Rapid Review: Titanic (1997)

“God himself could not sink this ship.”
– Cal Hockley

SYNOPSIS: A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind, but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic. – via IMDB

So I watched this on the way back from Italy, first time I have seen it in years. I still enjoyed it, and there were so many more aspects that I appreciated in the film seeing it now that I am older. The story of the Titanic always fascinated me, and even now, all these years later, it’s still immensely interesting. Now, back to the film, obviously I was on board with this because DiCaprio. I started a ridiculous obsession with him when this came out (I was still a rugrat when it hit, but come on, Jack Dawson). It was also where I became a fan of Kate Winslet, whatever she may think of her performance here. I loved this dramatic romantic film growing up, and it is still a good film. Watching it I realised that, as much as it was the love story between Jack and Rose, there was still the love story of the Titanic, so to speak (or love letter to the ship and her passengers, whichever way you wish to see it). So much time was spent showing us the destruction of the ship, the way she went down, fell apart, the whole katoot, and there were chunks of time that lapsed that did not feature Jack and Rose, and that was okay. Titanic features some solid performances, most notably (obviously) from DiCaprio and Winslet, but also Kathy Bates, Bernard Hill, and Victor Garber, among others. Titanic also spent a lot of time differentiating between the classes, which was not easy to watch, especially when it gets to locking second and third class passengers downstairs so that they could evacuate the first class passengers first, and how the first class passengers didn’t want to mix with lower classes. It made me sick to watch, and though times have changed, classism is still a major issue the world over. It is evident that Cameron was incredibly vested in his project, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching this again. Gosh, I will never forget the popularity of this film when it came out – and that is saying something, when a kid takes in how ridiculously huge a movie is. To this day, it is so immensely popular. Look, there are flaws with the film, for sure, but for the most part, it’s a pretty damn good movie, no matter how super hyped up it is. It is funny, sweet, sad, heart-wrenching, will make you angry, and will definitely keep you entertained from the off.

I will now, of course, take a moment, purely to appreciate DiCaprio for… all sorts of reasons.

Rapid Review: Revolutionary Road (2008)

“Look at us. We’re just like everyone else. We’ve bought into the same, ridiculous delusion.”
– April Wheeler

SYNOPSIS: Frank and April Wheeler always see themselves as far-removed from the conventionality of suburbia. Yet that is exactly what creeps up on them when they buy a house in Connecticut. He toils 10 hours a day in a job he hates, while she, as a 1950s homemaker, yearns for fulfillment and passion. Rebelling against the torpor of their lives, the couple plan an escape that may push them to their limits. – via Google

I really enjoyed Revolutionary Road. I suppose true love is not quite as the couple would have imagined after surviving the Titanic and all that. Alright, I am kidding. It started off very sweet, and the couple that was adorable married and had their perfect little life, but soon the cracks and splinters in their relationship were visible. Do not be mistaken, this is not your average romantic film, overly predictable and soppy as sin (I really cannot stand those to begin with), but this one was different. It approached the whole thing in another light. It was sweet to see the Wheelers try so hard to get things together and get them right to live their lives to the fullest, but the longer you watch, the more cracked April seems. Yep, I mean it. The longer I watched, the more I was like damn, this woman is losing the plot and hiding all her decisions and justifications behind her husband, and then when realism sets in, he is the awful one. As a couple they also have to fill out the role of parents and look after their children, and the whole affair becomes a painful and tangled mess. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, it was a good drama and well-constructed, with a deeper looked into marriage, expectations, and then the reality of everything. DiCaprio absolutely shone in this movie (as if I would think anything else – but seriously, he was just excellent), and between him and Michael Shannon they really carried the film for me. Kate Winslet and Kathy Bates were also worth checking out, as always. Winslet was particularly well cast to play April, and her and DiCaprio manage to work very well alongside on another. Michael Shannon was a massive draw, and he played his role incredibly well here. He was brutally honest and didn’t really have a social buffer, but he was the one that told things like he saw them, and they were invariably correct. He had a strong character, and is definitely worth looking into. I know that not everyone is going to love this film, but I thought it to be solid, well put together and littered with great performances.