RR162 Film Review Friday: The Circle
2017 PG-13 1hr 50 min IMDb 5.3/10, Drama SciFi Thriller. 15% Rotten Tomatoes Drama Mystery Suspense Starring: : Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega Director: James Ponsoldt. Written by James Ponsoldt (screenplay by), Dave Eggers (screenplay and novel)
A movie about how a single company will be the catalyst in the loss of privacy of all humans in it’s effort to connect us. The author of the book Dave Eggers denies the book is about Apple, Google, Facebook or any other social media giant. But you can’t help but see the similarities in the obtrusive and sometimes obnoxious nature of the digital world that fills our existence.
The creepiness you may feel after you see an ad on Facebook for a bed after your Google search for a bed.
I could not help but to be reminded of Steve Jobs when I saw the first scene with Tom Hanks on the stage in his black sweater.
“…it never quite finds a groove, or even a mode, and it ends in an abrupt, unsatisfying way.” Robert Ebert
Not really a suspenseful flick. It is comprised of broad strokes and has not real meat. Some of the sequences seemed to be there simply to make the movie longer.
From what I read this movie is the result of death by cinema which many books are relegated. Apparently, characters who were pivotal and important in the book end up having parts so small that one writers surmised the character would turn out to be a ghost.
This movie did not blow my skirt up. In fact, after watching this movie my husband was the one who stated “that’s two hours of my life I am not going to get back.” It also appears not many cared for this film either…Budget of 18M and USA gross 20.4M
This how technology is going to take over our lives genre of movie often misses the mark. A few reviewers mention it is or could be a satire but I am unsure if that was the goal.
The Net and The Truman show had more substance and were more entertaining in my opinion…that is saying a lot because the Truman Show did not blow my skirt up.
Now that I think about it many scenes in this movie reminded me of scenes in other movies or even real life tidbits. Almost as if this movie is a mashup of borrowed scenes from so many other sources.
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Research and Links:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4287320/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_circle_2017
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-circle-2017
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/apr/27/the-circle-review-emma-watson-dave-eggers-tom-hanks
https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/28/15464118/the-circle-movie-review-emma-watson-tom-hanks-patton-oswalt
https://www.indiewire.com/2017/05/the-circle-emma-watson-tom-hanks-james-ponsoldt-dave-eggers-john-boyega-anatomy-misfire-1201811227/
https://www.bustle.com/p/is-the-circle-based-on-a-real-company-the-cautionary-tale-takes-inspiration-from-all-over-silicon-valley-53315
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Circle_(2017_film)
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