1997 - Titanic: "You ever been to Wisconsin?"

Premiered December 14, 1997 in Los Angeles

Budget $200 Million

Gross $657.7 Million

History has not been kind to this movie. Marketing and hype was reaching new levels in America in the late 90s and the media was beginning to understand the 24 hour news cycle. Just because radio over plays a great song does not meant that the hit song is terrible all of the sudden. It is the same with Titanic. When we watched the movie we attempted to watch it with fresh eyes.

The haters have some points with this movie: it does go over the top at times and it can be far fetched at times. However, it is a solid film overall. This movie change film-making forever because the shots, the special effects and the audio were so great. It changed movies the way no movie had since Gone With The Wind. 

The acting was marginal at times but DiCaprio was quite good and he used his success to build a great career. The story moves along nicely and it was engaging. At the end we felt for those who did not make it into the life boats. In summary, culture was too obsessed with Titanic when it came out and soured it for many but it was, and remains a great movie.

Callie

Favorite: I liked the sets. It was fun to imagine what it would have been like.

Least Favorite: It was hokey at times.

Joel

Favorite: I loved the special effects and the sound effects that James Cameron included in the movie. It raised the bar in those two areas in a big way.

Least Favorite: At times the story is too over the top.