Spielberg Movies you think are overrated! (1 Viewer)

[Rick Thompson]

A friend of mine used to say about Johann Sebastian Bach that "he had to write a chart every day. Not all of them were brilliant." Similarly, Spielberg, like everyone else, sometimes is not brilliant. To me, The Terminal, The BFG, Empire of the Sun (except for two sequences), 1941, A.I., Ready Player One and most of Bridge of Spies are crashing bores. Hook is barely watchable and I'm just middlin' with Minority Report, Munich and that clunky The Post. But when Spielberg is on his game — Duel, Jaws, Jurassic Park, E.T., Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Always (so sue me!), War of the Worlds, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, War Horse, Lincoln — there's no one better working today. (And don't even mention The Color Purple, which the Academy apparently thought was not directed by anyone, but by sheer chance received 11 Oscar nominations, among them best picture.)

 

[TravisR]

Hook is barely watchable...

I'm not a big fan of Hook but there's a chunk of people who saw that movie as a kid that really love it. There must be some reason that Sony is always quick to release it whenever there's a new format.

 

[Johnny Angell]

A friend of mine used to say about Johann Sebastian Bach that "he had to write a chart every day. Not all of them were brilliant." Similarly, Spielberg, like everyone else, sometimes is not brilliant. To me, The Terminal, The BFG, Empire of the Sun (except for two sequences), 1941, A.I., Ready Player One and most of Bridge of Spies are crashing bores. Hook is barely watchable and I'm just middlin' with Minority Report, Munich and that clunky The Post. But when Spielberg is on his game — Duel, Jaws, Jurassic Park, E.T., Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Always (so sue me!), War of the Worlds, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, War Horse, Lincoln — there's no one better working today. (And don't even mention The Color Purple, which the Academy apparently thought was not directed by anyone, but by sheer chance received 11 Oscar nominations, among them best picture.)

I might sue you Over The Terminal and Bridge of Spies. They are two faves of mine.

 

[Tino]

but by sheer chance received 11 Oscar nominations, among them best picture.)

And didn’t win one.

 

[Gerani53]

Steven Spielberg's genius as a filmmaker should never be under appreciated. If all he ever made was DUEL, or "LA 2017" (his futuristic NAME OF THE GAME episode), or "Murder by the Book" (his COLUMBO), this artist's natural instinct for cinema would place him in a very special category of unique creative talents. Thanks Rick, I very much like that comparison to Bach. SS has a palpable talent that reminds me of the great masters of music, his shot-to-shot experience akin to the elegant notes of a magnificent symphony. If some of his more "feel good" movies seem out-of-touch nowadays, maybe that's an ironic badge of honor, given how cynical and self-righteous we've all become. But no one should deny this artist's obvious gift for visual storytelling, a talent that continues to captivate audiences and critics across the globe.

 

[Sam Posten]

The name of the film is The Color Purple.

PLEASE report content, don't quote it. I have fixed the issue above and am going to give the poster the benefit of the doubt here.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I might sue you Over The Terminal and Bridge of Spies. They are two faves of mine.

Sorry, out of your jurisdiction. You can only sue over really liking Always!

 

[dpippel]

This thread has run its course. Outta here...

 

[cinerama10]

Do you make exception for Jerry Lewis comedies as he’s revered in France?

Can't stand Martin and Lewis comedies.

 

[cinerama10]

That happens....
just as I was with ET, Raiders, The Color Purple, and Empire of the Sun. And most likely will be with his new West Side Story. However if he can top both Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins then maybe I’ll reconsider his legacy but I highly doubt it.

Color Purple and Empire of the Sun also bored me.

 

[cinerama10]

The British are so polite aren’t they- especially after winning the Oscar over an American film that made zillions.

GHANDI was a much better film that E.T.

 

[Edwin-S]

I'm not a big fan of Hook but there's a chunk of people who saw that movie as a kid that really love it. There must be some reason that Sony is always quick to release it whenever there's a new format.

They are still trying to make back the money they spent on it.

 

[Sam Posten]

Comments deleted. Give it a rest or vacations are next

 

[jayembee]

Why are action movies not associated with masterpiece connotation?

Probably for the same reason that genre (prose) fiction is rarely associated with "literature". To the point where if you bring up "literary" novels that can be absolutely considered science fiction, like Nineteen Eighty-Four or Brave New World or Frankenstein, someone will argue that they can't be science fiction for some stupid reason such as (and I have heard this one before) "books can only be science fiction if they're written by authors who call themselves science fiction writers". So, if Ursula K. LeGuin writes The Left Hand of Darkness, it's SF; if Doris Lessing wrote it, it's not (even though Lessing had no bones about considering some of her books science fiction).

How many Western novels are considered "literature"? The Ox-Bow Incident by Van Tilburg Clark is the only one I can think of off-hand.

And don't even bring up graphic novels...

 

[jayembee]

Carl Barks, of Walt Disney Comics and Stories fame, thought "Raiders of The Lost Ark" was senseless after he had seen it. I find that interesting since a lot of the "Uncle.Scroige" stories he wrote were in a.similar vein of adventues in traveling the world searching for lost mythical objects.

I"ve always liked RoTLA and think it is one of Spielberg's best films; however, I can see Carl Barks's point. For example, I have always thought the scene were Indiana Jones boards the U-boat was stupid. That scene always takes me out of the movie a bit by breaking suspension of disbelief.

It's funny, because just last night, my wife and I caught a rerun of the Big Bang Theory in which Amy got Sheldon upset by pointing out the rather large narrative flaw in Raiders. That being that Indiana Jones' actions have absolutely no impact on the story. If Indy wasn't part of the story, the Nazis would've gotten the medallion from Marion, found the Well of Souls, recovered the Ark, brought it the island, and opened it up. Then the phantasms would've melted their faces off, and...same resolution. The only thing Indy's presence did was to (a) save Marion from being killed by the Nazis, and (b) seeing to it that the Ark was stored in the Smithsonian's warehouse.

Maybe that's why Barks thought it was senseless.

 

[jayembee]

Perhaps Spielberg does make films for the masses but so did Hitchcock, John Ford James Cameron and makers of musicals. You could also include Cinerama Inc who made feature documentary travel films for the masses. Nothing wrong in making films for the masses Mr Spielberg.

And people forget that Shakespeare's plays were written and performed for the masses.

 

[Johnny Angell]

It's funny, because just last night, my wife and I caught a rerun of the Big Bang Theory in which Amy got Sheldon upset by pointing out the rather large narrative flaw in Raiders. That being that Indiana Jones' actions have absolutely no impact on the story. If Indy wasn't part of the story, the Nazis would've gotten the medallion from Marion, found the Well of Souls, recovered the Ark, brought it the island, and opened it up. Then the phantasms would've melted their faces off, and...same resolution. The only thing Indy's presence did was to (a) save Marion from being killed by the Nazis, and (b) seeing to it that the Ark was stored in the Smithsonian's warehouse.

Maybe that's why Barks thought it was senseless.

I remember that episode and my first reaction was “wait, WTF?” After a few moments it was “OMG she’s right!” It was then I felt a disturbance in the force.

And people forget that Shakespeare's plays were written and performed for the masses.

They were for more than the masses. The upper crust liked them too. I get your point, though.

 

[cinemiracle]

And people forget that Shakespeare's plays were written and performed for the masses.

And the plays in Ancient Greece.

 

[SixOfTheRichest]

I was hanging out for Schindler's List - 93' and felt let down. Too bland and I also think Spielberg played it a bit too safe. However, I don't think a Spielberg film can really be over-rated, and the ones that failed perhaps deserved too. Thing is, I love 1941 - 79'.

 

[Edwin-S]

It's funny, because just last night, my wife and I caught a rerun of the Big Bang Theory in which Amy got Sheldon upset by pointing out the rather large narrative flaw in Raiders. That being that Indiana Jones' actions have absolutely no impact on the story. If Indy wasn't part of the story, the Nazis would've gotten the medallion from Marion, found the Well of Souls, recovered the Ark, brought it the island, and opened it up. Then the phantasms would've melted their faces off, and...same resolution. The only thing Indy's presence did was to (a) save Marion from being killed by the Nazis, and (b) seeing to it that the Ark was stored in the Smithsonian's warehouse.

Maybe that's why Barks thought it was senseless.

Unfortunately, it never went into detail on why he thought that of the film that way. It is ironic because Spielberg and Lucas were, apparently, big fans of his and there was at least one trap scene in each film that was influenced by Barks's stories; the boulder scene in RoTLA was an homage ro his "The Seven Cities of Cibola".