Last night I was in a movie chat room where the topic of discussion was Spielberg films. Not something I'm incredibly passionate about, even though he's made a dozen films I've really enjoyed.
Eventually talk turned to which of his films were our favorites, at which point I was mentally ranking them in my head. But them I decided to rank them in my computer when I couldn't think of more than a dozen.
Luckily I have a blog where I can dump things like this...
Usually I like to add commentary about why I rank the things I rank, but Spielberg is so subjective that it seems a little pointless. I will say that after #15 there's a noticeable drop. Like off a cliff. From #16 onward they are films I just don't like very much. Still, that's a 50/50 split, which is better than I could say for some directors!
A few asides here...
Many people consider Always to be one of Spielberg's worst. This always surprises me, because I thought it was such a charming, wonderful film.
Many people would put E.T. at the top of this list. I like the film okay, but there were so many annoyances that I consider #12 to be generous.
I should post a disclaimer that I wasn't able to get all the way through West Side Story because it's just not my kind of flick. But I saw enough to know that I liked it better than TinTin, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and whatever the hell Ready Player One was supposed to be. Lord what an awful, awful film. ANYBODY could have crapped that out of their ass... but Spielberg? Spielberg?!?
His next film is The Fabelmans, which I'm hearing good things about. Here's hoping.
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I totally agree with you on enjoying Always. Not sure where it would wind up in a ranking but I liked it. And I’m right there with you on Ready Player One and Crystal Skull being at the bottom. Ugh.
Not that my opinion matters, but I agree with your assessment of Always. I don’t think it holds up as well over time, but I remember liking it when it came out and I wasn’t of the appropriate age group for the film.
I have no idea why people don’t like “Always.” It’s a perfectly lovely film with actors I love… not to mention the last movie appearance of Audrey Hepburn, who was about as lovely as it gets. I bought the movie on LaserDisc, then re-bought it on DVD, and will probably re-re-buy it on digital one of these days.
for me, Quint’s speech is one of the most perfect scenes in all of cinema. i watch it regularly. beyond anything that he did beyond schindler’s list and even raiders, i will always go back to robert shaw’s masterpiece. every line is perfection.
Quint is one of the best characters to ever grace the screen… no doubt at all. What’s strange is how well Jaws holds up given that the effects aren’t all CGI and overblown. But that’s probably WHY it holds up so well. Spielberg made that movie based on not seeing the shark for so long because the suspense was enough to carry the film.
Can’t argue with your top 10 at all. Nodded as I went down each one. What was eye opening for me was just how many outside the top 10 I hadn’t seen, and some I downright hadn’t even heard of.
These lists are entirely subjective but, if I may, I think you were super generous to place Temple Of Doom so high up on the list.
Temple of Doom was the film of my graduating year, so I am probably more generous to it than I should be. And while it is pretty bad as an Indiana Jones flick, I think it’s great for a schlock thrills and horror flick!