The Roundup with Jeff Stockton (Season 33 Round 2)

 

Season 33 continues on its solid start with the majority of the releases so far this season earning profits for the studio.

3. Power Rangers

Diane Esposito's film was probably about as good as we could ever expect from a film trying to reboot the franchise and re-establish the major characters of the TV series. The film has its highs and its lows, but it was certainly faithful to the source material.

2. Broadway Joe

Broadway Joe is a very well done sports biopic done only  in a way that director David O. Russell and star Jeremy Allen White could deliver - full of swagger, confidence, albeit a bit messy (but not in a bad way). 

1. APJ

It's always nice to see APJ branch out of the superhero game. Like Urban Cowboy and The Birds, Broadway Joe shows he can do a lot as a writer.

3. N/A

2. The Essence

It feels like The Essence wanted to be some Frankenstein combination of films like Hereditery + Donnie Darko + The Machinist + Se7en, but what we got instead was a tonal whiplash of ideas, in my opinion. I feel like director Ari Aster and writer Jimmy Ellis never quite knew how to figure everything out beyond the concept stage. It certainly wasn't terrible, but it didn't click for me.

1. Box Office

While solid/decent, this round's box office was lacking in a breakout blockbuster hit. Power Rangers was the closest, but worldwide box office under $300 million and profits under $100 million make it hard to call the film a huge hit (more like a medium hit).