20 reboots that actually went right

Man, J.J. Abrams truly is the master of the reboot, isn't he? Not only did he give us a solid "Star Trek" update, but he also made the world believe that "Star Wars" movies could be good again. Abrams' "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" also gets mad points for proving that you really can have a very successful sci-fi/action franchise with a woman as the main character. 

This might be an unpopular opinion, but Andrew Garfield was a much more charismatic Peter Parker than Tobey Maguire, who was a little too dopey for my liking in the movie. I'm not saying the Andrew Garfield era of the "Spider-Man" franchise is as good as the Tobey Maguire one (it's not). I'm just saying Andrew Garfield was very likable in the 2012 movie. 

"V," the sci-fi/political drama that premiered in 2009 on ABC after the network lost "Lost," focused on a race of aliens who came to Earth ostensibly in peace – but not really. It was a reboot of a 1983 TV miniseries of the same that was also pretty enjoyable to watch. 

This 2012 film reboot of the late 1980s TV drama might legitimately be one of the funniest comedies of the decade. That's in large part to Jonah Hill being Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum showing the world that he's a very good-looking dude and very funny. 

Bless Netflix for rebooting "Daredevil" in 2015. The TV series with Charlie Cox playing the titular role is good enough to salvage the character after Ben Affleck threw it in the gutter in the 2003 movie of the same name. 

Like the its predecessor "Beverly Hills, 90210," this CW show followed the lives of rich, attractive, young people and all the drama that said lives entail. Also like its predecessor, it was the right kind of trashy TV watch.

I know that the 2017 version of "Twin Peaks" is a continuation of the 1990 cult series, but there are tens of millions of adults in their mid-20s who were born when the show first aired. If that doesn't make something a reboot, I don't know what does.

Even if you think it's nowhere near as good as the original (very understandable given that the 1982 movie is a certified classic), Ryan Gosling has proven that he is a great enough actor to take names and kick ass as the next blade runner. 

Gal Gadot was so good in "Wonder Woman" that the original superhero Lynda Carter gave her mad love. Also, "Wonder Woman" is so fun and enjoyable that it proves there can be such a thing as a well-made and entertaining DC Universe movie. 

The 2008 Ed Norton movie rebooted the "Hulk" franchise from the atrocity that was the 2003 Ang Lee film. It's not the best Marvel cinematic universe movie, but it gave us a glimpse of what could have been. Norton was replaced by Mark Ruffalo in 2012's "The Avengers" largely because he didn't really feel like playing the same role for like a decade. 

"Battlestar Galactica" is the definition of a reboot gone right. Based on the 1978 series of the same name, "Battlestar Galactica" premiered to much acclaim in 2004 on the SciFi Channel (now SyFy). The series followed the last remaining humans on a series of spaceships looking for a new planet, all while avoiding getting murdered by Cylons, sentient robots whose sole purpose is to kill all humans. Also, it starred Edward James Olmos, and the dude is good in everything he does.

The "Planet of the Apes" franchise, which became popular in the 1970s, was originally rebooted in 2001 by acclaimed director Tim Burton. Thankfully, this gross use of a beloved franchise was corrected in 2011 with yet another reboot — one with no association to the Burton fiasco and with James Franco and Andy Serkis (he plays Caesar, an ape). "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was so successful that it's already a trilogy, and a fourth is already slated for production. 

Sylvester Stallone was one of the biggest stars of the 1990s, but not even he could make a good adaptation of "Judge Dredd," a comic book about a law enforcement officer who also serves as judge, jury and executioner. Fortunately for us, director Pete Travis released his movie version of the comic book in 2012. Called "Dredd 3D," the film followed the titular character (played by a masked Karl Urban) as he destroys an entire high-rise infested with criminals. 

Despite being one of the most fascinating and complex characters in literature (yes, comic books are literature and I will fight anyone who says otherwise), the TV and film versions of Batman have always been campy and lacked any real substance. This is especially true of the Joel Schumacher movies ("Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin"). It wasn't until 2005, with the release of Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" and with Christian Bale in the lead, that the character finally got the movie it deserved.

Look, you don't get to remake a John Wayne movie unless you really know what you're doing. That's especially true if it's a movie where John Wayne plays an embittered loner cowboy who's trying to do one good act before he dies. Joel and Ethan Coen know what they're doing. In 2011, these two living legends remade "True Grit" with Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, the John Wayne role. This movie is so good, you could say it's better than the original and not be wrong. 

Did you know that "Heat," the 1995 Michael Mann crime drama that gave us the Al Pacino vs. Robert DeNiro movie we always wanted, was actually a reboot? This movie, which is the most perfect cops-and-robbers film ever made, was previously made as "L.A. Takedown" in 1989. It was a TV movie created by Michael Mann himself. Also, this movie qualifies as a reboot because there's talks of making a prequel to this one. 

The James Bond franchise was rebooted once again in 2005 with "Casino Royale," which saw Daniel Craig take the 007 torch. Some would argue that Craig is the best Bond. Maybe. What's definitely true is that this version of "Casino Royale" is better than the 1967 version, which I guess tried to be a comedy with Orson Welles, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen in it. 

J.J. Abrams did such an amazing job rebooting the "Star Trek" franchise in 2009. Think about it: He took a very beloved science fiction entity known for its rabid fan base and he made it accessible without watering it down. Plus, Leonard Nimoy was in it, so how could people not love it?

"X-Men: First Class" is low key the best "X-Men" movie because the cast in it was just so great and fun. The James McAvoy/Michael Fassbender dynamic as Professor X and Magneto is just fantastic. Also, "X-Men: First Class" saved the franchise after the train wreck that was "X-Men 3," a movie that stole its jokes from the internet (if you don't know what I'm talking about, google "Juggernaut dub"). 

Quite possibly the gold standard for modern day reboots, "Mad Max: Fury Road" took a dormant 30-year-old franchise and throttled it for modern audiences with some of the most amazing practical effects work in years. Tom Hardy ably plays the taciturn titlular Max, but Charlize Theron's Furiosa steals the show as the film's preeminent badass.