The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 30 Round 9)

 

 

Season 30 is nearing a close now with nine of the ten rounds in the books. Here's The Roundup....

3. Box Office

With one round - and one major blockbuster - left to go in Season 30, the worldwide box office of the season has officially eclipsed last season's final number with the release of Shatterhand.

2. Eve of Destruction

While not a perfect film, Eve of Destruction was at the very least a very good showcase for stars Jeremy Allen White and Woody Harrelson. It also featured probably the best work Jennifer Connelly has put out in a long time (that's not saying much though with how MIA she's been in recent years - in and out of LRF). The script played into JAW and Woody's abilities to play aggressive and unpredictable characters. 

1. Shatterhand

John Malone's James Bond films are basically perfect blockbuster entertainment at this point. The films have done a great job - especially over the course of the two most recent film - of introducing more elements from the franchise's mythos but giving it all a fresh, action-centric, modern twist. I look forward to see the next film in Season 35.

3. Domestic Box Office

Only 27 films in LRF's 30 season history have grossed less than $10 million at the domestic box office. Unfortunately for the studio, three of those films were this season alone (Love Is Embarrassing, Rediscovered Harmonies & Tamahagane).

2. Love Is Embarrassing

Love Is Embarrassing features some of his most unlikable characters yet, lazy product name-dropping that immediately dates the project, and a number of characters sitting around doing nothing - that could really apply to every scene in this one as the characters never actually do anything other than sit around and smoking reefer. I do appreciate though that Conn has taken the negative reviews for this one in stride. Despite not liking his output this season, I am hopeful that his next batch of films turn out better.

1. Awards

I know I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but as far as I can tell only a couple categories have ANY sure-fire nominees/contenders. The rest is all up in the air from my perspective. The Supporting Acting categories are weaker than usual this season and Best Actress is even weaker than usual (and that's saying something). Round 10 will probably shake things up a bit, but it's going to be an interesting nominations voting phase, that's for sure.