Favorite Spielberg movie?- Page 2

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 1:31pm

I agree with Matt about The Color Purple, which is my favorite if there's a gun to my head. I think it's a very faithful adaptation of Walker's novel.
I recall a big gay backlash because Shug and Celie's sex life wasnt a bigger part of the film, that it was too subtle. I never thought of it as subtle, but did stop short of them humping. One of my favorite parts of the film is that kissing scene.
The novel is no more graphic.
I also agree that Empire of the Sun is his most underrated. LOVED that film.
Schindler's List and Jaws are also up at the top of my list.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 2:11pm

Actually, the novel did have one scene where Shug has Celie look at her own hoo-hoo with a hand mirror. I knew that wouldn't make the final cut of the film.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 2:37pm

I think the backlash came mostly from the African-American community. I recall Whoopi and Walker discussing this separately on Charlie Rose (I think). Something about how AA's complained it was full of black stereotypes, especially the "buffoonish, lecherous" Mister. I think that hurt its chances when it didn't win a single Academy Award (out of 11).

Incidentally, 20 years later the musical version seemed destined for the same fate when it was nominated for 11 Tonys and kept losing each one. Thankfully, LaChanze managed to win much to the chagrin of many BWWers. I still recall the outrage threads. Ah, god times.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 2:46pm

There was also a backlash about The Color Purple having a huge anti-male bias, which (if you say it did) would come from the novel as well.

People said that every male character in it is either a buffoon or evil or both.

They basically picked it apart when it was released for all sorts of reasons. I love the movie. I think it's a beautiful story, told well. The production is first-rate: art direction, score, acting, editing, etc. I don't understand why "minority" movies (pick any minority you want) have to have agendas attached to them. Especially if a work is successful. It needs to be all things for all people. A cause! Or forget it.

Updated On: 4/21/11 at 02:46 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 3:47pm

Funny how many anti-male caucasian-based films exist without backlash, but The Color Purple directed by a white man was trounced relentlessly for every reason under the sun. And I remember the backlash beginning before the film was even released. Spielberg was not considered to be a credible director of anything other than sci-fi or action. A heavyweight drama under the helm of Spielberg was snubbed much in the way of the announcement The Lion King would be re-imagined as a Broadway musical. Unfortunately, the backlash for Spielberg stuck for several years before he was finally respected as a dramatic film director.

[Overkill]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 4:03pm

Definitely CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 4:38pm

Yeah...it was the anti-male backlash that I remember...and still talk about to this day. Anti-black male, in particular. I love the movie, but I can't help but feel that it does reinforce the pervasive narrative that black men are somehow nefarious and black women are sainted and wronged. It's not just this movie, of course...it's a cultural undercurrent that has been with us (and will continue) for a very long time. And I wouldn't necessarily blame Spielberg, as the novel, of course, has that running through it as well.

And 'miniority' movies have inherent agendas. They exist as a correction to underrepresentation by the majority (in this case, white, Christian and straight). So...BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN becomes the MOST IMPORTANT GAY FILM EVER, instead of a small story about two people doomed in love. THE COLOR PURPLE is set against post-Reconstruction America. It's hard to avoid the political implications, even if they exist just under the surface.

Me? I love JAWS and MUNICH. Both for many reasons...both artistic and deeply personal. Best, I think you should see MUNICH. I think it's a pretty terrific film!

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 5:45pm

I'm sure one day, I'll see it, SonofRobbieJ.

Just to make a short story long ... so you can understand the impact of it for me at the time ...

My dad was an athlete in high school and college, before he was an actor, cameraman, director and writer. He played baseball, making it as far as triple-A ball for the Yankees as a catcher. He was a semipro boxer, too.

He was also Jewish. He grew up in a family of privilege. My grandfather "made good" as an immigrant, and they had live-in servants in a huge house in New Rochelle. When my dad was a child, the chauffeur drove the three children (my dad, his older brother and younger sister) out of town. He took them to a field and held them at gunpoint for several hours, threatening to kill them. Turns out, he was a Nazi sympathizer. He hated working for rich Jews. He ranted and raved at them, wielding his gun. My father was about five years old at the time. The chauffeur (thankfully) decided not to kill my dad and his siblings and instead drove them back home and turned himself in. The police were called immediately, and he was taken away.

So flash forward to the Munich Olympics in 1972 and the tragic events that unfolded over those tense hours. My dad was now forty. I watched him crumble when it was announced that those weightlifters were all killed. I had never seen him cry like that, before or since.

My father passed away in 2009. Now I'm coming to terms with his death and his whole life, actually. In time, I know I will bring myself to watch Spielberg's movie. I'm sure I'll be a mess through the whole thing. I guess it's understandable. That's my own baggage I bring to the story and my perception of it at the age of nine.

Updated On: 4/21/11 at 05:45 PM

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 8:54pm

Easily my least favorite A-List director who ever lived (oh wait, that's George Cukor), but I do like 3 of his films: DUEL, JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS has the edge, for me. I just recently rewatched it on Blu-ray, and still love it.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 4/21/11 at 11:07pm

Holy mutherf*cking sh*tballs, Best.

That's a whooooole lot. I get it I mean...sitting through ANGELS two weeks after my husband's funeral was A LOT...but that's just...well...more than a lot.

What I'm drawn to in the movie is that it is not about the massacre...or ONLY about the massacre. It's about the response, and what happens to the soul of a man (and the soul of a nation) when one sets out for revenge. I think it's extraordinary. But yeah. You may almost need to know as much about it before you sit through it so you know what to expect.

[east side story]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 12:09am

Jaws. Always and forever.

Jurassic Park is still a damn good movie too though.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/22/11 at 10:03am

Thanks for that further explanation of the movie, Robbie. I know I'll see it one day.

And I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope you're doing okay. It will take a lot of time, I'm sure.

Updated On: 4/23/11 at 10:03 AM

[Kasie]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 12:09am

It's a tie between BACK TO THE FUTURE and JURASSIC PARK. Tough call

[adamgreer]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 12:39am

E.T. is my all-time favorite movie. Always has been, always will. I always get teary-eyed watching the sequence with the bikes.

My other favorites of his are Back to the Future, Jaws, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

[Q]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 2:29am

BACK TO THE FUTURE is a Robert Zemeckis movie.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 7:24am

Back in the early days when Spielberg first started producing, he was such a "star director" that many people associate those films with him, although I agree with you, Q, Back to the Future is a Zemeckis film. Films are almost always associated with directors (unless it's animated, for some reason).

That's why films like "Future" as well as Goonies and Potergiest are often perceived as Spielberg films. Of course the studios heavily promoted that he was an executive producer on each of them.

But then he got so heavily into producing that he co-founded Dreamworks SKG, and now his name is on so many films as an exec. producer. So it's not all that special, and the studios don't have ads running saying, "produced by the director of Jaws and Close Encounters," etc. Back in the early '80s, they definitely did run ads like that.

Updated On: 4/23/11 at 07:24 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/23/11 at 7:34am

I should say that a movie I find to be a masterpiece of horror (yes, I said horror) is "A.I. Artificial Intelligence."

I didn't include it here, because it's co-directed by Spielberg and Kubrick. And one of the most remarkable things about it is that I can clearly see both director's "stamps" on the film. It actually looks like it was directed by BOTH of them.

This movie haunts me in ways that few movies ever do. It's less "Pinocchio" to me and more "Frankenstein." I find it deeply disturbing, but incredibly moving and effective.

I get outraged, in general, by parents who bring children into the world and then take no responsibility for them. This is the ultimate sci-fi/horror version of that scenario. When they decide to take the little robot boy into the woods and LOSE him, it reminds me of the grimmest of the Grimm fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, when their parents are too poor to feed them so they do the same. Really ugly stuff, when you think about it.

Haley Joel Osment is so incredible in it. I love how he seemingly tries to fit in, yet is so clearly disconnected from everything around him. And he never blinks. Ever. Even when he tries to assimilate emotions. It's such a great, complex performance that is seemingly simple on the surface, but is far from it if you actually watch what he's doing.

I've seen this movie several times now, and it never loses impact for me. I think it's one of the best films of the past 25 years. Still, I can't call it a Spielberg film any more than I can call it a Kubrick film. It's completely a joint effort, and a rare one, at that.