Posted

in

by

Tags:


The Circle is a cautionary tale set in the near-future in which social media has advanced to the next step. People are no longer content with just expressing their every thought on Twitter and Facebook and instantly sharing their pictures and videos with friends and family on their cell phones, they want to connect with everyone at every moment.

Emma Watson plays a young woman who goes to work for a company in which the CEO (Tom Hanks) is a charismatic leader whose company meetings are feel-good pep rallies in the tradition of Bill Gates at Microsoft and Steve Jobs at Apple. She advances very quickly from customer service rep to guinea pig for the company’s new transparency in which her every move is followed via a device she wears on her wrist. At first, this seems non-invasive, then lifesaving when the company’s drones assist in saving her from a near drowning in a lake in the middle of the night. This leads to her agreeing to be seen on the internet around the clock except when she goes to the bathroom or when she turns off the cameras to sleep.

Critics and audiences alike, used to action-filled dystopian tales set against bleak landscapes that end in hopelessness and despair, gave the slow-moving film low ratings, but they were only seeing what was on the surface. The film, from a best-selling novel by Dave Ellers, with a screenplay by Ellers and director James Ponsoldt, needed the message to be deliberate if simple to get through to everyone for whom it is intended, which is all of us.

Watson, who grew up before our eyes in the Harry Potter series, and who beguiled us earlier this year as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, is as much of a young everywoman as anyone could ask for in the role. Hanks, whose recent films have included real-life heroes in Captain Phillips, Bridge of Spies, and Sully, seems like he’s playing a real-life character again. Indeed, his characterization is so reminiscent of Gates and Jobs, that he does seem like he’s doing so.

The supporting cast includes Patton Oswalt, John Boyega, Karen Gillan, and three performers whose characters reflect their real-life situations. Ellar Coltrane, who literally grew up before our eyes in Boyhood, plays a young man who is so turned off by the cameras in Watson’s life that he goes into hiding so as not to become any further involved with her or her situation. Bill Paxton plays Watson’s seriously ill father and Glenne Headly her caregiver mother. Both died earlier this year, Paxton at 61 and Headly at 62, reflecting the deaths within weeks of each other of author Ellers’ parents when he was 21, leaving him to bring up his 8-year-old brother on his own. Extras on the Blu-ray and DVD include a tribute to Paxton, who died in February, but not Headly who died in June, too late to make the cut-off.

Lionsgate has released a 3-film Blu-ray set of the Warlock Collection, consisting of 1989’s Warlock, 1993’s Warlock: The Armageddon, and 1999’s Warlock III: The End of Innocence.

Julian Sands (A Room with a View) brought a great deal of tongue-in-cheek charm to his portrayal of the 17th Century warlock who flees to the late 20th Century pursued by the equally charming witch-hunter embodied by Richard E. Grant (Logan) in the original Warlock. Lori Singer (Footloose) is the contemporary innocent caught in the middle of the devil’s plan to undo creation. The film, released in the U.S. in early 1991, was a modest box office success that many fans discovered on its initial video release. Sands was back in the 1993 sequel as another warlock who this time plans to unleash Satan on the world. He is foiled in his attempt by the Druids led by Chris Young (PCU). Lacking the humor of the original, this one only did about a third of the business of the original.

Sands had wanted to continue making films in the Warlock franchise, but was unhappy with the scripts he was given. The third and final film is about a different warlock from the 17th Century who is after the daughter of a witch in modern New England. It went straight to video. Relative unknown Bruce Payne replaced Sands with the equally relatively unknown Ashley Laurence, Paul Francis, and Rick Hearst co-starred. Production values were lower on this one, but it is still highly watchable, with most of the action taking place in an abandoned mansion where the college girl and her friends face imminent annihilation.

Fresh from her Oscar win for Sophie’s Choice, Meryl Streep took on the role of whistleblower Karen Silkwood in 1983’s Silkwood. With a script co-written by Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle) and direction by Mike Nichols (The Graduate), Streep was in good hands playing a worker at an Oklahoma plutonium processing plant who is purposely contaminated, psychologically tortured, and possibly murdered to keep her from exposing worker safety regulations at the plant. Kurt Russell and Cher are her roommates as well as co-workers. Newly released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber, the film which earned Oscar nominations for writing, direction, editing, and the performances of Streep and Cher, still holds up frighteningly well.

Gregory Peck had one of his best late career roles as legendary five-star general Douglas MacArthur in 1977’s MacArthur directed by Joseph Sargent (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three). Newly released on Blu-ray by Universal, the film follows the exploits of the U.S. Army’s Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Asia from his exploits in the Philippines and Australia in World War II to his overseeing the occupation of Japan from 1945-1951 and his role as leader of the United Nations Command in the Korean War, ending in his firing by President Truman in April 1951. It’s fascinating stuff and Peck is excellent in his Golden Globe-nominated role. Ed Flanders is equally fine as Truman.

Sony has been slow-releasing its collection of Columbia-produced Frank Capra classics on Blu-ray. We have already seen deluxe editions of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can’t Take It with You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and will soon see one of Lost Horizon. We’ve also seen a deluxe edition of It Happened One Night from Criterion. Lady for a Day was released on Blu-ray by Inception in 2012.

While we await the highly anticipated release of Lost Horizon, Sony has quietly released Capra’s 1933 film The Bitter Tea of General Yen in a bare-bones Blu-ray release on its Choice label. This is only the third such release following John Ford’s 1958 film Gideon of Scotland Yard and Gillian Armstrong’s 1994 version of Little Women.

The Bitter Tea of General Yen was the first film shown at Radio City Music Hall. Scheduled for a two-week run, it was pulled after eight days. Audiences were not interested in seeing the pre-code film about a missionary (Barbara Stanwyck) who falls in love with her Chinese warlord captor (Nils Asther). The subject matter was so strong that under the production code, it couldn’t be re-released in 1950 without substantial cuts and was therefore not re-released. It wasn’t until it was rediscovered through earlier video releases that the film gained the strong reputation it has today. Stanwyck is at her best in one of her earlier roles and Asther, despite his obvious Swedish accent, is mesmerizing as the titled General Yen. The picture and sound quality of the Blu-ray are first-rate.

This week’s new releases include The Exception and the the Blu-ray upgrade of The Breaking Point.

Verified by MonsterInsights