I can’t believe that have Ready Player One on here, I’m literally reading it right now well almost…stopped to check Meh and going right back to it. Just happen to come across it when I was looking for a new book to read, didn’t know it was a new movie about to come out.
Just a few short months ‘til the movie. I can’t believe I’m so geeked out about it. I know the movie is gonna suck sweaty sacks, but I’m actually planning on sitting in a theater for the first time in years.
@ruouttaurmind Think positively…the movie may be great. I think I liked Hunger Games the movie better than the books, maybe this will be the same thing.
@mehbee I did enjoy The Hobbit movie much more than the book. Though… I didn’t care for the book at all, so being better than that wasn’t much of a challenge.
@f00l I will eventually get around to digesting “the next go-round”. It will likely be the opposite of my Hobbit experience since I didn’t really love the movies, I’ll probably really appreciate the book.
It is different writing from a different era. The story (apart from the Shadows of the Past chapter) starts really slowly. It gets going in full on Weathertop. If you get that far, it should be able to hook you.
@darkzrobe Are you talking about the movie, or the nostalgic joy of storing your batteries in the refrigerator way back when that was not the most absurd thing anyone could possibly have said?
@darkzrobe Meh had just the poll for you a few weeks back… You could have really let them have it with your matter of fact statement of reality, shared by no less than every one who ever lived (except that one guy)…
And it is free if the heavyweight “force an emotion on the viewer” and “high sentimentality” flaws that are visible is some of his greatest “big” movies.
@f00l I dug into the DVD archive and watched this film over the weekend. I believe this marked a turning point for Hollywood theatrical releases. Many… nay, most US theatrical releases were sort of contrived. Storyline, dialogue, acting, even photographic and audio technique. Hollywood was ruled by a very different style until the early 1970s. Sugarland Express broke the chains of studio legacy actors, sound stage production and happily ever after endings and delivered a very different experience to the John Ford westerns of the previous decade.
Or maybe I was just distracted by two hours of those smouldering blue eyes.
Sugarland Express, as wonderful as it is, was a little late to that game.
The previous 15 years had seen:
(Trying to stick with a few American and UK films only)
Midnight Cowboy
Bonnie and Clyde
Easy Rider
Lawrence of Arabia
Psycho
2001
Dr Strangelove
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
The Wild Bunch
The Graduate
The Manchurian Candidate
Cool Hand Luke
Night of the Living Dead
Rosemary’s Baby
Hud
In Cold Blood
Bullitt
The Exorcist
If
Chinatown
The Godfather
And so many others.
And that leaves out Godard, Truffaut and other French Filmmakers, Bergman, de Sica, Fellini, Kurosawa, Costa Gavras, and so many other amazing directors not working natively in English.
Nothing against Spielberg, but the “studio” mold was broken before he got his first time in charge.
Sugarland Express was a revelation tho.
Duel got Spielberg the control to do Sugarland Express.
After he made that, and Hollywood saw it, Spieberg could get funding and control to do whatever he wanted.
He wanted Jaws.
And Jaws, before Star Wars, changed the industry forever.
Sugarland Express, as wonderful as it is, was a little late to that game.
I wasn’t really clear. I didn’t mean this film individually and solely changed Hollywood forever, but rather was among the early 70’s movement which changed the industry of commercial films.
So many of the films on your list, although many filmed on location, are still subscriptions of the contrived studio process. A prime example is The Godfather. Most of the over-acted performances in that film would positively flounder in today’s Hollywood.
And that leaves out Godard, Truffaut and other French Filmmakers, Bergman, de Sica, Fellini, Kurosawa, Costa Gavras, and so many other amazing directors not working natively in English.
Understood. I was specifically referring to Hollywood theatrical releases (commercial productions for general consumption, not art house pieces or limited appeal foreign films).
The book can be illuminating and us worth the read, but also has flaws, so beware.
Wikipedia:
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N Roll Generation Saved Hollywood is a book written by Peter Biskind and published by Simon & Schuster in 1998. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls is about the 1970s Hollywood, a period of American film known for the production of such films such as The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, Jaws, Star Wars, The Exorcist, and The Last Picture Show. The title is taken from films which bookend the era: Easy Rider (1969) and Raging Bull (1980). The book follows Hollywood on the brink of the Vietnam War, when a group of young Hollywood film directors known as the “movie brats” are making their names. It begins in the 1960s and ends in the 1980s.
Criticism:
Several of the film-makers profiled in the book have criticized Biskind. Robert Altman denounced both the book and Biskind’s methods, saying “It was hate mail. We were all lured into talking to this guy because people thought he was a straight guy but he was filling a commission from the publisher for a hatchet job. He’s the worst kind of human being I know.”[3] Francis Ford Coppola was similarly critical, alleging that Biskind interviewed only people with negative opinions of him.[4]
Critic Roger Ebert noted that Steven Spielberg said of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls that, "“Every single word in that book about me is either erroneous, or a lie.”[5] Ebert himself notes that, “Biskind has a way of massaging his stories to suit his agenda.”[5] When asked about Biskind’s portrayal of him as “a womanizer, a tyrant, and a bully,” William Friedkin said, “I’ve actually never read the book, but I’ve talked to some of my friends who are portrayed in it, and we all share the opinion that it is partial truth, partial myth and partial out-and-out lies by mostly rejected girlfriends and wives.”[6] Peter Bogdanovich was equally furious, saying “I spent seven hours with that guy over a period of days, and he got it all wrong”.[7]
Keep in mind that these big Hollywood people are often as likely to be “wrong” as the writer.
Read with some scepticism. It’s no Bible. But, it’s worthy as one guy’s version of the history.
There are some other good books on the time between “the studio formula projects” that kind of died off in the 1960’s, and the “blockbuster franchise” obsessions that have dominated Hollywood big money since the early 1980’s, at least.
In those more open years, came some of the best films ever …
I think “Raiders” is the most iconic of the list, so that one. It’s the one that contributed to the most memes. (E.T. close behind in the iconic category.)
But I think Schindler’s is the best of the bunch, movie-wise.
@phendrick I like how the poll says “favorite” as opposed to “best” or “greatest”. I can easily say “Raiders” is my favorite. But it is a lot harder to qualify makes a film the “greatest”. “Schindler’s List” is the best made film, but I don’t really have any desire to see it over and over again, as I do with many of the other choices.
@SSteve Minority Report was great. I watch it every so often and it still holds up.
I’m not sure if it was DVD extras or a different tv show where they broke down the tech in the movie, explaining how most of it is pretty realistically possible. That was pretty cool.
@SSteve I remember a review saying it was the movie that best combined fun “Jurassic Park” Spielberg with serious “Schindler’s List” Spielberg. I like that description.
Tough to pick one. Personally prefer Last Crusade to Raiders, but not sure I could say it is Spielberg’s best.
Hey, fun fact: He didn’t do any work on Star Wars: A New Hope, but still has a producer credit and earns money off it thanks to a bet with George Lucas. Lucas thought studio meddling had killed his dream and the movie would flop. Spielberg was putting Close Encounters out around the same time, and didn’t feel overly confident, but loved what he had seen of Star Wars. So they each bet against their own film, so whoever had the more successful one would have to give the other a producer credit.
Surprising just how many of these I’ve seen, to the point that I’d have a hard time coming up with one that’s not mentioned (but thanks @shahnm for reminding me about Batteries Not Included. I agree that it should have been on there). I’ve even seen Empire of the Sun and liked it, unlike some people.
Made it a tougher poll than usual, but I’m going with Raiders. Though if I knew it was gonna be that lopsided, I might have gone with Close Encounters instead — it was a close second on my list, and probably the first Spielberg movie I ever saw.
Wikipedia on the other hand reminds me that Spielberg didn’t direct Batteries Not Included, so I take that back. @shahnm can consider himself unthanked.
But Wikipedia also reminded me that I’ve seen Munich, which was not in the poll. So I really did have a hard time coming up with one that’s not mentioned — because Munich is the only one.
I was “just” yesterday talking to my kids about simple (no crazy special effects nor A-list personas) movies… and I brought up a time that I was channel flipping with my dad when I was in my teens and we stumbled upon “The Duel”. For the first twenty minutes or so we kept asking each other “is this really what the whole movie is about???.. what a piece of junk!!!” Yet, we couldn’t stop watching. I guess Spielberg showed us! We classified it as: so bad it was great.
@jester747 Duel was a great suspense movie. To me, the one major flaw was showing the truck driver. Till that point it was a complete enigma, left to the viewer’s imagination whether it was a human behind the wheel or some other malevolent force. Duel, The Car and Christine make a great evil vehicles triple feature, which you can cap off with Maximum Overdrive for a laugh.
My favorite Spielberg story: http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/31/local/me-graduate31
Choice quote: “Yeah, he got credit” for “Schindler’s List,” which not only earned Spielberg Academy Awards for best director and best film, but also satisfied his most important film school requirement.
“I think that counts as an advanced, 12-minute, polished film,” Blumenthal said.
@lisaviolet yes. Connery is perfect. One of his few roles the pushed that hard against his typecasting, and a perfect baton pass for a new generation of action hero. Still waiting for that pass from Ford, unfortunately.
Duel is easily in the top 5 Spielberg movies. Mine would be Raiders (duh), Last Crusade, Jaws, Duel, and Jurassic Park as a close 5th.
(I haven’t seen Schindler’s List or SPR, however.)
(And yes, I concede that Jaws is a more artistically significant film or whatever than Last Crusade, but it’s my fucking list, so. Merry Christmas.)
I never really got into Indiana Jones, which I guess makes me a monster. I’ll be seeing one of them (probably Raiders?) with orchestra accompaniment some time this season, that should be fun at least.
Close Encounters is easily my favorite. I always loved the whole communicating via music thing. E.T. is probably second, even if it is a bit saccharine. Made for a great Atari game, though
Saving Private Ryan is not my favorite (that would be RotLA) but it was the most important and the one that would be the greatest loss if it hadn’t been made. Schindler’s list is a close second.
1941
@LazyZombie
@LazyZombie thank god someone said it
It’s spelled “Raiders of the Lost Ark”
@cengland0 It’s the Spanish version, duh.
@hems79 “En busca del arca perdida”
@hems79 I once saw an X rated knockoff titled Raiders of the Lust Arc.
Oh man, they corrected the spelling so my comment isn’t going to be understood by new people to this forum.
There’s a dead fly in my mashed potatoes.
@ThatsHeadly This means something. This is important.
I don’t think that was Spielberg - sounds like a John Waters film.
“Empire of the Sun” was too slow and boring. Nobody voted for that one yet so I’m definitely not alone on that thinking.
I can’t believe that have Ready Player One on here, I’m literally reading it right now well almost…stopped to check Meh and going right back to it. Just happen to come across it when I was looking for a new book to read, didn’t know it was a new movie about to come out.
@mehbee Loved the book. Aces.
Just a few short months ‘til the movie. I can’t believe I’m so geeked out about it. I know the movie is gonna suck sweaty sacks, but I’m actually planning on sitting in a theater for the first time in years.
@ruouttaurmind Think positively…the movie may be great. I think I liked Hunger Games the movie better than the books, maybe this will be the same thing.
@mehbee I did enjoy The Hobbit movie much more than the book. Though… I didn’t care for the book at all, so being better than that wasn’t much of a challenge.
@ruouttaurmind Fingers crossed!
@ruouttaurmind
The Hobbit was written at a level of “bedtime story for pre-school children”.
The arch tones and childish ditties that pepper the writing are gonna be annoying to anyone older than that.
And yet there are points of wonder. Beorn. Riddles In The Dark. The aftermath of the battle. Smaug’s wit. Some others.
I’m just glad Tolkien upped his game for the next go-round.
@f00l I will eventually get around to digesting “the next go-round”. It will likely be the opposite of my Hobbit experience since I didn’t really love the movies, I’ll probably really appreciate the book.
@ruouttaurmind
You have to give it time.
It is different writing from a different era. The story (apart from the Shadows of the Past chapter) starts really slowly. It gets going in full on Weathertop. If you get that far, it should be able to hook you.
Then it goes like a story should.
I would say “Batteries Not Included”, but then what would I do with my otherwise empty refrigerator???
@shahnm loved that as a kid
@darkzrobe Are you talking about the movie, or the nostalgic joy of storing your batteries in the refrigerator way back when that was not the most absurd thing anyone could possibly have said?
@shahnm the movie of course
@darkzrobe To be fair, putting those little power packs in the fridge back in the day was at least a close second, amirite??
@shahnm I don’t think I have done that
@darkzrobe Meh had just the poll for you a few weeks back… You could have really let them have it with your matter of fact statement of reality, shared by no less than every one who ever lived (except that one guy)…
Can’t decide on just one. Raiders, JP, ET, SPR…
Imma go with Sugarland Express. Dang that Goldie was a twist in those days.
@ruouttaurmind
That’s actually a kinda “small masterpiece”.
And it is free if the heavyweight “force an emotion on the viewer” and “high sentimentality” flaws that are visible is some of his greatest “big” movies.
Good call.
@f00l I dug into the DVD archive and watched this film over the weekend. I believe this marked a turning point for Hollywood theatrical releases. Many… nay, most US theatrical releases were sort of contrived. Storyline, dialogue, acting, even photographic and audio technique. Hollywood was ruled by a very different style until the early 1970s. Sugarland Express broke the chains of studio legacy actors, sound stage production and happily ever after endings and delivered a very different experience to the John Ford westerns of the previous decade.
Or maybe I was just distracted by two hours of those smouldering blue eyes.
@ruouttaurmind
Sugarland Express, as wonderful as it is, was a little late to that game.
The previous 15 years had seen:
(Trying to stick with a few American and UK films only)
Midnight Cowboy
Bonnie and Clyde
Easy Rider
Lawrence of Arabia
Psycho
2001
Dr Strangelove
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
The Wild Bunch
The Graduate
The Manchurian Candidate
Cool Hand Luke
Night of the Living Dead
Rosemary’s Baby
Hud
In Cold Blood
Bullitt
The Exorcist
If
Chinatown
The Godfather
And so many others.
And that leaves out Godard, Truffaut and other French Filmmakers, Bergman, de Sica, Fellini, Kurosawa, Costa Gavras, and so many other amazing directors not working natively in English.
Nothing against Spielberg, but the “studio” mold was broken before he got his first time in charge.
Sugarland Express was a revelation tho.
Duel got Spielberg the control to do Sugarland Express.
After he made that, and Hollywood saw it, Spieberg could get funding and control to do whatever he wanted.
He wanted Jaws.
And Jaws, before Star Wars, changed the industry forever.
@f00l
I wasn’t really clear. I didn’t mean this film individually and solely changed Hollywood forever, but rather was among the early 70’s movement which changed the industry of commercial films.
So many of the films on your list, although many filmed on location, are still subscriptions of the contrived studio process. A prime example is The Godfather. Most of the over-acted performances in that film would positively flounder in today’s Hollywood.
Understood. I was specifically referring to Hollywood theatrical releases (commercial productions for general consumption, not art house pieces or limited appeal foreign films).
@ruouttaurmind
I forgot Robert Altman! WTF!
You might much enjoy
Available on audible, btw.
The book can be illuminating and us worth the read, but also has flaws, so beware.
Wikipedia:
Criticism:
Keep in mind that these big Hollywood people are often as likely to be “wrong” as the writer.
Read with some scepticism. It’s no Bible. But, it’s worthy as one guy’s version of the history.
There are some other good books on the time between “the studio formula projects” that kind of died off in the 1960’s, and the “blockbuster franchise” obsessions that have dominated Hollywood big money since the early 1980’s, at least.
In those more open years, came some of the best films ever …
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Riders,_Raging_Bulls
I’m not really gonna be the only one voting Lincoln, right y’all? Right?!
I think “Raiders” is the most iconic of the list, so that one. It’s the one that contributed to the most memes. (E.T. close behind in the iconic category.)
But I think Schindler’s is the best of the bunch, movie-wise.
@phendrick I like how the poll says “favorite” as opposed to “best” or “greatest”. I can easily say “Raiders” is my favorite. But it is a lot harder to qualify makes a film the “greatest”. “Schindler’s List” is the best made film, but I don’t really have any desire to see it over and over again, as I do with many of the other choices.
Poltergeist would be my favorite.
I forgot Minority Report was a Spielberg film. That’s definitely my and my wife’s favorite from that list. I hated E.T. Way too treacly.
@SSteve But… BUT REESE’S PIECES!!!
@shahnm Love me some Reeses Pierces. M&M Mars is still kicking themselves for refusing to let their candy be used in E.T.
@SSteve Minority Report was great. I watch it every so often and it still holds up.
I’m not sure if it was DVD extras or a different tv show where they broke down the tech in the movie, explaining how most of it is pretty realistically possible. That was pretty cool.
@Fuzzalini probably not that much. M&Ms are doing pretty ok.
@Fuzzalini I’m actually a big fan of peanut butter M&Ms.
@SSteve I remember a review saying it was the movie that best combined fun “Jurassic Park” Spielberg with serious “Schindler’s List” Spielberg. I like that description.
I would have said Poltergeist, but he only wrote the screenplay… for direction, I go with 1941!
Capt. Kelso
Tough to pick one. Personally prefer Last Crusade to Raiders, but not sure I could say it is Spielberg’s best.
Hey, fun fact: He didn’t do any work on Star Wars: A New Hope, but still has a producer credit and earns money off it thanks to a bet with George Lucas. Lucas thought studio meddling had killed his dream and the movie would flop. Spielberg was putting Close Encounters out around the same time, and didn’t feel overly confident, but loved what he had seen of Star Wars. So they each bet against their own film, so whoever had the more successful one would have to give the other a producer credit.
@simplersimon I think it was more they traded each other 3% of the gross
@spitfire6006006 eh, probably. My story sounds apocryphal, but so much more fun.
Surprising just how many of these I’ve seen, to the point that I’d have a hard time coming up with one that’s not mentioned (but thanks @shahnm for reminding me about Batteries Not Included. I agree that it should have been on there). I’ve even seen Empire of the Sun and liked it, unlike some people.
Made it a tougher poll than usual, but I’m going with Raiders. Though if I knew it was gonna be that lopsided, I might have gone with Close Encounters instead — it was a close second
on my list, and probably the first Spielberg movie I ever saw.
Wikipedia on the other hand reminds me that Spielberg didn’t direct Batteries Not Included, so I take that back. @shahnm can consider himself unthanked.
But Wikipedia also reminded me that I’ve seen Munich, which was not in the poll. So I really did have a hard time coming up with one that’s not mentioned — because Munich is the only one.
@TheFLP Spielberg did produce Batteries Not Included. The poll asked about “Spielberg Films”. I demand my thanks back.
@shahnm Yes, but the poll only mentions the ones he directed.
We could argue that Meh’s definition of “Spielberg films” is too narrow, in which case I thank you for giving me a reason to gripe about the poll.
(Is this where I’m supposed to blame @therealjrn? Still not sure about my goat etiquette.)
@TheFLP Why not? I done did goofed. My bad.
I was “just” yesterday talking to my kids about simple (no crazy special effects nor A-list personas) movies… and I brought up a time that I was channel flipping with my dad when I was in my teens and we stumbled upon “The Duel”. For the first twenty minutes or so we kept asking each other “is this really what the whole movie is about???.. what a piece of junk!!!” Yet, we couldn’t stop watching. I guess Spielberg showed us! We classified it as: so bad it was great.
@jester747 I had that same random experience with that movie. We must have been very bored as kids, you and I.
@jester747 The Spielberg film that you are talking about is “Duel”. “The Duel”, also released in 1971, is a martial arts film.
@DrWorm And you, DrWorm, clearly had more time on your hands than either jester747 or me…
@jester747 Duel was a great suspense movie. To me, the one major flaw was showing the truck driver. Till that point it was a complete enigma, left to the viewer’s imagination whether it was a human behind the wheel or some other malevolent force. Duel, The Car and Christine make a great evil vehicles triple feature, which you can cap off with Maximum Overdrive for a laugh.
My favorite Spielberg story: http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/31/local/me-graduate31
Choice quote: “Yeah, he got credit” for “Schindler’s List,” which not only earned Spielberg Academy Awards for best director and best film, but also satisfied his most important film school requirement.
“I think that counts as an advanced, 12-minute, polished film,” Blumenthal said.
The Adventures of Tintin.
Not a movie, but fuck it…
/giphy Animaniacs
@Oneroundrobb Love this!! Never watched it when it came out, too old, but have recently discovered it on Netflix. Really funny and smart.
@Oneroundrobb I miss this show. Followed a podcast recently dissecting the show.
@jml326 link for that podcast? I love overanalyzing things, and I loved this show.
It’s so hard just to pick one. Even though he only wrote it I may say goonies.
I felt guilty not putting Schindler’s List. But, Indy, be still my heart
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - because Sean Connery.
@lisaviolet yes. Connery is perfect. One of his few roles the pushed that hard against his typecasting, and a perfect baton pass for a new generation of action hero. Still waiting for that pass from Ford, unfortunately.
@lisaviolet and because River Phoenix!
“Minority Report” was the first DVD I ever bought. But “Raiders” totally gets my vote.
Balto! Yes, he counts!!! Spielberg was an executive producer. Such a fun and heartwarming film, especially around this time of year. Balto badge
Duel is easily in the top 5 Spielberg movies. Mine would be Raiders (duh), Last Crusade, Jaws, Duel, and Jurassic Park as a close 5th.
(I haven’t seen Schindler’s List or SPR, however.)
(And yes, I concede that Jaws is a more artistically significant film or whatever than Last Crusade, but it’s my fucking list, so. Merry Christmas.)
I never really got into Indiana Jones, which I guess makes me a monster. I’ll be seeing one of them (probably Raiders?) with orchestra accompaniment some time this season, that should be fun at least.
Close Encounters is easily my favorite. I always loved the whole communicating via music thing. E.T. is probably second, even if it is a bit saccharine. Made for a great Atari game, though
After my former girlfriend came over to watch a movie at my place, she picked Jaws and after she left I texted friends “I’m going to marry this girl.”
I did.
@Moose Aww! That’s a great story.
@Moose You’re going to need a bigger bed.
Close Encounters…my favorite movie to crank my Bose system to. I swear my entire house shakes when they make first contact…
I liked Duel. It was unsettling.
Dennis Weaver was very unchester.
Saving Private Ryan is not my favorite (that would be RotLA) but it was the most important and the one that would be the greatest loss if it hadn’t been made. Schindler’s list is a close second.
Amistad is in the same vein.