‘Five Days at Memorial’: How Katrina forced life-or-death decisions at a New Orleans hospital

On numerous occasions throughout its eight-episode run, the gripping and at times emotionally exhausting Apple TV+ series ‘Five Days at Memorial’ is reminiscent of 1970s disaster films such as ‘The Poseidon Adventure’ and ‘The Towering Inferno,’ in that a catastrophic event occurs and we follow a disparate group of people who will have to make some incredibly stressful, life-or-death decisions as they try to survive. In scene after scene, the special and practical effects create viscerally effective, heart-pounding scenarios.