Guilty Pleasure

I'm sitting here watching "Titanic" for what must be, conservatively, the tenth time in my life.  OK, it's nothing to be proud of but it's one of those movies, like "Mean Girls," "Terms of Endearment," "The Shawshank Redemption," and -- now -- "The Last Song" that I can't turn away from when I see it on TV.

What is it about "Titanic" that's so captivating?  Here are just three reasons.

• The clipped, breathless way that Kate Winselt says "Jack" throughout the entire movie.  It doesn't matter if she's taking a leisurely stroll with him on the deck, dancing madly with him in steerage, or shyly asking him to draw her in her sitting room.  Each time, she gets it just right.
• Leonardo DiCaprio's hair, particularly that little strand of bangs that falls across his forehead.  As much as Rose likes Jack's look when he shows up in a tuxedo for his "reward" dinner after saving her from her suicide attempt, I'm not a big fan of his slicked back hair.
• Captain of the ship Bernard Hill.  I admit that my fascination with him didn't really start until after "The Lord of the Rings" movies.  As Theoden, he gets the best line of that trilogy (If you're wondering, it's "And Rohan will answer.")  Too bad that he's the goat of "Titanic."

Unfortunately, there's no way I'll be able to make it through the whole movie since, with commercials, it's going to run til midnight.  I can't stay up that late.  So, I'm going to miss my favorite scene.  That would be the one with the whistle.