Digger

I have to admit that, while I felt compelled to see Digger, I wasn't really looking forward to it because I was put off by the desaturated color grading and the bombastic performances featured in the trailer.  I decided to see it last night with my nephew and I can definitely see why it has polarized critics and audiences but I think it is a masterpiece!  Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) is a wealthy, arrogant, and eccentric Texas oil tycoon whose company, Rockwell United, ignored reports of methane beneath an oil rig in Greenland and is now responsible for an explosion that dislodged an immense ice shelf  moving towards Europe.  Digger's head of environmental safety, Dr. Nirav Ganesh (Riz Ahmed), predicts thousands of deaths, millions of displaced people, and trillions of dollars worth of damage but he seems to be more concerned with the imminent death of his cat and, after consulting with U.S. President Compson (John Goodman), he decides to create an information firewall rather than take action.  When the inevitable happens, Digger deflects blame in a speech to the European Parliament by saying that the world is dependent on the oil he provides (in a monologue that will surely get Cruise a Best Actor nomination).  However, another even larger ice shelf breaks free and heads to Alaska and this requires a dramatic military response that leads to the downfall of both Digger and the president.  The first act has a strange artificiality with over the top satire and stylized cinematography, performances, and production design but a wild twist in the second act completely reframes everything that has come before and another twist at the end completely reframes everything once again.  People will either love or hate this choice but I loved it because, without giving away any spoilers, it emphasizes the power of art (satire in particular) as catharsis.  There are a lot of other themes to unpack, such as corporate greed, political corruption, manipulation of the media, and societal hypocrisy, but Iñárritu seems to be saying that, since nothing will stop the consequences of these actions, we might as well laugh at the destruction.  Everything that put me off in the trailer ended up working for me after seeing the context and I found it to be really funny at times (but I was often the only one in the theater laughing) as well as incredibly thought-provoking (I'm still thinking about it).  Cruise gives his best performance since Magnolia (the dude can act when he's not jumping on and out of airplanes) and Ahmed is equally brilliant.  I also really enjoyed a monologue by Jesse Plemens (as a character I won't spoil) because I think it sums up the thesis of the movie briliantly.  This will definitely not be for everyone but I really dug it (pun intended).

Verity

I went through a Colleen Hoover phase a few years ago (it was a strange time) and, out of all the books I read, Verity was my favorite (relatively speaking) so I was excited to see the movie adaptation at an early access screening last night with my nephew.  Despite several flaws, I enjoyed it for what it is and I had a lot of fun watching it with a large crowd.  Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway) is a best-selling author known for writing a series of novels from the villain's perspective.  After she has a car accident which leaves her in a catatonic state, her husband Jeremy Crawford (Josh Hartnett) hires struggling author Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) to ghostwrite the remaining books in the series.  Lowen moves into their secluded house on a lake in Vermont in order to read through Verity's outlines and notes and finds a manuscript that appears to be her autobiography.  As she reads Verity's disturbing account, she begins a relationship with Jeremy and suspects that Verity might be faking her condition.  This reminded me a lot of The Housemaid because, like that adaptation, it is an atmospheric psychological thriller with a sleek and stylish production design (I loved the house because it has a very Gothic vibe) and lots of twists and turns.  Also, like that adaptation, it features two strong performances (Hathaway and Hartnett) that highlight the blandness of the third one (Johnson).  This is especially true whenever Johnson reads the manuscript aloud (which, unfortunately, is a large part of the runtime) because her delivery is monotone and her expression is very disengaged (there is even a line in which Lowen says that it's hard to tell if she is having fun because she has "resting bored face" and it got the biggest laugh of the night).  I do think Johnson is a good actress when she has good material to elevate her performance but this is based on a book you can buy at the airport (iykyk).  Still, this is a pretty faithful adaptation (except for a bizarre change to the ending that makes absolutely no sense) so fans of the book are sure to love it.

Note:  The scenes where Verity appears on Hot Ones and Call Her Daddy are hilarious.