Extraordinary Measures

Synopsis:
Inspired by an incredible true story, the CBS Films docudrama portrays one father's desperate quest to save his children from succumbing to a rare life-threatening genetic disorder. Working-class father John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) is finally on the fast track to corporate success when his two young children, Megan and Patrick, are diagnosed with Pompe disease -- a condition that prevents the body from breaking down sugar. In time, it disables the heart and the muscles, ultimately resulting in death. With the support of his wife, Aileen (Keri Russell), John ditches his career and teams with unconventional specialist Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) to found a bio-tech company and develop a cure in time to save the lives of Megan and Patrick. As Dr. Stonehill works tirelessly to prove the theories that made him the black sheep of the medical community, a powerful bond is forged between the two unlikely allies. Still, their greatest struggle is yet to come.

Ok first off I know I do not do many movie reviews but this one, this one had speaks meaning to me. Now I do not have a sick kid who is going to died. Which I know is a blessing. How this movie spoke to me was showing how hard it is to get the research done. Having worked in labs trying to find answers over cancer I know how hard it is to get the money to do it. I went through three research jobs in two and a half years because of funding. Labs work by grants which only last usually for a year and if they are not renewed the lab looses its funds and the research for the last year cannot be continued.

The really bad part about all of this is people are impatient they want results NOW science does not work like this usually. It takes time. The only way to move it faster is to get more money AND a lot of people on it which normally doesn't happen. The sad thing I saw while in the labs was the ones with the PHds spent all there time trying to get money and not helping with research the lower degrees ( like me) did the work.

Now one thing this movie showed that someone with no education with research but had the need to find the cure if working had enough, getting money and what not can help find a cure. Unlike the scientists having a sick and dieing child is motivation to find a cure, another good movie and true story is Lorenzo's Oil.

One part in the movie which is sadly true for most cases is keeping the scientists from seeing people who have the disease they do not want to make it humanized for them. Which I never much cared for. Though Huntsman Cancer Institute for a time was different the patients and scientists had to ride the same elevator each day. I feel this was done on purpose. Give us a glimpse of whom we are trying to help. I don't feel this causes a problem, it gives you motivation!

This has now changed since they opened the new Cancer hospital, which I had the privilege of taking a tour of before it as opened. The facility is awesome I hope they are able to help many people.

So in conclusion if you ever curious on why research can take so long I definitely recommend this movie!

Clash of the Titans

I haven't written in this for a bit just been busy with work and life. That and I really haven't had anything exciting happened the past while just the same old normal day to day routine. I also have not watched any new movies as of late finally sat down and watched one, well kind of sat down and watched one found better things to do then watch it. Anyways it was the new version of Clash of the Titans. Figured it would be fun to write down what I thought of it. Though trying to think of anything positive about the movie will be difficult.



Ok first of I am really getting sick and tired of movies that go overboard with CGI. The story gets lost and all you see is flashy special effects that just want to scream out look what we can do! And when I say flashy I mean flashy the Zues was literally flashy all the time, looked really strange. the monsters where a bit over the top CGI to I mean the kraken you could not even tell the shape of it half the time. It was as if they were half assed about it . Hey lets do really, really big close ups of Perseus fighting the Kraken because the lower body we never designed! All you could see was a small part of body and tentacles flying all about. probably was for he 3D effect which is worthless once its out of theaters. And ok sometimes worthless in theaters. I'll admit I'm not ha big 3D fan. the main tricks they do on it are so silly. Lets throw something at you kind of thing. It was cute the first hundred times but enough is enough. The worst part is, it does not translate well once released to DVD those parts look stupid (Parts of Monsters Vs. Aliens drove me nuts because of that).

Ok back to the movie. The story was muddles and skippy. Felt like they just wanted to show cool creatures that they made instead of having an actually storyline. For me to like a movie it absolutely needs a storyline and decently developed characters. If it doesn't have that then its a no go. Also this has Greek mythology in it is it that hard to stick to it? i mean really. When was Medusa ever in the underworld, she always lived on an island. I know its a small thing but it bugs me. not as bad as pegasus though. I'll admit I couldn't stand the idea that they made a Pegasus black. Maybe its silly but I love mythological horses and changing them drives me up the wall. Now my husband did keep teasing me about this one saying you racisit and what a brother can't have a part in the movie :p. I did have hubby laughing because each time the pegasus was on screen I kept saying stupid horse.

I really can not find anything about this movie that I liked even the main character bugged me. Sam Worthington does not fit the part of a ancient Greek eh didn't even have the right hair cut. Greeks had long hair not buzz cuts! He wasn't a Roman. *Deep breath* ok I'm done. I'll just say I'd give this movie 1 out of 5 stars just because only really, really specially bad movies get 0 stars from me.