Spielberg's post-Schindler's List historical dramas

[A24 4,331]

On 8/4/2018 at 4:37 PM, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

They all suck!

 

"Suck" is a bit harsh, but they are certainly no favorites of mine.

[Josh500 1,615]

By the way, how much music is missing from the OS album of Munich? Anybody know? 

[Thor 7,503]

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is in a class of its own as far as 'film' is concerned. Heads and shoulders above anyone else.

 

In terms of scores, it's more tricky. Some really great ones, and a couple of really boring ones. If someone put a gun to my head and made me choose just one, I'd say AMISTAD.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

On 8/5/2018 at 2:36 AM, Stefancos said:

I just happen to find Spielberg's choice of subject matter, in particular for his historical drama's interesting.

 

Bridge Of Spies was fascinating.

The Post was awfully dull. Lincoln was facinating because it focuses on his accomplishment and not his demise. Amistad tells the tale of the horrific brutality aboard the slave ship which makes it a worthy tale. Munich is as I said before a snuff film which tries and fails to tie itself to 911 most egregiously. Apples and oranges. The Color Purple is a beautiful film about black folks struggles with an ensemble cast who bring it. Always should have never been made. Warhorse was interesting because it is a Great War tale and so few of us know anything about that war. BFG is just sad. SPR was received with false luster.  While it has many powerful sequences the whole film is less than the sum of its parts. The smarmy saccharine taste it leaves is not good. There is no crying in baseball and no crying in war movies. It read false in SL it reads false here.

[Thor 7,503]

That's pretty amazing. All those titles you mentioned, Joe, and I disagree with 95% of everything you said!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Bridge of Spies is one of the 10 best films Spielberg has ever made.

 

Full List

[publicist 4,643]

Just like 'Rio Lobo' is a Hawks classic.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I mean... yeah?  Rio Lobo is great.  No Red River, but great.

[publicist 4,643]

If that's the margin, i give you Bridge of Shit is great.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

But Bridge of Spies is a much better movie relative to Spielberg's filmography than Rio Lobo is relative to Hawks'

Just now, publicist said:

If that's the margin, i give you Bridge of Shit is great.

 

Witty!

[publicist 4,643]

It's my Joey day.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

It's fun to curse in the style of the big friendly giant.

 

Say "Bridge of Squibshitters" like Mark Rylance!

[publicist 4,643]

I farted it instead.

[SteveMc 2,674]

[Brundlefly 2,385]

@Disco Stu, a few odd choices on your list. It's more about your emotional connection to these movies than the actual quality.

[publicist 4,643]

Ah, that old can of worms.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Bingo.  I couldn't give a shit about the "actual quality" of a movie if I don't feel a connection to it.  And that doesn't mean I only love sentimental films!  I feel great emotional connections to plenty of dark or unsparing films too, cold like Bergman or deadpan like Jarmusch.  Just how I think.

[SteveMc 2,674]

15 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

@Disco Stu, many odd choices on your list. It's more about your emotional connection to these movies than the actual quality.

There is a great deal of quality in his top 5.  An immense deal.  SL and Raiders especially.   

[John 2,032]

To be fair, all ten are outstanding films.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I think I'm just much more accepting of imperfections in a movie if there are other aspects I really respond to.

 

That said, I really do think Bridge of Spies is near flawlessly executed and constructed.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

17 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

That said, I really do think Bridge of Spies is near flawlessly executed and constructed.

 

We are brothers!

 

Quick! Did you like The Post?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

9 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 

We are brothers!

 

Quick! Did you like The Post?

 

I liked it a lot!  Not quite as great as Lincoln or BoS, the previous two films in his civics trilogy, but there was a lot to love.  I liked how parts of it were just as much classic Spielberg suspense sequences as what you'd find in his action films, just in a wildly different context.  He wrung (wrang?) so much suspense out of waiting for Meryl just to say "Let's do it."  The cast was great.

[Jay 37,359]

13 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

He wrung (wrang?) so much suspense out of waiting for Meryl just to say "Let's do it."  The cast was great.

 

I like the way Williams scored that sequence

[JoeinAR 1,949]

1 hour ago, Thor said:

That's pretty amazing. All those titles you mentioned, Joe, and I disagree with 95% of everything you said!

That is statistically impossible.

 

 

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

Bridge of Spies is one of the 10 best films Spielberg has ever made.

 

Full List

Oh hell No. In my best black lady voice and I just waved the index finger. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

[Disco Stu 15,495]

14 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

Oh hell No. In my best black lady voice and I just waved the index finger. 

 

Funny, I read that in a Will Smith in ID4 voice.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Just now, Disco Stu said:

 

Funny, I read that in a Will Smith in ID4 voice.

I was thinking more like Beyonce Knowles did when she found out her husband cheated on her.

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Just now, JoeinAR said:

I was thinking more like Beyonce Knowles did when she found out her husband cheated on her.

 

 

 

That's a great album.

 

Classic opening line to a song:

 

Six inch heels, she walked in the club like nobody's business
Goddamn, she murdered everybody and I was her witness

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I wouldn't know. I am more of a Madonna, Babs kind of guy. You know fan of woman who can a actually sing and doesnt warble.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I like Madonna, but it's not like she's some classically great singer.  Like Beyonce, she's just got a great, unique personality to her voice.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Neither is a Julie Andrews. 

[Josh500 1,615]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

If someone put a gun to my head and made me choose just one, I'd say AMISTAD.

 

Really? What do you like about it? Which tracks, or moments in the score? 

 

I like "Dry Your Tears, Afrika" well enough, but never really got into the score proper.

3 hours ago, Thor said:

That's pretty amazing. All those titles you mentioned, Joe, and I disagree with 95% of everything you said!

 

Same here. 

 

95%, though, because The Post indeed was kinda dull. 😂 

2 hours ago, John said:

To be fair, all ten are outstanding films.

 

If all are outstanding, none is outstanding. Duh. It's an even, flat surface. 

[John 2,032]

7 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

If all are outstanding, none is outstanding. Duh. It's an even, flat surface. 

 

What does this even mean

[Josh500 1,615]

11 minutes ago, John said:

 

What does this even mean

 

Never mind. Just joking.

 

Yeah, all ten movies are great. 

[Thor 7,503]

2 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

Really? What do you like about it? Which tracks, or moments in the score? 

 

I'm an absolute sucker for African-meets-Western-type music, and Williams does the blend so elegantly in "Dry" and "Cinque's Theme" etc. I also think the Americana is superb, even if it's a bit overblown in the movie. And the heartwrenching music for the 'background scenes' is absolutely harrowing.

 

For the record, I like all the scores of the poll to one extent or the other. The only ones I don't particularly love are Newman's BRIDGE OF SPIES (it's okay) and LINCOLN (again okay, but Williams can do this in his sleep). SPR can get a big sluggish at times, but it's grown immensely on me over the years.

[Josh500 1,615]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

 

I'm an absolute sucker for African-meets-Western-type music, and Williams does the blend so elegantly in "Dry" and "Cinque's Theme" etc. 

 

Then you must also love The Ghost and the Darkness and Congo!

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I voted for Amistad in both cases. I'm quite stunned that it got so little votes. The movie is one of Spielberg's best, because it is a deeply involving story (unlike The Post) without exaggerating the emotional aspect too much (unlike Bridge of Spies). Apart from its equilibrium Spielberg covers the difficult topic on a high spiritual level appropriately to its call (unlike Munich) and he doesn't blow the whole thing up with a questionable frame story (unlike Saving Private Ryan). All in all, one of his least flawed movies.

 

Why did I vote Amistad for score? Because! And I would do it again.

 

1. Amistad
2. Lincoln
3. Munich
4. War Horse
5. Schindler's List
6. The Post
7. Saving Private Ryan

[Thor 7,503]

8 hours ago, Josh500 said:

 

Then you must also love The Ghost and the Darkness and Congo!

 

GHOST, yes. CONGO, to a certain extent. But perusing my collection, I have lots of these -- CRY FREEDOM, LION KING, POWER OF ONE, MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, INSTINCT and so on and so forth.

[Josh500 1,615]

4 hours ago, Thor said:

 

GHOST, yes. CONGO, to a certain extent. But perusing my collection, I have lots of these -- CRY FREEDOM, LION KING, POWER OF ONE, MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, INSTINCT and so on and so forth.

 

Out of Africa? 

 

That's one of my favourites, when it comes to Africa-inspired scores, along with Amistad, Congo, and The Ghost and the Darkness. 

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

I've never been into America/African World Music hybrids (except for Black Panther, which was cool).  I like the title theme of Amistad but mainly for its "John Williams Hooray" sound (and even then, I vastly prefer the similar sounding theme from The Patriot).  

[Corellian2019 386]

On 8/6/2018 at 12:31 PM, Josh500 said:

By the way, how much music is missing from the OS album of Munich? Anybody know? 

 

Not that much, but a healthy amount. Mostly clean intros/endings for some OST tracks, film versions of those same tracks, plus a few dramatic cues

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I didn't know that War Horse is sooo popular. Well, fair enough.

[Thor 7,503]

3 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

I didn't know that War Horse is sooo popular. Well, fair enough.

 

It's Williams' best score since 2005.

[Jay 37,359]

Yes!

[Josh500 1,615]

20 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

I didn't know that War Horse is sooo popular. Well, fair enough.

 

For me, it was either War Horse or Saving Private Ryan. 

 

In the end, I went with SPR, because these days I listen this score constantly. The last time I listened to WH... Maybe a year back? I can't even remember. 

 

Time to listen to WH again... 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

20 hours ago, Thor said:

It's Williams' best score since 2005.

I agree that it's a great score and I personally love it. But that more than 50% voted for it still surprises me. Moreover I expected more love for Amistad.

[Josh500 1,615]

19 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

I agree that it's a great score and I personally love it. But that more than 50% voted for it still surprises me. 

 

Yeah, you're right. That stands out.

19 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

Moreover I expected more love for Amistad.

 

And I actually expected more people to vote for SPR, if only just for the hymn.

[SteveMc 2,674]

41 minutes ago, Josh500 said:

And I actually expected more people to vote for SPR, if only just for the hymn.

This is JW Fan.  We don't let our love for one cue cloud our harsh judgments.

[Josh500 1,615]

22 minutes ago, Steve McQueen said:

This is JW Fan.  We don't let our love for one cue cloud our harsh judgments.

 

Well, to be fair, that's a major concert piece, not just any one cue.

 

But I'm surprised people didn't vote more evenly. The way it is, WH stands head and shoulders above the rest.... 

[SteveMc 2,674]

It is indeed a great score.