It’s day three and only 16 films are left after voting yesterday. I always forget that running these brackets is an experience in daily heartbreak, as every morning, more of my favorites get knocked out. Yesterday, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Ran, Die Hard, 10 Things I Hate About You, and American Fiction all failed to advance, but they’re still perfect in my eyes.
A consolation is that yesterday’s final vote tallies were closer than I expected, and a few were very close: Trainspotting just barely lost to Much Ado About Nothing, and Blade Runner beat The Shining by a mere 5 votes.
By the way: Carrie also failed to graduate to the round of 16, which means that the Stephen King adaptations have been completely eliminated from competition. Ouch.
Anyway, today has some big pairings. The Muppet Christmas Carol vs. Clueless is going to be a tough one for me. They’re well matched: Two movies with great joke writing, memorable characters, and a tongue-in-cheek but deeply emotional approach to adaptation. This vote will probably come down to how I’m feeling about Rizzo the Rat vs. Paul Rudd at the moment of clickage.
Overall, it’s an embarrassment of riches in the round of 16. But one of the hazards of bracketeering, it turns out, is being reminded of all the adaptations we didn’t include, which is growing my to-watch list to dangerous lengths. Speaking of, if you’d like to take a peek at the Lit Hub staff’s personal favorite adaptations, and what we’re watching next, you can do that on our Letterboxd page.
But without further ado, let’s vote.
–James Folta
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