Review: "Digger" is as Frustrating as it is Confounding

By Ben Miller

Alejandro G. Inarritu's Digger is sure to be divisive. While you might have an understanding of the film's tone and messaging early on, a sharp-left turn in the narrative reframes your entire comprehension of what transpires. It's a real mess.

It's going to be very difficult to talk in detail about this film without discussing spoilers, but if you are confused by reading my review, imagine how you would feel in the theater. When the "twist" happens, I stared at the screen incredulous about what I was watching. "This? This is what the film is doing?" You can't even get your bearings on the new reality of the film before it switches back to how it started. It's an insane way to make a film, and an even more insane way to present it...

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First Oscar Predictions: The Actors, Lead and Supporting

by Nathaniel R

Can John Turturro hold on to his Sundance buzz for "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York" © Sony Pictures Classics

Whoops. Lost some momentum there to finish the first round of Oscar predictions. Let's take on Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor...

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Cannes Diary 02: On the side of Tom Cruise

by Elisa Giudici

From a revealing and free-flowing conversation at Cannes today, the impression I got of Christopher McQuarrie,the acclaimed writer-director and creative force behind many of Tom Cruise's biggest hits, was of a compelling and fascinating personality. What emerged was a portrait of a man unflinchingly candid, at times almost brutal in detailing his own perceived limitations and failures, who also spoke with deep loyalty about Cruise, the figure he credits as the enabler of his remarkable career.

Here are 8 key insights from his remarks:

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

by Nick Taylor

Hey, you there! Yeah, you! How well do you think you know your wife? Your partner? The human being you consider your most intimate companion, someone you trust so implicitly that you may in fact take for granted the idea that they have as many mysteries and desires as you yourself do? If you’re laboring under such delusions and need a stark reminder of such realities, then do I have a movie and a performance for you! Our celebration of Nicole Kidman’s ‘90s uprising has reached its conclusion with Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut...

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Mission Impossible: A Retrospective

by Cláudio Alves

Jumping from mountaintop into the silver screen, a death dive flight through alpine air, Tom Cruise crashes cinemas with another chapter in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Inspired by the hit 60s TV show, the movies have long ago severed whatever connection they might have had with their origin, transforming into what's best described as America's answer to the James Bond flicks. But that's a hollow description as  different directors have brought distinct visions, and Ethan Hunt has so constantly changed that he's more fluid idea than character.

For the star at the center of it all, the Mission: Impossible pictures have been a chance to experiment with how far the human body can go as a tool for action entertainment. Near suicidal in their fervor, these Cruise vehicles celebrate cinema at its most muscular and obstinately analog, a scream into the darkening sky that keeps the CG night at bay. For a cinephile intent on re-watching all the movies before watching Dead Reckoning - Part One, the movie series is an enticing study of shifting priorities and tones. So, here we go, from the Hollywood of 1996 to our present crisis against AI, reconsidered as a man's mission to save Humanity by killing the man-made God…

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