Are some of Spielberg-movies too sentimental???

[Josh500 1,615]

What do you think? I'm a big Spielberg fan, naturally, but some of my friends claim that while Spielberg is a great director, his movies of late have been too sentimental/schmaltzy to bear watching. Particularly the endings of A.I. and Minority Report stand out. Both movies have produced some of JW's best scores -- Monica's Theme and Sean's Theme (from AI and MR, respectively) are some of my favorites -- but are those scenes too schmaltzy (not the music, but the scenes)???

:oops:

[fommes 154]

I don't think so. For me A.I.'s ending deals with the profound feeling of loss, and of the impossibility to return to the past; it's not some sentimental reunion, it's quite sad really. I believe Minority Report has a short (I like it because it doesn't drag) and suitable ending.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

The last shot of MR was unnecessarily "beautiful" IMO, and Viktor Navorzki leaving the airport was maybe a bit OOT, but not really schmaltzy. A.I. just dragged on for ever, so schmaltz or no schmaltz the ending is still boring.

But it could be worse. The final 5 minutes or so of Hook make me want to retch.

Yet he got away with it on E.T.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Both movies have produced some of JW's best scores

yeah, they are right up there with E.T., Close Encounters, Star Wars, Jaws, Superman, and Raiders. :roll:

neither of these films is too sentimental.

[Hitch 58]

Though when Kim Novak fell from the bell tower in VERTIGO, it was deemed too sentimental by Paramount so it was reshot using a dummy. Not me incidentally.

Hitch, who likes sentimental tosh. Especially the end shot to THE BIRDS

[A24 4,368]

Sadly enough the ending of Schindler's List (the breakdown scene) is also painfully sentimental and a far more powerful ending could've easily been made by showing a Schindler who's suppressing his emotions. If I could delete only one scene in film history then I would choose this one.

----------------

Alex Cremers

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Especially the end shot to THE BIRDS

I recently spent some time out at Bodaga Bay where you filmed the birds, I went to the church and the school, and I saw where our favorite teacher had her eyes plucked right from here head. Then it began to happen again, and my sister and I raced to the safety of the car, but I had the keys and I was only able to save myself, and another teacher lay there with her eyes plucked out.

[Hitch 58]

Especially the end shot to THE BIRDS

I recently spent some time out at Bodaga Bay where you filmed the birds, I went to the church and the school, and I saw where our favorite teacher had her eyes plucked right from here head. Then it began to happen again, and my sister and I raced to the safety of the car, but I had the keys and I was only able to save myself, and another teacher lay there with her eyes plucked out.

I think the offspring from those birds are still residing in the area. Good old Harve and his co-horts. Mrs Bird was so accomodating. Pity I can't say the same for Ms Hedren. If you're reading this then you missed one hell of a good time in the closet. Now, begone witch!

Hitch

[pixie_twinkle 48]

Yes. The final shot of AI should have been the boy underwater talking to the blue fairy for all eternity (or until his battery died!). Now that would have been a superb ending. Really tragic. Speilberg has never ended on a downer since The Sugarland Express (which is an excellent ending!). I don't think he can anymore. He's gone soft in his middle-age. I loved MR but again the ending pissed me off. Some films just cry out for a downbeat ending.

[TIEfighter 0]

That thread almost makes me cry

[mahler3 478]

The ending of Always will always be Spielberg's weakest and overly-sentimental ending to me, thematically and visually. As much as I loved Salomen's very warm-focused cinematography I think he lost it with that awful final matte shot.

I don't have a problem with AI's ending, it closes the story beautifully - the perfect resolution.

Alex, I agree with you re Schindler's List as our Liam (he was born just down the road from me ) did overplay that embarrassingly.

Of course there's always the incessant Hollywood cliche of a dramatic event resolving troubled relationships! This was totally unnecessary in Jurassic Park re the Grant / children situation IMO, however i'm unaware if Crichton included this in his book.

- Tim.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I don't think he did, yet I always crack up at how the chopper is actually flying the wrong way. They're not heading toward the main land, they're flying out into the open sea. Also notice how San Jose is suddenly right at the beach, instead of landlocked as it should be.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

But could you ever see land from the island? I think the helicopter is flying the right way -- it's just a long trip.

I don't think either the ending of AI or MR is too sentimental.

I think (depending on who wins) WotW might end on a downer.

~Sturgis, who would greatly appreciate it if no one told him the ending as he hasn't read the book and wants to wait to do so until after seeing the movie

[King Mark 3,631]

The last shot of MR was unnecessarily "beautiful"  le

I bet Spielberg put it there on purpose so John could come up with a "beautiful" ending cue that has no connection to the rest of the music.

K.M.

[orrakul 0]

No, Spielberg's films aren't too sentimental. His films may be evoke emotion, but isn't that what great cinema is supposed to do?

I must admit that I wondered about the "I could have done more" scene in Schindler's List. But you take the bad with the good: what about the scene in Private Ryan where the mother finds out 3 of her sons have been killed? There's no dialogue - just music and acting: cinema at its purest.

What about these scenes - I think all of them are great?: Last scene of Color Purple; Last scene of Close Encounters; all of E.T. - these all evoke emotions without going overboard.

[nightscape94 965]

I think the difference between someone like Spielberg and someone like Scorsese is that the fomer goes for more commercial success and the latter goes for atistic success, or films of consequence. Spielberg has made films like that of course (SPR, List, Color Purple), but on the whole, he goes for the greater box office draw. So I think Spielberg closes his films the way he would want to see a movie in the theater, matching what the audience would want to see. So he naturally leans to senimentality. However, I fee the ending of Minority Report was needed after what came before. But I agree with the majority that the ending of AI was unnecessary and drawn out. By the end I was completely detached I didn't even care because I could not bring myself to feel for a robot that I knew couldn't feel. But for MR, Anderton deserved the ending he got.

Tim

[pixie_twinkle 48]

But the audience deserved his death!

[A24 4,368]

No, Spielberg's films aren't too sentimental.  His films may be evoke emotion, but isn't that what great cinema is supposed to do?

If what you're saying is true then many TV movies are the greatest movies of them all.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

But could you ever see land from the island?  I think the helicopter is flying the right way -- it's just a long trip.

Isla Nublar lies west of Costa Rica, as shown in the subtitle in the opening sequence. The helicopter flies towards the setting sun. The sun sets in the west, so the chopper is flying west at well; away from the main land.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

Aha! Sharp as a tack, you are!

~Sturgis

[Chris ChrusherComix 46]

I don't think that they're too sentimental. Rather, I call them "good."

CE3K, ET, SL, AI... all great, emotional, heart-tug endings. The others are hit-or-miss in terms of impact, but all effective.

Although the cheery, sunrisey ending to MR did confuse me a little considering the relative dark & mysterious future feel to the rest of the movie. It was kind of odd to me.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

the Mission is very sentimental, hell I balled the first time I saw it, but hey I think that is a good thing.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

the Mission is very sentimental, hell I balled the first time I saw it, but hey I think that is a good thing.

I'm trying not to picture you balling.

~Sturgis,

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I've never had a problem with A.I.'s ending. If it was weak to begin with (which I don't necessarily think is true), Williams' score gave it depth and purpose. On the other hand, I always thought MR's ending was a little out of place. It's not like anything was really resolved for John and Lara regarding Sean, but they are somehow brought together again by....what? Just a little awkward. Still, I like the overall movie more than A.I.

Ray Barnsbury

[MagicRat75 0]

Hook was a little over the top in parts, I think, otherwise no. I generally admire how sentimental Steven Spielberg's films are.

[SturgisPodmore 0]

Minority Report is my favorite film of the twenty-first century.

~Sturgis

[krosstj 0]

I found hook aswell to be a bit much, maybe a little A.I. too. In general however I really feel spielberg is on the money!

[Morlock 11]

The ending of MR is waaaaaaaaay too sentimental, and the ending of The Terminal is terrible, terrible, film making, but AI's ending is perfect in a particulaly sublime way, perfect in a way no film's ending has ever been.

[krosstj 0]

Morlock, you liked AI ending? I find it refreshing to get different points of view, cool. I don't know, it just felt a bit much for me. MR was a bit over the top now that I think about it. I thought that the ending of the terminal fit the movie actually.

[Hlao-roo 389]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...8121900764.html

Yet another critic takes a potshot at Spielberg's supposed lack of fealty to emotional reality:

The constant revisiting of the Holocaust, via new and inventive narrative avenues, is an attempt to put a happy -- or happier -- ending on one of the most horrifying episodes in human history. By locating and magnifying some germ of human charity (e.g., "Schindler's List") we somehow are led to believe that, even in the midst of a national murder spree, there was hope. Kindness. Humanity. It makes sense that Steven Spielberg -- who, for all his greatness, is an emotional anesthesiologist -- would construct such a story.

But as Stanley Kubrick famously said, the Holocaust was about 6 million who died; "Schindler's List" was about 600 who didn't. "Valkyrie" is about nobility and courage among perpetrators of great horror. And another new exercise in wish-fulfillment, "Defiance" -- a kind of Spartacus-Robin Hood story in which rebellious Jews live in the woods of Belorussia -- would like to argue that if Europe's Jews had only had more guns and considerably more homicidal instinct, the entire Holocaust might never have happened. It's a kind of chastisement and, unfortunately for everyone, nothing to laugh about.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I think AI has a pretty perfect ending, and not overly-sentimental at all. As others have said, there is a great sadness to the climax. I also think, structurally, to have it end with the blue fairy would not work. I think Kubrick's ending is essential to the story.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I think AI has a pretty perfect ending, and not overly-sentimental at all. As others have said, there is a great sadness to the climax. I also think, structurally, to have it end with the blue fairy would not work. I think Kubrick's ending is essential to the story.

Self-proclaimed Kubrick "purists" always insisted the opposite.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Hook is too sentimental!

[Josh500 1,615]

Sure, but that's one of the things I like about Spielberg. It makes you a little kid again, full of wonder and sentimentality.

[Luke Skywalker 1,810]

I think AI has a pretty perfect ending, and not overly-sentimental at all. As others have said, there is a great sadness to the climax. I also think, structurally, to have it end with the blue fairy would not work. I think Kubrick's ending is essential to the story.

Self-proclaimed Kubrick "purists" always insisted the opposite.

Kubrick purists are fools that believe the sentimental ending is Spielberg's.

It is not. I saw Spielberg himself saying that in a biography from himself in the history channel or similar the hollywood channel.

[A24 4,368]

The sentimentality lies not in the story per se, but more in the execution. Spielberg can be a bit Disney-esque.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes!

[MissPadmé 17]

Yes, certainly for my taste atleast!

The Terminal. despite some scenes this film is plain hollywood s***.

Or the last sene of liam Neason (I could have done more)

[Luke Skywalker 1,810]

Am i the only one thinking that The Terminal ended in a very unclichéd way?

The guy did not get the girl in the end...

[Williamsfan301 11]

Spielberg movies are too sentimental, but that's the appeal.

Name me one Spielberg movie that had a sad ending

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Name me one Spielberg movie that had a sad ending

Jaws, when Brody blew up the poor shark.

[Williamsfan301 11]

Name me one Spielberg movie that had a sad ending

Jaws, when Brody blew up the poor shark.

[Luke Skywalker 1,810]

Name me one Spielberg movie that had a sad ending

Amistad.

Spain did not retrieve its property

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Spielberg movies are too sentimental, but that's the appeal.

Name me one Spielberg movie that had a sad ending

AI. CE3K, if you look at it from the point of view of Dreyfus' wife and kids. E.T. Father-substitute leaves child again to go and hang with his mates.

I can't remember the end of MUNICH, but I'm sure it didn't involve kittens.

[Neimoidian 14]

Spielberg movies are too sentimental, but that's the appeal.

Name me one Spielberg movie that had a sad ending

AI. CE3K, if you look at it from the point of view of Dreyfus' wife and kids. E.T. Father-substitute leaves child again to go and hang with his mates.

I can't remember the end of MUNICH, but I'm sure it didn't involve kittens.

There was a cute cat in a murder scene, though.

[DarthDave 1]

I don't know...I'll take Spielberg's warmness and sentimentality any day over Kubrick's coldness and lack of humanity.

I too really liked the ending to A.I. I went in expecting not to like it because of all the bad things I had heard about how it ruined the movie, but the ending in the bed with the mother almost MAKES the movie, IMO.

[A24 4,368]

I don't know...I'll take Spielberg's warmness and sentimentality any day over Kubrick's coldness and lack of humanity.

Just because Kubrick's films aren't all warm and fuzzy doesn't mean there's a " lack of humanity".

I too really liked the ending to A.I. I went in expecting not to like it because of all the bad things I had heard about how it ruined the movie, but the ending in the bed with the mother almost MAKES the movie, IMO.

The ending of A.I. is Kubrick's.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yet directed by Spielberg.

[Marian Schedenig 8,251]

I don't know...I'll take Spielberg's warmness and sentimentality any day over Kubrick's coldness and lack of humanity.

I wouldn't want to see a warm and sentimental 2001 (just as I wouldn't want to see E.T. by Kubrick).

[A24 4,368]

Yet directed by Spielberg.

Duh!