"The Blind Side" , "Everybody's Fine" & "The Fourth Kind" Movie Reviews- posted Nov 20th, 2009

The Blind Side
  
OK so there's a lot to say about this film.  Firstly it is a true story, which in my case always makes it more intense emotionally knowing that these people really went thru all of this. Secondly, this is not a football movie! Its a touching story about: compassion, relationships, redemption and new beginnings.   This is a great family film(men bring tissues if you have women that tend to tear up easily) because this film is endearing, touching, heart wrenching,

I think that the casting was just spot on Perfect!! Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne was just a powerhouse and incredibly moving. Tim McGraw as Sean the father and husband was pretty good (for a singer LOL)and played really well off of Sandra's performance. Well little Jae Head who plays SJ the youngest child of Sandra and Tim.  He completely steals every scene that hes in and is the biggest comedic relief in the film.  Completely great, that child has a major career ahead of him!

 Now onto newcomer Quinton Aaron who portrays Michael the main character that the whole movies about.Quinton just has this kindness and shyness about him that totally makes the character even more relateable.   I just loved how he brought this essence to this portrayal of a real life person that could have been done in a completely "feel sorry for me, boo hoo" sort of way. He never makes you  feel like hes looking for sympathy, u freely want to give him all that you have!

  This is definitely a movie that I would recommend the whole family to go see. Although there are so dramatic and sad parts this movie ultimately is an uplifting film that leaves you feeling happy and joyful. One of the parts that I really loved is at the end of the film they show real footage and pictures of all the real people from this story and kind of depict the journey they went on!

   Well I am gonna stop here and not go into any more details because you need to see this movie for yourself!





EVERYBODY'S FINE 

 Everybody,s Fine Stars Robert Di Nero as the father that is not well connected with his kids after his wife passes away. This film starts off with Roberts character getting his home and yards ready for all of his kids to come down for a nice visit. One by one they all cancel without any explanation and against his doctors orders he decides to go surprise all of hem at their homes across the country one by one. 



His children all are hiding things from him and lying to him about their personal and professional lives to make sure hes proud of them. But as the movie progresses and they tell him lie after lie he starts to realize things aren't what they seem with them.

This film is a bit complicated. When I first saw the trailer for this film online a few weeks ago you the impression that this is a comedy, and although there are many comedic parts in this film that make you laugh out loud, overall I would say that this is a drama that deals with some pretty dark and sad themes a lot of the time. He has four children but from the get go you only see three which is a giveaway that somethings wrong.  I was moved at times and generally felt what he was feeling and believed his genuine sadness at times.  I would recommend this film, its got some great actors and some great scenery. A general warning there is some swearing in this film and one "F" word which really seemed out of place and quite unnecessary in my opinion.   I wasn't very shocked or surprised at most of the twist and turns and had the movie basically figured out ten minutes in, but still generally enjoyed it.

   So if any of this sounds appealing to you and you enjoy these actors and their work then go see this film!




THE FOURTH KIND   So  this is a film that I have been waiting for, I saw a teaser trailer for it months ago and have been dying to see it.  First off I have to say that I absolutely love Milla Jovavich! I have LOVED her ever since I first say "The Fifth Element" when I was in junior high!   So they start off the film with a announcement that this film is based off true events that occurred in 2000 in Nome, Alaska.  They say that every part of this film is supported by archive footage and recordings (which they put into the film as well as compared the original tapes side by side with the movies version a lot of the time)  I will say that I don't know if any of this is real or if its another "Paranormal Activity" type of movie where they say its all real but is just a movie.   But just to set it up, this is a movie about a psychologist Dr Abigail Tyler who lives in Alaska but moves the Nome, Alaska because thats where her late husband was doing his research and she plans to continue and finish it for him.
Strange occurrences, disappearance's and a town that doesn't get much sleep is what she finds and as she starts to talk with patients she starts to find similarities in all of their stories and they all seem to wake up at the same time of night and they all seem to see the same white owl outside their window, staring in at them!  But beyond that none can say anything else about their nights.   


 So Dr Abigail Tyler decides to put one of her patients under hypnosis to see if she can delve deeper into what has been happening to him and whats going on.  Since I don't wanna ruin the movie Ill just say that not much is revealed under hypnosis besides the fact that when trying to remember it scares the person beyond belief.


  This movie starts to unfold and you slowly start to realize as Dr Tyler does, that something strange and un-explained is happening in this town and the more she dig into it the stranger things get! This movie has great suspense and shows you barely anything concrete so you are hooked in.  This movie has some disturbing images, and frightening subject matter, so is not for small children or the faint of heart. I really liked this movie and was thoroughly creeped out, but is it real? Is any of the footage or testimony that they intertwine through the movie real? who knows!


So thanks for reading these reviews, I hope they give some insight or an idea of what the movies about.  Coming up next... MY NEW MOON REVIEW!


                    I'll see ya at the movies!
                                                            ADP
Just A quick little Update. Saw the doctor, got info and will be writing new movie review, Nov 19th, 2009 3:15pm
 OK, well I just wanted to do a quick update. Ive been out all day at doctors appointments and doing errands, just got home and am now getting ready to go back out again. So this will be short and sweet!

  I saw my oncologist today and he looked over all of my lab work from the past few weeks and we talked about my symptoms and what Ive been feeling. He said that generally I am doing very well.  He is happy at how my body is reacting to the chemotherapy so far.  I told him my concerns and that I am preparing mentally for the worst and hoping for the best.

  Surprisingly he told me not to worry, that I should just live my life, go about business normally and have as much fun as I can because there will be times in the near future where my blood counts will drop and my immune system will be very vulnerable and I cant go out into public much then.   I was shocked at how much less he was concerned about certain things and he told me that sometimes worrying about the cancer and chemo and side effects can bring them on faster.  So don't stress myself out cause that could be bad for my health.

   I also talked to him about my neck and he examined me and said that it looks just to be damage and scar tissue and the tendon healing from the surgical implant of the portacath. So to take it easy and don't try to work it out myself to just let it heal on its own. Another fun little thing is that they gave me the H1N1 flu vaccine cause they say that when my immune system drops I wouldn't be able to fight it off so its just a precaution. So thats cool, i wasn't even thinking about it!

  Sorry I haven't been updating as much, been really tired and crazily busy all of a sudden. My next Chemotherapy injection is next Weds (the day before Thanksgiving) But I promise to keep updating as things change and I learn anything new!

   I will be posting four... yes FOUR new movie Reviews by tomorrow afternoon! So check back to see what I thought about: The Blind Side, Everybody's Fine, The Fourth Kind & ... The Twilight Saga: NEW MOON!

 Thanks all for reading and I will be talking to you soon!!

                       GOD Bless,
                                      ADP

P.S. Anytime you see the font a different color or underlined, its because its a link. I put up links to the movies I already saw and am gonna see tonight, then review tomorrow. You can click on the links in case you dont have a clue what movies I'm talking about!
A Christmas Carol, 2012, The Box Movie Reviews, POsted Nov 16th, 2009

A CHRISTMAS CAROL in IMAX 3D

 Well first of all I just want to say that the animation in this movie is great!!
It is well written and has beautiful animation and vision.  I saw this in IMAX 3D on opening day with my parents and my friend Dawnn.  Generally we all loved it.  Jim Carrey is amazing!  He plays three or four parts in this film and is just the complete package.

 This film sticks pretty close to the Charles Dicken's original story and is a great re-inventing of the classic Christmas story.   This movie can be for the whole family, but there are a few grotesque and possibly frightening parts for young children.

  I would definitely recommend this in IMAX but u have to at least see it in 3D. I don't think that it would have the same effect without the 3D animation effects.  This is one of the most real looking and feeling computer generated films that Ive ever seen. Its a treat for the whole family and you should not wait for this on dvd to see it.  Take advantage of it in theaters and see it before its gone.

   There is not really a lot to say about this film that you don't already know about the original tale...oh Jim voices Scrooge and all three of the spirits that visit him during the night.  This film has a great voice cast and a lot of secondary characters that I recognized the voices of that you didn't even know were in this film.. So go out and see it today!




2012
OK So I must admit that I have been waiting for this movie for a very long time.   Been hearing about it for months and months and even though I didn't have the greatest expectations for the story I knew that the special effects had to be amazing from what Ive seen.


   This movie isn't out to win any Oscars or get any awards for superb acting.  This is just a fun roller coaster of a ride movie thats basically a summer blockbuster being released in the winter time. So to those who knock it just cause its Oscar season and this movie doesn't fit into the typical November film, just let it go



   So a basic summary is that this movie says that the Mayan calendar along with a few other historical things state that the world is set to end on December 21st, 2012. Now some people in reality are freaking out over this and some believe it to be true but most just take it as a movie and thats all.

  This movie follows a few peoples journey and the hell that breaks loose when these "predictions" start to come true.  So basically small things start to happen and then larger events start to happen that gets the world attention and of course the government is there to say that nothings wrong (while secretly planning ahead to prepare for the devastation). So the earth becomes unstable and massive earthquakes and eruptions and giant tidal waves start to devastate the world and we basically follow a few families journey for survival.

   I thought that John Cussack and Amanda Peet did a decent job at the separated couple who have to work together to save themselves and their kids.  Woody Harrelson has a small supporting role in which he is hilarious as a hippie and of the world conspiracy theorist and many other good performances.

   So the effects in this movie were phenomenal, lets face it, thats why you wanna see this movie. There is a lot of peril and a lot of people die as the world falls apart.  So that can be a bit depressing, but to see a few rise above it all is uplifting.  This movie is very long at almost three hours with trailers, so prepare for a long movie.   But overall I liked this movie and the concept of it is intriguing. It is slow and drags at times, but makes up for it in some crazy intense action and suspense scenes.But the most important thing this movie leaves you with is the "what if?" question after its over...

    So see it if you want an make sure you use the restroom beforehand and get a large refillable drink and popcorn and I would not suggest seeing this movie late at night as you could drift to sleep during  one of the slower scenes. But it is worth checking it out in the theater cause of the surround sound and epic scope of some of the scenes will be lost on a little TV at home.




The BOX



  I wanna start off by saying that this movie has seriously intrigued me since day one that the teaser trailer was released.   I am soo happy to see Cameron Diaz branching out into other less typical roles for her. Unfortunately this probably wasn't the best choice for her.This movie stars Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella, I was looking forward to this film cause of its core concept "Would you kill for money?" 

 The basic premise is that you get chosen and given a choice of pushing a button that will end a human life, but you get $1 million dollars (this movie takes place in the seventies by the way, so that was a lot more money then) .  I thought from the early trailers that this was a suspense thriller about them deciding to push the button or not and living with those consequences.  This is not true,they make their decision early on and then are faced with them right away.  


  I am into all kinds of films and nothing rarely surprises me, but this film gets soo weird and sometimes even political and it was just a bit more far out then I expected.  Although I was intrigued and trying to figure out a few details, my friend Dawnn was just bored out of her skull and it was her idea to see it.


   So if your into slow thrillers (its an oxi-moronI know) and just completely bizarre story lines then maybe this film is for you, but as for me I didn't really care for it and wouldn't tell my friends to go see it.  It was hard to feel for the characters most of the time cause they keep doing stupid stuff and thats another reason why it was hard to get into it. So thats my thoughts on the most current movies Ive seen.



Until next time GOD Bless and Ill see you at the Movies!
    ADP 


Whats been going on in the past week or so! Posted Nov. 16th, 2009
  OK, so sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Been really tired and trying to relax and rest but there is always something going on and it seems like I never get to rest. Plus there has been a few little problems with the home computer and I haven't felt like writing this all from my phone.





  For the last week or so the main side effects that I have been feeling is: Tiredness, soreness, getting hot and feeling flustered very easily, insomnia, dehydration easily, and just a general feeling of weakness and aches.   I haven't had the most energy, but still no major sickness yet.  As you cans see from the pictures I have been having drawn. I have to go twice a week for them to test my count levels and see where im at and how my immune system is.  THIS is very important and determines where I can go and what I can do.

  I have to go twice a week to do this and so after I go a few hours later I get a call from the nurse and she tells me the results.  So far my levels have been stable and there's been no significant drop.   I have talked to the nurse and she has told me that its usually between day ten and fourteen that that show signs of dropping which would be this week. So we shall see, also last week when I went to give I found out that I was extremely dehydrated and didn't even know it.   I was told that the chemo and medicines could make me constipated and apparently it just sucks up the water out of my body, so I am now trying to drink water non-stop to prevent that!

  Last Friday my neck started to hurt and over this past weekend I have had some pretty extreme pain in my neck right above where they mad the incision in my neck. This was a bit alarming and the best way to describe it is this major straining and sharp pain.  When I feel my neck there is this thick hard line that I can feel and its only on the one side.  I talked to Ahnna today at Dr Senders office and explained it to her and we both kind of came up with the same conclusion: We think that there either was some damage to the nerve or muscle after the procedure or that after the surgery i was in a weird positive and didn't move for about a week and my neck was cricked a bit due to the pain and maybe the muscles and tendons healed that way.  Now that im sitting up straight the tendon is straining to move.  So I just gotta keep an eye on it and see if I can stretch it back out to have normal movement of the neck without pain.I have a check up with Dr Sender this coming Friday (November 20th) and if its still bothering me then we will address it and see what we can do.

  I have also asked the doctor how am I doing and I haven't gotten majorly sick and unbearably nauseous yet and she told me that as the treatment continue and I get more injections of the chemotherapy that my body will be in more pain, that I will be more sick and that the effects will be stronger and worse.  So although I'm doing well now, not to get my hopes up that I will feel this good in the coming months.

    So please pray that my neck will heal up and Ill be able to move my head without extreme pain and tension, that i will continue to stay strong and that I don't get majorly sick in the upcoming weeks.  Also my next injection is on November 25th (the day before thanksgiving) and that I don't get ill quickly and miss out on the yummy food.  Another thing that I need prayer on is that I can find a program that helps me out with prescription costs, cause im barely scraping by on paying my bills and I already have had a few extra bills in the past few months now all of these medicines that I have co-pays for are really me.  Ive been told that there are assistance programs, but I have to contact them and see if I qualify.

 I will try to blog more often and let you all know whats going on.  Thanks everyone who has been praying and thinking of me..  It really gives me strength to know that so many people love me.   Well until next time...

                                                          GOD Bless,
                                                                                 ADP

Sorry I havent updated in awhile. Been really tired and not sleeping. Plus my computers been down. Will write an update tomm from the past week plus movie reviews
My First Round of Chemo, Posted- November 7th, 2009 1pm



OK, So it is day three after Chemotherapy and I wanted to do just a basic post about what happened and all that I felt and can remember.

Sorry its taken a few days to get this up, I have really been resting and just went out last night for the first time.


  So I arrived at the hospital around 8:40am and I was put into my own room. I will not always have this, just depends on how busy they are, they do have main rooms but like to let you be by yourself your first time so you can have more personal interaction with the nurses and doctors and can ask questions and they keep a closer eye on you.  It was a nice little room with a bathroom that I shared with the patient next door.

  So I was extremely nervous and my blood pressure showed it when they first took it.   But it went back to normal after I relaxed a bit.  Well my dad dropped me off and it was a lot of waiting at first. Then nurses and doctors came in to talk to me and started explaining what they were gonna do. The first thing that was done was that they sterilized my entire chest and the area around when the portacath is at. After that the lovely needle went into my chest.  Seeing as my incisions and the area around it isn't even healed yet this was pretty painful ( I'm told after it heals fully that the area basically becomes numb).  They started me off on a water (or saline drip) that basically starts flushed thru the tubes and make sure everything is going where its supposed to and that all is well inside.


The type of chemotherapy Im on is called "R CHOP" so there are four types of medicines they give me there that day and the fifth part is a pill that I take at home twice a day.

  They say that the first time getting chemo takes a lot longer cause they have to take every medicine super slow at first to make sure that you dont have any major allergic reactions.  So they say that a typical chemo session can be between four to five hours,  I was there for a little over nine. So they said my body did extremely well and had no major reactions.  So nexttime hopefully it will be shorter.

  I would say that the majority of the time I didnt feel anything beside the liquid moving through me, but the third medicine is called a "Direct IV Push" where instead of an IV Drip they have these four needles and they basically squeeze them really quickly into me.  hat one hurt a little bit, kind of a warm burning sensation inside my heart spreading out into my extremities.  It went away after a few minutes though.


My Nurse Gloria.
She was awesome, she checked on me every few minutes to make sure I was ok, and that my body was reacting harshly to the chemo.


So the main things I felt while I was there would be tiredness, soreness and Im not sure if it was my body or the room but I was hot alot of the time.  Besides that it was just alot of lying around. I had my Gameboy DS, newspapers, my web enabeled cell phone, magazines and even a pad and paper.  The only thing I really did was watch some tv and be online and text, I was pretty restless and tired, but its really hard to sleep when there are lights on and its daytime and someone comes in every few minutes to check your vitals and see how you are.

So it was a long day, but I survived, I learned a few things I can do next time, like bring ligt snacks and to wear shorts and maybe a tank top.  I met alot of great and kind nurses there and even some volunteers that were awesome as well.  I am truly blessed thst GOD  helped me find UCI and Doctor Sender and that I feel like I am getting some great care.



   So far the main effects that I am feeling would be: tiredness, a bit of soreness, a little queasy and just a feeling like I am borderline getting the flu.  Ive also had a little bit of a headache for the past few days, but just resting and drinking tons of water.  I'm also talking to people who have gone thru this recently and trying to learn as much as I can about the process and the effects of the chemo and side effects of all of the medicines.

   So please continue to pray, I'm hoping that I don't get really sick, but they say that most part feeling it in the week after the injections.  So time will tell.  If you have any questions or suggestions or just anything at all please leave a comment. I will try to be on every few days to update you guys and keep you up to date!

                                                       GOD Bless,
                                                                         ADP
Well I had My First Chemotherapy Nov 6th, 2009
Sorry Everybody,

   Its been a few days since I had my chemo and I have been just staying down.   So everyone wants to know how I feel and the most basic answer is that I really dont know yet.   I have had a really bad cold for the past few weeks and am still fighting to finally rid myself of that, but I'll just tell ou how I feel at this moment.

   This is gona be a quick summary because I am in the process of getting ready to go out for the first time since chemo to the movies with my parents and my longtime friend Dawnn. We are going to the Irvine Spectrum to see "A Christmas Carol" in IMAX 3D (review to follow).

   SO basically a summary is that I am tired, and have what I would normally associate with flu-like symptoms (weakness, overall body soreness, feeling warm or feverish, a tiny headache that has been ing for two days and abit of an upset stomach).  So none of the major side effects yet, im told that they typically are seen in the first seven to ten days so i still have awhile til im there. So we will just have to wait and see.

  Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers, texts, facebook messages , tweets and just general well wishes.

  I know its totally backwards, but tommorrow I will write a full length post about the my 9 hour day getting chemo and include pictures and all of that fun jazz. I just wanna have time to include as much information as I can.

   So once again thanks all for all of your love and I look forward to hearing from youin on way or another and I will try my best to do all that I can to stay healthy and keep you all informed!

                        GOD Bless,
                                        ADP
A Summary- About my Portacath and I'm starting Chemotherapy Tomorrow! Nov. 3rd, 2009
Sorry I haven't updated in awhile.  Well I had my 
surgical implantation of the portacath last Weds 
(Oct 28th) it went good. It was a bit more 
intense then i thought it would be.I knew that
they were gonna be cutting open my chest, but 
what I didn't know was that they were gonna be 
making incisions at the bottom of my neck and 
putting tubes down them.  So I was awake for the
surgery, the procedure itself wasn't that painful,
the afterward is!

 
 
 
 

 
It feels funny and so far 
its been pretty painful. 
It just hurts to move my 
neck chest or arm because 
they cut thru the muscle. 
 
I'm sure the thing that hasn't been 
helping is the fact that I started 
getting sick the night before the 
surgery and have had major head,
sinus and chest congestion.I
have been sneezing and coughing 
, which you can imagine 
doesn't feel the greatestto have your chest muscles
flexing when they just cut thru them!
 
So I really think that this darn cold and all of 
the coughing has seriously slowed down the rate 
at which the incisions are healing. They told me 
that I shouldonly be really sore for a few days
and here a week later I'm still in some major 
pain. But besides that I'm doing all right. I was
told I could take the top bandages off today 
cause they were falling off and they would be 
taking them off tomorrow anyways. So here is what 
I can see now.

They put some sort of glue
on the incision to help it
heal but the problem is that
they didn't wait for it to 
dry and now the sutures and 
part of the bandage are glued
to the incision. So this 
should be interesting and I 
really hope that they can take 
them off without ripping
open the incisions.
 
OK, so I  am starting chemotherapy tomorrow at
9am at UCI Hospital.  I went and gave      
at the lab this afternoon so they have all of
my starting       counts,and then I went and 
got two of the six medicines that I'll have to
take during each round of chemotherapy and 
I just found out today that there's is a co-pay 
for each one and now this is another bill that
I'm gonna have and I hope I can handle it on
top of everything else that I have right now.
 
So tomorrows chemo will be a bit longer then
the rest because its my first time and they 
have to take       and give me a lot of
different medicines orally and thru injections
before I start the actual chemo treatment.
They say I should expect to be there 6-8
hours possibly. So I just gotta bring reading 
materials, charge myphone and GAMEBOY DS and 
just be prepare to sit for awhile (now Im 
wishing I had a neck pillow and even one of
those butt doughnut pillow thingies).  Once
again my chemo is called "R-Chop" and I will 
hopefully do an update tomorrow to let you all
know how it went. I'm sure it wont be as long
as this one I promise.  Once again thank you
for all of your thoughts and prayers and I love 
you all!
 
 
GOD Bless, 
               ADP