What’s It About

Tom Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a brazen billionaire industrialist whose reckless drilling operation in Greenland causes an immense iceberg to break off and threaten the world. As the environmental catastrophe unfolds, Digger embarks on a frantic, chaotic mission to spin the narrative and prove he is humanity’s savior rather than the cause of its destruction.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

Give Alejandro G. Iñárritu this much: the man does not do small. The director behind “Birdman” and “The Revenant” linked up with Tom Cruise, who also produced, and together they built what might be the priciest art-house movie ever made. Warner Bros. puts the cost around $125 to $135 million, but industry reports say the real number may have climbed past $180 million. Either way, that’s a whole lot of money for a movie this loud, this proud, and this much of a mess. Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil billionaire who wants every last drop of black gold out of the ground and doesn’t care what that costs the planet. His company’s drilling in Greenland cracks off an ice shelf the size of Philadelphia, and now that giant slab is drifting toward Europe, dragging tidal waves and hundreds of thousands of lives along with it. Impact is three days away. The rest of the movie is Digger trying to talk, spin, and shout his way out of the disaster he made. Five people share the writing credit: Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, and Sabina Berman on the screenplay, plus Jez Butterworth on the story. When that many cooks crowd one kitchen, the food usually comes out confused. Here, it comes out burnt. So, we gotta talk about Cruise hiding under this old guy makeup. There’s this bald cap, white hair all over him, and a suit that makes his tummy all big. He sounds like he has a thick Texan accent, wearing cheap cowboy outfits and screaming on his Bluetooth throughout the movie. He puts so much effort in his role, like a guy who hasn’t eaten for three days and just got his steak. No one can say it was a half-hearted effort, but that’s not enough. Digger is like Les Grossman from “Tropic Thunder,” Ross Perot, and some cheap cartoon character. Iñárritu shoots almost everything from way down low, so every character looks puffed up, goofy, and a little dangerous. John Goodman squeezes the most out of that trick as President Compson, stretching his face into long, bug-eyed stares that look like Foghorn Leghorn crossed with Droopy Dog. Compson and Digger go way back, trading favors for decades until both of them reached the top of a very dirty ladder. The president is also dying of what he politely calls “ass cancer,” and as the world turns on America, he starts believing he’s a prophet sent either to save everybody or wipe everybody out. In his head, those two jobs sit real close together. So the president’s whole cabinet rolls up to Digger’s mansion, figures out there’s nothing they can do to stop the ice, and starts building a digital firewall to erase any proof they caused it. “The people know the facts. The story is yet to be told,” Digger says. That’s the sharpest line in the film, and it shows up early. Nothing after it cuts as deep. The cover-up doesn’t hold. Everything builds toward a long, wild scene where Digger stands before Europe’s leaders in a giant assembly hall, and every single one of them wants his head. The scientist Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) already went up there and told the truth: they knew the methane was headed for a breaking point. Ahmed plays the only person in this movie with a working conscience, and the film barely gives him room to breathe. Real talk, I see this pattern too often. The character holding the truth gets the least space to hold it. After that, Digger takes the mic. The camera of Emmanuel Lubezki glides through the hall as if it is one continuous shot while Cruise screams at the top of his voice at the hypocritical politicians, who, while enjoying the luxury that oil brings, do not think about the price tag. It’s like Colonel Jessep in “A Few Good Men” after having drunk an entire bottle of whiskey and lied his whole life. Is this lame? Quite a bit. Is it funny to observe? For about ten minutes. This is that section in the movie when it finally starts going places. Even though you feel it is heading right to the sun. And that should have been the ending. Instead, we get another thirty minutes, and that’s where the movie’s big trick fully takes over. There’s a performance-inside-a-performance game running through this whole film, and I won’t spoil it. I’ll just say it’s clever and a mistake at the same time. By the end, it knocks the story sideways, and the movie just sits there admiring how smart it thinks it is. The supporting cast is stacked and mostly wasted. Michael Stuhlbarg plays a spineless vice president. Sandra Hüller plays Emma, Digger’s half-sister, who runs an environmental branch of the business that exists mostly for good press. Jesse Plemons drifts around as a mystery man named Kenny. Robert John Burke plays a general who loves God and guns, in that order. Emma D’Arcy plays a worn-down assistant, and Burn Gorman pops up too. Everybody matches Cruise and Goodman’s big, shouty energy, and after a while it all blends into one long noise. Hüller is one of the best actors working today, and this movie hands her almost nothing to do. As satire, “Digger” isn’t a scalpel. It’s a sledgehammer. B-2 bombers drop payloads with “SUCK IT NATURE” painted on the side. Digger’s ancient cat is so clearly a puppet that it turns into its own joke. In one cabinet meeting, somebody says something nasty and the president scolds, “Please, there are women present.” Everybody looks around, realizes there are zero women in the room, and cracks up. That’s the level we’re working with. The craft is real, and I won’t pretend otherwise. Lubezki paints this world in sickly greens, browns, chalky whites, and grays, so everything feels tired and used up. The production design pops. The movie looks incredible. But just looking awesome ain’t gonna help ya. “Digger” speaks of capitalism and climate change while hiding in the chaos of its cartoons. It’s too lightweight to challenge anyone and too loud to be funny. The experience of “Digger” felt like having a long dinner with a self-obsessed person. Iñárritu’s “Bardo” is strange too, but it at least has some life in it. “Digger” attacked the fools and has become one. Not just missed the point, but got itself into a hole and can now only enjoy staying inside.

OUR RATING – AN UNDUG 2

What’s It About

A militia of unidentified hostiles coordinates a sudden and violent coup against the U.S. government. Trapped and targeted, the President is forced into survival mode behind the wheel of the heavily armored presidential limousine, code-named The Beast. With a wounded Secret Service agent named Agent Taft (played by Joel Kinnaman) bleeding out in the back seat, the President unlocks the vehicle’s highly classified, hidden offensive capabilities—including built-in miniguns and weaponry. He must ram through hostile forces, manage his own vehicle-turned-superweapon, rescue his injured agent, reunite with the First Lady, and save the country

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

NAACP Image Award “Outstanding Documentary” An illuminating, heartfelt tribute to screen icon Juanita Moore. This biopic celebrates her career, showing why she earned that status and letting audiences see the radiance that made her a star.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

Walk down Hollywood Boulevard, and you’ll step over stars set into the sidewalk of your favorite celebrity, including cartoon characters. Juanita Moore earned an Oscar nomination for playing Annie Johnson in “Imitation of Life.” Director Kirk E. Kelleykahn’s documentary, “A Star Without a Star: The Untold Juanita Moore Story,” asks a simple question. Why was one of Hollywood’s most groundbreaking Black actresses missing from its most famous sidewalk? Kelleykahn is Moore’s grandson, and he spent nearly two decades making this film to keep her legacy alive. It follows the push by her family and supporters to pressure the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce into giving her a star after her death. That fight is the engine of the movie. It played in limited theaters in November 2022, but most of us, me included, caught it when it hit digital and streaming on July 4, 2025. The film doesn’t have the shine of a big-budget documentary, but it makes up for that with heart, and you can feel the love in every scene. Kelleykahn and writers Celeste Bedford Walker and J.W. Nutting first explain how the stars get awarded. Then they dive into Moore’s life. We watch her dance at Harlem’s Cotton Club and perform in Paris, walking the same path Josephine Baker walked before her. Old footage and interviews fill in the details, and those early years open a bigger conversation about Jim Crow and discrimination in Hollywood. The interviews are the best part. Sidney Poitier explains what it was like to come up in Hollywood during the same years as Moore. The two shared the screen in “Band of Angels” and “Something of Value.” Poitier admits he was just happy to be working, even though the business was packed with unfair rules. Moore speaks for herself, too. She says she was tired of carrying trays as a waitress, but that was the only job anyone would give her. One of her customers was a young Marlon Brando, who told her to keep sharpening her craft. In Paris, she felt like she truly belonged, free from the prejudice back home. Still, she returned and made “soundies,” early music videos, with Louis Armstrong and the Mills Brothers. This is where I question everything. What did Hollywood actually let Black actors do? Well, according to the film, not much. Black performers were cast as servants or “native girls,” and many didn’t even get a credit. Treated like furniture in the background instead of like people. In her biggest role, Moore was listed seventh in the credits, below her white co-stars, and of course, she wasn’t invited to the premiere. Yet she based Annie on her own sister and filled the role with warmth and dignity. She turned a part that could have been scenery into the heart of the movie. The filmmakers tied McCarthyism to segregation. Other documentaries stop at the hunt for communists. This one shows how that same fear was used to shut down films with a social message and to keep Hollywood divided. Moore felt it up close, because her first speaking part, in “Pinky,” was labeled Communist propaganda. After World War II, she had joined the Actors Lab, an integrated group that trained new actors. Connecting those dots gives the film some of its most thought-provoking moments. When Hollywood switched to Blaxploitation movies like “Uptight” and “The Mack” in the 70’s, Moore still found work. But the documentary suggests her most rewarding work happened on stage, where performers pushed to the margins could play fuller, more complicated characters. She toured London in “A Raisin in the Sun” and starred in adaptations of James Baldwin’s “Amen Corner.” With the Cambridge Players, led by Edmund Cambridge, she helped bring more honest pictures of Black life to theater audiences. The film also shares tender stories from the set of “Imitation of Life,” especially about Moore’s friendship with Lana Turner. Turner was going through her own struggles, and Moore stood by her. Both women were nervous about their parts. Moore’s fear was personal, since nobody had ever trusted her with a role this big. The producers first wanted bigger names, like Ethel Waters or Pearl Bailey, but producer Ross Hunter fought for Moore. The scenes between Moore and her on-screen daughter, played by Susan Kohner, still hit hard today. The film does stumble at the finish line. It has several good places to stop, yet it never seems sure when to end. That’s a small flaw. The film still shows Hollywood’s Golden Age from a different angle and gives us a less dreamy picture of Old Hollywood. Moore died on January 1, 2014, at age 99, and by then Hollywood had mostly overlooked her contributions. The campaign this film follows, and helped spark, had finally worked. On October 18, 2024, she received the 2,793rd star in the Motion Pictures category. And even if Black people make up about 5% of that famous sidewalk, this is proof that It’s never too late for recognition, and now anyone walking past her star can stop and learn about one of Hollywood’s most resilient trailblazers. Juanita Moore was a true star, and now more people will see it. “A Star Without a Star” isn’t perfect, but its heart and its powerful subject confirm the racist side Hollywood continues to try and silence. True film history cannot be told without the stories of Black performers in America.

OUR RATING – A LOST LEGEND 8

What’s It About

Batman lies broken at the hands of the villainous mastermind Bane. With Bruce Wayne paralyzed from the waist down and unable to continue as Batman, a new successor must be chosen to defend Gotham City. Jean-Paul Valley, the man also known as Azrael, must take up the mantle of the Batman. But will his more violent methods be enough to stop Bane?

What’s It About

Red and Silver are officially a couple and parents raising a family together. Their household includes an unpredictable mix of three children: an adventurous teenage son named Glider, a creative independent teenage daughter, and a young baby hatchling. Red tries very hard to connect with his kids, but his over-involvement often leads to awkward, cringe-filled, and funny situations.

What’s It About

Mark Kimball (Ben Affleck), a high-profile candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles, and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) receive an ominous phone call revealing that their son has been abducted. As the couple scrambles to raise the ransom money, they are forced to confront hidden, dark secrets from their past. A specialist fixer named Dayle (Gillian Anderson) steps in to help, explaining that Mark’s political position and buried secrets create dangerous leverage, turning the rescue mission into an intense psychological test of their marriage.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

The story features the original group of friends reuniting in Lake Como, Italy, for a destination wedding as Marcus (Michael Jai White) and Angela’s (Tasha Smith) daughter, Jasmine (Armani Greer), prepares to marry Wesley (Everett Osbourne). As the group reunites, they realize their adult children have grown up to mimic their own relationship traits and mistakes. This forces the couples to reflect on the examples they set and ask themselves that familiar question: why did they get married… again?

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

Before Hollywood got they hands on this story, Tyler Perry had already developed it on the stage, which made it one of his most successful franchises after Why Did I Get Married? was released in 2007, followed by its sequel, Why Did I Get Married Too? in 2010. Sixteen years is a long time to wait for another installment, and now Perry is finally bringing back his crew of married people in Why Did I Get Married Again?, currently available on Netflix. The story continues where the first two movies left off, although this time all couples have aged and there’s one new member of the family, as one of the children of the couples is about to get married. Marcus and Angela (played by Michael Jai White and Tasha Smith, respectively) hold a huge family reunion before their daughter’s wedding in Italy, which takes place in Lake Como. Before leaving for the trip, they throw a lavish dinner to unite a whole bunch of people, including Terry and Diane, Troy and Sheila, and other couples who were friends before. Somehow, Mike, Sheila’s former partner, ends up getting an invitation. He appears with a new girlfriend, as if nothing had ever been between him and Sheila. One signal like this indicates that the film is going to exploit the wounds that were never fully healed. What’s worse is the absence of Janet Jackson as Pat, regarded as the key character from the earlier films. No real reason for her not being present is provided. Instead, Taraji P. Henson takes on the part of Roselyn, the mother of the groom. Although she is quite a good actress, placing her among the group of people who have been friends for two decades completely destroys the plot of the movie. What is quite right about the movie is the message. As the young people are getting ready to establish their own families, it is time for their parents to realize that nothing is perfect and that they made mistakes during their lives too. This is an important lesson that should be learned. Being a good example means not hiding one’s imperfections from children, but showing them that people make mistakes, hurt one another, and come back together despite this. Still, one problem keeps showing up across all three of these movies (it’s more like 90% of Mr. Perry’s movies), and everybody knows what it is. The Black women in this story get written as angry, jealous, or hard to please far too often, even in scenes that should just let them enjoy a happy moment. Just when a character earns a bit of peace, the script twists it into tension or a sharp comment. These are talented actresses playing women who deserve fuller, warmer inner lives, not a rotating cast of complaints. That pattern is the real weak spot running through this whole franchise, and it holds this entry back from becoming something more than just pleasant. As a Black man, I feel that only one couple on screen seems genuine — Angela and Marcus feel like they have been married for twenty years. The argument feels well-observed; their chemistry is palpable; White and Smith have done a good job of making the audience feel connected to the characters. At other times, the couple felt awkward, like actors reading lines and not like couples sharing the same space for decades. Henson did her best, consciously trying to add a bit of humor, but was never able to save a plot without any emotional depth from the beginning. The younger actors who played the kids perform quite well, but it becomes irritating to watch them in such a predictable film right from the beginning. Tyler Perry is the writer, director, and one of the actors in this film, and he clearly has a lot to say, but why does he keep casting himself in his own movies? I know lots of directors do it, but not on the same scale as Perry. He has to be one of the most skilled storytellers around, yet his acting talents don’t compare to his writing skills. There are a lot of actors out there, new and old, call them. Would I watch it again? No, not if I am being honest with you. Would I recommend it to my friend? That depends on my friend. If the person wants something comforting to watch, like old friends, I would say yes. But if someone is seeking something new, then they would be disappointed. If a stranger asks me, “Should I watch this movie?” I would steer them in a different direction. To evaluate this movie, I would give it a score of about six. I dislike how shallow the chemistry between a lot of these couples turned out to be, and how the film depicts its women as complicated instead of beautiful. However, while I watched the film mostly as myself, I also kept my audience in mind. Tyler has created a franchise that speaks to a lot of people, particularly African Americans, especially African American women. After having spoken to some members of this audience after the movie was over, I realized that they received this film right in the way Tyler intended them to. So, I rate this film an eight because it is visually impressive, taking place in Italy, stars great actors, but, as a Black MAN, not infatuated by Mr. Perry, it’s still just a six.

OUR RATING – A BANKABLE 8

What’s It About

After her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel launches a desperate rescue mission into an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, Ore. Joined by a hapless but loyal classmate, Prue risks it all as she navigates a world of bandits, talking animals and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition.

What’s It About

Expelled student Mia and her pet rat Quentin arrive at Rotwood Academy, where she’s the only human among monster classmates. With Principal Van Vlad’s hatred of humans, she must team up with monsters to thwart his schemes.

What’s It About

Klara is an artificial intelligence friend who wants nothing more than to find the perfect home. It soon meets Josie, a young woman who has a fraught relationship with her mother. But Klara’s innocent wonder and unwavering loyalty soon start to heal the family and bring some light to Josie’s complicated world.