Steven Spielburg: Classic or Dud

Sorry. I just feel very violently towards the man. He's horrible, he'...okay, I won't get started again.

There was some really interesting visuals, but Spielberg just isn't the right director to try to translate Kubrick.

And the ending was so totally lame --- it should have ended a good half hour before it did, but I suppose Steven couldn't bear to have a completely bleak ending and tried put a happy face on it, which didn't work.

The good parts: the robots, the part where Jude Law looks like a member of Duran Duran. If the movie had been about Duran Duran robots, it would have ruled.

Kubrick would have made a film that left people discussing the significance, the meaning, the subtext, etc. Spielberg just makes you think about the plot holes. There were so many -- they're countless. Just a couple: 1) How did all of those mechas know where the dumping ground would be, especially when it was an empty spot prior to the dump; how did they know when the dump was going to be made? 2) How did the Dad, who was so hellbent and pro-mecha, become so anti-mecha so fast?

Hands up: Who else thinks Dr. Know should have been the Bad Brains guy and not Robin Williams?

Oh yes, this was a Classic or Dud question. I'd say neither.

And Spielberg's pretty much a dud, but I liked Jaws, Duel and Sugarland Express.

I wish the first part of AI had been more creepy and cold and the second part had been more garish. I mean, he can do garish and loud, can't he? The John Williams score was surprisingly subdued, but so what.

Agreed -- Jude Law is more of an Ant than a Taylor.

I don't care about niggling over the details (of which there are many to niggle over). I don't care about whether Spielburg farted on Kubrick (though it seemed as though Steve-o approximated Kubrick's visual style rather well, though I'm not a big Kubrick head, and have been known to bitch about _Lolita_ and _2001_). I don't care about the wooden acting by the bit players or the prim & proper dialogue (both things that shot _Eyes Wide Shut_ in the ass), the lack of characterization, the movie's need to BE IMPORTANT. I won't even fucking complain about the last 45 minutes (which make the ending to _Psycho_ look natural and unforced, by the way). I'll just say I'm a bit pissed I wasted 3+ hours (previews and commercials included - since when did the US cinemas start aping the UK cinemas?) watching this damn movie when I could've been outside enjoying the most gorgeous day of the year.

Can someone go to Hollywood and break his arms and legs? Thanks.

I'll get me coat.

"Duel" indeed rocks, and "Jaws" and "Close Encounters" are pretty good, as well, but then...And, yeah, his work as a producer is even worse than his oscillation between well-meaning and/or chest-pumping history lesson and empty whizbangery. He's totally afraid to put forward a wrong foot, and he seems above criticism these days. I mean: "Saving Private Ryan"? Automatic canonization! WTF? The tired framing device should be bad enough but one of the characters was a slow-witted Texan with a wicked shot who recited bible verses before he pulled the trigger. Hey, but when the hot-blooded Irishman and the career soldier start inexplicably fighting (you know they've always hated each other. Why? Because they say so -- no evidence in the narrative, mind.) and Tom Hanks wisely uses that moment to tell them he's a schoolteacher, it could just break your heart! (or furrow your brow. Either one.)

Sugarland Express, Duel, Close Encounters and the godlike genius of Jaws save the day. Jurassic Park was hindered by the source novel and suffered from focus group kids. JPII - no need. Hook = nadir of cinema. The Color Purple, worthy but dull. Amistad, dull but dull. Private Ryan, a good recap of all war films for the previous fifty years unfortunately mashed into one. Schindlers List - not as good as the book.

Fortunately, "Amistad" also has Djimon Honsou. Between his inherent rock quotient and McCockamamie's suck quotient, every scene they did together came out average. Also, the entire sequence that details the voyage over from Africa is pure power.

So, now what's happening? Steven Spielburg is rewriting some history that he, himself, made. Is this on a par with the Holocaust? Probably not. But, still, intellectually, psychologially, it is. Perhaps Mr. Spielburg needs to reread "Catcher in the Rye." The world is, after all, the world, and kids need to grow up capable of dealing with it, warts and all. It is one hell of an imperfect place, and the more perfect kids think it is, the less able they will be to deal with it. Revisionist tactics are revisionist tactics, whether dealing with the Holocaust or some silly-assed scene in one of his movies. God, let's look at ALL of the violence in "Raiders of the Lost Ark," even the scene where an exhausted Indy, confronted by a huge scimitar-wielding Arab, disgustedly pulls his pistol and shoots the man. We all laugh. LAUGH. Not politically appropriate, is it? (Yeah, OK, Ford was sick and (literally) tired and did that on his own, but...who approved it?

Until I read this article exposing Steve's (forgive me the time- saving familiarity, will you, Mr. Spielburg?) revisionism, I thought him an exceptionally intelligent man. Now, I'm forced to downgrade that opinion, and put him in the same category as those XXXholes who would deny the Holocaust. How's that fit, Steve, being put into the same group you hoped to discredit with your brilliant "Schindler's List?"

You can't have it both ways. One of the most execrable actions in the world is censorship, and that is exactly what you are doing.

Oh, and have a nice day.

Tim

Poor man.

Vis a vis the revisionism of special editions. The original doesn't go away, and Steve was doing it years ago (Close Encounters Special Edition anyone?)

Spielburg, Hollywood.

wait so do people not like ET? i love that movie! i think it's where his style really really shines, whereas i don't have the patience for it elsewhere

not only the obvious things plot-wise, but there's also something about the family that seems very real and epitomizes a certain idea of american family to me.

i'm not sure if i wanna see AI again... i don't think so

So, now what's happening? Steven Spielburg is rewriting some history that he, himself, made. Is this on a par with the Holocaust? Probably not. But, still, intellectually, psychologially, it is.

E.T.'s his best movie and will insist on it. There's other Spielberg threads.

haha OK tipsy

This thread really should be preserved as is. A portrait of what ILX discourse on Spielberg would still be like if Morbius never found this place.

OK this is really fucked up re: censorship...

I rented the new DVD re-issue of Raiders and in the scene where Indy shoots the sword-swinging dude, there's a blatant CGI addition of a machine gun holstered to the swordsman's waist visible when he falls down dead.

comparison of the two separate versions:

2004 dvd/original
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Epw-LSC3L2U

2008 dvd/censored
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4mNCnEuf6cM

you motherfucker

Taking a class on Spielberg and De Palma right now (only film class that fit the schedule), and I was hoping it would at least be an examination of what their movies say about the American psyche, but no, it's taught by this goddamned Doctor of Film who wrote his dissertation about De Palma and is really interested in what the movies say about Spielberg's psyche AKA the most boring form of film analysis possible.

what ILX discourse on Spielberg would still be like if Morbius never found this place.

I'm trying to "unpack" this post. Alas it needs a suitcase key.

i like lots of his films! yes, they're usually oversized and preachy, that's what he does, what he's always done. close encounters, et, saving private ryan are all GREAT. oh and jaws. and indy 1 and 3. i even kinda liked the terminal ok. i understand he's heavy handed and unsubtle, but sometimes that works out well.

a.i. sucked the big one though. i mean, it *could* have been a good film, but the ending? what was he thinking?!?!?

he actually does those backflips at the beginning of austin powers 3 btw.

^wrong about everything^

^he who smelt it dealt it^

I saw Jaws last night for the first time since '94. Shaw's monologue is Oscar nod jive, but that doesn't mean Steven intended it as such – it's a relief when he gets the bloody, ignoble death he deserves.

Also: Richard Dreyfuss' totally believable drunk dork scene.