UNDER-Rated / Over-Rated

Don't bother Slayton. People have a hard time taking the success + talent together. If you really think Spielberg is overrated, you desperately need to rewatch some of his movies. His use of tension is unheard of nowadays.

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Hey, how do you get this avatar thing, or what the hell it's called?

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The novelist does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good".

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They had temporarily escaped the factories, the warehouses, the slaughterhouses, the car washes - they'd be back in captivity the next day but now they were out - they were wild with freedom. They weren't thinking about the slavery of poverty. Or the slavery of welfare and food stamps. The rest of us would be all right until the poor learned how to make atom bombs in their basements.

I have some of his movies.

I think I made it pretty clear why I think Spielberg is overrated (he's actually considered the greatest in the world by a large number of people). I also acknowledged him as a master at the same time. It has nothing to do with putting success + talent together. The films look good, they are often well played, well directed, the story works, everything is class A. He knows his craft like few other directors and he works with some of the best people in the business. It's all very impressive, sometimes even breathtaking, but I'm still left with a bad taste in my mouth after having seen some of his latest films... Jeez, I'm so dramatic today....

I think with the exception of Close Encounters...Spielberg is only as good as the script he's directing...So would I say over-rated...yep

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Personally, I loved Minority Report and A.I.


He is miles and miles away from being the greatest director ever.


Some of his movies ARE overrated. Saving Private Ryan especially. Schindlers List, deserved every single piece of praise ever heaped upon it, it is a modern classic. A.I. deserved heaploads more of praise. In general, he is as great as he has ever been.

If you are going to base someone being overrated because they choose good scripts then just about everyone in the history of cinema is overrated, and Ed Wood should be our God.

I totally forgot how ****ing overrated the Matrix is...

Underrated: I forgot Sphere(Oh wait Solaris... ) & Return to Paradise...


A word on Speilberg...the man is a great director u can't do films like...

Close Encounters Of the Third Kind
Jaws
Amistad
ET
Raiders Of the Lost Ark
Schindlers List
The Color Purple

...Without being called great.

But it's when u do films like...

Saving Private Ryan
Hook
Jurassic Park
The Lost World
AI
Minority Report

...that raises some flags as to what medication he was on when he directed them...

If u look at the films that I listed on the good side excpet Close Encounters which is by far his best work...

Jaws: Novel
Amistad: Historic Event
The Color Purple Historic events
Schindlers List: Historical event
ET: Oroginal screenplay

...It seems when it's "on the page" he has no problem bringing it to the screen...but when the story is lacking as it did with the other fils listed, it's where he falters...


Underrated Director: Probaly the best director working in hollywood... Peter Weir

I am very much looking foward to Catch Me If You Can, as I've read the book and loved it...Hopefully Spielberg can do what he's done in the past with real events or novels, and do it justice...

Speilberg is a great director. I bet his films have had a great effect on all of us growing up. He is a great storyteller ie. moods, shadows...

Every Director gets old, and the films always get weaker. Scorsese started getting bad after "Casino", Coppola got bad after "Apocalypse Now", but you cant judge the filmmaker for his most recent efforts, only his greatest achievements.

Expect "Gangs of New York"and "Catch Me If You Can" to be mediocre at best, but that doesn't make Scorsese and Speilberg bad filmmakers, just 2 great artists driving on empty.

P.T. Anderson, Wes Anderson, Darren Aronofsky, The Coen Bros, and Tarantino can't make good films forever. They will also get old and their skills will crumble.

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"I know a man who was born with his heart on the outside. Every man's worst fear, he also had heavy hands. he couldn't touch his lovers face, he couldn't hold a baby." - Buck 65

i dont know about that, travis. kurosawa was making classics right up til the end, even if he slowed down a little. for example, ran compares favorably to anything he made in the fifties.
and what about directors who actually improved as they went along. bunuel comes to mind.
another good counter example would be imamura, who's been directing films for 4 and a half decades, and is still every bit as original and talented as he ever was. check out 1997's the eel, and compare it to 1982's ballad of narayama, or to 1968's profound desire of the gods.

Kubrick never lost it.


Scorsese still hasn't lost it, as far as I am concerned. Bringing out the Dead was terrific, if a little offbeat.


Bergman never lost it.


Kurosawa DEFINATELY never lost it.


I think Spielberg is still doing well. Almost better now.












DAVID LYNCH DID LOSE IT! BWAHAHAHAHHAHAHAhAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Well, I don't know about that now...

I too think "Saving Private Ryan" was overrated. Or, if you think about it, it was praised by some film people (the Academy and others) while a lot of other film critics saw through it. So, I guess it balanced it up pretty well. Personally, I think "The Thin Red Line" should have had all the awards that "Ryan" got.

"Schindler's List"... Hmmm... I don't know. Spielberg is taking a very serious and important matter and making a Hollywood melodrama out of it. He's making it in black and white so we will understand that it's a heavy film. And everybody bought it. Me too, in a way. I still cry every time I see it - because I'm human. (And if there's something Spielberg is good at it's how the human being's emotions work and how to exploit it.) But is "Schindler's List" a good attempt on explaining how the holocaust was allowed to happen? No, it's just saying that it was awful, which we allready knew. So, it's just another case of "nah, heard it all before..." for the idiots that are saying that it never took place.

"A.I.". I actually have that one but I've only seen it once. My main objection to that one is how the film pleades to our emotions all the time, how it begs us to cry for this poor little kid. It was just too much sugar for my taste. I think I will have to see it one more time before I really pulverize it.

I haven't seen "Minority Report" yet, I have to admit, so I can't say anything about it....

Isn't he God? Seriously, I agree with you. I don't understand how the only great directors are the one choosing lousy scripts.

Hey, can anyone tell me how to fix an avatar? Isn't it called that? The little cool pic that all of you guys have but that I don't?

Don't get me wrong, I like Kubrick, but his biggest problem was staying good throughout a whole film. He always makes parts of movies really well, while the other parts are pretty average. It also helps having a 7 year vacation between films. Hitchock made more then 1 film a year.

Example- "Full Metal Jacket" - The first half was totally amazing. After that, it just starts to slide downhill.
"Eye's Wide Shut" - The first 15-20 minutes was really boring, then starting with Kidmans confession it gets really, really good. Then after Cruise finds out whats going on it starts to get bad again for the last 20 minutes.
"The Shining" Again, parts of it make the film good.

Kurosawa lost it for a while (after Mifune stopped working for him), then for some reason, years later, he got it back.

I don't see what the big deal about A.I. is. If that same movie came out under the name of another director, you wouldn't be talking about it.

That avatar thing was really annoying. Bring your image to Photoshop (if you have it) shrink the pixel size to under 75 -75. Then save it for online viewing and put it in the avatar place. I hope that helps.

What??? Man, I didn't realize you had to be a scientist to do it. Will you do it for me?

Scientist is an under-exaggeration. Trust me, it took me a while, and i'm basically computer illiterate.

If my name was Mr Fantastic, i'd stretch my arm over to your computer and help. but the sad truth ... my names just Mr Almost- fantastic.

I can't believe all the disatisfaction with Speilberg here. He is, by far, my favorite filmaker. Call me one of the herd, but there are three reasons for me to automatically go see a movie at the theater.

1. Speilberg made it.
2. Scorsese made it.
3. Tom Hanks is in it.

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

Damn. I want an avatar.... I have the coolest pic.

I would have agreed with you Slayton... In 1995.

Piddzilla. Since you are near tears, I will give it one more shot.

First, take your image and drag it into an art program. I'm not sure if you have the mighty Mac, or one of the other ones.

Second, adjust the image size. The biggest side should be 75 pixels. If your picture is to detailed, it will either shrink, or look a lot duller. So I suggest you find a picture with a lower quality rate on the net.

Thirdly, SAVE FOR WEB. This option should be on the art program. ie. Photoshop 6, 5, 4...

Fourthly, the picture file should be on your Desktop.

Now go to the edit screen, and for the avator, select browse. Find your file, and click on it.

If all goes well, it will work. Make us proud.

Why you... I'll make you proud allright! (Just give me a couple of weeks....)

ooooh, im glad I sparked some kind of a response from my bashing, well, not bashing, just my anti-spielberg post.

Spielberg is unbelieveably over-rated, he may have made some classic films in his time, but he has also made some absolutely terrible films:

Hook
Jurassic Park
The Lost World
AI
Minority Report

Its at that point when you feel that he IS overrated, he may be a good director, but he is far from the best.

Adam

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