Digger

My View: Digger  (2026) R  Digger follows Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise), an eccentric oil tycoon who accidentally triggers a catastrophic global ecological disaster. He then embarks on a mission to save the planet and become Earth’s hero. I’ll tell you right off the start that some people will not like this movie. In fact, some people won't even understand this movie. This is a film that, after an hour (we still had more than an hour to go), I would've left if I wasn't reviewing it. I guess it’s a satire, but I’m not even sure of that. I do know that it’s a mess, and except for a couple of quick scenes, it’s not funny or witty. Instead, it's a mess that tries to tell us the message that we are doomed. Thanks, but I already get that from the internet. Before the movie came out, there were thoughts that Tom Cruise might be nominated for an Oscar for this part. Not happening, Tom. In fact, I think it was really easy for Tom to do this part, as he overacts and rebels on and on. And a lot was made about the 6 hours it took to turn Tom into Digger, but he still looked like Tom Cruise, just with a pouch and some grey hair. The only bright spot in this film is John Goodman, who plays the President, a man willing to throw anybody and any country under the rug so that the blame doesn’t come back on him. There is a big twist in this movie, but it's so badly revealed that it took me about five minutes after it happened to figure out what the twist was. Sadly, the most interesting thing I found to watch in this movie was some extras acting during the credit scenes at the end of the film.  My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again  Digger Website  Now playing in theaters

My View:  Verity  (2026)  R   In Verity, Lowen (Dakota Johnson) is a writer desperate for work when she is contacted by bestselling author Verity Crawford’s husband (Josh Hartnett). After a mysterious accident leaves Verity (Anne Hathaway) incapacitated and comatose, Lowen is hired to ghostwrite the final books in Verity’s bestselling series. Lowen discovers a manuscript containing disturbing confessions, making her wonder who to believe and whether she is safe in the house. This is a stupid, fun movie with a few chills and lots of plot twists, but it's sunk by an ending that seems crafted by someone who hasn’t read the rest of the script. Hathaway looks to be having a blast as a writer who crafts books about people doing nasty, evil things and then turns out she does them in real life too. I have become a big fan of Dakota Johnson, but this is not her best work. Her mopey character has almost no charisma and makes it hard for us to root for her, which isn’t great when she is playing the other woman in this weird relationship. The ending is what makes this film fall apart; I wanted to yell at the screen, “But what about…”. Instead, we are asked just to accept it. I will say this: the movie is worth the price of admission to see the house they live in, but like the rest of the movie, it never explains how this strange house came about or why it has giant rocks in the hallways. Maybe the book the film is based on gives us more clues and a better ending.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Verity Website  Now playing in theaters

Indiefest: Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother   (2026)  R Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother follows Latif (Mahershala Ali), a devout Muslim hitman, as he deals with his wife’s unexpected death. He must juggle raising three children, including a newborn who needs breast milk, while he has just been given a contract to kill a local religious leader. Mahershala Ali is brilliant in this film, which is part family drama and part 70s gangster film. This is an action film where people are getting brutally killed or beaten up, all the while our hero cares deeply about his family, and for half the film, he has a baby that he is carrying around. Mahershala Ali trained for almost a year to star in a reboot of Blade, but it fell through, so he put those skills to good use in this film, including some swordplay. Ali goes from killing someone to, in the next scene, talking to his son about proper manners. This is a film where we root for someone who kills for a living but is not over the death of his wife and is struggling to find formula for his baby. Your Mother is a film where the main character has to keep making choices and deciding what is good for his family or for his livelihood. The one thing you don’t want to do with Latif is push him into a corner. The results can be deadly for the people he is dealing with, but they can also make for great action scenes for us.  My Rating: Full Price  Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother Info    Now playing in select theaters

My View: Unabomber  (2026)  R   Unabomber centers on Ted Kaczynski (Jacob Tremblay), who was once a promising student at Harvard University and became the terrorist known as the Unabomber, who terrorized the United States for almost 20 years. This is such a strange movie that doesn’t go anywhere. It jumps back and forth between Kaczynski’s time at Harvard when he was just 16 and the mid-90s, when the FBI was trying to find the Unabomber. The movie shows how isolated Ted was in college and how he was used as part of a psychological experiment (at the behest of the CIA). At Harvard, Ted thinks in the experiment, one of his professors (Russell Crowe) picks him because he is so good at debating. Instead, the experiment aims to break Ted’s will. In the 90s section, Shailene Woodley plays an FBI agent on the trail of the Unabomber who can’t convince anyone the FBI is looking in the wrong places. So she goes out on her own to follow leads. The film feels like it is just going down a list and checking off items it needs to cover. Ted’s smart. Check. Ted has social issues. Check. The professor is tricking him. Check. There isn’t much drama, even when Woodley’s character closes in. In the end, I never cared about Ted, and the movie seems to put the blame for all the people that he hurt and killed on the Harvard experiments. I have a feeling that this format would have worked better as a documentary. As a work of drama, the film takes us down a path that we never feel invested in.  My Rating: Cable  Unabomber Website    Now playing on Netflix

Forgotten Film:  Sparrows  (1926)   Sparrows shows why Pickford was such a star. She is brilliant and funny as a young woman caring for many children while an evil man keeps them locked up on a small plot of land in the middle of a swamp. We see how evil the man is early in the film when he gets a letter from a mother hoping he is taking care of her child. He takes the doll she has sent her child, crushes its head, and then watches it as it is dropped into the muddy swamp and devoured by the mud. There is some comedy, with Pickford charming the audience as she tries to keep the kids and herself out of trouble, but it isn’t easy, as the evil man’s son is also cruel and makes it his pastime to harass both Pickford and the kids. The cinematography is striking, and the last third of the film is a brilliant piece of cinema, with Pickford’s character leading her kids to safety through a swamp full of rivers, mud, and alligators. And Jesus even shows up. This film still holds up, and I have to believe audiences went wild for it in 1926.  My Rating: Full Price  Sparrows Info   The film is available on most streaming services

Weird Credits: From the credits of Digger:  Special Effects Teeth

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Other Mommy  (2026) R   In Other Mommy, Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) is living in a home where her parents (Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass) are barely getting along. One day, a supernatural doppelgänger that looks just like Bella’s mother emerges, which Bela calls “Other Mommy”. This Other Mommy is about to threaten the safety of the family by manipulating Bela against her actual parents. The film is based on Josh Malerman’s 2024 bestselling novel "Incidents Around the House."  Other Mommy Website  In theaters nationwide on Friday, October 9, 2026.

Until Next Time!