Steven Spielberg is kind of a hack

[HHJ]

second best. The sappiness dulls it somewhat. Full Metal Jacket reigns supreme.

No. Its inferior to saving private ryan and apocalypse now,despite having lee emery,one of the most spectacular cocksuckers to ever live.

 

[BisexualMMA]

second best. The sappiness dulls it somewhat. Full Metal Jacket reigns supreme.

Platoon rules and all others rest in peace.

 

[SMillard]

The movie is so much better than the book, which is rare.

All 3 mains are leaps and bounds better in the movie than the book.

Robert Shaw's Indianapolis speech is so well done. Each character is interesting in their own right, a huge rarity in a movie.

That said, I think the adaptation that had to be made with the shark made the movie way better.

Shaw's Indianapolis speech was most ad libbed, the first time they tried to shoot it he was so drunk they had to cancel, what we see on film is still him really drunk but he pulled it off so well. Apparently he really picked on Dryfus a lot, he'd go around set yelling "where's that little jew boy?" Dryfus hated Shaw, for obvious reasons.

 

[CerebralKnievel]

Yeah, he's a lucky hack who's never made a bad film and has an extensive list of great ones...

Also, Aliens is not superior to Alien, and Alien is not an action film.

Slap yourself.

 

[moreorless87]

Agreed. What I like about his films is the feeling he conveys. He draws a lot of emotion through overall pacing and intimate scenes, a lot of meet-cutes that pay off later emotionally.

His real strength for me was always in larger than life film making, Jaws, Close Encounters, the Indy films and ET really all have a lot of visual character to them rather than just being some bog standard blockbuster formula. I mean to be fair I think you could early say that his blockbuster output has declined post Jurassic Park so perhaps it was the correct move(or maybe the result of that move) but still I don't think he's produced cinema that stands out as well. Honestly I think Cameron is a very similar kind of film maker to Spielberg, naturally I spose focused on darker subject matter but still his strength is that kind of larger than life excess.

If your looking for someone who really mixed the idea of a blockbuster with "serious" cinema then I would say early Ridley Scott stands out, The Duelists, Alien. Blade Runner and Legend are basically are equal(well not always entirely equal) parts entertainment and Kurbrick/Tarkovsky. In the end though I actually think latter Scott is a lot like latter Spierlberg, maybe a bit more visual edge to him but a lot of the ambition beaten out of him.

 

[is normal]

Avatar is worse than Spielbergo's worst, nevermind Spielberg.

 

[LHWBelt]

second best. The sappiness dulls it somewhat. Full Metal Jacket reigns supreme.

I actually didn't like that movie but could see why people di. Again saving private ryan is the gold standard for war movies. That movie had everything.

 

[LHWBelt]

Platoon rules and all others rest in peace.

Platoon is easily my favorite nam flick. I hated most of the high rates ones but love platoon.

 

[Final Rehab]

The movie is so much better than the book, which is rare.

All 3 mains are leaps and bounds better in the movie than the book.

Robert Shaw's Indianapolis speech is so well done. Each character is interesting in their own right, a huge rarity in a movie.

That said, I think the adaptation that had to be made with the shark made the movie way better.

It's been decades since I read the book but that's all so true. I do remember that in the book the shark kills Hooper and that Hooper was nailing Brody's wife. Good rewrite for sure. Benchley really wasn't that great of a writer.

If I may be so bold, it was a mistake for him to accept critical promotion, directing blockbusters was his first best destiny, anything else is a waste of material.

Nice, see what you did there I do.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Avatar is worse than Spielbergo's worst, nevermind Spielberg.

I would way rather watch Avatar again than 1941 or Indiana Jones 4.

 

[SMillard]

Yeah, Jaws and Schindler's List are like practically the same movie.

Yeah, the best part of Schindler's list was the part when Liam Neeson shoots the scuba tank in Ray Fiennes mouth making him explode.

 

[BisexualMMA]

In the end though I actually think latter Scott is a lot like latter Spierlberg, maybe a bit more visual edge to him but a lot of the ambition beaten out of him.

I think latter Spielberg has shown far more ability to select good scripts and film / edit them coherently.

Shit like The Counselor and the last two Alien films is just baffling.

 

[SMillard]

It's been decades since I read the book but that's all so true. I do remember that in the book the shark kills Hooper and that Hooper was nailing Brody's wife. Good rewrite for sure. Benchley really wasn't that great of a writer.


Nice, see what you did there I do.

In the book you basically hated all the characters, if I remember right Brody was an abusive alcoholic, Hooper was a caricature of a frat boy banging Brody's wife and Quint was chumming the waters to lure the sharks in and was basically responsible for the whole situation he got paid to resolve. The movie made the characters so much more likable. Two things that always stick out to me in Jaws is first the number of shooting stars you see throughout the movie, actually made a drinking game out of it. The second is it almost like two movies the first is from the opening credits to the point Brody, Hooper and Quint leave the harbor, the second being from the harbor on. The feel and mood of the movie does such a drastic change it just felt like a completely separate movie to me.

 

[Cantona7]

Do you have any conception of the amount of blow involved in Hollywood in the late 70s, of course he suggested using a monkey on roller skates. It’s a miracle every film made in that period didn’t feature one. It’s a little known fact that the original plan for the boxing match at the end of Rocky was for Stallone to fight an Orang-Utan on a skateboard...

 

[moreorless87]

I think latter Spielberg has shown far more ability to select good scripts and film / edit them coherently.

Shit like The Counselor and the last two Alien films is just baffling.

Yeah probably true overall although I would say he elevated those Alien films above the level of Crystal Skull that had a similarly awful confused script.

Ridley Scott post Legend though I think does clearly become a less ambitious director.

 

[method115]

Dude I love James Cameron but if you're going to shit on anyone's recent quality of work his last movie was Avatar which aged about as well as Lindsay Lohan. Speilberg has put out more great movies than Antonio Cromartie has put out kids and he's been putting out big movies consistently since the 70s. Indiana Jones movies, Jaws, ET, the good Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, etc. You don't just get "lucky" that many times. Here's a chart of directors with movies in the IMDB top 1000. Speilberg has 22 which is far and away more than anyone else. Ok you don't like him, but to call him a hack that's just bullshit.

TS ruined his whole point when he used Shia as proof of Speilberg being a hack.

 

[MicroBrew]

all of them stand in Spielberg's shadow. Adapting to production difficulties and completing a hit movie (one that defined the "summer blockbuster" genre) is a testament to his genius yet you dare call him a hack?

spielberg=

you=

George Miller's Fury Road is better than anything Spielberg has made. The movie is just pure genius, and it is all down to Miller.

 

[bad seed]

George Miller's Fury Road is better than anything Spielberg has made. The movie is just pure genius, and it is all down to Miller.

I've never claimed Spielberg was the greatest- that honor is reserved for Kubrick. But he is anything but a hack- he is a titan of the industry and deserves all the accolades awarded. He changed filmmaking for the better in ways no one else of his generation can claim.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

Dude I love James Cameron but if you're going to shit on anyone's recent quality of work his last movie was Avatar which aged about as well as Lindsay Lohan. Speilberg has put out more great movies than Antonio Cromartie has put out kids and he's been putting out big movies consistently since the 70s. Indiana Jones movies, Jaws, ET, the good Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, etc. You don't just get "lucky" that many times. Here's a chart of directors with movies in the IMDB top 1000. Speilberg has 22 which is far and away more than anyone else. Ok you don't like him, but to call him a hack that's just bullshit.

Can anyone explain what in the fuck that chart is supposed to be showing me?

 

[moreorless87]

George Miller's Fury Road is better than anything Spielberg has made. The movie is just pure genius, and it is all down to Miller.

That really was a film for me where a director showed a big shift forward in terms of visual ability, reminds me rather of Sergio Leone with Once Upon A Time In America, both were clearly talented before that but a long break from conventional film and then really something amazing.

Again I would compare it much more to something like Alien or Blade Runner in terms of visual ambition.