“Digger”

7.9

“They know the facts. The story has yet to be told.”

So this is what it would have been like if “Megalopolis” was actually good… This is how you do a passion project!

Cruise turns in a performance that reminds you that the guy can act his ass off. No matter how silly the subject matter got, there was always gravitas to spare. In multiple monologues that rival Cliff Booth’s trailer meltdown from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” he shows that he’s STILL GOT IT. Definitely WEIRD, but not deserving of the rough reviews it’s amassed in its first weeks. Satire for the ages!

“Practical Magic 2”

7.4

I’ll be damned, they ROCKED this one. I was worried about them making a sequel after so many years and taking a swing at possibly ruining the magic. That being said, the original cast perfectly play alongside the newcomers to bridge things so well that you’d assume they had been together all along. The magic is still there and there’s lightning left in the bottle! I never felt it unnecessary that they went back to the well and in the end thoroughly enjoyed this one front to back!

“Gerald’s Game”

7.6

Everything really does tie back to Seinfeld at some point… this is just an extension of the episode where George ends up tied to the bed and robbed, on steroids. Of course from the mind of Stephen King, Bruce Greenwood and Carla Gugino really knock it out of the park in this one room play from hell. I was glad to see they land the plane as well as they do, considering it’s Stephen King material. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one, even with the DARK subject matter under the hood in the second and third acts.

“Other Mommy”

5.4

This had such potential… the first 20 minutes or so were really solid horror buildup. Then… it goes off the rails. The narrative loses is grounding and becomes incredibly silly and unnecessarily complex at the same time. Jessica Chastain plays both mommies surprisingly well. I just felt that it overshot the mark and lost the plot (literally) almost out of the gate, sadly. Save yourself the hour and half.

“The Rivals of Amziah King”

8.4

Still not sure how to sell this one, other than to say you have to go see it to believe it. I expected a heaping pile of charm thanks to McConaughey, but I’ll be damned, I was enthralled with a movie about honey bee theft for 2 hours! Angelina LookingGlass carries the second half of the film, holding her own against the likes of Kurt Russell. There’s an unexpected amount of depth in this one and much more than meets the eye. I felt it oddly enlightening, especially in the music department. A spiritual experience of sorts – a fever dream turned transfusion of wisdom from the screen into the heart of the audience. Highly recommend!