Guys who liked Titanic

[Jack Batty]

Over in Crunchy's Welcome Wagon I noticed that regarding a newbie's professed bad taste in movies, Crunchy's only warning was "I love films, and if I ever see you post anywhere how great Titanic was, I will find you and I will hurt you. Badly."

I too love films, so this thread is essentially here so I can see if I can make Crunchy Frog's head explode.

...

I loved Titanic. I thought the cinematography was great, and the special effects awsome (as in "inspiring awe", not "totally tubular"). I cried at the end when Rose went back in the dream sequence to see all the people who died.
I saw it at the movies twice. I own the video tape. I watch it at least once a month. I think I'll watch it tonight.

Mwuhahhaahhahahaha!!!!

[steeljaw]

I too would like to see Crunchy Frog's head explode. Not because of any quarrel between, but hey, even Crunchy will admit that it would be fun to see.

Don't forget about the superb performance by the teen heartthrob Leonardo Dicaprio.

[Spritle]

Uh, JB, at first I was a bit flattered at the thought that you were stalking me, but now I'm just a bit wierded out.

BTW, I think I'm the ONLY person in the room who did not see Titanic and has absolutely no plans to do so.

With a sinking feeling,
Spritle

[Rasa]

*sigh* and to think, Jack, I once professed an appreciation for your esthetic qualities...

[Demo]

I really do like it. I own it. I watch it. I cry. I even really like Leo DiCaprio. But, I actually like him as an actor anyway.

[Montfort]

Yep, count me in, too. Anniz and I watched the DVD the night after we took our boat trip to Helsinki, Finland.

I've seen it many times before, but she had never seen it.

We were both very misty-eyed when it ended.

[Johnny L.A.]

I liked Kate Winslet's breasts.

The sf/x were nicely done.

The music was good.

But the story was a re-hash of the same old thing you've seen in a hundred other films. Totally unoriginal. And the acting was bad. I know Rose was sopposed to be "ahead of her time", "modern", "exceeding the bounds set for a late-19th/early-20th Century female"; but she sounded like my first girlfriend back in the early 80s. Her acting was anachronistic.

But I liked Kate Winslet's breasts. (Which would be a great name for a band, BTW.)

[Crunchy Frog]

Originally posted by Jack Batty
I too love films, so this thread is essentially here so I can see if I can make Crunchy Frog's head explode.

You bastard.

And I wrote a poem for you!

spritle - do not see Titanic. I had to go because my at-the-time-fiance wanted me to go with her. I wanted a blowjob, so I thought it was a fair trade. It was not. The film is your standard poor boy from the wrong side of tracks meets spoiled rich girl love story. Nothing new there. I didn't think the acting was anything special. The dialogue was downright BAD. And it went on FOREVER. I could've gone to see the first 15 minutes of Titanic, hopped into a different theatre, watched a different movie, gone back to the first theatre to watch the ship sink, and I would've liked it just as much (if not better) than had I sat through the whole film. It's rehash of the same old love story, nothing original at all, poorly written, with good special effects.

How this won Best Picture over LA Confidential boggles the mind.

[Sauron]

I liked the movie, as well. Only jarring note to me was Rose telling Jack "I'll never let you go, Jack," and then shoving his hands off the door, letting him sink to the bottom. Made me laugh.

I got misty, too, though. The scene showing the mother cuddling her child (children?) on their bunk as the water rushed underneath the bed brought tears to my eyes.

I've always been something of a Titanic buff, and seeing that movie helped me visualize how things might have happened. Sad.

[FairyChatMom]

Have not seen it and do not intend to. ick

[Crunchy Frog]

I'm beginning to love FairyChatMom

TITANIC SUCKS!

[screech-owl]

All I can say is:
(former)Roommate loved "Titanic". He was crying at the end, in that 'No, I'm not crying, I got dust in my eye' guy kind-of-way. He bought the movie. He bought the soundtrack. We drove to St. Petersburg to see the travelling exhibit (good history). We went to the 'permanent' exhibit on I-Drive (free tickets - I wouldn't have paid that much, as interesting as it was).


As for my (positive) opinion:

Nice costumes.
Nice sets.
Cute dogs.

[xizor]

Originally posted by Jack Batty
I cried at the end when Rose went back in the dream sequence to see all the people who died.

She was not dreaming, she was dead. I had an argument with the girl I went to see the movie with over this point.

[Danimal]

I thought Titanic was a very good movie, and I still do. ***1/2 out of **** on my personal rating scale.

I thought DiCaprio was over-hyped, but by no means did I think he gave a bad performance. I thought both Kate Winslet and Victor Garber gave excellent performances. I was somewhat disappointed to see that Zane's Cal Hockley never does manifest a good side as I expected him to, but by the same token I can't claim that his character was predictable. And what else can I say but that I admire Rose for establishing herself as a free woman, breaking out of her "mind-forged manacles." Is that an old story? Yeah, but none the less a good one for that.

Obviously, the special effects were superb, but that's true of many mediocre movies. I liked them in Titanic not just because of their quality, but because I found the effects enhanced the story rather than distracting from it. And finally, I was pleased that Cameron didn't take the easy option of using the disaster as an excuse to kill the characters we don't like and save the ones we do. There's no pretense that the universe plays fair with us.

Sure, Titanic's got flaws; its MacGuffin is silly, it starts very slow, etc. But I honestly consider it a good movie.

[headshok]

Well, I'm not the only one, anyway.

I avoided Titanic like the plague when it first came out, but I happened to catch it on HBO one Saturday afternoon when I had nothing else to do, and was surprised at how much I liked it. I didn't cry at the end, but I was quite moved by the final scene, no matter how much I tried to tell myself it was sentimental schlock. I still watch it whenever it comes on HBO.

I have to agree with Crunchy Frog that it wasn't nearly as good as L.A. Confidential, though. I'll take Kim Basinger and Russell Crowe over Leo and Kate any day of the week.

[Eutychus]

Loved it. Cried at the end. Bought the DVD. Scary enough now?

[Saint Zero]

One weekened, we were at a con, in the con suite. One of the ladies there hadn't seen it, and it was on HBO. So we sat around and either watched it or made fun of it. Nitpicking, the like. I was cheering when Leo died. Great scene.

"I'll never let you go, Jack!"
*blubblubblub*

Overall? Movie blows chunks.

[FairyChatMom]

Originally posted by Crunchy Frog
I'm beginning to love FairyChatMom

About damn time!! Sheesh, is my loveableness so resistable?? I try to be nice. I try to be witty. I try to play fair and not run with scissors!!



Oh, that was uncalledfor...


I love you too, Crunchy.


[sub]sorry for the hijack...

[Milossarian]

I liked Titanic all right. Didn't change my life or anything.

I agree with most of what Crunchy Frog said about it, however. The whole romance story line was trite and formulaic as hell. If it had been surgically excised from the movie, it wouldn't have caused me any heartache.

The dialogue throughout the sinking was nothing more than "Jack!" "Rose!" "Jack!" "Rose!"

How it won Best Picture over "LA Confidential" boggles my mind, too.

But it had an outstanding soundtrack (Celine Dion notwithstanding), outstanding special effects, a few highly dramatic moments, and Kate Winslet isn't hard to look at.

[Spritle]

Originally posted by Crunchy Frog

spritle - do not see Titanic. I didn't think the acting was anything special. The dialogue was downright BAD. And it went on FOREVER. I could've gone to see the first 15 minutes of Titanic, hopped into a different theatre, watched a different movie, gone back to the first theatre to watch the ship sink, and I would've liked it just as much (if not better) than had I sat through the whole film. It's rehash of the same old love story, nothing original at all, poorly written, with good special effects.

How this won Best Picture over LA Confidential boggles the mind. [/b]

And you think, therefore, that I should see this because......

Is this some sort of "If I had to suffer through it then so should everyman" kinda thing?


Hey, FairyChatMom wanna go out and not see a movie sometime

[Spritle]

not a change of heart, just a bit of thawing.

I will see Titanic, IFF it's on MST3K!

(does that make me sound like a geek?)

[AHunter3]

I liked it. The love story part was a bit trite, but it kept it from being nothing more than another disaster film in the tradition of The Towering Inferno. In this case, everyone knew what is going to happen to the Titanic before they get to the movie. So the individual story lines sneaks into your attention while you are poised waiting for the ship to crunch the iceberg and go down, and you end up caring enough about that that when its iceberg time, it has the drama of something interrupting actual lives (story lines).

I loved the sound effects of the structure of the ocean liner creaking and groaning as the water rushed in.

Oh, and I thought Leo DiCaprio was kinda cute for a guy

[FairyChatMom]

Originally posted by spritle
FairyChatMom wanna go out and not see a movie sometime

Sure!! Going out and not seeing movies is one of my favorite things!

[Jack Batty]

Ah, Crunchy, come on you can take it. Just a little ribbing, like when you give your buddy a noogie or something. Just consider this thread a verbal wedgie.

If it's any consolation, I'd be willing to front money for a bounty on Celine Dion's head.

To be honest, yes, I bought the hype. And I've always been a Titanic/disasters-in-general buff, so I was very interested to get a realistic looking version of the ship going down. I wouldn't have minded seeing Kate Winslet going down either, but that would be a different movie.

Now, to those who I've seemingly convinced that I'm a big cream-puff... I hate chic fliks as a general rule, I am a devotee of Tarantino, Woo, Kevin Smith, Kubrick to name a few. I love alternative and 70's rock and roll. I drink beer. I smoke cigarettes. I am a man, dammit!

Originally posted by xizor

She was not dreaming, she was dead. I had an argument with the girl I went to see the movie with over this point.

Yes, I know, but it was filmed in a dream sequence kind of way, so that's the way I described it.

[Max Torque]

Aw, Titanic was okay, although highly clichéd. The first half is a chick flick, developing the Jack/Rose relationship. The second half, after the boat hits the iceberg, is a guy movie, with stuff breaking, blowing up, people dying, getting shot at, loud noises....so you see, something for everyone!

I own it on DVD too, but in my defense it cost me about $6 net.

[xizor]

Originally posted by Jack Batty
I wouldn't have minded seeing Kate Winslet going down either, but that would be a different movie.

I hear ya Jack. I've never seen it, but she does have a movie called Hideous Kinky. Maybe she goes down in that. Anybody know? Because I would have to rent that one if she does.

[Padeye]

Originally posted by Johnny L.A.
I liked Kate Winslet's breasts.

The sf/x were nicely done.

You had to go and spoil it for me. I thought hers were all natural. <sigh> I supposed next you'll ruin Skyscraper for my by telling me that Anna Nicole Smith's.... NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[Dr.Teeth]

Originally posted by Milossarian

The dialogue throughout the sinking was nothing more than "Jack!" "Rose!" "Jack!" "Rose!"

Yes, almost. You forgot "Be careful!"

How did this phrase become the chopped hog anuses that round out the hotdog of badly-dialogued action movies?

"I'm going to close my eyes and aimlessly wander around belowdecks in a sinking ship, maybe whistling a tuneless tune."

"Jack! Be careful!"

"Oh, yeah! <slaps forehead> I guess this IS a potentially dangerous situation. I suppose I'll at least keep my eyes open. Thanks for the reminder."

Anyway, yeah. Pretty good movie, apart from the dialogue and the painfully-obviously-typed characters.

[Deacons Trucked]

Well I still dont see what is so damned great about LA Confidential!!! And didnt Kim Basinger win the Oscar for that??? Why? She wasnt spectacular at all to me...Russell Crowe on the other hand, WOO-HOO!

Loved "Titanic", didnt think the acting was that great (even Kate Winslet OR her breasts), I cried....but I love those mushy movies anyway. Couldnt leave the theater for 10 minutes after "Ghost" because I was such a mess. Besides, nancy-boys are SUPPOSED to cry at sappy movies.

[Icerigger]

Yes, I liked Titanic. Nautical history has always been one of my passions. The recreation of the ship was fantastic with great attention to detail like the signs on the stern railing "Warning This Vessel Has Triple Screws." I remember when the movie first came out Larry King had Cameron on with Bob Ballard who liked the picture, you can't get a better recommendation than that.

Did anyone not have at least a little tear in the eye at the final scene?

[porcupine]

I gotta go with Crunchy on this one. The only thing I really liked about this movie was the special effects. I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters.

[CrankyAsAnOldMan]

I think my husband liked it, but he gets a hall pass on that because he's a computer graphics guy.

I hate to say this, but I think he may have paid full price to see it twice. I don't think he bawled, however.

[Smeghead]

Blech. The acting was laughably bad. I was wincing. It was like watching a high school play.

I did like the blowing up and dying and bodies bouncing off the furniture and the freezing to death. That was cool. But then they'd go back to the damn characters and I'd suffer until they showed stuff getting destroyed again.

[Speaker for the Dead]

I cried only at one part--all the people who went down without a fight. The old couple clinging in one last embrace as the cold hand of death climbed to their bed. The mother telling a story to her children to put them into a warm comfortable sleep before they took the final step...
Oh no, I'm tearing up...

[Crunchy Frog]

spritle:

And you think, therefore, that I should see this because......
Is this some sort of "If I had to suffer through it then so should everyman" kinda thing?

Read that post again, I said do NOT go see Titanic. I'm trying to save you some pain, my friend.

Jack Batty: I know you're playing. I laughed when I saw the OP. No hard feelings here. Titanic still sucks though.

Deacons Trucked:

Well I still dont see what is so damned great about LA Confidential!!! And didnt Kim Basinger win the Oscar for that??? Why? She wasnt spectacular at all to me...Russell Crowe on the other hand, WOO-HOO!

What's so great about LA Confidential? I complex, involving plot that keeps you thinking. Tightly written, no extraneous scenes. Brilliant performances by Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe (who should've gotten an Oscar nomination for that!), and the guy who played Ed Exley (don't know his real name). I agree in that I don't see what was so great about Bassinger's performance either. If you see it, don't miss any of the scenes - it's almost as if every line of dialogue progresses the plot.

Icerigger asks, "Did anyone not have at least a little tear in the eye at the final scene?"

Right here, Sparky. The only reason that may have moved me to tears was the fact that I shelled out $7 and lost 3 hours of my life that I will never get back.

I just wanna make something clear though. I don't hate Titanic for being a bad film. It didn't suck outright. But it is the most over-praised film I can recall. IMHO, it is not deserving of the Best Picture Oscar or the accolades bestowed upon it by so many critics and fans. Yes, the effects were great. The technical accuracies missing from other Titanic movies was good (although there were no Picassos on board, as Rose says in the beginning). The writing sucked, the acting was passable but nothing spectacular, the storyline itself was unimaginative and cliche.

BTW, I also have a problem with Shakespeare in Love beating out Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture, although I can name flaws for both of those films.

[Bluesman]

C'mon, fellas, you didn't LIKE "Titanic"?

I mean, I laughed my ass off! One of the best dam' comedies ever made!

Who can honestly say they didn't just bust a gut when DiCaprio freezes to death, then sinks out of sight? (BTW, that's like real-life foreshadowing for what passes for his career.)

[woodstockbirdybird]

I watched it for about half an hour one day when it was on cable, and it was so bad I didn't bother sticking around for the special effects.Hell, I didn't even stick around to see Kate Winslet's breasts! The characters were caricatures, the plot was every stupid cliche from the past 50 years of Hollywood, and the dialogue was so bad I laughed out loud (Leonardo to Kate: I'm just a tumbleweed, tumbling along..."). That Leo, what a rebel!
Jack, I've met you and you seemed like a nice, intelligent guy, so I won't hold this against you. Everybody's got their guilty pleasures. But Jesus Christ, man, why don't you pick a guilty pleasure that doesn't waste 3 whole hours of your life, like an N*Sync song? I know some of you have got to be putting us on, just to make CrunchyFrog wince. Right? RIGHT?

[Dr.Teeth]

Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead
I cried only at one part--all the people who went down without a fight. The old couple clinging in one last embrace as the cold hand of death climbed to their bed. The mother telling a story to her children to put them into a warm comfortable sleep before they took the final step...
Oh no, I'm tearing up...

I hate to reveal my heart of stone, here, but when I saw the Mom-and-kids scene I thought, "Wait a second. Won't the kids wake up when that ice water creeps up around 'em?" I know I would. And then I'd be freaked out and start screaming for Mommy. What a crappy way to die. She should have put something in their cocoa.

[Guinastasia]

I loved it. Billy and Kate, Victor, Frances, all of them. Leo wasn't his best (I still think he was terrific in Gilbert Grape, but this was kind of bland.)
I even like Celine.

I have two Titanic dolls, and I just got a shawl that looks like one from the Flying scene. I plan on someday having a seamstress make me copies of the flying dress and the sinking dress. THAT would rock.

But then, I'm a girl, and a girly girl at that.

[Smeghead]

Almost forgot to post this, the Ultra-Condensed version of Titanic.

[ladybug]

Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead
The old couple clinging in one last embrace as the cold hand of death climbed to their bed. The mother telling a story to her children to put them into a warm comfortable sleep before they took the final step...

You know, that scene with Jack at the end didn't really bother me, but I almost started bawling when I saw the old couple on the bed. By the time they showed the mother and her children I was wiping away the tears. For some reason those two scenes had a much stronger impact on me than the final one between Jack and Rose.

[MysterEcks]

I liked Titanica lot, enough that I saw it twice in the theaters--I can count the number of movies I've done that with on one hand. I also very much like Celine Dion and My Heart Will Go On.

(And I'm large, armed, and mean, so there! )

[Whammo]

Fags.

[Montfort]

Originally posted by Whammo
Fags.

Again, Whammo, you're just jealous.

Start paying attention to what chicks like, and you might find yourself with one.

BTW, Anniz says hi.

:d&r:

[Speaker for the Dead]

I hate to reveal my heart of stone, here, but when I saw the Mom-and-kids scene I thought, "Wait a second. Won't the kids wake up when that ice water creeps up around 'em?" I know I would. And then I'd be freaked out and start screaming for Mommy. What a crappy way to die. She should have put something in their cocoa. [/b]

I thought of that too, just not at the time I saw it. You have to admit that the old couple was sad though.

[Guinastasia]

The old couple and the mother and her children got me too.

BTW, I think the couple was supposed to be the Strausses, the owners of Macy's...Ida Strauss refused to leave her husband on one of the lifeboats, and said that, "Where you go, I go." Even when they tried to let Isidor Strauss on a boat, as he was older, he refused, and so they died together.

[Milossarian]

I agree with those who've pointed out the mom with her kids and the old couple, waiting to die in their rooms, as two of the movie's more emotional, dramatic scenes.

I was also moved by the part where the orchestra players finally complete their playing to keep everyone calm, and disband to go try to find lifeboats (realizing there aren't enough of them). One guy stays to play, then another, then all the rest.

Those were the scenes that really got me, in terms of drama and emotion, not the special effects.

Ditto the ship's captain returning to the helm; the ship's engineer fixing the clock on the mantle as he awaits his fate.

Anyone noticing a pattern here? None of this stuff has anything to do with the smarmy Jack-and-Rose subplot.

I'm with ya on the injustice of Kim Basinger getting an Oscar for "L.A. Confidential," but Russell Crowe not.

When I first realized that Crowe isn't American, in an interview after I saw that movie, I was dumbstruck. His "American accent" is dead-on.

[Bear_Nenno]

Damnit, I was going to bring up the part about the kids and the old people... you guys beat me to it.

Those parts made me cry. Yes, I admit it. Fuck you!
I did not give a shit about Jack dying. The part where it showed Rose's pictures at the end-when she was on a horse like a man, and the rollercoaster, and the beach- showed she never stopped thinking of him. And it showed she got to do all the things she wanted. That was pretty nice too.
see sig

[oldscratch]

Ya'll a bunch of freaks!



Bout the only thing I liked in Titanic is the scene where all the doors are exploding into the hall. AS anyone with half a brain knows, the doors would be exploding outward, into the rooms. Of course, that wouldn't be neerly cool enough for James Cameron, so he spent, what's probably $10,000 per door, to have them explode inward. Get's me everytime. Other than that? Shit.

[Falcon]

Originally posted by spritle
BTW, I think I'm the ONLY person in the room who did not see Titanic and has absolutely no plans to do so.

With a sinking feeling,
Spritle

Nope. I'm another one. Never seen it, never WANT to see it. And I'm a chick.