Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Sorry to Bother You is a wickedly funny dark comedy. The social commentary in the film is bold and brilliant. The premise of the movie as seen in the trailer is absurd in itself. LaKeith Stanfield plays a telemarketer who has to put on his white voice in order to be taken seriously over the phone. His white voice is non other than David Cross, Tobias Funke himself who sounds supremely white. From there, the movie takes several unforeseen left turns through organized labor, modern slavery, human experimentation, and communism. The movie is genuinely scary at times because we see this absurd alternate world that is not-all-that-far from our own reality. We are slaves to a system of exploitation for profit without regard to human rights or dignity--not to mention the millions of people that live in actual slavery.  This vision of the world we live in is so dark that you can't help but laugh out of pure discomfort. 

The Circle (2017)

The Circle premiered in Italy one day before it did in the US. It’s like Tom Hanks movies just get earlier release dates in Italy. He is probably one of the best parts about this movie. There was a lot of potential for The Circle. But it does not meet its potential. The questions it asks may be interesting, but they’ve apparently been done much better by Black Mirror. What this movie lacks is a satisfying ending, and character development, and thrill. I’m not sure what genre it would categorize itself as, but I found myself laughing at parts that probably shouldn’t have been funny (but Patton Oswalt is in it), but not thrilled enough in what would’ve made a cool thriller. The score is the most thrilling thing about the movie. Danny Elfman tries to channel Reznor and Ross (a la The Social Network, from which the movie certainly took some atmospheric cues). Emma Watson puts on an American accent, which I simply cannot take seriously. It’s not a bad accent necessarily, but I know she doesn’t sound like that, and it seems forced. I don’t think her British accent would’ve detracted from the character at all. If anything, I’d fault poor writing. It all seemed so unnatural. Maybe that was the point, but it made for some very awkward scenes. John Boyega has a small role that is never really fleshed out. He is reduced to two scenes and is essentially inconsequential to the plot. He is wasted. Reviewers will point to the allusions to Google and Apple and Facebook, but the real life company that most closely resembles The Circle is actually WeChat, which has integrated every aspect of Chinese life into one convenient app. We’re not talking about hypotheticals. WeChat is already doing it. I wonder if this movie will make it to China. I think they like Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, but I can’t imagine it being allowed.

Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping (2016)

It was pretty funny, but nowadays there is so much great stand-up that doesn't just rely on crudeness and sex that this was really nothing special. It definitely should not have won the Emmy over Jon Mulaney and Tig Notaro, my two personal favorites that have genuinely funny material. Especially when there is some really boundary pushing comedy out there, like Amy Schumer, how could Patton Oswalt's tired comedy win? It's funny but we've seen it before. I guess it was the safe/comfortable vote.