Amazon.co.uk Review
When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the director's downfall, signal the end of the blockbuster era and sink Paramount Studios as quickly as the ill-fated luxury liner had sunk on that fateful night of April 14, 1912. Some studio executives were confident, others horrified, but the clarity of hindsight turned Cameron into an Oscar-winning genius, a shrewd businessman and one of the most successful directors in the history of motion pictures. Titanic would surpass the $1 billion mark in global box-office receipts (largely due to multiple viewings, the majority by teenage girls), win 11 Academy Awards including best picture and director, produce the bestselling movie soundtrack of all time and make a global superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. A bona fide pop-cultural phenomenon, the film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster (romance, passion, luxury, grand scale, a snidely villain and an epic, life-threatening crisis), but Cameron's alchemy of these ingredients proved more popular than anyone could have predicted. His stroke of genius was to combine absolute authenticity with a pair of fictional lovers whose tragic fate would draw viewers into the heart-wrenching reality of the Titanic disaster. As starving artist Jack Dawson and soon-to-be-married socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won the hearts of viewers around the world and their brief but never-forgotten love affair provides the humanity that Cameron needed to turn Titanic into an emotional experience. Present-day framing scenes (featuring Gloria Stuart as the 101-year-old Rose) add additional resonance to the story and, although some viewers proved vehemently immune to Cameron's manipulations, few can deny the production's impressive achievements. Although some of the computer-generated visual effects look artificial, others--such as the sunset silhouette of Titanic during its first evening at sea, or the climactic splitting of the ship's sinking hull--are state-of-the-art marvels. In terms of sets and costumes alone, the film is never less than astounding. More than anything else, however, the film's overwhelming popularity speaks for itself. Titanic is an event film and a monument to Cameron's risk-taking audacity, blending the tragic irony of the Titanic disaster with just enough narrative invention to give the historical event its fullest and most timeless dramatic impact. Titanic is an epic love story on par with Gone with the Wind, and, like that earlier box-office phenomenon, it's a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.co.uk Review
When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the director's downfall, signal the end of the blockbuster era and sink Paramount Studios as quickly as the ill-fated luxury liner had sunk on that fateful night of April 14, 1912. Some studio executives were confident, others horrified, but the clarity of hindsight turned Cameron into an Oscar-winning genius, a shrewd businessman and one of the most successful directors in the history of motion pictures. Titanic would surpass the $1 billion mark in global box-office receipts (largely due to multiple viewings, the majority by teenage girls), win 11 Academy Awards including best picture and director, produce the bestselling movie soundtrack of all time and make a global superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. A bona fide pop-cultural phenomenon, the film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster (romance, passion, luxury, grand scale, a snidely villain and an epic, life-threatening crisis), but Cameron's alchemy of these ingredients proved more popular than anyone could have predicted. His stroke of genius was to combine absolute authenticity with a pair of fictional lovers whose tragic fate would draw viewers into the heart-wrenching reality of the Titanic disaster. As starving artist Jack Dawson and soon-to-be-married socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won the hearts of viewers around the world and their brief but never-forgotten love affair provides the humanity that Cameron needed to turn Titanic into an emotional experience. Present-day framing scenes (featuring Gloria Stuart as the 101-year-old Rose) add additional resonance to the story and, although some viewers proved vehemently immune to Cameron's manipulations, few can deny the production's impressive achievements. Although some of the computer-generated visual effects look artificial, others--such as the sunset silhouette of Titanic during its first evening at sea, or the climactic splitting of the ship's sinking hull--are state-of-the-art marvels. In terms of sets and costumes alone, the film is never less than astounding. More than anything else, however, the film's overwhelming popularity speaks for itself. Titanic is an event film and a monument to Cameron's risk-taking audacity, blending the tragic irony of the Titanic disaster with just enough narrative invention to give the historical event its fullest and most timeless dramatic impact. Titanic is an epic love story on par with Gone with the Wind, and, like that earlier box-office phenomenon, it's a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant.......2008-03-04
They just don't make epic movies like this anymore. Since titanic, braveheart and gladiator we've really been lacking in the 'epic' movie genre. The cinemas really are spurting out 90% crap at the moment - i know because i see a lot of movies there.
What is there to say about titanic? Brilliant movie, fab acting, amazing effects and a beautiful story. I know the main story is fiction but i love the detail put into the recreation of the ship to make it look authentic, and all the little true stories and characters they've put into the film. Its just a great film to watch, and if you haven't seen it, its a movie you just HAVE to see.
I am always astounded when people have reviewed this movie badly, but alas there are always going to be people who hate a movie, but thats their loss. I stand that this is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Wonderful sets and special effects, but as for the rest..........2008-01-30
Titanic's vast budget enabled James Cameron to recreate Titanic's luxurious interiors in compelling detail and then to 'sink' the liner on screen in breathtakingly spectacular fashion. So why the ghastly, cheesy, thin storyline, full of insulting racial stereotypes (from the happy dancing 'diddly-diddly' Oirish to the 'Nazis with posh accents' English) and dominated by one of the thinnest love story sub-plots ever to have held up the denoument of a major movie? it isn't just that the story is painted with a broad brush: Cameron's script falsifies and at times defames real people who experienced the sinking. Depicting one of the ship's heroic officers (who died in the disaster) as a pistol-waving fanatic greatly upset his surviving family members. If Cameron ever gets around to a Director's cut, may I suggest an hour more of the sinking and rescue and an hour less of the insufferable Jack and Rose? I know that blockbuster films have to appeal to a largely teenage audience, but even some teenagers have taste and intelligence!
Tedious..............2008-01-19
This is 189 minutes of my life i will never get back......
Truly awful.....
I couldnt wait for the damn ship to sink.........
wonderful romantic tale.......2008-01-12
Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind) stars as Rose, a young rich lady who travels on the Titanic, the boat which is destined to change human kind for ever as it sets sail in 1912. The story is told from an older Rose's point of view as she experiences life on the "unsinkable ship". Meeting Jack Dawson (Leo Di Caprio - Gangs of New York) this charming romantic tale brings out a heart-warming story of young love with an unmissable ending.
Winner of 11 Oscars, David Cameron's Titanic is a wonderful tale of two young people who meet and begin to learn about life in different ways from one another. Winslet and Di Caprio are perfect as the two characters. From the wealthy and stubborn Rose to the relaxed and positive Jack, audiences can appreciate each character's different backgrounds and engage more into their lives. The characters are well developed in this film, giving the film more depth. Di Caprio and Winslet have good on screen chemistry making the film engaging and light hearted.
Many critics have argued its predictability and its clichés but with a film like this, you have to look past them to the depth and control of the power of the characters and the surroundings in which they find themselves.
The ending for me was really powerful and difficult to watch, I was close to tears. However it is a must watch as the film delivers twist after twist in a powerful climax.
It's a very good film and one of the best love stories of all time
A tour de force of excess.......2008-01-05
It is no mean feat that James Cameron managed to make the historical sinking of the infamously unsinkable Titanic revolve around the relatively insignificant romance of an upper class girl and a traveling pauper, but he does it. The first section of the film, set in the present day as excavators resurrect the skeleton of the ocean liner is unfortunately rather dull and the peroidic interludes throughout the film where the older Rose recounts her experience on the ship break-up the relatively small amount of action between the young Rose and her lover Jack Dawson. Suffice to say the most interesting part is therefore the middle section when Rose is rescued from suicide at the ship's prow by the refreshingly straight talking Jack. What ensues is a clash and collide of culture, class and social standing that is ultimately transcended in the name of love. There are interesting aspects to this section, the arbitrary division of social class by sections of the ship is particularly resonant when the ship is begining to sink and those in steerage are cadged in like animals. Similarly Rose's mother's concern that the lifeboats be appointed by class smacks of the disgusting prejudice and ignorance of the upper classes to the plight of those in 2nd and 3rd class. Having said this, this is a film by James Cameron so execution of class divisions are to a large extent discussed superficially: the upper classes are either snobbish conservatives or ruddy, over fed liberals, the lower classes are cheeky chappy Irish lads and lasses, slapping their thighs and playing fiddles. It's all just a little too cartoonish and the 1912s by numbers to be entirely convincing. Furthermore the script does not lend itself well to authenticity with hammy and repetitive dialogue ... 'I'll never let go Jack' ... 'never let go' 'your so stupid Rose ...'. I wonder if one would address a member of the upper classes as a 'spoilt brat even'? Despite this the leads are charismatic enough to elide the more obviously silly dialogue, charging through the ship on their adrenalin, good looks and humour alone. Unfortunately Cameron cannot contain his action roots and as the film reaches its ending the race for surivival decends into an race against time. Axe welding Rose wading through the flooded bowls of the ship in persuit of her Jack, underwater key searches off set by strobbed lighting and a pointless cat and mouse chase involving a trigger happy Cal (Rose's miffed husband to be) are just some of the action based antics that culminate in the dramatic buckling, snapping and raising of the ship's prow before it sinks vertically into the ocean with Jack and Rose hanging onto the railing where they first met. Contrived? perhaps, over the top? in places, dramatic? definately, touching? Yes, because despite all the noise, action, and Celine Dion this is undeniably a sad story with almost universal resonance. Loss at sea has permeated humankind's psyches for as long as we've known the ocean has existed and the story of a supposedly unsinkable ship, sinking half-way towards the new world dashing the dreams of the many on board who were simply making their way towards what they thought would be a better life is powerfully sad. But its not all doom and gloom. Rose survives, renames herself after Jack, goes horseback riding, has children and dies warm in her bed, an old lady with a heart that is an ocean of secrets ... It seems Cameron can't help himself and the injection of Hollywood smaltz adds to this bustling and at times overblown piece of cinema. Yet in its own special way 'Titanic' is a tour de force to excess (it was the most expensive film ever made at the time) and entertainment. Okay so it isn't the most intelligent or profound film I have ever seen, but its success is surely testament to it's universal appeal, engaging love story and charismatic leads. Enjoy!
Amazon.co.uk Review
When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the director's downfall, signal the end of the blockbuster era and sink Paramount Studios as quickly as the ill-fated luxury liner had sunk on that fateful night of April 14, 1912. Some studio executives were confident, others horrified, but the clarity of hindsight turned Cameron into an Oscar-winning genius, a shrewd businessman and one of the most successful directors in the history of motion pictures. Titanic would surpass the $1 billion mark in global box-office receipts (largely due to multiple viewings, the majority by teenage girls), win 11 Academy Awards including best picture and director, produce the bestselling movie soundtrack of all time and make a global superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. A bona fide pop-cultural phenomenon, the film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster (romance, passion, luxury, grand scale, a snidely villain and an epic, life-threatening crisis), but Cameron's alchemy of these ingredients proved more popular than anyone could have predicted. His stroke of genius was to combine absolute authenticity with a pair of fictional lovers whose tragic fate would draw viewers into the heart-wrenching reality of the Titanic disaster. As starving artist Jack Dawson and soon-to-be-married socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won the hearts of viewers around the world and their brief but never-forgotten love affair provides the humanity that Cameron needed to turn Titanic into an emotional experience. Present-day framing scenes (featuring Gloria Stuart as the 101-year-old Rose) add additional resonance to the story and, although some viewers proved vehemently immune to Cameron's manipulations, few can deny the production's impressive achievements. Although some of the computer-generated visual effects look artificial, others--such as the sunset silhouette of Titanic during its first evening at sea, or the climactic splitting of the ship's sinking hull--are state-of-the-art marvels. In terms of sets and costumes alone, the film is never less than astounding. More than anything else, however, the film's overwhelming popularity speaks for itself. Titanic is an event film and a monument to Cameron's risk-taking audacity, blending the tragic irony of the Titanic disaster with just enough narrative invention to give the historical event its fullest and most timeless dramatic impact. Titanic is an epic love story on par with Gone with the Wind, and, like that earlier box-office phenomenon, it's a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon
Amazon.co.uk Review
When the theatrical release of James Cameron's Titanic was delayed from July to December of 1997, media pundits speculated that Cameron's $200 million disaster epic would cause the director's downfall, signal the end of the blockbuster era and sink Paramount Studios as quickly as the ill-fated luxury liner had sunk on that fateful night of April 14, 1912. Some studio executives were confident, others horrified, but the clarity of hindsight turned Cameron into an Oscar-winning genius, a shrewd businessman and one of the most successful directors in the history of motion pictures. Titanic would surpass the $1 billion mark in global box-office receipts (largely due to multiple viewings, the majority by teenage girls), win 11 Academy Awards including best picture and director, produce the bestselling movie soundtrack of all time and make a global superstar of Leonardo DiCaprio. A bona fide pop-cultural phenomenon, the film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster (romance, passion, luxury, grand scale, a snidely villain and an epic, life-threatening crisis), but Cameron's alchemy of these ingredients proved more popular than anyone could have predicted. His stroke of genius was to combine absolute authenticity with a pair of fictional lovers whose tragic fate would draw viewers into the heart-wrenching reality of the Titanic disaster. As starving artist Jack Dawson and soon-to-be-married socialite Rose DeWitt Bukater, DiCaprio and Kate Winslet won the hearts of viewers around the world and their brief but never-forgotten love affair provides the humanity that Cameron needed to turn Titanic into an emotional experience. Present-day framing scenes (featuring Gloria Stuart as the 101-year-old Rose) add additional resonance to the story and, although some viewers proved vehemently immune to Cameron's manipulations, few can deny the production's impressive achievements. Although some of the computer-generated visual effects look artificial, others--such as the sunset silhouette of Titanic during its first evening at sea, or the climactic splitting of the ship's sinking hull--are state-of-the-art marvels. In terms of sets and costumes alone, the film is never less than astounding. More than anything else, however, the film's overwhelming popularity speaks for itself. Titanic is an event film and a monument to Cameron's risk-taking audacity, blending the tragic irony of the Titanic disaster with just enough narrative invention to give the historical event its fullest and most timeless dramatic impact. Titanic is an epic love story on par with Gone with the Wind, and, like that earlier box-office phenomenon, it's a film for the ages. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews:
Brilliant.......2008-03-04
They just don't make epic movies like this anymore. Since titanic, braveheart and gladiator we've really been lacking in the 'epic' movie genre. The cinemas really are spurting out 90% crap at the moment - i know because i see a lot of movies there.
What is there to say about titanic? Brilliant movie, fab acting, amazing effects and a beautiful story. I know the main story is fiction but i love the detail put into the recreation of the ship to make it look authentic, and all the little true stories and characters they've put into the film. Its just a great film to watch, and if you haven't seen it, its a movie you just HAVE to see.
I am always astounded when people have reviewed this movie badly, but alas there are always going to be people who hate a movie, but thats their loss. I stand that this is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Wonderful sets and special effects, but as for the rest..........2008-01-30
Titanic's vast budget enabled James Cameron to recreate Titanic's luxurious interiors in compelling detail and then to 'sink' the liner on screen in breathtakingly spectacular fashion. So why the ghastly, cheesy, thin storyline, full of insulting racial stereotypes (from the happy dancing 'diddly-diddly' Oirish to the 'Nazis with posh accents' English) and dominated by one of the thinnest love story sub-plots ever to have held up the denoument of a major movie? it isn't just that the story is painted with a broad brush: Cameron's script falsifies and at times defames real people who experienced the sinking. Depicting one of the ship's heroic officers (who died in the disaster) as a pistol-waving fanatic greatly upset his surviving family members. If Cameron ever gets around to a Director's cut, may I suggest an hour more of the sinking and rescue and an hour less of the insufferable Jack and Rose? I know that blockbuster films have to appeal to a largely teenage audience, but even some teenagers have taste and intelligence!
Tedious..............2008-01-19
This is 189 minutes of my life i will never get back......
Truly awful.....
I couldnt wait for the damn ship to sink.........
wonderful romantic tale.......2008-01-12
Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind) stars as Rose, a young rich lady who travels on the Titanic, the boat which is destined to change human kind for ever as it sets sail in 1912. The story is told from an older Rose's point of view as she experiences life on the "unsinkable ship". Meeting Jack Dawson (Leo Di Caprio - Gangs of New York) this charming romantic tale brings out a heart-warming story of young love with an unmissable ending.
Winner of 11 Oscars, David Cameron's Titanic is a wonderful tale of two young people who meet and begin to learn about life in different ways from one another. Winslet and Di Caprio are perfect as the two characters. From the wealthy and stubborn Rose to the relaxed and positive Jack, audiences can appreciate each character's different backgrounds and engage more into their lives. The characters are well developed in this film, giving the film more depth. Di Caprio and Winslet have good on screen chemistry making the film engaging and light hearted.
Many critics have argued its predictability and its clichés but with a film like this, you have to look past them to the depth and control of the power of the characters and the surroundings in which they find themselves.
The ending for me was really powerful and difficult to watch, I was close to tears. However it is a must watch as the film delivers twist after twist in a powerful climax.
It's a very good film and one of the best love stories of all time
A tour de force of excess.......2008-01-05
It is no mean feat that James Cameron managed to make the historical sinking of the infamously unsinkable Titanic revolve around the relatively insignificant romance of an upper class girl and a traveling pauper, but he does it. The first section of the film, set in the present day as excavators resurrect the skeleton of the ocean liner is unfortunately rather dull and the peroidic interludes throughout the film where the older Rose recounts her experience on the ship break-up the relatively small amount of action between the young Rose and her lover Jack Dawson. Suffice to say the most interesting part is therefore the middle section when Rose is rescued from suicide at the ship's prow by the refreshingly straight talking Jack. What ensues is a clash and collide of culture, class and social standing that is ultimately transcended in the name of love. There are interesting aspects to this section, the arbitrary division of social class by sections of the ship is particularly resonant when the ship is begining to sink and those in steerage are cadged in like animals. Similarly Rose's mother's concern that the lifeboats be appointed by class smacks of the disgusting prejudice and ignorance of the upper classes to the plight of those in 2nd and 3rd class. Having said this, this is a film by James Cameron so execution of class divisions are to a large extent discussed superficially: the upper classes are either snobbish conservatives or ruddy, over fed liberals, the lower classes are cheeky chappy Irish lads and lasses, slapping their thighs and playing fiddles. It's all just a little too cartoonish and the 1912s by numbers to be entirely convincing. Furthermore the script does not lend itself well to authenticity with hammy and repetitive dialogue ... 'I'll never let go Jack' ... 'never let go' 'your so stupid Rose ...'. I wonder if one would address a member of the upper classes as a 'spoilt brat even'? Despite this the leads are charismatic enough to elide the more obviously silly dialogue, charging through the ship on their adrenalin, good looks and humour alone. Unfortunately Cameron cannot contain his action roots and as the film reaches its ending the race for surivival decends into an race against time. Axe welding Rose wading through the flooded bowls of the ship in persuit of her Jack, underwater key searches off set by strobbed lighting and a pointless cat and mouse chase involving a trigger happy Cal (Rose's miffed husband to be) are just some of the action based antics that culminate in the dramatic buckling, snapping and raising of the ship's prow before it sinks vertically into the ocean with Jack and Rose hanging onto the railing where they first met. Contrived? perhaps, over the top? in places, dramatic? definately, touching? Yes, because despite all the noise, action, and Celine Dion this is undeniably a sad story with almost universal resonance. Loss at sea has permeated humankind's psyches for as long as we've known the ocean has existed and the story of a supposedly unsinkable ship, sinking half-way towards the new world dashing the dreams of the many on board who were simply making their way towards what they thought would be a better life is powerfully sad. But its not all doom and gloom. Rose survives, renames herself after Jack, goes horseback riding, has children and dies warm in her bed, an old lady with a heart that is an ocean of secrets ... It seems Cameron can't help himself and the injection of Hollywood smaltz adds to this bustling and at times overblown piece of cinema. Yet in its own special way 'Titanic' is a tour de force to excess (it was the most expensive film ever made at the time) and entertainment. Okay so it isn't the most intelligent or profound film I have ever seen, but its success is surely testament to it's universal appeal, engaging love story and charismatic leads. Enjoy!
UK DVD:
- To Kill A Mockingbird (2 Disc Special Edition)
- Tru Calling - The Complete Series
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- Wings Of Desire [1987]
- Wives And Daughters [1999]
- You've Got Mail [1999]
- Across the Universe [2007]
- And When Did You Last See Your Father? [2007]
- Antwone Fisher
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