Looking over the list, i find Spielberg compelling for directing some of the best and worst movies ever made.

I really like ET.

Out of curiosity, I checked IMDB and found these two missing titles:

The Unfinished Journey (1999)
Twilight Zone the Movie (1983) (segment 2)

Yes, I knew you would. That's why I said in the OP to add it if you feel like it.
;)

And, I figured he didn't direct the whole Twilight Zone Movie so why add it? And TUJ is a documentary, which I thought should be categorized differently.
:shrug:

Jaws for sure.

pretty well liked all the Indiana Jones although some were definitely better than others. if Im surfing channels and stumble across one, chances are good I'll watch unless I have somewhere to be/something else to do

another Hook fan here. just, dunno...liked it. I like a lot of films that tend to grate on other people as well as dislike many that are generally loved /shrug

Jurassic Park.

I think Im well over 5 now. so we'll stop there

When I was younger, I loved E.T. Now it's too meh to watch.

His Twilight Zone episode was the weakest of the movie, imo.


OK, so my Spielberg worst list:

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Hook
Always
The Terminal
Artificial Intelligence

Those are all outright disasters. What I find more interesting are the near misses.

:cool: I admire that he tried to make Jurassic Park without it being a copy of the book. It's just that it was not a very good movie, made worse by being so much worse than the book in every way.

:babette: I never read the book The Color Purple, so I've no idea if Strangler Lewis's critcisms hold water. But the film was completely meh to me, and I never saw it again.

:( 1941 is so close to almost funny, I find it a fascinating near miss. I could really see why it seemed funny on paper, maybe even seemed funny in dailies. It's sooooo close to funny ... just, ugh, it's not. But I admire it's loving tribute in spirit to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and other zany movies of that ilk.

:confused: I think I'd like to see Amistad again. It was good, but never grabbed me.

:tiki: Empire of the Sun is very good, but suffers from Spielbergian mawkishness in making a Japanese PoW camp so loveably quirky. I kinda forgive that as maybe being seen from the PoV of the young PoW. And I love the bravura performance by a very, very young Christian Bale as that young PoW.

:gnome: Munich and Catch Me If You Can are two very good films that nonetheless never quite soar. But I can't find any particular fault in either of them.


:eek: E.T. is utterly charming. Not the fantastic world-rocker that nonetheless rocked the world in the early 80's, but a beautiful film that's completely delightful.

:decap: I think Saving Private Ryan is better than it's first half hour. I think it's a rollicking good WWII movie told in the style of WWII movies.

:coffee: The Sugarland Express is darned good, but it never really did anything for me. I think I've only seen it once.


:birdy: I like The Lost World for leaving out all the pretentiousness of Juraissic Park and just making it a dinosaur-attack film (and for putting back a lot of the set pieces Spielberg likely regretted changing from the book in the first film).


:cheers: Lastly, Jones and The Last Crusade was an ok actioner, but it's so pale in comparison to the genius of Raiders of the Lost Ark ... which was far more than a great action film, but one that was perfectly pitched in tone, perfectly constructed and paced, and perfectly executed in look, performances, sound, and wonderful direction by the incredibly hit and miss Steven Spielberg.

Oh, that would explain it; I usually think along leftward lines. I haven't seen it since I was a kid, but I thought it was great fun. (I think this of Return of the Jedi, too.) And despite what you may think of these two opinions, I stand by my excellent taste.

And two more for good measure.

oooh, i loved re-reading your review of Persepolis. Wonder if I should mine posts from the movie thread. Hahaha.

For me, the top three are easy:

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Schindler's List
3. Jaws

After that, there's a pretty steep drop off. The most striking thing I saw in his list of films is how many of his films (for me, all but the above three) are disappointments to one degree or another. So, given that I would go with:

4. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

And there is another drop-off. More as a default than anything, I have:

5. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

It was decent, and reasonably enjoyable. Though, in interest of full disclosure, I will say that I have never actually seen Close Encounters all the way through. Nor Empire of the Sun at all.

For me the worst of his films is definitely War of the Worlds. Though I disliked Saving Private Ryan pretty strongly as well.