Spielbergs most forgettable movie

[Drain Bamage]

To go a bit OT one comparison I'v not seen much of in the past would be Spielberg vs Ridley Scott, if you look at their work from say the millennium onwards its does start to converge quite a bit.

Scott isn't even close to Spielberg these days

Ridley Scotts modern movies look so generic to me now that I think about it

Like, show me a cool tracking shot, or a brilliant blocked out scene in a modern Ridley Scott film

Spielbergs movies are full of high level technique. Tracking shots, elaborate blocking and focus pulling. I just dont see it in Scotts movies. He has that 6-10 cameras running at all times style now, he almost shoots his movies like a TV show. I prefer single cam, or maybe two. And longer takes.

 

[neverwas]

the colour purple.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

Scott isn't even close to Spielberg these days

Ridley Scotts modern movies look so generic to me now that I think about it

Like, show me a cool tracking shot, or a brilliant blocked out scene in a modern Ridley Scott film

Spielbergs movies are full of high level technique. Tracking shots, elaborate blocking and focus pulling. I just dont see it in Scotts movies. He has that 6-10 cameras running at all times style now, he almost shoots his movies like a TV show. I prefer single cam, or maybe two. And longer takes.

In some respects you could argue the two of them have been looking to step into each others shoes since the mid 90's, Scott to become a dependable director of successful cinema, Spielberg to become the kind of auteur Scott was in his first few films.

Scott to me does I think suffer a bit from a lack of passion or perhaps a simple lack of control being not so successful at the box office? I do often get the impression he's rather at the mercy or his scripts some sometimes of studio casting decisions in a way Spielberg isn't.

Speilberg I think suffers a bit from not being able to fully give up on trying to please a broad audience with neat endings. I would say as well that whilst he is clearly talented visually I don't think he's on Scott's level there, he puts in the effort in the areas you mention but the end results are never IMHO as artful as Scotts better work even from the latter days.

 

[0_o]

Nobody remembers it though. Go up to anybody on the street and say "Do you like The Terminal" they wont have any idea what you're talking about.

I don't really mind audience's forgetting a film happened, I measure most things by success in genre, or innovations noted in review

in the genre of "trapped in the mundane" this was a solid entry

 

[minute bull]

in the genre of "trapped in the mundane" this was a solid entry

We can say that about all TS' threads really.

 

[Drain Bamage]

I would say as well that whilst he is clearly talented visually I don't think he's on Scott's level there, he puts in the effort in the areas you mention but the end results are never IMHO as artful as Scotts better work even from the latter days.

I would disagree with you there. I think Ridley Scott's early movies have fantastic production design and Alien and Blade Runner are extremely well shot. But IMO there's no denying Spielberg is superior with the camera. It's what he's known for. His close ups are god like.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

I would disagree with you there. I think Ridley Scott's early movies have fantastic production design and Alien and Blade Runner are extremely well shot. But IMO there's no denying Spielberg is superior with the camera. It's what he's known for. His close ups are god like.

Speilberg definitely uses the camera a lot more dynamically than Scott I'd agree, I spose understandable given his action background. A lot of his latter films though I think look to shift more into the kind of atmospheric work that Scott is known for, he's certainly not bad at it, better than the vast majority of directors but I don't feel on the level of the very best, the results do for me often come across as a little generic.

 

[Drain Bamage]

Speilberg definitely uses the camera a lot more dynamically than Scott I'd agree, I spose understandable given his action background. A lot of his latter films though I think look to shift more into the kind of atmospheric work that Scott is known for, he's certainly not bad at it, better than the vast majority of directors but I don't feel on the level of the very best, the results do for me often come across as a little generic.

I'm not sure how we even got on a Ridley Scott vs Steven Spielberg debate, but let me go ahead and put it to rest:

Jaws
Close Encounters
Raiders of the Lost Ark
ET
Schindlers List
Jurassic Park
Saving Private Ryan

Ridley Scott has made some good movies. Steven Spielberg is our greatest living director.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

I'm not sure how we even got on a Ridley Scott vs Steven Spielberg debate, but let me go ahead and put it to rest:

Jaws
Close Encounters
Raiders of the Lost Ark
ET
Schindlers List
Jurassic Park
Saving Private Ryan

Ridley Scott has made some good movies. Steven Spielberg is our greatest living director.

I spose because their latter years they seem to have ended up in somewhat similar positions, elder statesmen directors making a good deal of the same kind of films(commercial but more focused on the adult market) which tend to get mixed responses.

Overall I would say Spielberg has a longer list of quality films as Scotts very best years didn't last nearly as long but if I was looking at films I might say list in a top 20 I think Scott would have 2(Alien and Blade Runner) to Spielberg's 1(Raiders).

Early Scott was up there with the best directors we've ever seen before Hollywood crushed the more adventurous side out of him during the mid 80's IMHO.

 

[Danger Dave]

i have never seen one of his movies. I dont go to a movie to see everyone live happily ever after.

 

[Plissken]

It lost me with the bad jokes and comedic timing before any of that had a chance to register.

I have a high tolerance for cheese. It wasn't good, but it wasn't offensive until that ending.

 

[ufcfan4]

The Terminal and Catch me if you Can probably deserve a mention.

Nothing wrong with either of them, they're just overshadowed by all the giant blockbusters he's done.

Completely agree on The Terminal. Perfectly nice, innocuous breezy film with the feel of an entertaining movie from a bygone Hollywood era but definitely not one of the stronger pieces in his canon and not particularly memorable.

But Catch Me if You Can, to me, is one of his best films of the past couple of decades and I think many people perceive it similarly.

 

[ufcfan4]

It lost me with the bad jokes and comedic timing before any of that had a chance to register.

Lot of talented people involved in a BAD movie.

 

[Drain Bamage]

i have never seen one of his movies. I dont go to a movie to see everyone live happily ever after.

For all everyone says about his happy endings I think A.I. might be his most brutal ending. Literally everyone dies in that one, and then the robot kid gets one brutal last day with a fake version of his mom before she too has to go away forever. It's frigging rough man. I won't add the movie to my collection even though I think its a masterpiece because like Magnolia and a few others from that era I find them too emotionally taxing. Lol it's weird cuz I can watch Taxi Driver or Hereditary all day but A.I. fucking murders me and puts me in a depression.

 

[aldeniro78]

Probably that one I forgot.

 

[Drain Bamage]

Probably that one I forgot.

 

[aldeniro78]

 

[jimbob27]

But Catch Me if You Can, to me, is one of his best films of the past couple of decades and I think many people perceive it similarly.

I agree it's a great film, my point was that it's not one that instantly springs to mind (for me at least) when I think of Spielberg. He's the guy that invented the summer blockbuster, so whenever I think of his films, the big blockbusters like Jaws, ET and Jurassic Park are the ones that I think of first.

 

[IloveTHIS]

i have never seen one of his movies. I dont go to a movie to see everyone live happily ever after.

...........youve never seen a single spielberg movie? really?

lol@SPR being a "happily ever after" movie