Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/825045
22 UCW MAY 17-23, 2017 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MAY 27 • CAPE BEARD'S 6TH ANNUAL PIG PICKIN FOR AUTISM at Fort Bragg Harley- Davidson. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. www. fortbraggharley.com (910) 864-1200. JUNE 9-10 •SPRING FLING WEEKEND at Legends Pub. Enjoy a weekend of food and fun. Proceeds benefit the N.C. State Veterans Nursing Home. Call (910) 867-2364 for information. JUNE 10 • AMERICAN LEGION RIDERS POST 382 BIKE NIGHT at American Legion Post 382, 305 Legion Dr., Sanford. 3 p.m. Bike games, vendors, food, music, 50/50 raffle. Benefits veterans and veteran's programs. Call Dean Burgess at (919) 770-4201 for information. JUNE 10 • SPRING FLING WEEKEND at Legends PubFort Bragg Harley-Davidson. Registration 11 a.m.-noon. Kickstands Up at 12:15 p.m. $10/single. $15/ double. Presented by Fall-in. Benefits scholarship awardees from Cape Fear & E.E Smith High Schools. Visit www.fall-in-mc.wixsite.com/fall- in-mc or call (910) 578-0233 for details. PATRIOT GUARD RIDERS The Patriot Guard Riders is a diverse group of patriots from every state that come together to honor fallen soldiers at funeral services across the country. Visit www.patriotguard.org for more information. 4624 BRAGG BLVD. TO BENEFIT NC State Veterans Nursing Home (behind VA Hospital) 10% OFF COSMETIC OR BENT RIM REPAIRS WHY REPLACE WHEN WE CAN REPAIR? WWW.RIMGUARDXTREME.COM • 5409 RAEFORD RD, FAYETTEVILLE, NC 28304 • (910) 229-2097 Imagine that everything you do is monitored, stored and processed. I know some think that is true now. But what if it was not only really happening, but a company was bold enough to tell you they were doing it? In the new film "The Circle" from director James Ponsoldt, we find out what happens when a company that seems to want nothing but good is willingly given too much power. Mae (Emma Watson) is just getting along in life, working hard in a call center answering questions and trying to solve problems, all while helping her parents. If only things could be different for Mae and her family. Then the call comes: It can be different. Her friend Annie (Karen Gillan) has arranged for an interview at the mega- tech company The Circle. Mae kills in the interview and is whisked off to her new job in customer service. She's given all the tools to succeed, and once she is a part of The Circle, they attempt to take care of everything. From pottery classes to parties with rock stars — Beck makes an appearance playing a weekend shindig for no apparent reason — the company that seems like a melding of Facebook, Twitter, Google and Amazon strives to make everything it touches perfect. The organization even decides to bring Mae's parents on to the health plan, all in an attempt to gain her trust for something bigger. Altruistic as it may seem to Mae at first, is there something more sinister at play? According to company founder Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), The Circle is an organization that believes "knowing is good but knowing everything is better" — but just how much of our privacy are we willing to give up for ease of use? I really wanted to like this film. Questions of privacy and transparency are huge when it comes to the information we crave and freely give up to our friends on social media. Do we really want to give up all of our secrets? It's a deep philosophical discussion that could go on for hours, and therein lies the problem. The film, which clocks in at one hour and 50 minutes, never takes the time to go deeper. Everything is surface level only. But how about some depth allowing a cast of solid actors to show how good they are at their craft and tell us more about the people they are bringing to life? I have more questions than answers, but I can't ask them here without spoiling the story. Instead I need to seek out the source material and read the book. What didn't make it into the film? What can the book tell me to enhance the characters I witnessed onscreen? So I left the film version of "The Circle" quite unsatisfied and not caring at all about what I saw of the glossed-over characters on the screen. I'd much rather have a 90-minute film that digs into backstories and gives me a satisfying experience, instead of introducing me to 10 characters I don't get to know or care for during our time together. I realize that, whether I'm writing a column or appearing on radio, television or social media, I'm giving up a bit of my own privacy. But that line needs to be drawn somewhere. I need to be able to be myself when the spotlight is off, and the concepts in "The Circle" scare the heck out of me. Just who is watching and how much is too much? Is knowing everything a good thing? Now at least you know what I think about The Circle, but is that a good thing? Depends on who you are. Is Knowing Everything a Good Thing? by PAUL HALL The Circle (PG-13) | Grade: C / C- PAUL HALL, Movie Reviewer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcom- ingweekly.com. 910-987-5311