\___=[]==[]==[]==[]=___/...........[iceberg] The thread for TITANIC discussion

That's a cruise liner in the title, by the way.

With all the box office talk about TDK lately and speculation on its ultimate prospects in the record book, I've had a hankering to view TITANIC sometime soon.

So, some say it's overrated, some say it's underrated, but the facts can't be denied... TITANIC made 600 million dollars and remained number one for weeks and weeks. Today, some contend that's impossible. On the other hand, some say that if released now instead of last decade, it could still haul in the same amount. Who loves the film? Why? Who doesn't love the film? Why? Please, don't be afraid to say what you honestly think about the film.

 

Redundant!!!11!!!

Nevermind that it's almost three years old .

I still think it's a masterpiece, of course, and I certainly haven't changed my opinion of it.

 

I will give my view to contribute. Nice image in the subject line btw. The four pillars could be the boilers.

I got sucked into the story of Titanic way before the movie came out. I wrote my Senior HS paper on the subject. The focus was on the many factors it took to actually sink the largest ocean liner of its time. I won't bore you with all the details, but I will give one instance where if Lightoller would have not slowed down and kept the same speed, the ship would have missed the iceburg altogether. But, that was standard procedure at the time.
When I heard Cameron was making an epic about the famous doomed ship, I was ecstatic. I went the 2nd day it opened with a full crowd as an amateur Titanic historian. And the detail Cameron added was incredible. Right down to the conversation between Capt Smith and Ishmay talking about lighting the last boilers, which really did happen according to the witness who overheard them speak and related it in the trial. The grand staircase was re-crafted from the original photos of the the Titanic's actual staircase. They used the same companies who made the carpeting and dishes.
I have a theory that the enormous reaction to the film wasn't just the teen girls wanting to see Leo die each time. Once you enter the story of Titanic, it will never let you go. I think there were others such as myself who went to see it over again to honor the 1500 who died that night almost 100 years ago. That is what I took away from the movie. Not a cheap version of Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic. BTW, I saw it in the theatre 5x. And I didn't care one bit that Leo died. To me, he would have been victim # 1501.
As one who studied the most famous sinking of all time, Cameron's movie is a fitting tribute to those who had no choice but to die.

 

Both DiCaprio and Winslet did a great job in the film, and neither could be in it if it were made today (assuming the ages of their characters were correspondingly adjusted). They're both far too big and accomplished now. Winslet's probably the best actress of her generation, and DiCaprio remains underrated. He still rarely makes a bad film.

 

I kind of have a view similar to madman007's. The timing of my growing childhood interest in shipwrecks, especially the Titanic, and the release of this movie was just incredible. Throughout the entire year of '97, I grew obsessed with the Titanic. Of course, now that I look back it, all those books and things were deliberately timed because a famous director was making a big shipwreck film.

I will forever remember my experience in the theater on Boxing Day 1997. To me, the film was perfect. It was bliss. I wanted to get lost in it. All in all, though, I think I only saw it three times in theaters. Being 9, I was powerless to see the film whenever I wanted and while they enjoyed it, my dad and brothers didn't exactly get obsessed with it. My mother is a stone-cold iron lady, so she saw it once, liked it, but didn't need to see it again. My grandmother and two of my great-aunts bought me along for two additional showings. Figures. Them? They truly loved it.

 

The revisionist stance of Titanic being overrated and a lousy movie annoys me. Nobody said that when it came out. It was a near perfect amalgam of storytelling, technology and craft, and was worthy of all the money and acclaim it earned.



Well..."My Heart Will Go On" is still a tad irritating to listen to however...

 

I wasn't allowed to see it in theaters.

 

Why not?

 

He was around 7 at the time.

Although I wasn't much older... it must truly suck not to have seen a beloved film in theaters when you could've. Kind of like being five or six and not seeing SW in 1977.

 

It's my favorite movie. A lot of people make fun of me for saying that, but it is. I think a lot of people say they don't like it just for the sake of mocking the biggest movie of all-time. Plus, I feel there have been a lot of people who went in with high expectations after the Oscars and after it broke almost all of the box office records, that anything less than God's gift from Heaven was a disappointment for them. But for me, it's my favorite, and it'll take a truly spectacular film to overthrow it for me.

 

An epic film at its finest. Great acting, excellent script, powerful story, superb special effects.

The most breathtaking part was watching the ship go down, and empathizing (despite knowing it's a reenactment) with those who are hopelessly trapped. When a movie gets you that emotionally involved, you know its special.

 

I read an essay a couple of months ago talking about the film's themes. I have no idea where to find it now, but it made some very good points. Time seems to be Titanic's central theme, with its constant use of watches, clocks, and hands (hands referring to human hands but also referencing the hands on a clock). we hear Jack talk about his philosophy, to "make what time we have count." Later in the film, we see in Rose's photographs how Jack's philosophy has impacted her life for the better. I think it's all very beautiful.

 

The scale of the film is simply massive. I can do without the love story and the perspective of Jack and Rose. I'd rather see snippets of all sorts of characters lives, as though you were part of the voyage yourself. But the sheer audacity in recreating the ship to that detail deserves a huge amount of praise.

Sadly, the continual references to "that song" throughout also detract. But it is certainly a monumental movie. It's one of the films that was made "because it could" and for no other reason.

 

I like Titanic, but I have to agree with you to a certain extent. I would love to see a shot-for-shot remake of A Night to Remember with Titanic's special effect budget and the look-alike actors. That would be an impressive film.

 

There are quite a few "Titanic" movies...including silent ones.

 

Gotta love the cruise liner in the thread header.

I didn't get to see Titanic in theatres, on the account that I was seven years old when it came out. However, my sister did see it and fell in love with it at once and as soon as it came out on VHS, she got a copy. I can't quite remember my initial reaction to it, but I did love it something fierce when I was a kid. Then I went through a "I hate it" phase and now I'm back to loving it, but for different reasons that I did when I was seven.

I have a deep respect for the crew who worked on the film. Everything from the production design, script, storyline, costumes, special effects and music (though, like others, I really can do without Céline Dion?s crooning of ?My Heart Will Go On?) are first-class. The actors, of course, did a stellar job. And I have to applaud the extras during the sinking scenes -- for me, they really made those scenes seem truly life-like and terrifying.

When I think of an epic film that's outside the genre of fantasy/sci-fi, this is the one that comes to mind.

I think that's one of my all-time favourite parts of the film. Beautiful addition and I love the shot of the photographs.

 

The production design was extremely accurate.

 

The movie's on TNT HD tonight, but it'd be nice if there were any kind of a word on a future Blu-Ray release.

 

I used to think Brock Lovett was Robert Ballard.

 

This movie is bomb.

Not gonna lie, I love the Boat in the Title. You are a genuis.

 

there is another!

Now that I know better, however, I still think Ballard was the inspiration for the character.

Sublime: Bomb? Why?

 

Bomb means good, man. It's like the 90's line "Bomb diggity." but minus the diggity. I mean, is diggity even a word?

I like Titantic though. I saw it 12 times in theatres.

 

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Time is indeed everywhere in Titanic.

One thing I always liked is when "Mr. Bodine" gives the "fine forensic analysis" of the sinking early in the film, he mentions that Titanic finally sank at 2:20 a.m.

At the very end of the film when Rose meets Jack at the top of the stairs as everyone looks on, look at the clock behind them. It reads 2:20 a.m.

I love details like that. Cameron is a very thoughtful director.

Another thing I love is how old Rose comments that Jack saved her in every way that a person could be saved. He exists only "in her memory" and she doesn't even have a picture of him. But as Bacon mentions, those pictures of HER record her life as influenced by Jack. So while she has no pictures of Jack, she does indeed have pictures of Jack's influence, and she never goes anywhere without them as noted at the start of the movie. His influence never leaves her.

I love that one picture of Rose and the big fish. Even though she was on the biggest shipwreck of all time, she still had the courage to revisit the ocean and go deep sea fishing. That's awesome!