The Circle

— I liked “The Circle” for what it wanted to be which is a vehicle for us to think about technology and privacy, and about the balance between personal rights and the rights of the group, and a possible future where that balance gets out of whack. With Tom Hanks and Emma Watson, it has a very capable cast for a semi thriller centered around a Facebook/Apple/Google-ish super corporation, but they just aren’t developed very fully and, while the broad strokes of the plot are all there, it lacks enough focus to add any depth to all the significant issues its juggling. I think they may have tried to uncomplicate a book that was probably a good deal more complicated, dumbing it down a little too much for the film.

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[2017. 110 min. Directed by James Ponsoldt. Starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Glenne Headly, Bil Paxton, and Karen Gillan.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-circle-2017