What? No tidal wave? GYP!

I've seen enough of terrorists on the news to last me a lifetime. Hate that.

I'm going to confess here that when I saw this movie as a wee slip of a girl in the theater, it made an enormous impression on my young mind. I was absolutely terrified by Leslie Nielsen's burnt visage, even though it was only flashed onscreen for a few seconds. Even though I didn't think Gene Hackman was handsome, I still had a mad crush. Shelley Winters looked SO MUCH like my beloved grandmother that I cried for days after whenever I thought about her dying. Red Buttons lonely, sweet portrayal broke my heart. And the Rogos? Wanted to slap her and give him a huge hug. Loved his bravery and his devotion, da big lug!

I know it's seventies cheese (and didn't it start the disaster movie craze?), but back then it was fantastic to me. I still make a point to watch it on AMC whenever they run it.

I hope they at least keep SOME stuff the same. Well, at least the ship is still upside-down. Oh, and Yay, Adam! Got another cool job, I see...

Willowy | July 26, 05:47 CET

All I can say is that I could have gone my entire life without seeing a scene of Steve Guttenberg in bed with a woman. *shudder* Just saying...

TVsBrent | July 26, 06:19 CET

Yeah they're the token villains of today aren't they? From Russians in the 60's and 70's, to columbian drug lords in the 80's it became terrorists and evil corporations in the 90's and no end in sight.


Hey cheese or no, it's a classic disaster movie. Just the whole idea of the boat being upside down was so original. And Gene Hackman kicked ass...;-)

Weird thing is, I had no idea that this new remake was made-for-TV. I thought it would be a theatrical release. Can't say most of the changes sound much like improvements. And Homeland Security? Does everything have to remind me of Dubya these days??

EdDantes | July 26, 07:37 CET

I agree on the whole terrorists thing. I can understand if they did not want to do a tidal wave, considering events at the beginning of the year (and would a tidal wave even do that unless they were in comparatively shallow water) but couldn't they come up anything else?

I also found myself wondering if there were going to be any women in it at all. There were some eye candy extras in bathing suits on the trailer and that was it. No women in the credits either. When I think of the original, I think of Shelly Winters first and the men second.

Ahhh, I'm probably just being overly sensitive. (Sigh)

Good for Adam Baldwin though. I hope it does really well for his sake.

newcj | July 26, 08:06 CET

Here, here Big Ed! That's another thing. I could go at least a week without being reminded of our *cough* elected commander in chief (capitals omitted on purpose... sorry CiV and any other unashamed republicans on our beloved board...no offense to you intended!).

And Ed, yes, at first I wasn't aware this was a telepic either! Well, I'm going to watch, regardless. My curiosity is too high to forgoe (did I spell that right? Why does it look so weird?) this one. And yes, you are right as usual. Hackman DID kick ass! ;)

[ edited by Willowy on 2005-07-26 06:17 ]

Willowy | July 26, 08:16 CET

Forego!

And newcj, what about the sensitive subject of terrorists? London was a helluva lot more recent than Asia. Just sayin'.

Willowy | July 26, 08:20 CET

Willowy, The movie was probably done filming by the time London happened. All they can do when events are as recent as London is push back showing it. Though at this point and time terrorism is on-going all over the world and has been for some time. Of course, For all I know they were very likely done filming before the tidal wave hit Asia and it was just written by someone deciding that terrorists are always a good idea. (Ugh) I don't find it a plot element I care to watch in something like this.

I ran across the Towering Inferno a couple years after 9/11 and it was still too close for me not to shudder and well up. Hell I'm starting to just thinking about now. I'm just not sure this is the time for disaster films.

newcj | July 26, 08:51 CET

Adam went from Serenity to South Africa to film Poseidon at the end of August last year so filming was probably done by Dec. 26.

I can see why NBC pushed it back to November.

But you know what? I share the same view as Willowy and others: I have little patience for fictional terrorism, especially the inelegant type of in-your-face terror. Seen too much real stuff. I'd urge all producers to go easy on the topic for a long time.

Drifter | July 26, 09:38 CET

Willowy and Ed - there are two remakes of The Poseidon Adventure set to come out soon. One is this made-for-tv version, and one is intended for theatrical release starring Josh Lucas (currently in Stealth) and Kurt Russell.

skyfire1228 | July 26, 10:30 CET

Thanks, skyfire, I thought I remembered there was another Poseidon remake in the works. I was surprised to see this one.

I'm happy to see AB getting so much work of late, but I'm with the rest of you in seeing the terrorism scenario as already cliched. And remakes of older films are so numerous now that they signal such a lack of imagination on Hollywood's part, as well as a fear of trying anything new. There is so much money involved with huge salaries for actors who seem to phone in their performances, and an overdependence upon FX. The originals are inevitably superior to the remakes, even when the originals look as dated as Poseidon does now. And, as much as I enjoyed Poseidon when it first came out in the 1970s, it has a certain cheesiness that was part of its appeal at the time (and part of the appeal of all the Irwin Allen disaster flicks). Sadly, the cheese hasn't aged well for me. But I question whether the remakes will go down any better. The trailer for this one did not give me much hope.

palehorse | July 26, 14:02 CET

I'll try as well but I seem to have a knack for completely forgetting and missing out on TV movies. Then again, usually they're kinda crap. Last one I saw was 'Man-Thing'.....

And btw, to watch a former theatrical movies on TV in this country is a joke. Cut to ribbons they are! And I can't watch Al Pacino do a rant while half his words are suddenly reduced to 'gosh-darnit. Forget you!' with a totally different voice!


Ahh, that clarifies things. I thought Adam and Kurt were in the same movie... So it's the old 'let's make the same movie at the same time' thing. I remember they made two simultaneous Robin Hoods, two 'meteor will hit earth!' movies, and a whole bunch more.

Palehorse, I agree with you on the state of movies lately. And at the Comicon, I saw Bruce Campbell complain about the same thing. He listed all the old, derivative knock-off movies of this year. 'Batman Begins?? Batmand doesn't begin! This is what, the 6th Batman movie already??' It was pretty funny. And when you heard him list it all, you realized how creatively dead Hollywood is lately. Willy Wonka, Dukes of Hazzard, Bewitched, War of the Worlds, Herbie, The Longest Yard, The Honeymooners, Bad News Bears, etc. etc. All old concepts, old shows, old movies redone, rehashed and called 'new'.

Time certainly seems ripe for a movie with a new concept and new style doesn't it? *COUGHSerenityCOUGH*

EdDantes | July 26, 19:14 CET

A good many of those may be old concepts, but they were damn good movies.

KernelM | July 26, 20:00 CET

KernelM, you mean they were good the first, second or in some cases the third time ?

Just kidding but I do agree with EdDantes 'creatively dead' statement, when the whole industry goes in the direction of lets play it safe, lets minimize risk this is what you get, it's a pity, will probably continue until the studios start to fear for their survival and are forced to replace a few of the accountants with more creative people, the creative people might cause some big debacles now and then but they also create the flashes of brilliance and big hits that people are willing to pay for.
Selling the same thing over and over again can never be the recipe for long term success for Hollywood.

Of course the smart people already knows this and searches for the new ideas wherever they can find them, Japan, the far east, eastern european cinema, the comic books, remakes of european films etc. etc., if you dont have ideas of your own beg, steal or borrow them :)

jpr | July 26, 20:27 CET