"The Ship Sinks" A look back at Titanic directed by James Cameron

You never know when inspiration will hit you. I was packing orders today at my job when I realized that James Cameron's Oscar Winning film Titanic is being re-released today in 3-D. A week before the 100th anniversary of the actual sinking of Titanic. I then started to think about the film and this jumped out of my head.

The movie is ok. Oscar Winning? Not quite? But from a historical standpoint this film is pretty cool. First the negative. The story is pedantic. Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic. Poor Boy meets Rich Girl. They fall in love, tragedy hits, the end. A story that has done thousands of time. Except what made this different was the fact that it was on the Titanic and it really looked like the Titanic. Chalk that up to the obsessive James Cameron who is one of the best, albeit frustrating, directors of our time. Is obsessiveness is what made this film sparkle. The attention to detail he put into everything, including using the same kind of silverware, sheets, and towels that were on the real Titanic. He looked at the blueprints of the Titanic, looked at pictures, even did some underwater exploration and nailed the accuracy of the time and the ship. And that needs to be applauded.

Is it obsessive? Sure. Was it neccassary? Probably not. But it elevated a fairly sub-standard film into an interesting piece of Historical Fiction/Non-Fiction. There was no Jack and Rose on the Titanic, but the Titanic did sink. Molly Brown played incredibly by Kathy Bates was there. And many of the other characters are real people. The ship's captain played by Victor Garber was there as well. But you add some fictional characters since you don't really know the history of some of the people on board and you got your self some Historical Fiction/Non-Fiction.

Is the accuracy what lead the film to be, until recently, the highest grossing film of all time? Of course not. It was Leonardo DiCaprio and the Celine Dion song. It was a good old fashioned love song. And what made the film a smash was the love for Leo. Though for me I liked to see the Kate Winslet nudity. (yummy. I am a bad boy). Leo is an excellent actor, Kate Winslet an excellent actress. And maybe this film is what helped them move to the next level. Didn't help Billy Zane's career, unless you count his appearance in Zoolander.

I saw the film weeks after it came out. I saw it at the Senator theater here in Baltimore and it was good, excessively long, but still good. I loved the future scenes with Bill Paxton and Gloria Stuart, I teared up a bit at the end when Rose was reunited at the bottom of the sea with Jack and all the other dead guests of the Titanic. Yes I despised the overplayed Celine Dion song, which was tough because I was working at Lite FM 101.9 at the time and they played it ALL THE TIME!!! But I loved the historical accuracy of the ship. Being a history major of course I would like that. I own it on video, but have never gotten the DVD or Blu-Ray. Will I ever? Who knows. I would prefer to own the documentary Cameron shot of his exploration of the Titanic with Bill Paxton. Saw it on PBS once and it was excellent. Am I going to see it in 3-D? No way. I don't like 3-D and in general don't like the movie enough to pay to see it int he theater. (Though Kate Winslet naked in 3-D. HMMM. Dirty boy.) Do I think it will make a lot of money this week? No. I think Hunger Games and American Reunion will step up. You also still have Wrath of Titans as well.  It was a different era. Everyone has the movie on video, DVD, or Blu-Ray. I just don't see it. Would I be surprised if it did well. Yeah kind of. But anything is possible.

Oh and for all you people who are yelling at me for not putting up a spoiler warning about the ship. It's history. You can't spoil that! Sheesh.