tardis_stowaway (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tardis_stowaway) wrote2012-04-08 01:19 am
tardis_stowaway) wrote2012-04-08 01:19 am
Spoiler: The Boat Sinks
When I first heard that Titanic was being re-released in 3D, I rolled my eyes a bit at the shameless effort to squeeze some more bucks out of a movie that already brought in boatloads of cash. Then I realized (with a sinking feeling) that I was going to have to see it again. My inner 14 year-old crawled out of her chamber of angst in the back of my mind and insisted that I add one more big screen viewing to the three times I saw it when in first came out. I gave in and paid my $10.50 for a matinee on Saturday.
You know what? I'm glad I did.
It's an extremely earnest movie, which makes it easy to mock. However, if one sets aside cynicism, I still believe that it's a very good movie. Your opinions may differ, and mine may be influenced by nostalgia, but I still kinda love it as a full-grown adult. Yes, it's sappy. Yes, the dialog is a bit hokey in places. Still, this is an epic romance and a disaster movie done right. The story is moving, and the spectacle is truly impressive on the big screen.
I'm generally not a fan of 3D. The glasses are super annoying to wear over my normal glasses, the tickets are WAY too expensive, and more often than not the 3D is more distracting than it is cool. Converting 2D movies to 3D is especially bad, since they tend to look worse than movies originally shot in 3D. However, this conversion was very well done. The times I thought the added dimension enriched the shot outnumbered the times I found it distracting, and overall it unobtrusively added to the depth and immersive quality of seeing the movie on the big screen. (The glasses were still annoying to wear.)
In fact, the film seemed SO real that as the boat went down I kept feeling water on my face. Like when the band played "Nearer My God to Thee" over a montage of an old couple spooning in bed as the water rose and an Irish mother telling her children a story. Or when Jack makes Rose promise to survive and never let go. Or when she has to let go of his body in order to keep the spirit of that promise. And at the end when they're reunited on the staircase in heaven (or a dream or something). Actually, there wasn't any water in that final scene. Maybe it wasn't the special effects making my face wet after all...
Further observations from this viewing:
-Jack is essentially a male version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. He's an artist with no fixed abode, prone to antics like spontaneously getting on a boat crossing the Atlantic after winning tickets in a card game minutes before. He rescues Rose from her boring existence, teaching her to spit and taking her to the fun parties in steerage. His presence in her life causes her to ditch the confined existence that is expected of her and embrace her own emotions and desires. The normal version of this trope can be a problem sometimes when it features some improbably zany young woman whose sole purpose as a character is to teach a boring male character to live more fully. I think the gender flip combined with not overdoing the manic pixie aspects too much makes this one of the less annoying examples of this trope.
-I hadn't remembered how long the introductory part of the frame story was. I'm glad the frame is there, but damn, it takes FOREVER to get to the main part of the story.
-The costumes are SO GORGEOUS. Everything that Kate Winslet wears makes me go "wow!" The costume detail alone makes it worth seeing on an enormous screen.
-In and out of her clothes, Kate Winslet is also phenomenally beautiful in this film. I love her curves. I miss her red hair. Interestingly, the attraction that I felt to Leonardo Dicaprio when I was 14 has largely gone away, even when we're considering Titanic-era Leo rather than current Leo. He looks good, but I'm not swooning.
-I wonder if the real reason the boat sank was that Billy Zane was chewing holes in the scenery in his role as the Evil Fiance Cal and accidentally breached the hull.
-There are teenagers on tumblr seeing this movie for the first time. I feel old.
-As mentioned earlier, I cried multiple times. NO REGRETS. It's a well told story with a tragic ending for half of the main duo and over 1500 other people. Tears are an appropriate response (for those inclined to cry at movies). JACK AND ROSE JUST LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH, OKAY?
You know what? I'm glad I did.
It's an extremely earnest movie, which makes it easy to mock. However, if one sets aside cynicism, I still believe that it's a very good movie. Your opinions may differ, and mine may be influenced by nostalgia, but I still kinda love it as a full-grown adult. Yes, it's sappy. Yes, the dialog is a bit hokey in places. Still, this is an epic romance and a disaster movie done right. The story is moving, and the spectacle is truly impressive on the big screen.
I'm generally not a fan of 3D. The glasses are super annoying to wear over my normal glasses, the tickets are WAY too expensive, and more often than not the 3D is more distracting than it is cool. Converting 2D movies to 3D is especially bad, since they tend to look worse than movies originally shot in 3D. However, this conversion was very well done. The times I thought the added dimension enriched the shot outnumbered the times I found it distracting, and overall it unobtrusively added to the depth and immersive quality of seeing the movie on the big screen. (The glasses were still annoying to wear.)
In fact, the film seemed SO real that as the boat went down I kept feeling water on my face. Like when the band played "Nearer My God to Thee" over a montage of an old couple spooning in bed as the water rose and an Irish mother telling her children a story. Or when Jack makes Rose promise to survive and never let go. Or when she has to let go of his body in order to keep the spirit of that promise. And at the end when they're reunited on the staircase in heaven (or a dream or something). Actually, there wasn't any water in that final scene. Maybe it wasn't the special effects making my face wet after all...
Further observations from this viewing:
-Jack is essentially a male version of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope. He's an artist with no fixed abode, prone to antics like spontaneously getting on a boat crossing the Atlantic after winning tickets in a card game minutes before. He rescues Rose from her boring existence, teaching her to spit and taking her to the fun parties in steerage. His presence in her life causes her to ditch the confined existence that is expected of her and embrace her own emotions and desires. The normal version of this trope can be a problem sometimes when it features some improbably zany young woman whose sole purpose as a character is to teach a boring male character to live more fully. I think the gender flip combined with not overdoing the manic pixie aspects too much makes this one of the less annoying examples of this trope.
-I hadn't remembered how long the introductory part of the frame story was. I'm glad the frame is there, but damn, it takes FOREVER to get to the main part of the story.
-The costumes are SO GORGEOUS. Everything that Kate Winslet wears makes me go "wow!" The costume detail alone makes it worth seeing on an enormous screen.
-In and out of her clothes, Kate Winslet is also phenomenally beautiful in this film. I love her curves. I miss her red hair. Interestingly, the attraction that I felt to Leonardo Dicaprio when I was 14 has largely gone away, even when we're considering Titanic-era Leo rather than current Leo. He looks good, but I'm not swooning.
-I wonder if the real reason the boat sank was that Billy Zane was chewing holes in the scenery in his role as the Evil Fiance Cal and accidentally breached the hull.
-There are teenagers on tumblr seeing this movie for the first time. I feel old.
-As mentioned earlier, I cried multiple times. NO REGRETS. It's a well told story with a tragic ending for half of the main duo and over 1500 other people. Tears are an appropriate response (for those inclined to cry at movies). JACK AND ROSE JUST LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH, OKAY?