Mish Mash 8 (Domestic Disturbance, The Muse Cameos, Restraint in Action Extravaganzas, Edward Furlong Sings)

Domestic Disturbance

Domestic Disturbance is an unexceptional thriller about stepdad (Vince Vaughn (Be Cool)) vs original dad (John Travolta (Be Cool)).  The son caught in the middle witnesses stepdad kill Steve Buscemi (Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams) but, of course, no one believes him.  So there’s a bit of cat and mouse and a bit of The Stepfather.

I bring this one up for two reasons.  First is that I never realized how long Vince Vaughn’s dramatic acting stretch was.  I think it’s safe to say we all think of him as a dude who does only comedies but that’s not the way he started out.  He did Swingers as a one off comedy role in ’96 but then dove into The Lost World right after that in ‘97.  He continued to take serious roles until 2001 when he did Made and he pretty much hasn’t looked back since.  The one real exception is Domestic Disturbance which he also did in 2001.  So this is kind of a farewell performance for the ac-tor Vince Vaughn.  (Just a side note, I’m really curious about how he’s gonna be in the next True Detective, will he play it straight or not?  Can’t wait for it)

Second is the baseball catch scene.  The son and stepdad are just throwin’ the old horsehide around on a sunny day in the backyard, but what makes this scene so funny is that they’re being total dicks to each other the whole time.  The son is throwing the ball all over the place making Vince run after it and in turn Vince throws it really hard back hurting the son’s hand.  And the line Vince delivers to cap this all off is “now come on turn the ball loose, you throw like shit, let’s go”. 

Unfortunately the whole movie isn’t as good as this scene but it’s still fun to watch.  Mainly because the villainous stepdad is built up to be this menacing threat but all he does is bumble around and sloppily murder people.

The Muse Cameos

A lot of the celebrity cameos in Albert Brooks’ The Muse remarkably still hold up today.  You got Jeff Bridges, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and I’ll even throw in Wolfgang Puck.  Rob Reiner’s pushing it though.  Strangely the script that Brooks is writing in the movie about a wacky Jim Carrey comedy set in an aquarium also still holds up.  Mr. Popper’s Penguins could’ve easily been only one scene in Brooks’ film.

One more thing on this, the celebrities that made an appearance must like Albert Brooks because they make themselves kinda look like fools kowtowing to this nut job woman (Sharon Stone).  The one I’m most surprised to see is James Cameron.  This was after Titanic too which makes his presence even more shocking.  In real life he doesn’t seem like he has a huge sense of humor, especially about himself. 

Restraint in Action Extravaganzas

Recently I reupped on Die Hard and Aliens and I never realized before how restrained they are in their setups.  You don’t see a single damn alien until an hour in with Aliens and it’s also forty five minutes into Die Hard before the first big fire fight.  These movies take their time in building tension and suspense and holy shit is it effective.

Now I’m not saying that all action films should follow this approach.  Take Terminator 2 for example, that one opens with a future war battle scene.  Or even Out for Justice which starts with Seagal throwing some asshole through a fucking windshield.  Those pictures are not about restraint and that’s cool too.

All I’m saying is some movies we think of as action extravaganzas don’t really get to the extravaganza part until much later than you think.  They properly set shit up and make you care about the characters and appreciate the situation at hand.  You’re so engrossed that you don’t realize you haven’t seen one single solitary alien and you’re almost halfway through the thing.  That takes control and confidence in your piece.       

Edward Furlong Sings

Did you guys know that after Edward Furlong hit it big with T2 he tried his hand at singing?  I didn’t either.  Check out this cover of The Doors’ “People Are Strange”: