Facts And Figures About James Cameron's Titanic

Upon hearing the word 'Titanic', people will most likely think about two things. The first is the sinking of the cruise ship RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage in April 15, 1912. The second is the epic movie Titanic written and directed by the uber-talented director James Cameron, which was loosely based on the tragic event. The film was released in 1997 and it tells the love story between two passengers of the cruise ship. The two main characters of this film are the poor but charming artist Jack Dawson and the 17 year old first class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater.

Although James Cameron's Titanic was released 14 years ago, many people are still fascinated by it today. The tragic love story of Jack and Rose definitely struck a chord with those who have watched the film. But there also many other things that make this movie special.

There are actually so many films about the tragedy of the RMS Titanic, but nothing can compete with Titanic in terms of popularity and financial success. An estimated budget of $200,000,000 was spent to make this movie, making it the most expensive film ever made when it was released in 1997. The movie held the title for 8 years, before losing it to King Kong which was released in 2005. Titanic did not just cost a lot of money to make, but it also generated a lot of cash. Titanic generated a worldwide gross revenue of $1,843,201,268, and in 1998 it was crowned the highest grossing film in history. The movie held the title for 11 years, before losing it to another movie written and directed by James Cameron. Yes, we are talking about the 2009 science fiction movie Avatar.

Soon after its release on 19 December 1997, Titanic received many positive reviews from both critics and the media. Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a rating of 83% "Fresh" based on 97 reviews, while Metacritic rated it 74 out of 100 based on 34 reviews.

James Cameron's Titanic also garnered numerous prestigious accolades. At the 70th Academy Awards in 1997, the film won 11 awards out of 14 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Song (for Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On). In the entire history of the Academy Awards, there are only two other movies that can match the success of Titanic: the 1959 Ben-Hur, and the 2004 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

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Movie Review: James Cameron's Sanctum (2011)

Maybe we haven't been in this exact situation before, but certainly one similar. Sanctum rarely presents any thrills outside the predictable Poseidon-like disaster/adventure film staple and follows a foreseeable route through its maze-like abyss complete with mandatory panicked survivors, expected equipment malfunctions, and inevitable weather complications. It's still an interesting journey thanks to a decent helping of suspenseful moments, but it's unfortunate the characters don't retain the same level of intrigue. Heavy doses of tired dialogue and a few too many annoying, paper-thin personas detract from the tragedy and harrowing action that seeps into the latter half of the film. With James Cameron's name attached, perhaps the only truly shocking element is the absence of extraterrestrial life.

The enormous and nearly inaccessible caves of Esa Ala contain the last unexplored areas on Earth - and that's exactly where cave diver Carl Hurley (Ioan Gruffudd) intends to go. Funding a several-month long expedition, Carl hires master caver Frank McGuire (Richard Roxburgh) and his skilled team of explorers to map out the cave system and find a route to the sea. Bringing his girlfriend Victoria (Alice Parkinson) along for a little spelunking fun, Carl joins Frank and his crew for their latest breakthrough to a new section of the cave. But their adventures in exploration quickly turn to a frenzied bid for survival when an unexpected flash flood strikes and the small band of cavers, including Frank's headstrong son Josh (Rhys Wakefield), becomes stranded in the tunnels. As the caverns rapidly fill with water and the only exit is blocked, Frank determines their only chance for salvation is to head deeper into the uncharted regions of the labyrinth.

"What could possibly go wrong diving in caves?" Victoria rhetorically asks, quite nonchalantly. Apparently she's never seen a James Cameron film. Although Sanctum is undeniably similar to The Abyss, it's not without several incredibly suspenseful scenes, a few nasty surprises and breathtaking scenery. To further differentiate itself from other generic thrillers, Sanctum possesses a striking attention to realism not often found in such adventures. While there are certainly creative liberties taken (the true event inspiration is drastically altered), the lingering notions of death, injury and panic are believably presented without the interference of science-fiction elements or timidity when dealing with gut-wrenching dilemmas.

Like a much more intense, complex version of 127 Hours (involving likeminded risk-takers aware of the dangers and therefore harder to sympathize with), Sanctum focuses on multiple fears: claustrophobia, suffocation, the dark, hypothermia, starvation, decompression sickness, inexperience, pain, heights and a few less conventional, surprisingly graphic frights. Differences in opinions turns into creeping dread and finally nerve-wracking panic, each demonstrated with grittiness and high tension. Although the typical nature and construction of the team of cavers - along with their poorly delivered introductory dialogue - spells disaster for the character development and acting categories, once the crew's mistakes start, the standard snowball effect of disaster movies doesn't let up. Like many thrillers, the initial momentum of the predicaments is enough to keep audiences on the edge of their seats for the running time despite leaving a truly satisfying conclusion noticeably elusive.

- The Massie Twins ( GoneWithTheTwins.com )

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The Cars of 007 - James Bond (Part 4 - The 80s)

As the 007 series transitioned out of the swinging, shaggy 70s and into the bold new 80s, the tone of the movies changed to match whatever was going on in the world in terms of society and politics as well as in pop culture. This shift was not entirely new to the franchise, having undergone radical change already during the change over from the 60s to the 70s, as well as a change in the actor who was portraying Bond. Needless to say, the shift to the 80s and the sensibilities that came with it extended to the cars the character of James Bond would use.

With the first new Bond film of the new decade, 1981s For Your Eyes Only, the move away from the more exploitation flavored plots and production of the 70s era Bond movies was immediately evident. The decade prior had ended for Bond with the sci-fi flavored Moonraker and the new decade began with 1981s For Your Eyes Only, in which Bond was pitted against Aris Kristatos, a Greek businessman in league with the Russians. The main vehicles used by Bond in this film are the Lotus Esprit Turbo, in both white and bronze, and a Citroen 2 CV. The white version is driven by Bond while in Spain, but the vehicle is destroyed when the self-destruct system is tripped by a bad guy attempting to break into the car via the driver's side window. Later in the film, the identical bronze Esprit is shown during a sequence that takes place in the Italian Alps. According to Wikipedia, although there was some speculation the Lotus' were repainted Essex-spec Turbos, they were in fact specially commissioned for the film.

1983s Octopussy is considered by many to be the best bond film of the decade, and although no one knew at the time, it would be the second last film featuring Roger Moore as Bond. The films main plotline involved a priceless Faberge egg and a plot to detonate an atomic bomb on an US air Force base in Germany. Bond takes on the Russians and an international prince and "borrows" an Alfa Romeo GTV 6 and a Mercedes 108 when he needs to make a daring escape. The Alfa Romeo is "borrowed" when Bond, being pursued by the Bavarian police, spots the car sitting unattended (the soon to be startled owner is on a nearby pay phone) and appropriates it as required. The Alfa Romeo is interesting as it went out of production three years after it appeared in Octopussy and is now a sought after collectible car on the secondary market. On the US market, the GTV-6 was sold as a limited edition model in 1982 as only 350 were produced for the United States.

Roger Moore was retiring from the role of Bond, and 1985s A View To A Kill was to be his last outing as the man with the license to kill. The plot of the film dealt with Bond going head to head with max Zorin (portrayed by Christopher Walken), a man created by Nazi experiments, who has his sights set on world domination by planning to destroy Silicon Valley, thus ensuring his control over microchips and computers all over the world. While this film does feature a car chase scene (through San Francisco, via fire engine!), and a chase scene with horses, it does not feature a "cool", gadget laden, iconic vehicle for Bond. A View To A Kill is definitely defined by the fact that it is primarily known and remembered as Roger Moore's swan song.

The next two movies, 1987s The Living Daylights and 1989s License To Kill, attained some notoriety for the simple fact that a new actor was portraying James Bond - English actor Timothy Dalton. Pierce Brosnan, who would become bond in 1995, was originally sought to take over the role from Moore but was unable to get released from his television contract (he starred in the spy series "Remington Steele"), and, as such, Timothy Dalton stepped into the role.

The Living Daylights featured two cars of note, an Aston Martin V8 Volante (convertible), and an Aston Martin V8 Vantage (hardtop). The Aston martin featured a return to the usual tricked out Bond car as it contained missiles, lasers, rocket boosters and spiked tires. The interior contained a radio capable of intercepting signals and the car had a programmable self-destruct mode. The follow up film, License To Kill, did not feature any iconic cars for Bond to use, as he employed basically whatever what was available as dictated by the plot. This approach is why Bond ends up using a Kenworth Tanker truck instead of a BMW or Aston Martin to face off against the antagonists in the film.

Although the two Timothy Dalton Bond films are no different in tone, intrigue or action from their predecessors, they are generally regarded as both inferior and the final nails in the coffin for the franchise, for myriad reasons. After so long withy Roger Moore audiences seemed to reject Timothy Dalton, even though his performances were competent, he simply did not take with fans in the lead role. It seemed as though the 007 franchise was outdated, no longer considered contemporary and no longer wanted at the box office. But all hope of further adventures was not lost entirely. It would be six long years before 007 returned to the big screen, and with his return came a return of the usual Bond staples - spy games, double crosses, exotic locations, dangerous women, super villains and, most importantly - iconic cars.

Part 5 will focus on the new Bond, the new decade of films and all of the wonderful new cars employed by the film makers.

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