The Circle (2017 James Ponsoldt & co-scr)

Co-written with Dave Eggers (Away We Go, Promised Land, A Hologram for the King), based on his own 2013 novel; Ponsoldt directed The Spectacular Now.

Emily Watson and Tom Hanks are as good as ever in topic-ticking plot which covers big corporate misuse of data, social network peer pressure, privacy and surveillance and leaking of confidential information, perhaps in a fairly unsubtle way, and misfires in what could have been a good thriller. The bit with mysterious programmer John Boyega is mishandled - either use him or don't use him. Also I thought she was going to plant one of those spy cameras in Hanks' office. Plus the fact she's swallowed a tracker - they would have known she was in the underground data storage centre. I don't know, I quite enjoyed it, but it lacked suspense or intrigue. The whole big campus thing would have set up a great spooky prison camp / paranoia feeling like in seventies films.

Some of the (fast) on-screen messages are fun though like 'If The Circle was a cult, what kind of a cult would it be?'

Karen Gillan is in energetic form as her Scottish friend - we've seen her only in We'll Take Manhattan as Jean Shrimpton. Ellar Coltrane is the young man who won't play, parents are Bill Paxton and Glenne Headley, co-boss is Patton Oswalt (Young Adult) and with Ellen Wong (Scott Pilgrim vs The World).

"What do you mean, you're not on Facebook??"

Another Netflix thing. Dave Eggers certainly had an interesting life - felt I should read his memoir from 2000 'A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'. (P.S. Did buy it - looked pretentious - got rid of it.)

The music's by Danny Elfman, by way of Kraftwerk.