tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3542133141521494202024-03-05T18:40:49.183-08:00REEL CONSERVATIVEMovie recommendations for the Christian familyJon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.comBlogger202125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-71158245072824336132024-02-19T17:01:00.000-08:002024-02-19T17:01:16.428-08:00A Week AwayMusical / Christian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyB6Ixv0YOFlGsWrSyMa8eP2gfSQU8KYGd2bm4GkmRqzj5vGa5bePUH2c3C9yaVZYL9T-bFFnTv7SxVtE8NMpmHu57_4hXC7CMdweUix6jeqtFVfyMsHDoiExP_-6aSrFakLUenrIdoShHTtYTGS9p9rdmaYKy7rSFvxf_s92edNVcBeTYBDpFPPIplYPf/s840/AWeekAway.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyB6Ixv0YOFlGsWrSyMa8eP2gfSQU8KYGd2bm4GkmRqzj5vGa5bePUH2c3C9yaVZYL9T-bFFnTv7SxVtE8NMpmHu57_4hXC7CMdweUix6jeqtFVfyMsHDoiExP_-6aSrFakLUenrIdoShHTtYTGS9p9rdmaYKy7rSFvxf_s92edNVcBeTYBDpFPPIplYPf/w266-h400/AWeekAway.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
2021 / 97 minutes<br /><b>
Rating: 9/10</b><br />
<p>When Will Hawkins steals a cop car he’s faced with a choice: heading to juvenile detention, or accepting foster mother Kristin Alway’s invitation to join her and her son George at summer camp. While Will doesn’t think he’s really “camp material” it’s better than option #1.
</p><p>And it’s at this point that viewers find out we are in a musical, with foster mom, George, and Will all breaking out into quite the rendition of Steven Curtis Chapman’s The Great Adventure.
</p><p>It’s only after he arrives that Will realizes he signed up for church camp… and now it’s too late to change his mind. Still, while Will is reluctant, he’s not a sourpuss, and with George as his wingman, he quickly starts to see the positive side of things. One big plus is the first girl he bumps into, Avery Farrell. She’s a camp veteran, the daughter of the camp director, and an extremely competitive participant in every event of the camp’s week-long “warrior games.”
</p><p>One early hiccup happens when Will doesn’t want Avery to know about his criminal background and introduces himself as George’s cousin. George objects: “I don’t mean to be a prude , but lying is kind of up on the top top 10 ‘thou shalt nots…'” but gets distracted when Will promises to help him with his own camp crush, Presley Elizabeth Borsky.
</p><p>On the first night campers are divided into one of three groups with Will joining George among the Verdes Maximus, and Avery and Presley together on the Crimson Angels. The “villain” of the piece, Sean Withers, heads the Azure Apostles, and the reason he’s the bad guy is mostly just his cockiness – his Apostles have won the warrior games every year for “just about forever.”
</p><p>While the budding romance will get the tweens and teens, what makes <i>A Week Away</i> brilliant for everyone is the musical numbers. In a genius move, writer and producer Alan Powell features all sorts of 90s CCM songs to hook mom and dad, and then absolutely nails the choreography: these dance numbers are as good as anything you’ve seen. Cameos add to the fun, with Steven Curtis Chapman appearing as a frantic lifeguard during a beach number featuring his song “Dive.” Then Amy Grant shows up as a cafeteria lady while everyone is singing her “Baby, baby.” Their screen time amounts to no more than 10 seconds, but it’s a fun wink for parents who spot them.
</p><p>This is basically <i>High School Musical, </i>though this time the Christians have one-upped their competition.
</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Cautions
</h4><p>The cautions here amount to the sort you might offer for the Contemporary Christian Music featured throughout: it’s Christianity-lite, with quite a bit about God’s grace, and not much about sin. Will is a juvenile delinquent, but his crime spree is played off as just short of inconsequential (who can help but laugh when we’re told he tried selling his old school on Craigslist?) and as a result the story is about Will’s need for friends and family, and not his need for a Saviour.
</p><p>A more specific caution relates to one lyric, where Avery raps that her team is going to win because “God loves us more.” Her camp director father quickly offers a corrective, but it’s not on the mark either: “God loves us all equally.” I asked my daughters if that was true, and they thought it was until we started remembering how John was distinguished as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 20:2) and David was called “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22). And, of course, there’s verse after verse about those God hates (ex. Ps. 5:5-6).
</p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion
</h4><p>Most kids haven’t seen many musicals, so I wasn’t surprised when a neighbor complained about how unrealistic this was. But her problem wasn’t that everyone was randomly breaking into song; it was that no one had phones! I thought that an observation worth sharing: who knows what dance numbers might just spontaneously come to be, if only we put away our devices! I’m only sort of joking. Shut down all the phones and screens, show your kids A Week Away, and then pop in your old Steven Curtis Chapman CD into your even older boombox and sit back and watch your littles bounce and leap around your hallways. This will get them dancing!
</p><p>That’s the fun here: the joy. The music is popping, the cast are all lovable even when they’re moping, and shucks, even the bad guy gets redeemed in the end. It isn’t deep, but it is delightful, and you won’t be able to help but play it loud. A Week Away is the best of bets for a family movie night.
</p><p>And, I’ll add, it’s also better than this trailer makes it look…
</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>Producer Alan Powell starred in another fantastic (though not family-friendly) Christian musical, "The Song."</i></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hv6GpyeU5no?si=CCw0caLe6HgvMp43" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-33568086005809404932024-02-18T13:47:00.000-08:002024-02-19T17:02:36.474-08:00Good Sam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VTmoZRWAfcY5fiNAdwkOBA__TaIv5qXPXqDCv7am3FgrquQyL0ZATS7PwZwh26rRvl914tZGVcTtLiSD-yyf9BBY6Umu6gLoxmXR5HfTn6cP2_AGwPD7oq4CqWTJthsad2GXcykhBnROpzHwWQRThyphenhyphenwx4bYGqCOoqz0NZsJYTg7s8X56OOCOv-jk-bpn/s830/Good-Sam.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2VTmoZRWAfcY5fiNAdwkOBA__TaIv5qXPXqDCv7am3FgrquQyL0ZATS7PwZwh26rRvl914tZGVcTtLiSD-yyf9BBY6Umu6gLoxmXR5HfTn6cP2_AGwPD7oq4CqWTJthsad2GXcykhBnROpzHwWQRThyphenhyphenwx4bYGqCOoqz0NZsJYTg7s8X56OOCOv-jk-bpn/w270-h400/Good-Sam.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><br />Drama / Family / Romance<br />
2019 / 89 minutes<br /><b>
RATING: 8/10</b><br />
<p>Kate Bradley is a TV news reporter following the “bummer beat” in New York City, covering fires and other tragedies. That’s left her a little cynical, and her boss is worried that it’s also left her more than a little jaded about the dangers she risks to get her stories. So when a story breaks about an anonymous good samaritan leaving a bag of $100,000 outside a financial-strapped older lady’s door, Kate’s boss decides to give her this safer assignment.
</p><p>Kate isn’t happy about her new beat, and presumes there has to be some sort of angle behind the good deed. As she tells her cameraman, “It’s hard to believe that there’s somebody out there doing good deeds and expecting nothing in return.” But when the money keeps coming the mystery only deepens; “Good Sam” leaves a second bag of cash with a doctor who isn’t in any sort of need. The third recipient, a carpenter who’d been laid up with an injury, has no connection to the first two. And the news just keeps getting better when folks who’ve heard about Good Sam start acting like him, and starting their own Good Samaritan clubs, to do anonymous good deeds in their neighborhoods.
</p><p><i>Good Sam</i> would have been too sugary-sweet if it’d keep on this track, but we find out that Kate’s cynicism isn’t baseless: a tech programmer claims to be Good Sam, but Kate quickly exposes him as a fake. Some folks will even try to hone on other people’s good deeds!
</p><p>I also appreciated a romance angle that was less predictable than most. Kate gets two love interests, both pretty stalwart sorts… or so it seems. Kate’s father is a US senator, and when she meets charming hedge fund manager Jack Hansen she initially turns him down, as she has a rule against dating anyone in her father’s political circles. Eric Hayes is a firefighter Kate keeps bumping into in her day job. He is as brave as he is private… or might the right word be secretive? Which of these two will she end up with? That’s another mystery, and viewers are left in suspense for most of the movie.
</p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Cautions</b></h4><p>No language, violence, or sexuality concerns to share.
</p><p>The only caution is for what the movie doesn’t have – this is a part of Netflix’s “Faith and Spirituality” category, but it isn’t either. While the original Good Samaritan story (Luke 10:25-37) teaches us what it means to live out the Second Greatest Commandment, this one avoids any mention of God.
</p><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Conclusion</b></h4><p>The moral of the story trends in a humanist direction – people aren’t as bad as we think as they will sometimes do things for completely unselfish reasons. However, the Calvinist in me can recast this in a more orthodox direction, seeing it as an illustrated of how the world is broken but not utterly depraved, and the cyclical Kate has no right to be so in the face of the many undeserved blessings she (and we) receive daily.
</p><p>While this is just a Hallmark-ish kind of romance, I’d give it two thumbs up for being way better than the average sort. The acting is solid throughout, the mystery and romance will keep most viewers guessing for the first three quarters of the film, and the lack of problematic content make this one you can watch with almost the whole family (though I don’t know if it’ll grab the under 8s).
</p><p>That makes <i>Good Sam</i> a pretty rare treat.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7KZIFgBX5jo?si=Qc4oU1bzKMLzFi8D" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-59491725088524516262023-09-07T12:48:00.003-07:002023-09-07T12:48:20.926-07:00Is Genesis history? Mountains after the FloodDocumentary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0owfRE16nwOVaxff4UJTTbERrcBTB8NMSG_WQfmR8AfFnJ1AdCQ_M7_7kqhGtPRRPRCKHYDC565e5k1jKs1I7hL6ykhGgDJj-eL67q_gOa15aFEhzwt8K7L2dkhz9zjCXtV_K8O7i9-d3_vFz1GDdmiTR8WbltRGQ1rXq0WzZdANuHIaQPzB000xEVqq/s806/genesis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0owfRE16nwOVaxff4UJTTbERrcBTB8NMSG_WQfmR8AfFnJ1AdCQ_M7_7kqhGtPRRPRCKHYDC565e5k1jKs1I7hL6ykhGgDJj-eL67q_gOa15aFEhzwt8K7L2dkhz9zjCXtV_K8O7i9-d3_vFz1GDdmiTR8WbltRGQ1rXq0WzZdANuHIaQPzB000xEVqq/w278-h400/genesis.jpg" width="278" /></a></div>
2023 / 102 minutes<br /><b>
Rating: 7/10</b><br />
<p>The folks who brought us <i>Is Genesis History?</i> have crafted a sequel of sorts. Host Del Tackett is back, and just as inquisitive as ever. Mountains after the Flood looks at areas of the Grand Canyon, and exposed layers around the world, including in our mountains, to show how quickly they were formed.
</p><p>The conventional evolutionary thinking is that all these layers took eons to form. However, there are folds in these rock layers... and how could that be? If these layers took so long to form then they would have been hardened and unable to fold – any bending would have resulted in cracks and fracturing instead. So these smooth folds serve as evidence against the prevailing "long age" dating of the Grand Canyon.
</p><p>But what if, instead of forming over hundreds of thousands of years, the folds were formed quickly in the cataclysmic aftermath of the Flood? Then the layers wouldn't be the result of millions of years, but would have been rapidly formed as the sediment settled during the Flood. And the bending could have happened while the layers were still soft. Under these circumstances we would understand how these still soft layers could have been bent over on themselves without cracking.
</p><p><i>Mountains after the Flood</i> is more technical than the previous film, and that's part of the point. In addition to exploring the evidence for the Flood, Tackett and his crew are also trying to show what doing good creation science really involves. They want to show its rigor, and highlight its credibility – what they are doing here is following well establish scientific protocols to produce findings that can't be dismissed and need to be contended with.
</p><p>While there's loads of information for anyone already interested in the subject, this is not a film I’d show anyone, kids or adults, to try and get them interested. For that I'd point to the original <i>Is Genesis History?</i></p><p>Find out more about <i>Mountains after the Flood</i> at <a href="https://isgenesishistory.com">IsGenesisHistory.com</a>, including how to rent and stream it, or buy the DVD.</p><p>Finally, you can watch the trailer below.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZsS8fKRu_5s?si=bPQnlNadRHym_BTF" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-6659178312945115172023-08-28T17:08:00.002-07:002023-08-28T17:08:45.587-07:00Never give upFamily / Sports<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsFx-N4ckbGpbTOjsgFor-P1FzLMxkR9BysW7fVBqXA-HZdI7p2Jh4u1ug6uaNREF-GNGrzU7_T8YclI3bETNvgo2iRd7I6Huo8XW93NvtRcGBIGuMXV3EoBPRmyYQz41dOmamX3zQnbGYJ6HjtDpwejwsL0ID6VUDTb0jcM6hrt2-s1vfBJhpvQCAsfP/s827/Never.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsFx-N4ckbGpbTOjsgFor-P1FzLMxkR9BysW7fVBqXA-HZdI7p2Jh4u1ug6uaNREF-GNGrzU7_T8YclI3bETNvgo2iRd7I6Huo8XW93NvtRcGBIGuMXV3EoBPRmyYQz41dOmamX3zQnbGYJ6HjtDpwejwsL0ID6VUDTb0jcM6hrt2-s1vfBJhpvQCAsfP/w271-h400/Never.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
2023 / 79 minutes<br />
<strong>RATING: 6/10</strong><br />
<p>This is great family viewing for the peek it offers into the very different world of the deaf. <em>Never Give Up</em> is the true story of Brad Minns, left deaf by a high fever at the age of three, back in 1968. His parents made the unusual decision at that time, to teach Minns to lip-read and have him try to take on the challenge of a regular school, instead of going to a deaf institution.
</p><p>While his classmates and even his teacher aren't all that welcoming, the game of tennis becomes an outlet and a refuge. Here his hearing loss doesn't make him all that different. It's still not an even playing field – deaf players can't hear how the ball sounds coming off their opponent's racket – but as Minn's first instructor tells him, he can use his eyes and his heart to make up the difference. When Minns beats his big brother, he starts realizing he could become great at this.
</p><p>One of the more unlikely tennis comebacks serves as the backbone to this film – it opens with Minns down two sets, and down five games to none in the third. In repeated flashback throughout the match we learn about how he got here and how those early life challenges and triumphs gave him the perseverance to keep fighting even when he's that far down.
</p><p></p><h4>CAUTIONS</h4>
<p>The only caution to note would be.a hazing scene. When Minns tries out for the US national deaf tennis team, someone hides his rackets right before his first match. Then, after he wins and heads to the showers, they hide his clothes. With no other option, Minns heads to the team meeting "wearing" nothing but a 2 foot by three foot sign which reads "Used tennis balls here." That probably sounds worse than it actually is - the signage has him covered more modestly than even the biggest pair of shorts.
</p><p></p><h4>CONCLUSION</h4>
<p>I wanted to give this a 7, because our whole family enjoyed it. Who doesn't like a family-friendly, sports underdog story, that teaches you a bit about a different world, and even acknowledges God with a few quiet and respectful nods?
</p><p>But I give 6s for good films that have something notably subpar, and that's the acting here. It's just not very good. It's not so bad that it's annoying, but it is in the range of what you'd find in a low-end Hallmark movie.
</p><p>I'll add that there are some nice production touches too, including the soundtrack featuring Huey Lewis' <em>The Power of Love </em>(playing when Minns was down 40 to love), and some unique "sketched" opening titles. The tennis match itself is solidly shot – believable if not all that suspenseful.
</p><p>So, a 6, but significantly, a 6 that everyone in our family enjoyed. <em>Never Give Up </em>is in theaters across the US starting on Sept. 1, and will be available to stream in Canada some time after.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uxWkwGaWTIs?si=quwIlshSdbTqbWbG" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-39595364719014935652023-08-11T04:40:00.007-07:002023-08-11T04:43:53.449-07:00The Essential ChurchDocumentary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhkjnCWWDSqBsXI40m0Ut8md_PShVzxvTFn6hKDH2Zk5U2tO8NS4NSUqpxH6fn3vEpdpL2vQp0ubD20GHDkP3c1dXiwwArQ5OH9ynd7RKZx6MgKKyomY9fW6wPBFPrFv5tlVAFZJsRQJwBEobUpysEYlkCpLSjThMdmwe8W2eKL6PYPzLyUfu7--ZA1uL/s830/ESSENTIAL-CHURCH.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhkjnCWWDSqBsXI40m0Ut8md_PShVzxvTFn6hKDH2Zk5U2tO8NS4NSUqpxH6fn3vEpdpL2vQp0ubD20GHDkP3c1dXiwwArQ5OH9ynd7RKZx6MgKKyomY9fW6wPBFPrFv5tlVAFZJsRQJwBEobUpysEYlkCpLSjThMdmwe8W2eKL6PYPzLyUfu7--ZA1uL/w270-h400/ESSENTIAL-CHURCH.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
2023 / 126 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 8/10</strong><br />
<p><em>The Essential Church </em>is a documentary put out by a Californian church, Grace Community Church, that refused to stay closed during the COVID lockdowns. It is their defense, aimed at fellow Christians more than at the world, and when I heard about it, I was interested to hear them out. Then I learned the closest screening was at a theater 2 hours away, and I wasn't quite <em>that </em>interested.
</p><p>That changed when I discovered that John MacArthur, the pastor of Grace Community, believes the American Revolution was a violation God's call in Romans 13 to be submissive to the governing authorities. How is that for an interesting twist? In a country where <em>everyone</em> defends the rejection of British authority 200 years ago, the one pastor who thinks it was sinful is also one of the only pastors to lead his congregation in a revolt against his own government. What is going on here?
</p><p>I had to know, so I had to go.
</p><p>Thankfully, it was worth the trip. Here's some of what was on offer.
</p><p></p><h4>1. THE KING DOESN'T RULE OVER ALL</h4>
<p>The film begins with a picture of a three legged stool. It belonged to a Scottish woman by the name of <a href="https://reformedperspective.ca/jenny-geddes-the-reformer-who-let-fly/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Jenny Geddes,</a> long admired for her strident stance against an English King's impositions on the Scottish church. The year was 1637, the English King was Charles 1, and his imposition was the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, which he required the Scottish churches to use. When an Anglican cleric climbed into the pulpit of the Scottish Cathedral of St.Giles and began to read out of the Book of Common Prayer, Geddes was having none of it, and threw her stool at him. She took her stand against a king who thought he could rule the Church.
</p><p>Geddes seemed to be holding to, and the film arguing for, a form of <a href="https://reformedperspective.ca/sphere-sovereignty-and-the-need-for-limits-on-power/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">sphere sovereignty:</a> God has given authority not just to the civil government, but also the Church "government" and the family "government," to exercise each in their own "spheres."
</p><p>Two other terms are introduced early on: the "Erastian" and "Papist" positions. Eurasians hold that God has given all earthly authority to the civil government who rules over the Church and Family.
</p><p><b>Erastian</b>
</p><ol>
<li>King</li>
<li>Church</li>
<li>Family</li>
</ol>
<p>This is what Charles I held to. Though are own governments today don't recognize God, they act as Erastians when they presume that their authority extends to every corner of life. Since this is how our modern government's act, it is the model Christians are most familiar with. It is easy then, to just assume that because today's civil government is domineering and inserting itself everywhere, then that is the natural order of things.
</p><p>ut it hasn't always been this way. The Papist position was commonplace until a few centuries ago, with the Church holding the top position, and kings and princes deferring to the Church.
</p><p><strong>Papist</strong>
</p><ol>
<li>Church</li>
<li>King</li>
<li>Family</li>
</ol>
<p>So when God says we should submit to the authorities, Grace Community thinks the question we should be asking is, who are the authorities in this situation? And, why would we just assume it must be the civic government and not the Church or Family government?
</p><h4><strong>2. GOD DOES RULE OVER ALL</strong></h4>
After the introduction to Geddes, we're taken on a trip down memory lane to 2020. News clips flash by, telling us about the many who were getting sick, but there are also stories about children who struggling with lockdown isolation, depression, and other mental health matters. We hear about a woman whose father was diagnosed with cancer and how she wanted to take him to church. We learn about seniors who died with no one to comfort them.
<p>Grace Community's argument doesn't depend on sphere sovereignty or rejection of the Erastian position, but does need Christians to consider what it means that God rules over all. Then it isn't simply His command in Romans 13 to submit to the government that we have to consider, but all His commands. That includes His call to worship (Heb. 10:24-25), His command to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31), to honor our elders (Ex. 20:12), to love and protect our children (Ps. 103:13), and to proclaim His gospel (Acts 5:28-29). Yes, we are called to obey the governing authorities, but, as Peter proclaims, there is a limit to that authority. When there is a conflict between God and government, then we must obey God, rather than Man.
</p><p></p><h4>3. CIVIC LEADERS WEREN'T ALWAYS SINCERE</h4>
<p>I think most Christians will agree that there is a degree to which our obedience to any government church closure orders is going to hinge on our assessment of whether there is a real emergency or not.
</p><p>If, for example, they tried to shut churches to slow the spread of the common cold, we might all agree that was an order we couldn't obey. Yes, worship might exacerbate the spread of colds, and some people might even die from catching the cold, particularly among the elderly. But in our risk assessment, we would say, that is not reason enough to disobey God's call to worship. In contrast, if something like ebola, with its 50% fatality rate, broke out, I think even Grace Community would obey whatever closure orders the government might issue.
</p><p>Among the news clips we see reports of the Black Lives Matter protests that were allowed to go on, even as churches were closed. Politicians joined the protests, even as they continued to say we had to remain isolated. I don't think the argument here is that we can disobey our rulers because they are hypocrites. I think, rather, it is that their actions exposed the lie in their words. If the politicians, on the one hand, said going to church might kill your grandmother so it wasn't worth the risk, but on the other hand said that the protests were so important that allowing them and encouraging them and joining them was worth the risk to grandma and everyone else, then God's people, with our very different, but God-given understanding of what really is important in this world, might come to a different risk assessment.
</p><p></p><h4>4. CANADIAN CONNECTION</h4>
<p>John MacArthur's church wasn't the only to open, so about halfway in, we're introduced to some Canadian pastors who also defied government lockdown restrictions. The one I'd heard the most about was James Coates, pastor of GraceLife church in Edmonton, Alberta, in part because when a Mormon friend wanted to check out a church, this was the only one open for me to send him to.
</p><p>I think there were two separate compliance issues to wrestle with – church closure orders, and mask mandates – but in both MacArthur's Grace Community and Coates' GraceLife churches, their defiance extended to both. However, <em>The Essential Church</em> doesn't really offer much of a case against mask wearing. I would have been very interested to hear more on that point, or to hear from any churches that defied the closure order, but obeyed the mask mandates.
</p><p>Pastor Coates got a lot of criticism from fellow Christians, and one accusation I saw repeatedly was that he was putting on a performance, making it all about him, and simply grandstanding. If you know anyone who thought or wrote something like that, this is a must-see for them. After listening to Coates and his wife share what they were facing, you might still disagree with him, but I don't know that you could still be left questioning his intent.
</p><p></p><h4>CONCLUSION</h4>
<p>Though this well-produced, well-argued, and important, at just over 2 hours, it tested my attention span. But as of Aug 31, it will be available for streaming, and it'd work out fantastic at home, where it can be scheduled with an intermission, so as to fit in some great discussion, and allow time for snack bowl refilling.
</p><p>The only caution I'll offer is that there is just the one side on offer here. I think they are pretty fair, but they have their stand, and they are arguing for it. And they are aggressive about it, because they want the Church to be ready when the next crisis happens.
</p><p>I'd recommend this for adults, generally, but kids as young as 11 or 12 might enjoy it too, if they have a political or theological bent.
</p><p>You can find out more at <a href="https://essentialchurchmovie.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">EssentialChurchMovie.com</a>. including information on how to stream it. The trailer is below.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ez20oh_x3Vg" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-49862568387752049702023-08-07T19:20:00.000-07:002023-08-07T19:20:00.138-07:00Sound of Freedom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1ymVSFm6ZyeMbmm_0UKJWwJ7iiivOYjllzI6j1x2_DDDl6QD5IMKeW3QhiImjYPKW0ntY-ZKItdeNhufuXktv_k-vmp_Wsk4F9Yli2fpUUMHB-2nH2x9b67jqixlkNehGv0UUg4-PPqmHjwKSohyXq59VbIalLzWUiz9d9POePCw1GqOaSUg2kdF0xs9/s830/sound2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz1ymVSFm6ZyeMbmm_0UKJWwJ7iiivOYjllzI6j1x2_DDDl6QD5IMKeW3QhiImjYPKW0ntY-ZKItdeNhufuXktv_k-vmp_Wsk4F9Yli2fpUUMHB-2nH2x9b67jqixlkNehGv0UUg4-PPqmHjwKSohyXq59VbIalLzWUiz9d9POePCw1GqOaSUg2kdF0xs9/w270-h400/sound2.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>Drama<br />
2023 / 131 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 8/10</strong><br />
<p>Roberto Aguilar has two beautiful children. The charming woman at his door, Giselle, knows it too. In fact, she believes that his 11-year-old daughter Rocio, and his cute-as-a-button 4-year-old son Miguel, might have what it takes to be in the entertainment business. So when she invites Roberto to bring them both by for a photo shoot, the Honduran welder is willing to take the long bus ride into the city, to give his children this special opportunity. When they knock at the apartment door, the children are invited in, and Roberto is told that parents aren't allowed to stay. He can come back at 7 pm to pick them up.
</p><p>Except, when he returns, they are gone. The charming woman is no talent scout. Giselle has just kidnapped another dozen children for her sex trafficking business.
</p><p>And that might be the last time Roberto ever saw his children, but for one Homeland Security agent.
</p><p>Tim Ballard has the disturbing job of hunting down pedophiles, and in the course of his career he's busted almost 300 hundred of them. But when his partner challenges him, "And how many kids have you saved?" he can't answer. He's had to look through the filth these 300 guys have collected, seen child after child abused, even had to catalogue it for the trials, and he's not be able to save even a single child. But for his own sanity, he needs to start <em>now</em>. "This job tears you to pieces," he tells his boss, "And this is my one chance to put those pieces back together.”
</p><p>What follows is an undercover operation that has no sanction from the US government. Ballard is a highly capable Homeland Security agent, but the children he wants to save are mostly out of country, where his department has no jurisdiction. His boss helps him as much as he can, but in the end Ballard has to cut ties with his government and he goes in with just a couple of new friends who have their own reasons to risk their lives for these children.
</p><p><em>Sound of Freedom</em> isn't an explicitly Christian film – Roman Catholic Jim Caviezel plays the part of Ballard, who in real life is a Mormon – but there's a reason it appeals to us. What drives Ballard, even still today, is that these children are made in the Image of God, and "God's children [should] not be for sale."
</p><p>Christians will also recognize the Scripture verse Ballard cites when he is about to arrest a pedophile he's had to pretend to befriend in his undercover work. Ballard tells the man: “Better a millstone be hung around your neck and you be cast into the sea than you should ever hurt one of these little ones” (Luke 17:2).
</p><p></p><h4><strong>Cautions</strong></h4>
<p>Filmmaker don't <em>tell</em> their audience what's happening; they <em>show</em> it – that's the power of a visual medium. However, some topics are just too grim to show: Ballard has been left scarred by what he's had to see, and we, as the audience, don't need to share in that misery. Thankfully, the filmmakers were very intentional about educating their audience about child sex-trafficking without exposing us to the full depravity of it. For example, film's creepiest scene might be the initial photo shoot with Miguel, Rocio, and the other dozen children who have been left with Giselle. The pre-school Miguel has the top two of his polo shirt buttons undone, and the preteen Rocio is seen having red lipstick applied. The children are told how to stand, how to purse their lips, tilt their head, and smile just so. That's already creepy, but what makes it much more so isn't what we see, but rather what we know about how these pictures are going to be used to market the children to "buyers."
</p><p>There's violence, the most graphic of which is a fight scene a minute or two long with two men equally intent on killing each other. Here, too, some "muting" is going on, as we watch the fight through the eyes of a child who has been told not to look. So we hear it, but don't always see what's going on.
</p><p>While there is restraint in what is shown, this is still a film about the sexual trafficking of children. That means lots of people should steer clear. That this is a true story means if you have a soft-heart, this could break you. I also wouldn't suggest it for anyone under 16. It is gripping, it is well-acted, it is important, but it isn't really entertainment – this is a film you watch to have your eyes opened.
</p><p></p><h4>Conclusion</h4>
<p>As the credits rolled, I was left wondering, <em>Now that I know, what can I do? </em>In a short, post-film plea, actor Jim Cavezial tells us we can help end sexual trafficking by raising awareness. How can we do that? By getting more people to watch the film.
</p><p>That might be a really good idea, but it still has me wondering, what next? After everyone knows, what do we do then? The film doesn't offer an answer, so I'll pitch a few thoughts:
</p><ol>
<li>Put the danger in a context - It's good to teach our children to be aware of their surroundings, and good also for parents to be aware themselves. But while some of the real life footage shown in <em>Sound of Freedom </em>involve drive-by abductions,<a href="https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/social-media/most-human-sex-trafficking-victims-not-abducted-kidnapped-by-strangers/536-68b63413-81be-490f-aa66-9000d44650c5" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> those are a rarity in the US</a>, and likely Canada too. More often the children are steered into this life by people they trust, or who have some sort of relationship with them. Parents should be more concerned with Giselle-types trying to create bonds, perhaps over social media, than random kidnappings.</li>
<li>Stop the sexualization of children – We've got crazy people saying little girls should be able to handle <a href="https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/ubc-professor-advocates-exposing-little-children/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">seeing male genitalia in the lockerroom</a>, and that <a href="https://www.fatherly.com/health/should-you-take-kids-pride-parade" rel="noopener" target="_blank">kids should go to Pride parades</a> even if they have "public nudity and kink." We might be able to shelter our own kids by sending them to Christian schools, but let's not forget about the children who are getting subjected to public school sex-ed, or who are borrowing the books our governments are putting in the teen section of the public library. Lots of fronts in this battle, but closest to home I suspect it might begin with delaying when our own kids get phones and the access that phones bring to the dark side of sexuality. <a href="https://www.waituntil8th.org" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Wait til Grade 8</a>, is a good idea, but I sure wouldn't mind 9 or 10, though any later and parents risk sending their kid out the door at 18 with no guidance on how to use a phone responsibly.</li>
<li>Support Christian organizations like SA foundation (Servants Anonymous) that seek to "provide a way out for young women (and their children) that are able to escape the sex trade." <a href="https://www.safoundation.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Find out more at SAFoundation.com</a>.</li>
</ol>
<p>You can view the trailer below...
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7oZE2nod4i0" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-17064767545139241102023-05-19T16:56:00.006-07:002023-05-19T16:58:01.013-07:00The 3 Worlds of Gulliver<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNK-mIti8Ft5J8ag-K8b4_fgoOIlptZYcfFjNClIrTDXMDXtmYillg98CEa_nB1MAYeN_kgUcjFFpOkQ2XHTqow8SnAsKi8SF56BAzK-E9ieM3IrD1iBo73g06EG5KtQRSTroHT8rhXTbeGaTqjLsYQl-CV-AI7bdp62RZzp4-GhdnLGmxUDNCqomzEg/s1920/3worlds.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNK-mIti8Ft5J8ag-K8b4_fgoOIlptZYcfFjNClIrTDXMDXtmYillg98CEa_nB1MAYeN_kgUcjFFpOkQ2XHTqow8SnAsKi8SF56BAzK-E9ieM3IrD1iBo73g06EG5KtQRSTroHT8rhXTbeGaTqjLsYQl-CV-AI7bdp62RZzp4-GhdnLGmxUDNCqomzEg/w400-h225/3worlds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Family / Children's<br />
1960s / 99 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 7/10</strong> <br />
<p>The film manages one upgrade on the book. In the original <em>Gulliver's Travels,</em> Dr. Lemuel Gulliver is all on his lonesome, but in this 1960s film version, he now has a love interest. And she's got spunk; when Gulliver decides to sail away to find his fortune, his fiancee Elizabeth stows away to go too! By the time she's discovered, the ship is already underway, and a storm ensures they can't just turn around. Still, Gulliver wants to send Elizabeth back to England, so the two go topside to argue it out. That's when a wave sweeps Gulliver right off the ship, and into his first adventure.
</p><p>When next we see Gulliver, he's clawing his way up a beach, calling for help from the people he sees further up the shore. He collapses, only to wake up with his arms and legs all tied down. It turns out those people down the beach weren't so far away – they were quite close, but also quite tiny, and very scared of him. Gulliver has arrived in Liiliput, a land where the people are only 6 inches tall!
</p><p>Gulliver quickly charms the Lilliputian emperor into letting him loose and shows his value to the ruler when he promises to help him win his war. But when Gulliver won't kill the enemy, the emperor conspires against him, and Gullliver has to flee. He's back on the water again. If you know the story, you know what happens next. And if you don't, I won't spoil it for you, but I will assure you that the second chapter is every bit as good as the first.
</p><p>A big part of the fun here is trying to figure out how they managed to have an enormous Gulliver interact with the tiny people around him. There was nothing computer generated back then, so this had to be done with rear screen projection, claymation, gigantic props, and I can't even imagine what else.
</p><p></p><h4>Cautions</h4>
<p>There's just a smidge of adult sexuality here. When Gulliver finds his fiancee, he kisses her quite passionately. She interrupts, noting that "We aren't married yet," and runs off to her room and locks the door. To answer her objection, Gulliver arranges with the ruler for a lightening quick marriage ceremony! That's it – nothing untoward shown – but Gulliver's ardour did strike me as a bit PG-ish.
</p><p>The action scenes are generally tame, but children under 8 might be frightened when Gulliver is unexpectantly grabbed by a giant squirrel. The squirrel's weird screech also adds to the tension.
</p><p></p><h4>Conclusion</h4>
<p>Parents familiar with Jonathan Swift's book may notice just a bit of his satire still evident in some of the dialogue. But for the most part this is a children's film, enjoyable for the spectacle of seeing a giant man interact with a pixie-sized nation.
</p><p>There have been more recent movie versions of Swift's classic, but this is the very best one for young children. Even if the special effects aren't as slick as the new CGI stuff, there's something very appealing about the 1960s movie magic too. Overall <em>The 3 Worlds of Gulliver</em> rates as a fun, fairly tame film for kids ten and under, but it's also one that mom or dad might enjoy for the old-school effects.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wXJbMYjj7rQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-15370968772320982262022-11-01T17:10:00.001-07:002022-11-01T17:10:00.191-07:00A Royal ChristmasDrama / Romance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkKb-pRro1phntiU1rUDwk5CKxcytOSdHEwCR2VMM8lBZWuQkKjvOmZuCk0Y1BitjnRsKXkCpQad-3v04XPjZDPdx9BzsY2aVNLZJFYOwYZujjVjTc0QAj_m0zhkqDvzqba7kujN-lKSKDCYPJRjpiQiVfkChBJ__rIrDTSJNPz5wGbJsfDSPk8TBHZA/s560/RoyalChristmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="397" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkKb-pRro1phntiU1rUDwk5CKxcytOSdHEwCR2VMM8lBZWuQkKjvOmZuCk0Y1BitjnRsKXkCpQad-3v04XPjZDPdx9BzsY2aVNLZJFYOwYZujjVjTc0QAj_m0zhkqDvzqba7kujN-lKSKDCYPJRjpiQiVfkChBJ__rIrDTSJNPz5wGbJsfDSPk8TBHZA/w284-h400/RoyalChristmas.jpg" width="284" /></a></div>
87 minutes / 2014<br />
<strong>RATING: 7/10</strong><br />
<p>How would you react if you found out that the wonderful, thoughtful, fun, quiet someone you were dating was secretly royalty? That's the premise, in this fun-for-the-whole-family Hallmark outing. Emily Taylor is a young talented clothes designer, who comes by her skills from growing up in the family's tailor shop. Leo James is her long-time boyfriend – it's been almost a year now! – who suddenly reveals that he is actually the crown prince of the tiny kingdom of Cordinia. And he's inviting Emily to come visit the kingdom for Christmas.
</p><p>The one hitch? Queen Isadora (played by Jane Seymour of <em>Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman</em>) is dead set against her son marrying a commoner. So will Emily win over the frosty queen? Will she find a way to fit in with dukes and countesses? Can she learn the ways of royalty without losing the spark that makes her special? And will the lonely queen find someone to love?
</p><p>If you've seen any of these kinds of films before, you can already answer all of these questions. But that doesn't make it any less fun to watch.
</p><p></p><h4>Caution</h4>
<p>One caution would be a passing mention that years ago the prince once went skinny dipping with a duchess. It was a weird inclusion, and totally not in keeping with the tone of the rest of the film (maybe it was something innocent when they were just little kids?). The only other concern is that this is yet another movie with "Christmas" in the title that makes no mention of the reason for the season, Christ. Not surprising; still disappointing.
</p><p></p><h4>Conclusion</h4>
<p>When I came up with my own film rating scale, what I had in mind for a 7 was a typical Hallmark film, one that was entertaining, but where the acting wasn't all that noteworthy in either a bad or good direction. That's exactly what we have here. <i>A Royal Christmas </i>was enjoyed by all in our household, from 9 all the way up to mom and dad. Shucks, if grandma and grandpa has stopped by, I'm sure they would have liked it too. It's very nice, and also nothing more.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kua76tb2W54" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-48207326541353602382022-10-08T17:09:00.000-07:002022-10-08T17:09:10.291-07:00An American TailAnimated / Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTjJgocg_aSggwHAEwQMzJPuuFJwSvypQ66eryfLfaL96b7-KfdJLNASgrTK7nyipC_V1ScDHEoAP93cZs447C6UORI2RbW8XSar12qdp5fORpoLXPIDIUQby0vc_A7ZAYZFVoavm-6380TdYe_c1a0PpeE3iJehyM9i5O1OSTlxP_T4_TWnndoq9pdA/s560/AmericanTail2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="404" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTjJgocg_aSggwHAEwQMzJPuuFJwSvypQ66eryfLfaL96b7-KfdJLNASgrTK7nyipC_V1ScDHEoAP93cZs447C6UORI2RbW8XSar12qdp5fORpoLXPIDIUQby0vc_A7ZAYZFVoavm-6380TdYe_c1a0PpeE3iJehyM9i5O1OSTlxP_T4_TWnndoq9pdA/w289-h400/AmericanTail2.jpg" width="289" /></a></div>
1986 / 80 minutes<br /><b>
RATING: 9/10</b><br />
<p>This is the immigrant experience, set to music, and seen through the eyes of a 19th century Jewish animated mouse family who decide to come to America after they’d been driven out of their Russian village by rampaging Cossack cats.</p><p>I should end the review right there; what more do you need? But I can’t help myself, because this is as brilliant as it is utterly unique! After escaping the Cossack cats, the Mousekewitz family takes a slow boat to their new land, surrounded by fellow immigrants from other countries. All of them have sad stories to share, usually involving how a cat ate their papa, or mama, or in the case of one Irish lad, his one true love (and all that was left of her was her tail!).</p><p>After each story is shared the mice join together to sing of how much better they expect it to be in their new country:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">
But there are no cats in America,<br />
And the streets are paved with cheese<br />
Oh, there are no cats in America,<br />
So set your mind at ease!</blockquote>
<p>They’re all so very hopeful, and that’s when the storm hits. Little Fievel, the Mousekewitz’s boy, is washed overboard and presumed lost, and his family is forced to continue on without him. Thankfully (I don’t think I could have taken it otherwise) Fievel has survived. He’s battered, but unbroken, and travels the rest of the way in a bottle, arriving only a short time after his family. Will he be able to find them? There are so many mice in New York! And it doesn’t help that they aren’t even looking for him.</p><p>Fievel soon discover that there are cats in America. Fortunately there are also mice here willing to fight for their freedoms. So it is, that Fievel, and unbeknownst to him, his family too, help with an audacious plan to force the cats onto a boat heading for Hong Kong. But even as they work on the same plan, Fievel and his family never quite cross paths. Fievel is making friends though, whether it’s a French pigeon helping with the construction of the Statue of Liberty, or a streetwise teen mouse who has Fievel’s back, or even a cat who loves broccoli a lot better than mouse burgers.</p><p><b>Cautions</b></p><p>There’s a lot of cats chasing mice throughout the whole story, and these cats are mean and scary. That, along with a brief counter Fievel has with some creepy cockroaches, make this fare for children ten and up.</p><p>Also, theres’s a minor character, the politician Honest John, who always seems drunk. Fortunately, he’s onscreen only briefly, and only a few times.</p><p><b>Conclusion</b></p><p>I was struck by how this had, for me, the feel of a 1940s wartime flick. Just like in those films, this celebrates America as a beacon of hope. The darkness it opposes isn’t Nazis this time, but something not too different; An American Tail was made during the Cold War, when the USSR was at its most intimidating, and it’s no coincidence that the main characters are coming from an oppressive Russia to find opportunity in America. While the Mousekewitzs discover that the streets aren’t paved with cheese – that’s too good to be true – there were opportunities in this new land that didn’t exist in the old one. An American Tail is a surprisingly nuanced celebration of the immigrant, showing that it wasn’t easy for those early settlers, whether man or mouse.</p><p>So who’d enjoy this? I suspect it’s so unique, so unusual, that excellent though it is, it might not appeal to the whole family. A Jewish Russian American mouse musical? Yup, that is odd, and maybe even weird.</p><p>But it really couldn’t be more wonderful!</p>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tTQ0qTubGz8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-65205817774142516982022-10-07T01:08:00.002-07:002022-10-07T01:14:51.364-07:00Going to the MatFamily / Drama<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7mPHNyIxjm5alcHDEBtHgSYy07QIeWqsVdIifFKI9vQ0TpiZbaw_1MmA3Qf9hZ6z9_AD5qHxMgZcrX4bAHsVDsCLoVLIbF4GGYbC7HTU-t5W-6MDKJ3kz_ANyvf2w-amZYd1iCyH5uxrLbWpGA8pmlmInmznc81YkWclnes9B3mu4iMcvImWsQan7Q/s747/Going-To-The-Mat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf7mPHNyIxjm5alcHDEBtHgSYy07QIeWqsVdIifFKI9vQ0TpiZbaw_1MmA3Qf9hZ6z9_AD5qHxMgZcrX4bAHsVDsCLoVLIbF4GGYbC7HTU-t5W-6MDKJ3kz_ANyvf2w-amZYd1iCyH5uxrLbWpGA8pmlmInmznc81YkWclnes9B3mu4iMcvImWsQan7Q/w300-h400/Going-To-The-Mat.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
2004 / 92 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 8/10</strong><br />
<p>Jace Newfield is the "new kid" and he's blind, but what's causing him the most difficulties is his snark. He used to live in New York City but his dad's new job means now they have to live in the podunks of Utah. So, on his first day the first thing this big city kid does is alienate all his classmates by joking that they're backcountry hicks. He digs himself under even deeper with an attention-seeking drum solo that doesn't impress his music teacher, Mr. Wyatt.</p><p>Fortunately there are a couple of kids willing to overlook his rough start. Vincent "Fly" Shue tells him the only way to fit in is to be a jock, so Jace decides to try out for the wrestling team... corralling the lightweight Fly to join up too.</p><p>Jace discovers that in wrestling blind athletes can wrestle against the sighted. The only concession given is that the two athletes start with a hand on each other. Jace isn't the biggest guy, and a total newcomer to the sport, but this is the chance for him to be just an athlete, rather than "that blind guy." Sports movies are predictable so no one will be surprised to see Jace losing in the early going, and (I don't think this is giving too much away) triumphing, at least in part, in the epic slow-motion finale. But this does have a few fresh twists to keep it interesting.</p><h4>Cautions</h4><p>The only caution concerns how children might misunderstand the moral to this story. Jace proves he can excel on the wrestling mats, so kids might think that's how he's proven he's just as valuable as anyone else. However, that's a worldly idea – that it's what we do that makes us valuable – and it is a dangerous idea. This is the idea behind the devaluation of the unborn: the world says they are worth less than you or me because they can't do what we can: they don't have a heartbeat yet, and can't survive on their own. This "able-isn" is the basis for euthanasia too, which is kept from the able-bodied, but offered up to the disabled and elderly who are valued less because they can do less.</p><p>Christians need to share that our worth comes not from our abilities, but from our Maker. We are all valuable, because we are all made in the very Image of God (Gen. 1:27, 9:6). So our kids need to hear that Jace would be valuable whether he could wrestle or not.</p><h4><strong>Conclusion</strong></h4><p>This is a 1990s Disney channel TV movie, so I was only hoping for a family-friendly sports story. I was pleasantly surprised to get a lot more. The acting is solid, and the sighted Andrew Lawrence does a convincing job playing Jace. Wayne Brady, as Mr. Wyatt, is a sympathetic but hard-nosed mentor, who gives Jace the kick in the butt he needs. It's sweet, surprising in spots, and solid throughout: this is a fun film.</p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-75375599961822410682022-08-01T13:57:00.015-07:002022-08-01T13:57:00.171-07:00Sue Thomas F.B.EyeDrama / TV series<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2b4HPWceizogB2CguOx_YLMtdvghKwTbZr39RbAGbNSxDSWSmIHNdoQ6p3C6GhomuM4thITaltCeAY5Ch-JxXGwIkPzNVk0b8Q1xRiqJOTupCT0HWjIsDu8t0hBV0VJ1nVYFLTl5pGqqLpIye8g5s_JGnZFODK6n0FFLVUOn-k4NmNbnnlEXemRfzxA/s840/Sue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2b4HPWceizogB2CguOx_YLMtdvghKwTbZr39RbAGbNSxDSWSmIHNdoQ6p3C6GhomuM4thITaltCeAY5Ch-JxXGwIkPzNVk0b8Q1xRiqJOTupCT0HWjIsDu8t0hBV0VJ1nVYFLTl5pGqqLpIye8g5s_JGnZFODK6n0FFLVUOn-k4NmNbnnlEXemRfzxA/w266-h400/Sue.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
41 minutes / 2002<br />
<strong>Rating: 8/10</strong><br />
<p>Twenty years back when it first hit the airwaves, this sure was a crowd-pleaser in Christian households. Based on the real life of deaf F.B.I. agent Sue Thomas, it combined the intrigue of police investigations with the unique comic pairing of the courageous but somewhat naive Sue and her lovable but not-always-so-well-behaving hearing dog Levi. The shows were generally tame, but not lame; a Christian series where the acting might not have been Oscar-worthy, but was never cringe-worthy either.
</p><p>In the pilot episode Sue starts her new job in the FBI and concludes that she was just a diversity hire, and isn't happy about it. But her lip-reading abilities soon catch the attention of agent Jack Hudson who realizes that Sue has just the skill-set their surveillance team needs.
</p><p></p><h4>Cautions</h4>
<p>When Jack Hudson first learns Sue can read lips, he challenges her to tell him what one of his colleagues 50-feet away is saying. It turns out he is making weekend plans with the woman he is sitting with. But, as Jack shares with Sue, that woman is not his girlfriend. This two-timing is a minor plot element, but makes what might otherwise be an all-ages show something better suited to older teens and adults.
</p><p></p><h4>Conclusion</h4>
<p>I've only previewed the first episode to this point, but found it utterly charming, and look forward to watching the other 56 episodes. Canadians and Americans will be able to watch the pilot episode below (unfortunately, the video won't work outside of North America) and find more on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/EncourageTV/featured" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Encourage TV on YouTube here</a> (you'll have to use their search function to find the others).
</p><p>You can also <a href="https://watch.redeemtv.com/sue-thomas-f-b-eye" rel="noopener" target="_blank">watch it for free on RedeemTV here</a>, though you'll need to sign up for a free account. The advantage to doing so is that it is much easier to sort through the episodes there.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1boyRIxdPrQ" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-14843425306457729322022-07-01T00:36:00.004-07:002022-07-01T00:36:00.193-07:00The John Bunyan StoryAnimated<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlPLbotIyspRiTKXrkCnqZoF6lPk2MVjcVTh3fXXgvs5pe2oWh-443g1oih2jVfCT4-y4ZewLRmAFnTN8hYTIgLFRgM3EGmyMFwweIuAWCDPt5YPZasdrJ9ScXYlov_w96YzLedMA0ydBUaERFrqYignRNLwoWQfLyDyo63LsRDsb_eQa300gvjQkruQ=s576" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="407" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlPLbotIyspRiTKXrkCnqZoF6lPk2MVjcVTh3fXXgvs5pe2oWh-443g1oih2jVfCT4-y4ZewLRmAFnTN8hYTIgLFRgM3EGmyMFwweIuAWCDPt5YPZasdrJ9ScXYlov_w96YzLedMA0ydBUaERFrqYignRNLwoWQfLyDyo63LsRDsb_eQa300gvjQkruQ=w283-h400" width="283" /></a></div>
2006 / 29 minutes<br />
<strong>RATING: 8/10</strong><br />
<p>What is likely the most influential novel of all time was written by a man of little education, though with a lot of free time on his hands. John Bunyan may have written his most famous work, <em>The Pilgrim's Progress, </em>during his 12-year stay in prison for preaching in an illegal church. For those that aren't familiar with it, the book is a metaphor for the Christian life, with a pilgrim traveling from the "City of Destruction" to the "Celestatial City" and along the way having to contend with all sorts of trials and temptations personified (like a giant named Despair, or a judge named Hate-Good). Bunyan, by his own account, was not a nice young man, so he understood temptation. And once he became a Christian, he paid a price for it, so he knew trials. And this animated account gives a great, engaging overview of it all.
</p><p>However, the film does indulge in creative license, taking as literal the opening lines of <em>The Pilgrim's Progress,</em> where Bunyan wrote "...as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags..." They portray the book as being inspired by Bunyan's dreams during his time in jail, and while that might even be true, it's disputed when exactly Bunyan first started writing his bestseller, so the facts are harder to come by than it might seem here.
</p><h4>Cautions</h4>
So one caution might be that younger viewers should be told not to make much of the little details, which may or may not be true.
<p>The other caution concerns age-appropriateness. This is animated, so parents might think it is for little children. But a battle scene when the young Bunyan is a soldier shows a man next to him getting killed by a musket ball. The scene is made all the more dramatic when the distraught Bunyan cries out in grief, reaches for his now dead friend, and discovers that his own hands are now covered in blood. This wouldn't bother a ten-year-old, but some younger children will be disturbed. There's also a dream sequence with a dragon attacking Bunyan. Again, not overly scary by teen standards, but it could be a bit much for preschoolers.
</p><h4>Contents</h4>
I've rated this an 8, but that's only for an audience that's read <em>Pilgrim's Progress – </em>those that don't already know the book, won't be too interested in learning about the man behind it. But if you <em>do</em> know it, this will be an engaging half-hour's viewing. Our family, from eight all the way up, quite enjoyed it.
<p>Watch it below for free (with some commercial interruptions).</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CyD3gwkHVPM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-68290754859635790962022-06-11T03:39:00.000-07:002022-06-11T03:39:02.006-07:00What is a woman?Documentary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_DQOw0c-h9btsylzBTToIJfktBBGV1Zk8tRbjYZXEWWy4LdHUS9ECwLQ_kcVwYLtFfAG1hAMyGmqTqMFzOL6YFhBLjFVMMOE2bvIUPee2RaP-wqqC0kAKlM8faFUqJqJP3zFAByVwEhlcft114BEOTEgzosU93ScBzpyW0llRAXlOipDUUgetEn8PvA/s826/What-is-a-woman2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="560" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_DQOw0c-h9btsylzBTToIJfktBBGV1Zk8tRbjYZXEWWy4LdHUS9ECwLQ_kcVwYLtFfAG1hAMyGmqTqMFzOL6YFhBLjFVMMOE2bvIUPee2RaP-wqqC0kAKlM8faFUqJqJP3zFAByVwEhlcft114BEOTEgzosU93ScBzpyW0llRAXlOipDUUgetEn8PvA/s320/What-is-a-woman2.jpg" width="217" /></a></div><div>2022 / 95 minutes</div><div><strong>Rating: 9 /10</strong> </div>
<p>While watching Matt Walsh criss-cross the country, asking his title question to gender experts of all sorts, a very different question popped to mind: "Don't any of you know how to <em>google</em>?" I was amazed, not that this stone-faced assassin could dismantle professors and doctors and counselors with ease, but that, despite their many years of study, they'd all agreed to sit down for an interview with someone they hadn't even bothered to look up on the Internet.
</p><p>Boy, smart people sure can be dumb.
</p><p>And that, right there, is the reason our young people need to see this documentary: to see the wisdom of the world exposed for the arrogance that it really is. When our kids head off to college or go straight to the workforce, smart people they meet might say bizarre things like "men can have babies too." It'd only be natural, if they have any humility in them, to start to wonder, <em>Am I the only sane one...or is everyone else right? </em>What an encouragement it'll be then, to see someone stand up against the nonsense, and do so completely unflustered.
</p><p>Walsh's deadpan delivery turns many a moment from simply illuminating to downright hilarious. How can you not laugh when Walsh poses his "What is woman?" question to a lady identifying as a gay man (i.e., a woman attracted to men, who is pretending to be a man attracted to men). She was scoffing at him right from the start for even having the gumption to ask such a question of her... since she said she was a he.</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>Confused woman</strong> (<strong>CW</strong>): "You should be asking <em>women</em> what it means to be a woman..." </p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>Walsh</strong>: "I'm asking all kinds of people. Can't anyone have an opinion about it?" </p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>CW</strong>: "Only people who are a woman. Gay men don't know nothing about what it means to be a woman." </p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>Walsh</strong>: "...So you're saying if you're not a woman you shouldn't have an opinion?" </p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>CW</strong>: "How does a <em>guy</em> get a right to say what a woman is? Women only know what women are!" </p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>Walsh</strong>: "Are you a cat?" </p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>CW</strong>: "No." </p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><strong>Walsh</strong>: "Can you tell me what a cat is?"</p>
<p>Faced with either pretending she didn't know what a cat was, or backing down on her notion that one can only identify something if you are that something, she chose C and hoofed it out of there.
</p><p>This is how Walsh dismantled the opposition, with pointed questions, and it's a tactic worth noting. When your opponents are spouting nonsense, the very best thing you can do is ask them to explain themselves. This is also an apologetic tactic with a long pedigree: <a href="https://reformedperspective.ca/tactics-in-defending-your-faith/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">by one count</a> Jesus, though He was the very <em>source</em> of wisdom Himself, still asked more than 300 questions in the Gospels. He wasn't asking because He was looking for information; His questions were designed to uncover others' ignorance.
</p><p><strong>Cautions</strong>
</p><p>While He liked asking questions, Jesus did also offer answers. The one glaring flaw to this film is that Matt Walsh doesn't, or at least, he doesn't give viewers the answers they most need. Fortunately, what Matt won't explain, God does. In the Bible's first chapter we hear that God assigns gender, and no one else (Gen. 1:27). Further on we read that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov. 9:10a). That, there, explains these dumb geniuses – they've rejected God's Truth, so all they have left to offer is foolishness.
</p><p>Why doesn't Walsh offer God's Truth? As <a href="https://crosspolitic.com/podcast/cp-interview-with-matt-walsh-to-bible-or-not-to-bible/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">he has explained elsewhere</a>, Walsh doesn't believe it's effective to offer biblical answers to people who don't hold to the Bible. However, the Left has no interest in hearing Walsh's words and yet he keeps talking to them. Why does he bother then?
</p><p>In Romans 10: 14, we see that the Apostle Paul knew how to use pointed questions too, as he asks:
</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;">How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?</p>
The world is caught up in some crazy lies, but how can they ever turn to God's Truth if we aren't willing to share it with them? This isn't about screaming Scripture at people. What it would involve is acknowledging God – Walsh could have improved his film immensely by adding as little as a line or two to the effect of "Our sex is assigned by God, and when you deny that fundamental reality, then you descend into all these sorts of insanity." It's not enough to expose the lie; the world needs to be pointed to the Truth!
<p>Other cautions are of a more minor sort. There's some language, with a horde of women at the National Women's March chanting "Asshole, asshole" at Walsh. There's also an interviewee on a street corner in San Francisco who is wearing only a strategically placed sock. After the initial distant wide-angled shot, the rest of the interview is mercifully shown closer and higher up. There's also a page of sex-ed material shown from a distance that includes a cartoonish image of two naked guys on top of each other (this is part of a curriculum meant for kids 10 and up).
</p><p>Finally, the overall topic matter is often... perverse. While the evil being done is generally discussed with restraint, it's still to much for our younger children to hear. This is only for adults and older teens.
</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong>
</p><p>Walsh balances out the perverse with some comedic moments. These are laugh out loud, whether it's Walsh at the National Women's March futilely canvassing the crowd of thousands for someone, <em>anyone</em> who might be able to tell him what a woman is, or his interaction with African tribesmen who want to be polite, but don't know what's wrong with the clueless American who doesn't even know what a woman is.
</p><p>By the end of the film, Walsh has only gotten a handful of answers to his title question, but one of the best comes from Jordan Peterson. <em>What is a woman?</em> "Why don't you marry one and find out?" It's a fantastic acknowledgment of the wonder that is the male/female divide. God made us different, then has the two become one, and tells us it is a great mystery (Eph 5:32). Sure, we have different chromosomes and genetalia but what a woman is, is so must more than just that. That there is mystery means marriage is an opportunity for investigation, discovery, and more wonder. But that there is mystery doesn't mean there's any confusion about whether a man can become a woman, or vice versa.
</p><p>Why watch? So our young people can understand just how much of what we're up against is simply intimidation and scorn. There is nothing substantive to transgenderism, and the other side can only win the debate by avoiding it at all costs. Young people heading off to university need to know that though your professors might be brilliant, that's no guarantee that they are wise.
</p><p><em>What is a Woman?</em> is only available to "Insiders" at <em>The Daily Wire</em> (<a href="http://dailywire.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">DailyWire.com</a>). I became an Insider, chose the monthly billing option, paid my $14, watched the film, and now I'll cancel before I get billed again for next month. I figured $14 isn't too bad (it's the price of an in-theater film and very few of those rate a 9 out of 10). You'll probably want to watch it again with friends, which makes that $14 all the more palatable.
</p><p>View the trailer below.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/42ivIRd9N8E" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-43085160995186153292022-06-01T14:02:00.027-07:002022-06-01T14:02:00.172-07:00The Incredible JourneyFamily<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K-jFfcoU_no/YbJ_eKkMQfI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/YZCPNsc-QfEZZ5ltBdQQOLYqwxnlHan1ACNcBGAsYHQ/s816/Incredible-Journey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K-jFfcoU_no/YbJ_eKkMQfI/AAAAAAAAEOQ/YZCPNsc-QfEZZ5ltBdQQOLYqwxnlHan1ACNcBGAsYHQ/w275-h400/Incredible-Journey.jpg" width="275" /></a></div>
1963 / 80 minutes<br /><b>
Rating: 8/10</b><br />
<p>What do Elsa and Anna, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, Pollyanna, and even Huey, Duey and Louie all have in common? If you said, they’d all been featured in Disney films, you’d be right, but that’s not the answer I was looking for. They all lack – and what many a children’s story protagonist lacks is – parental supervision. Dead or otherwise departed parents are pretty common in children’s fiction and films, and it isn’t as nefarious as it might seem. Parents need to be out of the picture because otherwise the story would end before it even got going. How could Peter, Lucy, Edmund, and Susan have explored the wardrobe if they’d been back in London with mom and pop? Parents still home when the Cat in the Hat stops by? He’d never make it past the front door. And Jack and Jill would never have tumbled if their mom had been there to tell them: “You’re not old enough to climb the cliff face– it’s dangerous! How many times do I have to tell you to use the path on the other side of the hill?”
</p><p>In The Incredible Journey the parents are once again missing, but this time there is a twist: the Hunters aren’t so much parents, as owners, and their “children” are two dogs and a cat. While the Hunters are heading to Oxford, where dad is going to teach for a semester, family friend John Longridge has volunteered to take care of their pets back at his own cabin, some 200 miles away. But then he leaves too, heading out on a long hunting trip, and entrusting the animals’ care to his housekeeper Mrs. Oakes. Then, when the note he leaves her falls into the fireplace and gets burned up, she thinks he has the animals. The result: when the trio head out on their own, no one is missing them.
</p><p>Luath, a Yellow Labrador, is the leader of the group. He wants to go back to their family, and convinces the other two, Siamese Cat Tao, and Bodger, an English Bull Terrier, to start off with him. While Luath knows the right direction, he doesn’t realize that home is more than 200 miles, and a mountain range, away. That’s the setup for their incredible journey. On the way, they have to contend with hunger, whitewater, bears, a lynx, and, unfortunately for Luath, a porcupine!
</p><p><b>Cautions
</b></p><p>The big caution here would concern the tension. At one point it seems like that cat has been swept away by the river to her death, and the two dogs are left mourning. The only way my kids could get past that was with the reassurance that the dogs were wrong and the cat would actually be okay.
</p><p><b>Conclusion
</b></p><p>There’s a 1993 remake, where the animals are voiced by big-name celebrities. I like this version better, where a narrator explains what’s going on in the different animals’ minds. It’s a more realistic approach, almost akin to a nature documentary, where we’re observing something that could really have happened. Despite what you might read elsewhere, this didn’t happen – it is not based on a true story. There’s been some confusion on that point because the author of the book that inspired the film said the pets were based on her own – they are based on true pets – but her pets never went on any such journey.
</p><p>What makes this such a wonderful film is the loyalty the animals have for one another. Bodger is old, and a drag on the group, but that only means that he gets to set the pace – Tao and Luath would never think of leaving him behind. Our whole family, from 8 on up really enjoyed it. The appeal for the kids is the pets – our girls love pretty much any story with dogs or cats in it – while the appeal for the adults was the uniqueness of it. This is an old-school Disney film, so it was easy to predict that everything would turn out fine in the end, but these animals took us on quite the journey with twists and turns that weren’t so easy to predict. And that sure was fun!</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MFP6neimpB4" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-23608132916685087552022-05-02T10:49:00.004-07:002022-05-02T10:49:00.177-07:00The John Newton StoryAnimated / Drama<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UbMbQwSN4wY/Ya-wz4fgCYI/AAAAAAAAEOI/7G1h6psmW9MG92rEAdoyLbky5aR998H8ACNcBGAsYHQ/s788/Newton.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="560" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UbMbQwSN4wY/Ya-wz4fgCYI/AAAAAAAAEOI/7G1h6psmW9MG92rEAdoyLbky5aR998H8ACNcBGAsYHQ/s320/Newton.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
2021 / 30 minutes<br /><b>
Rating: 7/10</b><br />
<p>We know John Newton (1725-1807) as the former slave ship captain who repented and then wrote the amazing hymn Amazing Grace. In this Torchlighters episode, we get to hear the rest of his life story from the man himself. When an anti-slavery bill is brought to the British Parliament, one of the members goes to Newton to ask him to speak out on the issue. In response, an old Newton starts to share his dark history.
</p><p>It is a story of constant rebellion – this was a sailor so salty that the other sailors complained about the filth coming from Newton's mouth. It is also a story of a transformation wrought over many years: when Newton first became a Christian he stayed in the slave trade, going on to captain two slave ships for three voyages, transporting thousands of slaves in shameful conditions. This, it turns out, is why the Member of Parliament (MP) has come to Newton: since Newton captained slave ships as a Christian, the MP thinks he can convince Newton to speak out in favor of slavery. The MP has another reason to think Newton might help his cause: after attending the church that the older Newton now served as a pastor, the MP had never heard Newton preach against slavery.
</p><p>Newton realizes that not only can he never speak for slavery, he must now, finally, begin to speak against it... no matter what it might cost him and his church. His congregation was made up of many who had ties to the slave industry.
</p><p><b>Cautions
</b></p><p>While the brightly-colored animation style might have parents thinking this is all-ages viewing, the topic matter means it is not so. The toughest scene is right at the start, where we're shown a happy African village, and then the slavers come to kill and steal. It's brief, lasting only a couple of minutes, serving as the visual background to a parliamentary speech given by Christian politician William Wilberforce on the evils of slavery. Man-stealing – a crime God punishes with death (Ex. 21:16) – is so brutal there's no way to entirely mute the wickedness of it, so parents will need to watch the first few minutes to best judge whether their children will be able to handle it. I wouldn't show this to my under tens.
</p><p>There is one picture of Jesus briefly shown, in a book the Member of Parliament is reading.
</p><p>I'll also note the video leaves viewers with the impression that a young Wilberforce and the older Newton both saw the end of slavery in Britain. They did, together, help end British involvement in the slave trade – that happened in 1807 – but it wasn't until 1833, many years after Newton's death, that the slaves in Britain were finally freed.
</p><p><b>Conclusion
</b></p><p>My favorite part was the William Wilberforce speech, which bookends the presentation, beginning and ending it. Would that we could one day hear a Christian politician give such an impassioned speech in Parliament in defense of the unborn! This is one to watch with the family, or with a class, and discuss how we can and must rise to the defense of the unborn, never being afraid to raise their plight in the public square.
</p><p>You can watch The John Newton Story for free at RedeemTV.com though you will have to sign up for an account. Check out the trailer below.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/604869724?h=8ace6df73e&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-50358523619075217542022-04-26T11:01:00.001-07:002022-05-28T14:05:17.959-07:00Darwin: The Voyage that Shook the WorldDocumentary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFRrX07x7CfvarT22fQuT3SNIEkSG63a8ZTdtrDiyWNcEDRR3X9aJil4dPxC7qRiIMZNAe4NrjQ941oxZ_PtXofDVBOAkIRpfkJX-T0y2ANhXG4TB_PXO56LGWBQM9UidaS0TfTMW1CEXN76-D5Mske5AT77Aze5g7CqXgwzV6LsfSD4OfTA1Z1je7Q/s560/Darwin2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="391" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMFRrX07x7CfvarT22fQuT3SNIEkSG63a8ZTdtrDiyWNcEDRR3X9aJil4dPxC7qRiIMZNAe4NrjQ941oxZ_PtXofDVBOAkIRpfkJX-T0y2ANhXG4TB_PXO56LGWBQM9UidaS0TfTMW1CEXN76-D5Mske5AT77Aze5g7CqXgwzV6LsfSD4OfTA1Z1je7Q/s320/Darwin2.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
55 minutes, 2009<br /><b>
Rating: 8/10</b><br />
<br />
This must be the most expensive documentary ever made by creationists and it is certainly the best looking. Creation Ministries International (<a href="http://www.Creation.com/">www.Creation.com</a>) spent more than $1 million staging and filming key events in Darwin’s life, including his time on the HMS Beagle and his visit to the Galapagos Islands. The production values are simply astonishing: solid acting, slick computer graphics, gorgeous close-up shots of the Galapagos wildlife - and a narrator with the perfect classical British accent.<br />
<br />
The producers wanted to make this as good as anything you might see on the Discovery Channel, or on a PBS or CBC documentary because they aimed to get it shown on public TV around the world. However, that aim also impacted how they presented the content. If they wanted to get it shown on a channel like CBC they certainly couldn’t make it explicitly Christian(!) so rather than being a defense of Biblical Creation, the documentary limits itself to critiquing Darwinian Evolution. <br />
<br />
The end result, then, is a persuasive, gorgeous, tactful, hour-long takedown of Darwin – the lie is exposed. The downside is that there isn’t much here pointing people to the Truth. Some have criticized this as a job only half done. That might be, but the half that it does do, it does brilliantly. <div><br /></div><div>You can watch the trailer below, and buy it on DVD, or search for it on your streaming service.</div><div><br /></div>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w96HTBc3KtY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-40683367151851827192022-04-01T04:34:00.017-07:002022-04-01T04:34:00.183-07:00UnitardsFamily / Comedy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WN0T-QmokdcuHHkvVPJxUfO8UqR2zOitkFkKJ2rwPO78pm4-Tc_LwATGFLr3lQ8TWjxEXh7E3DZuLEun05m3hxbIWt77PcDLmSJqR7UcOpZq_djT2blevfE411dR_oiuNu29UkK8saI/s827/unitards2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="827" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WN0T-QmokdcuHHkvVPJxUfO8UqR2zOitkFkKJ2rwPO78pm4-Tc_LwATGFLr3lQ8TWjxEXh7E3DZuLEun05m3hxbIWt77PcDLmSJqR7UcOpZq_djT2blevfE411dR_oiuNu29UkK8saI/w271-h400/unitards2.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
2010 / 107 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 8/10</strong><br />
<p>The producers bill this as "<em>High School Musical</em> meets <em>Napoleon Dynamite"</em> but I'll have to take their word for it, not having seen either. I do know it is laugh-out-loud, tears-in-your-eyes funny in parts.</p><p>When the vice principal charges Lewis Grady with building up school spirit, he decides to start a guys-only dance...thing (he isn't quite sure what it is, but he knows it isn't a dance team because that's what girls do). His two quirky friends are happy to help, even if they've got some misgivings about dancing in front of the whole student body. The three buddies bribe, beg, and bargain their way through the recruitment process, ending up with a group of a dozen or more. But it's one thing to get a group together, and another to get that group dancing together, especially when the guys have more than their share of left feet. But with a little help from mom and some friends on the school's award-winning girls' dance team, they start figuring things out.</p><p>Right before their first public performance, Lewis rallies the troops with an inspirational speech that is comic gold. He reminds them of the dream most every student has had, of showing up to school in nothing but your underwear. "This is that day," he tells them: "The majority of the kids out there feel like they're showing up to school half-naked every day. Today is for the nobodies, for the average, I-don't-even-matter kids." Lewis wants his group to be an inspiration to the ordinary guys and girls out there in the audience, showing them you don't have to be awesome at something to do it, you just have to be willing to ignore the peer pressure and embrace the joy.</p><p>The villain of the piece is the teacher who runs the girls' dance team. She thinks the boys are making a mockery of dance, and she wants them shut down, and she's used to getting her way. While that adds some drama to the story, this is mostly just goofy dance numbers, and quirky friends, showing how fun can be had when you ignore the mockers and set out to be encouragers.</p><h4><strong>Cautions</strong></h4><p>The biggest caution would just be the film's name. Unitards are a one-piece garment that dancers (especially ballet) often wear, but there is also an implicit, never made explicit, reference here to "tard," short for retard, with the joke being that any boys in a dance group are sure to have that word directed their way. It's in bad taste, but that it isn't made explicit makes it easier to overlook.</p><p>While the dancing is modest by worldly standards, there is a lot of it, and it isn't the formal sort you might see in a "Pride and Prejudice" film. This is more the jump and bounce and shake and wiggle type of dancing toddlers through teens do. That includes some butt-wiggling moves that are a brief part of one or two of the dance productions. It's slightly sexually suggestive, but incidentally, rather than provocatively so. And when paired with the students' generally modest dress, it is quite tame.</p><h4>Conclusion</h4><p>Director Scott Featherstone combined elements of his own school experience with what his son Sam (who plays Lewis Grady) and friends were experiencing to come up with the script. Then he held auditions at his son's school to get all the actors. That's why the acting is solid enough, even though these are not professional actors. What they are is high school students playing high school students so it's not a stretch. And because the director and scriptwriter was a parent who knew the actors, some of these kids are almost certainly playing versions of themselves.</p><p>What makes this worth watching is just how sweet it is. High school can be a tough time for many, and what we have here is a prescription for how your kids can make it better for others, and maybe themselves. Lewis Grady's friends poke fun, but they don't tear down. The guys do look goofy dancing, but they're also being brave, and some of the school's girls are smart enough to appreciate and encourage that bravery. This is high school as we wish it could have been, and would still like it to be for our kids: full of challenges, yes, but not full of naysayers, mockers, and killjoys.</p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ToYebhQFXek" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-72212465197856503112022-03-01T08:00:00.026-08:002022-03-01T08:00:00.186-08:00PAW Patrol: the MovieAnimated / Children / Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nn18VYSIwzk/YZRT-edNk-I/AAAAAAAAENE/zgJBbVwt3vsfS6aYwEegwuy2cAMm9fgrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s840/Paw-Patrol2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nn18VYSIwzk/YZRT-edNk-I/AAAAAAAAENE/zgJBbVwt3vsfS6aYwEegwuy2cAMm9fgrgCLcBGAsYHQ/w266-h400/Paw-Patrol2.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
2021 / 86 min<br />
<strong>Rating: 8/10</strong>
<p>While our kids had never seen the TV series this is based on, we'd all seen enough of the PAW Patrol lunchboxes, toys, and commercials, to understand the premise: talking puppies, each with their own expertise, team up to help wherever there's a need. Puppies ensured they had cute covered and our daughters hooked, but was this going to be good enough to keep the parentals awake?</p><p>It turned out, yes – there was more than enough action and intrigue to keep me bright-eyed the whole way through. It even opened with a bang (and a <em>screeeeeeeech</em>, and an "oh no!"): a semi-truck driver narrowly misses a baby turtle crossing the road, but his emergency maneuvers have him veering all over the road and crashing right over the edge of a bridge, leaving driver and truck dangling precariously over the bay hundreds of meters below. It's as tense as a G-rated film can be, and had our daughters on the edge of their seats waiting for the rescue pups to spring into action.</p><p>What I most appreciated was when the story headed to Adventure City where a new cat-loving, dog-hating politician had just won the mayor's race... but only because the other contestant had to drop out. There's some political satire here, as the power-mad Mayor Humdinger tries to transform the city into his own vision of utopia, which, of course, goes disastrously. I don't know if the writers were purposely trying to mock big government but, regardless, they did a good job, as everything the arrogant mayor touches goes comically amuck.</p><p>A major subplot has PAW Patrol's top dog, Chase, struggling with a crisis of confidence after he makes a mistake during a rescue – that's the story's drama. Comic relief comes from all directions, maybe most notably in the form of a sassy new Patrol member, named Skye.</p><h4>Caution</h4><p>A heads up if you have an adopted child: Chase's struggles are due in large part to a traumatic experience in the city right before he was rescued and then adopted by Ryder, the team's only human member, so if your son or daughter had traumatic experiences before their adoption, this might hit them too close to home. I'll also note, this is an action-packed movie, which makes it exciting, but maybe also a bit much for some younger kids. Other than that, the only caution I caught would concern a "wedgie drone" as seen in the trailer below. It's just 15 seconds of questionable silliness, the end result leaving the mayor pantless, though wearing long boxers. There's nothing indecent in this scene, but the film could have been improved by its absence.</p><h4><strong>Conclusion</strong></h4><p>I was struck by just how much good old-fashioned fun this film was from beginning to end. I've read a review where this was said to come out of a "lightly Christian" worldview/morality, and I get why they would think so. I don't know if the producers were Christian, but they sure could have been. While this is just fluff – there's nothing all that deep here – there's also no poison pill mixed in with the cotton candy. It's just fun fluff all the way down.</p><p>I'd recommend this for the 8-11 crowd – it <em>is</em> a children's film. But for a first viewing, this could be one for the whole family. Older teen children won't like it nearly as much as their younger siblings, but even if the film doesn't grab them, they should get a kick out of all the little ones' giggles and gasps.</p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LRMTr2VZcr8" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-7835704336015869862022-02-01T13:34:00.001-08:002022-02-01T13:34:00.185-08:00The Sword and the RoseFamily / Drama<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_CE0cPbJuIK0A524vi3iiQ84SJZsDGGyD9PE9Dl60t8WkU-EQdAcaWixW1dOWGJQvrVLUP9gGAM-k94wW-IhMbaBrNQvWq83EA3onkbVz66oVGsZeq4MgMgVHDIzVQjyTeX-4AcZCyQ/s840/Sword-and-the-Rose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_CE0cPbJuIK0A524vi3iiQ84SJZsDGGyD9PE9Dl60t8WkU-EQdAcaWixW1dOWGJQvrVLUP9gGAM-k94wW-IhMbaBrNQvWq83EA3onkbVz66oVGsZeq4MgMgVHDIzVQjyTeX-4AcZCyQ/w266-h400/Sword-and-the-Rose.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
1953 / 92 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating 7/10</strong><br />
<p>When I first found this film and read in the description that the hero was Mary Tudor, that was too much for me. Mary Tudor was a Roman Catholic queen of England in the year 1553 to 1558 who gained her nickname, Bloody Mary, for her vicious persecution of the Protestant Church. This was the <em>Hollywoodization</em> of history gone too far, and I had no interest in watching a film about her romantic life.</p><p>But then I realized that <em>this </em>Mary Tudor wasn't <em>that </em>Mary Tudor. This film was about the <em>sister</em> of Henry VIII, rather his devilish daughter. And so I took a look.</p><h4><strong>Content</strong></h4><p>As the sister to the king, Mary has some gumption and is much admired by all the young men of the court. But as the sister to the king, her marriage prospects are tied up with her brother's political machinations, and there's no advantage to him, to marry her off to an Englishman. He wants her to marry the aged King of France.</p><p>She, however, is a very stubborn lady, so it's an open question as to whether she'll do as he says. It's only when she falls in love with the Captain of the Guard, and tries to sail off to the New World with him, that the king gains the upper hand. The couple is caught, and her knight in shining armor is going to be hung for treason... unless she submits to her brother's wishes and marries the French king.</p><p>There are some exciting twists and turns in the plot that I won't give away, but I will note there is, ultimately, a happy ending for all.</p><h4><strong>Cautions</strong></h4><p>The broad outlines of the story are based on history, and if that is how the film is enjoyed – as very loosely based on a true story – then it is quite a tale.</p><p>But for those who are more concerned with accuracy, they may object to Henry VIII being portrayed as a rascal more than a rogue, or to the unsympathetic portrayal of his first queen, Catherine of Aragon, who was later treated shamefully by him.</p><p>There are some sword fights, but this is an old-fashioned Disney film so there is no blood or gore.</p><h4><strong>Conclusion</strong></h4><p>Our whole family quite enjoyed it, though our youngest, at 7, needed the film to be paused at times, so we could explain the historical context of what was going on. (She didn't get how a brother could decide for a woman who she would marry.) This is a "Disneyfied" version of history, and that is both its strength and weakness, suitable for all ages, but kinder and gentler than the events really were.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://secure.disney.com/embed/4bcf686412552bc46826f7a7?domain=video.disney.com" width="560"></iframe></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-84353794821036461352022-01-03T17:41:00.001-08:002022-01-03T17:41:34.115-08:00The Harriet Tubman StoryAnimated / Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyevOpK8YlHIXKB8kn-6Pq1v2dIvY9mZgs0K7Qrwt2wucXuXzECcejXUGyu80D5_DyP8ujvBQ2Cqk78T3hu7iZqCwQYAT7OluweAIOOsieKrWgQGe6TYfI2CLDsDgU7WeO39acpLDf9NdzSi1Q8Rompse8hJZ3UGBMNvI508yLvug3Kaa8RxCaAX1XQg=s1333" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgyevOpK8YlHIXKB8kn-6Pq1v2dIvY9mZgs0K7Qrwt2wucXuXzECcejXUGyu80D5_DyP8ujvBQ2Cqk78T3hu7iZqCwQYAT7OluweAIOOsieKrWgQGe6TYfI2CLDsDgU7WeO39acpLDf9NdzSi1Q8Rompse8hJZ3UGBMNvI508yLvug3Kaa8RxCaAX1XQg=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div>
2018 / 30 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 7/10</strong><br />
<p>This is an action-packed overview of Harriet Tubman's life (c. 1822-1913), an escaped former slave who helped other slaves flee the American South to live free in the Northern US and Canada. We get introduced to the "Underground Railroad" during Tubman's initial escape. No trains were involved; this railroad was simply a series of homeowners (or "conductors") along an established escape route, who were willing to hide fleeing slaves, and take or direct them to the next railroad "stop." Sometimes slaves would travel by horse and cart, hidden among the hay or goods on the back, and other times they would have to trek through the woods with a guide, or maybe on their own.
</p><p>After gaining her own freedom, Harriet went back more than a dozen times to help her family and others slaves also escape. She gained the nickname Moses because she was bringing her people to "the Promised Land." Her willingness to take these risks was because of her love for the Lord and trust in Him. In the going and coming she would constantly pray to the Lord, and the Lord kept her and her charges safe.
</p><p><strong>Cautions</strong>
</p><p>This is a children's half-hour video, so there isn't time to have any sort of lengthy discussion about slavery. But I still think it problematic that there is no distinction made between <a href="https://www.reformation21.org/articles/slavery-and-the-bible.php" rel="noopener" target="_blank">US slavery and the slavery God allows in the Bible.</a> That's a problem because I suspect most children watching this will leave with the impression that slavery is entirely condemned in the Bible... and then be unsettled when they discover otherwise.
</p><p>Another theological concern happens when a fellow slave comments on Harriet's constant prayers, Harriet explains that she's just doing as the Good Book says, to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess 5:17). She keeps praying because "I'm hoping [God] will just get tired of hearing me and set me free." One of my daughters compared her approach to that of the persistent widow of Luke 18:1-8 when faced with the unjust judge. But does God need to be worn down? There are problems with Harriet's understanding of God here, so parents should hit the pause button and discuss <a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/pray-without-ceasing" rel="noopener" target="_blank">the reasons we are to ceaselessly pray</a>.
</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong>
</p><p>While this animated production mutes the horror of slavery, the lesson would be lost if it did so entirely. So there's trauma to contend with, starting with the opening scene where an older Harriet is being chased and shot at as she helps her parents escape. More traumatic still is the next scene, where a juvenile Harriet witnesses the break up of a slave family – their master has sold two of the daughters, and the girls are being taken away while they cry out for their weeping mama.
</p><p>That means that even as this is a powerful introduction to Harriet Tubman, it'll be too much for preschool children to handle, and others, even up to 10, may need to be guided through with a few timely uses of the remote's pause button. This would be best for a family movie night when your kids are a bit older.
</p><p>You can watch<em> The Harriet Tubman Story</em> for free below.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BIyMMgsvvCA" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-81418732356800257922022-01-01T12:48:00.001-08:002022-01-01T12:48:00.192-08:00Unlocking the Mystery of LifeDocumentary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC7EsCDIohBLljA1CRWtNSkk9BYP5Ay8hxKp5Yrqy68mGPAtDADR7TqU24jvGkLomzw40Ytqp9B5yL8mGg1a4Efy1Mz-vClsGAuWPtdHgW3-Xl9Ql_2orM74PH1PbC9t6kSCmrg6ZT_sU/s828/Unlocking2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC7EsCDIohBLljA1CRWtNSkk9BYP5Ay8hxKp5Yrqy68mGPAtDADR7TqU24jvGkLomzw40Ytqp9B5yL8mGg1a4Efy1Mz-vClsGAuWPtdHgW3-Xl9Ql_2orM74PH1PbC9t6kSCmrg6ZT_sU/w270-h400/Unlocking2.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
2003 / 67 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating 8/10</strong><br />
<p>This documentary is a couple of decades old now, and it's more important than ever. When it was released, it had cutting-edge computer graphics unveiling the inner workings of the cell, and it told the story of the origin of life research current to that time. Today, it also serves as a history of the early days of the Intelligent Design (ID) movement, highlighting key figures in it like Phillip E. Johnson, Stephen C. Meyer, Jonathan Wells, William Dembski, <a href="https://reformedperspective.ca/tag/michael-behe/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Michael Behe</a>, and Dean Kenyon.</p><p>Kenyon had previously written a textbook <em>in support of </em>evolution, and Behe had also begun his career as an evolutionist before reassessing after he read Michael Denton's <em>Evolution: A Theory in Crisis. </em>As he describes it, reading this book made him feel like he'd been cheated; he'd had years of scientific education, was on faculty at Lehigh University, and he'd never once heard of the many problems with evolutionary theory! We get to come along as Behe and Kenyon explain how their eyes were opened.</p><p>We also get presented key ID arguments like Irreducible Complexity, which proposes that some biological machines need all their pieces to work, and could never have been formed by evolution's step-by-step process. This is an issue being as hotly debated today as it was back then.</p><p>Other highlights include a look at the bacterial flagellum, which is effectively an outboard motor on a bacteria, propelling it as much as 100,000 rotations a minute. This is a marvel of engineering, evidencing the brilliant Designer behind it.</p><p>And we're shown how biological machines are needed to assemble biological machines, which make the question of how they could have first formed one that evolution seems incapable of answering. It's a chicken and egg problem: which came first, the Machine A, needed to assemble Machine B? Or was it Machine C, which was needed to assemble Machine A?</p><h4>Cautions</h4><p>The ID Movement looks at the origins debate from a philosophical and scientific, but not religious perspective. They argue that evidence <em>outside </em>the Bible makes it clear there is a Designer. On this point, the apostle Paul, writing in Romans 1:20, agrees. But the weakness with ID is that it doesn't give the glory that is His due specifically to the God of the Bible. ID has a "big tent" approach which includes other religions, and both those who believe in a young Earth and those who believe it is more than 4 billion years old. However, this documentary doesn't touch on old ages.</p><h4><strong>Conclusion</strong></h4><p>While the computer graphics aren't as cutting edge, they are still amazing. We get a closeup look at the operation of micro machines we never knew about, but which are in our own cells! This is a must-see for high school science classes, and it could make for fascinating family viewing too with teens and parents.</p><p>Speaking of the classroom, Illustra Media has packaged this exact same material, in a slightly different order, in <strong><em>Where Does the Evidence Lead? </em></strong>(2003). There it comes in 6 distinct chapters, all around ten minutes long, making them easy to present one or two at a time in high school or university classrooms. Illustra Media has made that repackaged version available for free online, and you can watch it below.</p><h4><strong>Part 1 - Life: the Big Question (10 min)</strong></h4><p>We being with Darwin, his trip to the Gallipolis Islands, and how he developed his theory of Natural Selection.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fhy3OmzZmps" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><h4><strong>Part 2 - What Darwin didn't know (8 min)</strong></h4><p>We're introduced to Michael Behe, who explains why he used to be an evolutionist: no one had ever previously presented him with any problems with evolutionary theory. But the more he learned about the cell, and how complex the simplest block of life is, the clearer it became that chance processes couldn't explain it. One example: the <a href="https://reformedperspective.ca/molecular-motors-design-on-a-microscopic-scale/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">bacterial flagellum motor</a>, which has been called "the most efficient machine in the universe."</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/17ynXxILnRI" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><h4><strong>Part 3 - Molecules and mousetraps (12 min)</strong></h4><p>In Part 3 we're introduced to the concept of "Irreducible Complexity" which proposes that in biological systems there are some machines that could never have come about by a step-by-step process – they would have to come together all at once. That is a powerful challenge to evolutionary theory, which precisely proposes everything can come about by small incremental steps. Michael Behe illustrates this point using a mousetrap as an example.</p><p>In answer, evolutionists have proposed their own theory of "co-option"... which has its own problems.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6KKFjpkt7po" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><h4><strong>Part 4 – How did life begin? (11 min)</strong></h4><p>How did life begin in the first place? Darwin had very little to say on the subject. In recent years scientists have experimented with trying to get some form of "chemical evolution" started by mixing various chemicals together. But it isn't simply the chemicals that make life happen, but how the chemicals are arranged. Like letters in a sentence, we don't need just the right sort, but we also need them in the right order. The math here – the odds against even a single amino acid forming by chance – is fascinating!</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OdBX534990U" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><h4><strong>Part 5 – Language of life (13 min)</strong></h4><p>Dean Kenyon wrote a best-selling textbook on the evolutionary origins of life. But then one of his students challenged him to explain how the first proteins could have been formed. Kenyon had originally proposed they would self-assemble, but what we were learning was that proteins are formed by other micro-machines, using instructions - there was no self-assembling. So Kenyon started to ask, what was the source of the instructions?</p><p>In this part, we also get to look into the cell to see how that information is put to use.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fGwNIDQ8HoY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><h4><strong>Part 6 – The Design Inference (14 min)</strong></h4><p>Design has been ruled out at the start – not by the evidence, but by mainstream Science's anti-Supernatural bias – as a legitimate answer to origins question.</p><p>But Man is fully capable of spotting and recognizing design. It <em>is </em>a legitimate field of scientific inquiry.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RgUJKsx8hwM" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-48192175383876128882021-12-24T14:04:00.004-08:002021-12-24T14:04:26.086-08:00Toy StoryAnimated / Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg775Mxh9ZJjtnaOnUE7jruRFFcSwi1FtDhKOe1tQbMp3fvR9RCZ_lC7RmRAFjXqoR_KUEhcmCnQVS_I7tQCIKyc5FYxlmGqfhlmQnpdKIGiKUcHr_t_Y4EnNNdEfkBCpBykgaIqQgV05vIoNuw0DX8UC78t3dO_RzMMipDrHHeTU6DXvTvOplwZW2XZg=s747" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg775Mxh9ZJjtnaOnUE7jruRFFcSwi1FtDhKOe1tQbMp3fvR9RCZ_lC7RmRAFjXqoR_KUEhcmCnQVS_I7tQCIKyc5FYxlmGqfhlmQnpdKIGiKUcHr_t_Y4EnNNdEfkBCpBykgaIqQgV05vIoNuw0DX8UC78t3dO_RzMMipDrHHeTU6DXvTvOplwZW2XZg=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div>
1995, 81 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 8/10</strong><br />
<p>Twenty-five years ago <em>Toy Story</em> was groundbreaking: it was the first feature film to be animated entirely by computer. Since then computer animation has greatly improved, so what's allowed <em>Toy Story</em> to continue on as a family favorite isn't the look – solid though no longer amazing by today's standard – but the story.
</p><p>Woody is a toy, a Western sheriff with a pull string on his back that makes him say "Reach for the sky, pardner!" He and his fellow toys live in their owner Andy's room, and while they are limp and lifeless when people are around, they spring to life (as every child has always suspected) the moment we leave. As the story begins, the toys are nervous because it's Andy's birthday. That means new toys are on the way, which could mean that some of the old toys get relegated to the bottom of the toy box.
</p><p>The brilliance of <em>Toy Story </em>is in the toy casts' very different personalities: we've got a timid Tyrannosaurus Rex, a wise-cracking Mr. Potato Head, a loyal Slinky-Dink Dog, and a flirtateous Little Bo Peep lamp. Shucks, even the Etch-a-Sketch is quite the character, trying regularly to "outdraw" Sheriff Woody.
</p><p>The biggest personality of them all is the newest arrival. For his birthday, Andy has gotten a Buzz Lightyear – a spaceman action figure – that replaces Woody as his favorite. Woody is jealous, but what really drives him nuts is that Buzz doesn't even understand that he's a toy. Buzz thinks he's landed on an alien planet, and that the other toys are the friendly locals. Woody is normally a pretty stand-up toy, but in a bout of exasperated jealousy he gives Buzz a shove. He meant to bump Buzz off the bureau, where he'd get stuck (and maybe forgotten for a while) in the gap between the bureau and the wall. But instead, he sends Buzz right out the second-story window into the bushes below.
</p><p>Woody, more concerned with what the other toys will think of him than actual concern for Buzz, tries to rescue the spaceman. But things just go from bad to worse and they end up in the next-door neighbor's house, in the clutches of Sid, a boy whose parents don't supervise him like they should. Why is it dangerous to be around Sid? Because he blows up his toys... and now Woody and Buzz maybe next!
</p><p><strong>Cautions</strong>
</p><p>While there aren't major cautions, there are a lot of little nits that could be picked. For example, when one toy talks about how much he trusts Woody, Mr. Potato Head takes off his lips and presses them to his butt – adults understand, though my kids missed it. A bunch of alien toys in one of those coin-operated toy dispensers view the claw that comes down as "our master" and speak of it in a worshipful manner. They're basically a cult, and make for a weird, if fortunately brief, addition.
</p><p>There's also the overall tension throughout. This is intended as a kid's film, but there were parts where we had to hit the fast-forward button because it was just too much for our 8-year-old. Sid, in addition to blowing up his toys, also splices different toys together, so when Woody and Buzz are trapped in his bedroom, they get surrounded by his freaky creations, including the creepiest toy you'll ever see: a mute Mechano spider topped with a shaved doll's head. Buzz and Woody discover that they're all friendly, but I think even adults could get the kreebles in this scene. Then there's Sid's toy destruction: he blows up one, and his dog tears another to bits. When you consider that toys are people in this film, that's quite something to include.
</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong>
</p><p>In 1995 I saw this in the theater with my college friends and we all loved it. But what I thought then was little kids' fare that adults could like too, is actually too scary for the very young. After watching it again with my family, I'd describe it as for 10 and up...though if you are willing to hit the fast-forward button here and there, younger kids can enjoy it too. It's basically G-rated, with some PG moments.
</p><p>This is an odd couple/buddy film, and adults will realize from the start that Woody and Buzz are destined to become the best of friends by film's end. But even if the end is obvious, loads of humor and action make it a fun journey, and one your kids will likely share with their own kids a couple of decades from now.
</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v-PjgYDrg70" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-42014188317033405422021-12-01T16:57:00.002-08:002021-12-24T13:58:50.251-08:00The Phantom Tollbooth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F5JOHAoT4GA/YUUyBwW9z7I/AAAAAAAAEJ8/Tk-biXScWfM7lEwktdYHEFb_PMtEDE1TQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Phantom.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F5JOHAoT4GA/YUUyBwW9z7I/AAAAAAAAEJ8/Tk-biXScWfM7lEwktdYHEFb_PMtEDE1TQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Phantom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Animated<br />
1970 / 89 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 7/10</strong>
<p>This is a peculiar movie based on a peculiar book, and as such, will have only peculiar appeal – this is <em>not </em>for everyone.</p><p>Things begin in "live-action" with Milo, a boy bored by everything, returning home from school to discover a mysterious package in his bedroom. It's a tollbooth – a talking tollbooth! – that invites him on an adventure if he has the gumption to go. So Milo hops in a miniature car, and the moment he drives through the tollbooth, the whole film switches over into animation, taking him to a weird and wacky world that couldn't be depicted any other way.</p><p>Both the book and the film are a morality tale, but of a secular sentiment. The bored boy is going to learn that all those things he's being taught in school – numbers, and letters, addition and spelling, subtraction and writing – are far more interesting than he's ever realized. He'll make this discovery by visiting the kingdom of Digitopolis, where <em>numbers</em> rank at the top, and the kingdom of Dictionopolis where <em>words</em> are said to be supreme. But this is a topsy turvy world, where a watchdog actually has a watch inside him, and a spelling bee, is a bee that can spell!</p><p>Some of that craziness is the way this world has always been, but things got worse after the kings of Digitoplosis and Dictionoplois banished their sisters, Rhyme and Reason. As the kings should have known, without Rhyme and Reason, things can get too silly, too quickly! That's why they task Milo with rescuing the princesses, equipping him to contend with the demons of ignorance that he'll meet along the way. These demons include the Terrible Triviam, who tempts people to do unimportant tasks now, instead of the thing they really should get to. Then there's the Demon of Insincerity, the Hideos Two-Faced Hypocrite, the Over-bearing-Know-It-All, and the Threadbare Excuse, all able to derail industry and the search for Truth. But Milo is ready to fight!</p><p><strong>Caution</strong></p><p>One caution would concern the demons, which might be scary for children. But these aren't Satan's minions – these are personifications of temptations (like in <em>Pilgrim's Progress</em>) that are trying to ensnare and delay Milo.</p><p>The other caution concerns the princesses Rhyme and Reason. Logic is an outworking of God's character, but in this secular story, logic – Rhyme and Reason – are the "gods" of the film (though they aren't described as such) able to completely transform the kingdom and save the day. It will be worth pointing out to kids how logic is not itself foundational, but lies on the foundation of God Himself.</p><h4>Conclusion</h4><p>This will be of interest to any who've read the book. For those not already familiar with the story, the closest thing I can liken it to<em> </em>is <em>Alice in Wonderland, </em>not in plot, but – I'll say it again – peculiarity. If your family is the sort that would be up for the surreal <em>Alice, </em>then they may love this adventure too!</p><p>That said, this takes a bit to get into - you might need to watch half an hour before you get a feel for what sort of movie this is. And also note, this is a film to be paused and discussed to be properly appreciated, whether to explain the wordplay to kids, or to point out to them the lesson Milo is learning.</p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pZ1ldmMzmvk" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-54212914719008186632021-11-17T01:54:00.006-08:002021-11-17T02:13:58.840-08:00C.S. Lewis: the Most Reluctant ConvertBiographical drama<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pyOKfGExzu8/YZTRNci0_nI/AAAAAAAAENM/NFrSj8vOgo41-qstKTKv4Xhz0u0na31KACLcBGAsYHQ/s777/Lewis.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="777" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pyOKfGExzu8/YZTRNci0_nI/AAAAAAAAENM/NFrSj8vOgo41-qstKTKv4Xhz0u0na31KACLcBGAsYHQ/w289-h400/Lewis.jpg" width="289" /></a></div>
93 minutes / 2021<br />
<strong>RATING: 9/10</strong><br />
<p>If you already know Lewis you're going to love this film; if you don't, this will soon have you loving Lewis for the way he could put into words the wonder God works in his and our own hearts. This is the story of Lewis's conversion from ardent atheist to "the most reluctant convert," bowing his knee to God not because he wanted to, but because he couldn't do otherwise.</p><p>It's also a story superbly told. There are three different actors playing Lewis, one as a boy, another as Lewis in his twenties, and the third, portrayed by Max McLean, as Lewis in his fifties. McLean's Lewis, the Christian Lewis, is actually the film's narrator, "breaking the fourth wall" by talking directly to the audience and explaining the thoughts being thunk by the other younger still-kicking-against-the-goads Lewises. It's all shot on location, so we're able to walk along with the older Lewis through the halls of Oxford as he takes us, for example, to a pivotal discussion his younger self is about to have with J.R.R. Tolkien. What an absolute delight!</p><p>The showing I went to with my brother-in-law started with a 12-minute documentary, <em>The Making of the Most Reluctant Convert. </em>It was an odd way to begin, and a friend mentioned that this featurette was likely supposed to come afterward. But because the film itself has a non-stop intensity – not from car chases or explosions, but from the young Lewis's constant wrestlings with God – it was a help to have this slower introduction. Like the blurb on the back cover of a book, the featurette summed up what was to come, prepping us before we were launched right into it. Whether intentional or not, front-loading the featurette was brilliant, and if it doesn't come that way on the DVD, I'd recommend heading to the special features to begin with the documentary first.</p><p>Lewis fans will quickly notice that the dialogue is taken almost entirely from his books, all stitched together seamlessly by McLean himself. The dialogue is similar to the script he wrote for his one-man play <em><a href="https://reformedperspective.ca/movie-review-c-s-lewis-onstage-the-most-reluctant-convert/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">C.S. Lewis Onstage</a> </em>which was the seed for this film version. But while the play is very good, the fully fleshed-out film is downright fantastic.</p><p>What makes this an amazing film is that the excellent acting, writing and craftsmanship are put in service to the more excellent work God did in Lewis's heart. God took a man angry at God and determined to run from Him, and transformed this rebel into the foremost Christian apologist of the twentieth century. And then He used that man as a spark for many thousands (millions?) more such transformations.</p><h4>Cautions</h4><p>The closest thing to a caution I can offer is that Lewis doesn't offer complete answers to the theological difficulties his atheist self raises. That might be disconcerting to some, even as it is also one of the film's strengths. The fact is, there is no completely satisfactory answer to, for example, the problem of pain, and the film doesn't pretend otherwise. God has given us reason to trust Him, but He hasn't told us all, so sometiemes we do indeed need to trust Him.</p><h4><strong>Conclusion</strong></h4><p>From the twist right at the start to a conclusion that left us wanting more, this was a story superbly told. Add in a subject worthy of this craft and creativity, and I can't imagine how this could have been better; it is certainly one of the best films I've ever seen. And, lest you think I'm getting all gushy, I'll add that my brother-in-law liked it even more.</p><p>Watch the trailer below, and <a href="https://www.cslewismovie.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">check out the movie website here</a> to see if and when it might be playing near you. Hopefully, it will be available to rent online very soon.</p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AWEjo6pr2Qk" title="YouTube video player" width="560"><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354213314152149420.post-61982365801225528582021-11-15T16:32:00.006-08:002021-11-15T16:54:36.384-08:00ExtraordinaryComedy / Drama<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V8KHUXuhI9A/YZL78F3TPEI/AAAAAAAAEM8/NOQrWVr-hGk2Cr-3ooCVbYcp5sqHrusuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s789/Extraordinary2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="789" data-original-width="560" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V8KHUXuhI9A/YZL78F3TPEI/AAAAAAAAEM8/NOQrWVr-hGk2Cr-3ooCVbYcp5sqHrusuwCLcBGAsYHQ/w284-h400/Extraordinary2.jpg" width="284" /></a></div>
2017 / 88 minutes<br />
<strong>Rating: 6/10</strong><br />
<p>If you're looking for a quiet Hallmark-ish film to watch with your spouse, the two of you all snuggled up on the couch, this might fill the bill.</p><p><em>Extraordinary </em>is based on the real-life story of Liberty University professor and ultra-marathon runner David Horton. This is a fellow who runs not simply for hours, but for months, taking on challenges like a Mexico-to-Canada race (which puts a whole new meaning to "cross-country running"). While his athletic exploits have made him a legend to his students, these runs have come with a cost for Horton and his family: bleeding feet and knees, and swollen joints for him, and for the children, a dad who has been missing-in-action for their recitals and baseball games. Meanwhile, his wife Nancy has had to run their household on her own for months at a time and, when her runner returns, then she's had to nurse her utterly spent husband back to health.</p><p>When Horton's doctor says he needs knee replacement surgery and it'll put an end to his competitive running career, Horton still wants to do one last race. But unbeknownst to him, his wife Nancy has been busy planning a surprise vacation for the whole family, sure that her husband's knee pain (and recent heart surgery) will keep him home with them this summer. It's not to be: in a comedic twist what Horton is still thinking about – running the TransAmerican race from California to New York in 64 days – is announced as fact to a stadium of students, and then Horton feels like has to go, to live up to their expectations. </p><p>Horton is played by Leland Klassen, a gifted physical comedian, who brings a quirky charm to the role. That charm is much needed to make us care about Horton, who, if he wasn't so likable, would otherwise come off as a doofus, leaving his wife at alone for the summer.</p><p>My wife and I both enjoyed it, but concluded that a problem with <em>Extraordinary </em>is that it attempts more than it actually delivers. This is the story of a man whose identity has been completely tied up in his running – he's done it his whole life, achieved things others can't even dream of doing, and he's even managed to make running a huge part of his daily work because as a professor he teaches running in his physical education classes. Now he's been told that a needed knee replacement surgery is going to sideline him for good. So this is a middle-aged man struggling with his sense of identity, and his own mortality – that's fodder for a great film. But because Horton is blissfully unaware of what his wife is going through, we feel more for his wife than for Horton and don't really feel for him in his struggles.</p><p>What makes this still worth watching is that it is a doofus who (finally) learns his lesson. He told his wife that he thought God wanted him to use his running ability to inspire others one last time, and by movie's end he realizes that he may well have attributed to God only what he himself wanted. Horton learns that God has more than the role of runner in mind for him; father and husband should actually be taking precedence. </p><p>This gets a 6 out of 10 for its somewhat contrived plot – much of the conflict comes from husband and wife just not talking to each other. While I don't normally review films that score just 6, I made an exception this time because even as this is not great art, it is nice....and you can watch it for free. I also appreciated that there's nothing objectionable here, and that includes even the theology, which isn't deep, but also isn't dabbling in the heretical as frequently happens in other Christian flicks.</p><p>Overall, <em>Extraordinary </em>is a lightweight comedic drama about a doofus husband who takes a while to get his priorities right but who figures it out in time for a happy ending for all. That's all it is, and on some evenings that's really all we're looking for.</p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/8DiFm9n8qVc" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Watch the trailer here</a> and watch the film for free below.</p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OX4vmjry26o" title="YouTube video player" width="560"><span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span></iframe>Jon Dykstrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13867992075746045379noreply@blogger.com0