57 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
57 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
confession time : i have never , ever seen gone with the wind .
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i don't know why , really .
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haven't wanted to check it out on video , haven't been at home the nights it was on network tv , and it was too far to drive the last time it was on the big-screen .
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so right up front , i'll admit that i don't know what the heck i'm talking about , but here goes . . .
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is titanic the gone with the wind of the 1990's ?
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maybe that's going a little bit too far .
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as good a job as leonardo dicaprio and kate winslet do in this movie , they're no clark gable and vivien leigh .
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but . . .
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the parallels are there .
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gwtw was the first movie to take real advantage of the most revolutionary technology available -- technicolor .
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titanic takes revolutionary steps forward in seamlessly integrating computer graphic design with actors .
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gwtw places america's greatest tragedy in the background of a classic love story , titanic does the same with the atlantic's most legendary tragedy .
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they both have strong-willed redheaded heroines , they both exploit the class differences between the aristocracy and the slaves/steerage bums , they were both incredibly expensive and popular . . .
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ok , maybe that's not enough parallels .
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so titanic's not in gwtw's league .
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no matter .
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titanic is a great movie in its own right , complete with spills , thrills and ( especially ) chills .
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much has been made of the humongous cost of the production , and all of the care than went into making the huge luxury liner come alive again .
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the money was obviously well-spent .
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the costumes look great , the sets look great , the cgi graphics look great .
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i especially liked the expensive little touches , like spending tons of money on authentic titanic china only to break it all on the floor as the ship sinks .
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but writer/director/producer james cameron's real challenge in writing/directing/ producing titanic wasn't just costuming and set design and special effects .
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cameron's major headache was keeping the audience interested in a tale where everybody knows the ending going in .
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he succeeds masterfully .
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cameron does two things that work incredibly well .
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first , he shows us modern-day salvage operations on titanic ( that's just " titanic " , not " the titanic " , mind you ) .
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the first glimpse we get of titanic is the ship in its present state , corroding slowly away under the hammering pressure of the north atlantic , from the window of a minisub piloted by treasure hunter brock lovett ( bill paxton ) .
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television coverage of the exploration of titanic intrigues 101-year-old rose calvert ( gloria stuart ) , who survived the wreck in 1912 .
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stuart does a phenomenal job in a brief role , narrating the story of her experience to a stunned paxton and his roughneck crew .
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secondly , cameron keeps the storyline focused almost exclusively on the rose character , and the romantic triangle between rose ( winslet ) , her bastard millionaire fiancee cal hockley ( billy zane ) and the irrepressible young artist jack daswon ( dicaprio ) .
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the way that big-budget disaster movies usually go wrong is to have an all-star cast , so we see the impact of the disaster on a wide group of people .
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cameron wisely chooses to stick with rose and jack , while paying scant heed to the celebrities on board .
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the supporting cast is professional , but mostly anonymous -- other than kathy bates as the unsinkable molly brown , there's no moment when you stop and say , oh , yeah , i know him , what's he been in .
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( although i would like to have seen colm meaney in a white star uniform , or even as the ill-fated engineer . )
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the love story itself is rather conventional .
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i think some reviewers found it weak , and that may be a fair criticism .
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the performances are the key here .
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zane has the meatiest part in the movie , and he plays the arrogant , condescending steel millionaire to the hilt .
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he's smooth , he looks great in a tuxedo , and he's a convincing enough jerk that the winslet-dicaprio relationship looks plausible .
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at the moment when he sees a little girl too frightened to get aboard a lifeboat , you can hear the wheels in his mind turning , saying not " can i save this little girl ? " ,
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but " can she help me get on a lifeboat ? "
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dicaprio is a revelation .
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i hadn't seen him before in anything , and didn't know what the heck to expect , really .
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( honestly , i expected a bad irish accent , but cameron evidently decided that was a bad idea , so dicaprio plays a poor american artist who wins a ticket in a poker game . )
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dicaprio exhibits an infectious joy at being alive , and being on the titanic , that it's hard not to like him .
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from the moment that the ship leaves port until it hits the iceberg , dicaprio has to carry the movie and keep our interest , and he never falters .
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winslet's character grows up a lot during the movie , and so does her performance .
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at first , she's not required to do anything but wear period clothing and look drop-dead gorgeous .
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we know from the narration that she's monstrously unhappy with her arranged marriage to zane , but there isn't any expression of these feelings until she encounters dicaprio .
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winslet and dicaprio develop a chemistry that manages to propel the movie along until the ship hits the iceberg .
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it's at that moment where winslet's character really comes alive .
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faced with real danger , she drops her spoiled-rich-girl mannerisms and does a splendid job .
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as rose and jack race around the doomed ship , looking for shelter from the freezing water and cal's fiery temper , winslet turns in a superb acting performance , mixing courage and compassion and anger with sheer shrieking terror .
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of course , the most interesting character is the ship itself .
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cameron has clearly fallen in love with titanic , and shows her in every mood -- as a deserted wreck , down in the boiler room , up on the bridge , down in the hold , at the captain's table , down in steerage -- and manages to bring the great ship back from the dead .
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cameron's greatest gift is that he allows us to fall in love with titanic as well .
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