Tonight's Movie: The Social Reckoning (2026)

Close to 16 years ago I reviewed THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010), about the founding of Facebook.I found THE SOCIAL NETWORK absorbing, if unmoving, and I felt much the same when I returned to it for a fresh watch last week. It plays like a nerdy DALLAS, with no one particularly sympathetic.The impetus for my rewatch of THE SOCIAL NETWORK was the new film THE SOCIAL RECKONING (2026), which revisits Facebook 16 years on.Like the original film, THE SOCIAL RECKONING was written by Aaron Sorkin; this time around he also directed. The previous film was directed by David Fincher.I saw THE SOCIAL RECKONING "cold," so I had little idea what the specific subject matter would be, and it was initially hard to get a foothold on where the movie was going due to the nonlinear storytelling.Gradually the plot sharpens into focus: An unhappy young Facebook employee, Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), doesn't like the way the company's algorithms are driving "extremism," so she eventually leaks information on…