Titanic

Rating:
Summary: Overrated much?
Review: I managed to see this film after it wasn't on the big screen anymore. Even on a television, the special effects are finely detailed and convincing, specifically in reference to the end of the film where the ship breaks apart. Of course this covers perhaps 30 minutes of this 3 hour pop culture pleaser. Why , oh why does every hollywood film have to involve some trite b.s. love story that reflects the shallowness of modern relationships? I already know about stereotypically good-looking guys and stereotypically good-looking girls "falling in love" with each other for no apparent reason, I saw plenty of that in highschool. If real life is any indication, its a good thing Mr. DiCaprio kicked the bucket, otherwise the two main characters would have been married within a week of the crash, had 40 children, then decided that their marriage "wasn't working for some reason", divorced, and traumatized their kids by fighting over rights to see them. Ho hum.

It probably wouldn't be so bad if the film focused more on the tragedy of the sinking than the lust afair. Sadly, 30 minutes is all you get. One should probably be happy they at least get that. If you want to find out about the the Titanic, go watch one of the fantastic documentaries available. If you want to watch another tacky pop love film, go watch any of the other hundreds that are available. I hate to think of all the trendy boys and girls leaving the theater thinking they actually learned anything about the Titanic.

A travesty of a film? Perhaps. But at least those special effects were good!

Rating:
Summary: Melodramatic & Cheesy
Review: This movie was barely able to muster any kind of sympathy from me for the main characters. I would have been more entertained sitting at home watching reruns of News Radio.

Rating:
Summary: Why Didn't They Have It In Full Frame To?
Review: Well, I have this movie on DVD. The movie was great, but they didn't have the film in Full Frame on DVD. So I had to watch it at a 2.85.1 Widescreen format. Also, there were no behind the scenes about how they made the movie Titanic. The only thing on this DVD was just the movie. I wish they would of put more interactive stuff on this DVD, or should of made a box set at lest. Disc One (Widescreen), Disc Two (Full Frame). So if you are a person who loves more than just a movie on DVD, don't count on getting it! You will only just get the movie in Widescreen format.

Rating:
Summary: the biggest . . . takes a little long to sink, though
Review: ok, "Titanic" is a good movie. but winning 11 Academy Awards? i don't think so. if i were the Oscar people, i would give it maybe 5 or 6.
the plot is pretty simple: a rich girl falling in love with a poor guy. their torrid affair has only one obsticle: the ship they're in love on is sinking.
while being a bit too long, "Titanic" is historically accurate and truly a winner. it's a box office giant, andf let me say that i was very impressed when i saw it in the theaters. i own the DVD, and my girlfriend and i watch it often, although i am tired of it. it's one of those movies that you see once, like it, but never want to see it again.
here's the bottom line: "Titanic" is a very good movie, but it is flawed. once, it's a bit mushy and too focused around the lovers. two, it can be boring at times and is a littel too long. but if you're looking for a good love story, look no further than "Titanic" director James Cameron does it again. the special effects are superb, and James Horner's music is fabulous. rent "Titanic" and see it for yourself!

Rating:
Summary: Based on an untrue story!
Review: A. Doing it in the back of a car is not true love, kids. Jack would've ditched her at the nearest port. Think about it.
B. Rose let go, after all. Get over it.
C. Go watch Casablanca; your brain won't atrophy just because it's B&W. Now that's a love story. (And the dialogue is infinitely better.)

Rating:
Summary: Amazing -- something new to hate with each viewing
Review: Where to begin? Its often said that a great film gives you something new to love with each viewing. Titanic is the exact opposite. Everytime I have seen this film (or even just clips of this film) I've found something new to despise. Upon first viewing, it was the laughable script. Then, it was Leonardo DiCaprio's shrill, look-ma-I-got-talent performance. Next, it was how the film wasted a quirky actor like Bill Paxton. Kathy Bates followed and then Gloria Stuart came along and -- well, the list just goes on and on. It is, afterall, a forty-eight hour film...

Anyway, Titanic is a love story set upon the doomed ocean liner Titanic in which director Cameron explores issues of class and wealth with a niave fervor that reminds one of a college freshman who had just read Marx for the first time and is convinced that he's the first person in the history of the world to ever realize that the rich are different. Kate Winslet is engaged to Billy Zane who is so evil that, even when the ship is sinking, he still feels the need to chase his fiancee and her lover with a gun while shouting stuff like, "I hope you'll be very happy together!" One wonders if Cameron actually wrote that line or if Zane (whose performance suggests that he, at least, realized how ludicrous the film was) simply improvised it out of a desire to give the audience a good laugh. Kate's lover is played by Leonardo DiCaprio who, in this film, looks and sounds like he's about twelve. He's a poor artist named Jack. His poverty is not hard to understand as the sketches seen in his sketchbook suggest that he's not a very good artist. As well, lines about being a tumbleweed in the wind suggest that he's decided to disguise his lack of talent by being as pretentiously annoying and smug as possible. Anyway, DiCaprio reveals to the sheltered Winslet what its like to be poor. Apparently, poverty means you dance a lot, carry your own fiddles, and of course die when the ship goes down.

Kate Winslet is one of the few things in this film that I have yet to find a reason to hate, except for the fact that she's far too talented to be stuck in such a nothing role. For all the talk of Winslet playing a strong, independent woman, her function in the script seems to be 1) to get naked, 2) to be saved by DiCaprio, and 3) to continually look up at DiCaprio and say, "If only I could be like you, Jack!" In short, she is a male fantasy and luckily, Winslet is a good enough actress to be able to bring some wit and verve to a seriously underwritten role. Perhaps the only real problem with her casting is that its hard to believe someone with her natural intelligence would require a suitor as dim and childish as DiCaprio to open up the world for her. When the two of them do finally consumate their affair, several reviewers -- at the time -- mentioned that the loss of virginity was meant to parrallell the world's loss of innocence. It took me a while before I realized that Winslet, and not DiCaprio, was supposed to be the virgin.

Anyway, the film also comes with a second story -- a framing story that takes place in the present in which it is tragically revealed that Winslet has grown up to become Gloria Stuart who then proceeds to tell her story to Bill Paxton. Stuart plays a typical movie version of an old woman -- the opinionated, crusty old biddy that everyone on screen adores but in real life you'd go out of your way to avoid.

Of course, some might say that this film isn't about complex characters or a thought-provoking script. Its about Cameron showing what he can do with a camera! Its a "director's film." Well, its a really long director's film that reveals that the director has absolutely no clue how to make anything resembling human interaction in any way compelling. The story drags, especially when that awful old woman is on screen, and the sinking ship isn't really all that spectacular unless its looming above you on a big movie screen. Cameron reveals that he has a good feel for special effects with this film. Well, good for him. The men who designed and built the original Titanic had a good feel for technology too. In the case of both film and ship, a lot of otherwise sensible people paid far too much money for the experience and both passengers and viewers were repaid for their faith by being drowned in a sea of mediocrity.

Rating:
Summary: Took too long to sink
Review: The only thing that could have made this movie watchable is if Leonardo DiCaprio's character had died before the ship left the harbor. It's a good thing that women find him attractive, because he will not be able to support himself on his acting ability alone.

The movie was a melodramatic mess. The characters were just cutouts, two dimentional and without depth. I felt no sympathy for any of them when the boat went down, just a sense of relief that this long winded tear jerker was almost over.

Lowest common denominator story-telling at its finest.

I'm really saddened that Cameron would unleash this "disaster" on us. He's done some really entertaining work, Aliens and True Lies come to mind. Maybe now that he's gotten obscenely wealthy off of this flick, he'll go back to writing and directing deeper films.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies ever made!
Review: We all know the hype Titanic received when it was released before and even more so after it was first released on December 19th, 1997. But given the facts that this film is the most expensive ever created, at a cost of $200 million, and later becoming the most successful movie ever released, making over $2.5 billion worldwide in ticket sales. As well as having an entire new studio, Fox Studios Baja, built for the sole purpose of creating this mammoth film.
Obviously, the filmmakers of Titanic, spearheaded by Director/ Writer/ Editor/ etc James Cameron, where very dedicated to the creation of this film, having spent over five years of his life working tirelessly on the creation of what he hoped would be a masterpiece. Justifiably, he was not to be disappointed, and neither was the world public. While it seems there are two groups of people when it comes to Titanic, those who thought it was just the best thing to ever happen to moviemaking (As I do) and others who thought it was just another movie, in retrospect, we can all appreciate it to one degree or another.
The film opens in sweeping shots of the departure of the ship shown in sepia-tone, and transfers almost immediately to the depths of the ocean, and the ghostly hulking remains of the once grand ship, which to a large degree still retains it's grandeur, standing proud and upright as it decays away so far down in the sea.
Soon after, with the introduction of the treasure hunter Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton), we learn he is not at this peaceful place for research, but rather he is hear in search of a dazzling blue diamond, and nothing less. Despite his discovery of the suite's safe, once he lifts it to the research vessel's deck, he finds the safe is empty of the elusive diamond, but he does find a charcoal drawing of nude woman, nearly nude actually, she is wearing the dazzling diamond on a white diamond chain around her neck. This discovery leads Old Rose (Gloria Stuart) to call the expedition with the news that she is the "woman in the picture."
This leads her to come out to the research ship, and begin her tale. We are then transported to sailing day, April 10th, 1912, and almost immediately introduced to a young woman (Kate Winslet) in a white and blue pinstriped suit, with deep beautiful red locks, in an oversized purple wicker hat, adorned by an ever more oversized light purple bow. Soon after, we are shown a nearby pub, where a handsome shaggy haired blonde (Leonardo DiCaprio) is engaged in a poker game, attempting to win a trip aboard the nearby Titanic.
Soon after, it is discovered this young woman is being forced into a loveless marriage, all for the sake of maintaining her mother's and her own way of living. We soon see young Rose is desperate to escape her life, even at the expense of ending it. To do so, she escapes to the stern of the ship, where she stands, contemplating jumping. Jack cautiously approaches her, they both immediately drawn out of their elements, she existing in these moments as nothing more than a desperate young girl, and he as a caring young man trying to understand her desperation and help her overcome it.
From this point, their relationship slowly develops, as she is gradually drawn out of her high society all-rules world, and into his world of carefree life, and uninhibited expressionism. This exposure begins slowly the morning after the suicide incident, after Rose's fiancé has presented her with the massive Heart of the Ocean necklace as a token of his affection, showing the only way he knows to express love is through physical possessions, which is how he views Rose herself, as nothing more than a possession. The next morning Rose and Jack Walk along the decks, gradually getting to know one another, as well, here Rose is first drawn into Jack's world when he shows her his sketches, and later teaches her to spit overboard. Later Rose is further exposed to his world when he takes control of the conversation in the First Class Dining Saloon, and then takes her for a "real party" in steerage class, furter exposing her to his world.
The next morning, Rose's fiancé, Cal (Billy Zane), explodes at Rose at breakfast, which perhaps is her first turning point in wanting to leave her world and enter Jack's.
Soon after, she is confronted by Jack, and dismisses him, and then goes looking for him, and his willing affections again. She goes flying with him on the bow, and shares what is perhaps the most affectionate moment of her life, from this moment, she is completely within Jack's world. She soon invites Jack to her suite, for him to commission the later discovered sketch of Rose wearing the diamond. Afterward, she escapes with him and they consummate the relationship in the backseat of a car in the cargo hold. Just afterward, Rose expresses her desire to change her life, just as a huge piece of ice changes the fates of all aboard the ship!
Rose, showing concern for her mother, urges Jack to return with her to tell her mother about the accident. While doing so, Cal has Jack arrested for stealing the necklace, which he had planted in his pocket. Minutes later, when the ship's builder Thomas Andrews (Victor Garber) informs Rose the ship will in fact sink, she rushes to find Jack below, trudging through the bowls of the ship in her multilayered dress and heavy pink overcoat, in search of her love. When she finally finds him, she is forced to search frantically for an axe to free him, the couple eventually escaping the ever flooding areas of the ship. The doomed couple eventually find themselves on the tip of the stern, at the same place where they first met. In a stunning display of special effects, the ship slowly slips below the waves, the couple suddenly separated, and rejoined moments later. Jack then finds Rose a piece of wood to stay out of the water on, he meanwhile rests on the edge of it. They both eventually fall asleep, Jack slipping gracefully into death, and Rose seeing an approaching lifeboat, tries to wake him, but finding him passed away, lets him slip away, while she is eventually is able to gain access into a lifeboat.
Once Rose portrays her story to the treasure hunters she slips to the end of the research ship and drops the necklace, which she has had the entire time, back into the ocean, allowing her to finally have peace with the past. That night she dreams or dies (you decide) and goes back to the Titanic in a beautiful white gown and back into the arms of her beloved. The film then ends with the haunting balled sang perfectly by Celine Dion.
While the screenplay may have it's weak points, these are more than rectified by the immense attention to detail, making every detail of the film as historically accurate as is possible, by the detail obsessed James Cameron. Amplifying the historical details even further are the amazing gowns worn by Rose, as well as all the supporting player's costuming. The detail was such with this film, that the costuming budget alone was a light $7 million.
With the massive amounts of time, effort, obsession, financial backing, and ultimately international unprecedented financial and award winning success, how could anyone pass this movie off as just an over hyped film! I say, give the film a shot, even if you don't think you'll like it. Honestly, I originally disregarded the film myself, but once I heard of how nearly everyone who were seeing it were loving it, I went to see it the day after Christmas of 1997, and I have never looked back! I recommend this film above any other I have ever seen in my life! If you haven't allowed yourself the pleasure of this film, run, don't walk, to the nearest store and rent it! And get yourself ready for the next three and a half hours to just sail away!

Rating:
Summary: Sink the Titanic!
Review: And so, we come to the most successful film of all time. I'm sure you know the story by now, so i won't bore you with that. One thing i will make clear though is that when i originally saw Titanic i had a higher opinion of it. Not much higher, mind. No, i just thought it was an okay film - a 3/5 as opposed to a 2/5. However, on repaeted viewings i have begun to see what a charlatan i was for giving it such a high rating. And lovers of the film can't say that watching it on video or DVD, "diminishes the impact" because the second time i saw it was again at the cinema. I have watched it since on the small screen, and it's even worse.

Stripped of the impact that the undoubtedly wonderful special effects had on the big screen, you can really see the film for what it is. And it's not a pretty sight. Not that i hadn't noticed that on my second cinematic trip. But in the comfort of your home it's decidedly discomforting.

James Cameron's film is about as vacuous as space, but less interesting. The priniciple lovers, (DiCaprio and Winslet) don't put in bad performances, it's just they have to deliver lines of dialogue of the lowest order.

I always respected Cameron, but clearly his way with plot and dialogue does not match his mastery of special effects. Gripping though the Terminator films were, they weren't exactly stretched on the script front. But in Titanic, Cameron clearly has had a fair stab at keeping the audience for 3 hours, but has failed. The charcters are two dimensional, and at the worst horribly cliched (Evil suitor, cold prospective mother in law, sinister British sidekick, proud Captain, spunky Southern gal!) And as for characters who don't hale from America, they're given some awful lines to chew on. The British say things like "Bleeding Christ" (I am British and have never heard anyone of any generation use this phrase). Of course all the Brits are evil, as they always are, and all the Irish are fun loving, as usual, and the Latin American character is, naturally, "hot tempered." Even Rose and Jack are hardly the most well rounded characters.

Billy Zane seems to have the most fun in his role, but that is little more than a pantomime performance. And sadly, that it was Titanic basically is, an overblown big budget pantomime, asking the audience to care about characters they don't even find believeable.

I know, i will be in the minority with this view, and that there are those, less cynical than me, who will marvel in a tale of romance and intrigue, and i can understand that. It just seems a shame that Cameron had in his hands one of the greatest stories ever told, full of disaster, pain, passion and honour, and he turned it into a soap opera. Missed opportunity, i feel.

Titanic is not totally unappealing, and if you haven't seen it it's worth checking out once. But with so much brilliant cinema out there i wouldn't waste anymore of your life than is neccessary. Read a book!

Rating:
Summary: [Stuff] doesn't always float.
Review: The success of TITANIC represents the surprise emergence of the previously underestimated economic power of 12-14 year old girls, some of whom may actually develop taste buds as they reach maturity. Many, however, will not - and there is no cure as yet.

As for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - If you ever thought Oscar was a mark of quality, there's no hope for you. I broke my rule about "Best Picture" winners and watched this. I probably deserved what I got.

James Cameron writes amazing stinko dialogue that would have been laughed off the screen back in the 30's - which is about how long it's been since we saw some of the Euro-stereotypes that got an unwelcome resurrection for this movie along with the moldy poor-little-rich-girl scenario. .... How do his films manage to make money? The great unwashed must have apallingly bad taste.