Has Spielberg still got IT?

[Elmo Lewis 6]

In a lot of ways, he's still the same director. But to expect him to not to change in over 30 years is ridiculous. I just take his new input for what it is, and try not to judge it against his past movies because that's as frustrating as it is unfair.

He still makes some of the best movies of each year, with the notable exception of Indy IV.

[Luke Skywalker 1,796]

Now really we did had a poll-thread with the same content a month ago...

Spielberg is still a great director. He just makes movies that dont appeal to the same audience as his 80's movies.

I enjoy his new movies like his old. But well, im a spielberg fan but i dont really care or await eagerly for things like sugarland express, 1941, always, terminal, munich... etc

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Luke, you just contridicted what you said.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

He's not the greatest director ever, he's the most popular.

[Henry B 50]

The entire basement scene is absolutely brutal.

Couldn't agree more.

[QMM 4]

He's not the greatest director ever, he's the most successful.

Fixed that for you

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Everyone knows Sergio Leone is the greatest director!

[indy4 155]

Steven Spielberg is the greatest, most popular, and most successful director.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Greatest? Varies with the person.

Most popular? Definitely one of the most. Hitchcock is up there too.

Most successful? Yes.

[Datameister 2,044]

Greatest? Varies with the person.

Most popular? Definitely one of the most. Hitchcock is up there too.

Most successful? Yes.

Bingo. Although our generation would hardly consider Hitchcock to be one of the most popular.

[indy4 155]

It kinda depends on how you define popularity.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

No one I know really cares about directors, anymore....

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Did they care about directors before? Most people don't know or care about what goes on behind the camera.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

Exactly.

[A24 4,346]

I'm not even sure Spielberg is still the most popular director.

[diman1982 0]

I think SS HAS lost somethng. But maybe he will still make great movies in future.

These are my scores(max - 10):

last crusade - 10

Schindler's List - 10

jurassic park - 8

private ryan - 4

ai - 8

minority report - 8

catch me - 8

terminal - 7

wotw - 3

munich - 9

IJ4 - 1 (one of the greatest disappointments of the last years, even JW score could't save it)

IMHO

[Neimoidian 14]

War of the Worlds has some good moments. It's hardly a great film. I can only imagine what 80s Spielberg would have done with it.

The ending brought it down considerably.

The same applies to Minority Report & A.I. imo.

[Josh500 1,615]

I'm not even sure Spielberg is still the most popular director.

Oh yes, he is.

He's still the king, and then come James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Martin Scorsese, etc.

[Neimoidian 14]

I'm not even sure Spielberg is still the most popular director.

Oh yes, he is.

He's still the king, and then come James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Martin Scorsese, etc.

I believe Chris Nolan has been hotter name than Spielberg for some recent years.

[Josh500 1,615]

I'm not even sure Spielberg is still the most popular director.

Oh yes, he is.

He's still the king, and then come James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Martin Scorsese, etc.

I believe Chris Nolan has been hotter name than Spielberg for some recent years.

But only because of one movie.

He still has to prove himself with some original material... and not some existing superheoes.

Oh I forgot Tarantino.

He's a VERY big name, too... but not as big as Spielberg, of course.

Now, if QT decided to hire JW for one of his projects...

[Neimoidian 14]

I'm not even sure Spielberg is still the most popular director.

Oh yes, he is.

He's still the king, and then come James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Martin Scorsese, etc.

I believe Chris Nolan has been hotter name than Spielberg for some recent years.

But only because of one movie.

He still has to prove himself with some original material... and not some existing superheoes.

Oh I forgot Tarantino.

He's a VERY big name, too... but not as big as Spielberg, of course.

Now, if QT decided to hire JW for one of his projects...

Wrong. He has been in the spotlight since Memento. Each of his movies (including Insomnia) was heavily discussed and awaited, unlike Spielbergs, whose recent films, maybe except Munich and Indy, attract less attention and receive worse reviews.

[A24 4,346]

Where is this based on, Josh? Is it assumption or fact? How do you measure this?

I think most people would say Peter Jackson is the best director these days. And thanks to the success of Batman, Nolan is bound to be in the top 5.

Okay, I did a little survey:

According to a poll with 10.000 readers held by Empire Magazine UK, Spielberg is the greatest director, followed by Hitchcock and Scorsese. The poll dates from 2005. Here is the top 10:

1. Steven Spielberg

2. Alfred Hitchcock

3. Martin Scorsese

4. Stanley Kubrick

5. Sir Ridley Scott

6. Akira Kurosawa

7. Peter Jackson

8. Quentin Tarantino

9. Orson Welles

10. Woody Allen

And according to a never-ending internet poll on the 'Top 100 Movie Lists' site, Kubrick is the current leader.

1. Stanely Kubrick 31.9%

2. Steven Spielberg 20.5%

3. Alfred Hitchcock 17.4%

4. Martin Scorsese 17.3%

5. Francis Ford Coppola 12.6%

I also found BFI's Critics' Top Ten Directors:

1. Orson Welles

2. Alfred Hitchcock

3. Jean-Luc Godard

4. Jean Renoir

5. Stanley Kubrick

6. Akira Kurosawa

7. Federico Fellini

8. John Ford

9. Sergei Eisenstein

10. Francis Ford Coppola

10. Yasujiro Ozu

and

BFI's Directors' Top Ten Directors:

1. Orson Welles

2. Federico Fellini

3. Akira Kurosawa

4. Francis Ford Coppola

5. Alfred Hitchcock

6. Stanley Kubrick

7. Billy Wilder

8. Ingmar Bergman

9. Martin Scorsese

9. David Lean

9. Jean Renoir

The result of all these different polls removes all doubt! The greatest and most popular director of all time is Alfred Hitchcock!

Alex

[David Coscina 4]

Munich was one of his best works.

But Christopher Nolan makes good thrillers too. Nothing especially special about that.

I think Munich is a much better made film than most think. The technique is solid. Nolan does not have Spielberg's technique. Probably never will. His cinematic style is much more stripped down. No elaborate camera dollies or tracking shots, and personally, The Dark Knight (which I love BTW) has very poor use of parallel action editing. I have yet to see Nolan come out with a Jaws, or ET or even Raiders. And Schindler's List, aside from the saccharine 5 minutes in the last act, is about as perfect a movie as one can make. Nolan also needs a better composer.

Like it or not, JJ Abrams/Michael Giacchino are as close to a classic pairing of filmmaker and composer as we are going to get these days with tossed scores and no composer/director alliances (even PT Anderson chucked Jon Brion in favor of Greenwood for TWBB).

Where is this based on, Josh? Is it assumption or fact? How do you measure this?

According to a poll with 10.000 readers held by Empire Magazine UK, Spielberg is the greatest director, followed by Hitchcock and Scorsese. The poll dates from 2005. Here is the top 10:

1. Steven Spielberg

2. Alfred Hitchcock

3. Martin Scorsese

4. Stanley Kubrick

5. Sir Ridley Scott

6. Akira Kurosawa

7. Peter Jackson

8. Quentin Tarantino

9. Orson Welles

10. Woody Allen

Alex

I would put Kurosawa well before Ridley Scott. Perhaps even Kubrick but definitely Scott. C'mon, I like Alien but it ain't no Seven Samurai, or Rashamon, or Ran....

And Peter Jackson is pedestrian at best. Seriously. At least with Woody Allen he had a certain style that others copied. I do not see anyone rushing to copy Jackson's style. Does he even have one aside from choppy cross-cuts and shaky cameras during his action sequences? I think he (poorly) borrowed that from Spielberg's Private Ryan. So did Ridley Scott for Gladiator but all the resulted in was unintelligible action sequences. Truth hurts sometimes.

[Wojo 2,453]

The result of all these different polls removes all doubt! The greatest and most popular director of all time is Alfred Hitchcock!

How does it remove ALL doubt? They polled only 10,000 people. And in those four polls, I see Hitchcock at #2, #3, #2, and #5. He's consistently high, but he doesn't sweep, therefore giving him absolute praise for greatness and popularity is silly. It's fascinating that Spielberg only appears on two of those polls, meaning he's out of the top ten on the other two.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Munich was one of his best works.

But Christopher Nolan makes good thrillers too. Nothing especially special about that.

Nolan does not have Spielberg's technique. Probably never will. His cinematic style is much more stripped down. No elaborate camera dollies or tracking shots

He has no style at all...or editing rhythm..if thats the correct word for it. All the Nolan films always felt somewhat clunky.

[A24 4,346]

The result of all these different polls removes all doubt! The greatest and most popular director of all time is Alfred Hitchcock!

How does it remove ALL doubt? They polled only 10,000 people. And in those four polls, I see Hitchcock at #2, #3, #2, and #5. He\'s consistently high, but he doesn't sweep, therefore giving him absolute praise for greatness and popularity is silly.

Because that's the result of the four polls I found, you silly. I don't know about you, but it tells me a little bit more than just one person saying this or that director is the most popular.

If you have more serious polls to add, please feel free to do so.

Alex

[Ollie 1,059]

Part of me believes if Jaws were made today, Quint and Alex Kitner would live.

Part of me believes that if Minority Report and WOTW were made in the 70's & early 80's the film would end with Tom Cruise being imprisoned & the son would have died.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

despite Alex's poll, I think the best determinator of who is the most popular is to look at the directors films box office and that would lead anyone to conclude its Spielberg by a wide margin. Its not even close.

That doesn't make him best, just most popular.

[Dole 17]

He has definitely changed though, like the Spielberg of today couldn't (or wouldn't) make Close Encounters like the way he made it in the 70's as a younger man.

Exactly. He's said recently that if he were making it today, Richard Dreyfuss would not leave his family and go with the aliens at the end.

And then of course there's the infamous E.T. walkie-talkie "improvements"...

[Williamsfan301 11]

Where is this based on, Josh? Is it assumption or fact? How do you measure this?

I think most people would say Peter Jackson is the best director these days. And thanks to the success of Batman, Nolan is bound to be in the top 5.

Okay, I did a little survey:

According to a poll with 10.000 readers held by Empire Magazine UK, Spielberg is the greatest director, followed by Hitchcock and Scorsese. The poll dates from 2005. Here is the top 10:

1. Steven Spielberg

2. Alfred Hitchcock

3. Martin Scorsese

4. Stanley Kubrick

5. Sir Ridley Scott

6. Akira Kurosawa

7. Peter Jackson

8. Quentin Tarantino

9. Orson Welles

10. Woody Allen

And according to a never-ending internet poll on the 'Top 100 Movie Lists' site, Kubrick is the current leader.

1. Stanely Kubrick 31.9%

2. Steven Spielberg 20.5%

3. Alfred Hitchcock 17.4%

4. Martin Scorsese 17.3%

5. Francis Ford Coppola 12.6%

I also found BFI's Critics' Top Ten Directors:

1. Orson Welles

2. Alfred Hitchcock

3. Jean-Luc Godard

4. Jean Renoir

5. Stanley Kubrick

6. Akira Kurosawa

7. Federico Fellini

8. John Ford

9. Sergei Eisenstein

10. Francis Ford Coppola

10. Yasujiro Ozu

and

BFI's Directors' Top Ten Directors:

1. Orson Welles

2. Federico Fellini

3. Akira Kurosawa

4. Francis Ford Coppola

5. Alfred Hitchcock

6. Stanley Kubrick

7. Billy Wilder

8. Ingmar Bergman

9. Martin Scorsese

9. David Lean

9. Jean Renoir

The result of all these different polls removes all doubt! The greatest and most popular director of all time is Alfred Hitchcock!

Alex

Where's Cecil B. DeMille in all that?

[Quintus 5,399]

Nah, he was all spectacle and naught much else.

[Wojo 2,453]

look at the directors films box office and that would lead anyone to conclude its Spielberg by a wide margin. Its not even close.

That doesn't make him best, just most popular.

Spielberg's biggest box office draws have appealed to the masses. They take advantage of a person's childlike sense of wonder, either with a fanciful plot or great special effects. ET, the Indiana Jones franchise, the Jurassic Park franchise, Close Encounters, Jaws, and others don't take a brain surgeon to grasp the plot. So they're popular to just about everyone, and with the exception of a few like SPR and Schindler's List, they're kid-friendly.

Other directors' movies suffer from being too "blank" of something. Hitchcock movies are great, but they're deep and cerebral; thrillers aren't everyday fare. Coppola movies are long, dramatic, vulgar, and violent. So are Scorsese movies. Kubrick's an acquired taste, and while all his movies are classics, how many are really great family movies?

How many great movies did DeMille make? I know of two, and they were both about the Ten Commandments.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Most of Hitchcock's movies were not really cerebral or deep they were just mysterious.

[Luke Skywalker 1,796]

Luke, you just contridicted what you said.

Not really. I was just saying that i am not really a true fan to all of Spielberg movies, he is still my favorite director and i await his movies, but his love comedies-light drama films are not my cup of tea.(SL, SPR, are another matter, those are great)

I mean i can enjoy AI as much as ET, Jaws as much Jurassic park and Raiders as much as Crystal skull.

[indy4 155]

Part of me believes if Jaws were made today, Quint and Alex Kitner would live.

Part of me believes that if Minority Report and WOTW were made in the 70's & early 80's the film would end with Tom Cruise being imprisoned & the son would have died.

That may be true, but if the 70s Spielberg had made MR, I doubt we would've gotten as much emotion and power from the father/son relationship. It takes a true father to really emphasize it as much as SS did in the film, and he wouldn't have done that when he didn't have a family.

So I agree--CE3K, ET, Jaws, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if Spielberg made them nowadays. But at the same time, MR, CMIYC, WotW, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if the 70s Spielberg made them.

[Neimoidian 14]

So I agree--CE3K, ET, Jaws, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if Spielberg made them nowadays. But at the same time, MR, CMIYC, WotW, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if the 70s Spielberg made them.

I am afraid that MR, WotW aren't too good even today.

[Wojo 2,453]

That may be true, but if the 70s Spielberg had made MR, I doubt we would've gotten as much emotion and power from the father/son relationship. It takes a true father to really emphasize it as much as SS did in the film, and he wouldn't have done that when he didn't have a family.

How can you say that? Isn't the father/son relationship between Chief Brody and his two boys in Jaws pretty special? Sure, he won't let his boy out on the ocean in a boat when there's a man-eating shark on the loose, but that scene with Brody and his youngest playing with their hands and making faces...pure movie magic.

And what's a "true father?" What are the other choices?

I read many years ago that Spielberg regrets some of what he made in Close Encounters...when he became a father, he learned how nerve-wracking it was to have the aliens abduct the little boy. The fact they brought him back at the end didn't matter. SS suggested that if he made Close Encounters today, that scene would have been different or not there at all.

[Ollie 1,059]

So I agree--CE3K, ET, Jaws, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if Spielberg made them nowadays. But at the same time, MR, CMIYC, WotW, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if the 70s Spielberg made them.

You're right, they wouldn't have been just good, they would have been much better in 70's.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Part of me believes if Jaws were made today, Quint and Alex Kitner would live.

Part of me believes that if Minority Report and WOTW were made in the 70's & early 80's the film would end with Tom Cruise being imprisoned & the son would have died.

That may be true, but if the 70s Spielberg had made MR, I doubt we would've gotten as much emotion and power from the father/son relationship. It takes a true father to really emphasize it as much as SS did in the film, and he wouldn't have done that when he didn't have a family.

So I agree--CE3K, ET, Jaws, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if Spielberg made them nowadays. But at the same time, MR, CMIYC, WotW, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if the 70s Spielberg made them.

Minority Report wouldn't have been made in the 70's because in the 70's subjects like childmolestation were taboo, and if mentioned at all it was in code words and on the side.

[Red 75]

So I agree--CE3K, ET, Jaws, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if Spielberg made them nowadays. But at the same time, MR, CMIYC, WotW, etc., wouldn't have been as good as they are if the 70s Spielberg made them.

You're right, they wouldn't have been just good, they would have been much better in 70's.

I don't know about that.

[indy4 155]

That may be true, but if the 70s Spielberg had made MR, I doubt we would've gotten as much emotion and power from the father/son relationship. It takes a true father to really emphasize it as much as SS did in the film, and he wouldn't have done that when he didn't have a family.

How can you say that? Isn't the father/son relationship between Chief Brody and his two boys in Jaws pretty special? Sure, he won't let his boy out on the ocean in a boat when there's a man-eating shark on the loose, but that scene with Brody and his youngest playing with their hands and making faces...pure movie magic.

Yes, but it was not as emphasized nor as nor as integral to the story as in MR, for instance. The scene when Tom Cruise finds the pictures in Crow's room and Crow walks in...there's a real passion with the way Cruise acts, and I think that's due to Spielberg and his experience as a father. The son in MR is used both as a major plot bit and a major theme, and it is where about 70% of the emotion in that film comes from.

And what's a "true father?" What are the other choices?

Er...not having a child...

I read many years ago that Spielberg regrets some of what he made in Close Encounters...when he became a father, he learned how nerve-wracking it was to have the aliens abduct the little boy. The fact they brought him back at the end didn't matter. SS suggested that if he made Close Encounters today, that scene would have been different or not there at all.

Excactly, and I think that this feeling is what lead to the paranoid, glum feeling felt throughout MR. I don't think we could have gotten as powerful of a feel from the Spielberg of the 70s, and least not in terms of the murdered son.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

The scene when Tom Cruise finds the pictures in Crow's room and Crow walks in...there's a real passion with the way Cruise acts, and I think that's due to Spielberg and his experience as a father. The son in MR is used both as a major plot bit and a major theme, and it is where about 70% of the emotion in that film comes from.

Or the emotion could be coming from the ACTING.

[indy4 155]

The scene when Tom Cruise finds the pictures in Crow's room and Crow walks in...there's a real passion with the way Cruise acts, and I think that's due to Spielberg and his experience as a father. The son in MR is used both as a major plot bit and a major theme, and it is where about 70% of the emotion in that film comes from.

Or the emotion could be coming from the ACTING.

Yes, it certainly helps that Cruise is so talented, but you could say that about any film. The big point is that Sean's death is a major part of the entire film, and somehow I don't think it would have been emphasized so much if Spielberg wasn't aware of exactly how much a father loves his son.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I suppose.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

The scene when Tom Cruise finds the pictures in Crow's room and Crow walks in...there's a real passion with the way Cruise acts, and I think that's due to Spielberg and his experience as a father. The son in MR is used both as a major plot bit and a major theme, and it is where about 70% of the emotion in that film comes from.

Or the emotion could be coming from the ACTING.

Yes, it certainly helps that Cruise is so talented, but you could say that about any film. The big point is that Sean's death is a major part of the entire film, and somehow I don't think it would have been emphasized so much if Spielberg wasn't aware of exactly how much a father loves his son.

thats got to be one of the worst reasonings I've ever read on this board. I think Spielberg is intelligent enough, and in touch with his emotions enough to understand, especially since his father loved him. A parent's love for their child isn't exactly a foreign theme to him, afterall its heavily explored in The SugarLand Express, Jaws, Close Encounters, E.T., TOD in a round about way, Hook. If anything Spielbergs films are more cold and detached these days.

[Wojo 2,453]

I never saw MR, it doesn't interest me.

[Neimoidian 14]

The scene when Tom Cruise finds the pictures in Crow's room and Crow walks in...there's a real passion with the way Cruise acts, and I think that's due to Spielberg and his experience as a father. The son in MR is used both as a major plot bit and a major theme, and it is where about 70% of the emotion in that film comes from.

Or the emotion could be coming from the ACTING.

Yes, it certainly helps that Cruise is so talented, but you could say that about any film. The big point is that Sean's death is a major part of the entire film, and somehow I don't think it would have been emphasized so much if Spielberg wasn't aware of exactly how much a father loves his son.

thats got to be one of the worst reasonings I've ever read on this board. I think Spielberg is intelligent enough, and in touch with his emotions enough to understand, especially since his father loved him. A parent's love for their child isn't exactly a foreign theme to him, afterall its heavily explored in The SugarLand Express, Jaws, Close Encounters, E.T., TOD in a round about way, Hook. If anything Spielbergs films are more cold and detached these days.

I agree with Joe, there were many well-explored father-son relationship themes in his earlier films too.

[Ollie 1,059]

MR is worth watching at least once.

I do believe Spielberg could have really done something special and ended the film about 20 mins earlier than he did.

I don't want to ruin the film for those who haven't seen it, even though it's been out for 7 years.. , but I do know there are a few here who agree with me on when the film should have ended.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I had the same feeling at first, but part of the plot actually isn't resolved at that moment yet.

But the thing is, it somehow feels much more logical to let the movie end with

Anderton's incarceration

, rather than the happy-pappy reset-button ending that's in the final film. I suppose it has to do with the whole film leading up to Anderton's confrontation with his future victim. Once you get past that scene and the aftermath of Anderton's actions is dealt with it feels like there's not many places left for the movie to go, even though there's a larger plot still left unresolved.

I do hope the above makes some kind of coherent sense.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I'll never understand why people here cannot accept a happy ending?

It is afterall a mystery, which does require a resolution.