"Never let go..."

I remember when Titanic (you know, the original Twilight?) was about to be released and everyone thought it was a potential mega-bomb of all time—it had cost way too much and been delayed way too often. Then it became the biggest movie of all time and made household names of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. I even edited this magazine about Leo, using early-years photos:

I made an appearance on Entertainment Tonight to plug the magazine. It was just an unauthorized one-shot, but they couldn't get over the idea that "Leo's so popular he has his own magazine now!" (I was as big as the Titanic, too; watching myself, I noted how fat I looked and José absent-mindedly agreed, saying, "Bloated." I still bring this up. Often.)

But I felt like the only one rooting for the iceberg. I'd always been fascinated by the story of the Titanic (the Andrea Doria, too!), so I appreciated the "what was it like on board?" aspect. I didn't mind the invention of a love story, either. But the writing was just so ridiculous to me. I remember being hung up on all the gratuitous coincidences—like, did Rose really have to notice there weren't enough life boats early in the voyage?

Anyway, it was on last night so I watched most of it. It's very watchable and Winslet is great in it, but I had mostly the same opinion, compounded by the fact that some of the special effects haven't held up (the green-screening of the night-time sinking looks shockingly amateurish).

So I still think it's an expensively made yarn with lots of frayed edges more than a deserving Oscar winner, but my dog Sash disagreed—she was so moved by Jack's drowning she played dead as he froze to death.