“The Circle” (Drama: 1 hour, 50 minutes)

Starring: Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, John Boyega and Patton Oswalt

Director: James Ponsoldt

Rated: PG-13 (Sexual situation, brief strong language and some thematic elements including drug use)

Movie Review: Hanks, as Eamon Bailey, a Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg mixture, says, “Knowing is good; knowing everything is better.”

“The Circle” boasts an Ayn Rand-type message about the overreaches of corporate power, but it fails to sustain a compelling execution of its message.

Mae Holland (Watson) is a young customer-service representative. She obtains a job at the prestigious The Circle, the world’s largest and most powerful tech and social media company. 

She quickly rises in the corporation and soon becomes an experiment of the company’s founder, Eamon Bailey, and his associate and The Circle’s chief executive of operations Tom Stenton (Oswalt). Holland’s life is observable by all via continuous broadcast, no secrets. Her life could begin a new era of surveillance everywhere continuously.

Public and private information is the core of this screenplay by Director James Ponsoldt (“The Spectacular Now,” 2013) and Dave Eggers, whose 2013 novel serves as a basis for “The Circle.” As technology advances, humanity becomes more obsessed with knowledge. Much of that sought-after information is trivial such as the relationship of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. 

“The Circle” also wanders into the trivial. 

The characters are not convincing the latter third of the movie. Watson’s character evolves too quickly in some scenes and not quickly enough during other scenes. Her best scenes are the interactions with the actors playing her parents, the late Bill Paxton and Glenne Headly. Even the dependable Hanks is not convincing near the end.

Ponsoldt and Eggers’ material starts in an enticing manner. The screenplay quickly becomes passé writing that ends predictably.

Grade: C (It does not make a full circle.)

“Sleight” (Drama, Science-Fiction: 1 hour, 30 minutes)

Starring: Jacob Latimore, Seychelle Gabriel, Storm Reid and Dulé Hill

Director: J.D. Dillard

Rated: R (Profanity, drug content and violence)

Movie Review: Hero movies, particularly superhero flicks, have been numerous lately. Urban minority heroes have been more slack. 

“Sleight” changes that. 

It is a neatly packed small production. It is effective, mainly because of its talented lead Jacob Latimore. 

Latimore plays Bo, a young street magician left to care for his little sister, Tina (Reid), a year after their mother’s death. To earn funds for living, Bo turns to illegal activities.

When his supplier, Angelo (Hill), kidnaps Tina, Bo uses science and sleight of hand to save her.

“Sleight” is an unexpected treat. It is not what one expects, and that is its splendor. It becomes the movie one wants without knowing it. The magic works.

In many ways, this is a superhero movie. 

The main character, despite being a drug dealer, is a good person. He is a young man trying to earn a living and take care of his family. He may commit bad acts but sympathy for him is contagious. 

One can easily care for him because he is decent really. He takes care of his sister skillfully. He is a true gentleman with girlfriend Holly, played by the beautiful Seychelle Gabriel. Additionally, he gives his customers advice about drugs he sells them.

Bo does not want to be a drug dealer but he has to earn money. The circumstance trapped him when he was younger. Now, he finds he cannot exit the life he dreads at least not without consequences.

Just after audiences accept his lifestyle, the movie becomes something more. It becomes a young man who is super smart. He uses his mind and talented magical tricks. He creatively solves his problems through science. He changes the cards he is dealt.

“Sleight” feels like a starter movie, the beginning of a new superhero. If so, it is a worthy start. 

Grade: B (Presto chango, a good narrative originates out of nowhere.)

“How to Be a Latin Lover” (Comedy: 1 hour, 55 minutes)

Starring: Eugenio Derbez, Salma Hayek, Raphael Alejandro, Rob Lowe and Raquel Welch

Director: Ken Marino

Rated: PG-13 (Crude humor, sexual references, brief nudity and violence)

Movie Review: A joke is lost in translation sometimes. Minus Salma Hayek, much of the comedy is lost. 

The humor borders on asinine often. Just when this movie reaches the peak of stupidity, it outdoes itself. A certain difficulty exists being a Latin lover when your stupidity competes with stupidity.

After 25 years of marriage, the 80-year-old wife of Maximo (Derbez) dumps him. Maximo, whose career has been seducing rich older women, must now find a new life and job. 

He moves in with his estranged sister, Sara (Hayek), and her cute nerdy kid, Hugo (Alejandro). Life with his family teaches Maximo the value of family connections.

Selma Hayek and Raphael Alejandro are nice additions to this comedy but Eugenio Derbez overacts. He goes for the cheap laughs as written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack. The writing is adolescent material that tries to be heartfelt but the brainless moments interfere. 

Ken Marino has mostly been a television director, directing sitcoms and comedy sketches for various television shows. He directs “How to Be a Latin Lover,” his first full-length feature, similarly. The comedy in this might be better if it were presented in shorter sequences.

Grade: D+ (Not a lover of this.)