Titanic (1997)

Beautiful Romance - Tragedy Unbound. It has kind of become the popular thing to kick Titanic, the film and its achievements. It's like the love it garnered on release and the colossal waves it made in the history of cinema, never happened, or as some want you to believe, doesn't matter. I can tell you now that many of my macho fuelled friends will privately, under the influence of liquid refreshments, admit to having affection for the film, but socially in a circle environment? Not a bit of it! I have no such problems admitting my love for the film, I love it as much now as I approach 50, as I did when I sat there in awe at the cinema in 1997. You jump - I jump. Titanic is far from flawless, where even now with the advancements in technology the effects over 15 years later look a touch creaky. While it's true as well that away from Rose and Jack the characterisations are thin on the ground. But this is Rose and Jack's story, fully fleshed out for an hour and half and then framed by the terrible tragedy that unfolds for the next hour and half. The tie-in to the present day is superbly constructed by James Cameron - the search for the diamond - the real life filming of the Titanic wreckage - and the flashback telling of the story by a delightful Gloria Stuart as old Rose, and the sinking of the ship and its aftermath is stunning and heart breaking in equal measure. Never let go. So may scenes and dialogue exchanges stay in the memory for ever. The band playing on, the captain awaiting his fate, the mother ushering her children to sleep before the sea comes to take them, the old boy drinking his brandy as the water rushes in, or just Jack and Rose, polar opposites in society's class structure, making love, making art or just professing that neither will ever let go. It's what makes Titanic the wonderful piece of cinema it is, where beauty and tragedy merge to create something forever memorable. A film that deserved all the accolades and cash till ringing that it once did have. 9/10