To be fair, when Jack tried to get on the door, it tipped up.

Rating: 9/10 (15 January 2020)

A big boat hits a huge lump of ice and slowly sinks. Meanwhile, a chirpy American lad, Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio), gets it on with Rose (Kate Winslet), a posh bit of British totty, much to the annoyance of the girl's fiancé, Cal (Billy Zane, putting in a wonderfully loathsome performance).
James Cameron's Titanic is what I call 'factasy'. In other words, it's a factual story combined with fantastical elements to make the finished article more entertaining to the masses. A more recent example of this melding of truth and fiction is The Aeronauts, but where that film played it too fast and loose with the facts and ultimately came crashing down to earth in tatters, Cameron gets the balance of real and imagined just right, making his film both a fascinating insight into one of the most famous disasters of the 20th century, and a thoroughly charming love story.
A master storyteller, Cameron successfully steers his way around any potentially disastrous obstacles that threaten to bring the film to a standstill. Even though there's a good hour and a half before any sight of an iceberg, Titanic is thoroughly engrossing from start to finish, a testament to its director's skill at weaving a good yarn, and to the talent of his impressive cast (which includes Kathy Bates as Molly Brown and David Warner as Spicer Lovejoy). Kate and Leo make for one of cinema's most iconic pair of lovers, and exude a likability and charm that carries the first half of the film. The latter part is mostly about the special effects, something that Cameron excels at, always pushing the boundaries of technology. Even after 23 years, the sinking of the mighty ship is a sight to behold, and still sends chills up the spine.
It's only the film's closing moments that prevent me from giving the film full marks: why oh why did Old Rose (Gloria Stuart) chuck her priceless necklace into the sea? Give it to your granddaughter, donate it to an orphanage, put it in a museum, let Bill Paxton have it, but please don't throw it overboard! And as if that crazy act wasn't reprehensible enough, when the old dear carks it, her spirit returns to the Titanic to be reunited with Jack -- excuse me Rose, but what about your dead husband and father to your child?
9/10.