Titanic

1997.

Unlisted / #83

Winner of 11 Academy Awards.

Poor artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) has a forbidden love affair with wealthy Rose (Kate Winslet) aboard the doomed ship, and the whole story is told by Rose (Gloria Stuart) eighty-five years later.

Sarah: I was eleven when I first saw this film. I watched it, and I loved it, but I didn't love it like other girls my age. I didn't cover my room with Leo, watch the movie repeatedly and bawl, or wear a plastic version of "the heart of the ocean" around my neck. I think due to all the hype, TITANIC has a bad rap.

In spite of all the hype, I love TITANIC now much more than I did when I was eleven. It's a beautiful love story set against a tragic historical backdrop. Leo and Kate debut their amazing screen chemistry (see them in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. Brilliant!), not to mention the great characterizations of Rose's mother, Cal (Frances Fisher), and Kathy Bates as the unsinkable Molly Brown (again, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD).

James Cameron's cinematography and effects are at their strongest (they were there to serve the story, not take it's place. Looking at you, AVATAR). The framing device of Old Rose telling the tale helps create lovely narrative pacing. We see Jack and Rose's love fly and sink with the ship. At the end of the day, it's a solid love story with charm, wit, and tears.

Eddie: Are you kidding me? Sarah likes Old Rose? Old Rose is my only problem with the whole three-hour movie! If James Cameron weren't such a giddy little schoolgirl when it came to submarine photography, we'd probably have been spared the entire frame in the first place. Speaking of giddy, how hot is Kate Winslet in this movie? I was twelve when this movie came out, so the nude drawing scene had quite an effect on me.

Sarah is right when she contrasts TITANIC with AVATAR. TITANIC shows that you can have action and drama in a three-hour epic and still tell a story that's worth a damn. AVATAR was just terrible. AVATAR-apologists will say that it's visually stunning. I don't deny that. But you know what else is visually stunning? TITANIC, and it doesn't bore me to death the way the Na'vi do.

Why You Should See It: The dancing scene in steerage. We get to see Jack in his element and Rose exposed to a world she never knew before.