Extraordinary Measures

I remember when this was playing at the theater but we never went to see it. So, the other night we rented it. It's a wonderful movie. Everyone does a fantastic job. And the fact that it is based on a true story makes it even better.

Here's the review from Amazon.com:
Imagine Harrison Ford as a rogue scientist exploring not ancient artifacts of lost arks, but biochemical research to help cure rare diseases. In Extraordinary Measures, Ford manages to keep some of that wry rebellious Indiana Jones energy as he plays Dr. Robert Stonehill, a fringe researcher whose findings just might help keep alive the two children of John Crowley, played with heart and sobriety by Brendan Fraser. Extraordinary Measures is based on a true story, one chronicled in the gripping book The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million--and Bucked the Medical Establishment--in a Quest to Save His Children, by Wall Street Journal reporter Geeta Anand. The cast is excellent, with Ford tamping down his occasional urge to vamp for the camera, and Fraser grounded in his first true adult role. The supporting cast is also strong, including Keri Russell as Crowley's frantic wife, facing the near-certain death of both of her children; Dee Wallace, Jared Harris, and Courtney B. Vance also appear as strong supporting characters. Director Tom Vaughan switches gears from his wildly successful romp What Happens in Vegas to turn in a crisply paced and suspenseful family drama. As Crowley and Dr. Stonehill team up to raise money to support Stonehill's research, Crowley says, "Who's going to be half as motivated as the dad who's trying to save his own kids?" Extraordinary Measures brings to mind similar dramas like Lorenzo's Oil, but its heart and drive are unique to the story of the Crowleys, a very special family indeed.

It's a movie that I will probably purchase to have in my collection.

Bye, Bye Red Chevy

Over the weekend we had some visitors. Liz and Gary came to help LaRue with her moving at school. Andy, Robin and Brighton drove out to pick up the 1969 Chevy Impala and tow it back to Provo for Andy.

Saturday morning the boys pushed the car into the street and then got it positioned so they could work on it and hook up a tow bar:


Andy and Robin tinkered under the hood and got it to start and run. They had to replace the fuel filter and associated tubing:


We have the tow bar assembled and hooked up to the Chevy's bumper:


All connected to Robin's truck:


Pulling the car away to go to Provo:


So long, Chevy!

Crazy Heart

A couple of weeks ago I got a Blockbuster gift card from one of the police departments. It was good for one rental. So I picked out Crazy Heart based on the fact that Jeff Bridges got the Oscar as best actor for it.

In my opinion the Oscar was well justified. Bridges did an amazing job as the broken down country singer/songwriter. The movie portrays his life and his redemption. One impressive part of the movie was that Bridges did the singing. And I pretty sure he played the guitar as well.

Normally I'm not a country music fan, but some of the lyrics of the songs were so profound that we bought the soundtrack.

Besides, I'm kind of a sucker for movies about musicians even if they're not real.

The movie is rated R for language and it's on my "buy it" list.

Snow Day

Little surprise upon awakening this morning - 6 inches of fresh snow! It was a really wet, heavy snow. Nothing stuck to the roads, but it took a while to clean the car.

I got a couple of quick pictures. First, the apricot tree:



And here's a shot of the poor tulips:



Yesterday and last night the wind blew like crazy. This morning I'm going to have to go out and re-align the satellite dish. The wind blew hard enough to throw it a bit off kilter.

Aprils Fools Activities

I'm rather late getting this one put together. I have compiled a bunch of pictures of the various activities associated with our April First trip to Provo for the first of LaRue's surgeries on her leg.

We got to the doctor in Provo about mid-day. Everything went very well. Then we had a couple of errands to run before going to Andy's house. When we got there we were greeted by little leprechaun Asher. What followed was a green themed party. It was a combination of St. Patrick's Day and April Fools Day complete with Irish trivia and green food.

The next day everyone journeyed to Salt Lake to surprise Robin at the Chuck-A-Rama for a party for his 30th birthday. It was quite fun having everyone together. Robin opened a lot of birthday cards and a couple of presents.

Following the lunch party LaRue and I went to the Salt Lake City library to let the kids run around. They had a lot of fun feeding some bread to the pidgeons and then spent some time exploring the library.

And now to the pictures - April Fools pictures

Everybody's Fine

Movie review time again! I had wanted to see this movie in the theater but we never had a chance. When I checked NetFlix the other day it was there and I put it at the top of my queue.
It's a really good movie. Here's a little blurb about it from a reviewer on Amazon.com:

This is an wonderfully quiet film that follows the lonely Frank Goode (Robert De Niro) who goes on a trip to visit his children (Drew Barrymore, Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell), since they were too busy to visit him. Unbeknown to Frank is that his artist son, who is in Mexico, has run into some problems, but the other children are trying to cover up this fact. We follow Frank, who is a kind, and intelligent man, who has never really been close to his children, and who is making the effort to bridge this gap late in his life. This is a heartfelt exploration about a father trying to connect with his children which inevitably nurtures a feeling of goodwill and love.

We were both pleasantly surprised when the end credits began to roll and a song by Paul McCartney started playing. The song was written specifically for the movie. It's "(I Want to) Come Home". Here's a link to a YouTube version of the song - Come Home on YouTube

We are planning to buy this movie.

Blind Side

We did not get the chance to see The Blind Side in the theaters, but heard a lot of good things about the movie. So, a few weeks ago we rented it.

And really liked it. I can see why Sandra Bullock won the Oscar. She was great. Normally I don't care that much for sports movies, but this one was not really a sports movies. It was good on several levels; covering the themes of family, charity, tolerance and more.
At some point I would like to own a copy of The Blind Side.