See, the difference between us is that aside from the stupid main theme music (which is more Celine Dion's fault than anything else), I wouldn't call it cheesy or a melodrama. I would call it a top-notch, meticulously crafted period piece (framed in modern times with the old woman and the diving crew) with absolutely superb production values and an incredibly intense second half. Ebert said it best when he said "Movies like this are extremely difficult to make and almost impossible to make well."
The thing is, L.A. Confidential is probably the film I would watch more often. It's probably the film that I personally enjoy more. I just don't buy into the whole "it got robbed" talk. I mean, the cast is great, and the acting is great, and it's very well-written, but it's never made the kind of lasting impression on me that a truly superb film should. And I feel like when you consider all aspects, Titanic was the more significant and impressive film-making achievement. It is true that Titanic is the kind of film that I'm only going to watch once every few years or so, whereas L.A. Confidential is one of those Pulp Fiction/The Usual Suspects type of films that I could put on any time. As I said, it's definitely the more enjoyable film. Still, to me, there is no shot in L.A. Confidential as moving as in Titanic when the camera pulls away from that huge, sinking ship to show it from a distance futilely firing off flares into the night, surrounded on all sides by a completely black ocean that extends as far as the eye can see, and you realize what a tiny, insignificant speck that ship with all its wealthy passengers really is. That shot just floored me with how much was being said in the context of the film. Scenes like that are why I feel it deserves its Oscar.
