Domestic Disturbance

John Travolta is Frank, the divorced father of Danny. Teri Polo is Danny's mom and she's about to get married to Rick, played by Vince Vaughn. Danny is upset mom is getting married and doesn't like Rick, a man with a dark and mysterious pass. When Danny witnesses Rick murdering someone, things get MESSY. This is straight paint-by-numbers thriller of the week stuff. The cast is solid and they're all fine in their roles but not really given much to work with. Like so many other thrillers, we're asked to ignore stuff that makes no sense - like Danny being mad his mom is getting married although his dad already lives with someone else or Rick killing a guy in his car but magically leaving behind no blood after a quick wipedown. In the end, this is your average movie aspiring to be average and succeeding. 5/10.

The Believer

Ryan Gosling is Danny, a young man born into the Jewish faith who has become a Nazi and wants to kill Jews. The story of the movie, then, is the conflict in Danny as he reflects on his upbringing balanced with his hatred. He is very obviously self-loathing. He rails against Jewish people, yet wears Jewish garments, protects sacred documents, and teaches his girlfriend to read Hebrew and learn the Torah. He desires to blow up a synagogue yet protects his friends from any harm. And so there's all this conflict going on, yet we're never given any insight as to the origin of Danny's hatred or self-loathing. WHY does he hate himself? We don't know. We're given some insights into his issues with the Jewish faith but not Danny himself. And that's a major hole in the movie. In addition, the actual structure of the movie is a little rough - odd flashback scenes and low production values. Gosling is fantastic in this, portraying the internal conflict in Danny extremely well. He is charismatic, vile, violent, the whole package. That's not really enough to save this though. 3/10.

The Score

Saw this back on release in the theater and loved it. Still do. Remember when Edward Norton and Robert De Niro actually tried in their movies? Yeah, this was like the last time they did. De Niro is a high-end safecracking thief, Norton is a young up & comer who's got a line on a major score in the Montreal customs house. They partner up to steal a sceptre. Fun movie and one I like a lot. It's not deep, there's no underlying message, it's just entertaining with a super high-end cast (Marlon Brandon and Angela Bassett also appear). 8/10.