The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 14 Round 4)

Four rounds down, six to go, so here's The Roundup....

3. Diversity
I'm not necessarily some crazy, gung-ho social justice warrior, but I do like that we had two big budget films this round starring people of color - and several actors at that. AvP: The First Hunt had Gemma Chan, Tessa Thompson, Derek Luke, Sasha Lane and Steven Yeun; while Black Lightning had Trevante Rhodes, JAnelle Monae, Ving Rhames, Harry Belafonte, Quinton Jackson and Leon Robinson. That's a very high ratio, even in a round with the very white Germinal. While I wasn't the biggest fans of either of those blockbuster films, I still appreciate the diversity in the casting.

2. Box Office
The season has been off to a great start at the box office, with several solid hits already. Sure, we haven't had a billion dollar film yet (although there are a few possibilities looking at the rest of the Season 14 schedule), but there have been plenty of successes. Next round should be a good test though since it will feature three original projects, and not a ton of big names or any obvious blockbuster films.

1. Germinal
Germinal was simply a well put together drama film. Jean-Luc Godard was an inspired choice as director, but it ended up working out. The rest of the season is going to have to put out some crazy good ensembles for Germinal to not get a GRA Best Ensemble Cast nomination, that's for sure.

3. Action
I feel like there is a bit of a trend with action movies not really having all that much action, or the action they do have just isn't very creative. Black Lightning is a good example of this trend. I've watched the movie a couple times now, and I could not for the life of me describe any of the action scenes from the film.

2. Aliens vs. Predator: The First Hunt
The film certainly wasn't all bad, but I feel like it could have been a lot better. I don't feel like we really got to know any of the characters before they started dropping off like flies. The action scenes were good, but I didn't really care who came out of them alive since I never really got to know any of them.

1. Black Lightning
I'll be honest, Black Lightning was a film I was looking forward to. I think Jimmy Ellis is a good writer, but action scenes seem to be his weak point, and this film confirmed that.