The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 31 Round 10)

 

Season 31 ends on a VERY high note, especially at the box office. Here's The Roundup....

3. The Eye of History

I really liked the framing device Andrew Doster's script used to tell the story of Margaret Bourke-White. I wish we could have seen the story behind more of her fantastic photography. Kirsten Dunst's performance as the lead has to put her into serious GA consideration (if not make her the frontrunner for Best Actress).

2. Justice League War

Not only are the box office numbers amazing, but the story itself was really well done (and a good deal better than Justice League Invasion). This follow-up painted the characters better. I teared up during Martian Manhunter's big moment and was on the edge of my seat during Superman's big moment in the end. This one simply hit on all cylinders. 

1. Justice League Franchise

Arguably the most epic and ambitious film in LRF history has, not surprisingly, become the new box office champion. The only question now is how they the studio tries to match it come Season 40. Do they go bigger or do they take a purposeful step back? Only time will tell.

3. Box Office

While the season ended on a massive high-note, overall the box office was down in every department. It was down 17% at the Domestic Box Office, 10% at the Foreign Box Office, 14% at the Worldwide Box Office, and profits were down a massive 44% Hopefully next season can get those numbers heading in the right direction again.

2. Female Led Biopics

As the Box Office Breakdown pointed out, this particular sub-genre has struggled mightily at the box office outside of a couple hits. I know we have a couple coming up in the next season or two, so hopefully they will fare better at the box office.

1. Guy on the Fly

There have been plenty of incredulous teen rom-com premises, but this one is up there. The timeline makes little sense and the character of Johnny baffled me. The last minute relationship twist comes out of nowhere and doesn't work at all (with some super awkward Alex Conn-style product placement in the end as well). I was okay with most of the story until those final moments (although I didn't sense much spark between the two lead characters), but that ending reminded me a lot of the relationship twist at the end of Jacob Jones' last rom-com, Dating Vanessa (unearned, undeveloped, and out of freakin' nowhere).