Digger Review & Spoilers Discussion : Travis Told You

0:03 Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to another edition of Travis Told You. I'm your host, Travis Snell, which I feel like I often don't actually do on Travis Told You. I know the show has my name in the title, but some people probably don't know my last name. Do they need to know my last name? Maybe not.

0:20 I don't know. I've never thought about it until right now. This is Digger. As usual, we're going to give a... We're going to give. I'm alone here. in the studio. Hello. We're going to get a non-spoilers. Myself, I'm going to give my non-spoilers thoughts and then a spoilers review. If you've not listened to a review from Geek First before, probably because it's myself, I'll probably just go about like five-ish minutes because this is going to be a tough one to talk about without spoilers. I said this on the previous tryouts, told you that a lot of times people say that about movies and you go, ah, okay, and then you see a movie, okay, I think people kind of overhype that. This is very much a hard

0:57 one to talk about without spoilers, but there's definitely some things I can hit on. So, I will do that, and then if you are wanting to see the movie, I will give you a warning before I get into spoilers, or if you don't care, obviously then you can just stick along for the ride, but if you're looking for a recommendation, non-spoilers, thoughts, etc., I'll give that all, and then you'll be safe, I will let you know when I'm going into spoilers, and yeah, you'll be fine, nothing's going to happen, I'm not going to get anything, because obviously people said there's some big things with this movie, none of that is coming from me, so I'll give you a nice little A long, juicy warning. But let's get in the movie. Digger. I've been excited for this

1:34 one for quite a while. Obviously, in your read-through, like, what more can you say, right? If you're listening to this review, you already know. Even if you're not planning on seeing Digger, you know the resume of this guy, right? He's, obviously, I don't think the general audience hit that claim of, like, a Nolan or a Spielberg, but I'd say for film buffs...

1:51 You know, hey, Inuritu, track record, great performances, unique films, very distinct vision. You don't know always what you're getting, but you know you're getting something distinct, as I just said, right? So the second years ago, it was now Tom Cruise doing something with Inuritu. I was always going to see this in theaters, even with the reviews this week, because it's been very mixed. And I will say that's definitely...

2:16 where I was talking about this, because Matty was asking me, the great Matty Stegs asked me if he should see this, and he's assigned me to be in some movies, and he said, like, oh, all I need is, like, a great Tom Cruise performance, right, and I just need to know it's not dog shit, definitely you get both those things, or wait, no, you don't get, I'll say the good part, you get a great Tom Cruise performance, and it's not dog shit, but I do think it's a movie, it's, it's like a It is a, you go to a restaurant, you look at the menu, and you order this high-priced value item. And obviously, luckily, in movies, they just cost the same, but for your time and what you might be getting for your palate. And there's all the type

2:53 of foods that have 18 million different ingredients. This, that, oh, a mustache of this and a panache of that. And so we go, oh, that's the best thing ever. And we go, like, why am I paying this much for that? This movie very much is that. I can think anybody could love it, could hate it, be right in the middle.

3:09 It's a movie, no matter what you say about it, I go, yeah, I understand. There's some movies that are just like that, right? But when they announced, you know, going back there with Tom Cruise, I was always going to be there, even though all the things that it had said. And I was worried because there were some people that were actively like, not like me, but just like, I really, really didn't like this, right? And for me...

3:27 The reason that's an issue nowadays is because when I see movies that aren't for the pod, like I'm doing this now for Trash Totally, but when it's not our main GV reviews, I'm usually going later. This one was at 10, and I'm usually in bed by 11.30 nowadays because I wake up at 4.30 to go to the gym.

3:41 I got a new routine and regimen and everything, so... It's a little tough. It's one of those where it's like, I know if I'm not going to enjoy the movie, there's either two ways. Either I'm awake and I'm regretting it because I'm getting back at midnight and I've got to be up really early, or I'm dozing off and fighting. Luckily, neither happened as far as I wasn't dozing off and I didn't... Because the movie keeps you engaged. Definitely keeps you engaged. And then I also didn't end up going to the gym today because it fucking poured out. And I bike right to the gym. And then one of my twins was also... So I had to watch her.

4:12 So it kind of worked out. Anyways, but most of the time, I've done that. Last week I did that. Go to a movie late and then say, okay, got to get up, right? So I was worried. But I was always going because Tom Cruise and Inuitu together– Iñárritu' s background, Tom Cruise's background, and the biggest thing with Cruise as well is what I want. I've been saying this for years, and he still does it, right? He got to do it a bit in Top Gun, but for me, I miss Tom Cruise the actor, right? We've got Tom Cruise the action star for a long time now, right? Because it feels like even when he was... Let me just take a look at his filmography here, because... And this gives me an excuse to crack my neck, because I

4:47 feel a good one coming. Oh, three. One. It's the neck. But I feel like for a while... Because I feel like he did Mission Impossible 1, 2. He was still doing, like, dramas or comedies or romantic movies, whatever it might be, right? A mix. But it feels like Adventure at some point got to a point where I got to have a gun in my hand or on some sort of adventure, right?

5:07 So let's see. Awesome Powers, Collateral, War of the Worlds, Alliance for Lambs, Valkyrie, Nine Day... So he does... I'd say it's Mission Impossible 4. Now, Rock of Ages still comes out in 2012, right? But he's already working on that, right? So it's been... And even Night and Day is 2010. But still, so it's Mission... I'd say Mission Protocol. Mission Protocol.

5:29 Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. Because you have that. And then you have Jack Reacher. Oblivion. Edge Tomorrow. Mission Impossible. Jack Reacher. The Mummy. American Made. Mission Impossible Fallout. Talk of Maverick, where I think he got to be... Have some of those drops then off the last two Mission Possibles. And then Dicker. So that came out when... 2011. So to me, it's been... He still, as I said, gets those moments in the movies, but I was wanting a full drama movie.

5:53 He's not fucking fighting a spy, assassin, whatever, right? And even this drama comment, but still, it's not in that reign of, I gotta take down and save the world. No, I didn't want that. 14 years we've had, or 15 years now, we've had quite a bit of that with Tom Cruise, so I was always excited. Now, did it deliver on that? Because that's the good thing about this movie.

6:11 I heard, hey, it's very divisive. Some people were going hard to bat for it, For me, this is definitely a movie that I can give it a score at the end of this review. It could easily change. Sometimes I get in there and I go, okay, am I changing a point here or there? And then there's other times where I go, oh, I know 100% this score is going to fluctuate. I need to watch the movie again, but nor am I in a rush to see it again, but nor does that mean I did not enjoy it. Um...

6:39 It is a very interesting movie, and all I'll say is I appreciate the big swings that are being taken here, right? And I hope people do as well. And I could see someone spending their time, this is a little over two hours, and be like, man, it wasn't what I thought. Because I do think this is a case of, I talked about this with Resident Evil, and this movie is not exactly with the tone, but Resident Evil, I felt like the trailers didn't show me what the actual movie was, right?

7:06 I would say this in a different way has that. There's some angles and some plot threads that they don't show you, and it is one of those things that once that gets going, and once you know what this movie is about, you're either in or out. I know some people are like, oh, I'm in the middle. I do feel like it's an in or out sort of thing, right?

7:22 Funny enough, I am kind of somewhat in the middle, so maybe I'll walk that back, but I feel like I'm in a lot of cases, right? I remember I was talking the other day in Trestle, like, bvs or last jedi i just remember those eras of people either loving him or hating him i remember them both being like yeah i'm right in the middle here right and with this certain element i'm right in the middle of the positive i don't know it didn't deter me but it definitely okay this is now a different movie right it definitely is hitting on what you've seen the trailers as far as climate change and political stuff i'd say with the political stuff it's a lot like And I know Clay might hear this and roll his eyes and

8:00 die a little bit, but Cocktail Clay, one of our Patreon producers, it's like Mickey 17. There is a different aspect to it, Clay. So don't just go in, or anybody else, if they didn't enjoy that movie, don't just go in thinking, oh, it's just Mickey 17, but it didn't bite in your ear too. You'll see what I mean when you see the movie, but there's definitely isms and riffs of that. And it has no messages. No matter what these plot threads are, it has the messages of, you know, environment, political status, people abusing their powers, and things that are like looking back on things and thinking in the moment that it might have not been as bad as we thought, and then the aftermath, and saying, oh,

8:39 and then how do we get to this place, and how do we let it get to this place, right? That's kind of what I can all say, and that's where there's lots of developments, but they all fit within the theme. There is one big development that's kind of A little... No, a little. It's a lot different. It doesn't go completely with that theme, but... Yeah, it's a very interesting movie. I'd say it's closer to Birdman, where obviously he's trying to be comedic, and I think the comedy in Birdman worked better. I know I've seen some people say, like, oh, this really didn't work for me.

9:12 I didn't, like, for comedy-wise, like, almost none of it. I won't say that. I'll say there's definitely times where it feels like you're trying to go for a laugh, and it's just not working. And maybe if I had a fuller theater, I'd get a better gauge. It was just me and one guy, you know, so I didn't get a gauge there. And I don't think I had any...

9:28 That's the thing. There is a lot of comedy in this movie. I don't think I had any huge laugh-out-loud moments. I don't think there's anything I'm going to really remember on the comedy side. So I think it kind of misses the mark there. I think it's tough because this movie gets... You could say... I won't say preachy, but it's very... It's not... It's not subtle about what it's going for, and it's really like, hey, this is the issue, this is the issue. But then at the time, it is satirical, so that's kind of the point where it kind of goes back around almost like the... rule of twos or threes, right, where it's like a joke's funny, it's not funny, and then it's funny again. That's almost what it's doing here at times, but they're doing that

10:07 with the political messaging. Yeah. I think with certain things, if people are really like, oh, another political movie, I think there's certain things where you might be able to watch just to go, okay, with that development and that aspect, it's not as bad as I thought. It wasn't just going to be preachy the whole time. I do think they look at it in multiple ways as well. It's not even just like left or right, just like multiple ways of looking at life's lens and the issues and how you deal with them and the history of them and what happens after the math. Yeah. What else could I say? Performance is, yeah, Cruise... Cruise is great. I guess it's weird, right? Because we've kind of known he was going to be great. We saw these trailers and

10:48 all of us went like, oh, he's going to win Best Actor, right? I don't think that. I think there's two sides to this performance. I think there's the flashy side and then there's the character side. The flashy side, that's tons of fun and he got nailed down 100%, right? Which you can win an Oscar for that, but... But then you need to make sure there's no other performances this year that kind of match that. And for me, even like... I think like Ryan Gosling and Project Hail Mary, I would put above this. Because I just think there's...

11:16 When the character has more of the emotional sides, it's good, but it feels like I'm not getting enough of it or I'm needing more time. Like there needs to be... And there is, with the emotional beats in the story, I think that needed a bit more time. I think the... The power scaling of the satirical, very flamboyant movie to the like, hey, we're down to– not down to earth per se, but we're– you get to know who Digger is and whatnot. There are some aspects of that missing.

11:51 But I think the performance is great. I think I would still– probably for Golden Geeks. I think that's the problem, right? I thought it was going to be great. It is great. I think I thought it was going to be better, but I don't think it's Cruise. I don't think it's Cruise that's the issue for why it doesn't get that far.

12:04 I think it's the material. And it's still, like, nom-worthy, but I don't know if it's, like, win-worthy. Like, let me look at my... I'm going to talk Golden Geeks. I'm not going to talk Oscars because, like, obviously, like, there's that Sebastian Stan movie. I can't list that, right? Because I haven't seen that. If you don't know, Golem Geeks, if you're a first-time listener, that's our Oscars. We do every year, you know? Is he better than Hocum and Adam Scott and Hocum? No, he's not. No, I'm joking. So, Project Calamari. So, no, I'd have Gosling above him. Michael Johnson from Obsession. That's an interesting conversation, but I'd go with Cruise. I'd go Cruise over Damon in Odyssey, so I would dare. So, yeah, you know what? Like, For

12:45 the invite. Yeah, it's still going. So, you know what? It is. I guess here's the thing. I guess I was expecting to almost walk away the same way I did from one battle after another. Like, I thought Sean Penn was going to deliver something that would stick with me for a while. And he did. We're Digger. I think there's chances, too. But I don't think the script is quite there in my opinion. opinion as a guy that sits here from a set of this green gone mass who's only directed one movie right but from what i watch of movies i i think i needed a little bit more to get to that thing like wow i fully got there right i think when you're the fully character character that works better when you're in supporting

13:25 i'm speaking specifically lead actor which clearly he is but i think he is great in here and i would take more roles not like digger but more roles of him playing characters and and more outlandish than the powerful, straight, good-looking lead, right? Which is great Tom Cruise can do, but I would like more stuff of this. Riz Ahmed, he's fantastic. I think my two standouts that are up there with Cruise is Riz Ahmed and Jesse Plemons. Jesse Plemons... Actually, I'm wrong. There's one moment in this movie that will stick with me for a while that was a laughter moment.

13:56 It was really good. Very quick. All Plemons, by the way. Any other actor might know they'll sell all Plemons, but I thought those two were really good. They have smaller amounts of screen time, especially Plemons. But I think those two really, really delivered. Again, Plemons, including myself. I don't even know if I... I think I made a mistake.

14:14 I didn't even have him in our best actors poll last year. He needs more recognition. He is fantastic. And in this role, he's really good as far as playing this character. I can't even say sympathetic asshole. Like, he's still always an asshole, but he might do good things, and he's never like, oh, he's a good guy. It's like, oh, he's still just kind of a prick, but he's doing this stuff that's kind-hearted, and that's really good. Riz Ahmed is like the scientist you've seen that's pushing back on Digger, and he's great. He's very cartoony in the best ways possible.

14:44 So that's my non-spoilers. If you're a film buff, you're listening to this, I would say if you're in the Oscar race, yes, you've got to watch that type of stuff. If you're kind of on the fence... I don't think, it's really tough. You would legitimately, you know, down below is the GV Discord. You would have to join it, and either if I know you from the past 10, 11 years of GV, and I could say, hey, based on like what Manny said, hey, I just want to know, is it dog shit and is Cruz good? I said, it's not dog shit.

15:11 Cruz is good.

15:11 They said, okay, good. I can see it. I need to know a person's personal likes and takes. And I said this on, I told you earlier. Emily, my wife, she had no interest in this movie whatsoever. She's like, that looks cheesy, that looks really bad. Like, bad. Any different descriptive words for bad? She was, I don't know, I'm thinking, oh, digger. But then when I told her about one of the plot elements that is not in these trailers, which I can understand, I appreciate them for not advertising certain things. There's probably... I wonder if the movie does better if they advertise those things, but at the same time, like... I don't know. Or is it just the same? I think looking at the box office now probably does a bit better, but I think so.

15:58 I think there's a way that you can market this movie with some of the things they're holding back that is more marketable, but it takes away from that first watch. And which is so great in a world where when you walk into Spider-Man Brand New Day, you know Sadie Sink is Jean Grey, right? We know everything. And that's what we do as film fans, right? We see things, we follow in circles and stuff. It's kind of hard not to if you want to be in this bubble, but This movie had things where, oh, it was so nice not to know this, and now I know it.

16:21 But when I told her that, she was, oh, more interested. And I talked to her more and more about this plot element. She's like, I don't think she's running out to see it, but she's like, okay, I would maybe watch that now. So that's where... you, it's tough to gauge. So can I recommend it? I can only recommend it if you're a film or Oscar buff. If you're iffy about it and you're not one of those, then no.

16:41 If you're just a big Tom Cruise fan, even if you don't like the movie, I think there's enough in the performance you would really enjoy. So it's a very specific case of people I would recommend this to. I definitely recommend this to people to watch at home. Now, I know it sounds bad because like, I don't want the, like the movie's getting completely bombed. And I've, as I said, it's like, I want more movies like this. That's what sucks, because more movies like this do end up on streaming.

17:03 And not that there's anything wrong with streaming, but the communal, I love the theaters, right? And I love, it's not even against, I don't give a shit about streaming or people. It's just like, I love seeing movies on the big screen. So like seeing Digger, there's some set pieces here where it's like, I love seeing that. But I don't think it's a go-to if you're somebody that might be iffy on it, right? So, okay. I'm going to take a drink of water. After that drink of water, I'm going to say I'm back. And when I'm back, I'm going to be full of spoilers. You might think like, oh, it's just like a little thing that he's talking about some plot elements. No, if you have any interest, it is a big thing. It is something you don't want

17:33 to be ruined beforehand. Maybe you do and you don't care. But I would say you don't want to know beforehand. It would very much impact your viewing going in. It's fun to get that known to you. So I'm going to take this drink and I'll tell you when I'm back. And this is your chance to get the fuck out of here. I'm going to fix my hat. Look at this hair. I cannot wait to get a haircut. Crawl my haircut. Hair out for Halloween. What am I? Not Tanya.

17:59 You'll find out. It's great caution, though. There we go. Let me just make sure. Of course, today I was mastering my drink trials. Let me just make sure it's not a... No. No, he's just trying to get me to play Halloween. All right.

18:15 We're into spoilers. I apologize before.

18:18 I realized that the first 15 non-spoilers there was my wrong microphone. So I apologize. I tried to touch it up in post. I hope it didn't sound too bad. So my apologies there. I thought I had it plugged in. And of course, it did.

18:32 But StreamYard switched me over.

18:33 I love StreamYard, but I fucking hate StreamYard sometimes. But we're here to talk about Digger in the spoilers section. So this movie, I had heard. There's something in it. There's a big twist or whatever. Something's not on the marking. Right.

18:49 So I go, okay.

18:50 And obviously there was those rumors about being a musical and they came on and said, it's not a musical, but I still worried.

18:55 I worried it was going to be a.

18:56 Situation where they're like, oh no, no, it's not a musical. And then when it happened, they go, well, we just wanted to, you know, we just wanted to trick you. You know, we, we didn't want to reveal the secret the same way many people do like, Hey, I'm not playing, uh, God, who the fuck did Benedict Cumberbatch play in Star Trek? Khan.

19:19 I'm not Khan.

19:20 I'm not this character, right? Okay, sure.

19:25 But it wasn't a musical, luckily. Lots of big set pieces, but.

19:28 Not a musical. So what it is, and I kind of figured it out. I thought there was two. Well, there was a vibe and something, right? So I had that going in of there could be something up. The first shot of this movie, or the first shot's like underground. There's some bubbles. But one of the first shots in Digger's Home where we're getting to the main character is it's a window. and it opens up and it has like a border around it and it opens up and then you pan out and you show, oh, it's a window, it's showing outside and there's Digger on his bed. But when it first started, that window looked like an auditorium.

20:01 It looked like people sitting there, like a bunch of chairs and then the play screen was right there. And then also Once that was in my mind, I went, hmm. And then as I watched the movie that we knew with the cat and everything and him being crazy, that's how it starts off. He's frantic.

20:16 He's like, oh, whoa, like learn about the oil. It's very over the top.

20:20 And that's where I want to compare it to where I know we talked about this on Geekverse and Clay and now with Mickey 17. It was Mickey 17, but Mickey 17 is satirical and very over the top, like on purpose.

20:33 That's like the vibe the whole movie.

20:34 This felt like it was... masking that like kind of not making fun of it just being like oh we're doing that thing and that's exactly what it's doing because that is the big twist that about you know 20-25 minutes into the movie um it has shown that it is a play uh john goodman and tom cruise go into a different room they're talking about his anal cancer which again is all but a big joke and stuff there's like a guy that pops up and he's like very giant and he moves his tree and you're like what the fuck's going on And then he goes, oh, well, this tree's not working for the set.

21:05 It's just giving me problems or whatnot, right?

21:07 And then more people come out and then they pan around and they show, oh, they're not actually giants. They're just magnified because like the way the play area, like whatever the, it's a depth of field situation where they're not actually that big. It just looks that big. They're all regular people. There's no giants. There's no twist that way.

21:22 They're putting on a play. Tom Cruise is, I can't remember who he is, but he's an actor. He's not playing himself, but he's an actor. And he's playing Digger. This is a play that's been going on for decades, and they're doing their version of it, an updated version of it. As we go along, we learn more about that.

21:35 But that's the big thing, that everything, and if you don't care, everything that you've seen in the trailers, that is Tom Cruise being crazy and losing his mind, everything like that, that's the play. Digger is the character within the character. He's playing this other guy, which I don't think they even have in the credits. I can't remember his name. We'll just call him, we'll just say he's playing Tom Cruise.

21:55 We'll just say he's the real guy.

21:57 I'm not going to call him Tom Cruise because he's not, they don't bring any Tom Cruise-isms into this, really, I think. And what is happening is you're getting, it's a rehearsal before the big opening grand show and it is set piece rehearsal and then they go, like, take down the set and while that's happening, you're getting to know the actor as the guy and then they show that his daughter's coming and the whole thing is While this play is going on, I'm not going beat for beat here.

22:21 The whole back and forth of play, real life, play, real life, his daughter is flying, and where she's flying, there's a big tornado or something like that, and he's very worried for her life, obviously, because that's the last place she's going, and they're reporting there's a storm. I think And then I talk about another plane going down or something like that.

22:39 I can't remember, but her life is at risk. So he is dealing.

22:44 With that as he's playing this character who the character, I don't think it's like the way Mark Ruffalo is playing Trump, but it is very much a amalgamation of a bunch of rich guys that were deemed as probably, you know, ruin the world, which that's why I said my non-spoilers. I liked where they went back and forth.

23:00 That's where a lot of people didn't, not a lot, but a lot of people push back. I guess some people say, pushed back on vice and it was like, oh, they're trying to humanize Cheney and they're making him seem like, you know, there was a method to his madness. And it's like, well, yeah, because it's from his fucking point of view. And at one point they do that, right?

23:17 They try and say like, hey, the same way people do with Trump or any politician they don't like, right? Oh, this guy's a fucking idiot. He's a dumb piece of shit. She's a dumb piece of shit. No, they might do things that we consider dumb. And of course they do dumb things But that person could not be dumb to get that position. At one point in the middle of all this, because Cruz is very stressed out, he breaks down.

23:36 He's arguing with the director, which was crazy. It was Sophia Wilde. I didn't tell you her name. It was Sophie Wilde, the girl from Talk to Me. I didn't know she was in this. She's in the hidden portion of the real-life portion. I was like, whoa, she's the stage play director. I was like, oh, that's really cool.

23:48 Because remember we talked about this a couple months ago, I think after the comic book draft.

23:53 I was like, where is she? She hasn't been doing much.

23:55 Good role for her. Obviously, we were hoping it was going to be bigger, but... They just break down and she says something about him being idiotic. And that's what it is, right? It is a play about these rich people, president, like Democrats, Republicans, just politicians. You know, Digger's kind of representing like an Elon, like Bill Gates, like someone with a bunch of power and money. It's all these like, you know, rich assholes that goss in the situation because they were too worried about their own hubris or looking after themselves. They were supposed to be looking after the world.

24:26 They didn't.

24:27 But it's also about.

24:28 How we let them get to that point. Right. And how even Cruz like goes like, Oh, why is it satirical?

24:33 And why is it funny?

24:34 And at one point they, you know, reveal Jesse Plemons is playing Digger as a real person. They reveal that he bought the rights and he's actually the nephew of Digger. And at one point someone says like, why is this funny? Like, look at all the people that died that day. He's like, it has to be funny because if it's not funny, um, like I don't want to pair, like I'm trying to paraphrase here because I didn't, you know, I just saw the movie last night. Um, but it's like, it has to be funny. So it's still like, there's, there's some like memory brought into it. And there's some like, it's almost like it has to be funny. So it's palpable for the audience and say, they know what's going on.

25:11 And it's like, it's funny because of how bad it is. And look at how bad we let it become. Like I said, I'm paraphrasing and butchering it, but that's where it's like, that's the way the comedy kind of breaks through and lets people know like this was a real thing. And it is funny because, But it's almost sadly funny because we let this happen, right? And again, back to my original point, the director said, oh, he's a fucking idiot. Like, well, no, he couldn't be an idiot. He's like, I've been studying Digger for like, I think he's like two years or something like that. It's like, he was too smooth, too calculating, too this, da, da, da, da. And that's all the time people talk about certain politicians. Like, yeah, they can't be,

25:44 that is like the base, like, oh, they're dumb. They don't know what they're doing.

25:48 It's like, obviously not on everything, but no, you have to have some sort of.

25:54 Wherethal about you to get to where you're going right even if it's cutthroat wherethal people like if people aren't cutthroat they just get caught and they go to prison they need to make the right deals do the right things i don't say that's right but that's what this movie's tackling and that's what the play is about um so once it happened and luckily i was i liked knowing at least there was something big gonna happen and i was kind of prepping myself because i just thought this is almost like too over the top you know so once it happened i was like.

26:24 Okay, how are we going to go with this? And I, I was fine with it. I liked it. I just think that, Hmm. I just think that.

26:37 It's, it's interesting. Cause I know that people are going to watch it and don't like that at all. Cause some people might take it and go, Hey, now the stuff that's happening in the play doesn't matter.

26:46 It's all a fake world. It's a play.

26:48 But to me, it still does because it's about our world and you know, everything from politics to global warming, to how we get on with each other, what we do to our earth, what we do to people that's still there. And it's like, he wanted to put like a second storyline with the, the real actor stuff, which very much not the one shot. And I don't think the comedies is good, but definitely has a lot of Birdman vibes. Like when we get to the stage play stuff has a lot of Birdman vibes, which I was surprised because his films are kind of never feel too much of the same, right? He's one of those where he feels like he has a distinct voice and, but it's never like Tarantino where it's very ebbs and flows,

27:24 a similar vibe, right? A similar style. I'm sure people will pick apart, like, oh, look at this style. I'm not saying that within your art, too. I'm just saying, like, I feel like there's... Tarantino's films feel like a genre, right? Where Ennoreto, of course, has his style. That would be the difference. And Tarantino has his style as well, too.

27:44 And then the real-life situation, of course, that's happening. He's arguing with his wife.

27:48 And I guess that's where, for me.

27:50 I guess it was just to put on pressure and this is where I need to sit and watch it again, hear other people's opinions. I don't know. I think the, the actors and the director and the owner and Jesse Plemons, and that's a jump scare. Some of them non-spoilers at one point, Digger, the real actors, like on a call with his wife, he's all stressed out and he's in like a dressing room or whatever. It has like a curtain and then he pulls the curtain and Plemons is like sitting there and he's like waiting for him to be off the phone.

28:17 He didn't always be on the phone. And he's like, He has this big smile and the cruise.

28:21 But he's like, like Plemons did look kind of like, he looked like a statue. Oh, sorry. I didn't know. I thought you were still on the phone. Like really good moment that that did get me. It was Plemons face acting. And that was really good. And that's where some of the, he's an asshole where he, like he comes off when he's talking about like, I bought the play and you know, I want, I don't want to go away. Cause people need to know the story. So it feels like he is a rich asshole kid. who was raised by rich asshole people, has all the money still, but realized, ah, they fucked up, and people need to know that they fucked up. Even when he addresses the crowd, or he addresses the actors and Digger and the director,

28:57 why this plane needs to happen, he's rude to everybody. He's like, and I hired you. Some people told me you're a hip, but I don't really remember why I hired you. He's taking insults to everybody, but then he kind of brings it down of why it has to happen, and even then, when he, he says like, oh yeah, I can check on your dog. He's like, how, before we know he's Digger's nephew, he's like, how can you check?

29:14 I just know people. I know someone works there.

29:17 And at first it feels like, is it nefarious? Is something up? And then later on, it's like, yeah, I just made a couple calls. So he's an asshole throughout the whole thing, but he's still doing, you know, I'd say like good or decent things or trying to work with people.

29:28 So I really liked that character.

29:30 And then the rest of the characters are just the actors, like Riz Ahmed, like, or so they're their characters, like Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, uh Sandra Hiller like they're just you at the end you see them break character and they take their bows but they're playing their characters you don't get Emma Darcy you don't get to see them much as themselves it's mostly on Cruise there and I guess it's just like with Cruise and the director going at it but like what the fuck does this play even mean and the actors not getting along I think anything to do with the play in the real actor's life worked and With his real life, I guess, other than is it just putting him in a stressful situation, I didn't see the complete correlation. And if that's just it,

30:07 if it's like, yeah, we just want him more stressed out, okay, then I could see that. And it was achieved and it did well. Was it worth– it's like that's a fun aside to have there and that's something unique and I like having it there. But did it overall– like would this be stronger if the whole movie was not just the digger play, right? I don't know. And that's what I'm saying just about him, his wife, and his daughter.

30:28 Not the actor stuff. The actor stuff I think worked very well for it. But that's what I was saying in non-spoilers. I think that I could have used more of the real world situations and that's where I think I could have got more emotional beats going on. That's where it feels like that's the part where if we're talking about Cruise winning an Oscar, him being the real actor, that's where it could have came in. And I I think it's the mark is kind of missed there. I think the material is just not strong enough. And I think we needed more time with that. I think it's do yourselves all great. There's some fun visuals, some fun tricks going on. There's some great scenes together. I think that's all working, but the real actors have, I think

31:06 that's where if people don't like it and he's also not getting, I don't think it's the strongest parts of the script where again, I don't know where that interlocks with each other. How does that play? Right. Cause it feels like with something like, you know, in comparative with bourbon, everything that happens, it feels like they bleed into one another, right?

31:24 With this, portions of it do. You know, so that's the thing where it's like, I like it, I respect it. That's one of the things where it's, I feel it definitely scores high that or scores higher on a filmmaking level, right?

31:36 There's films all the time where I can.

31:38 This is definitely in that category of movies where you go, you might respect it more than you like it, right? And that's where... I will watch this again at some point, but I'm in no rush. I don't have to see this again. No, that's... But I mean, like, in the theaters, or like, oh, when it goes to VOD Railways. No, I'll get there. If Emily wants to, I could. But all around, the performances are good. There's some fun moments there, some fun set pieces.

32:02 But that's where it is.

32:05 like, I'd say there's that set piece with all the, it's like the trial, like their own trial, I think that goes on a little too long, and I think that's the time, the things where, if it's not hitting, and you know it's not completely real, does it not hit, but I don't know, because it is completely real, because at the end, when they take the bow, and everything, and this play is over, and then the theater goes, oh, going to volume four, going to volume four, anything, what's happening, and they pull up these masks, and it's like to, and that's one thing too, I'll say that I'll say it's to invoke COVID and the masks are more like electronic.

32:39 They have like, like lights on them.

32:41 It definitely is going for a lot of themes and it might be one of those where is it too much? And is it in your face a lot? Maybe I need to sit with it. But then I thought this one, it's not subtle, but I liked the way it was done where the whole movie, they don't talk about this. There's this play about how the environment was maybe ruined or the world was ruined plays over. All these people got a mask up. Cause then when they go outside, the earth's shit and it's all gross and grimy and it's polluted. And there's just like, there's robots going around that have guns. And that's where it's tough because it's.

33:13 A lot of themes thrown in at once.

33:15 But is that not what life is right now where we are dealing with AI and we are dealing with politicians that we can't trust or can't do anything. And we are dealing with crises of economy and we're all are dealing with global warming and we are dealing with X, Y, and Z and, And that's where, for me, I need to sit with it and watch it again to solidify a score down the line. But that's where it is like, okay, that's a lot. And it's like, oh, we're picking this thing, this thing. But it's like, that is life where it's all happening right now. And some of it bleeds together, right?

33:44 Some of these bigger problems are the people at top that are not, that are in charge, that are not putting a stop to it, right? And they should be. And that's kind of the joke of the playoffs is like, not only did they do this, we kind of allowed them to do it.

33:55 Or we just, we just, let it go.

33:59 We didn't even pay attention to it, right? Like that's the whole point of Digger and the plays. He gets a bunch of emails about this crack and it's getting bigger and bigger. And one point, how does this happen? Like it happened so quickly. They go, we emailed you 45 times. And that's the idea of like, these things are happening. There's bad things happening. And if we're, we are ignoring them and then they're too late and they're all, it just happened right from under my nose. But it happened that way because you didn't attack a problem till the very last moment till couldn't be stopped. Right?

34:27 So, Yeah, it was very interesting. I think that's my spoilers.

34:32 I think that's everything to say there on Digger and my thoughts on it and the spoilers. But yeah, very interesting movie. Again, I'm going to give this movie an 8. I think for my enjoyment level, it's probably somewhere in the 7-ish range.

34:49 And the 8 definitely is for some of the filmmaking.

34:51 Maybe it'll go up after some conversation and watching it at some point. And I will watch it again, but also was not so good that I'm dying to see it again. There's some movies, even like Life of Chuck, that was a movie like, okay, there's some weird stuff going on, but I really want to see that again.

35:07 With this, it's like, okay, I think I'm more excited and interested to hear people's thoughts about it and then watch it after the fact. And even stuff that maybe I'm pointing out where people say like, well, this is more XYZ or dictates itself or more examples of maybe this is not working there. So I think that's where I'm going to take some time with it, talk to some other people, hear what people have to say about it.

35:27 I'm very interested to talk about it with people. This is a movie that anytime someone wants it, I want to know, hey, what do you think about this? Because I think everyone's going to have a different perspective. Like I said, I think it will run the gamut as far as people liking it or not liking it. But yeah, there you go. I'll give it an 8.

35:43 Oscar chances, who knows? I think some production stuff maybe.

35:45 I think Cruise could still get in there because it could hit hard with some people, but You never know. But I did not regret going to it. I would much rather, even if I would have been lower on this movie, this movie exists and a lot of the other movies exist. And me in theaters, I'll see this movie not doing well. That's where it tells people, hey, we don't want these type of movies in there.

36:02 But I do.

36:02 And I'm happy it existed. And we got to see it there. Movie got made. And yeah, I still enjoyed it. But a very different movie. So that's what I told you. I'll be back next week. And I promise when you hear me next, not be boring.