Daniel Craig is the high point in the warm-hearted yet insipid and uninspiring Logan Lucky.

Logan Lucky, Steven Soderbergh’s first film in four years, is a crime-comedy caper following two brothers, Jimmy (Channing Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) in North Carolina. Jimmy loses his construction job due to a disability with his leg, whilst Clyde is an amputee who fought and lost part of his arm in the Iraq War. The brothers are on a quest to pull off one last heist together in order for Jimmy to be able to afford to live closer to his daughter. The heist is at a NASCAR event where Jimmy’s previous job was based. Later, the brothers realise they’ll need specialists for the job and recruit expert safecracker and convict Joe Bang (Daniel Craig). Craig’s brilliant portrayal of the wacky Joe Bang is the standout performance throughout, and it is refreshing to see a reminder of the fantastic character acting that he possesses away from his roles as James Bond. To complete the line-up, Joe’s brothers Fish (Jack Quaid) and Sam (Brian Gleeson) come along for a wacky and enjoyable ride too.

However, Rebecca Blunt’s screenplay starts to crumble. Before I get into this, if you aren’t aware, credited screenwriter Rebecca Blunt, supposedly does not exist according to The Hollywood Reporter. Whilst Sodebergh has a history of pseudonyms on his individual projects, we have no idea who really is the writer at current, but I’ll refer to whomever the writer is as ‘Blunt’ The story begins to slowly drag by and it lacks any real obstacles, following the initial set-up, for our protagonists to overcome, resulting in the inevitable “How are they managing to get away with it all so easily?” screaming in the back of your head. Your willing and sustained suspension of disbelief is about as likely as this film taking home an Oscar for best picture. The biggest challenge we see the characters embark on is mostly the race being brought forward a day, and forcing them to time their plan of action accordingly. To simplify, they get in and get out with minimal hassle that is not fitting of a dangerous summer action blockbuster with such good filmmaking potential.

Although, it is enjoyable to embark on this journey with our protagonists. Despite Craig’s limelight stealing performance, Tatum (particularly) and Driver manage to uphold the fun-loving, close knit relationship of two loyal blue collar brothers. We empathise with each and are rooting for them to do succeed the entire time. The film just simply makes it too predictable and at times mundane, and we know that it will all be okay. As the plot thickens, FBI agent Sarah Grayson (Hilary Swank) eventually arrives in as one of the FBI agents investigating the heist, just for her character’s threat within the film to fizzle out into nothingness almost immediately. It is almost as if her character serves next to no purpose. Similarly, with NASCAR driver Max Chilblain (Seth MacFarlane), who’s attempt at an English accent leave you in a permanent state of cringe even when you are out of the cinema. It felt like both of the two were there for profit, rather than artistic reasoning, and that Soderbergh had little idea how to round-off their character arcs.

The frustration with Soderbergh’s film majorly derives from the continued sense of lingering that the film gives off, with you always anticipating that the next sequence will be the really exciting part. Ultimately, it never arrives and the resolution leaves you disappointed and wondering what could’ve been. The film doesn’t meet the filmmaking standards of the Oceans trilogy, nor the excitement. But if you’re after a trademark Soderbergh film, it is definitely that, with the only major difference being the setting and quirkier relationships.

Logan Lucky is to not be taken too seriously, and if you can forgive the poor writing and lack of excitement, then you are in for an enjoyable and casual film featuring a weird and wonderful Daniel Craig.

Netflix proves that they are completely tuned into the complex nature of today’s generation, as well as their relationship with technology and how it is ruling the lives of the everyday person.

Emma Watson stars as Mae Holland, a woman who feels she is wasting away in her current job. She is then contacted by her friend Annie Allerton (Karen Gillan) who offers her a job at The Circle, an incredibly influential and powerful technology company, an obvious reference to the current position that Apple holds in the real world. After accepting this position, we see Mae go about her everyday life in The Circle, it seems inviting, relaxed, almost like a university campus. In a full company-wide meeting we meet Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), the head of The Circle who goes on to introduce a new camera technology called SeeChange; pinball sized cameras that can be placed/hidden anywhere in the world. This introduces us to the ongoing mission of The Circle, to make the world more “transparent”. At a company party, Mae meets Ty (John Boyega), who reveals himself to be Ty Lafitte, the creator of True You; a massively popular product produced by The Circle. Along with his introduction, Ty takes Mae to an underground, restricted area of The Circle and warns her of the potentially dark direction that The Circle is taking, hence why someone as famous as he is decided to work in from shadows. After a traumatic experience whilst out kayaking displays Mae’s face to the world through SeeChange, Mae decides to become the first person to become “Fully transparent”; she will wear a webcam at all available times, giving the world access to her life. She goes on to praise transparency as the way forward for the world. Whilst she views The Circle and “Transparency” as an overall good, Mae makes strides with the company, eventually resulting in her being pushed away by her parents, her friends and Annie. A new project, headed up by Mae, is presented at another company meeting; She says that through the SeeChange cameras, The Circle can find anyone in under 20 minutes, which she then tests on an escaped criminal. After the criminal is caught in just 10 minutes and 21 seconds, the crowds demand that Mae uses it to find Mercer (Ellar Coltrane), a childhood friend who earlier in the film was ridiculed and threatened for making chandeliers from Antlers, despite having defended himself. The hunt for Mercer ends in him driving off a bridge after a drone blocks his view of the road. Mae then secludes herself from the world after witnessing this, using the time to reconnect with her parents and Annie. Mae then returns to The Circle but now she has a mission, she contacts Ty and tricks Eamon and Tom Stenton (Patton Oswald) another company head, into letting her go out on stage in front of the entire company. Mae then proceeds to invite Eamon and Tom to go fully transparent with her, which leads to secret accounts and information being distributed to the world, exactly what Mae had planned. At the end of the film, we see Mae embracing transparency, openly welcoming some drones that are following her kayaking.

As soon as I was introduced to The Circle, I found my views on cyber-privacy being constantly questioned. My moral and ethical views about sharing my personal life online were repeatedly flipping back and forth from “I’d be perfectly comfortable with this” to “I’d never expose myself like that”. Any film that can make me re-evaluate my own views is obviously a powerful piece of cinema.

With technology companies like Apple being as influential as they are in the current generation, The Circle provides a completely transparent view of how the average person’s life can be controlled and monitored through a misguided dedication to the latest technology trends. I believe it also touches on the leaking of information by Edward Snowden in 2013, with characters like Eamon and Tom representing what a spying government could look like if they’d combined themselves with the popularity of a technology company, thus fooling the masses into abandoning privacy for the sake of being part of a hive-mind demographic. Also, the character of Ty Lafitte being quite a close draw from Snowden himself, but this time deciding to reveal the truth through the Mae due to his position in the company.

The performances greatly benefit this controversial story, with Emma Watson leading the pack with an easily relatable Mae, who provides a perfect window for the audience whilst also posing a position that is the perfect debate point. Tom Hanks once again knocks it out of the park with the loveable company head, constantly making jokes and being a lovable father figure for the whole company but he perfectly incorporates the smallest amount of mistrust that feeds that all important “little voice in the back of your head” that we hear about so much

No matter how many people may fear that Netflix is taking over from the world of the cinema-goer, I thoroughly believe that they’ve tapped into the same appeal that Black Mirror had in 2011; the dark realism that the audience know is real but never want to admit it, it almost borders on a guilty pleasure. The proof? Black mirror series 3 & 4, Okja and now The Circle

To summarise, The Circle is yet another powerful step that Netflix has taken towards being the visual medium to represent a whole new phase in political, technological and social evolution.

With the charisma of Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson at the forefront of this film, The Hitman’s Bodyguard is entertaining but flawed in its unoriginality and cliché.

When elite ‘AAA-rated’ bodyguard Michael Bryce is hired to protect Takashi Kurosawa his world falls apart when the job doesn’t go the way he wanted. Now, two years later Bryce is struggling to get by, disgraced and having to protect drug filled corporate executives this is the lowest point in Bryce’s life. Meanwhile, notorious hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) agrees to testify against the bloodthirsty dictator of Belarus, Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman) in exchange for the release of his wife, Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek) from prison. After the escort of Kincaid is ambushed, Amelia Roussel (Élodie Yung) now knowing that Interpol is distrustful calls her ex-boyfriend Bryce for help, distastefully, Bryce agrees. However on arrival we find out that Bryce and Kincaid have been enemies for years with Kincaid trying to kill Bryce 28 times. This causes a rocky road for Bryce as he is now a bodyguard for the hitman in an attempt to escort him safely to his testimony.

Action Comedies can often produce incredible amounts of on-screen fun if done right, recent ones include: Hot Fuzz, 21 Jump Street, Tropic Thunder, The Other Guys and The Nice Guys. All those films have one thing in common and that’s great chemistry between the two main characters, this is what drives the movie along. Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson are two great actors and they bounce off each other well here.

Reynolds character is sensible and always thinks ‘Boring is best’, he thinks carefully before he does, and does his job cleanly and professionally. Whereas Samuel L. Jacksons character is the opposite, he wants to go in all guns blazing, life is fun to him, thinking too much is boring, this is the way he has always gone in his life and he’s not changing anytime soon. The opposing character personality keeps the exchange of dialogue amusing and the chemistry successful.

The film is packed full of action and for the most part it’s fine, it is easy to follow and keeps you entertained but lacks variety and is nothing new, you are not going to leave and recall how great any of the action scenes were. Furthermore, the plot is recycled; it is not going to amaze you and is rather predictable. Gary Oldman’s Dukhovich is rarely on screen, which is a shame; it feels like Oldman’s performance is wasted and underused, it could have really contrasted the comedy further.

With a clichéd plot, effortless action and underused characters, the only thing keeping The Hitman’s Bodyguard from sinking is a normal amount of Jackson saying “Motherfucker” and Reynold’s comedy talent.