Steven Spielberg - classic or dud

Misread that as "about as *1941* as it gets" and I was confused! I briefly thought, wait, I thought it was supposed to be a somewhat mawkish drama?

“War Horse” ( the most John Ford-iest of Spielbergs) and “Lincoln” are the last two most memorable ones for me.

Lincoln holds up.

i'll defend Tintin, but not in a sustained or committed way.

Going to be terribly on brand here and say the 1961 version is a tad overrated and sign me right up for the Spielberg take.

Yeah I think I agree. I watch West Side Story for the color and movement - the prospect of Spielberg doing a lush kinetic big-budget dance movie, even if it turns out to be pointless I'm sure at the very least it will look and sound very good. Maybe its a low bar but after a year of pandemic nightmare idgaf, I'll pay 12 bucks to see his take on that.

Bridge of Spies and The Post are both perfectly fine middlebrow Hollywood popcorn, fun & worth watching once if you dont hate Spielberg and/or Hanks. Agree that Lincoln holds up, rewatched it recently and I think I like it a lot.

Ranking post-Munich Spielberg:

Lincoln (2012)
Bridge of Spies (2015)
War Horse (2011)
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Ready Player One (2018)
The Post (2017)
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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

I did not see Tintin or BFG.

It's not even that I think the original is great and sacrosanct, it's more that it feels definitively of its moment, both for better and worse. But Ward Fowler's point above makes sense.

Richard Beymer wasn't playing a Puerto Rican, FTR.

i was bored by Lincoln and turned it off. had lower than low expectations for Ready Player One and it was fine, i didn't hate it. Crystal Skull was just rubbish on every level. sat through The BFG and thought it didn't improve on the cartoon version.

I'd insist on your giving Lincoln another try. Few historical are this wise about political horsetrading and as fun.

I probably should, to be fair, only got about half an hour in and wasn't giving it my full attention.

It would be nice/cool for Spielberg to give Beymer a little cameo in this one if he's up for it.

Russ Tamblyn, too, why not

right!

I've enjoyed recent Spielbergs while watching them but tbh the last one that actually stuck in my mind was War of the Worlds.

And once you get Beymer and Tamblyn, work Kyle MacLachlan in as Officer Krupke.

Tintin is not bad. Ready Player One's problem is the amount of care and detail put into a story not worth caring about, imo.

I imagine Spielberg, one of the most prolific of big contemporary directors, has a lot of juggling of foundations, production jobs, etc., to contend with, which may explain his relatively uneven recent output, despite no apparent decline in his abilities beyond occasional lapses in project choice.

Check out Spielberg's oeuvre since 2000. The man's productivity would astound an indie director.

I've enjoyed recent Spielbergs while watching them but tbh the last one that actually stuck in my mind was War of the Worlds.

― Alba, Tuesday, April 27, 2021 9:36 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

The first half in isolation would count among the best films he ever directed. But then there's that second half to consider.

Yes, of the second half I remember only the very end, and that for being bad.

Looking through his list since WoTW, the only two I haven't seen are Munich and The BFG, and I'm also reminded that Crystal Skull is also memorable to me and not only for the bad bits: the opening drag race scene soundtracked by Hound Dog is terrific.

Get on Munich right ... away!

I was a big fan of both Munich AND A.I.! /introduce_yourself

It's too bad that his Amazing Stories episode 'The Mission' isn't as widely known as it should be. It's like a mini-movie and it might be the gem of his mid-'80s 'whimsy & wonder' period. Looks like you can watch it on NBC's website, so it's good to know that it's available.

Is that the one with Kevin Costner and the WWII plane?

I still haven't seen Lincoln, either.

Yeah, that's the one.

Not the most original take, but watched The Terminal last night and it kind of took my breath away how offensive & ill-judged Hanks' performance is. He seems like he's been dropped in from a particularly xenophobic 50s sitcom, doing the thing where because he doesnt know English, it follows that he also acts & reacts like a toddler. Like the when when he hears the name of his fake country, he starts flashing thumbs up and yelling it individually at each person in the vicinity. Or when someone teaches him a new word and he proceeds to proudly yell the word at random people out of excitement, like a 2 year old might. I get that hes supposed to be an innocent abroad in the fairytale world of SpielbergLand, but still, it was kind of shocking to see him he play it somewhere on a spectrum between Latka Gravas and a talking dog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1G2iLSzOe8

Spielberg's Licorice Pizza?

I love Spielberg, I love Michelle Williams, but that seems a bit ... much.

Judd Hirsch: "LIFE!"

The reviews are pretty positive. I guess it makes sense, Jews know schmaltz.

(I kid, I bet this will be good, though I admit I kept watching Williams and Dano with Sarah Silverman's "Jewface" rant in mind. Hirsch and Rogan, on the other hand, have resting Jewface.)

It’s hard to know from the trailer if these are the plum profound/metaphorical lines or if all the dialogue is like this. But with all the strong reviews, and having seen Jaws in a theater last week for the first time ever, am up for finding out!

Spielberg's Licorice Pizza?

I'm kinda hoping it turns out to be a Boogie Nights prequel...

Dirk Digger's Day Off

But with all the strong reviews, and having seen Jaws in a theater last week for the first time ever, am up for finding out!

Lol, would have been hilarious and perfect if this movie was called "Jews" !

Eh. Probably not terrible but sure looks gloopy with wide-eyed wonder.

David Sims loved it

at one point in THE FABELMANS 18 year old Spielberg shreds the mind of a goy bully with the power of CINEMA. it rules

— David Sims (@davidlsims) September 11, 2022

And he says the trailer is more gloopy than the film

i’ll just say the movie is more bittersweet (obv it’s a spielberg memoir. it’s got some treacle)

— David Sims (@davidlsims) September 11, 2022

Boy howdy! That trailer sure telegraphs how seriously this movie takes itself. It takes itself very seriously. It explores very serious themes, like whether movies are art and whether art is serious stuff. Perhaps it ought to have been titled "A Young Serious Man".

The trailer couldn't be any more gloopy if it was a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. It's like "Cinema Paradiso" minus the subtlety.

Seriously, though, I love Spielberg, so generally trust this will be good. All the best stuff about "West Side Story" was thanks to him operating at the peak of his powers (short of him resisting making "West Side Story" in the first place). Making you love every frame of a movie you didn't particularly like takes real skill.

Will watch . Love the man, gloopy or not.

Same.

saaaaame <3

What you all said with a little less enthusiasm.

Same.

in for David Lynch playing John Ford at least

Immediately remembered this from the John Ford thread. It's unlikely I'll see The Fabelmans but I can easily imagine David Lynch in this scene.

Spielberg says that he first met Ford when he was only about 15, aspiring to be make movies like those he admired by Ford. “So you wanna be a picture maker?” he remembers Ford saying (Ford in his office, dressed like he had just returned from a safari instead of lunch). “What do you know about art?” He sent the boy to a wall in his office where he had hung a series of Western landscape paintings. Asking young Spielberg to identify the location of the horizon line in a couple of them, Ford pronounced, “When you can decide that putting the horizon at the top of the frame or the bottom of the frame is better than putting it in the middle of the frame, you may, someday, make a good picture maker. Now get outta here.” Spielberg smiles.
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/tv/reviews/7352/directed-by-john-ford/

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, November 8, 2006 12:42 PM

The trailer couldn't be any more gloopy if it was a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. It's like "Cinema Paradiso" minus the subtlety.

I've been dreading this based just on the trailer. But I have a plus-one invitation to see a screening of this at AFI Silver next week--does anyone want to check this out with me?

I'm going next week

i think i heard it is a better and more interesting film than the gloopy trailer suggests. i'm hoping that's true, anyway.