By the way, those that bash Spielberg shouldn't. His career is of a varied
canvas, and if WOTW or Minority Report is below what youthink Spielberg
should make, then I think you should also take into account Amistad &
Schindler's List for their intellectuial & social value and then understand
even the great Steven should be able to make his action films as well..
BRAVO Rich!
I'm tired of people p***ing on Spielberg. Because he is a big commercial
(and for the most part, critical) success, some believe HE should be held to
an even impossibly HIGHER standard. Well, for my money, he rarely lets me
down, even when he does get all gooey at the end of his pictures. I think
the thing you write that resonates MOST with me is your term, "varied
canvas." I LOVE that. He indeed has that in his filmography and can't be
pigeon-holed into one genre. Everything he's tackled except comedy (think
"1941") has been interesting. And even that turkey of a movie has a few
brilliant moments worth salvaging, coming so early in his career.
And get this, Steven Spielberg still a "YOUNG" 58 years old. Since 1993, he
has made FAR FEWER mistakes (although the mistakes he does make remain the
same). He earned his success by NOT being a "one-hit wonder" after "Jaws"
way back in 1975! Others squander their success as directors (think of the
mighty Francis Ford Coppola and the not-so-mighty Michael Cimino and Sydney
Pollack, all Oscar winners) after two or three films. Even director
Scorese, who I adore, has a less than brilliant track record. Both he and
Ridley Scott, in my mind, are the oldest of the most under-appreciated
LIVING "artist-directors" around. Though in the case of Scorcese, one could
argue (and some have), that he is the director who's truly overrated.
Ridley Scott is one of the most interesting commercial directors around in
that he too, has a "varied canvas."
(BTW, if I had to vote, however, for the most "legendary" cinema artist of
all-time, it would still be Billy Wilder, who began spectacularly as a
screen writer and went on to do so many fabulous pictures as a director,
with his best material ending around 1964 with "The Fortune Cookie.")
--------------
People are entitled to crap on WOTW, but of the 22 films Spielberg has made
for theatrical release since 1974, it's in his "top 10," simply because, in
my view, it's the most horrific sci-fi film he's ever done. His other
sci-fi pictures (Close Encounters, Minority Report and A.I.) were wordy,
with Minority Report being the most underrated.
And thank you, thank you JR -- for pointing out again to those who groaned
at the end of WOTW, that the fate of the aliens IS THE SAME as in the 1898
book and in the 1953 Pal film. The only thing I groaned about in WOTW was
what Kirby mentioned, and that was the "thanksgiving day" deal involving
well, you know who, at the end. Clip that sucker out and WOTW would've been
an "A+" masterpiece for me. But even that portion of the ending which was
gooey wasn't bad enough for me to wanna speed through, however. Just the
same old Spielberg misfire. (And don't get me started about that deli scene
in "When Harry Met Sally," which I ALWAYS speed through on DVD today.)
--------------
I wonder what Spielberg could do with domestic melodrama. I think he'd feel
tied up filming a Broadway play. He has a great rapport with actors,
especially child actors (and for you Scrooges, I still think E.T. is a
fabulous children's classic; I still see kids as young as 4 viewing at it
with wonder, despite it being 23 years old w/now clunky-looking special
effects). But Spielberg is no Mike Nichols with adult actors. (BTW,
Nichols is another film director who has done spotty work on film, but I
HOWLED at his staging of "Monty Python's Spamalot" in NY. He seems a better
stage director than a film director, despite his lensing of one of my
favorite USA films of all time, "The Graduate.")
*** Below, as a refresher (copied from imdb.com) -- is Spielberg's wonderful
THEATRICAL (not TV) filmography as a DIRECTOR. I left out short films and
his contributions to anthologies, as well as his first film, "Duel," which
was a TV film released commercially overseas. I hope everyone had a good
weekend.
-koose.
===SPIELBERG THEATRICAL FILMOGRAPHY===(excludes shorts/anthologies)===
Untitled Steven Spielberg/Abraham Lincoln Project (2007) (pre-production)
Indiana Jones 4 (2006) (announced)
-------
Untitled 1972 Munich Olympics Project (2005)
War of the Worlds (2005)
The Terminal (2004)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Minority Report (2002)
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Amistad (1997)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Schindler's List (1993)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Hook (1991)
Always (1989)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
The Color Purple (1985)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
1941 (1979)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Jaws (1975)
The Sugarland Express (1974)
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