Winner of 11 Oscars, James Cameron's effects-driven blockbuster puts a human face on a tragedy of epic proportions by wedding the historical tale of the doomed ocean liner with a fictional romance between two of the ship's ill-fated passengers. Society girl Rose Dewitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and penniless artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggle to survive both the sinking ship -- and the wrath of Rose's wealthy fiancé (Billy Zane).
Jason
Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me... it brought me to you. And I'm thankful for that, Rose. I'm thankful. You must do me this honor, Rose. Promise me you'll survive. That you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise.
What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said. I mean its the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time. When it came out I was in 7th grade and I remember some of the girls competing to see who could see it the most in theaters. I believe the winner saw it 11 times. So for someone to sit through a 3 hour and 15 minute long movie over and over and over again, it must of done something right.
Actually, I kinda think it did everything right. I mean the story is great, the characters are great and the movie was visually stunning. However I think this movie has one problem, its audience is not that broad. Its kinda the quintessential chick flick (so then I guess it is a broad audience, get it broad). Which I think my quote shows perfectly. Its that sappy love story line that makes for a real tear-jerker. I don't think I personally know one guy who saw this because he wanted too. Most were either doing it because there girlfriend wanted to, or so that they could impress a girl by being able to talk about it.
Final Thought- This movie is good, Cameron did a great job of putting two young lovers on the worlds most famous boat and not making the the story talk to much about either one, but it is not my type of movie. It does not go one my list, but I do recommend that if you've never seen grab your significant other and do so.
Bryan
"Hello Detective" (Okay, that's not a real quote, but I spent the entire movie hoping David Warner's character would say it. How about...
"It was a ship of dreams to everyone else. To me it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains. Outwardly, I was everything a well brought up girl should be. Inside, I was screaming."
So I was not a fan of Titanic when it first came out, and so I wasn't particularly looking forward to this screening. It was certainly better than I remember, but I still don't think it quite makes the list of the greatest ever.
This is a good story, and it was a great setting to force tragedy upon a love story to keep it novel and different from the multitudes of other tales of love. The narration by old Rose set the stage for the story very well, and was delivered phenomenally. Billy Zane was a little over the top as a scorned lover, but for the most part the acting was up to snub.
Titanic did many things very well, and did keep me interested. It didn't blow my hair back, and there are quite a few movies that would go onto my list way ahead of Titanic. That said, I can understand why someone else would put it on theirs.
Final Thought - This movie had such a huge impact on society and the film industry, I can understand why it should deserve a place on lists like these. It did not truly move me, neither as a love story, nor as an epic adventure, and so it does not come close to making my top 100. But it had potential, and can understand why some were moved.
Angel
That's the one good thing about Paris: there's a lot of girls willing to take their clothes off.
Can I just say that the first time I saw this I hated it. Like really really hated it. I am not really sure why I hated it so much. It might have had something to do with my strong distaste of Leo DiCaprio. By Might I mean my strong desire to see him die as painfully as possible in every role I had ever seen him in. Thankfully though I gave Leo and this movie a second chance. I found out that I actually liked this film. (SPOILER) Though I must admit he does die, so maybe that helped.
Something that I appreciated both times that I watched Titanic was the ship actually going down. Being young and watching the ship go down, it was a great CGI scene like never before. Not to mention it was the entire reason that I went to go watch it the first time. The second time around it felt a little different. It still felt like the entire point of the film was to watch the thing go down, but I was much more interested in the dynamic of the people on the ship rather than just watching the ship go down. Also this time since I had been spoiled by the wonder of modern technology I was much more aware of the moments where the CGI was quite obviously CGI. To be frank thought the film holds up pretty well for have being made in 1997.
Final Thoughts- I did enjoy this film exponentially more than I did the first time I watched it, but I still do not feel like I would have it on my list. I am on the other hand looking forward to seeing what beat this out and to some of the films I have seen already and comparing them to this. The characters seemed more realistic this time around. Both Leonardo DiCaprio as a youthful vagabond letting life take him where ever it may lead and Kate Winslet as a pompous spoiled daughter of the rich who will bend to no man and wants to take control of her own life. This time around they felt like they had both personality and weight to the character. Billy Zane was awesome as the rich bastard who wants Kate Winslet for his own. I spent the entire movie waiting for someone to punch him in the face. I suppose it took me being a little older to take the time to appreciate the actors and their performances.
Jason
Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me... it brought me to you. And I'm thankful for that, Rose. I'm thankful. You must do me this honor, Rose. Promise me you'll survive. That you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless. Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise.
What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said. I mean its the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time. When it came out I was in 7th grade and I remember some of the girls competing to see who could see it the most in theaters. I believe the winner saw it 11 times. So for someone to sit through a 3 hour and 15 minute long movie over and over and over again, it must of done something right.
Actually, I kinda think it did everything right. I mean the story is great, the characters are great and the movie was visually stunning. However I think this movie has one problem, its audience is not that broad. Its kinda the quintessential chick flick (so then I guess it is a broad audience, get it broad). Which I think my quote shows perfectly. Its that sappy love story line that makes for a real tear-jerker. I don't think I personally know one guy who saw this because he wanted too. Most were either doing it because there girlfriend wanted to, or so that they could impress a girl by being able to talk about it.
Final Thought- This movie is good, Cameron did a great job of putting two young lovers on the worlds most famous boat and not making the the story talk to much about either one, but it is not my type of movie. It does not go one my list, but I do recommend that if you've never seen grab your significant other and do so.
Bryan
"Hello Detective" (Okay, that's not a real quote, but I spent the entire movie hoping David Warner's character would say it. How about...
"It was a ship of dreams to everyone else. To me it was a slave ship, taking me back to America in chains. Outwardly, I was everything a well brought up girl should be. Inside, I was screaming."
So I was not a fan of Titanic when it first came out, and so I wasn't particularly looking forward to this screening. It was certainly better than I remember, but I still don't think it quite makes the list of the greatest ever.
This is a good story, and it was a great setting to force tragedy upon a love story to keep it novel and different from the multitudes of other tales of love. The narration by old Rose set the stage for the story very well, and was delivered phenomenally. Billy Zane was a little over the top as a scorned lover, but for the most part the acting was up to snub.
Titanic did many things very well, and did keep me interested. It didn't blow my hair back, and there are quite a few movies that would go onto my list way ahead of Titanic. That said, I can understand why someone else would put it on theirs.
Final Thought - This movie had such a huge impact on society and the film industry, I can understand why it should deserve a place on lists like these. It did not truly move me, neither as a love story, nor as an epic adventure, and so it does not come close to making my top 100. But it had potential, and can understand why some were moved.
Angel
That's the one good thing about Paris: there's a lot of girls willing to take their clothes off.
Can I just say that the first time I saw this I hated it. Like really really hated it. I am not really sure why I hated it so much. It might have had something to do with my strong distaste of Leo DiCaprio. By Might I mean my strong desire to see him die as painfully as possible in every role I had ever seen him in. Thankfully though I gave Leo and this movie a second chance. I found out that I actually liked this film. (SPOILER) Though I must admit he does die, so maybe that helped.
Something that I appreciated both times that I watched Titanic was the ship actually going down. Being young and watching the ship go down, it was a great CGI scene like never before. Not to mention it was the entire reason that I went to go watch it the first time. The second time around it felt a little different. It still felt like the entire point of the film was to watch the thing go down, but I was much more interested in the dynamic of the people on the ship rather than just watching the ship go down. Also this time since I had been spoiled by the wonder of modern technology I was much more aware of the moments where the CGI was quite obviously CGI. To be frank thought the film holds up pretty well for have being made in 1997.
Final Thoughts- I did enjoy this film exponentially more than I did the first time I watched it, but I still do not feel like I would have it on my list. I am on the other hand looking forward to seeing what beat this out and to some of the films I have seen already and comparing them to this. The characters seemed more realistic this time around. Both Leonardo DiCaprio as a youthful vagabond letting life take him where ever it may lead and Kate Winslet as a pompous spoiled daughter of the rich who will bend to no man and wants to take control of her own life. This time around they felt like they had both personality and weight to the character. Billy Zane was awesome as the rich bastard who wants Kate Winslet for his own. I spent the entire movie waiting for someone to punch him in the face. I suppose it took me being a little older to take the time to appreciate the actors and their performances.
Alfredo
You shine up like a new penny.
It may actually be safe to say that the first time we all saw this movie we didn't care much for it. Honestly though could you really blame us? We were twelve at the time and didn't really care much for good acting regardless of the the special effects that were strapped on with it. It was all Leo this and Leo that, and frankly the last thing a pre-teen boy wants to hear is about how dreamy someone is.
That was then though. Now, I'm a older, wiser and more mature (not by much though) and I can genuinely appreciate this film. I could honestly pick out how each performance from Kate Winslet's to Kathy Bates were phenomenally portrayed but it almost seems moot.
Hell I want to go on and on about a lot of things. The costumes were fantastic, the CGI, although obviously dated, was at times awe inspiring. Even the sound track did a great job of pulling me in. Again though it seems almost pointless. This movie won eleven Oscars for a reason. Including Best Picture and I think it deserved them. The only real issue I had with the movies was that I knew Rose was never really in any danger and I'm enough of a history buff to know that at the end, the boat sinks.
Final Thoughts - I obviously liked this movie, which is more words than I would have said about it thirteen years ago. I'm still not entirely sure I'd put this on my own personal list. It's close, so close in fact that it would probably only miss by a movie or two.
Please, Jay, the audience isn't "broad"? You mean, because it appealed to the OTHER 50% of the population, unlike Cameron's previous boring, violent, effects movies that appeal to males? When it comes down to it, almost no movie is capable of a "broad" audience.
ReplyDeleteI know that you actually reviewed the movie positively... but you're falling into the trap that every guy, all the way up to the professional reviewers, who ever reviewed/judged a piece of culture ever does: automatically dismiss something just because it's popular among teen girls.
Well, while you guys were 12-13 year old boys hating the movie because you thought it was a cheesy girl thing, I was an 11 year old girl who loved the movie because it made me cry.
Looking back on it now, the characters were cliche (though well-acted) and good god that song was annoying... but it worked. 'Titanic' was kind of a throw-back to old Hollywood epics, but done with brand new technology that looks great even today.
I'm confused...We all reviewed it positively, I mean like I said the movie is good. It just isn't my type of movie. I've actually said that a couple times while doing this project with movies of all shapes and sizes and audiences. So I guess what confuses me is why you feel like we dismissed this film. I actually think we all acknowledged it's accomplishments and short comings evenly. I mean Frado even said it may make his list.
ReplyDeleteI also feel like you think our opinions at the age of 12 actually affects our opinions today
And just out of curiouslty if you were making a list of your 100 favorite movies would titanic be on it
Yeah, I acknowledged that you gave it the proverbial "thumbs up" :) but I'm just pointing out that the "shortcoming" you mentioned is based on whether or not you believe the film is appropriate for non female audiences, like yourself. My response is that there is no movie that appeals to everyone, so every movie ever made has that same shortcoming. So what do you mean by a "broad" audience? (I'm gonna hope you don't actually mean that bad pun.) Who comprises this faceless mass of people who are all drawn to the same movie?
ReplyDeleteAnd I do think your former opinion affected (however slightly) your current opinion - or you wouldn't have mentioned it. You all talked about of how each of you disliked it when it first came out, whether bc of overexposure, teenage male aversion to sappiness, or Leo DiCaprio-hate.
And it would probably make my list, similar position too. Somewhere in the 80s.
You bring up a good point, about initial opinions affecting our perspectives on film. This movie is contemporary enough that we can discuss our first viewings, both positive and negative, and how they've grown over time. (We also discussed such things with the Sixth Sense). For example, I'd be curious to know if Titanic still moves you to tears, and whether you think it would do so if you watched it for the first time tonight. But I'm not sure anyone can really answer that last question.
ReplyDeleteSo this begs the question, how much does our personal experiences with the films impact our perceptions? If we had gone out one Friday night as kids to see "just some movie," and had been blown away by 12 Angry Men, how different would our reviews of it have been? Are we better positioned to judge the shelf life of a classic film because we never had such a chance, or are we simply missing out on an aspect of the experience that is hard to replicate?
Interesting points. Most of this list is before our time. Will the lists we compose ourselves be more modern? And if they are, is it because we genuinely like newer approaches to films, or is it because of these emotional connections? Will Ghostbusters go on my list because it is actually a top teir comedy, or because of it's influence on my childhood? Or does it not belong? Or is it both?
I like when you post thought provoking comments- keep them coming!