Is ‘Digger’ the Tom Cruise Movie We’ve Been Waiting For? Plus: Our Top 10 Tom Cruise Performances.

Sean Fennessey (0:16)

I'm Sean Fennessey.

Amanda Dobbins (0:16)

I'm Amanda Dobbins.

Sean Fennessey (0:17)

And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about Digger. Today on the show, we are digging into Digger, the new apocalyptic comedy from Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Tom Cruise.

Longtime listeners of this show know that we have been fascinated by Cruise and have longed for him to return to dramatic parts in original stories. We finally got our wish with this movie, which is likely to be among the most divisive of the year. Amanda and I will talk about the film's grasp at relevance in satire, its decorated cast, and the unique storytelling approach it takes. Then we will get into our Cruise bag by sharing each of our 10 favorites of his performances. Digger is as big a Cruise acting showcase as we're likely going to get for the foreseeable future, so we'll also take a look at yet another very crowded and star-laden Best Actor race. We'll get into it all right after this.

SPEAKER_3 (1:06)

This episode is brought to you by Major League Baseball.

Amanda Dobbins (1:08)

The MLB postseason has arrived.

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There's no time like October. October starts with hope and then drama, and either happiness or some pain.

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Now the games decide who gets to keep it.

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It comes down to one series, one game, one pitch, one month.

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It's not a question of if history will be made, but when.

Amanda Dobbins (1:25)

Don't miss the moment.

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Tune in to the MLB postseason. Learn more at mlb.com/postseason.

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Sean Fennessey (1:45)

Oh, that smells lucky.

SPEAKER_4 (1:47)

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SPEAKER_7 (2:00)

Hilton, for the stay.

Sean Fennessey (2:03)

Okay. This is probably the least amount of information that we've ever shared with one another.

SPEAKER_5 (2:10)

Yes.

Sean Fennessey (2:10)

About a movie and the history of this show.

Amanda Dobbins (2:13)

I did not even open the outline. You gave me the bullet points of the rubrics.

SPEAKER_5 (2:20)

Yes.

Sean Fennessey (2:20)

You know the run of show today.

Amanda Dobbins (2:21)

I know the run of show. And you gave me the option. And we were talking about it outside with friends. We've talked about it around each other with other people, but have not shared anything. And I think part of that, for me at least, I mean, we're saving it for the show, but part of this show is going to be me trying to figure out how I feel. I said last week or earlier this week that I've just been all over the place day to day in how I think about this film. And what I think works and what I think don't works. Let me just say right now, not a masterpiece. Yeah, it's not a five star, not my favorite film of the year.

And what...

Sean Fennessey (3:03)

So Digger, not a masterpiece.

Amanda Dobbins (3:04)

Digger, not a masterpiece. You guys want to like do a Chiron in the booth?

SPEAKER_5 (3:08)

Sure, Digger.

Sean Fennessey (3:09)

Amanda Dobbins, comma, The Big Picture.

SPEAKER_5 (3:10)

Not a masterpiece.

Amanda Dobbins (3:12)

I do feel confident in saying, no matter where I net out, on good or bad or worthwhile or the biggest embarrassment to hit Warner Brothers since the last embarrassment, that this is one of the most annoying movies I've ever seen. I found the experience so irritating. And the movie knows that I will find it irritating and anticipates that. And sometimes I think it anticipates in a clever way and I want to give it credit, but then I think about it and I don't want to give it credit. I'm not really sure. I can't tell whether I liked the fact that it was annoying or not.

But that is, the two things you can say is not a masterpiece and the most annoying movie I've ever met.

SPEAKER_5 (3:59)

You just jumped right into it.

Sean Fennessey (4:00)

I have no details about the movie here. We have no summary.

SPEAKER_5 (4:03)

Sorry. Who else is in the film?

Sean Fennessey (4:05)

You wanted to launch in.

Amanda Dobbins (4:06)

We've been waiting. We haven't talked about it.