Steven Spielberg on the state of cinema

[Disco Stu 15,501]

4 out of my top 10 Spielberg movies are made in the last 20 years (AI, Minority Report, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies)

 

In alpha order:

AI

Bridge of Spies

ET

Jaws

Jurassic Park

Lincoln

Minority Report

Raiders

Saving Private Ryan

Schindler's List

[Bespin 8,674]

You forgot The BFG in your list?

[GerateWohl 4,977]

No Empire of the Sun in the top10?

[Disco Stu 15,501]

Great movie!  11 through 20 would all be movies I love too!

[Edmilson 8,710]

17 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

There are movies that you shouldn't watch without kids. This is definitely one of these.

 

I guess even the kiddies would find this movie dull and tedious. If I had children, I'd rather watch with them something like Zootopia.

[A24 4,540]

2 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

No Empire of the Sun in the top10?

 

Of course not! That's MY favorite!

[Naïve Old Fart 10,313]

There are a fair few Spielberg films that don't like, but I'd watch them again, under duress, with exception of B.F.G. That really was terrible.

 

 

6 minutes ago, AC1 said:

 

Of course not! That's MY favorite!

Alex, your fave SS is Empire Of The Sun?! Kudos, dude. It's in my top-4.

[GerateWohl 4,977]

54 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

 

I guess even the kiddies would find this movie dull and tedious. If I had children, I'd rather watch with them something like Zootopia.

My son liked it, was not overwelmed, but liked it.

And - one on-top bonus, no major criterion of course - the 3D looked marvelous in cinema.

[Disco Stu 15,501]

My daughter also enjoyed BFG without going head over heels for it.  I loved the book as a kid and I really enjoy Williams' score, that helps me get through the more tedious parts.  I also think the movie becomes genuinely charming and funny once it gets to the Queen, before that it's a mixed bag.

 

But I also think every effort Spielberg has made at uncomplicated escapist entertainment this century has been plagued by tedium.  Crystal Skull, Tintin, BFG, RP1.  They're all mostly kinda dull.

 

He's shone in his more adult dramas and he should stick to those from now on.

[A24 4,540]

17 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Alex, your fave SS is Empire Of The Sun?! Kudos, dude. It's in my top-4.

 

It's one of my favourite movies no matter what. It's probably the only Spielberg movie that changes depending on the angle that it's viewed from. That's why multiple viewing is so rewarding with EOTS. 

[GerateWohl 4,977]

I watched Tintin years later first time on DVD without any expectations and found it really entertaining. 

[Edmilson 8,710]

Yeah, I revisited Tintin last year, and I liked it. Williams' score works great in that movie.

[Disco Stu 15,501]

I found it a chore to sit through in 2011 and again found it a chore when I revisited a couple years ago.  Different strokes etc.

[John Dutton 7,273]

It's a weird cartoon for Europeans made by an American and the boring LOTR guy. Weren't there fans who thought it barely resembled the tone of the original funny pages? I know The Usual Suspects seemed to love it, but fark.

[John Dutton 7,273]

14 hours ago, AC1 said:

 

Wow, imagine if I said that. Why are there never any consequences for your kind? 

 

You can't compute banter. Joey is probably the most notorious asshole on this forum, and everyone knows it.

 

Anyone else think Alex is like the Chinese knockoff of pretentious JWFan poster, with publicist being the real deal?

[Sunshine Reger 3,582]

The only chance for Spielberg to ever make a great film again is if he makes a deliberately family-unfriendly film. Swearing, nudity, gore, edgy philosophies, whatever, with Williams scoring accordingly.

 

and that is not going to happen. He needs to tell us more about family and patriotic values.

[The Train Station 8,578]

Always 2

[A24 4,540]

6 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

 

Joey is probably the most notorious asshole on this forum, and everyone knows it.

 

 

Ah, so that's why Jay is willing to make an exception to the rule and gives you a free pass for insulting forum members. 

[The Train Station 8,578]

Jay bans me routinely for asking what someone meant because he interpreted it as something p*******l.

[A24 4,540]

6 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

Anyone else think Alex is like the Chinese knockoff of pretentious JWFan poster ....

 

Oh, but I am not important at all, and I am the last person to think so. I don't know why you would think that. Maybe it's because you can't stand that someone doesn't agree with you. Or maybe it's because I facetiously call you out for only watching Titanic, Batman & Robin and Always. 

[The Train Station 8,578]

31 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Batman & Robin

 

Better than all that Snyder shit!

[A24 4,540]

Why single out Snyder? You and Gruesome think Batman & Robin is better than Marvel, Nolan and Snyder put together.

 

 

 

 

For the record, I disagree, but that doesn't mean I am better than you.

 

[The Train Station 8,578]

7 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Why single out Snyder? You and Gruesome think Batman & Robin is better than Marvel, Nolan and Snyder put together.

 

Because it is!

 

B&R is certainly a silly movie, but at least it's not afraid of its source material and it's honest about itself.

[A24 4,540]

41 minutes ago, The Big Man said:

B&R is certainly a silly movie, but at least it's not afraid of its source material and it's honest about itself.

 

 

The old silly Batman TV series from the Sixties isn't the only source of Batman. Nolan and Snyder (how different they may be from one another) simply respect other sources and other interpretations. 

 

Not that I think the original source should be respected, far from it. Many movies wouldn't be half as good if they slavishly were true to their source. 

 

BTW, besides being grotesquely silly, I don't remember the Sixties Batman series to be indulging in excess.  

[The Train Station 8,578]

It's a billionaire who dresses up in a rubber bat suit and fights weirdos baddies. There's no way I can take that seriously. I can't help but ridicule Nolan and Snyder for their po-faced interpretations.

[A24 4,540]

If I remember correctly, when Burton's Batman came out in 1989, it was seen as a dark and gothic interpretation, not silly and ridiculous. 

 

[The Train Station 8,578]

Sure, it's dark and gothic, but it's still aware of what it is, and doesn't kid itself into shooting for some faux neorealism like its successors in the 2000s and 2010s did.

[JoeinAR 1,953]

On 2/4/2021 at 8:28 PM, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

 

For once, I sort of agree with Joe, even though he's an idiot. I threw BFG on whatever it was streaming on and instantly fell asleep. Jesus Christ.

 

I don't think Spielberg's older childish movies are without accessibility to adults. He didn't phone that one home, he phoned it in. And frankly, Spielberg shouldn't be working for the Communist Disney Corporation. 

Lol at  you calling me an idiot.  If you were a cartoon character youd be that Larry the Cable guys truck. 

[Sunshine Reger 3,582]

Remember how Spielberg nicknamed Williams "Max", after his (at that time) favourite film composer - M. Steiner, and how he said that if not for a career in directing, he would have wanted to become a film composer?

 

It occured to me that Spielberg is something of a Max Steiner among directors:

 

1. gaining fame with a monster movie (five runs at it with Duel, Jaws, CE3K, JP, JP II)

2. topping it with that one emotional epic hit (E.T.)

3. specializing in saccharine emotions on screen

4. arguably at his best when not doing point 3

5. In later years doing mostly boring patriotic / family films, and having lesser and lesser successes

 

Not to mention Schindler's List, which seemed tailored for Steiner, and even used Klezmer exactly the same way as Steiner once did in the 1930s.

And then the end scene in War Horse....

[The Train Station 8,578]

What's this about Larry Kramer?

[John Dutton 7,273]

TV show Picard...we'll call him Larry

[The Train Station 8,578]

Oh fuck I hate that show.

[Jay 39,186]

I cannot recall Alex ever receiving a ban, while Justin and Jerry and Joey have all been banned before, so I don't really get the argument

 

I think everybody here should be nice and polite to each other and everyone should feel welcome to share their opinions of the topic at hand

 

Arguing about different opinions is perfectly fine and of course very welcome, just don't insult the person themselves while debating and everything is good with me!

[A24 4,540]

59 minutes ago, Jay said:

I cannot recall Alex ever receiving a ban ...

 

I've been banned twice. 

 

TWICE!

[Bespin 8,674]

Me too!

[Bayesian 1,428]

On 2/5/2021 at 3:22 AM, Sweeping Strings said:

It's a shame that the 'communal cinema experience' he talks about is nowadays often marred by late-arriving, chatting, phone-using, loud-food-munching, tiny-bladdered idiots.  

This. So very this. 

[Edmilson 8,710]

I've been going to the cinema since I was a child, and I never, and repeat, NEVER had a terrible experience due to chatting, phone-using, eating, etc. In almost 100% of my cinema-going experiences I managed to get immersed in the movie without that bad behavior. 

[HunterTech 1,174]

I can pretty much say the same here. It's honestly amazing how lucky I've been to be in respectful screenings, given the horror stories I hear from time to time.

 

The only time of note I could point to is Joker, and that's only because of how truly irresponsible the other guy in the theater was. It was a man with his two children, one of whom had their tablet out the whole duration. I had to lean forward and ask him if he was in the right screening, to which he did confirm. They weren't even noisy or distracting, but it was incredibly strange regardless.

[Chen G. 4,490]

Yeah, I dunno what people are on about. I don’t recall audience disturbances; and I live in the Middle East for crying out loud!

[John Dutton 7,273]

4 hours ago, AC1 said:

 

I've been banned twice. 

 

TWICE!

 

[Jay 39,186]

I think the cinema experience differs greatly depending on where you live - not just your country, but your area of your country, and the movie theater you choose within your area

 

Here in MA I feel like the cinema going experience was pretty universally magical up until the mid 2000s or so, but ever since then there are more and more people whipping out their smartphones, talking to each other, and opening loud food items more and more and more often all the time. Plus, you used to always be able to rely on the movie being projected properly by a profession who kept every bit of the tech at optimum performance, but as time's gone on they are way more likely to run bulbs longer than they should making everything dimmer than it's supposed to be, screens getting filled up with gum and other shmutz not being cleaned off, and the cropping and alignment not being monitored because the poor projectionist has 14 screens to tend to and there's no time to give any attention to each one.

 

As always, YMMV!

[The Train Station 8,578]

If the movie's boring, might as well just look at your telephone.

[A24 4,540]

13 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I've been going to the cinema since I was a child, and I never, and repeat, NEVER had a terrible experience due to chatting, phone-using, eating, etc. In almost 100% of my cinema-going experiences I managed to get immersed in the movie without that bad behavior. 

 

That's probably because you are one of the 'offenders'. 

 

 

 

 

 

All kidding aside, I think a lot has to do with how sensitive someone is to 'bad behaviour'. Hearing someone breathe is enough to kill it for me.

[The Train Station 8,578]

25 minutes ago, AC1 said:

All kidding aside, I think a lot has to do with how sensitive someone is to 'bad behaviour'. Hearing someone breathe is enough to kill it for me.

 

Wear earplugs to the cinema. I do.

[A24 4,540]

16 minutes ago, The Big Man said:

 

Wear earplugs to the cinema. I do.

 

I no longer watch movies in theaters. Going to the movies is a young man's game. I subject only to the streaming giants now.

[The Train Station 8,578]

I just watch blue laser discs.

[DarthDementous 1,193]

The Rise of Skywalker on opening night was more than enough to kill my desire to ever want to go to a cinema again to watch a movie

[The Train Station 8,578]

I'm only seeing Godzilla vs Kong and that's it. Plus, the requirements in Australia to "check-in" using those friggin grid codes is doing nothing but discourage me from going out. I'll see this one movie but that's it.

[Sweeping Strings 2,572]

If I ran a cinema, there'd be no 'noise-making' food on sale, the walls of the auditoriums would contain mobile internet jamming tech (or one of them would be set aside for people who intend using their phones throughout the movie), there'd be no admission once a movie had started, and talking would be 'policed' by staff in the auditoriums via a '3 strikes and you're out' policy. 

Laughing at comedies, gasping at horrors etc ... absolutely. But nobody needs all that other crap.    

[The Train Station 8,578]

Remind me to stay out of the SS cinema!