Popular reviews

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  Review by russman ★★★ 6

  Now this is a story all about how this boat got flipped-turned upside down

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★ 23

  “The Poseidon Adventure” turns survival horror on its head by making the vices of its victims into their greatest moral strengths. 

  Amongst the slate of other disaster films of its era, “Poseidon” is a league or two above the rest. That’s because - amidst the fiery devastation - it actually persuades the audience to care for its cast of characters. 

  Each of the soon-to-be-sufferers in the film is introduced with a surefire vice: Gene Hackman’s preacher is a merciless objectivist, Ernest Borgnine married a prostitute and suffers from seasickness, and Shelley Winters’ retired shopkeeper has gained more than a few pounds in her silver years. 

  Director Ronald Neame makes these failings so obvious; it seems to lay the fates of…

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  Review by Sam Meltzer ★★ 17

  Me when the ship crashes: 😱 

  Me whenever a “character arc” happened: 😐

  Me whenever an “important story beat” happened: 😐

  Me whenever an “impressive visual” happens: 😐

  Me when the movie continuously makes jokes about the fact that Shelley Winters’s character is supposed to be fat but in reality is actually dehumanizing and unfunny: 😐😐😐😐😐

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  Review by Mikael Stånggren ★★★★ 4

  Three-dimensional characters? A sharply penned script? A film that would still be good even if you subtracted all the action and elements of chaos? Great Poseidon's arse, they sure made disaster movies differently in the 70's.

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  Review by eely 🍂 ★★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  when shelley winters took that dive it was actually directly into my heart ♥️

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  Review by Ayo Edebiri ★★★½

  I wanted to say something like “they don’t make men like this* anymore” but honestly they do 

  *insane

  Really solid movie with some fun thrills I had a good time I would watch this again yup

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  Review by 🎄 Leighton Trent 🎄 ★★★½ 9

  This Grandaddy of the modern disaster blockbuster hit this dad's Dad Movie soft spot. The spectacle, the movie star cast, the amazing vfx and production design, the glorious over-acting, the okayest of scripts, the dull direction, the bad Original Song Oscar winner; this has it all. I just sat there with a big ol' grin on my face, chomping my popcorn like a maniac, and wondering how I'd missed this one watching film as long as I have.

  
  
  

  🌊 Hot Take 🌊
  Hell, give us a radical Gene Jackman man of God any day and we'll all be just fine.

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  Review by DIREKTIONZ ★★★

  I really really liked this. The Poseidon Adventure is a very good disaster film with a solid set-up & pay-off script and really good character writing.....for only the male characters.

  The politics are dated very dated, all women are seen as emotional wrecked “objects” that need a man to get through this disaster, adding jokes about the weight of a woman and so on. It’s unfortunate and it sadly was distracting to me. All male characters have in a way good character arcs (wish they didn’t rush it too much at the ending), but the three female characters don’t really get nearly that much attention.

  Even if you can look passed that, the film is dumb...maybe not even the script, but…

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  Review by theironcupcake ★★★★ 15

  "Jesus Christ! What happened?"
  "We've turned over."

  Hot take: Gene Hackman has never been more attractive than in this disaster flick. Is it Reverend Scott's unconventional attitudes (he's well beyond the "thoughts and prayers" stage after the Poseidon capsizes and knows that only direct action will help the survivors) and his unfailing belief in himself and his fellow passengers on their treacherous trek to the hull, or is it actually that one exposed shoulder? I'll never tell.

  The Last Voyage is more efficient in the race against time to escape a sinking ship, The Towering Inferno is the scariest and most emotionally engaging offering in its genre and The Swarm is just plain hilarious (though not in the flat-out terrible…

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  Review by Ethan Colburn ★★★½

  Despite all of its flaws, Poseidon Adventure manages to be a really fun 70s disaster movie! I enjoyed the ship inverting, and all the practical effects with fire and water. Borgnine, Hackman and Winters are giving stellar performances amongst absolute amateurs though. They take their parts far more seriously, which made me wish the rest of the cast was more up to par.

  Solid flick all around, I would definitely recommend this one!

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  Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★ 9

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  Film #19 of the "Scavenger Hunt 2" Challenge!
  Task #18 : Disaster film involving either a plane, train, ship or any other mode of transportation!
  letterboxd.com/naughty/list/scavenger-hunt-2/

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  I personally found getting through this dated piece a daunting task! The thrills were still thrilling but they were too few and far between! The majority of the film was character driven and the characters were hokey cornballs susceptible to extreme bouts of melodramatic interludes that tested my gag reflex on a regular basis!

  Terrible dialogue!
  Mundane deaths!
  Over the top acting!

  The ONLY stars worth noting are Gene Hackman and the SS Poseidon!

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 1

  After one man's wife dies, he refers to her as the thing he loved most. That's an unfortunate way to put it, of course, but also pretty indicative of how the film as a whole approaches women: as objects to break men's hearts. Though one woman's sacrifice is noted to have served others, she's also subject to jokes about her appearance. Almost all of the women are shown to be emotional wrecks, but the men have more dignity in their outrage and despair. It's not as night and day as those descriptions might suggest, but the trend is there. It's tiresome and disappointing, because parts of this film are incredibly tense and other parts wonderfully inventive. Hammy acting and bad…