The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 29 Round 3)

 

Round 3 featured an early awards contender in Murder Mysteries and some decent box office. Here's The Roundup....

3. The Shadow

As one of the reviews stated, on paper The Shadow should have been a hit. I liked the casting and some of the soundtrack, but the story just wasn't plotted very well and was sorely lacking in blockbuster worthy action sequences.

2. Box Office

Box office was pretty decent this round. Only The Shadow lost money, while Mimsley and Me and Murder Mysteries were both surprisingly profitable.

1. Murder Mysteries

What a great film! John Malone has rarely tackled a fantasy film, with most of his blockbusters of the grounded variety, so this was a treat. My only wish is that John would have gone even bigger with the material (even if it may have tread on Paradise Lost's territory a bit).

3. N/A

2. The Shadow

Henry Cavill as The Shadow was a good idea. Basing the film on James Patterson and Brian Sitts' poorly-received novel was a bad idea.

1. Mimsley and Me

The weird hodge-podge of ideas in Mimsley and Me really turned me off, as you might have gathered from my review. I didn't hate the film, but magic plus dinosaurs plus puppets equals too many disparate ideas.