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Pete's Dragon

Breakthrough S2: Ep 1 and 2 – Protect Thyself

May 10, 2017 by J. Alan Sharrer Leave a Comment

Eighteen months ago, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard decided to spearhead a series on National Geographic Channel involving advances in scientific technology.  Entitled Breakthrough, each episode was created by a specific director and tackled a unique aspect of how science could help society in general. The series was recently renewed for a second season (10PM/9 CT on Tuesdays), providing the viewing audience six more glimpses into a world where science meets life head-on.

The first episode aired last week and centered around an issue many people deal with on a daily basis: addiction.  This doesn’t necessarily refer to drugs or tobacco, but can also refer to cell phone usage, selfies, or other items/hobbies that become “something more” to a person.  There are numerous ways addictions can be dealt with, but the episode focused on an experimental technique—psychedelic drugs such as LSD, Ibogaine, or Psilocybin (magic mushrooms).  The treatment is not for all, that’s for sure—but in the three cases shown, director David Lowery (Pete’s Dragon) made the treatment process look absolutely spellbinding.  The episode was definitely not what I expected, but was intriguing nevertheless.

Cyber terror was the subject of the second episode—an issue many of us summarily dismiss as something that can’t happen to us.  Target doesn’t think so after seeing their online system compromised a number of years ago with millions of credit card numbers exposed for the world to use.  It doesn’t take a lot to break into a computer – a simple USB drive can wreak all sorts of havoc.  However, there are white hat hackers who legally help companies secure their networks by attempting to break into them.  They have lots of work to do—major companies’ detection rate of cyberattacks is only 6%, and when they do find something, it takes seven months to find it.   In fact, by 2019, cyberattacks will cost the global economy $2 trillion dollars. It needs to be fixed now.

To make things worse, director Steven Hoggard (Inside the Green Berets) reveals that cybercriminals (black hat hackers) are using encryption-based devices to recruit people into terrorist groups such as ISIS. Some have even been able to hack into US Central Command!  Some journalists in the UK havegone undercover to help stop this from occurring, using a similar technique to how criminals were caught on the show To Catch a Predator.  Do they always succeed?  Not quite. But stopping one attack is better than none.  That’s why it’s always important to protect oneself from the attacks of enemies who cannot be seen.  It sounds eerily like what Paul told the church in Ephesus when describing the armor of God.  The various components—helmet, breastplate, sword, and other elements—protect a Christian from the attacks of the devil and his minions (see Ephesians 6:11-20). Protection can be a good thing—we just need to be aware of the problem and prepare accordingly.

Filed Under: Current Events, Reviews, Television Tagged With: addiction, Armor of God, black hat, Breakthrough, Brian Grazer, Cyber Terror, David Lowery, drugs, Ephesus, Inside the Green Berets, ISIS, Paul, Pete's Dragon, Protection, Ron Howard, Steven Hoggard, Target, USB Drive, white hat

Pete’s Dragon – Embracing the Other

November 30, 2016 by Jacob Sahms Leave a Comment

petesdragon2A remake of 1977’s film of the same name, Pete’s Dragon tells of a young boy (Oakes Fegley) who grows up in the forest without any human contact after his parents are killed in a car crash. Thankfully, he’s protected by a powerful ally – Elliott the Dragon. Written and directed by David Lowery, the film has coming-of-age material mixed with some powerful themes about what it means to be unique, what community looks like, and how we explore the unknown.

While the ‘wild child’ idea has been played before (Hanna, The Jungle Book, etc.) in various formats, there’s something truly magical about a kid with a dragon! Recognizing that Pete sees Elliott in a way that no one else does, the audience will see that there’s more to the world than what they think they see – and that there’s more to other people and situations than what their experience may have proposed.

petesdragon3

In a world where fear is an operating principle for most people, Pete’s Dragon proposes that love (and grace) might be more important. The film might actually propose that operating out of fear isn’t acceptable, that just because we don’t understand or know something doesn’t make it bad – or other. In fact, the film might push us closer to recognizing our place in the community, even if we see it differently – or appear differently ourselves.

In Disney’s Blu-ray combo pack, special features pick in moments from the making of the film through Lowery’s diary in “Notes to Self: A Director’s Diary,” while the special effects that make Elliott ‘pop’ are including in “Making Magic.” Lowery gets some more screen time with “‘Disappearing’ Moments,” showing off some of the scenes that didn’t make the cut. Lowery also teams with his co-writer Toby Halbrooks, Fegley, and fellow kid co-star Ooana Lawrence to provide the audio commentary. Fans seeking less background and more additional points will dig the two music videos (“Nobody Knows,” “Something Wild”) and … of course… the bloopers. Now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD, the story and visuals will keep the audience intrigued.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Bryce Dallas Howard, Disney, Pete's Dragon, Wes Bentley

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