The Jackal (1997) Review
Bruce Willis plays a cold, charming assassin who changes faces like coats, Richard Gere the IRA sniper sent to catch him, and the target is a real surprise. Critics hated it. It's an 8.5 and my favorite Jackal.
Tag: Adaptation
Every adaptation is a set of decisions about what to lose. This tag collects reviews and craft pieces on adaptation: what transfers between page and screen, and what has to be rebuilt.
2020sThe Day of the Jackal (2024) Review
Eddie Redmayne plays a charming assassin and Lashana Lynch the MI6 officer hunting him in this ten-episode reimagining of Forsyth's novel. A great first episode and good action, a saggy middle. It's a 7.
1960sHotel (1967) Review
Rod Taylor runs a grand old New Orleans hotel through one week of takeover threats, a jewel thief and a hidden hit-and-run in this glossy adaptation of Arthur Hailey's novel. It's an 8.5.
1970sColossus: The Forbin Project (1970) Review
I have watched this more times than is defensible. A film about a computer, a requirements document and a mountain, and the machine is never once broken.
AdaptationRemakes, Ranked
Every remake and side-by-side contrast reviewed on this site, ranked. The ones that justified themselves, the ones that repeated the plot and lost the point, and the studio program built on strip-mining a back catalog.
1950sAround the World in 80 Days (1956) Review
Around the World in 80 Days (1956) rates 4 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Mike Todd shot the Verne novel in thirteen countries with about forty recognizable faces in one-scene appearances, invented the modern cameo, and beat Giant…
2010sEvery Disney Live Action Remake (2010-Present) Review
The Disney live action remakes rate 3 out of 10 as a body of work. Fifteen years, a dozen and a half films, several billion dollars, and a program whose governing principle is that the animated version should be reproduced…
2020sSnow White (2025) Review
Snow White (2025) rates 2 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. The remake that ended the remake program. It cost somewhere around two hundred and seventy million dollars, spent two years being argued about before anybody saw it, and…
2020sUncharted (2022) Review
Uncharted (2022) rates 3 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A film adapted from a series of games that were already adapting films, which means it is a photocopy of a photocopy. The cargo plane sequence is lifted directly…
2010sThe Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014) Review
The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014) rates 4 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A three hundred page children's book became nearly eight hours of film at a reported seven hundred and forty-five million dollars. Guillermo del Toro spent two years…
2000sPirates of the Caribbean (2003) Review
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A film adapted from a theme park queue that had no business being good. Depp built a character the studio…
AdaptationA Christmas Carol Day: December 19
A Christmas Carol was published on 19 December 1843, sold out in five days, and made its author almost nothing because he had paid for it himself and specified expensive materials. He then sued a publisher who pirated it, won…