I just recently saw it and gave it a somewhat median rating. I thought it was a cool concept, and the ending was good; but the film overall fell flat, leaving more questions than answers (such as, at the end, are we to assume that the drones hovering over Emma are the properties of Circle?) with unimpressive camera work (the multiple quick-shots to characters in the room). Also, personally, it felt like I was watching a show instead of a film. I can't really place why that is.

For me, what good things it had going for it - (I really liked the text bubbles popping up around Emma) - it just left me unsatisfied.

@FilmFan1983 said:

Only 40% on here and already a 5.7 on IMDb. I just saw this last night, and though it's an ultimately flawed film, there are some funny bits before the movie turns completely dark in the middle. I'll give it that the tonal shift is kind of jarring and the ending confusing but am still somewhat surprised by the mostly negative reviews. It did remind me of a few episodes of Black Mirror, particularly The Entire History of You, which I thought did this subject matter better.

Yeah but didn't everyone see this movie when it was called Anti-Trust.

@Nygma-0999 said:

@FilmFan1983 said:

Only 40% on here and already a 5.7 on IMDb. I just saw this last night, and though it's an ultimately flawed film, there are some funny bits before the movie turns completely dark in the middle. I'll give it that the tonal shift is kind of jarring and the ending confusing but am still somewhat surprised by the mostly negative reviews. It did remind me of a few episodes of Black Mirror, particularly The Entire History of You, which I thought did this subject matter better.

Yeah but didn't every see this movie when it was called Anti-Trust.

Exactly what I was thinking ..... a rip off of anti trust and the Truman Show

@UpYours said:

@Nygma-0999 said:

Yeah but didn't every see this movie when it was called Anti-Trust.

Exactly what I was thinking ..... a rip off of anti trust and the Truman Show

I haven't seen Antitrust or The Circle (though I have read the book, which appears to be better than the movie), so perhaps I'm missing the point.

The Truman Show and Antitrust are from some years ago. David Eggers' novel The Circle is from 2013 and yet we still have no problem giving away what little privacy we have left. Apparently, we need movies like this, because we're not getting the message...

@seven_houses7 said:

Apparently, we need movies like this, because we're not getting the message...

This is an ironic comment to make on social media.

There are a lot of problems with this movie. The production values are low. Watson's acting is woeful. As a drama it lacks a strong protagonist, a significant point of opposition, and a dramatic arc. There isn't even a motive for this chain of events for anyone involved. The story exists in a bubble. There are no competing commercial or even political interests. Some of the propositions are frankly ludicrous.

The problem as I see it with the whole social media landscape isn't control of information or loss of privacy. The truth is that no one cares about the lives of ordinary people. Not politically. Not commercially. The risk of the privacy of the citizens being compromised is minimal. The problem, again as I see it, is the superficiality of this culture. Celebrity bloggers monetizing their narcissism and so forth. This is a one way street. Sure you can 'talk back' to celebrity but no one really is interested. The communication is all in one direction. And ordinary people are consumers, not creators. And they are consuming garbage.

I was okay with this film, but I was really looking forward to seeing Tom Hanks playing a more menacing antagonist.

I would love to see him play a straight-up bad guy, but this film wasn't it.

@Jacinto Cupboard said:

There are a lot of problems with this movie. The production values are low. Watson's acting is woeful. As a drama it lacks a strong protagonist, a significant point of opposition, and a dramatic arc. There isn't even a motive for this chain of events for anyone involved. The story exists in a bubble. There are no competing commercial or even political interests. Some of the propositions are frankly ludicrous.

Like I said, I haven't seen the movie yet. But I take your word for it.

The truth is that no one cares about the lives of ordinary people. Not politically. Not commercially. The risk of the privacy of the citizens being compromised is minimal.

Though I agree with the other points you make (about superficiality) I think you are wrong about the above. I think I don't even know half of what is possible now, let alone in the future. I think what we 'ordinary' people do online is making (or going to make) plenty of people rich/powerful. We'll see what happens in the future.

While there can be no doubt that the collectors of information, google etc, are making money selling this information to organisations who want to sell me, an ordinary person, goods and services, it would be a mistake to think that the money made by the middle men has a solid relationship to its value to the buyers of that information. Google might for example, sell my preference in pizza toppings to fast food retailers for a fraction of a penny. This might across a global population amount to significant sums of money. But does it impact on my future food choices in a way that is serviceable or valuable for those food vendors? I would argue that my choices are so variable by a myriad of unknowable things in my life that no algorithm in this regard is going to be better than guessing. Google might figure out that I am more likely to order chicken on my pizza if I have read Kinky Friedman that day, but I doubt it. Sometimes I don't even know myself what I want.

You provide the answer to this question of being able to model future behaviour in your own post. You say you do not know what the future holds. Neither does google or anyone else, regardless of their sales pitch. The complexities and variabilities of future behaviour are beyond calculation. Past behaviour is no guarantee of future behaviour. Ruthless and near endless accumulation of data cannot change that.

Fwiw, I see almost no ads online. My browsing is usually private. These options are available to everyone.

Not only is its rating showing poorly, this movie bombed at the box office.

Every once in a while, there is justice in this world.