Reply #100: you = wrong [View All]

[theemu]

>>Whenever movies are discussed on this board, the work of one Steven Spielberg is often ignored or dismissed.

Deservedly so. He's a decent filmmaker who does a lot of mainstream, but not artistic work.

>>Quite odd since he's the best American director of the 20th century.

No. Not by a long shot.

>>Alfred Hitchcock?

Not American.

>>Not one of his suspense or horror films (Psycho, The Birds, Frenzy) is as unnerving as Jaws.

This is incorrect. Psycho is significantly more unnerving than a shark movie because it's about human drama. And at least in The Birds, I can tell the birds are real.

>>Billy Wilder or Howard Hawks? As disparate in tone as their films are, no one has managed to juggle horror, science fiction, adventure, drama, the war movie, and comedy (he finally nailed it with Catch Me If You Can) with the craftsmanship Spielberg did.

Catch Me If You Can was neither comedic nor good.

>>His work too sentimental for ya? Apart from the maudlin 1983-1991 period, his films are imbued with an emotional honesty. If you think that's a big chunk of time, then ask yourself whether or not Orson Welles produced anything as earth-shattering as his Citizen Kane?

Emotional honesty? Are you joking me? And yes, Orson Welles did produce a lot of works as earth-shattering as Citizen Kane - Touch of Evil, The Magnificent Ambersons among them. And Spielburg's maudlin touch continues onward - look at AI and try not to wince. Look at Saving Private Ryan and try to find anything innovative or new about it at all - it's a John Wayne war movie with blood.

>>It pisses a lot of people off that Spielberg can produce masterpieces that grab accolades from the masses and then concoct a film as intimate and haunting as Schinder's List. He's the High School quarterback and captain of the chess club all in one.

Yes, Schindler's List is good. A bit pretentious, especially with the girl-in-red shit, but good.