Titanic

Rating:
Summary: Chick Film With Innovative Effects
Review: The visuals are incredible, the production is excellent, the acting is good--but the romance is dull, unbelieveable, and the story is too long. The minor characters were much more fasinating and I kept hoping we would see more of the genuine historically accurate folks but we did not. The result is that historical accuracy was compromised and we were given a boring romance. Yes, we get to see the ship sink and it is convincingly devastating and sad when not frustrating.

Rating:
Summary: Big Screen, Small Screen Phenomenon Strikes Again
Review: I saw "Titanic" in the movie house three separate times, and all of those times, I just was enthralled by the special effects and the scope of the movie. Then, when it became available, I rented it to show my family members who hadn't gotten around to seeing it. The result? The Incredible Shrinking Movie.

Ever have that experience? How come it seemed so great in the movies, but at home, no? Now don't get me wrong: the special effects still worked fine, but what really hit me was how shallow the two main actors were. I hadn't realized it in the theatre, but now it was plain as day that their characters were selfish and self-seeking at all times. This version of the Titanic story was the only one that left out any of the real-life human interest stories about self-sacrifice on the part of the passengers. All we saw was Jack and Rose trying to get themselves off the ship, period. No help to anyone else. Are we supposed to infer that director Cameron disbelieved that the real-life people were truly capable of nobility, and that's why he totally ignored that aspect of the history? Too bad if so, because that's really what always captures our interest about this disaster, that people in such dire circumstances retained their humanity to such an extent and in many cases laid down their lives for another's. The Titanic story is the story of many individuals, not just one big mob or indiscriminant group of people killed in an air crash. That's why it's so compelling all these years later, because ideals are timeless.

Back to the movie. By the way, I hated that Gloria Stuart. So she was old, so what? That didn't make her a good actress. I think Cameron ought to have gotten an old actress who actually looks something like Winslet, such as Olivia de Havilland. Kate and Leonardo were a very young couple, but I didn't mind that. I was gladdest of all to see that one of the upper crust British gents was played by Bernard Fox, Dr. Bombay from "Bewitched".

So, in the end, I would consider making my own tape of "Titanic" rather than buying it, because I would seriously want to cut Gloria Stuart out. Otherwise, I was sorry that I wasn't able to enjoy it as much out of the theatre as in.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated film
Review: This film is OK, but the number of main characters is too small-aside from the two lovers, there are only a couple of other people to follow in this film- the effects are pretty good, but I read that they only used a scale model sized boat that was several hundred feet smaller than the real Titanic- and the scenes where the ship sails in the water look fake- the ship seems to be moving way too fast, like its doing 50 knots instead of 20. There are scenes where de Caprio's acting, which is supposed to be taking place in the early 1900's, sounds like he is a hip hop man for 21st century Rap music.

Rating:
Summary: TITANIC
Review: Writer Directer James Cameron has, against all odds, come up with an old fashioned style classic in the oft told tale of the sinking of the ''ultimate'' luxury liner.Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are perfectly cast as the vulnerable young lovers from opposite ends of the social strata who find true passion before the ship inevitably collides with an iceberg.As Gone with the wind and Casablanca, Titanic manages to set a touching story against a cataclsmic backdrop to touch on universal emotions and timeless grace.RATED PG-13 for Violence, Nudity, and Language

Rating:
Summary: Titanic waste of money and time...
Review: To put it succinctly, this movie is a completely unoriginal, cliche ridden piece of garbage. The dialogue is some of the worst I have ever heard. The romance is sickly sweet and utterly predictable. If you want to see some excellent period piece-type romances try something like The Age of Innocence, Dangerous Liaisons, or A Room with a View (particularly excellent!). At least these are well acted and well written. Titanic is an overly hyped completely commercialized stinker with a capital "S"!

Rating:
Summary: The most overrated movie of all time and space
Review: This is one of those movies I watch once, and then forget about, and then never bother to watch again. When it first came out, I trashed it without even seeing it, because I felt like hating a movie. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that it would become the highest grossing movie of all time, much to my dismay. Later, when I did see it, I said, "Eh." It's not worth my time to go crazy and bash this, and it wasn't worth my time to watch the movie. I wasn't really moved, and I'm one of the most sensitive guys I know (One of the few that will freely and openly admit that he cried while playing video games where characters died, like Final Fantasy VII). Leonardo DiCaprio is an alright actor, Kate Winslet isn't so great. It's mediocre. The story is, well, mediocre. In fact, I'd say that about everything. Just plain mediocre. What really upsets me is that the special effects for this movie beat "Starship Troopers" at the Academy Awards - sure, Titanic's effects were cool, but at the time, ST had the greatest effects available. Anyway, after my first viewing, I was not enthralled, and I didn't feel like watching it again. Since then, I've mostly forgot about it, much like the rest of the world (I know you're going to say that nobody forgot about it, but it's not as influential a movie as you might think). Of course, this movie was not meant for people like me.

Rating:
Summary: 1500 people died. . .
Review: . . .and the best director James Cameron could do in their honor is to invent a sleazy love story (expressing late 20th century, NOT early 20th century values). The fictional plotline was utterly unnecessary, detracted from an already extremely exciting story, and shows tremendous disrespect for the victims of this great tragedy. I'm not impressed with agenda-driven films. This one disgusts me.

Rating:
Summary: Timeless Epic
Review: I avoided seeing Titanic until 4 months after it was released because back then I was in the same mindset that many of these reviewers here are: "I know how it ends" or "Only teenage girls want to see it" I would say. I finally went and saw Titanic with a still closed mind. I knew I would not like it and in fact I decided beforehand that I would not like it. Boy was I wrong! From the opening sequence until the end credits this I was riveted to the screen. Never have I seen a movie where noone got up to leave to goto the bathroom or get a snack. The entire audience never made a peep-noone talked or made a sound. About halfway thru thu the movie I forced my eyes off the screen and looked around the theatre and everyone was sitting there with their eyes and jaws wide open at the screen. I never looked at my watch to see how much time had gone. Even near the end it felt that I was sitting there for only a few minutes. Never did the movie seem to drag. I saw the movie five times in the theater and each time almost the entire audience sat thru the end credits. I never have seen that happen before or after.

As far as the naysayers go and the very negative reviews they give, I believe they are mostly guys who don't feel comfortable expressing their emotions and hate the film because it made them cry and they don't want to admit it or have a hard time dealing with that. I have friends who saw the movie with their buddies and have the same opinion as me.

The non believers like to justify their negativity by saying that all 3 hour epics or overhyped movies win academy awards. That is far from the truth-can you say Wyatt Erp or Waterworld? Or they say that the move was so overhyped it forced people to go see it. Well I never saw a Titanic commercial on TV until after I saw the movie. Lastly, there is the argument that teenage girls made the movie such as success because they wanted to see Leonardo and went repeatedly to see the movie. Definitely that is true, but if that is the only reason Titanic was a success then you must ask yourself "Why aren't any of Leonardos' movies following Titanic super-sucessful?"

Anyways, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Regarding the DVD, get it! Much better picture quality than VHS, but I feel it should have a few more extra goodies. Watching Titanic (or any movie) at home just isn't the same as seeing it in a theater (going from a 40 foot screen to a 36 inch screen alot is lost) no matter how good of a home theater you have. And you don't feel the emotions of the other few hundred people in the theatre. But you know you can't go back, and until Titanic is rereleased in theatres, the DVD is the best you can get.

Rating:
Summary: The Name Says It All
Review: James Cameron has reached the zenith of his career and now has nowhere to go but down. Once an epic of this proportion hits the billion-dollar mark, it announces the apex of its creator and it will never see its equal. "Titanic" couldn't have asked for a better cast, the beautiful russet-tressed Winslet and the king of heartthrob's DiCaprio both actors from a generation that is known to spend a good chunk of their hard-earned capital each month on their local cineplexes. It also couldn't have gone wrong with its December release date, people overly stressed by the financial and emotional crush of holiday shopping. Kids are out of school for a week, their parents are trying to find ways to relax and a retreat into a good movie theater is the ideal recreation.

What won the majority of Titanic's audience was a base ripped directly from the pages of a dozen cheesy romance novels: a story of true love. Cameron said it first: "Titanic is not just a cautionary tale - a myth, a parable, a metaphor for the ills of mankind. It is also a story of faith, courage, sacrifice and, above all else, love." There's a romantic schmuck lurking inside us all and this film's theme of undying devotion sucked us in by the thousands, nary a dry eye in the house after each of its glorified 3-hour screenings. It was the big kahuna at 1998's Academy Awards and raked in 11 of its 14 trophies, tying with 1959's Roman tour de force "Ben-Hur". With a multi-million dollar budget paying for its hundreds of visual spectacles, a life-size model of the doomed vessel and the cost of filming equipment, it grossed nearly ten times the cost and was screened nationwide in theaters for almost four months.

Kate Winslet was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of Rose Dewitt-Bukater, an American aristocrat engaged to greedy rogue Cal Hockley (Zane). She realizes from the moment she is betrothed that she will marry into a life of tea times, cotillions and the superficial banter of Philadelphia's high society. Beneath her poised exterior, Rose is a fiery and emancipated soul but the obligation of her marriage and the reassurance of financial security is enforced upon her by her rigid and self-regarding mother Ruth (Fisher). She assumes that her life as she knows it is over and decides to end it all by somersaulting into an icy sepulcher, dangling over Titanic's rail and facing the wrath of the arctic waves below. Little does she know, a man named Jack Dawson stands nearby, hearing her despondent sobs. Not one to overlook a possible tragedy, he dissuades her from surrendering to the bitter cold of the North Atlantic and pulls her from the bow. It isn't love at first sight as one would think, but Rose comes to acknowledge that Jack is a compassionate and chivalrous soul that not only will steal in her heart but will change her life forever.

Cameron had several historians on hand for an accurate recreation of the fated vessel and a meticulous team of marine explorers who performed twelve dives to gather footage. Cameron accompanied his team in a submersible complete with a special camera that withstood the staggering PSI of the Atlantic's opaque depths. His crack team also recruited several of the companies that had originally furnished the Titanic (carpets, chandeliers) when it began construction in 1908 - quite a few of the original patterns and designs were still on record. Kudos to James Horner's haunting and touching score with Norwegian vocalist Sissel Kyrkjebo voicing the lingering and heartrending vocals.

A majority of the key players give admirable performances, Fisher perfectly icy and Zane perfectly snide. Cameron chose other actors according to their physical countenance, a good deal of them bearing an eerie resemblance to their real-life counterparts such as Captain Edward J. Smith (Bernard Hill), The "Unsinkable" Molly Brown (Kathy Bates) and J. Bruce Ismay (Jonathan Hyde). I didn't think much of Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor but I thought that his Oscar nomination for "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" had to count for something. Then I saw "The Basketball Diaries" - every Tiger Beat vision I had of him pretty much petered out after that. I was thus able to watch him in "Titanic" without prejudice and left the theater convinced that he would be more than just a pretty face in the next few years - he would be a megastar. Since then, DiCaprio has appeared in "The Man In The Iron Mask", "Celebrity" and the box-office bummer "The Beach" (the inevitable rotten apple; had to happen sometime). He is currently on location for the filming of Martin Scorsese's "Gangs Of New York" and will repeat the challenge of portraying twin brothers in Randall Wallace's factual-based film bio "Johnny Eck". Let's hope those two projects put him back on track and back in the limelight where he rightfully belongs.

"Titanic" may have finally exhausted the general populace's patience but certainly these people have to give it its due for the monstrous appeal it gained and the painstaking effort that Cameron poured into the film. Some may scoff at the movie's saccharin premise but "Titanic" will remain a well-regarded classic for years, finding its place among other Hollywood epics like "Cleopatra", "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Spartacus".

Rating:
Summary: What can I say but, I really liked this movie?NOT!
Review: Okay, some serious comments now. It seems an injustice that James Cameron did not suffer the same fate that Michael Cimino endured when his epic film, Heaven's Gate, ended up with massive critical damage. Titanic was a bad movie that won out by pushing people's visceral buttons rather than by telling the truth about history. Whether the director's version of that other epic was good or bad will never truly be known since there will never be a definitive DVD or other hommage.

Some tired, hackened examples of Cameron's inaccuracies include the cookie-cutter characterizations of his bad guy, the rich snob that would part the heroine from her One True Love. I mean, when does this really happen? In reality, the rich girl played by Winslet never would have fallen for the wharf rat played by DiCaprio. The only character worthy to mention by name is Molly Brown, and she should have had a lot more time on screen. I would have thought better of a film that spent more time and money on historical research than pyrotechnical special effects.

James Cameron, you are most definitely not worthy!