Steven Spielberg

I went back and updated my list.



And yes, you're reading that correctly: I'd much rather watch 1941 and Always than War of the Worlds and Catch Me If You Can. Much.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

I like how you explained why Spielberg and his films have disappointed you. It was written in a way where your attitudes about the subject were intimate.

You and I like a lot of the same things, but we are very different on this issue; barring Steven's older work of course.

I like that.

Is anybody else getting the vibe that Spielberg's "mojo" is dissipating and has been doing so for quite a few years now. It's like he has trouble coming up with good projects - Schindler's List was rather unique and grabbing rights for Crichton's Jurassic Park was a nifty move, but lately he's really been having trouble surprising the viewer:

- AI was Kubrick's "thing" - Spielberg added a coating of lavishness and Haley Joel Osment to it. Result? I don't remember almost anything about the movie
- Minority Report was Philip K. Dick's idea messed up and turned into a blockbuster
- Catch Me If You Can was, personally speaking, not at all that enjoyable. Then again, I'm willing to admit that that's just me as a quite a few people seemed to really like it
- I haven't seen his War Of the Worlds, but a remake? Ugh... I've seen Haskins' The War Of the Worlds quite a few times and there's really only one reason you'd want to add special effects to it: to resell the idea. That's not too high up on the original list in my book
- I'm undecided on The Terminal - should see it at least one more time to make a conclusive deduction

In conclusion - the man is really talented, but I'm getting the impression that he's either not active enough or has simply become so spoilt by the Hollywood mainstream that he's no longer making the kinds of films he used to - with more emphasis on content rather than the visuals. Or it could be just me...

yes he is the best of all time.

I think Speilberg is definitely a good story teller, but I would not say he is the best director. I would say he is in the top 5, but definitely not in the top 2 or 3.

I think he has lost an edge. When he first started, he was hungry, and that's where he was at his best. In lots of his later work, it almost seemed like he was working for Disney. With that said, here's my list of the top 5 Speilberg films:

1. Jaws
2. Sugarland Express
3. Duel (even though this was a TV movie)
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark
5. Close Encounters of a Third Kind

Honorable Mention: I still think 1941 was funny ... silly and stupid, but funny.

As a director of entertainment schlock, he probably has no peer, possibly because his sense of dramatic pacing is sufficiently childlike as to be nearly universal. He's an excellent technician who understands how to make shots look real, but there's no poetry in anything he does. He puts things there to titillate, to amuse, to trick the eye, but he's got no sense of style or concept beyond simple representation, and he always chooses the most obvious, brute force way of going about it.

And when he does take a stab at serious art (Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan), he relies so heavily on infantile moralism and sentiment that he blows right through the border seperating "art" and "propaganda". Crap, crap, crap.

Yes, he is the greatest director of all time. All his movies crash and make dents in the box office, except for some such as Batteries Not Included and A.I, but other than that he has had a pile of movies that have been in the top ten earning movies of a certain year. I like all of his films except Schindler's List. Schindler's List is neat with it's black and white filming and acting but it sort of made people point the blame at all Germans and make it seem like Germans are all evil, but I'm not going to get into that.

I can't help but think he's very overrated now. I loved Jaws, Raiders and E.T. when I was younger, and still do. But his recent films have just not been as good. In fact, I think they've all been severely flawed and none are worth buying (though I haven't seen Catch Me If You Can) .

AI was just too damn long and way, waaay too sentimental for my liking. Minority Report was good until the last 10 minutes or so, which let the whole thing down. The Terminal was potentially good, but it's really just another romantic comedy, that just happens to be set in an airport. Nothing special.

And don't get me started on War of the Worlds...

Many say that Saving Private Ryan was his last great film, but I'm not a big fan of that, really. I thought that Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line was vastly superior and more deserving of the Best Picture Oscar. I think that the last Spielberg film I really liked was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - from 1989!

Don't know if he's the best around, but I do love some of his movies.

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Movie Reviews

I have my problems with Spielberg, but Munich is a great movie. I've updated my list on the first page of the thread, I think it's his fifth best overall. I hope he throws in a movie of this quality of substance a little more often now that he's turning sixty this year. I know he'll always give the public they're popcorn entertainment, but I certainly hope he chooses material like Muncih more and more now.

Eek. I can't think clearly on the subject of Steven Spielberg. He's made so many of my favorite movies, and he's done so many things (outside of Hollywood) that I admire and respect, I can't assess his movies with a clear head. (But thank you to whoever it was in this thread who put "Empire of the Sun" on their list of favorites; I loved that film.) ...Why was I thinking Spielberg did "The Money Pit," one of my all-time favorite comedies? Did he just produce it, or am I going all geriatric?

http://uk.movies.yahoo.com/hemsworth...ollywood-.html

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Only director that surpasses Steven Spielberg is Stanley Kubrick. He has such an amazing body of works. Jaws, Close Encounters of the third kind, Saving Private Ryan, ET, The Indiana Jones movies, Schindler's list, Catch me if you can, The Minority report, War of Worlds, Jurassic Park just to name a few.

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Going 18600 miles per second.

My ranked favourites:

1. Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom +
2. Empire Of The Sun +
3. Schindler's List +
4. Jurassic Park +
5. Saving Private Ryan

Those are my five "favourites", but there are countless others I love, like the two other Indiana Jones films, E.T., AI: Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report and Jaws. I think he's a great director, superb handling of the material he's given and always makes a good use of special effects (not just for wow factors). Sometimes his sentimentality is a bit distracting and disengaging, but overall, his career has a lot more hits than misses.

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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

If I had to rank mine
Raiders of the Lost Ark: ****
The Color Purple: ****
Catch me if you can:****
Close Encounters of the third kind:****
ET:****
Saving Private Ryan:****
The Minority report:****
Indian Jones the Last Crusade:*** and a half
Indian Jones and the temple of doom:***
Jurassic Park:***

If you haven't, you should really check out Empire Of The Sun, with a young Christian Bale. Superb wartime drama.

I'm a huge fan of his, I don't know if he's the best but he's damn on top of my list.

I have heard about that film. It was his first real acting job. I will need to check that out.

As a Director I'm on the line for him, but as a producer Spielberg is probably the best.

His Filmography

1970s: Duel (1971), The Sugerland Express (1974), Jaws (1975), Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977), 1941 (1979)

1980s: Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981), E.T:The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Indiana Jones & The Temple Of Doom (1984),
The Color Purple (1985), Empire Of The Sun (1987), Always (1989), Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade (1989)

1990s: Hook (1991), Jurassic Park (1993), Schindler's List (1993), The Lost World:Jurassic Park (1997),
Saving Private Ryan (1998)

2000s: A.I: Artificial Intelligence (2001), Minority Report (2002), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Terminal (2004),
War Of The Worlds (2005), Munich (2005), Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (2008)

2010s: The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn (2011), War Horse (2011), Lincoln (2012)