, a privileged brat, a curious prostitute, a repressed savior, a vengeful son, and two hell-bound soldiers have in common? Their stories lie within the pages of this collection and invite you to tag along on their journeys of fate, redemption, and demise. When finished, you, dear reader, can hide this book inside your basement with the rest of those important documents you wished you’d never taken home. The FBI won’t be happy, but at least they’ll know you’re a cool person for owning a copy while conducting the raid. That must count for something, right? Let’s hope the judge thinks so!
Also, there’s a few other things not listed here that are floating around out there. Best of luck with the hunt.
Current Projects
Rev. Dare Cloud
Reverend · adjective. worthy of adoration or reverence. synonyms: sublime · sacred.
is a Dallas author, musician, and gonzo journalist. Some of his works include the controversial splatter-western Starving Zoe (written as C. Derick Miller), the Taste of Home trilogy, and the ongoing Jim Walker series. He is also the co-host of the American Justice Podcast and Senior Writer/Junior Producer for AtuA Productions LLC. His literary crushes are (of course) Hunter S. Thompson, J.D. Salinger, and Kevin Smith. Preach truths, toke jokes, and shoplift Amazon.
“You’ve got to press it on you You’ve just been thinking That’s what you do, baby Hold it down, Dare!” – Gorillaz
The Gonzo Wolf 
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