Do we like him or not?

He's a bit of a anomoly to me , he's made so many cack films that I don't now how to take him.

Yet sometimes he comes out with one that i can gladly but in my top 47 favourite films.

What is the general consensus about Steven Spielburgh?

I personally reckon he belongs in the Silver Screen bit, so I've moved him.

Other than that, good, but inconsistent director.

Just for Jaws, he will always have a place in my heart.

Ta. Silver screen & squaree eyex . I take your point.

Having time to compose myself , I'm not too sure if his good ones are really that good.

Everyone bleats on about Saving Prjivate Ryan , but it's not that good really.Even the first hyped up 15 minutes I wouldn't say has affected my life.
And Schindlers Ark,had me looking around.But there many more of the same ,where that one came from.

I suppose the ones I really came here to knock are is best , when all is said and done.

I much prefer his kiddy, action adventure films to his more serious efforts. He's in the position to make any film he likes and he does for better or for worse without any restrictions.

Jaws is a great film because of the restrictions he was placed under. The shark was crap looking and that was when it worked, since it was always breaking down. So in the film you barely see the shark and that helps, since you get the tension built up followed by the big reveal near the end of the film.

One word.

Duel.



ok, a few more, he has made a LOT of shit, but if it weren't for Stevie, we'd have no Indiana Jones, no Goonies, no Animaniacs/Pinky and the brain, no Gemlins, no Back to the future, no arachnophobia and loads others. I still think 'Catch me if you can' is an amazingly underrated film, as is the aforementioned Duel.

He had a small part to play in Star Wars, too......

Some really great films but has be stale of late.

Until...

Band of Brothers sequel. (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117963752.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1&p=0)

With this he goes a good way to redeeming himself. I know he is just the producer but the Band of Brothers series was fucking brilliant. And much of the style of the series was directly influenced by Saving Private Ryan, a good but ultimately silly movie with pointless storylines. Can't think why they didn't do this sooner.

I reckon he makes a lot of movies nowadays which are quite good, but not brilliant; Minority Report, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, Jurrasic Park.
I guess he rarely makes a bad movie.

I remember reading a few years back about some maniac who tried to kidnap and rape him, I can't remember if it was a man or a woman but he was caught with all sorts of dodgy gear like nipple clamps and electrodes etc.:siren:

To me, it runs like this:

His mostly excellent early films turned him into an important director (Duel/Jaws/CE3K/Raiders/E.T. being the cream) in that they were instrumental in creating the whole popcorn blockbuster genre that blossomed in the late seventies and pretty much reshaped cinema as we knew it. Say 'director' to a certain generation, and Spielberg will be the name the springs to mind first, no contest. But the industry snub to E.T. - to great controversy it lost the oscars battle to Darling Dickie's deeply boring David Lean-wannabe Gandhi - is said to have affected him badly.

Since then a rather self-concious element of award-baiting importance has come into some of his work (Purple/Amistad/Ryan/List etc), but he seems in awe of his peers with these, as if desperate for approval and acceptance as a genuine, serious auteur. Attempts to recapture former glories, though often hugely successful, either don't quite go the distance (Jurassic Park) or are outright stinkers (Hook/War of the Worlds).

However, as a producer and industry mogul, his IMDB page reveals a workaholic of quite staggering proportions and truly impressive industry standing. A veritable giant.

But the jury is still out on his actual artistic worth.

Since then a rather self-concious element of award-baiting importance has come into some of his work (Purple/Amistad/Ryan/List etc), but he seems in awe of his peers with these, as if desperate for approval and acceptance as a genuine, serious auteur. Attempts to recapture former glories, though often hugely successful, either don't quite go the distance (Jurassic Park) or are outright stinkers (Hook/War of the Worlds).

I'm with you all the way, except when you mentioned Purple. Not sure what that is. I always preferred Spielbergo, myself.

Not a huge fan, but I'll always have a soft spot for Close Encounters.

As others have said, has made some utter crap like Hook, but also some of the best 'good trash' IYSWIM like the Indiana Jones films, which are amongst the finest pieces of pulp ever made. (Except Temple of Doom which is poor). His serious efforts are patchy. Schindler's List was stunning, but I found Munich dull.

Catch Me If You Can I also found surprisingly good. Very enjoyable and quite clever film.

War of the Worlds was a bit meh.

I've never got round to watching his first one, Duel.

..except when you mentioned Purple. Not sure what that is.

The Color Purple

I've never got round to watching his first one, Duel.

My old Contextural Studies Tutor said it was all downhill after that. The purest piece of cinema he ever made.

What I perhaps should've added is that the real shame about him as that for all his faults (he always sugars the pill, and he can't do dark, no matter how hard he tries), there is enough evidence to suggest a technical genius in the old sense. Cappy mentions the opening of Private Ryan, and yes, it's much too like a dog doing sommersaults to impress, but there's a sequence later on in the film when the troops are sat round waiting for the tanks to roll in that is as brilliantly handled as you can get. A lot of his later output is like this: impressive in spurts, but they leave you wanting overall.

Duel was revolutionary at the time but I saw it recently and I must admit to being bored at times.

Jaws and Jurassic Park are his masterpieces in my opinion.

Recent stuff like Minority Report, Terminal and Catch Me if you Can are dross.

Haven't seen Munich.

I agree about the Terminal, but Minority Report is a cracking scifi film, and one of the few Tom Cruise things I quite like. Catch Me If You Can is also certainly not dross. Indeed it's one of the few films that both Mrs RD and I both like...

Actually I quite rate the Terminal.
I never really got on with Tom Hanks (prolly through jelousy as he was always copping off with Meg Ryan) , but I have since changed my tune about Hanksy , and think he is a fine actor.

Just had a look at Stevens IMDB database , and was surprised by how much of there bandwidth he actually takes up.

He seems to have fingers in in every pie / genre on the movie scene.Many of them that I was unaware of.

Certainly by the collosal amount of work he's done he is deffo a workaholic.
But I can't help thinking he's rather like a monkey at a typewriter . Sooner or later he's bound to produce the odd good masterpiece.

:dance: I knew that. For the record, I'm a big fan of the ET.

I've always loved most of his films, except the ones where he tries to get serious.

But then I am a sci-fi fan!