"Titanic": The Debate

I really enjoyed the movie Titanic, and have since become somewhat of a Titanic buff:

Titanic buff -- (noun) Someone who knows waaaaayyyyyy too much about the Titanic and its sinking than a person with, say, a life would know

The movie is the highest grossing movie of all time, and it holds the record (with Ben-Hur and The Lord of the Rings : Return of the King) for the most Oscar-winning film, taking in 11 including the coveted Best Picture award.

It also seems to be a movie that there exists a broad range of opinion on. I had thought that most people would have moved by it, or at least liked it. However, I have run into a fair share of folks who not only did not particularly like the movie, but hate it. One of these folks is Lynda, my girlfriend of 11 months. I would have figured that she, of all people, would really have liked the film, seeing as she's a die-hard romantic and a bit of a cryer at the cinema (face it, honey, it's true). But she bristled the first time I mentioned the movie as one of my favorites of the last 10 years, and continues to chide me about it.

So, since we do cover the important issues here at Tom and Jerry, I will attempt to give a fair hearing to each side of the argument: Titanic: Great Movie or Cinematic Travesty?

The first salvo is coming up....