SCFZ poll: Steven Spielberg

[flip]

Polling the films of director Steven Spielberg

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Spielberg films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: greg x, rischka, dt, silga, kanafani, brian d, greennui, ofrene

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[flip]

Saving Private Ryan
Catch Me If You Can
Empire of the Sun
Bridge of Spies
Minority Report

seen 23

[...]

Fun choice. Loads o' talent, up and down use of it, even within individual films. Some great scenes mixed with lots of white middle class ideology and some of the worst endings I've ever seen. 29 of his movies viewed, which is more than I'd even realized he made until I thought about it for a moment.

A.I.
Close Encounter of the Third Kind
Jaws
Sugarland Express
Lincoln? 1941? Empire of the Sun? Minority Report? Munich? Duel? War of the Worlds? He's got so many seriously flawed but occasionally brilliant movies it's hard to pick a fifth.

[mesnalty]

Seen 17:

1. Jaws
2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
3. Munich
4. A.I.

There are others I like but I'm leaving off #5 because it's been too long since I've seen them and they really need a rewatch.

[kanafani]

I've seen 24, most a long, long time ago.

A.I.
Jaws
Bridge of spies
Munich
Catch me if you can

[Caracortada]

Seen 26. Great visual story-teller until the mid 90s, collapsed after that.

1. Jaws
2. Jurassic Park
3. The Color Purple
4. Schindler's List
5. Duel

Worst: Catch Me If You Can

[liquidnature]

Actually going through his filmography this year, so I won't vote right now.

All I know so far is that Duel and The Sugarland Express are surprisingly awesome, dare I say masterful, and Jaws was not as good as I hoped it would be.

[flip]

mesnalty - you can make our next nomination if you like!

[brian d]

seen 14

indiana jones and the temple of doom
raiders of the lost ark
jaws
empire of the sun

[MayaDeren_fan]

Seen 11

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jaws
Catch Me if You Can
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

[Silga]

Seen 23:

Munich (one of the best films of the 21st century)
A.I.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Jaws
Bridge of Spies

Worst by a mile: War of the Worlds

[thoxans]

indiana jones and the temple of doom
jaws
a.i. artificial intelligence

*seen nineteen (and idk what y'all are talkin about but his worst film is clearly the terminal, followed closely by the lost world: jurassic park)

[mesnalty]

I'll suggest Michael Snow, though I assume we'll have to check if there are enough views (I've seen 10+ and I imagine Josiah has too)

[Gylfi]

Seen 21

1. Jaws
2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
3. Raiders of the Lost Arc
4. A.I.
5. Munich

[greennui]

Seen 19.

A.I.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

[josiahmorgan11]

Yeah, I've seen 13 Snow films. Anyone else?

Spielberg is an interesting case. Undeniable talent but his 21st-century stuff has been especially varied and I just can't work out what he's interested in these days. But his West Side Story might be incredible.

The ones I really really like, to varying degrees and for differing reasons, are

1. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Ready Player One

But I'll also vote for

4. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
5. Jurassic Park

[josiahmorgan11]

I think his interminable war movies are a blight on cinema's landscape, though, and could really do without Schindler's List/Saving Private Ryan/War Horse existing. Blegh. Saving Private Ryan even sparked that slew of second-rate badly-directed all-guns-blazing war movies, too, ugh. I like the guy best at his most HOLLYWOOD! and worst at his most Prestige. Except for Duel, far and away his worst movie.

[flip]

yeah we should confirm michael snow will work - we just need one more person with 10+ snow views, or two more with 8+, so if anyone has watched a lot of snow, please post here!

[Curtis, baby]

Seen 12, don't care for any of them

Kanafani, I'd be interested to know your thoughts on Munich. I saw it when it came out, and I enjoyed it, but I also considered Israel a legitimate state then, and also freaking supported its expansion (ugh, youth!), so, you know...I figured I'd hate it now. But you like it, so I guess it's not just Israeli propaganda? Isn't your namesake one of the men murdered in that movie?

[DT.]

1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2. Munich
3. Minority Report
4. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
5. Ready Player One

[rischka]

24 seen

i like munich
minority report (BUT ONLY W/THE DREAM ENDING!)
catch me if you can
raiders
close encounters

i like duel, sugarland express and jaws but i haven't seen them in a very long time.

i've only seen one from the last ten years: lincoln. it was disappointing

i've watched one film of michael snow's! guess which one!

[nrh]

ai
minority report
war of the worlds
close encounters
columbo: murder by the book

seen 8 by michael snow

[...]

The Schindler's List/Saving Private Ryan thing is interesting. From a utilitarian point of view, there hasn't been many movies as significant as Schindler's List in the effect they had on the culture and that effect wasn't like that of Birth of a Nation. Saving Private Ryan also had a strong cultural impact, but didn't spark the same sort of positive change and institutional development, but did shift the cultural perspective in the US.

From some standpoint then those movies are meaningful in a way that "refined aesthetic merit" doesn't quite possess, where, in the best cases, art movies serve to influence other art over time and create a different sort of legacy, but in many cases leave minimal traceable impact at all save for the few who actively seek out the works and appreciate them. Spielberg represents one of the clearest examples of contrasting values over/in art I can think of, where his talent is the equal to most of the directors one thinks of as great, but his work isn't appreciated in quite the same way, leaving a narrower set of values as carrying the opposing claims of merit. It should help to better understand what it is that people talk about in judging movies, but that's hard to do with the strong feelings the works foster in both directions.

[Umbugbene]

Seen 21

I'm not a fan at all. He has good technical skills, but he puts them to the wrong use. Anyway here are five with the most interest/entertainment value for me:

A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Duel
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

[wba2]

Boring filmmaker with boring films. Has made one great film, though.

01. indiana jones and the temple of doom

Spielberg seen: 19

[pcdevitt]

Currently have nineteen titles marked down for Spielberg — but I’m spotty on ~half. He generally plays much better for me in theaters. I caught screenings of Jurassic Park (35mm), Jaws (35mm), and The Adventure of Tintin (3D) a few years back, and have been periodically going back to the ones I hadn’t remembered as much since. I do quite enjoy these five, but this is a very tentative list:
1. Catch Me If You Can
2. Adventures of Tintin
3. Lincoln
4. Bridge of Spies
5. Ready Player One

[john ryan]

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Jaws
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
4. Saving Private Ryan
5. Schindler's List

[uncanny valley]

seen 19

raiders
close encounters
minority report

[kanafani]

Kanafani, I'd be interested to know your thoughts on Munich. I saw it when it came out, and I enjoyed it, but I also considered Israel a legitimate state then, and also freaking supported its expansion (ugh, youth!), so, you know...I figured I'd hate it now. But you like it, so I guess it's not just Israeli propaganda? Isn't your namesake one of the men murdered in that movie?

Oh the fact that I thought it is was an entertaining, solid movie does not mean that I do not feel it’s pro-Israeli propaganda. Spielberg is the prototypical liberal Zionist American. His defense and support of israel is completely deplorable and depraved and should be rejected by any decent human being in my opinion. But I can still watch a movie by him and enjoy it, I guess the same way I find great pleasure in reading something by Conrad even though his white supremacy shines throughout his work. Not that I think that Spielberg and conrad are on the same artistic plane, but you know what I mean. I mean I don’t even like Munich that much, I don’t rate Spielberg too highly, but I feel it’s one of his better ones.

I’ve seen Munich ages ago, but I remember reading and agreeing with this (rambling) piece back then:http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2005/12/s ... on-of.html

[Lencho of the Apes]

I''m curious - is no-one liking Poltergeist, or is no-one considering it a Spielberg movie?