101. Titanic (1997)

Stars:  Leonardo DiCaprio (Jack Dawson), Kate Winslet (Rose DeWitt Bukater), Gloria Stuart (Rose Dawson Calvert), Billy Zane (Cal Nathan Hockley), Kathy Bates (The Unsinkable Molly Brown), Bill Paxton (Brock Lovett)

Director:  James Cameron  

Awards / Honors

• 11 Oscar Wins - Best Bicture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song ("My Heart Will Go On"), Best Art Direction
• 3 Additional Oscar Nominations - Best Actress (Kate Winslet), Best Supporting Actress (Gloria Stuart), Best Makeup
• #25 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills list (2001)
• #37 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions list (2002)
• #14 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs list - "My Heart Will Go On" (2004) 
• #100 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list - "I'm king of the world!" (2005)
• # 83 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list (2007)
• #6 on AFI's 10 Top 10 list - Epic Films (2008)
• Titanic is approximately the 6th highest grossing movie of all time, accounting for inflation (see Box Office Mojo)

Genre:  Historical / Romantic Drama

Running Time:  3 Hours, 14 Minutes

Format:  DVD (Not yet available on Blu-ray)

Odyssey Rating:  3 Stars (John - 3 Stars, Beth - 3Stars)

John's Take

Of the 20 or so films on this list that I hadn’t seen before starting our little film Odyssey, this was the only film that I was actively dreading.  I really expected to hate this movie, and part of me really wanted to hate this movie.  I recognize that there is a certain level of irony in a situation where I write a review that focuses on how “backlash” can have an adverse effect on how we perceive a film (Dances with Wolves below) and that it ends up getting posted between two reviews where my perception of the films and / or its fans have been clearly affected by backlash (this one and Pulp Fiction).  So, I promise to try to not let any of the preconceived notions that have been become firmly entrenched in my mind over the years affect my review of this movie.

As I said, I really didn’t want to like this movie.  In fact, over the years, I have has actively tried to avoid this movie like it was a plague carrying rodent.  Why?  Well because I felt betrayed by James Cameron.  Here was a man that made great “guy movies” like The Terminator, Rambo, First Blood Part II, Aliens and True Lies and he goes and makes a giant chic flix?  I was appalled.  I strongly suspected that James Cameron had been replaced some sort of alien shape-shifter that was secretly trying to emasculate all men as part of a plot to take over the planet.  Part of me was certain that if I watched the movie that it would somehow suck all of my testosterone out of my body in much the same way a vampire might suck out all my blood.  Side Note: Speaking of blood-sucking, I currently feel the same way about the Twilight movies as well, but at a level about ten-fold of what I felt about Titanic. 

Having now watched it, I must reluctantly admit that Titanic wasn’t all that bad.  It wasn’t the greatest movie I had ever seen but it was certainly better than films like A Place in the Sun or All the President’s Men.  Also, I haven’t noticed any drop in my testosterone level, but the jury is still out on the vampiric properties of the film.  Until those test results come in, I am giving the movie a ranking of 3 Stars.

Having said all that, one important question remains – how did this movie become one of the highest grossing movies of all times?  Look, I realize I am a male so maybe it is just biologically impossible for me to understand, but can some woman out in the Inter-verse please try to explain this to me?  Unfortunately Beth is no help in this case.  She kind of feels the same way about the movie as I do (she hadn’t seen the movie either).  While I am certainly not a fan of chic flixs in general, I am not without a certain level of appreciation for some of them. I like Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman, Dirty Dancing, and the Mother-Of-All-Chic-Flixs Gone with the Wind, for example.  Still, I don’t understand why did women go and see this movie over and over again?  At the time of the film’s release my friend Rob explained it as “some sort of bizarre mother / daughter rite of passage”. Is that it?  Because really, I just don’t understand.

So, again, women of the Internet, please, please tell me why you all spent so much money on Titanic?  I really want to know, because there is got to be some way to use that information to my advantage. 

I won’t even discuss all the Oscars, other than I believe part of the reason why The Hurt Locker beat out Avatar for Best Picture was The Academy’s way of making up for all the awards that it heaped on Titanic.  Like an NBA or NFL ref calling a ticky-tack foul later in a game to make up for a bad call they made earlier in the game.

OK, some of my preconceptions are starting to reemerge, so let’s just end this post before it starts to get out of control.  Again, the movie was far better than I thought it was going to be.  In fact, I would go on to say that I actually kind of enjoyed it.  That being said, I truly don’t understand how Titanic became one of the highest grossing; most award winning movies of all time.  It is good, but it is not that good.  I also wouldn’t include it as one of the all-time best.  The only explanation I can come up with is that James Cameron has indeed been replaced by an alien – we will just have to wait and see.

John

BETH'S TAKE:

When this movie first came out in 1997 I said that I wouldn't see it...everyone knows what happens...the ship sinks.

But now that I have seen it, I am glad that I did.

The side story with Jack and Rose is very sweet. Kate Winslet did an awesome job on the part of Rose. I am not a huge fan of Leo, but he was pretty good also. I must say, the movie made me think of all of those families that were less fortunate and were made to stay on the boat until the more fortunates were rescued. Just horrible!