Comment

Mar 13, 2012zipread rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The Astronaut Farmer DVD With Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen. A beautiful story, however improbable, set in the wide and wonderful back country of west Texas. The photography and the excellent camerawork, much of it possible only in this magical country that is by turns both luscious and ser propels this film like rocket fuel. . The visual scenes at the magic light hours at dawn and dusk are particularly golden. The man Farmer has a once in a lifetime dream: to go into space --- on his own ---= without the help of a huge multi-billion dollar organization. His rocket, the one he builds single-handedly in his barn, financed by mortgaging his ranch is the Dreamer. Single-handedly (well, almost. He has his whole family squarely behind) he orbits the earth in a rocket ship build of spare parts and the space-programs throw-away rejects and superannuated junk. There’s a solid performance here from all the principals in the picture, especially from those delightful little daughters of his who could have been thbe two cherubs on Raphael’s Madonna. The best lines: his wife’s request to astronaut Farmer as he locks down: “I expect you home for dinner”, and virtually the last line when the family picks up the astronaut as he walks down the highway: “Let’s go to a restaurant; let’s get a pizza”