The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 9 Round 10)

That's a wrap on Season 9, folks. Next up will be the Golden Reel Awards Nominations Poll where everyone gets to vote on which films will end being nominated this season. Anyways, here's The Roundup....

3. To the Moon
While not what I'd consider a necessarily great film, it hits some strong emotional beats that help it rise above its issues (see Bottom 3 for more on that). David Harbour and Carrie Coon also give strong performances as two fascinating characters.

2. Batman: Caped Crusader
Arguably one of the best films in the studio's DC Comics Universe. While their first Batman film had some fun action scenes and villains, this one delivers more humanity for the characters. APJ's script gave us more of Gyllenhaal as Bruce Wayne (and not just Batman), which is something the first film really needed. After the end stinger, I can't wait to see what the third Batman film has in store.

1. APJ
He really seems to have listened to the issues critics and audiences have had with his last couple of DC Comics Universe entries (obscure casting and lack of interesting villains in Huntress and Green Arrow 2: Hunters) and avoided those problems with Batman: Caped Crusader. He gave us multiple interesting villains this time around, played by tremendously talented actors who brought their A-game. Hopefully that is a sign of things to come.

3. To the Moon
While I enjoyed the film as a whole, the main characters played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zazie Beetz are really non-factors. Literally, they could have been off-screen the entire film and the story really wouldn't have been any different.

2. Life After Life
Goals, Stakes, Urgency. These are things successful films (almost) always have. When these are unclear or non-existent, a film tends to not work. Life After Life would fall into that camp. I like the concept of the story/novel, but it just doesn't work in film form. If the film would have focused on Ursula trying to kill Hitler - or really having any story-long goals at all - it would have been a much better film. Instead, it's a film with some strong pieces that just doesn't really add up to a cohesive and effective whole.

1. Season 9 Box Office
This season was a crazy up and down roller coaster of a season at the box office. It's great that Batman: Caped Crusader made a fortune, but a lot of movies failed to make a profit this season.