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The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

Noel Daniel, Wilhelm Grimm, Jacob Grimm and Matthew R. Price

9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

This is a compendium of the Brothers Grimm's most beloved fairy tales, newly translated and...

The Master and Margarita

Richard Pevear, Larissa Volokhonsky and Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov

7.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Mikhail Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita is a fiercely satirical fantasy that remained...

The Shooting Party

John Sutherland, Ronald Wilks and Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Anton Chekhov's only full-length novel, this Penguin Classics edition of The Shooting Party is...

Going in Style (2017)

6.7 (21 Ratings) Rate It

Movie Watch

Oscar winners Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby), Michael Caine (The Cider House Rules, Hannah and...

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Circle (2017) in Movies

Sep 20, 2020

The Circle (2017)

2017 | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

5.9

(44 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Totally watchable. Before 2020 this would have played as a cockamamie exercise in "in-what-universe-would-this-actually-happen-?" filmmaking (and believe me this still pushes it), but after the anti-mask protests and general shrugging off of the coronavirus pandemic I'd now believe you stupid mfs would do *anything*. I'm not saying this is all brainless - there are some really sturdy ideas in here that aren't all executed terribly. The way it portrays big ticket corporations sliding their hands into every pocket they can find by way of offering up a "likable mascot" rather than a "founder" (played perfectly by Hanks as a clear riff on [a more likable and somehow less disingenuous] Steve Jobs - but what a waste of a perfectly good Oswalt) and "quotable quips" rather than "talking points" so they don't even have to attempt to hide it is sound. The scene where Hanks straightup manipulates Watson's bland cypher *on* stage to the point of tracking down live human beings to an adoring crowd is horrifying - but this is all still rather diluted, clunky, and bizarre in translation from the book. Looks phenomenal though, and is a notable return to form for Danny Elfman (in general every piece of music here slaps). Fine dumb fun imo, cheesy and laughable but not without some wit. But as a final defense - speaking as someone who has spent months in these cliquey millennial tech circles - the fact that no one acts like a live human being here would be way too on the nose if holy mother of God did they not actually act like this. The extended segment of those two overbearing recruiter types indirectly-but-very-directly pushing that "optional" and "extracurricular" really means "mandatory" is pure nightmare fuel because I have been in those situations - in spades - firsthand irl. Moments like that save this still moment-to-moment entertaining diet pulp when it actively refuses to explore anything else it offers up. Doesn't really have enough oomf but still miles better than your average "Black Mirror" episode.