The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 7 Round 5)

The season has officially hit the halfway point. Things have been pretty quiet with the Last Resort Films community this week. Perhaps the box office performance of Lost Planet, a seemingly safe film, has every one scared. Here's The Roundup....

3. Return of the Western
The Western genre has been pretty successful for Last Resort Films. The Lucky Luke films have been box office gold, Blood Meridian grossed well (but was just a bit too expensive), and Seth Overton's debut film for the studio American Outlaws made a profit for the studio. Now John Malone's Ranger has continued the genre's success for the studio by providing not only a solid movie, but a profitable one at that.

2. Michael Shannon's Inherent Creepiness
Michael Shannon has such a unique edge to him that enables him to play a role like he played in Obsession in his sleep. I had some definite issues with the story and its lack of logic (see Bottom 3 below), but I'm a big fan of Shannon as an actor.

1. Alden Ehrenreich's Career Trajectory
What a streak Ehrenreich is on right now! He could have taken it easy for a while following his Best Actor win for Death Dream, but right back at work on another John Malone-scripted film, that once again could see some awards talk. He's gone from a lesser known young star to a borderline A-lister in 7 seasons. Alden Ehrenreich's name on a LRF release makes it instant viewing these days.

3. Lack of Blog Activity
One of the more interesting aspects of the Last Resort Films community is the various blogs run by the studio's writers. But the blogs by Chad Taylor, Jack Ryder, H.G. Hansen and Mo Buck's Writers Association have been mostly quiet these days. Get back to work people!

2. Obsession's Logic Issues
I covered some of the issues in my official review of the film, and I'll probably cover some of the same issues right now. Don't get me wrong, I dug the creepiness factor in Obsession, but the film left me frustrated with the lack of logic on display. Shannon is creepy from the start and never lets up, and he kills his patients. How is he supposed to run a practice that way? Therapists operate their businesses mostly through referrals. How is Shannon supposed to maintain his practice? Killing your patients is bad for business in every possible way. Also, if a psychologist's patients start dying at that rapid of a pace in real life, there would definitely have to be some sort of investigation or police inquiry. These issues, and others, kept me from enjoying the film, despite an entertaining performance from Michael Shannon.

1. Lost Planet
Shit! The generic video gamer romp Lost Planet has become the single biggest box office disaster in the history of Last Resort Films. Sure, the film was unoriginal, but that hasn't stopped other films from striking gold at the box office. The film's setting wasn't particularly good looking, and the film lacked star power, but it's really hard to figure out how it all missed so badly.