We watched Verity so you don’t have to, and Digger so you do

🎥🖊️ 2026 has had no shortage of book-to-screen adaptations, but long-time fans of Colleen Hoover’s 2018 novel Verity have long awaited this particular adaptation, which didn’t exactly meet expectations. Verity started out as a film that knew exactly how to keep us curious; unfortunately, that curiosity disappeared just when the story got good.

The plot: Dakota Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, an uncelebrated writer hired to finish a series of books by bestselling author Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), after an accident leaves Verity incapacitated. Lowen moves into Verity’s home with her husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), and discovers an unfinished manuscript that forces her to reconsider everything she thinks she knows about the family. What ensues is a game of competing truths.

What we liked: The first half is where Verity is strongest. The pacing is solid, and the setup creates enough mystery to keep us invested. There’s a genuine sense of unease around Verity’s character, while the film keeps us guessing about what’s actually happening inside the Crawford household. At the center of the story lies the question of the relationship between writers and the characters they create, and whether an author’s work can be treated as evidence of who they really are.

The cast is also great on paper. Johnson brings a quiet, understated quality to Lowen, while Hathaway has the kind of presence that makes Verity difficult to ignore even when she’s barely moving. Hartnett rounds out the central triangle with a restrained performance of grief, anger, and emotional complexity.

What we didn’t like: Our biggest gripe, however, is that the second half felt incredibly rushed. What begins as a reasonably intriguing psychological thriller becomes increasingly predictable. Instead of maintaining the push and pull that made the first half interesting, the film just crams everything in all at once.

The characters also deserved more depth. Lowen loses some of the psychological complexity and obsession that gave her more dimension in the novel, while Hathaway feels particularly underused as Verity. The romance between Lowen and Jeremy also moved far too quickly for our liking. Local theatrical censorship also worked against the film, cutting scenes that would have helped establish the story’s psychological elements.

The verdict: Verity is a classic case of a film that loses some of its power by answering compelling questions too quickly. Ultimately, the intrigue is there, the performances have potential, and the premise remains deliciously twisted; the film just didn’t give those elements enough room to simmer.

WHERE TO WATCH- You can catch Verity at VOX Cinemas at City Center Almaza, Mall of Egypt, and City Center Alexandria. The film is also screening at Stars Cinema (City Stars), Scene Cinema (Cairo Festival City and District 5), and Premiere Cinemas (Cima Arkan and P90). Watch the trailer on YouTube (watch, runtime: 2:24).

Tom Cruise, prosthetics, and the end of the world

🪏 Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant, Birdman) and veteran superstar Tom Cruise are not names you’d usually put together, and that seems to be the point. Digger, shot by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity, Children of Men) in a reunion with Iñárritu that proves fruitful, is the kind of film that arrives with enormous ambition and divides critics cleanly down the middle. It is also, in all likelihood, unlike anything you’ll see this year. The cast also features John Goodman (who plays President Compson), and Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, and Sandra Huller, who portray characters we’ll refrain from mentioning to avoid spoilers.

The plot: Digger Rockwell (Cruise) is the world’s most powerful Texan — a larger-than-life oil tycoon with the ego to match. When an explosion at his Greenland refinery triggers a catastrophic chain of events that could culminate in a tsunami destroying much of Europe, Digger finds himself in the unlikely position of would-be savior of humanity — and in a high-stakes meeting with US President Compson (Goodman) to figure out what to do about it.

The film opens as a sharp, gleefully absurdist satire before shifting gears into something more serious as the plot thickens — and a major twist reframes the entire premise in ways we’d rather not spoil. Go in blind is what we’ll say.

What we liked: Cruise puts on one of his best shows in recent memory. Buried under prosthetics, this is Cruise at his most unrecognizable — seeing as we’re used to seeing the star in action-heavy works. Cinematography is top-notch: the color grading is deliberate, the framing precise, and it shows. We also enjoyed the underlying theme of the film: we are all, to varying degrees, complicit in what happens to humanity, and art’s job is to hold that mirror up whether or not we feel like looking.

The verdict: Reminiscent of Bugonia, Digger is a bold, layered, and visually impressive swing, anchored by Cruise’s top-notch performance, which particularly shone through in one of the film’s anchor scenes. We’ll say this: avoid spoilers like the plague. The film’s biggest impact lands only if you don’t see it coming.

WHERE TO WATCH IT- You can catch Digger at VOX Cinemas in City Centre Almaza, Mall of Egypt, and Alexandria; City Stars Cinema; Scene Cinemas at Cairo Festival City and District 5; and Cima Arkan. Watch the trailer on YouTube (watch, runtime: 2:39)