The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 24 Round 8)

 

The box office fared better this round but there was another novel adaptation flop. Here's The Roundup....

3. Award Races
It would appear that Monaco was the last major awards contender released this season with most of the rest of the films due being more of the genre variety. Right now it's looking like Natural Selection and Monaco are going to be two of the biggest players come GRA season (I'm sure Reuben Schwartz will have more info at the end of the season in his For Your Consideration article).

2. Sam Heughan
Sam Heughan shows in this solo film that Dwight Gallo certainly knew what he was doing when he cast the actor as Matt Murdock / Daredevil in a supporting role in Elektra. I didn't love this solo story, but his performance as the title character was never the issue.

1. Monaco
Monaco is the sort of big ensemble epic that used to be a common occurrence in Hollywood but have died out in recent years. As a true ensemble, it may have some difficulties in the acting categories come GRA season, but I think it is a serious contender for most categories, including Best Picture.

3. Daredevil
Daredevil felt too small to me. Low stakes, small action, and it didn't feel like the filmmakers had a super strong grasp on the character or his motivations. It obviously did well enough financially to warrant a sequel, but I hope they think things out a bit better next time and find a better story worthy of Daredevil.

2. Akin
I found Akin to be a pretentious bore just like its main character. This adaptation exemplified a lot of the problems that other recent novel adaptations have had. It never once actually felt like a film. It lacked the right type of pacing and structure that a novel adaptation requires. Michael Douglas is obviously a talented actor and he gave the film his all, but I hated his character with a passion.

1. Novel Adaptations
Akin did the same thing the last few novel adaptations did, so it's no wonder the curse continues. If I am correct, Akin was the last novel adaptation of SEason 24 - thankfully - but we'll have a few in the early stretches of Season 25 so it will be interesting to see if any of them manage to fare any better at the box office.