Titanic (1997)

[india7]

petals said:

I hate most romantic movies, and Leo DiCaprio is just silly as a leading man. Honestly, I just wanted Winslet to snap him in half over her knee.

But once that ship starts sinking, it's an awesome movie.

See, that's how I feel about it - it didn't really start getting interesting to me till the ship sinks.

As for the song, I thought it was lovely the first couple of times I heard it - then it got so overplayed, I wanted to scream. However, it's interesting what can happen when people are given a bit of a vacation from an overplayed song like that. Five years after the movie, Kimberly Locke sang "MHWGO" in the AI2 finals, and it was beautiful! First off all because I hadn't mercifully heard the song in five years. Second of all, because K-Lo has this gorgeous smokey quality to her voice that really balanced out the sugary sweetness of the song, and it was absolutly gorgeous. For as much as I grew to hate that song, that was absolutely, to me, one of the best performances on AI that I ever heard.

[magazinewhore]

I liked the detail Cameron put into the ship and the sinking stuff. But the love story was pure cheese. However, I didn't mind because I liked everything else and was happy to spend 3 hours or whatever in that world.

Kate and Leo: no chemistry. Although I thought they were both good as the characters, if that makes sense.

[luciano]

atreides said:

It can be interpreted either way. Either Rose dies and joins Jack et al. in Titanic heaven or she's just dreaming about him, having finally found closure by dropping the necklace in the ocean. James Cameron's commentary track on the DVD says pretty much the same thing.

So . . . either way I look at it, I'm right? Awesome.

[speciousreasoning]

linared said:

I did cry buckets during the movie but I was only 15 so I was at the perfect age to be suckered in. I have to say that I now I think that Rose lived her life and never told her mother that she lived. I know they didn't get along but seems really cruel.

ITA. It was a childish move to never ever tell her mother that she survived the whole sinking thing because I think that the character never did. But with the dialogue and the story as it was written to be acted like Rose was a twelve year old, it doesn't surprise me.

As for Leo, I never thought he was a heart throb, even with this movie. Too bad Jack wasn't played by an actual man. Then I might have gotten all teenager-y over him.

That said, the movie was pure crap. Oh, it's fun to watch now, but the story gives me a seizure. The special effects are kick ass though.
I still laugh when the guy hits the propeller blade on the way down. Takes me out of the movie, that's for sure.

[Deleted]

luciano said:

Confession: The first time I saw it, I didn't even notice that Jack died. I was too busy going "Holy Shit, that was the most amazing ship sinking I've ever seen!" and then "Hey, where'd Jack go?"

Heh. It took me two viewings to get that Rose died in the end. I thought she was dreaming the first time around. When I saw it the second time [on my, ahem, bootleg copy - you're not alone, Shanmac], I was like, "Oh. Oh."

Actually, there's still debate about that-whether or not it was a dream, or whether she died. I like to think it was a dream-I mean, what about her husband? She ends up in Heaven with some guy she knew for what-two days?

The saddest parts for me were the scenes in which the Strausses went to bed together and the mother tells her kids a story, all while the boat is sinking.

That's the part that got me crying as well.

[Deleted]

I think the backlash against 'Titanic' is unfortunate. Is it the best movie evah? Oh gosh, no. But it is a very effective historical romance. The historical detail is unbelievably accurate. The special effects are incorporated seamlessly into the story (at no point did I stop and think 'man, those are great pixels', something I do in almost every other CGI-heavy film). The romance is sweet when needed and smokin' sexy without getting gross. Is Leo too young? Heck no. He's age-appropriate for Kate Winslet's character. They're both youngsters on the cusp of mature adulthood which makes their losses that much more tragic. Leo's character is suitably footloose and gormless considering he's basically a devil-may-care partyer. One thing I really like about the movie is that it takes the emotions of young lovers, both male and female, seriously. I think that's why so many teens glommed onto it (the same reason they like 'The Notebook'). The media spun it as "the chicks dig Leo" but I think it went deeper. Here was a movie where the young female lead took charge of her sexual and romantic destiny, rather than being a stereotypical virgin, idiot, or slut. The male lead wasn't a moron, geek, or jock (the only male roles in teen romance films it seems).

If you want to see how historical romance films generally pan out in Hollywood, watch a couple of truly dreadful films: 'Pearl Harbor' and 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'.

[kayti2212]

Great post, dguzpy.

I don't care what anyone says - I love this movie and I loved Leo and Kate in it.

[Binky]

If you want to see how historical romance films generally pan out in Hollywood, watch a couple of truly dreadful films: 'Pearl Harbor' and 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin'.

Good point.

The special effects in Titanic are indeed amazing. I know James Cameron is apparently a lunatic psycho nightmare to work with, but damn does he know how to make a shiny movie.

[laconicchick]

What's also impressive is that the special effects are still pretty good almost 10 years later (or at least I think so... I watched the movie a few months ago, and I don't remember saying, "Damn, those are some crappy special effects").

[Wol]

I forgot how annoyed I was that she drops the necklace back into the ocean at the end. Maybe her grandchildren might want it, or might want the millions they could get by selling it? Crazy old bitch.

When this was the Most!Expensive!Movie!Ever!Made! Mr. Wol and I thought it should have a running counter at the bottom that reflected the budget. Like when Leo shows up the total jumps up 2 million (or whatever his salary was), and when the boat starts to go down it should just be rolling out of control with every effects shot, until it reached $120 million, or whatever the final budget was. Cause unlike a lot of expensive movies, every penny of that budget is up there on the screen.

I remain disappointed that Titanic's success appears to have paralyzed Cameron as a filmmaker.

A friend who is an agent had two clients in Titanic. The production was as hellish as has been reported, and the actors were literally trapped in Mexico for weeks on end without working a day. A few people tried to take off at their own expense, and Fox would throw a hissy and threaten lawsuits until they returned to the set to sit around and do nothing. Yes, they were getting paid for all that time, but they were also having to turn down work because the shoot was running so far over.