**

Interesting progression from character (book) to action (original movie) to special effects (this film). Not that there isn't plenty of action here, but with very little attention having been paid to the characters, it's the special effects that carry the day. It's another one of those movies claiming to be "based on" a book (in this case, The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico) when "suggested by" would be a more accurate credit. Nothing remains of Gallico's novel except the bare bones plot of passengers on a capsized luxury liner making their way up to the bottom of the ship in hopes of rescue. None of his characters survive the adaptation except in distant echoes. Our new heroes include a professional gambler who just might be James Bond working undercover (Josh Lucas), an ex-firefighter who is also the ex-mayor of New York (Kurt Russell), his semi-rebellious daughter (Emmy Rossum), and a gay man who is gay (Richard Dreyfuss). So, yeah, let's root for these clowns. The special effects are good, though.

***

Passengers aboard capsized luxury liner race through ruined ship to reach bottom and possible rescue before it sinks.  Solid adventure film based on Paul Gallico's novel.  The savvy script by Stirling Silliphant and Wendell Mayes jettisons Gallico's introspection and focuses on the action, while the ensemble cast, led by Gene Hackman as a rah-rah reverend and Ernest Borgnine as a belligerent cop, makes it all believable.  Also with Red Buttons, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowall, Carol Lynley, and others.  Remade in 2006 as Poseidon.

**

Returning Vietnam vet John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) gets the undesirables treatment from a small town sheriff (Brian Dennehy) and his sadistic deputies, then escapes to the woods for some impromptu guerrilla warfare.  Worthwhile as an action picture, but weakened by its expectation of sympathy for its truculent and easily set off hero, who, ironically, proves only how unfit for civilized society he is.  The first of the Rambo films, though not the best, based on David Morrell's novel.

***​

Modern take on Noah and the story of the Ark — meaning some good video game violence, nondescript references to a “Creator,” and an evolutionary spin on life.  The Bible has little enough to say about Noah, but Aronofsky and crew rewrite the story anyway, turning God into a riddle-master and Noah (Russell Crowe) into a conflicted angel of vengeance who ultimately clashes with his own sons.  Some good ideas along the way, though, particularly having to do with the building of the Ark and the manner in which it is populated with birds, beasts, and creeping things. Several Watchers — fallen angels who, in this version, are rock-encrusted giants — help Noah with his project.  Tubal-cain, leading an army of evildoers (that’s us, antediluvian style), provides an external threat.  Crowe is a grave and formidable Noah and Anthony Hopkins has an amusing turn as a berry-craving Methuselah.  Enjoyable, but as a magical action movie, not a Biblical epic.