Screen Test: Catch-22 and The Hot Zone are not as good as the books they are based on

Just like the book, the new series Catch-22 - directed by George Clooney and starring Christopher Abbott - is set during World War II. PHOTO: HULU
Based on a 1994 Richard Preston non-fiction thriller, The Hot Zone tells the true story of the 1989 discovery of an Ebola-like virus on American soil. PHOTO: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
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SINGAPORE - Few would argue that Catch-22, Joseph Heller's 1961 novel, was a powerful piece of satire.

But its power lay in a very specific critique of the circular and corrupting logic of war, so the question to ask of any modern retelling is: How is this relevant today?

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