Yes, Steven Spielberg has never made a good movie.

Instead he said he relied on his pre-production ritual of watching four classics: Seven Samurai, The Searchers, Lawrence of Arabia, and It's a Wonderful Life, to help ensure the success of new projects.

I'm not even sure any of those four could make it into production these days. The Seven Samurai is long and the violence is anything but glamorous. Half of the action in Lawrence of Arabia would be replaced with CGI. Westerns hardly ever cut it anymore with only a few exceptions, and those seem to do poorly at the box office, and "It's a Wonderful Life" would be considered a made-for-TV project on the Hallmark channel.

Great movies are made every single year. Just look for them. Sometimes they are small, indie movies and sometimes they are blockbusters. But they are there as they ever have been.

There have been great movies made over the past couple decades, it's just that Spielberg hasn't made one in a while so he thinks they don't exist. Stevey, watch a good Woody Allen movie and see how it's done. I really love Match Point. Midnight in Paris was pretty damn good too and both were made within the last decade.

dopeydwarf: There have been great movies made over the past couple decades, it's just that Spielberg hasn't made one in a while so he thinks they don't exist. Stevey, watch a good Woody Allen movie and see how it's done. I really love Match Point. Midnight in Paris was pretty damn good too and both were made within the last decade.

Depending how broadly we are defining "great", I think Munich would count as a great movie. It's not an all timer, but if by "great" we mean something like 25 or 50 best of a decade, then Munich would count to me.

I would ask you the same thing, guy-whose-name-was-associated-with-Super-8.

Nabb1: Instead he said he relied on his pre-production ritual of watching four classics: Seven Samurai, The Searchers, Lawrence of Arabia, and It's a Wonderful Life, to help ensure the success of new projects.

I'm not even sure any of those four could make it into production these days. The Seven Samurai is long and the violence is anything but glamorous. Half of the action in Lawrence of Arabia would be replaced with CGI. Westerns hardly ever cut it anymore with only a few exceptions, and those seem to do poorly at the box office, and "It's a Wonderful Life" would be considered a made-for-TV project on the Hallmark channel.


I'd agree that it would be difficult to make these movies today in Hollywood, but there are a lot of production houses overseas that would have the balls for it I think. South Korea for instance has had consistently good movies that are very different from your common blockbuster fodder coming out for years now. The Man from Nowhere, Oldboy, and Thirst comes to mind. And let's not forget that Seven Samurai is a Japanese movie and you can always depend on them to at least let Takashi Miike off the chain to make something... unique.

DamnYankees: dopeydwarf: There have been great movies made over the past couple decades, it's just that Spielberg hasn't made one in a while so he thinks they don't exist. Stevey, watch a good Woody Allen movie and see how it's done. I really love Match Point. Midnight in Paris was pretty damn good too and both were made within the last decade.

Depending how broadly we are defining "great", I think Munich would count as a great movie. It's not an all timer, but if by "great" we mean something like 25 or 50 best of a decade, then Munich would count to me.


Oh yeah, Munich was definitely great. It's a grim one which is why I think a lot of people wouldn't do repeat viewings, but I was on the edge of my seat throughout it.

dopeydwarf: There have been great movies made over the past couple decades, it's just that Spielberg hasn't made one in a while so he thinks they don't exist. Stevey, watch a good Woody Allen movie and see how it's done. I really love Match Point. Midnight in Paris was pretty damn good too and both were made within the last decade.

Hook, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Minority Report and Munich have all been made within the last couple decades. Catch Me If You Can was fun if not great.

The Adventures of Tin Tin is currently at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Plus he was the producer of Gladiator, Super 8, Letters from Iwo Jima and True Grit.

But yeah, Woody Allen could help him learn how to make an entertaining film

Oh, and obligatory:

mitchcumstein1: Hook, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Minority Report and Munich have all been made within the last couple decades. Catch Me If You Can was fun if not great.

One of these things is not like the other...

Someone ought to tell the gentlemen to go to his multiplex and see The Muppets.

There was that War of the Worlds remake that was...oh, yeah, that sucked donkey balls. Who was the director of that one again? That guy should have been fired.

Lando Lincoln: There was that War of the Worlds remake that was...oh, yeah, that sucked donkey balls. Who was the director of that one again? That guy should have been fired.

That was an excellent, excellent movie with one fatal flaw (the stupid son thing). But otherwise, brilliantly made movie.

DamnYankees: mitchcumstein1: Hook, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Minority Report and Munich have all been made within the last couple decades. Catch Me If You Can was fun if not great.

One of these things is not like the other...

I was 12 when that movie came out, it was made to appeal to me. I saw it with my grandfather, he died shortly thereafter, it will always have a soft spot in my heart.

mitchcumstein1: DamnYankees: mitchcumstein1: Hook, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Minority Report and Munich have all been made within the last couple decades. Catch Me If You Can was fun if not great.

One of these things is not like the other...

I was 12 when that movie came out, it was made to appeal to me. I saw it with my grandfather, he died shortly thereafter, it will always have a soft spot in my heart.

That's cool - I liked that movie a lot when I was a kid also. But its objectively not a very good movie.

Good music, though.

DamnYankees: Lando Lincoln: There was that War of the Worlds remake that was...oh, yeah, that sucked donkey balls. Who was the director of that one again? That guy should have been fired.

That was an excellent, excellent movie with one fatal flaw (the stupid son thing). But otherwise, brilliantly made movie.

DamnYankees: Lando Lincoln: There was that War of the Worlds remake that was...oh, yeah, that sucked donkey balls. Who was the director of that one again? That guy should have been fired.

That was an excellent, excellent movie with one fatal flaw (the stupid son thing). But otherwise, brilliantly made movie.

You are out of your freaking mind.

Sybarite: DamnYankees: Lando Lincoln: There was that War of the Worlds remake that was...oh, yeah, that sucked donkey balls. Who was the director of that one again? That guy should have been fired.

That was an excellent, excellent movie with one fatal flaw (the stupid son thing). But otherwise, brilliantly made movie.

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Lando Lincoln: DamnYankees: Lando Lincoln: There was that War of the Worlds remake that was...oh, yeah, that sucked donkey balls. Who was the director of that one again? That guy should have been fired.

That was an excellent, excellent movie with one fatal flaw (the stupid son thing). But otherwise, brilliantly made movie.

You are out of your freaking mind.

I don;t know what to say. The movie itself is not amazing, but the craftsmanship really is. Spielberg knows how to tell stories.

DamnYankees: That's cool - I liked that movie a lot when I was a kid also. But its objectively not a very good movie

No, it's not a great film, but it is entertaining to the people it was made for, which is more than can be said for most recent Woody Allen movies.

Two main reasons. First, the big studios are a bit gun-shy of losing their asses. Make a big enough bomb, and it can bankrupt your entire studio. After some big flops, a lot of them now want to maximize profits and they do that with a carefully selected handful of movies year in and year out. It's cynical, but it's keeping them in business. They can tell you the percentage of people that will attend a sequel just because they like the first movie. The studios can also tell you the percentage of profit increase that a film will earn if it gets NC-17 rating instead of an R rating. It's a science they've perfected and have winnowed down to a formula.

The other issue is the public at large. The studios put out a few big budget movies and a lot fewer small budget films because the studios have learned what we like, and most of what we like is crap. A few big-budget epics every year with a well-defined male/female dynamic, a couple low-rent films targeting the 16-24 crowd in which the cast of characters are always high school seniors, sprinkled in with a few sleepers that did well at film festivals and are getting a wider release. Americans like spotless heroes and easy to spot villains and a tidy resolution that ends with Happily Ever After. Are they gonna play The Raid in the United States in wide release? Probably not because some of the violence is graphic and parts of it may be offensive to American sensibilities.

Most overrated director ever.

DamnYankees: Great movies are made every single year. Just look for them. Sometimes they are small, indie movies and sometimes they are blockbusters. But they are there as they ever have been.

Amen. Great movies are out there, you just have to seek them out.

DamnYankees: I don;t know what to say. The movie itself is not amazing, but the craftsmanship really is. Spielberg knows how to tell stories.

Yeah, "craftsmanship." As in, "Hey, wouldn't it be AWESOME if we had a scene where the aliens attacked a ferry boat full of cars and people and the boat started tipping over and the cars were all rolling around and smashing up people and stuff? And people DROWNING in the cars! Yeah, I know it doesn't make a goddamn bit of sense to have a ferry boat full of cars that don't work. I mean, why wouldn't all the people just push the dead cars off of the ferry boat and then an extra thousand people would be able to be loaded onto the ferry boat every trip? If we were to write this sensibly, then we wouldn't have that AWESOME SCENE where the cars go flying into the water and shiat!"

"Craftsmanship." Otherwise known as "eye candy."

Lando Lincoln: "Craftsmanship." Otherwise known as "eye candy."

Please settle down, friend. War of the Worlds wasn't even that good a movie to look at - it was grungy and dark.

mitchcumstein1: DamnYankees: That's cool - I liked that movie a lot when I was a kid also. But its objectively not a very good movie

No, it's not a great film, but it is entertaining to the people it was made for, which is more than can be said for most recent Woody Allen movies.

Bukharin: Film/TV quality took a serious nosedive ever since "NYPD Blue shakey-cam" became a popular technique.


Thankfully the Borne series is over AFAIK. Hopefully the "technique" will die off.

dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: DamnYankees: That's cool - I liked that movie a lot when I was a kid also. But its objectively not a very good movie

No, it's not a great film, but it is entertaining to the people it was made for, which is more than can be said for most recent Woody Allen movies.


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He's been hit and miss over the last 10-15 years and you know it.

coco ebert: Most overrated director ever.

We not talking about Lucas. It's the other one.

mitchcumstein1: dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: DamnYankees: That's cool - I liked that movie a lot when I was a kid also. But its objectively not a very good movie

No, it's not a great film, but it is entertaining to the people it was made for, which is more than can be said for most recent Woody Allen movies.


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He's been hit and miss over the last 10-15 years and you know it.


You dare discount Match Point? For shame.

Well, Princess Bride was made in 1987, so it doesn't meet his arbitrary time limit.
Law Abiding Citizen was IMHO very well done.

dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: DamnYankees: That's cool - I liked that movie a lot when I was a kid also. But its objectively not a very good movie

No, it's not a great film, but it is entertaining to the people it was made for, which is more than can be said for most recent Woody Allen movies.


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He's been hit and miss over the last 10-15 years and you know it.


You dare discount Match Point? For shame.

That would be a hit. Cassandra' Dream, for example would be a miss. Scoop would be an abortion.

mitchcumstein1: dopeydwarf: There have been great movies made over the past couple decades, it's just that Spielberg hasn't made one in a while so he thinks they don't exist. Stevey, watch a good Woody Allen movie and see how it's done. I really love Match Point. Midnight in Paris was pretty damn good too and both were made within the last decade.

Hook, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Minority Report and Munich have all been made within the last couple decades. Catch Me If You Can was fun if not great.

The Adventures of Tin Tin is currently at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Plus he was the producer of Gladiator, Super 8, Letters from Iwo Jima and True Grit.

But yeah, Woody Allen could help him learn how to make an entertaining film


Funny you should say that, I just watched Jurassic Park on BR the other night and for some reason it just didn't hook me in the same way it did when I was 13. Not a bad movie, but it hasn't aged particularly well IMO. I am a big fan of Schindler's List, Minority Report, Iwo Jima and Munich though. Saving Private Ryan is good but I'm not so sure I'd call it great. FWIW though, this is one of my favorite war movies ever:



Take that as you will.

mitchcumstein1: dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: DamnYankees:

You dare discount Match Point? For shame.

That would be a hit. Cassandra' Dream, for example would be a miss. Scoop would be an abortion.


You shan't throw the baby out with the bath water.

dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: dopeydwarf: mitchcumstein1: DamnYankees:

You dare discount Match Point? For shame.

That would be a hit. Cassandra' Dream, for example would be a miss. Scoop would be an abortion.


You shan't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Not saying you should, but to saying that Speilberg should go to Woody Allen to better know how to make an entertaining film is crazy talk.

I think Jurassic Park has aged fantastically. The CGI still looks plausible today almost 20 years on. Hell, it looks more realistic than half the shiat in the Star Wars prequels.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on Saving Private Ryan.

mitchcumstein1: We'll just have to agree to disagree on Saving Private Ryan.

Saving Private Ryan looks much worse in retrospect because of Band of Brothers, which basically did the same thing but did it SO much better. It just had the time needed to tell the story better.

DamnYankees: mitchcumstein1: We'll just have to agree to disagree on Saving Private Ryan.

Saving Private Ryan looks much worse in retrospect because of Band of Brothers, which basically did the same thing but did it SO much better. It just had the time needed to tell the story better.

Disagree, I think they complement each other very well.

In a parallel universe the robot shark worked and "Steven Spielberg" carries the same weight as "Roger Corman"

Nabb1: I'm not even sure any of those four could make it into production these days.

And movies these days suck.

So I don't see where it's a problem. The studios want to shiat on us, we can play video games instead.

penguinfark: I enjoyed Crystal Skull.

I didn't know a lot of eight-year-olds posted on Fark.

DamnYankees: mitchcumstein1: We'll just have to agree to disagree on Saving Private Ryan.

Saving Private Ryan looks much worse in retrospect because of Band of Brothers, which basically did the same thing but did it SO much better. It just had the time needed to tell the story better.

Not really. Saving Private Ryan did the thing. Band of Brothers came along and told a different story while cannibalizing all the stuff that was good from Spielberg a full decade later.

It's like saying the ipad 2 is revolutionary technology whilst ignoring fact that the original iphone is the device that actually opened up the touch pad market beyond institutional devices like vending machines and restaurant menus.

doglover: Band of Brothers came along and told a different story while cannibalizing all the stuff that was good from Spielberg a full decade later.

Just to note - Band of Brother was filmed something like 1 year after Saving Private Ryan, not a decade.

doglover: It's like saying the ipad 2 is revolutionary technology whilst ignoring fact that the original iphone is the device that actually opened up the touch pad market beyond institutional devices like vending machines and restaurant menus.

But I never said Band of Brother was "revolutionary". I said it was better. I don't deny Saving Private Ryan was a more innovative piece of filmmaking, but that doesn't mean its better than that which built on it.