Titanic
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Movie Reviews of Titanic
Movie Review: Titanic - A truly glorious film!
Summary: 5 Stars
If this incredible films winning of eleven Academy awards including Best Picture and Best director and being the highest grossing film of all time doesn't speak for itself I don't know what else would. "Titanic" is quite simply one of the best tales of a true life tragedy interspersed with a fictional love story ever made, all of which combines to make director James Cameron appear a true genius which in terms of being a film director he is. Only one note of caution need be applied to watching this film on DVD and that is to know where the pause button is on your DVD player when considering the three hour length of the film.I will freely admit that I'm not a big Leonardo DiCaprio fan but when it comes to this film he did an exceptional job in the role of Jack. Instrumental in the success of this film, beyond the exceptional script, is the performance given by the ever beautiful Kate Winslet in the role of Rose. Noteworthy are the performances given by the supporting cast to include the likes of David Warner, Kathy Bates and Billy Zane and of course a couple of James Cameron's staple actors who crop up in almost all of his films in Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein.
As testimony to the brilliance of director James Cameron one only needs to take a look at his list of directorial and script credits which includes; "The Terminator," "Aliens," "The Abyss," "T2: Judgment Day," "True Lies" and "Titanic." With a list such as this one James Cameron has most certainly gone down in history as one of the most successful directors/screen writers in history and deservedly so. It would be nice to see him take a break from television and take up the film directing mantle once again as one can almost call it a sure bet film when he's in the director's chair.
The Premise:
On April 14th, 1912 one of western civilization's most tragic events occurred when a ship thought to be unsinkable did exactly that, struck an iceberg and sank killing hundreds of passengers in the process as the ships builders seemed to have made one mistake after another in the construction of this "magnificent" vessel.
Director/screen writer James Cameron concocts a glorious love story around this true life tragedy and quite poignantly portrays the disparity of classes aboard the vessel as the first class passengers live in the lap of luxury even during the "abandonment" of the vessel while the poor are treated with palpable disdain to include being locked below decks after the ship begins to sink.
While the true story of this movie is the sinking of the ship told through Cameron's brilliant writing and direction there is whole myriad of other things going on that are not noticeable but would've been had they been done incorrectly, chief among these are the costumes and the sets of the Titanic.
The truly fictitious portion of this tragedy is told through Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart) as she regales present day treasure hunters of her time on the Titanic and the gloriously passionate but brief love affair between her and Jack Dawson who was a free spirited artist who taught her how to live despite his destiny...
I highly recommend this film to any and all who are fans of what movie making is all about! {ssintrepid}
Special Features:
-Theatrical Trailer
Movie Review: Beyond words
Summary: 5 Stars
Eleven years ago, I saw Titanic on the big screen with my mom and dad and I loved it. As I grow older I come to love it even more because I can further comprehend things I didn't then. Through time Titanic has gained the stereotype of classic cheese at its best, and I think this speculation is a little unfair from the viewpoint that I'm no film elitist. I watch movies purely on entertainment and, surprisingly, I have very few favorites. I hate to know a lot about the key actors, I don't watch the DVD commentary, or behind the scenes/special effects stuff. Movies are magic and when a magician gives away all his secrets, suddenly the mystery evaporates. And I'm never the kind of person to base reality on the contents of a movie because, if that were the deal, the movie industry would be crap.
I am genuinely interested in Jack and Rose, the main characters of Titanic. Their romance is not based on eternity and nor does it consist of well-versed lines or cliches. It's refreshing to watch two people hawking loogies off the boat deck and having a great time together. There is sexual tension, but it doesn't dominate. It feels like one of those relationships that when the passion wears off you still have a deep, abiding friendship and love. And, above all, they don't assume they will love each other forever and don't let each other get in between living life to the fullest.
Something that is so heartbreaking is I see how they change throughout the story and their devastating experiences. We see Rose board the Titanic feeling trapped and bogged down by the superficial upper class society, and doesn't ever believe she can break free. But, by the end of the movie, she is free and goes on to live a very colorful life. On the other hand, we have Jack who is free and, well, a drifter. He's gotten around a lot, but there's a very endearing innocence and good nature to his personality that casts a light-hearted feel on the first half of the show. Sadly, he doesn't live to see the day following the sinking and, while the ship is going down, it's interesting to watch his facial expressions because I see pain, fear, and a sort of disillusionment.
The special effects are absolutely amazing. In the first half of the movie, our eyes are able to drink in the costumes and striking reconstruction of the actual ship. The second half always sends chills down my spine because it transports you to that time and place. The concept of the Titanic had always been ethereal and creepy to me, but to watch the movie gave life and raw emotion to it. I'll admit, it's one of those movies that always makes me cry.
Besides these things, there are other reasons I love this movie that are based on personal attachments and themes I live by, like nature and freedom that the movie emphasizes on. The fact that Titanic won eleven academy awards is outstanding and impressive, but it doesn't make me like the movie any more than I do now. I mean, it runs for nearly four hours and I'm enthralled for every second!
Movie Review: Something to say....
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, it's been awhile since this movie came out and the "Titanic phenomenon" has since disappeared, but after reading some people's reviews of the film, I felt it necessary to add my thoughts. Not everyone is going to like this film. In fact, a lot of people probably won't. For a lot of people, this movie will just be about a mediocre love story added to a tragedy, solely intended to boost sales of the film. And let's face it, it did. We all know that the prime viewers of this film were lovestruck teenage girls, helplessly drawn into the love story of the "doomed Jack and Rose". The producers of "Titanic" and James Cameron all knew this. That is one of the reasons that this movie was such an incredible blockbuster at the box office. I am not a big fan of movies that will add a love story into the tale of a terrible tragedy, just to make money. However... knowing all this does not keep me from liking the film.The Titanic was an epic ship. It was the largest ship of it's time, equal only to its sister ship, the Olympic. When it sank on the night of April 14th, 1912, it was an immense tragedy to all the people of it's time. 90 years later, it still continues to fascinate the world. The story of the Titanic is not just about the sinking of a ship. It's about those who left loved ones behind to save themselves, those who refused to leave their loved ones, those that gave up their own lives to save others. It's about why the disaster happened in the first place, those that could have stopped it, those who really never understood what was happening. The heroic actions of the people on the ship, and the disgust you feel at those that acted less than heroic. In other words, the Titanic is about REAL PEOPLE. Real people traveled on the Titanic and lived the real experiences that were shown in this movie. Some survived. Most did not. Those that died, died terrible, tragic deaths. Those that lived, were left with terrible memories of what happened on that fateful night. Memories and experiences that they would never forget. This movie brings those stories and experiences to life. Yes, a love story was added to appeal to those that wouldn't normally be interested in a film like this. However, no matter how you look at it, James Cameron's "Titanic" shows you the doomed stories and heroics of those that sailed on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. So as you watch this movie, take the time to think about the truth behind it: real people went through this terrible tragedy... and real people died during it. Maybe that might put a little perspective into your initial distaste of the movie "Titanic". I hope that there are enough people in this world that still feel compassion and mourning for those that were on the fateful maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic.
Movie Review: Fare thee well, Titanic, goin' down to the bottom of the sea
Summary: 5 Stars
"They wouldn't let Jack Johnson on the US Titanic
(Fare thee well Titanic goin' down)
They said, boy get back to your hole, dis ship she don't haul no coal
(Down to the bottom of the sea)"
The feminist power of this movie is that its greatness cannot be acknowledged and the *bien-pensant* dismisses it as Hollywood: but it is great Hollywood.
Much less than Sep 11,we haven't dealt with Titanic and the way the lower clawsses were trapped like rats. In fact, upon the release of Titanic, Chicago radio station WFMT, the last hope of the bien pensant, refused a number of phone in requests to play the above song about Jack Johnson's inability to get a ride on the doomed ship.
Because the song was by a white boy naming and narrating what was being done to his brother, it transgressed the unwritten rule as does the very thought that we might maintain social class boundaries up to the gates of hell.
The best films are always chick flicks.
UPDATE 5-17-2005
Wow, another Nolan Ryan: another perfect game: 0 of 4. The Jack Johnson and Titanic nexus still hath power to offend I see.
I am sure that the type of reader who like the reviewer above who "predicted" that old canoe was goin' down an hour into the film, and concluded from his lack of moron suspense that the scriptwriters were the morons: the type of reader who jest loved it when Leornard diCaprio died (bearing within himself that destructiveness which is constitutive of society): the type of reader whose critique of Cameron's acceptance speech was informed by the sour resentment of the born loser PUNCHED OUT at my phrase "the feminist power".
"The feminist power" is lame. Nonetheless, Jim Cameron laughed his way to the bank because so many chicks dragged their boyfriends to this thing, and after the film, on Grand Avenue in Chicago, a lady sung to me the song she'd learned in Bible school about how it were a shame how that ship went down to de bottom of the sea.
Yeah, I wondered too why Kate Winslet didn't get hypothermia in the bowels of the sinking ship but I figure her extra layer of Rubeneque avoirdupois and love's heat made he oblivious to the water temperature. That, and the fact that the water in the ship was heated by the dying boilers and electrical cables.
The film offends because it was popular without being a shootemup and Billy Zane (who first emerged as Sam Neill's and Nicole Kidman's dark American foil in Dead Calm, an enjoyable example of an anti-American Australian film) may have been uncomfortable for the Yuppie a-hole segment of the audience. It offends because it teaches us what a waste it is to live a life in First Class.
Movie Review: The Romantic Masterpiece On DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
1997: We remember Titanic. The "ship of dreams" set sail from England to New York in 1912. It sank after striking an iceberg. Although many lost their lives, there were some survivors who recall with nostalgia, with sorrow, with a plethora of feelings and images the terrible disaster. One such woman is Gloria Stuart's character, Rose DeWitt Bucator. James Cameron directed a blockbuster, which earned him Best Picture and became the most popular film of the late 90's. And it all revolves around the elderly 100 plus Rose, remembering her lost love, Jack Dawson (Leonardo Dicaprio in his greatest and most memorable role). She says, "He saved me, in every way a woman can be saved." Although it is Jack who loses his life, he has made it possible for the ill-at-ease Rose to break away from the gilded cage of her loveless engagement with Cal Hockley (Billy Zane) and the pretentious society he is part of.This film on DVD is the theatrical experience all over again. We genuinely root for the perfect couple that Jack and Rose are, we dislike the villainous, self-centered Cal Hockley. The romance takes up most of the first half of the film, embellished with the luxury of the ship's upper class dinner halls and ballroom. Authentic period costumes of the Edwardian era enhance the characters and their way of life. For example, Rose is trapped in a world built solely on appearances, on subjugation of women to be ornaments on their husband's arm. The wealthy elitists on the ship are pretentious and hypocritical (one of the aristocrats is even flaunting his mistress while his wife is at home with the children). The exception is the newly rich Molly Brown (Kathy Bates) who came from a humble Ozark life to newly acquired fortune made by the discovery of oil- these events are pretty much told in the musical "Molly Brown", herself based on a true survivor of the ship. She was a pleasant, unpretentious, caring, humorous noble woman whose spirit was as they said "unsinkable." Kathy Bates' portrayal of Molly Brown is quite enjoyable, as she seems to be the only noble and heroic and less hypocritical of the upper class people. Below deck, the lower classes are an earthy bunch, drinking beer, playing fiddles and trying to make the best of things.
We know what happens in the last half of the movie. Enhanced with striking, visceral effects and lots of water, the ship sinks in the middle of the Atlantic. Rose lives to tell her tale. The movie is a beautiful tale of survival, heartache and passion. Few films come that way. Nowadays, the love story between Jack and Rose may seem to sentimental and too unrealistic for some. But we know better.