DIGGER
(2026)
One of the most audacious films I’ve seen
in years, this cry for sanity as industry and governments drive the planet to
destruction, told with unbridled bombast and starring Tom Cruise at his most
outrageous, shows off in every frame the daring and wit of director Alejandro
G. Iňárritu.
While the film probably won’t make enough
money at the box office to pay for even one of the larger-than-life set pieces
that make up the picture, it’s a bold, adventurous movie that showcases what
may be the performance of his life by this megastar, pigeonholed in recent
years as an action star.
Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a self-indulgent, impatient billionaire oilman who wakes up one morning to the news that his oil rig in Greenland has just exploded and a glacier the size of Washington, D.C. is headed for the North Sea. At first, he’s more concerned about his dying cat, but soon the U.S. president (John Goodman) and the joint chiefs have assembled at Rockwell’s mansion to determine a course of action.
His chief engineer Dr. Ganesh (a jittery,
hilarious Riz Ahmed) lays out the worst-case scenario (reminiscent of the war
room scenes in “Dr. Strangelove”) and the leaders, being arrogant and clueless
Americans, decide not to warn the Europeans.
This chaotic opening 40 minutes, with
Cruise’s strands of gray hair flying every which way, ends with a reveal that
changes everything. It allows one to take a breath and laugh a bit longer at
the fools attempting to manage this world crisis, at least until another
jaw-dropping plot turn in the final act. But be prepared: Iňárritu and his team
of co-writers don’t hide their politics, hammering (with a shovel) home their
outrage about the decisions politicians have made as the planet derails.
Trust me, the less you know about this film
the more memorable it’s viewing will be. The picture has elements that reminded
me of Terry Gilliam’s outlandish “Brazil” and Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” but
it’s also clearly connected to themes in Iňárritu’s own work in “Birdman” and
“Bardo.” And, as always, Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography, with the palette
changing with every scene, perfectly aligns with Iňárritu’s vision. It might
win him his fourth Oscar.
For Cruise, it’s a late-career return to
the kind of bravado acting he did in “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Eyes Wide
Shut” and “Magnolia,” all under the direction of world-class filmmakers.
As his sister, Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of
a Fall,” “The Zone of Interest”) matches Cruise’s scene chewing while the
ubiquitous Jesse Plemons at first seems to have an inconsequential role, until
he takes center stage in the last 30 minutes.
Apparently “Digger” has been a disappointment at the box office (who cares?) but it is also the first “must see” movie of 2026, easily the most ambitious, and maybe the year’s best film.
A
LIFE OF HER OWN (1950)
I wish I had a dime for every film that
opens with a superbly directed, energetically acted set of scenes only to
descend into mediocrity for the next 90 minutes.
This
typical “woman’s picture” starring Lana Turner is the perfect example. Lily James
(Turner) steps off the bus in New York nervous but determined to make it big in
the modeling industry. At an agency that has recruited her, she encounters a
swirl of activity, with people barking out orders, answering the phone and
shuffling from one small room to another. It seems as if director George Cukor (“The
Philadelphia Story,” “A Star Is Born”) decided to squeeze as many extras into
the set as possible.
In charge is Tom Caraway (Tom Ewell,
never better in this small role) who, with Lily sitting in his office, explains
to another woman what she needs to do to become a model. It’s clear she never
will.
As Caraway discusses the next step with
Lily, in walks Mary (a mesmerizing Ann Dvorak), a stylish but past her prime
model looking for another chance. (It’s unclear why she was dismissed from a
past gig). He causally promises her another chance but you know it’s insincere.
Lily and Mary end up having drinks and
then double-date that night at a nightclub. It ends badly with Mary drunk and
upset that her date (a cynical Barry Sullivan) has eyes on the younger Lily.
On the way home, Lily stops at her
neighborhood drug store, which is closed but opens up for her and clearly
provides her with some type of illegal drug (a daring implication in 1950)
before a melancholy ending to the night in Mary’s apartment. At one point, Mary
laments that she has “nothing to show for any of it.”
The next morning at another modeling
agency, Lily overhears people mention Mary’s name and then she asks: Mary
jumped to her death earlier that morning.
I’m not sure where you go from there, in a
movie starring Lana Turner, but it just sputters along as she advances in the
modeling world and has an on again- off again relationship with a married man
(Ray Milland). The script by Isobel Lennart never re-captures the fraught
intensity of the opening act.
Nothing in the film comes close to touching
the excitement and then poignancy, beautifully balanced by a great director, of
the first 20 minutes.
INCENDIES
(2010) and ENEMY (2013)
If his name wasn’t in the credits, I would
never have guessed that these two films, which I recently caught up with, were
directed by the same man or that the filmmaker was Denis Villeneuve, a few
years before he dove into the three-part “Dune” (the concluding chapter coming
in December).
“Incendies,” a French-Canadian picture
that was nonmined for the best foreign film Oscar, might be the director’s best
work, a heartbreaking story of a daughter retracing her mother’s journey in a
Middle East warzone. As part of her will, Nawal (Lubna Azabal) instructs her
adult twin children Jeanne and Simon (Mélissa Désormeax-Poulin and Maxim
Guadette) to locate their father, who they had been told was dead, and a
brother they’d never knew about.
The son, accompanied by the mother’s
Canadian employer, joins his sister in the final leg of the trip into the past;
one that ends with an almost unthinkable horror of warfare. Yet in spite of the
bleakness of the mother’s experience, the picture ends with a hopeful message
of forgiveness.
. “Enemy,” released right before the
director’s very realistic actioner, “Sicario,” is something completely
different. Set in what seems like a dream-like world, a college professor (Jake
Gyllenhaal) watches a film featuring an actor who could be his twin. Tracking
him down, they connect but never really determine why they are clearly
related---even the professor’s mother (Isabella Rossellini) is vague on the
subject. They may even be the same person
Like a David Lynch film (the reason for
Rossellini’s presence?) you either go with the unexplainable, sexual psychotic
narrative or just throw up your hands in bafflement. And just to add confusion,
giant spiders occasionally make appearances.
THE
UPRISING (2026)
Ten years ago, Paul Greengrass was among
the cinema’s most acclaimed Hollywood filmmakers. Having directed three
“Bourne” pictures, “United 93,” and “Captain Phillips,” the Brit could do no
wrong. But after “22 July,” about the 2011 terrorist attack in Norway, “News of
the World,” the story of post-Civil War pioneers and “The Lost Bus,” a drama
about a devastating 2018 fire in Paradise, Calif., his stock was no longer on
the rise.
His latest, about a bloody rebellion by
peasants in 15th Century England, continues his run of tragic tales
that moved in and out of theaters before you could blink. Too bad. It’s a
memorable piece of history, superbly directed as all Greengrass films are, with
a quietly heartfelt performance by the instigator of the uprising, known only
as Ploughman by Andrew Garfield.
The tipping point for the country’s
farmers comes when Richard II, the child king, is convinced by his greedy
council to increase taxes, turning the workers into virtual slaves. Ploughman,
who recently lost his wife and children to the plague, urges his confederates
to plead their case to the king himself, who they still think of as a virtual
god.
Greengrass creates a very believable world (it’s
based on an actual uprising) among both the peasants and the king’s court as
these two forces close in on one another. The writer-director doesn’t spend
much time developing the characters: his point is clearly that those seeking
justice should never trust the powers that be.
Garfield brings an unblinking resolve to
his everyman role. Greengrass stops short of turning the Ploughman into a
hero—in key scenes he just slips into the crowd—he just does what we all should
do in the face of injustice.
COYOTE
VS. ACME (2026)
It’s time we recognize that Warner Bros.
Looney Tunes cartoons are American’s Shakespeare. The stories of a dozen or so animated
characters represent the essence of modern Western experience, much like the
Bard chronicled, maybe invented, the soul of Britannia through his plays.
Of course, Bugs Bunny is our smart-ass
version of Hamlet, a rabbit caught between the safety of his underground home
and the dangerous world above, dealing with the slings and arrows with
sarcastic wit and clever deception.
Daffy Duck recalls the unhinged ego and
unquenchable desire for power of Macbeth. Not sure if Porky Pig is Falstaff or
Horatio, but I believe I have stretched this metaphor beyond its breaking
point.
Nevertheless, anyone who cares about
American storytelling should have more than a passing knowledge of these
classic Warner Bros. shorts. (TCM has been showing them between films for about
a year now.)
Among the most popular cartoons in the
later years of animation’s glory years featured Wile E. Coyote, who wordlessly
assembles a variety of contraptions to capture (for his dining pleasure) the
very speedy Road Runner, who only says “Beep! Beep!”
In this combination of live action and
animation (in the tradition of “Roger Rabbit”), the coyote finally gives up and
seeks a lawyer to sue Acme, the company that has famously supplied him with
faulty equipment for decades.
There’s not much worth saying about the
simplistic plot—poorly expanding on a very clever New Yorker essay by Ian
Frazier from 1996—but there are numerous very funny moments mostly supplied by
the animated characters. Bugs has a cameo as an insider source for the coyote
as does Daffy, who is appropriately confined to an insane asylum.
The cartoons, even the mute coyote, give much better performances than the actors, especially Will Forte as Wile E’s reluctant lawyer and John Cena as Acme’s chief council. The only human providing any laughs in the film is Martha Kelly as a member of Forte’s team; she offers the same droll line readings she did as the girlfriend in the memorable TV series “Baskets.”
The real human star of the film is Eric
Bauza, who, as the voice of most of the cartoon characters (including an
animated version of the great character actor Peter Lorre) made this longtime
fan wonder if original voice performer Mel Blanc had been duplicated through
AI.
A better feature could be made from the 2011
cartoon series “The Looney Tunes Show,” which revives Bugs and Daffy as
housemates in the suburbs with Porky as their best friend and Yosemite Sam as a
bothersome neighbor. (Two seasons worth of this very witty show can be seen on
the Cartoon Network or Tubi.)
THE
WHISPER MAN (2026)
Like so many streaming movies and series,
this new Netflix thriller seems to have been stitched together from dozens of
other films, with only its casting providing a reason to watch.
Still going strong at 83, Robert De
Niro plays Peter Willis, a retired police detective whose assistance is
requested by the investigating officer Amanda Beck (Michelle Monaghan) in a
copycat kidnapping. Years ago, Willis helped send the Whisper Man, a child
murderer, to prison. But he’s reluctant to get involved until he learns that
the latest victim is his grandson, a child he’s never met.
Adam Scott (TV series “Parks and
Recreation,” “Severance”) plays Willis’ estranged son who has just moved back
to his hometown after the death of his wife. Not only is it a stretch to
imagine Scott being De Niro’s son, but Scott is never convincing as a grieving
father.
De Niro and Monaghan (best known for
“Gone Baby Gone” and three installments of “Mission: Impossible”) do their best
to breathe some life into the clichéd plot. Also adding some zing to the story
is a memorable appearance by Michael Keaton as the original Whisper Man.
PHOTOS:
Tom Cruise tries to win over world leaders in “Digger.” (Warner Bros.)
Lubna Azabal faces the horrors of war in “Incendies.” (Sony Pictures Classic)
Wile E. Coyote and his lawyer Will Forte in “Coyote vs. Acme.” (Warner Bros.)
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