The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 30 Round 1)

 

LRF's historic 30th season is off to a decent start with its opening round. Here's The Roundup....

3. N/A

2. Box Office

After the weak box office of last season, I'm sure the studio is happy with 2/3 films in the opening round earning profits. It also doesn't hurt that Kill Zone earned almost $100 million in profits despite an R-rating.

1. Kill Zone

It took me a short while to figure out what the filmmakers were going for with Kill Zone - a brief but intense real-life action film. Once I realized that was the goal, I started to really enjoy it. The action was great and Chris Pratt showed his action-star prowess as the stoic hero.

3. Acapella

I am definitely happy, both for the studio and for writer Jacob Jones, that Acapella managed to turn a small profit for the studio. That said, I really couldn't get into the film. The lack of voice talents made the character harder to connect with and I honestly could not tolerate the soundtrack. I know acapella has its fans, but I am certainly not one of them.

 

2. Boy's Life

If writer Eden Townsend could have stripped away all the extra peripheral content in Boy's Life and really focused in on the coming-of-age story at its heart, the film could have been something good. Instead, what we got was an incredibly unfocused film with bits and pieces of quality.

1. Novel Adaptations

While the issue with the studio's novel adaptations feels like it is slowly improving, Boy's Life did not help matters with its production. This season will have plenty of chances to turn things around though with a handful more novel adaptations, all from different writers.