Digger Review

 

Digger Rockwell (played by Tom Cruise) is a Texas oil drilling billionaire who causes a ecological disaster and must navigate the consequences on a global scale.

Right off the bat, I quite enjoyed Tom Cruise‘s performance; it’s probably the most different kind of performance he’s done in a while. Now the character feels like a mix between Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, and The Rich Texan from The Simpsons… which, given that all three of those characters are literally over-the-top cartoons, makes Cruise’s performance very broad at times. But for the most part, he manages to bring a charisma and energy to the role that makes him hard not to watch and get some sort of dark comedic joy out of watching.

Now I would describe this movie as an environmental Dr. Strangelove, trying to take ecological disaster and turn it into a political farce. And the director Alejandro González Iñárritu did a great job with a lot of unique camera work, very bright but stunning cinematography, and gorgeous sets throughout. Unfortunately, like Cruise’s performance, the humor goes very broad, like it’s trying to hit Cohen Brother level. Unfortunately, many scenes can go past broad, like this humor is in orbit that goes so far out there lol. Now I will admit there were scenes. I got some good chuckles and laughs out of it, but so much of the film has characters chewing scenery like they’re in a competitive hot dog eating contest that it can be too much and not hit as well as it should.

Furthermore, while not overly so, some of this movie's messaging can feel a bit heavy-handed at times, like trying to hold Stonehenge with one hand lol.

Now I’m not going to spoil anything, but there is something else going on in this movie that they’re not showing in the trailers, and how that stuff works into the film was actually an interesting surprise and concept. That while it doesn’t excuse the issues I have with the humor at times, it does recontextualize, as a lot of scenes at least give them an interesting read.

John Goodman plays the President of the United States, and as someone who is a veteran of many Cohen Brothers movies, he manages to ride that line of “broad acting” pretty well. Hey man, just bring something to the role that might not have been written on the page through his performance.

Riz Ahmed plays an environmental scientist, and I think he’ll be most audiences' favorite character, not only because he’s the most likable character in the film, but also because his humor is a little more toned down and feels more relatable and "realistic," not to mention he does some of the best comedic drunk acting I’ve seen in a while. He finds that perfect middle of feeling realistically drunk but having good comedic timing.

Sandra Hüller plays Rockwell‘s half-sister/business partner, and she’s good in the film, not in it a whole lot, and I wish they had explored her character a little more, but again, she’s one of the more relatable characters and brings a quiet magnetism to the role that helps the character stand out.

Michael Stuhlbarg plays the sniffling vice president, and I have to give credit to Stuhlbarg for really committing to the character and just making him as anxious as possible, like certain scenes, he feels like a shaking Chihuahua who’s in a room they don’t recognize; he’s like, "Huh! Who-What?" You talking to me." 🫨🫣 lol

Jesse Plemons plays the producer of the film, and while his character comes off strange and almost creepy at first, there’s a lot more complexity and interest to his character that I kind of wish the movie had gone a little bit more into, but Plemons had a nice scene-stealing moment that I thought brought a lot of interest and dimension to the whole story.

Sophie Wilde plays a character in the story that I don’t want to spoil, but she’s an actress. I’ve never heard of her before, and I thought she was very good and brought a lot to her role, so I hope to see her again in future projects.

I will say while the humor was very hit and miss for me throughout the film, the writing and directing still managed to bring a lot of twists and turns and just intriguing setups that, throughout the film, I at least wanted to know where everything was headed.

This is a bit of a strange complement, but I like how the budget for this film was used. It is estimated to be between $125 and $180 million, which is blockbuster levels of filmmaking, and I appreciate such a big-scale amount of money was given to a film that takes such big, creative strokes, like walking away from this movie. The thing I appreciate most was the chances it took. Its batting average isn’t the best, but it’s nice that the casting crew tried something different on this scale.

So Digger has been a very polarizing movie with critics, many of you who haven’t been… Digging it 🪏😂, and I can see where they’re coming from and agree with some of their criticisms; however, there was a lot of creativity, solid and intriguing performances throughout, and an interesting twist that was not smooth down, definitely chipping away at some of the films, sharper corners, and issues. I give Digger a low three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I can understand if people walk away not really vibing with the film’s attempt, but the attempt is admirable, and if nothing else… definitely unique.

Primetime review

 

Primetime tells the story of Chris Hansen, host of To Catch a Predator, where he and his team catch child predators in sting operations, and their show getting promoted to the primetime slot and how it affects the crew and their show.

The film has a lot of style with a perfect recreation of the show looking like mid-2000s reality TV, which it’s flat and monotone style works in great contrast with the rest of the film that uses a lot of vibrant but seedy looking cinematography; the two look like a great visual contrast.

Robert Pattison does a good job as Chris Hansen; it’s not the most historically accurate, I presume, but for this movie it works. His character feels like he’s very obsessed with image and how he’s presented, so he comes across as like overly professional and cheery, but you can sense his insecurities and his eccentricities bubbling under the surface. His character is almost like Jerry Maguire meets Patrick Bateman, lol.

Skyler Gisondo plays “Decoy Dan," an actor who is hired by the crew to pretend to be a 13-year-old in the sting operations, and I will admit it is a little bit of a stretch. I think this clearly nearly 30-year-old is supposed to be 13, but they sort of bring that up in the film. But Dan’s character serves as the heart of the film, and you can see the effects of what this kind of work can do to a person and how that stress is multiplied with Hansen‘s ambition, and Gisondo brings a likability and grounded feel so you don’t get lost in the movie's frantic energy.

Marriott Weaver plays Hansen’s assistant, who sort of has a “deal with the devil” type storyline, with people telling her not to stick with Hansen and her contemplating whether she should leave or not, and Weaver felt very natural and had some fun dark humor moments I really dug.

I will say the film does have maybe too many different storylines going on, between Decoy Dan trying to make it as an actor, the assistant’s story, and Hansen himself having to deal with a blackmail plot, not to forget the actual "catch a predator" stuff. It's just a lot of different storylines that don’t come together in the most cohesive way; they’re all well told, but I think the film would’ve been stronger if all these different plots didn’t feel so detached from one another. Plus some other storylines would have felt stronger if they had more time to develop.

Matthew Maher plays the computer expert for the team, and he brings a high energy and humor to the role that brings a nice levity to some of the more unsettling moments

Anna Farris is in the film in a small role; she’s good, but I’m surprised they got a bigger me like her for the role.

I was surprised when Alex Winter showed up; it's definitely a different role for him, and he was very good. Plus Bokeem Woodbine was very funny as this almost Yosemite Sam-type sheriff who helps Hanson and his team.

The soundtrack also was very good at setting the mood of the film

Primetime is an interesting look at characters whose mental states are unwinding while working on the show with a very bleak topic. It may not be the deepest or most original film, but it’s good at playing with uncomfortableness for both comedy and drama. Plus the performances and style do a lot of heavy lifting, plus the subject matter is interesting enough you want to see what happens next. I give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It's definitely one of the more unique bio films. I’ve seen as far as style

Onslaught Review

 

A former army sniper dealing with PTSD must defend her trailer park home and daughter from government program super soldiers who have gone rogue and are killing everyone in their way.

Adria Arjona plays the sniper Celeste, and she does a good job with both the emotional acting and action sequences, although her character does feel a little thin and could’ve been developed more, like her PTSD is set up and then not really addressed until the climax out of one other sort of mention.

Dan Stevens and Rebecca Hall play a Nazi scientist who is responsible for the super soldiers and his wife, and while both aren’t in the movie a whole lot, Stevens' character does have a unique visual look, and they both do a pretty solid German accent.

Reginald VelJohnson plays another war veteran at the trailer park who helps Celeste fight the soldiers. It was nice to see him again in a movie, and he’s very down-to-earth and likable in the film.

Michael Biehn makes a nice cameo. Again, I wish she had been in the movie a little bit more, but it is always nice when he pops up.

I enjoyed the score; it used to be well and was very reminiscent of the 80s. John Carpenter

I liked the use of bright, almost neon lighting for the cinematography that, with the grainy look, gave a nice texture to the shots

The action was pretty cool and had almost a fun slasher feel to it.

Drew Starkey plays a government cleaner, and the film can’t decide if he’s supposed to be comedic relief or a legitimate threat, plus while Starkey gives a solid performance, his character in the end doesn’t really contribute much to the overall plot and just kind of feels there so they can meet a certain run time.

The final showdown felt like it was over a little too quick, like there was a ton of buildup throughout the film, and then the final conflict was over before you knew it.

Onslaught has a lot of style and fun parts in an over-the-top action kind of way, but the story and characters were a bit too thin. It's a fun watch, but it could’ve been something special with a little bit for your script, but what it is is still an enjoyable flick. I give it 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️—not exactly a cutting edge, but still axe-cellent 😂

Resident Evil (2026) Review

 

An organ courier must make a late-night delivery on a snowy road to Raccoon City and quickly gets into trouble with zombies and strange morphing creatures.

I would describe the film as a horror comedy; it leans more on the horror side, but Zach Cregger did a great job at threading the humor through the whole film and gave a nice balance of both.

Although screw Zach Cregger, because he put some effective jump scares in the movie, like how dare he make me jump out of my seat lol.

Austin Abrams plays the main character Bryan, a 20-something slacker, and the character is kind of a dumbass, but Abrams' performance, the humor, and the writing still made the character sympathetic and likable, despite Bryan’s continuing goofy shenanigans, lol.

The sets were well detailed and had a lot of ambience, and the cinematography was very stark and gave everything this bright but grimy look, definitely added to the creepy body horror feel of the film.

The plot is following Bryan as he in almost real time tries to deliver medical supplies to Raccoon City Hospital, so the plot is very straightforward, but there are a good amount of twists and turns that the audience will be surprised and entertained by throughout.

There is a good mix of practical and CGI special effects, both of which look pretty good, and the creature design isn't anything too crazy but is cool and well done throughout

The movie has a brisk one-hour and 34-minute run time, and it’s able to keep moving while not feeling rushed and allowing some nice character moments.

We meet a few different scientists from the umbrella corporation (the company responsible for the zombie/creature outbreak), and they too bring a good mix of humor and seriousness to the film, and they all have fun or interesting chemistry with Bryan.

I liked the soundtrack; it had almost a heartbeat sound to it and reminded me of The Thing (1982) soundtrack.

I thought the climax was fun, and I can see different people having different feelings about the ending. It's nothing too surprising, but I definitely thought it was an interesting way to wrap up the story.

Now I have not played much of the games, but I did see the movie with my buddies, and they mentioned there were a few Easter eggs in the background, so if you’re a fan of the games, keep your eyes out.

Resident Evil (2026) is a very enjoyable film; it has scares, laughs, creepy creatures, and some surprising heart. It may not have the story or characters of the game, but it nails the tone and atmosphere. It has a little bit of everything and is a nice soft launch for the spooky season. I give the film four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Zach Cregger had some serious… Braaaaaainnnnns 🧟‍♂️🧠 making this 😂 

Buddy Review

 

A group of kids realize they are trapped in a 1990s children’s show and must try to escape their seemingly malevolent capture, a giant anthropomorphic talking unicorn. Meanwhile, a suburban mom questions her sanity as she starts to believe she had a third child that everyone has forgotten.

The filmmakers did a great job, not only with recreating the look and tone of a late 90s show, but also with how well they’re able to flip back-and-forth between it feeling wholesome and too uncomfortable to be scary.

Keegan-Michael Key plays Buddy, and he also does a fun job, switching from funny to darkly comedic to very intimidating, almost like from Barney to Robert De Niro in Cape Fear.

I was very impressed with all of the child actors, who all had a great amount of range, going from broad and silly to too intensely scary in a second.

Cristin Milioti plays the suburban mom, and she’s very good at playing unhinged and paranoid but also very sympathetic and really loving at times.

It was nice seeing Topher Grace pop up in this; he plays Milioti’s husband, and he’s good at being funny and snarky, and I thought Grace brought a lot of empathy to the character.

Clint Howard has a small role in the film, and this is one of his weirdest roles I’ve ever seen… And for Clint Howard, that’s really saying something lol, but I have to give him props for committing to a role

I thought the climax felt a little rushed and sort of teased a sequel setting up a sequel, but I thought the very end had a fun Twilight Zone twist ending kind of feel that was simple but very effective.

Buddy is a very different but creative movie that has a lot of creative people working on it in front of and behind the camera that juggles a lot of different tones and a great cast who give strong performances. It's not perfect, but it’s still very good.

I give it four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, but before I warned, it does get pretty BUD-arre at points 😂

Coyote vs Acme Review

 

After years of trying to catch the roadrunner and failing due to defective Acme products, Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme corporation with the help of a small claims lawyer (played by Will Forte).

I would describe this film as Who Framed Roger Rabbit meets John Grisham‘s The Firm, but with Looney Tunes characters. Now those projects are three very distinct tones, and I was very impressed with how the movie is able to blend all three pretty seamlessly into a cohesive and enjoyable whole.

Growing up, my two favorite Looney Tunes were the Tasmanian Devil and Wile E. Coyote, so it’s nice to not only see Wile get the spotlight, but also for a character who only talks using signs, the film really nailed his character and added a surprising amount of depth and sympathy for Wile while also feeling true to his original concept of “coyote wants to eat tasty bird." Also, if you were wondering if my other favorite tune makes an appearance, I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say… I left the theater happy.

I also appreciated how other popular Looney Tunes characters were worked in; they each played a role in the overall mystery that felt very organic to the story and made good use of their personalities. Also, this isn’t a huge thing, but there is something I’ve always kind of wondered about Granny that this movie finally answered, so I appreciated that.

The CGI in the film is very good; it’s clearly CGI, but the way it’s animated, the cartoon characters feel two-dimensional and tangible in this world, not to mention they make a few deep-cut character callbacks with some of the tunes who show up in the background that I appreciated. Now there are a few shots and a few characters that do look like impressive early PS3 graphics, a little stiff and bulky, not to mention you can clearly tell which characters were created just for this film, but overall it’s not really distracting, and you’re able to stay submerged within the story throughout.

I’ve always felt Foghorn Leghorn is an underrated Looney Tune, so it’s nice to see him in a fun villainous corporate executive role.

I was pleasantly surprised with Will Forte in the movie, not just because he gives a funny and sincere performance, but because growing up, I usually did not care about the human characters in Looney Tunes movies, like I’m there for the Tunes lol, but his story of an underdog, who is scared to try things because he’s scared of losing and how his character's arch ties into Wile and about never giving up, I thought got pretty deep at times, and I never thought I’d say a movie about the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote was “emotionally sincere” lol

John Cena plays Acme’s lawyer Buddy Crane; he is very funny at playing an overly slimy dude, a bro version of a lawyer.

I like how powerful they showed the Rose Runner; like, I’m half convinced he could survive a nuclear explosion lol.

I like and appreciate all the Looney Tunes references throughout the film, like the use of the Looney Tunes theme and naming the lawyers after famous Looney Tunes creators (Avery, Jones & Maltese).

Lana Condor plays Will Forte's niece, and she’s going to film more of a straight man all the whacking around her, but she brings a lot of heart and motivation for the Forte character.

Coyote vs. Acme is my biggest surprise of the year; it takes a premise I’ve seen joked about throughout my life in many forms and makes something pretty unique and heartfelt, without forgetting about the comedy in honoring the characters. I give the film an enthusiastic four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and like the coyote falling off a cliff. I’m glad this movie is making such a “big bang” with audiences lol

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma Review

 

A filmmaker (Hannah Einbinder) is hired to direct a new installment of the slasher franchise “Camp Miasma" and becomes fixated on casting the actress (Gillian Anderson) who played the final girl in the original film, including staying with her at her house, which is also the lake where they filmed the original movie.

I was really impressed with the style of the film. First of all, the director is great at recreating the look and feel of 80s slasher movies. But also you can tell she had a lot of different visual influences (examples: Wes Anderson, Joel Schumacher, Michel Gondry, and David Lynch), and she’s able to mix all these different styles together without having them contradict each other and make them feel like a cohesive whole.

Speaking of directing, there’s one part where we follow the killer, and it’s completely shot with this interesting close-up shot that I thought was pretty inventive and felt like a cool music video.

Hannah Einbinder was good at playing this dorky doe-eyed director that’s excited about tackling a franchise she loves, and Gillian Anderson brought a lot of charisma and gravitas to her role, not to mention you’re never quite sure if she’s normal or kind of crazy. How Anderson plays with that was pretty convincing and well done.

I was impressed with the world-building and how they set up the fandom and all the different ties to the “Camp Miasma Franchise” (different VHS movies, a tie-in video game, trading cards, a Little Death bobblehead); it felt very authentic to actual slasher movie franchises and got really close to mirroring the Friday the 13th franchise, to the point they’re almost copying the same movie titles and designs for the DVD menus… I’m surprised Sean Cunningham isn't about to sue somebody lol.

Sarah Sherman and Dylan Baker have small roles in the film, and I thought they had pretty funny dialogue and delivery.

The director (Jane Schoenbrun) makes a lot of references to 80s horror movies, and I have to say she has pretty good taste, like she makes some pretty obscure deep cut references that only someone like me would catch, which I appreciated.

The film touches on a lot of different ideas (fandom, nostalgia, sensuality, identity), so many that I wish it had focused on a few of them and had fleshed them out a bit more. Like there’s a somewhat supernatural explanation hinted at to what’s going on, and it’s an interesting concept, but they don’t really explore it as much as you’d hope, and for a film that has so many unique concepts, the actual story and plot are pretty straightforward. It’s still enjoyable and interesting, but I feel like the movie could’ve done more to make it feel even more unique.

Also, at certain points, we just watch characters watch sections of the original Camp Miasma. And like I said, it’s impressive how well they re-create it, and I found those sections enjoyable, but it also doesn’t add as much to the overall story; it could’ve used that screen time to explore some of the things I previously mentioned that could’ve been developed more, but that’s more of a nitpick than anything.

So the main villain and icon of the Camp Miasma franchise is called Little Death, who wears a white hazmat suit and has his big metal contraption on his head that looks like an air conditioner, and they go into Little Death's backstory, and while it’s fine for a slasher icon backstory, from where it ends, they never explain what’s on his head or how we got it in between the end of his origin and him starting slashing people. Again, that doesn’t really take away from the movie, and it’s a nitpick, but it is something I noticed.

Kevin McDonald and Patrick Fischler make cameos in the film, and it’s nice to see them pop up. McDonald brings a nice bit of humor, and Fischler has a nice little homage to his character from Mulholland Drive.

The ending is fine; it could’ve been more interesting, but what we got wasn’t too bad. I’m just sort of a plain regular ending.

Also, I’ve never seen a movie more in love with KFC; like, I half expected the film to be dedicated to Colonel Sanders lol.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma; it has a lot of love and passion for its subject matter, the actors all do a solid job, and the directing is very unique and creative. The story could’ve been fleshed out a little more, and I have some nits here and there, but if you’re a fan of these kinds of movies, I think you’ll definitely get some kind of enjoyment out of it. I’ll give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️; it’s definitely… Cut above a normal slasher. 🩸🪓 😂