The Circle

The Circle is an interesting enough contemporary cautionary tale with an A level cast.  However, it fails to rise up to it's full impact.  Probably because the current debate over an ever growing social media infringing and intersecting on the rights of privacy have already been going on for quite a while with an increasing urgency.  Can someone say Russian hacking into our election process?  That being said, The Circle feels, dare I say, a bit dated and unoriginal; as we've seen this sort of post modernity tale displayed more effectively in other films.  Tom Hanks less than transparent allusion to a composite Steve Jobs- Mark Zuckerberg tech guru  and Emma Watson's rapid metamorphosis from green intern to insider whistle blower and saviour, is nothing new or profound here. What I will remember this film for is as Bill Paxton's final film.

Molly's Game

You've got great performances and dialogue between Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba and it starts off at an interesting pace and with plot promise.  However, Molly's Game unevenly morphs into a tale of character introspection that's quite under-developed against the slick criminal scheming, first person narrative caper it successfully leads with.  Add to that are the disjointed flashbacks that only serve to confuse the film as something else more conventional it might have had more success with.  A promising narrative with a great cast but Molly's Game ultimately turn into an audience's shell game.