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+ "page_name": "Steven Spielberg | Producer, Writer, Director",
+ "page_url": "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/",
+ "page_snippet": "Steven Spielberg. Producer: Schindler's List. One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed ...Steven Spielberg. Producer: Schindler's List. One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, producer or writer since launching the summer blockbuster with Jaws (1975), and he has done more to define popular... Known for: Schindler's List, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Saving Private Ryan Among his early directing efforts were Battle Squad (1961), which combined World War II footage with footage of an airplane on the ground that he makes you believe is moving. He also directed Escape to Nowhere (1961), which featured children as World War Two soldiers, including his sister Anne Spielberg, and The Last Gun (1959), a western. All of these were short films. The next couple of years, Spielberg directed a couple of movies that would portend his future career in movies. In 1964, he directed Firelight (1964), a movie about aliens invading a small town. In 1967, he directed Slipstream (1967), which was unfinished.",
+ "page_result": "Steven Spielberg - IMDb
One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known\ndirector and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, producer or writer since launching the summer blockbuster with Jaws (1975), and he has done more to define popular film-making since the mid-1970s than anyone else.
Steven Allan Spielberg was born in 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Leah Frances (Posner), a concert pianist and restaurateur, and Arnold Spielberg, an electrical engineer who worked in computer development. His parents were both born to Russian Jewish immigrant families. Steven spent his younger years in Haddon Township, New Jersey, Phoenix, Arizona, and later Saratoga, California. He went to California State University Long Beach, but dropped\nout to pursue his entertainment career.\nAmong his\nearly directing efforts were Battle Squad (1961), which combined World\nWar II footage with footage of an airplane on the ground that he makes\nyou believe is moving. He also directed\nEscape to Nowhere (1961), which\nfeatured children as World War Two soldiers, including his sister\nAnne Spielberg, and\nThe Last Gun (1959), a western.\nAll of these were short films. The next couple of years, Spielberg\ndirected a couple of movies that would portend his future career in\nmovies. In 1964, he directed\nFirelight (1964), a movie about aliens\ninvading a small town. In 1967, he directed\nSlipstream (1967), which was\nunfinished. However, in 1968, he directed\nAmblin' (1968), which featured the desert\nprominently, and not the first of his movies in which the desert would\nfeature. Amblin' also became the name of his production\ncompany, which turned out such classics as\nE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).\nSpielberg had a unique and classic early directing project,\nDuel (1971), with\nDennis Weaver. In the early 1970s,\nSpielberg was working on TV, directing among others such series as\nRod Serling's\nNight Gallery (1969),\nMarcus Welby, M.D. (1969)\nand\nMurder by the Book (1971).\nAll of his work in television and short films, as well as his directing\nprojects, were just a hint of the wellspring of talent that would\ndazzle audiences all over the world.
Spielberg's first major directorial effort was\nThe Sugarland Express (1974),\nwith Goldie Hawn, a film that marked him as\na rising star. It was his next effort, however, that made him an\ninternational superstar among directors:\nJaws (1975). This classic shark attack tale\nstarted the tradition of the summer blockbuster or, at least, he was\ncredited with starting the tradition. His next film was the classic\nClose Encounters of the Third Kind (1977),\na unique and original UFO story that remains a classic. In 1978,\nSpielberg produced his first film, the forgettable\nI Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978),\nand followed that effort with\nUsed Cars (1980), a critically\nacclaimed, but mostly forgotten,\nKurt Russell/Jack Warden\ncomedy about devious used-car dealers. Spielberg hit gold yet one more\ntime with\nRaiders of the Lost Ark (1981),\nwith Harrison Ford taking the part\nof Indiana Jones. Spielberg produced and directed two films in 1982.\nThe first was Poltergeist (1982), but\nthe highest-grossing movie of all time up to that point was the alien\nstory\nE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).\nSpielberg also helped pioneer the practice of product placement. The\nconcept, while not uncommon, was still relatively low-key when\nSpielberg raised the practice to almost an art form with his famous (or\ninfamous) placement of Reese's Pieces in "E.T." Spielberg was also one\nof the pioneers of the big-grossing special-effects movies, like "E.T."\nand "Close Encounters", where a very strong emphasis on special effects\nwas placed for the first time on such a huge scale. In 1984, Spielberg\nfollowed up "Raiders" with\nIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984),\nwhich was a commercial success but did not receive the critical acclaim\nof its predecessor. As a producer, Spielberg took on many projects in\nthe 1980s, such as\nThe Goonies (1985), and was the\nbrains behind the little monsters in\nGremlins (1984). He also produced the\ncartoon\nAn American Tail (1986), a\nquaint little animated classic. His biggest effort as producer in 1985,\nhowever, was the blockbuster\nBack to the Future (1985),\nwhich made Michael J. Fox an\ninstant superstar. As director, Spielberg took on the book\nThe Color Purple (1985), with\nWhoopi Goldberg and\nOprah Winfrey, with great success. In the\nlatter half of the 1980s, he also directed\nEmpire of the Sun (1987), a\nmixed success for the occasionally erratic Spielberg. Success would not\nescape him for long, though.
As a producer, he was very active in the late 90s, responsible for such\nfilms as\nThe Mask of Zorro (1998),\nMen in Black (1997) and\nDeep Impact (1998). However, it was\non the directing front that Spielberg was in top form. He directed and\nproduced the epic Amistad (1997), a\nspectacular film that was shorted at the Oscars and in release due to\nthe fact that its release date was moved around so much in late 1997.\nThe next year, however, produced what many believe was one of the best\nfilms of his career:\nSaving Private Ryan (1998), a\nfilm about World War Two that is spectacular in almost every respect.\nIt was stiffed at the Oscars, losing best picture to\nShakespeare in Love (1998).
Spielberg produced a series of films, including\nEvolution (2001),\nThe Haunting (1999) and\nShrek (2001). he also produced two sequels\nto Jurassic Park (1993), which were\nfinancially but not particularly critical successes. In 2001, he\nproduced a mini-series about World War Two that definitely *was* a\nfinancial and critical success:\nBand of Brothers (2001), a\ntale of an infantry company from its parachuting into France during the\ninvasion to the Battle of the Bulge. Also in that year, Spielberg was\nback in the director's chair for\nA.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001),\na movie with a message and a huge budget. It did reasonably at the box\noffice and garnered varied reviews from critics.
Spielberg has been extremely active in films there are many other\nthings he has done as well. He produced the short-lived TV series\nSeaQuest 2032 (1993), an\nanthology series entitled\nAmazing Stories (1985),\ncreated the video-game series "Medal of Honor" set during World War\nTwo, and was a starting producer of\nER (1994). Spielberg, if you haven't\nnoticed, has a great interest in World War Two. He and\nTom Hanks collaborated on\nShooting War: World War II Combat Cameramen (2000), a\ndocumentary about World War II combat photographers, and he produced a\ndocumentary about the Holocaust called\nEyes of the Holocaust (2000).\nWith all of this to Spielberg's credit, it's no wonder that he's looked\nat as one of the greatest ever figures in entertainment.
He once screened Lawrence of Arabia (1962) with director David Lean, who gave Spielberg a "live\ndirector's commentary", as Spielberg put it. Spielberg said that it was\none of the best moments of his life, learning from a true master.\nConsequently, Spielberg stated that it helped him make better pictures\nand that commentary directly influenced every movie he has made since.
I think that the Internet is going to effect the most profound change\non the entertainment industries combined. And we're all gonna be tuning\ninto the most popular Internet show in the world, which will be coming\nfrom some place in Des Moines. We're all gonna lose our jobs. We're all\ngonna be on the Internet trying to find an audience.
Please enable browser cookies to use this feature.\u00a0Learn more.
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+ "page_last_modified": ""
+ },
+ {
+ "page_name": "Every Steven Spielberg Movie Ranked From Worst to Best",
+ "page_url": "https://www.thewrap.com/best-steven-spielberg-movies-ranked/",
+ "page_snippet": "He\u2019s the most well-known director of all time and, as 2022\u2019s \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d proved, continues to deliver top-tier entertainment that also doubles as a towering work of art. He has also made many, many movies. Over his 50+ year career, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 features, with more ...Steven Spielberg directing a segment for a \u201cTwilight Zone\u201d movie (one that he also produced) feels like the perfect pairing of filmmaker and property. After all, Spielberg\u2019s early movie \u201cDuel\u201d was based on a story by Richard Matheson, who wrote more than a dozen episodes of the original series and several more installments of subsequent revivals. It\u2019s hard to feel bad for Disney but you\u2019ve got to at least appreciate the fact that they entered into a lengthy, expensive agreement to distribute DreamWorks movies for the chance to finally (finally!) release a Disney-branded film directed by Steven Spielberg. And this is the movie he ultimately chose to do. These ideas and concepts are usually conveyed through technically unparalleled camera movements that are still somehow unshowy (we get into the \u201cSpielberg oner\u201d later). He\u2019s the most well-known director of all time and, as 2022\u2019s \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d proved, continues to deliver top-tier entertainment that also doubles as a towering work of art. He has also made many, many movies. Over his 50+ year career, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 features, with more on the way (how has he never made a western?) Over his 50+ year career, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 features, with more on the way (how has he never made a western?) And each new Spielberg movie is an event. We humbly present this comprehensive look back at his filmography \u2013 from least great to molecule-rearrangingly amazing: Read Next \u2018Fabelmans\u2019 Writer Tony Kushner on Dramatizing Steven Spielberg\u2019s Life and What They\u2019re Working on Next: \u2018I\u2019m Excited About It\u2019",
+ "page_result": "\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\nEvery Steven Spielberg Movie Ranked From Worst to Best\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n
There hasn\u2019t been a single filmmaker \u2013 perhaps in the history of the medium \u2013 to capture the popular zeitgeist the way that Steven Spielberg has. Saying something is \u201cSpielbergian\u201d conjures a very specific set of criteria \u2013 it probably involves children (or is at least viewed through the honeyed lens of the adolescent experience), an uncanny scenario (archeologist hunts for occult artifacts, dinosaurs return to life) and a potent mixture of both fear and awe, sometimes in the same sequence or same moment. These ideas and concepts are usually conveyed through technically unparalleled camera movements that are still somehow unshowy (we get into the \u201cSpielberg oner\u201d later). He\u2019s the most well-known director of all time and, as 2022\u2019s \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d proved, continues to deliver top-tier entertainment that also doubles as a towering work of art.
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He has also made many, many movies. Over his 50+ year career, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 features, with more on the way (how has he never made a western?) And each new Spielberg movie is an event.
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We humbly present this comprehensive look back at his filmography \u2013 from least great to molecule-rearrangingly amazing:
35. The \u201cKick the Can\u201d Segment from \u201cTwilight Zone: The Movie\u201d (1983)
\n\n\n\nWarner Bros.\n\n\n\n
Steven Spielberg directing a segment for a \u201cTwilight Zone\u201d movie (one that he also produced) feels like the perfect pairing of filmmaker and property. After all, Spielberg\u2019s early movie \u201cDuel\u201d was based on a story by Richard Matheson, who wrote more than a dozen episodes of the original series and several more installments of subsequent revivals. But after an on-set tragedy led to the death of three people, Spielberg veered away from the original episode he intended to adapt and instead went with a new iteration of \u201cKick the Can,\u201d a forgettable episode from 1962 about old people who are granted temporary youth. All of the things that critics claim Spielberg is \u2013 sugary-sweet, relying on magic instead of emotional truth \u2013 are contained within this segment. Even Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s honeyed score can\u2019t do much to improve this nonsense, which stars Scatman Crothers as the worst kind of \u201cMagical Negro\u201d clich\u00e9 and feels infinitely longer than the other, nastier segments (the best of which is George Miller\u2019s version of the immortal \u201cNightmare at 20,000 Feet\u201d). Spielberg\u2019s bit should have been the movie\u2019s highlight, instead it\u2019s the low point.
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34. \u201cThe BFG\u201d (2016)
\n\n\n\nDisney\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s hard to feel bad for Disney but you\u2019ve got to at least appreciate the fact that they entered into a lengthy, expensive agreement to distribute DreamWorks movies for the chance to finally (finally!) release a Disney-branded film directed by Steven Spielberg. And this is the movie he ultimately chose to do. Loud and unfunny, this bustling adaptation of the Roald Dahl story (the last script by his \u201cE.T.\u201d screenwriter Melissa Mathison) is utterly pointless and instantly forgettable. Spielberg had flirted with the project since the early 1990s and initially earmarked Robin Williams as a potential lead; ultimately he went with his \u201cBridge of Spies\u201d breakout Mark Rylance, transformed into a towering, dream-catching giant by the geniuses at W\u0113t\u0101 FX. Everything feels like an odd mishmash of conflicting tones and styles, from the harshness of Janusz Kaminski\u2019s typically overwrought cinematography in what was meant to be, at least in part, a warm-and-fuzzy bedtime story, to the odd script details like the Queen\u2019s farting, flying corgis. Spielberg has never missed the mark as broadly as he did with \u201cThe BFG.\u201d
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33. \u201cIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull\u201d (2008)
\n\n\n\nParamount/Lucasfilm\n\n\n\n
They should have left well enough alone. \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d ended perfectly \u2013 with our heroes literally riding off into the sunset. But George Lucas began tinkering with an idea that would move Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) into the 1950s with a plot ripped out of a drive-in sci-fi movie. Lucas pitched Ford on the idea during the shooting of Ford\u2019s episode of \u201cThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.\u201d The idea initially involved Roswell but later became a crystal skull in South America. And the final film does feel like a movie where ideas are competing with one another (and against each other) \u2013 Lucas\u2019 desire to have a 1950s sci-fi homage nestled amongst the classic adventure of the series feels incongruous, as does the series swapping out Nazis (a staple of an earlier, superior screenplay by Frank Darabont) for Russians, led by a psychic Cate Blanchett whose supernatural powers don\u2019t actually enhance her character or move the plot forward in any meaningful way.
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From Shia LeBeouf channeling Brando to a scene with characters swinging on ropes like (and with) monkeys to Kaminski\u2019s frigid look replacing the warm tones of Douglas Slocombe\u2019s soft glow from the earlier films, none of it works and it only serves to remind you of earlier, better movies. It\u2019s telling that Spielberg won\u2019t be returning for the fifth and final film, even though Lucas had nothing to do with the new entry. He\u2019d had enough. By the end of \u201cIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,\u201d the feeling was mutual.
Weirdly, \u201cHook\u201d feels like one of the most important films in Spielberg\u2019s career while still being one of the lousiest. Since the early 1980s, Spielberg had been attempting to do a live-action \u201cPeter Pan\u201d story; first at Disney and then with Paramount (where Dustin Hoffman was first attached as Captain Hook). When Spielberg dropped out, another director stepped in as the script went from a straight retelling to something more conceptual (What if Peter Pan grew up?) but when the new director clashed with Hoffman and Robin Williams, Spielberg returned. Maybe he should have stayed away. Bloated and unfocused, it is Spielberg attempting to embrace the spirit of his youth while also being a husband and father in his mid-40s. Like Robin Williams, he\u2019s desperately trying to return to Neverland but finding that he just doesn\u2019t have it anymore.
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A famously contentious set, the budget ballooned and remained, creatively, in a state of flux until it opened in theaters to a lackluster critical and commercial response. (Keep in mind it was supposed to be a musical and John Williams wrote eight original songs with lyricist Leslie Bricusse.) There are some \u201cHook\u201d apologists in our midst these days; drown them out. Besides an absolutely killer teaser trailer, it\u2019s a dud.
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31. \u201cThe Sugarland Express\u201d (1974)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
Spielberg\u2019s first theatrical feature is a law-breakin\u2019-lovers-on-the-run yarn that had the misfortune of coming out the year after Terrence Malick\u2019s masterpiece \u201cBadlands.\u201d It\u2019s not that \u201cThe Sugarland Express\u201d is bad, necessarily, it just lacks some of the magic that was evident in Spielberg\u2019s TV movie \u201cDuel\u201d and would become a staple in his later work. Goldie Hawn plays a lovelorn yokel whose child was revoked by the state; William Atherton is her deadbeat husband who she breaks out of jail even though he\u2019s about to be released. Together they take a young patrolman (Michael Sacks) hostage. While the story is based on a true crime, it\u2019s easy to read into the patrolman as being the Spielberg surrogate, as he is constantly trying to moderate the bickering of the young couple (clearly based on Spielberg\u2019s parents) \u2013 like Spielberg, Sacks was only 26 years old.
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Still, the script (co-written by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins, who would remain in Spielberg\u2019s orbit) meanders a little too much, which gives Spielberg and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (coming off of \u201cDeliverance\u201d and \u201cThe Long Goodbye\u201d) plenty of time to crash cars instead of focus on the characters. This film was enough to convince producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown that Spielberg could handle some book adaptation called \u201cJaws.\u201d
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30. \u201cThe Lost World: Jurassic Park\u201d (1997)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Lost World: Jurassic Park,\u201d based on the second best-selling, dinosaur-filled novel by Michael Crichton, is an entirely different vibe. With the actual park gone, the action takes place on Site B, a second island where (we quickly learn) they made the dinosaurs before bringing them to the park (Funny, what was that whole scene with Dr. Wu in the first movie?). Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) returns to make sure his girlfriend (Julianne Moore) isn\u2019t eaten; Vince Vaughn plays an eco-terrorist dispatched to stop some corporate goons who want the remaining dinosaurs for profit. Spielberg still knows how to stage a terrific set piece, like the attack of a little girl in the cold open or the grand finale that sees a T. Rex stomping through the streets of San Diego. But he doesn\u2019t seem particularly engaged and for much of the movie, watching dinosaurs run through the forest doesn\u2019t inspire the mixture of awe and terror that made the original so special.
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\u201cLost World\u201d is arguably Spielberg\u2019s ugliest, most mean-spirited movie since \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,\u201d but without that movie\u2019s snappy cleverness, with Kaminski\u2019s murky cinematography a stark contrast to Dean Cundey\u2019s more lush photography for the original film. Intermittent silliness (let\u2019s not get into the gymnast-versus-raptor fight) only adds to the feeling of distance between the audience and the auteur. This one has its defenders but it\u2019s hard to join the cause.
Based, in part, on the true story of a man from Brussels who lived in a Paris airport (he sadly recently passed away), \u201cThe Terminal\u201d stars Tom Hanks as a visitor to America from a fictional country that, while he is passing through immigration, ceases to exist. This leaves him stuck in the airport, eating packets of ketchup, running afoul of a tightly wound administration (Stanley Tucci) and falling in love with Catherine Zeta-Jones\u2019 flirty flight attendant. It really doesn\u2019t add up to much, despite having a wonderful supporting cast that includes Diego Luna, Chi McBride and a baby-faced Zoe Salda\u00f1a. This is partially because at 118 minutes it overstays its welcome and partially because what should have been an intimate little comedy necessitated the construction of an entire airport terminal. Also, the resolution of why Hanks is in America totally fizzles. If you\u2019ve never seen \u201cThe Terminal,\u201d it\u2019s worth it for Spielberg completists, but is otherwise unremarkable (although it was sort of fun to watch Hanks dip back into goofball \u201cMoney Pit\u201d territory after years of being Hollywood\u2019s earnest leading man). This movie made $220 million worldwide.
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28. \u201cWar Horse\u201d (2011)
\n\n\n\nDisney/DreamWorks\n\n\n\n
\u201cWar Horse,\u201d on paper, seems like a slam dunk. An adaptation of both British author Michael Morpurgo\u2019s 1982 novel and a 2007 stage adaptation that played both the West End and Broadway, it stars Jeremy Irvine as a British kid whose beloved horse is drafted into World War I and goes through a series of harrowing adventures before the two are reunited. Nobody does quasi-magical friendships between human and inhuman characters better than Spielberg, but much of \u201cWar Horse\u201d is a slog; the wartime setting seems to necessitate a harsher rating but the filmmaker keeps aiming at something more family-friendly (this is exemplified by a brutal killing being obscured by a turning windmill). There are some virtuoso set pieces for sure and it\u2019s a kick to watch all the great British character actors pop up for brief performances (Tom Hiddelston, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Thewlis and Emily Watson all appear), but the screenplay by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall makes it hard to get emotionally involved.
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27. \u201cWest Side Story\u201d (2021)
\n\n\n\n20th Century\n\n\n\n
\u201cWest Side Story,\u201d quietly released at the end of 2021, racked up seven Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) and secured a single win (for Ariana DeBose\u2019s amazing supporting performance), and yet was seen as something of a disappointment. And at the end of the day it\u2019s easy to get swept up in this new version of the story, written by Tony Kushner but maintaining the original song and score of the stage show, particularly with the elaborately staged musical numbers. The strides the new script makes, in terms of representation (Maria is actually played by Rachel Zegler, a young woman of color, and there is a trans character) and embroidery (Rita Moreno\u2019s character is great) is admirable. But some of the casting is unfortunate (Ansel Elgort was a lousy choice even before the sexual assault allegations) and the movie, for all of its razzle-dazzle, cannot escape a damnable sense of D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu. At the very least Spielberg was able to stage a full-throated musical, something you can sense he\u2019s wanted to do for a very, very long time (look no further than the opening sequence of \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom\u201d). Whether or not his \u201cWest Side Story\u201d is worth a standing ovation depends on the viewer.
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26. \u201cAmistad\u201d (1997)
\n\n\n\nDreamWorks\n\n\n\n
Just like in 1993, when Spielberg released both \u201cJurassic Park\u201d and \u201cSchindler\u2019s List,\u201d in 1997 Spielberg paired \u201cThe Lost World\u201d with a far more serious project \u2013 \u201cAmistad,\u201d the story of a slave uprising and the legal fallout that followed. The slave uprising sequence is a typical Spielberg tour-de-force moment \u2013 it happens in the rain, with crescendos of lighting coinciding with bursts of spectacular violence. Unfortunately, most of the movie concerns the legal battle that followed the uprising, which is both hard to follow and unfortunately puts the movie into the category of a \u201cwhite savior\u201d story, with Matthew McConaughey becoming the de-facto hero, a plucky lawyer who works for the accused slaves. As a courtroom drama, it lacks oomph. But a strong cast (Anthony Hopkins was nominated for an Oscar for his turn as John Quincy Adams) and handsome technical merits (Ruth Carter\u2019s costumes are all knockouts, obviously) make it worth watching if you\u2019ve never seen or are attempting to complete your Spielbergian puzzle.
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25. \u201cReady Player One\u201d (2018)
\n\n\n\nWarner Bros.\n\n\n\n
\u201cReady Player One\u201d was always a bizarre choice for Spielberg since the source material, borderline fan fiction written by Austin nerd Ernie Cline, was so obviously indebted to Spielberg\u2019s filmography and, as an artist, Spielberg is hardly ever self-referential. (He seems to have learned from the divisive opening of \u201c1941.\u201d) And, sure enough, when he signed onto the project \u2013 a multiyear affair that would see Industrial Light & Magic essentially create an animated feature within a live-action one \u2013 he vowed to stay away from his own catalog. Of course, winks and nods were still present (the DeLorean from the Spielberg-produced \u201cBack to the Future\u201d is a key vehicle and \u201cGremlins\u201d can be seen scampering across the battlefield), but Spielberg largely pushed himself to ingest other pop culture ephemera. When that works, like during a prolonged chase sequence set in Stanley Kubrick\u2019s Overlook Hotel or an opening car chase that might have been the loudest thing I\u2019ve ever heard in a theater, it\u2019s absolutely thrilling, transporting audiences to a different time and place and proving that Spielberg\u2019s blockbuster bona-fides and storytelling instincts are as keen as ever. When \u201cReady Player One\u201d stumbles, as it does occasionally during the \u201creal world\u201d segments, it\u2019s a depressing reminder that Spielberg might want to stick to the prestige pictures of late.
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24. \u201cEmpire of the Sun\u201d (1987)
\n\n\n\nWarner Bros.\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ll be surprised to realize that, even as a little kid, Christian Bale was a very good actor. In \u201cEmpire of the Sun,\u201d Bale plays a young boy who is separated from his parents in British-occupied Shanghai during World War II and forced to survive in a Japanese internment camp. Perhaps the most famous sequence is the one above, when young Jamie and his parents are actually separated by the invading Japanese forces. It\u2019s a sequence that only Spielberg could have filmed, with hundreds of extras and absolute visual and emotional clarity \u2013 you know exactly what is going on, how he is getting dislocated and the overwhelming amount of energy that it will take to reunite them. And that\u2019s one scene. Quietly powerful (even when dramatizing the atomic bomb detonating at Nagasaki) and easily one of Spielberg\u2019s most underrated efforts, it sometimes self-consciously feels like the director is trying to separate himself from his more jolly works of the same period (Allen Daviau shot the movie in a taller aspect ratio, discarding the more romantic, slightly warped anamorphic lenses he often favors). But the script is so strong (Tom Stoppard adapted J.G. Ballard\u2019s autobiographical novel) and the emotions so startlingly real, it\u2019s hard to be anything but engrossed.
Spielberg enters the Cold War with \u201cBridge of Spies,\u201d the true story of a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States that happened in the late 1950s, when the tension between the two countries was at its most combustible. Tom Hanks, a lovable Spielberg favorite (as always), plays the attorney who represented Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a convicted Russian spy who is now being forced into helping organize the swap. Spielberg\u2019s virtuosity is on full display (the opening of the movie is a lengthy, wordless chase sequence through an immaculately recreated New York City) and it\u2019s fun to watch him engage in some of the same real-world spy theatrics that made \u201cMunich\u201d so powerful.
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The screenplay, written initially by Matt Chapman and punched up by the Coen Brothers, gives the characters commendable depth while maintaining the underlying thriller-y nature of the story, and \u201cBridge of Spies\u201d is perhaps most notable for being the first team-up between Rylance and Spielberg (they would re-team for \u201cThe BFG\u201d and \u201cReady Player One\u201d) and for being the first movie since 1985\u2019s \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d to be scored by someone other than John Williams (Thomas Newman does great, typically understated work). Not the flashiest Spielberg joint, although it was still nominated for Best Picture (and Rylance won) and is a work of undeniable power.
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22. \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d (1989)
\n\n\n\nParamount Pictures/Lucasfilm\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s so funny about \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d is that the path to the movie took a typically circuitous route \u2014 wholly unrelated drafts were completed by Chris Columbus and Menno Meyjes, but the story that they wound up with (credited to Jeffrey Boam but owing a huge debt to an uncredited rewrite by Tom Stoppard) amounts to little more than \u201cShut up and play the hits.\u201d And you know what? That\u2019s okay. It was Spielberg\u2019s idea to focus the story on a father/son tale with Indiana Jones (a returning Harrison Ford) dealing with the disappearance of his father (Sean Connery, in a casting stroke of genius) while searching for the same mysterious artifact.
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Most of the plot stuff is incidental and carried over from \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d (scheming Nazis, double-crosses, chases through the desert) with the emotional center of a strained relationship between father and son taking center stage, particularly in the movie\u2019s third act, which has some spectacular elements but features a much quieter, more contained climax than audiences were probably expecting. (Also, the prologue sequence with River Phoenix as young Indy is an all-timer.) Even a rerun is capable of being entertaining and \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d is certainly that, with the smart script, crackerjack cinematography by Douglas Slocombe (it was his last film) and committed performances papering over any plot irregularities or feelings of been-there/done-that.
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21. \u201cAlways\u201d (1989)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlways\u201d is an interesting movie and certainly one the least heralded of Spielberg\u2019s career. Ostensibly a remake of 1943\u2019s \u201cA Guy Named Joe,\u201d Spielberg moved the action away from World War II and instead chose to focus on Colorado firefighters. Richard Dreyfuss plays a hotshot pilot who dies in duty and is forced to both train a younger pilot and watch that pilot fall in love with his wife (played by Holly Hunter). The aerial sequences are thrilling (they were worked on by Industrial Light and Magic) but the most gripping sequences are the ones in which Dreyfuss\u2019 character is visited by an otherworldly being called \u201cHap\u201d (played by Audrey Hepburn). Gently surreal and deeply touching, it\u2019s these interludes that give \u201cAlways\u201d its power.
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Released at the very end of the 1980s, the decade that saw Spielberg go from a filmmaker to a mogul, there is something transitionary about the movie \u2013 it\u2019s got a lot on its mind but is still full of the aw-shucks wonder that made him a household name. (In many respects, \u201cAlways\u201d feels like an overlong episode of his \u201cAmazing Stories\u201d TV series.) After shooting the third \u201cIndiana Jones\u201d and \u201cAlways\u201d back-to-back, he would take time off and return with \u201cHook,\u201d a movie about him grappling with his place in the world. \u201cAlways\u201d is a much better and more aggressively overlooked film. And one more ripe for rediscovery and reappraisal.
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20. \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d (1985)
\n\n\n\nWarner Bros.\n\n\n\n
Based on Alice Walker\u2019s Pulitzer-winning 1982 novel and advertised as \u201can American story for the whole world,\u201d \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d was Spielberg\u2019s first attempt at a \u201cserious\u201d movie. And while he strove for authenticity, casting several unknown actors (including Whoopi Goldberg) and employing Walker to supervise the script (ultimately written by Menno Meyjes) and give notes on the actors\u2019 accents, some accused the director of softening the material and emphasizing sentimentality over realism. (Spielberg later admitted that he regretted downplaying the lesbian relationship between two characters.)
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The story of a young female named Celie (Goldberg) in early 20th century America, it was clearly more mature than the more commercial films he\u2019d done up until that point, with \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d dealing with heavy issues like incest, rape and poverty. And he mostly succeeded; while there were some protests against the film, it was nominated for 11 Oscars and Spielberg won a Directors Guild of America award for his efforts. While not as highly regarded as something like \u201cSchindler\u2019s List,\u201d without \u201cThe Color Purple,\u201d those later, more serious features wouldn\u2019t have been possible. A stepping stone movie, for sure, but one that\u2019s still incredibly moving.
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19. \u201cThe Post\u201d (2017)
\n\n\n\n20th Century\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Post\u201d rules. Quickly produced and released while Spielberg was working on the arduous post-production on \u201cReady Player One\u201d and right after \u201cThe Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara\u201d fell apart, you can feel that messy immediacy in every frame. Few recent Spielberg movies have felt this wonderfully alive. Ostensibly the story of the Washington Post\u2019s efforts to publish The Pentagon Paper, it\u2019s also (very clearly) about America in 2017, a time when journalism was under assault and the government was happy to oppress those searching for truth. Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep lead an all-star cast that also includes Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts and David Cross, filling out the bustling, newspaper world. In many ways \u201cThe Post\u201d feels like a companion piece to that other paranoid Washington Post journalism drama \u201cAll the President\u2019s Men.\u201d This one is less suspenseful but deeply committed to the same ideals. While rightfully nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, there really should be more discussion around \u201cThe Post.\u201d
Spielberg\u2019s first (and so far only) animated feature is an ambitious adaptation of Belgian cartoonist Herg\u00e9\u2019s \u201cThe Adventures of Tintin.\u201d But instead of a more traditional animated feature, Spielberg went the motion capture route, \u201cfilming\u201d the movie with actors and sets before having the animation actualized by the geniuses at Peter Jackson\u2019s W\u0113t\u0101 FX. And it really is a stunning-looking film, much more expressive and fun than anything Spielberg\u2019s old buddy Robert Zemeckis did during his time in the motion capture trenches.
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\u201cThe Adventures of Tintin\u201d has a wonderful look, just shy of photo-real and exaggerated enough to evoke Herg\u00e9\u2019s iconic original artwork. Not all of \u201cTintin\u201d works; the find-the-ancient-treasure script by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish is sometimes too calamitous (and clever) for its own good and the third act crane fight is deadening overkill. But when \u201cThe Adventures of Tintin\u201d is really cooking, it\u2019s enough to remind you (warmly) of Spielberg\u2019s blockbuster heyday. In particular there\u2019s a sequence in Morocco that culminates in a chase sequence that plays out over a single, unbroken take \u2013 it\u2019s the classic \u201cSpielberg oner\u201d unmoored by the limitations of physics or reality. It\u2019s absolutely exhilarating. When initially conceived, Jackson was meant to direct a sequel film with Spielberg returning for the third. While the filmmakers occasionally mention subsequent films, it feels unlikely at this point. Although, at the very least, the magic of animation means that you don\u2019t have to worry about any of the actors (among them: Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig and Andy Serkis) actually aging.
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17. \u201cLincoln\u201d (2012)
\n\n\n\nDisney\n\n\n\n
One of his personal passion projects, Spielberg had held the rights to the Doris Kearns Goodwin book since 2001 and several earlier attempts had been made at adapting the material by playwrights John Logan and, later, Paul Webb. Spielberg loosely slotted Liam Neeson into the title role. Eventually Tony Kushner took on the assignment, first turning in a 500-page script that focused on four months of the President\u2019s life, eventually whittling it down to focus on Lincoln\u2019s efforts to pass the Thirteenth Amendment. Kushner\u2019s script is scrappy, bringing history to life on an almost molecular level. But the movie\u2019s design is odd and while it is meant to show how deeply human Lincoln was, with his backchannel dealings and deft maneuvering, the structure oftentimes leaves an emotional distance between the audience and the subject. (Kaminski\u2019s truly unhinged cinematography is a gauzy nightmare, with rain-slicked battlefields twinkling at night and every window blown out like a visiting spaceship is just outside.)
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Daniel-Day Lewis is obviously incredible in the Oscar-winning role as Lincoln, even if his process of inhabiting the role was deeply bizarre (he would send Sally Field text messages as Lincoln). Still, even if you aren\u2019t wholly engrossed it\u2019s fun to see the character actors who pop up in minuscule roles wearing period-appropriate mustaches and weird hats (Tommy Lee Jones! James Spader! Adam Driver!) \u201cLincoln\u201d was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and was rapturously reviewed by critics. It\u2019s a shame that this was the lone Day-Lewis/Spielberg collaboration. Can you imagine what else they could have accomplished together?
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16. \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom\u201d (1984)
\n\n\n\nParamount/Lucasfilm\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s just get this out of the way first: \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom\u201d does not contain the most culturally sensitive depictions of native cultures. In fact, it\u2019s oftentimes openly offensive, courting the kind of tired tropes that were, surprisingly, still persistent in the 1980s. That said, the first follow-up to \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d (and the first to have the character\u2019s name in the title) is an absolute triumph, a darkly-hued jewel that would probably be more openly celebrated if it weren\u2019t for all that gross other stuff. This entry sees the archeologist adventurer (played, with more outward menace, by Harrison Ford) going up against a gang of child-kidnapping, heart-ripping cultists in rural India. Beginning with a musical number that rivals anything in \u201cWest Side Story,\u201d the movie is full of inventive set pieces (many borrowed from earlier drafts of \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d) and a ghoulish sensibility informed by the fact that both Spielberg and George Lucas were going through contentious divorces as the time (Spielberg would go on to marry the movie\u2019s star, Kate Capshaw).
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In fact, the mean-spirited \u201cTemple of Doom\u201d (actually a prequel!) was so violent and upsetting that it led to the MPAA creating a new rating (PG-13) a few months after its release. If you\u2019re on its particular, blood-streaked wavelength, the movie is a delight (Roger Ebert called it a \u201ccheerfully exciting, bizarre, goofy, romantic adventure movie\u201d).
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15. \u201c1941\u201d (1979)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
What a movie. \u201c1941\u201d is the closest thing Spielberg has made to a cult favorite \u2013 a loud, boisterous comedy that only Spielberg could have mounted and one that, while financially successful, found reappraisal thanks to, of all things, a longer cut of the movie airing on a nascent Disney Channel. (Yes, seriously.) Centered around the very real Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942 (an event that many at the time believed was actually an invasion by UFOs), which occurred just six days after Pearl Harbor, \u201c1942\u201d takes a truly singular approach. The cast is full of world-class actors, both comedic and otherwise (what other movie features Dan Aykroyd, Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee, Warren Oates and John Belushi?), doing the most acting they\u2019ve ever done, with a scatterbrained, Mad Magazine approach to the humor (it opens with a recreation of the opening of \u201cJaws,\u201d only this time with a German submarine instead of a shark) that borders on the operatic and giant aerial action sequences supervised, as always, by Industrial Light and Magic. It\u2019s a lot of movie.
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Watching it again today makes you appreciate (or not) just how tonally out of sync it was not just with movies of today but with movies period. The screenplay, written by \u201cBack to the Future\u201d masterminds Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis (with help from, of all people, John Milius), is zippy and fun. But it\u2019s not to everyone\u2019s tastes. The director\u2019s cut is the preferred version but tacks on another 30 minutes of nonstop insanity. It\u2019s for real heads only.
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14. \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d (2022)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
Spielberg\u2019s latest is the movie he\u2019d been waiting 40 years to make, a deeply personal, autobiographical journey that is, outwardly, about how his love of movies was cultivated and refined but is really about an even more perilous quest to understand who he is (as an artist, as a person) and where he came from. \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d is full of world-class filmmaking, obviously, and Spielberg was right to bring in Tony Kushner to be his co-screenwriter to give the story dramatic form and to shape its contours. The first half-hour or so is a little wobbly but the movie really hits its stride when the teenage version of Spielberg (played by the amazing Gabriel LaBelle) takes center stage. With this version of the character, the movie finds its center \u2013 watch as he discovers his mother\u2019s infidelity, falls in love in high school and becomes the \u201cmovie kid\u201d of his class and eventually has a fateful interaction with John Ford (played by David Lynch).
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What\u2019s fun, too, is in Spielberg\u2019s retelling of his own story he has littered it with references and touchstones to his other work (not that it only succeeds if you have an encyclopedic knowledge of his filmography, but it does help). Considering Spielberg has already shifted to a much more openly commercial project (a remake of sorts of the Steve McQueen thriller \u201cBullitt\u201d), he might have been wounded by the commercial indifference that met \u201cThe Fabelmans.\u201d Or maybe, after exorcizing those demons, he just wants to have a little fun.
The second of Spielberg\u2019s two team-ups with the world\u2019s biggest movie star Tom Cruise is the lesser film, but only slightly. \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d takes the original H.G. Wells story and recontextualizes it for a post-9/11 audience (something he would be working through in his other 2005 classic \u201cMunich\u201d); instead of coming from space, the Martians emerge from the ground, vaporizing civilians into the same greyish muck that we saw everywhere after the towers fell. Cruise, in a finely calibrated and oddly underrated performance, plays a bad dad in suburban New England who has to deal with the end of the world alongside the stress of having custody of his children (does it ever end?) Spielberg said that part of his inspiration to do \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d was that he\u2019d done enough cuddly alien stories; he was ready to make a scary alien story. And that he did.
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This movie is absolutely terrifying, with Spielberg finding horror as much in the alien visitors (particularly in a creepy scene where we see them out of their tripods and stalking around a destroyed house) as in the ways that humanity breaks down following their arrival. (Although this one could have benefitted from an R-rating.) Full of unforgettable set pieces (the tripods\u2019 attack on a ferry being one of the best), occasional throwbacks to Paramount\u2019s 1953 film by George Pal (he just couldn\u2019t help it!) and some of ILM\u2019s most chilling visual effects, \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d is another miraculous Spielberg blockbuster and proof that, as Carly Simon once sang, nobody does it better.
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12. \u201cMinority Report\u201d (2002)
\n\n\n\n20th Century Fox\n\n\n\n
In some ways \u201cMinority Report\u201d felt like Spielberg accepting a call-to-arms. Could he still make the kind of big, brainy extravaganzas that he used to make in his youth? And could he do it while servicing one of the biggest movie stars on the planet? The answer to all questions, with \u201cMinority Report,\u201d was an unequivocal yes. The opening sequence, where Cruise\u2019s cop character tries to reconstruct the events of a murder that hasn\u2019t happened yet in an attempt to stop the crime before its begun, is visually sophisticated and technologically savvy. It also feels brash and new, like something you\u2019d see in a David Fincher movie. The film\u2019s plot, based on a Phillip K. Dick story and with a screenplay credited to Jon Cohen and Scott Frank, is fairly complicated, concerning a future where murder is outlawed because some freaky mutants can see it happening first. Cruise has to kidnap one of the mutants to clear his name and find out who is framing him, so he goes on a Hitchcockian wrong man odyssey across a gleaming, futuristic cityscape. (Colin Farrell is the Department of Justice goon who is skeptical of the program an then tasked with bringing Cruise in.)
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More darkly comic and outright gruesome than some of Spielberg\u2019s other, more mainstream fare (see: that whole section with Peter Stormare), \u201cMinority Report\u201d is a rollicking, thought-provoking thriller that would have been even more prickly had Spielberg stuck with the original ending: a text card that read that the following year, there were a huge number of murders in Washington D.C. Was Cruise\u2019s quest worth it? An even more provocative reading has come up in recent years that most of the third act (after Cruise is captured and put in Tim Blake Nelson\u2019s creepy techno catacomb) is actually just Cruise dreaming after being imprisoned for the rest of his life. In a way, this kind of big-idea sci-fi filmmaking would set the stage for the emergence of someone like Christopher Nolan.
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11. \u201cDuel\u201d (1971)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuel\u201d began life as an \u201cABC Movie of the Week,\u201d building on the success Spielberg had directing episodes of \u201cColumbo\u201d and \u201cNight Gallery.\u201d But the movie was so good that an expanded version, running 16 minutes longer than the TV version, was released theatrically in international markets. That\u2019s why it\u2019s on this list! (Also the theatrical cut is basically the only one you can see anymore.) The premise of \u201cDuel\u201d is simple and ruthlessly efficient, based on a short story and subsequent screenplay by the legendary Richard Matheson. Basically Dennis Weaver is a salesman driving on a business trip when he is stalked by a menacing, smoke-belching big rig truck. The driver of the eighteen-wheeler is never seen, which causes tension both inside the car and outside (there\u2019s a great moment when Weaver is stopped for a meal and trying to figure out which of the men inside the diner is the driver of the truck). Relentless and terrifying, Spielberg\u2019s talent is apparent from the very beginning, with an elaborate POV sequence that showed his route from the driveway to the highway. And it just gets better from there. It was Spielberg\u2019s work on \u201cDuel\u201d that got him the gig to make \u201cJaws\u201d \u2013 he felt that the truck and the shark were both engines of unseen malevolence. And he was right.
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10. \u201cMunich\u201d (2005)
\n\n\n\nUniversal/DreamWorks\n\n\n\n
Arguably the most important movie of the last 20 years of Spielberg\u2019s career, mostly because it established the director\u2019s fruitful relationship with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tony Kushner. But \u201cMunich\u201d is also incredibly important because it showed that Spielberg was capable of really adult filmmaking \u2013 it\u2019s awash in bloody violence, explicit nudity and thorny thematic subject matter (which continues to its very final shot, which lingers over the twin towers of the World Trade Center). It\u2019s one of his rawest, most uncompromising movies. What makes \u201cMunich\u201d even more impressive is that it could have been much simpler, but Spielberg chose to make it an altogether messier, more provocative movie.
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Based on George Jonas\u2019 1984 book \u201cVengeance\u201d about Operation Wrath of God, an Israeli secret operation meant to strike back at the terrorists responsible for the 1974 Munich Olympics massacre by Palestinian organization Black September. (Some of the movie\u2019s most incredibly staged sequences are when Spielberg re-creates the hostage situation, sometimes intercutting the action with actual news footage of the event.) A more straightforward movie could have been made from the actual operation and Spielberg does have fun with the men-on-a-mission mechanics of the narrative (among them men: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciar\u00e1n Hinds and Mathieu Kassovitz), but Spielberg and Kushner are constantly throwing in complications \u2013 practical (as when a bomb doesn\u2019t properly detonate), spiritual and philosophical \u2013 to the point that what began as a righteous mission becomes muddier and muddier. This is exemplified by a divisive sex scene when Bana is making love to his wife but still haunted by the tragedy of the Olympics massacre and all the evil that followed. For one of the few times in his career, Spielberg wasn\u2019t trying to seduce the audience with wonder and spectacle; this time he was trying to shake that audience.
\u201cSaving Private Ryan\u201d has been lauded by some as the greatest World War II ever made, a claim that stretches credibility even compared to that other World War II movie of 1998, Terrence Malick\u2019s lyrical and haunting \u201cThe Thin Red Line.\u201d And, under close scrutiny, Spielberg\u2019s Oscar-winning drama doesn\u2019t totally hold up \u2013 the modern-day bookends are borrowed from \u201cSchindler\u2019s List\u201d and, honestly, aren\u2019t as effective; the movie is stuffed full of war movie cliches; and the 169-minute long runtime feels unnecessarily lengthy and oftentimes downright baggy, especially in its second act. But the raw power of the opening sequence, set on Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion, is so staggering that the rest of the movie could have been Tom Hanks playing cards and it still would have probably cracked Spielberg\u2019s top 10. That sequence is one of the most visceral ever committed to film and the fact that the film, even with that scene, still managed to only be rated-R is a testament to Spielberg\u2019s standing in the business and the seriousness with which he approached the subject matter.
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There are moments that almost reach the heights of that sequence, in particular the climax (which feels underrated but is understandably in the shadow of the opening) and there are some finely calibrated performances (particularly Hanks) that give shape and form to some of the movie\u2019s more overtly saccharine tendencies. It\u2019s the kind of big, open-hearted, old-fashioned epic that only Steven Spielberg could pull off. His earnestness is a feature, not a bug.
Originally conceived by Stanley Kubrick, who began working on an adaptation of Brian Aldiss\u2019 story \u201cSupertoys Last All Summer Long\u201d in the early 1970s, Spielberg took over the project after Kubrick died, tragically, in 1999. The resulting film is an odd mixture of the two filmmakers\u2019 sensibilities and an insane exercise in processing trauma and grief (Spielberg\u2019s own), in the form of a $100 million sci-fi spectacle. Occasionally the two worldviews, of Spielberg the sentimentalist and Kubrick the cynic, clash loudly but for the most part, they weave in and out of each other, creating a movie that is probably more interesting if only one of them had worked on it. Haley Joel Osment plays an android boy looking for his place in the world after his human family abandons him; he meets up with Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a sex-bot who is framed for murder and together with his gruff teddy bear, go on an unbelievable odyssey to the end of the world.
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Melancholy and mournful, it was unlike what anyone was expecting \u2013 this isn\u2019t the cuddly story of interspecies friendship like \u201cE.T.\u201d nor is it as harsh and unforgiving as something like \u201cA Clockwork Orange.\u201d \u201cA.I.\u201d is very much its own thing \u2013 odd, gorgeously rendered (thanks to a killer collaboration, once again, by Stan Winston and Industrial Light & Magic) and ahead of its time. The movie\u2019s ending, where sentient androids from the far-flung future visit Osment\u2019s character, was initially viewed as too cheery and optimistic. Spielberg claimed it was always a part of Kubrick\u2019s vision. The truth, like the rest of \u201cA.I.,\u201d probably rests somewhere in the middle.
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7. \u201cCatch Me If You Can\u201d (2002)
\n\n\n\nDreamWorks\n\n\n\n
\u201cCatch Me If You Can\u201d had been a high-profile project in development at Spielberg\u2019s DreamWorks. When a number of triple-A filmmakers came and went (including Cameron Crowe, Gore Verbinski and David Fincher), Spielberg took the \u201cwell, I\u2019ll do it myself\u201d approach and signed on to direct. And it\u2019s hard to think of anybody giving the movie the same mixture of dazzling capers and deep emotion, proving that he could still tap into those raw-nerve emotions of being a child of divorce all of these years later. Leonard DiCaprio plays a real-life rascal who conned his way through much of his adult life, impersonating airplane pilots and doctors, whose path of destruction was probably a lot less charming than DiCaprio and Spielberg portray.
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Tom Hanks is the dogged lawman on his trail, and while all of DiCaprio\u2019s various grifts are dramatized vibrantly, with Spielberg\u2019s swirling camera and John Williams\u2019 jazzy score, the real movie lies in the connection between DiCaprio and Hanks, two broken characters who somehow find wholeness in each other. There\u2019s a deep sadness at the core of the otherwise lively and fun \u201cCatch Me If You Can\u201d which makes it infinitely more profound than it would have been. While the movie was a box office success, it only secured two Oscar nominations \u2013 for Williams and Christopher Walken for Best Supporting Actor. It should have been nominated for much more (including Best Picture) and continues to resonate today. A delight.
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6. \u201cE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial\u201d (1982)
\n\n\n\nUniversal Pictures\n\n\n\n
One of the most popular films of all time, it\u2019s also one of the most artistically accomplished. \u201cE.T.\u201d is a tender coming-of-age story about a young boy (Henry Thomas) who befriends a small space alien who has been abandoned near his quaint suburban home. The young boy, like Spielberg, is a child of divorce and you can feel the authenticity of the boy\u2019s story, even as the more overtly science-fiction shenanigans (flying bicycles, overbearing government authorities and the like) star to takeover. It\u2019s that level of emotional realism and the connection between the boy and the alien (engineered by Carlo Rambaldi, re-teaming with Spielberg after \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u201d), more than any visual effect, that made \u201cE.T.\u201d soar. (Although, it\u2019s true, John Williams\u2019 peerless score does embellish and amplify what is already there.) It\u2019s telling that the movie is so perfect, in fact, that after Spielberg released an anniversary edition with some new scenes and enhanced visual effects (including a computer-animated E.T. hopping through the forest, supplied by the original effects company Industrial Light & Magic) that Spielberg openly denounced the new version and reinstated the classic \u201cE.T.\u201d You can\u2019t mess with a classic.
Who knew Spielberg had it in him? The same year that he unleashed the popcorn juggernaut \u201cJurassic Park,\u201d he also opened \u201cSchindler\u2019s List,\u201d a haunting tale of the Holocaust based on Thomas Keneally\u2019s historical novel \u201cSchindler\u2019s Ark.\u201d Captured in stark black-and-white by Janusz Kaminski (this is their first \u2013 and so far best \u2013 collaboration), the movie almost looks like a documentary. And it feels that way too. Liam Neeson plays Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist and member of the Nazi party who found a way to save 1,200 Jews from extermination during World War II. The movie\u2019s images are haunting but the sentiment is too \u2013 both of extreme sorrow and sadness but also desperation. Couldn\u2019t he have done more?
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Spielberg\u2019s account of the period is unflinching and harrowing but he still manages to deploy flourishes that only he could have achieved \u2013 the little girl\u2019s red coat that allows you to identify her later in the pile of bodies; the flickering of candles as metaphor for hope (both achieved by Industrial Light & Magic, the same company that brought the dinosaurs of \u201cJurassic Park\u201d to life). \u201cSchindler\u2019s List\u201d was the movie that finally won Spielberg his Best Director Academy Award, along with another statue for Best Picture and several more (including one for Steve Zaillian\u2019s note-perfect script). It\u2019s a tough movie to frequently revisit but when you do it\u2019s hard not to get swept up again.
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4. \u201cJurassic Park\u201d (1993)
\n\n\n\nUniversal Pictures\n\n\n\n
Sure, it was a technological breakthrough and proof that computer-generated imagery would revolutionize the way we watch and make movies, but at its heart \u201cJurassic Park\u201d is first and foremost a triumph of imaginative entertainment. Based on the bestselling novel by Michael Crichton (who wrote an early draft of the screenplay), \u201cJurassic Park\u201d concerns a group of scientists and engineers (and two little kids) who are tasked with beta-testing a theme park full of genetically engineered dinosaurs. Of course, the dinosaurs get loose and all hell breaks loose. When the movie was being optioned, every studio had their own director ready to go (Tim Burton and James Cameron were among those vying for it), but it\u2019s hard to imagine anybody but Spielberg tackling the material. Not only does the film feature Spielberg\u2019s patented mixture of terror and awe, sometimes in the same sequence (like the breathlessly staged T. rex attack), but at its heart are a pair of kids whose parents\u2019 impending divorce leaves them with something more to prove.
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While the endless sequels and spinoffs have watered down the franchise, the primal power of the original \u201cJurassic Park\u201d remains. Watching that movie in the theater was an exhilarating experience and you could feel the earth shifting as you watched it; there had never been anything like it before and the advances made within would disrupt everything. Even now, people are still trying to repeat the aw-shucks thrill of \u201cJurassic Park.\u201d And they still haven\u2019t come anywhere near it.
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3. \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d (1981)
\n\n\n\nParamount Pictures/Lucasfilm\n\n\n\n
The story goes that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were sitting on a beach right after \u201cStar Wars\u201d had opened. Lucas didn\u2019t want to know about the box office. He just wanted to get away with his friend. While on the sand Spielberg expressed sadness that he wasn\u2019t going to get to make a James Bond movie. Lucas told him that he had an idea that was even better than 007. The result was \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark.\u201d Styled after old-fashioned serials of the late 1930s and early 1940s in which the hero would get into a series of hair-raising cliffhangers, \u201cRaiders\u201d finds Lucas\u2019 old pal Harrison Ford stepping into the role of Indiana Jones, a professor by day and treasure hunter by night, who is tasked by the American government to retrieve an artifact before it falls into the hands of the Nazis. It\u2019s such an ingenious premise it\u2019s hard to believe nobody thought of it before, and it was brought to life beautifully by Lawrence Kasdan\u2019s screenplay (based on an original proposal by Phillip Kaufman), which saw Jones traveling from the heart of the jungle to the arid desert of the Middle East on a hunt for the Ark of the Covenant.
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Perhaps the single greatest action-adventure film of all time, full of set pieces and sequences that boggle the mind and leave your jaw on the floor, it was Spielberg that understood that Jones couldn\u2019t just be a lantern-jawed superhero. His Indiana Jones has a messy \u2013 in a way that would never fly today \u2013 relationship with his girl Marion (an adorable Karen Allen) and he screws up as much as he succeeds. It\u2019s this fallibility that makes it even easier to root for him as he tumbles, bumbles and whips his way to saving the world from an occult evil. What a ride.
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2. \u201cJaws\u201d (1975)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
Can you believe that \u201cJaws\u201d was only Spielberg\u2019s second theatrical feature as a director? This might have been unwise, at least from a practical standpoint, as the production of \u201cJaws\u201d was notoriously behind-schedule and ran into costly overruns due (largely to the decision to shoot on the open ocean) and technological set-backs (obscuring the shark for most of the movie was for necessity as much as it was for artistry). It was supposed to take 55 days to shoot and wound up taking 159 with a script was never finished and always in flux (Carl Gottlieb, who wrote the essential chronicle of the making of the film \u201cThe Jaws Log,\u201d was responsible for most of the final draft). And all of that hardship and adversity resulted in one of the best, most entertaining movies ever. Helpfully establishing the idea of a \u201csummer movie,\u201d Spielberg\u2019s creature feature is smart, scary and full of heart. He cast the movie perfectly, with Roy Scheider as the big city cop who\u2019s afraid of water Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as the nerdy shark specialist Hooper and Robert Shaw as the hardened fisherman Quint. Each performer had their own style of acting and each performance very much has its own tempo, but together they created a symphony.
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Spielberg wisely reshaped Peter Benchley\u2019s original novel, jettisoning silly subplots about Hooper having an affair with Brody\u2019s wife (Lorraine Gary) and mobsters, and adding unforgettable flourishes like Quint\u2019s history with sharks (largely written, depending on who you believe, by John Milius) and the moment where Brody is making eye contact with his young son. These are the moments that stick with you and the kind of scenes that only Spielberg would have added. Already a master of tone, Spielberg shifts from the more straightforward horror of the first half of the movie to a high-seas adventure in the second half, never missing a beat and never making something that feels disconnected. (John Williams\u2019 score helps bridge that gap too, with the theme for the shark endlessly replicated and parodied in the years since.) \u201cJaws\u201d is an incredible technical feat but it\u2019s also a triumph of raw emotion. How else could he scare an entire generation from ever going into the ocean?
1. \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u201d (1977)
\n\n\n\nColumbia Pictures\n\n\n\n
It feels like we take \u201cClose Encounter of the Third Kind\u2019s\u201d genius for granted. Or maybe it\u2019s that it\u2019s been overshadowed by more openly crowd-pleasing wonders like \u201cE.T.\u201d or \u201cJurassic Park.\u201d But that doesn\u2019t take anything away from the film, which still feels like Spielberg\u2019s most visually gorgeous, most psychologically complex and most structurally adventurous blockbuster. The movie\u2019s storyline runs on parallel tracks \u2013 one follows blue collar everyman Roy (Richard Dreyfuss), who becomes obsessed with the aerial phenomenon he sees in the sky, at the cost of his career and family; the other traces the efforts of a nebbish UFO researcher (played by Francois Truffaut) to investigate the same otherworldly visitations. Their storylines finally collide at Devil\u2019s Tower, a geographic formation where the alien visitors are set to make contact with humankind. If that sounds like a lot, it is, particularly in the early sequences which oscillate between humdrum suburban strife and Truffaut\u2019s globetrotting investigation. But once the two paths start to converge, the movie really starts to hum; Dreyfuss\u2019 character falls in with a young single mother whose child has been abducted and the government mounts a coverup to conceal the upcoming interface. (There\u2019s a wonderful moment when Dreyfuss and Melinda Dillon are driving towards the site that the government is cleared. He assures her that it\u2019s all a ruse. Then they pause for a beat and put on gas masks.)
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In the years since \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u2019s\u201d release, Spielberg has both engaged with it (creating two additional cuts of the film, one of which was released theatrically in 1980) and distanced himself from it (proclaiming that, if he\u2019d made the film today, he wouldn\u2019t have let Roy board the mothership). He should never shy away from those elements of the movie; they give it its flinty grace. And the visual effects from the film, realized by Douglas Trumbull, are among the most powerful of his entire career, with the notes that greet the alien mothership are some of the most iconic in science fiction. It\u2019s a shorthand for great, wide-eyed sci-fi. And for a connection to something beyond ourselves.
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+ "page_last_modified": ""
+ },
+ {
+ "page_name": "Every Steven Spielberg Movie Ranked From Worst to Best",
+ "page_url": "https://www.thewrap.com/best-steven-spielberg-movies-ranked/",
+ "page_snippet": "He\u2019s the most well-known director of all time and, as 2022\u2019s \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d proved, continues to deliver top-tier entertainment that also doubles as a towering work of art. He has also made many, many movies. Over his 50+ year career, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 features, with more ...Steven Spielberg directing a segment for a \u201cTwilight Zone\u201d movie (one that he also produced) feels like the perfect pairing of filmmaker and property. After all, Spielberg\u2019s early movie \u201cDuel\u201d was based on a story by Richard Matheson, who wrote more than a dozen episodes of the original series and several more installments of subsequent revivals. It\u2019s hard to feel bad for Disney but you\u2019ve got to at least appreciate the fact that they entered into a lengthy, expensive agreement to distribute DreamWorks movies for the chance to finally (finally!) release a Disney-branded film directed by Steven Spielberg. And this is the movie he ultimately chose to do. These ideas and concepts are usually conveyed through technically unparalleled camera movements that are still somehow unshowy (we get into the \u201cSpielberg oner\u201d later). He\u2019s the most well-known director of all time and, as 2022\u2019s \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d proved, continues to deliver top-tier entertainment that also doubles as a towering work of art. He has also made many, many movies. Over his 50+ year career, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 features, with more on the way (how has he never made a western?) Over his 50+ year career, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 features, with more on the way (how has he never made a western?) And each new Spielberg movie is an event. We humbly present this comprehensive look back at his filmography \u2013 from least great to molecule-rearrangingly amazing: Read Next \u2018Fabelmans\u2019 Writer Tony Kushner on Dramatizing Steven Spielberg\u2019s Life and What They\u2019re Working on Next: \u2018I\u2019m Excited About It\u2019",
+ "page_result": "\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\nEvery Steven Spielberg Movie Ranked From Worst to Best\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n
There hasn\u2019t been a single filmmaker \u2013 perhaps in the history of the medium \u2013 to capture the popular zeitgeist the way that Steven Spielberg has. Saying something is \u201cSpielbergian\u201d conjures a very specific set of criteria \u2013 it probably involves children (or is at least viewed through the honeyed lens of the adolescent experience), an uncanny scenario (archeologist hunts for occult artifacts, dinosaurs return to life) and a potent mixture of both fear and awe, sometimes in the same sequence or same moment. These ideas and concepts are usually conveyed through technically unparalleled camera movements that are still somehow unshowy (we get into the \u201cSpielberg oner\u201d later). He\u2019s the most well-known director of all time and, as 2022\u2019s \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d proved, continues to deliver top-tier entertainment that also doubles as a towering work of art.
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He has also made many, many movies. Over his 50+ year career, Steven Spielberg has directed 34 features, with more on the way (how has he never made a western?) And each new Spielberg movie is an event.
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We humbly present this comprehensive look back at his filmography \u2013 from least great to molecule-rearrangingly amazing:
35. The \u201cKick the Can\u201d Segment from \u201cTwilight Zone: The Movie\u201d (1983)
\n\n\n\nWarner Bros.\n\n\n\n
Steven Spielberg directing a segment for a \u201cTwilight Zone\u201d movie (one that he also produced) feels like the perfect pairing of filmmaker and property. After all, Spielberg\u2019s early movie \u201cDuel\u201d was based on a story by Richard Matheson, who wrote more than a dozen episodes of the original series and several more installments of subsequent revivals. But after an on-set tragedy led to the death of three people, Spielberg veered away from the original episode he intended to adapt and instead went with a new iteration of \u201cKick the Can,\u201d a forgettable episode from 1962 about old people who are granted temporary youth. All of the things that critics claim Spielberg is \u2013 sugary-sweet, relying on magic instead of emotional truth \u2013 are contained within this segment. Even Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s honeyed score can\u2019t do much to improve this nonsense, which stars Scatman Crothers as the worst kind of \u201cMagical Negro\u201d clich\u00e9 and feels infinitely longer than the other, nastier segments (the best of which is George Miller\u2019s version of the immortal \u201cNightmare at 20,000 Feet\u201d). Spielberg\u2019s bit should have been the movie\u2019s highlight, instead it\u2019s the low point.
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34. \u201cThe BFG\u201d (2016)
\n\n\n\nDisney\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s hard to feel bad for Disney but you\u2019ve got to at least appreciate the fact that they entered into a lengthy, expensive agreement to distribute DreamWorks movies for the chance to finally (finally!) release a Disney-branded film directed by Steven Spielberg. And this is the movie he ultimately chose to do. Loud and unfunny, this bustling adaptation of the Roald Dahl story (the last script by his \u201cE.T.\u201d screenwriter Melissa Mathison) is utterly pointless and instantly forgettable. Spielberg had flirted with the project since the early 1990s and initially earmarked Robin Williams as a potential lead; ultimately he went with his \u201cBridge of Spies\u201d breakout Mark Rylance, transformed into a towering, dream-catching giant by the geniuses at W\u0113t\u0101 FX. Everything feels like an odd mishmash of conflicting tones and styles, from the harshness of Janusz Kaminski\u2019s typically overwrought cinematography in what was meant to be, at least in part, a warm-and-fuzzy bedtime story, to the odd script details like the Queen\u2019s farting, flying corgis. Spielberg has never missed the mark as broadly as he did with \u201cThe BFG.\u201d
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33. \u201cIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull\u201d (2008)
\n\n\n\nParamount/Lucasfilm\n\n\n\n
They should have left well enough alone. \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d ended perfectly \u2013 with our heroes literally riding off into the sunset. But George Lucas began tinkering with an idea that would move Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) into the 1950s with a plot ripped out of a drive-in sci-fi movie. Lucas pitched Ford on the idea during the shooting of Ford\u2019s episode of \u201cThe Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.\u201d The idea initially involved Roswell but later became a crystal skull in South America. And the final film does feel like a movie where ideas are competing with one another (and against each other) \u2013 Lucas\u2019 desire to have a 1950s sci-fi homage nestled amongst the classic adventure of the series feels incongruous, as does the series swapping out Nazis (a staple of an earlier, superior screenplay by Frank Darabont) for Russians, led by a psychic Cate Blanchett whose supernatural powers don\u2019t actually enhance her character or move the plot forward in any meaningful way.
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From Shia LeBeouf channeling Brando to a scene with characters swinging on ropes like (and with) monkeys to Kaminski\u2019s frigid look replacing the warm tones of Douglas Slocombe\u2019s soft glow from the earlier films, none of it works and it only serves to remind you of earlier, better movies. It\u2019s telling that Spielberg won\u2019t be returning for the fifth and final film, even though Lucas had nothing to do with the new entry. He\u2019d had enough. By the end of \u201cIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,\u201d the feeling was mutual.
Weirdly, \u201cHook\u201d feels like one of the most important films in Spielberg\u2019s career while still being one of the lousiest. Since the early 1980s, Spielberg had been attempting to do a live-action \u201cPeter Pan\u201d story; first at Disney and then with Paramount (where Dustin Hoffman was first attached as Captain Hook). When Spielberg dropped out, another director stepped in as the script went from a straight retelling to something more conceptual (What if Peter Pan grew up?) but when the new director clashed with Hoffman and Robin Williams, Spielberg returned. Maybe he should have stayed away. Bloated and unfocused, it is Spielberg attempting to embrace the spirit of his youth while also being a husband and father in his mid-40s. Like Robin Williams, he\u2019s desperately trying to return to Neverland but finding that he just doesn\u2019t have it anymore.
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A famously contentious set, the budget ballooned and remained, creatively, in a state of flux until it opened in theaters to a lackluster critical and commercial response. (Keep in mind it was supposed to be a musical and John Williams wrote eight original songs with lyricist Leslie Bricusse.) There are some \u201cHook\u201d apologists in our midst these days; drown them out. Besides an absolutely killer teaser trailer, it\u2019s a dud.
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31. \u201cThe Sugarland Express\u201d (1974)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
Spielberg\u2019s first theatrical feature is a law-breakin\u2019-lovers-on-the-run yarn that had the misfortune of coming out the year after Terrence Malick\u2019s masterpiece \u201cBadlands.\u201d It\u2019s not that \u201cThe Sugarland Express\u201d is bad, necessarily, it just lacks some of the magic that was evident in Spielberg\u2019s TV movie \u201cDuel\u201d and would become a staple in his later work. Goldie Hawn plays a lovelorn yokel whose child was revoked by the state; William Atherton is her deadbeat husband who she breaks out of jail even though he\u2019s about to be released. Together they take a young patrolman (Michael Sacks) hostage. While the story is based on a true crime, it\u2019s easy to read into the patrolman as being the Spielberg surrogate, as he is constantly trying to moderate the bickering of the young couple (clearly based on Spielberg\u2019s parents) \u2013 like Spielberg, Sacks was only 26 years old.
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Still, the script (co-written by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins, who would remain in Spielberg\u2019s orbit) meanders a little too much, which gives Spielberg and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (coming off of \u201cDeliverance\u201d and \u201cThe Long Goodbye\u201d) plenty of time to crash cars instead of focus on the characters. This film was enough to convince producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown that Spielberg could handle some book adaptation called \u201cJaws.\u201d
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30. \u201cThe Lost World: Jurassic Park\u201d (1997)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Lost World: Jurassic Park,\u201d based on the second best-selling, dinosaur-filled novel by Michael Crichton, is an entirely different vibe. With the actual park gone, the action takes place on Site B, a second island where (we quickly learn) they made the dinosaurs before bringing them to the park (Funny, what was that whole scene with Dr. Wu in the first movie?). Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) returns to make sure his girlfriend (Julianne Moore) isn\u2019t eaten; Vince Vaughn plays an eco-terrorist dispatched to stop some corporate goons who want the remaining dinosaurs for profit. Spielberg still knows how to stage a terrific set piece, like the attack of a little girl in the cold open or the grand finale that sees a T. Rex stomping through the streets of San Diego. But he doesn\u2019t seem particularly engaged and for much of the movie, watching dinosaurs run through the forest doesn\u2019t inspire the mixture of awe and terror that made the original so special.
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\u201cLost World\u201d is arguably Spielberg\u2019s ugliest, most mean-spirited movie since \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,\u201d but without that movie\u2019s snappy cleverness, with Kaminski\u2019s murky cinematography a stark contrast to Dean Cundey\u2019s more lush photography for the original film. Intermittent silliness (let\u2019s not get into the gymnast-versus-raptor fight) only adds to the feeling of distance between the audience and the auteur. This one has its defenders but it\u2019s hard to join the cause.
Based, in part, on the true story of a man from Brussels who lived in a Paris airport (he sadly recently passed away), \u201cThe Terminal\u201d stars Tom Hanks as a visitor to America from a fictional country that, while he is passing through immigration, ceases to exist. This leaves him stuck in the airport, eating packets of ketchup, running afoul of a tightly wound administration (Stanley Tucci) and falling in love with Catherine Zeta-Jones\u2019 flirty flight attendant. It really doesn\u2019t add up to much, despite having a wonderful supporting cast that includes Diego Luna, Chi McBride and a baby-faced Zoe Salda\u00f1a. This is partially because at 118 minutes it overstays its welcome and partially because what should have been an intimate little comedy necessitated the construction of an entire airport terminal. Also, the resolution of why Hanks is in America totally fizzles. If you\u2019ve never seen \u201cThe Terminal,\u201d it\u2019s worth it for Spielberg completists, but is otherwise unremarkable (although it was sort of fun to watch Hanks dip back into goofball \u201cMoney Pit\u201d territory after years of being Hollywood\u2019s earnest leading man). This movie made $220 million worldwide.
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28. \u201cWar Horse\u201d (2011)
\n\n\n\nDisney/DreamWorks\n\n\n\n
\u201cWar Horse,\u201d on paper, seems like a slam dunk. An adaptation of both British author Michael Morpurgo\u2019s 1982 novel and a 2007 stage adaptation that played both the West End and Broadway, it stars Jeremy Irvine as a British kid whose beloved horse is drafted into World War I and goes through a series of harrowing adventures before the two are reunited. Nobody does quasi-magical friendships between human and inhuman characters better than Spielberg, but much of \u201cWar Horse\u201d is a slog; the wartime setting seems to necessitate a harsher rating but the filmmaker keeps aiming at something more family-friendly (this is exemplified by a brutal killing being obscured by a turning windmill). There are some virtuoso set pieces for sure and it\u2019s a kick to watch all the great British character actors pop up for brief performances (Tom Hiddelston, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Thewlis and Emily Watson all appear), but the screenplay by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall makes it hard to get emotionally involved.
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27. \u201cWest Side Story\u201d (2021)
\n\n\n\n20th Century\n\n\n\n
\u201cWest Side Story,\u201d quietly released at the end of 2021, racked up seven Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) and secured a single win (for Ariana DeBose\u2019s amazing supporting performance), and yet was seen as something of a disappointment. And at the end of the day it\u2019s easy to get swept up in this new version of the story, written by Tony Kushner but maintaining the original song and score of the stage show, particularly with the elaborately staged musical numbers. The strides the new script makes, in terms of representation (Maria is actually played by Rachel Zegler, a young woman of color, and there is a trans character) and embroidery (Rita Moreno\u2019s character is great) is admirable. But some of the casting is unfortunate (Ansel Elgort was a lousy choice even before the sexual assault allegations) and the movie, for all of its razzle-dazzle, cannot escape a damnable sense of D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu. At the very least Spielberg was able to stage a full-throated musical, something you can sense he\u2019s wanted to do for a very, very long time (look no further than the opening sequence of \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom\u201d). Whether or not his \u201cWest Side Story\u201d is worth a standing ovation depends on the viewer.
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26. \u201cAmistad\u201d (1997)
\n\n\n\nDreamWorks\n\n\n\n
Just like in 1993, when Spielberg released both \u201cJurassic Park\u201d and \u201cSchindler\u2019s List,\u201d in 1997 Spielberg paired \u201cThe Lost World\u201d with a far more serious project \u2013 \u201cAmistad,\u201d the story of a slave uprising and the legal fallout that followed. The slave uprising sequence is a typical Spielberg tour-de-force moment \u2013 it happens in the rain, with crescendos of lighting coinciding with bursts of spectacular violence. Unfortunately, most of the movie concerns the legal battle that followed the uprising, which is both hard to follow and unfortunately puts the movie into the category of a \u201cwhite savior\u201d story, with Matthew McConaughey becoming the de-facto hero, a plucky lawyer who works for the accused slaves. As a courtroom drama, it lacks oomph. But a strong cast (Anthony Hopkins was nominated for an Oscar for his turn as John Quincy Adams) and handsome technical merits (Ruth Carter\u2019s costumes are all knockouts, obviously) make it worth watching if you\u2019ve never seen or are attempting to complete your Spielbergian puzzle.
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25. \u201cReady Player One\u201d (2018)
\n\n\n\nWarner Bros.\n\n\n\n
\u201cReady Player One\u201d was always a bizarre choice for Spielberg since the source material, borderline fan fiction written by Austin nerd Ernie Cline, was so obviously indebted to Spielberg\u2019s filmography and, as an artist, Spielberg is hardly ever self-referential. (He seems to have learned from the divisive opening of \u201c1941.\u201d) And, sure enough, when he signed onto the project \u2013 a multiyear affair that would see Industrial Light & Magic essentially create an animated feature within a live-action one \u2013 he vowed to stay away from his own catalog. Of course, winks and nods were still present (the DeLorean from the Spielberg-produced \u201cBack to the Future\u201d is a key vehicle and \u201cGremlins\u201d can be seen scampering across the battlefield), but Spielberg largely pushed himself to ingest other pop culture ephemera. When that works, like during a prolonged chase sequence set in Stanley Kubrick\u2019s Overlook Hotel or an opening car chase that might have been the loudest thing I\u2019ve ever heard in a theater, it\u2019s absolutely thrilling, transporting audiences to a different time and place and proving that Spielberg\u2019s blockbuster bona-fides and storytelling instincts are as keen as ever. When \u201cReady Player One\u201d stumbles, as it does occasionally during the \u201creal world\u201d segments, it\u2019s a depressing reminder that Spielberg might want to stick to the prestige pictures of late.
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24. \u201cEmpire of the Sun\u201d (1987)
\n\n\n\nWarner Bros.\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ll be surprised to realize that, even as a little kid, Christian Bale was a very good actor. In \u201cEmpire of the Sun,\u201d Bale plays a young boy who is separated from his parents in British-occupied Shanghai during World War II and forced to survive in a Japanese internment camp. Perhaps the most famous sequence is the one above, when young Jamie and his parents are actually separated by the invading Japanese forces. It\u2019s a sequence that only Spielberg could have filmed, with hundreds of extras and absolute visual and emotional clarity \u2013 you know exactly what is going on, how he is getting dislocated and the overwhelming amount of energy that it will take to reunite them. And that\u2019s one scene. Quietly powerful (even when dramatizing the atomic bomb detonating at Nagasaki) and easily one of Spielberg\u2019s most underrated efforts, it sometimes self-consciously feels like the director is trying to separate himself from his more jolly works of the same period (Allen Daviau shot the movie in a taller aspect ratio, discarding the more romantic, slightly warped anamorphic lenses he often favors). But the script is so strong (Tom Stoppard adapted J.G. Ballard\u2019s autobiographical novel) and the emotions so startlingly real, it\u2019s hard to be anything but engrossed.
Spielberg enters the Cold War with \u201cBridge of Spies,\u201d the true story of a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States that happened in the late 1950s, when the tension between the two countries was at its most combustible. Tom Hanks, a lovable Spielberg favorite (as always), plays the attorney who represented Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), a convicted Russian spy who is now being forced into helping organize the swap. Spielberg\u2019s virtuosity is on full display (the opening of the movie is a lengthy, wordless chase sequence through an immaculately recreated New York City) and it\u2019s fun to watch him engage in some of the same real-world spy theatrics that made \u201cMunich\u201d so powerful.
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The screenplay, written initially by Matt Chapman and punched up by the Coen Brothers, gives the characters commendable depth while maintaining the underlying thriller-y nature of the story, and \u201cBridge of Spies\u201d is perhaps most notable for being the first team-up between Rylance and Spielberg (they would re-team for \u201cThe BFG\u201d and \u201cReady Player One\u201d) and for being the first movie since 1985\u2019s \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d to be scored by someone other than John Williams (Thomas Newman does great, typically understated work). Not the flashiest Spielberg joint, although it was still nominated for Best Picture (and Rylance won) and is a work of undeniable power.
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22. \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d (1989)
\n\n\n\nParamount Pictures/Lucasfilm\n\n\n\n
What\u2019s so funny about \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d is that the path to the movie took a typically circuitous route \u2014 wholly unrelated drafts were completed by Chris Columbus and Menno Meyjes, but the story that they wound up with (credited to Jeffrey Boam but owing a huge debt to an uncredited rewrite by Tom Stoppard) amounts to little more than \u201cShut up and play the hits.\u201d And you know what? That\u2019s okay. It was Spielberg\u2019s idea to focus the story on a father/son tale with Indiana Jones (a returning Harrison Ford) dealing with the disappearance of his father (Sean Connery, in a casting stroke of genius) while searching for the same mysterious artifact.
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Most of the plot stuff is incidental and carried over from \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d (scheming Nazis, double-crosses, chases through the desert) with the emotional center of a strained relationship between father and son taking center stage, particularly in the movie\u2019s third act, which has some spectacular elements but features a much quieter, more contained climax than audiences were probably expecting. (Also, the prologue sequence with River Phoenix as young Indy is an all-timer.) Even a rerun is capable of being entertaining and \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d is certainly that, with the smart script, crackerjack cinematography by Douglas Slocombe (it was his last film) and committed performances papering over any plot irregularities or feelings of been-there/done-that.
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21. \u201cAlways\u201d (1989)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlways\u201d is an interesting movie and certainly one the least heralded of Spielberg\u2019s career. Ostensibly a remake of 1943\u2019s \u201cA Guy Named Joe,\u201d Spielberg moved the action away from World War II and instead chose to focus on Colorado firefighters. Richard Dreyfuss plays a hotshot pilot who dies in duty and is forced to both train a younger pilot and watch that pilot fall in love with his wife (played by Holly Hunter). The aerial sequences are thrilling (they were worked on by Industrial Light and Magic) but the most gripping sequences are the ones in which Dreyfuss\u2019 character is visited by an otherworldly being called \u201cHap\u201d (played by Audrey Hepburn). Gently surreal and deeply touching, it\u2019s these interludes that give \u201cAlways\u201d its power.
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Released at the very end of the 1980s, the decade that saw Spielberg go from a filmmaker to a mogul, there is something transitionary about the movie \u2013 it\u2019s got a lot on its mind but is still full of the aw-shucks wonder that made him a household name. (In many respects, \u201cAlways\u201d feels like an overlong episode of his \u201cAmazing Stories\u201d TV series.) After shooting the third \u201cIndiana Jones\u201d and \u201cAlways\u201d back-to-back, he would take time off and return with \u201cHook,\u201d a movie about him grappling with his place in the world. \u201cAlways\u201d is a much better and more aggressively overlooked film. And one more ripe for rediscovery and reappraisal.
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20. \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d (1985)
\n\n\n\nWarner Bros.\n\n\n\n
Based on Alice Walker\u2019s Pulitzer-winning 1982 novel and advertised as \u201can American story for the whole world,\u201d \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d was Spielberg\u2019s first attempt at a \u201cserious\u201d movie. And while he strove for authenticity, casting several unknown actors (including Whoopi Goldberg) and employing Walker to supervise the script (ultimately written by Menno Meyjes) and give notes on the actors\u2019 accents, some accused the director of softening the material and emphasizing sentimentality over realism. (Spielberg later admitted that he regretted downplaying the lesbian relationship between two characters.)
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The story of a young female named Celie (Goldberg) in early 20th century America, it was clearly more mature than the more commercial films he\u2019d done up until that point, with \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d dealing with heavy issues like incest, rape and poverty. And he mostly succeeded; while there were some protests against the film, it was nominated for 11 Oscars and Spielberg won a Directors Guild of America award for his efforts. While not as highly regarded as something like \u201cSchindler\u2019s List,\u201d without \u201cThe Color Purple,\u201d those later, more serious features wouldn\u2019t have been possible. A stepping stone movie, for sure, but one that\u2019s still incredibly moving.
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19. \u201cThe Post\u201d (2017)
\n\n\n\n20th Century\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Post\u201d rules. Quickly produced and released while Spielberg was working on the arduous post-production on \u201cReady Player One\u201d and right after \u201cThe Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara\u201d fell apart, you can feel that messy immediacy in every frame. Few recent Spielberg movies have felt this wonderfully alive. Ostensibly the story of the Washington Post\u2019s efforts to publish The Pentagon Paper, it\u2019s also (very clearly) about America in 2017, a time when journalism was under assault and the government was happy to oppress those searching for truth. Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep lead an all-star cast that also includes Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts and David Cross, filling out the bustling, newspaper world. In many ways \u201cThe Post\u201d feels like a companion piece to that other paranoid Washington Post journalism drama \u201cAll the President\u2019s Men.\u201d This one is less suspenseful but deeply committed to the same ideals. While rightfully nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, there really should be more discussion around \u201cThe Post.\u201d
Spielberg\u2019s first (and so far only) animated feature is an ambitious adaptation of Belgian cartoonist Herg\u00e9\u2019s \u201cThe Adventures of Tintin.\u201d But instead of a more traditional animated feature, Spielberg went the motion capture route, \u201cfilming\u201d the movie with actors and sets before having the animation actualized by the geniuses at Peter Jackson\u2019s W\u0113t\u0101 FX. And it really is a stunning-looking film, much more expressive and fun than anything Spielberg\u2019s old buddy Robert Zemeckis did during his time in the motion capture trenches.
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\u201cThe Adventures of Tintin\u201d has a wonderful look, just shy of photo-real and exaggerated enough to evoke Herg\u00e9\u2019s iconic original artwork. Not all of \u201cTintin\u201d works; the find-the-ancient-treasure script by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish is sometimes too calamitous (and clever) for its own good and the third act crane fight is deadening overkill. But when \u201cThe Adventures of Tintin\u201d is really cooking, it\u2019s enough to remind you (warmly) of Spielberg\u2019s blockbuster heyday. In particular there\u2019s a sequence in Morocco that culminates in a chase sequence that plays out over a single, unbroken take \u2013 it\u2019s the classic \u201cSpielberg oner\u201d unmoored by the limitations of physics or reality. It\u2019s absolutely exhilarating. When initially conceived, Jackson was meant to direct a sequel film with Spielberg returning for the third. While the filmmakers occasionally mention subsequent films, it feels unlikely at this point. Although, at the very least, the magic of animation means that you don\u2019t have to worry about any of the actors (among them: Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig and Andy Serkis) actually aging.
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17. \u201cLincoln\u201d (2012)
\n\n\n\nDisney\n\n\n\n
One of his personal passion projects, Spielberg had held the rights to the Doris Kearns Goodwin book since 2001 and several earlier attempts had been made at adapting the material by playwrights John Logan and, later, Paul Webb. Spielberg loosely slotted Liam Neeson into the title role. Eventually Tony Kushner took on the assignment, first turning in a 500-page script that focused on four months of the President\u2019s life, eventually whittling it down to focus on Lincoln\u2019s efforts to pass the Thirteenth Amendment. Kushner\u2019s script is scrappy, bringing history to life on an almost molecular level. But the movie\u2019s design is odd and while it is meant to show how deeply human Lincoln was, with his backchannel dealings and deft maneuvering, the structure oftentimes leaves an emotional distance between the audience and the subject. (Kaminski\u2019s truly unhinged cinematography is a gauzy nightmare, with rain-slicked battlefields twinkling at night and every window blown out like a visiting spaceship is just outside.)
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Daniel-Day Lewis is obviously incredible in the Oscar-winning role as Lincoln, even if his process of inhabiting the role was deeply bizarre (he would send Sally Field text messages as Lincoln). Still, even if you aren\u2019t wholly engrossed it\u2019s fun to see the character actors who pop up in minuscule roles wearing period-appropriate mustaches and weird hats (Tommy Lee Jones! James Spader! Adam Driver!) \u201cLincoln\u201d was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and was rapturously reviewed by critics. It\u2019s a shame that this was the lone Day-Lewis/Spielberg collaboration. Can you imagine what else they could have accomplished together?
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16. \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom\u201d (1984)
\n\n\n\nParamount/Lucasfilm\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s just get this out of the way first: \u201cIndiana Jones and the Temple of Doom\u201d does not contain the most culturally sensitive depictions of native cultures. In fact, it\u2019s oftentimes openly offensive, courting the kind of tired tropes that were, surprisingly, still persistent in the 1980s. That said, the first follow-up to \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d (and the first to have the character\u2019s name in the title) is an absolute triumph, a darkly-hued jewel that would probably be more openly celebrated if it weren\u2019t for all that gross other stuff. This entry sees the archeologist adventurer (played, with more outward menace, by Harrison Ford) going up against a gang of child-kidnapping, heart-ripping cultists in rural India. Beginning with a musical number that rivals anything in \u201cWest Side Story,\u201d the movie is full of inventive set pieces (many borrowed from earlier drafts of \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d) and a ghoulish sensibility informed by the fact that both Spielberg and George Lucas were going through contentious divorces as the time (Spielberg would go on to marry the movie\u2019s star, Kate Capshaw).
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In fact, the mean-spirited \u201cTemple of Doom\u201d (actually a prequel!) was so violent and upsetting that it led to the MPAA creating a new rating (PG-13) a few months after its release. If you\u2019re on its particular, blood-streaked wavelength, the movie is a delight (Roger Ebert called it a \u201ccheerfully exciting, bizarre, goofy, romantic adventure movie\u201d).
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15. \u201c1941\u201d (1979)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
What a movie. \u201c1941\u201d is the closest thing Spielberg has made to a cult favorite \u2013 a loud, boisterous comedy that only Spielberg could have mounted and one that, while financially successful, found reappraisal thanks to, of all things, a longer cut of the movie airing on a nascent Disney Channel. (Yes, seriously.) Centered around the very real Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942 (an event that many at the time believed was actually an invasion by UFOs), which occurred just six days after Pearl Harbor, \u201c1942\u201d takes a truly singular approach. The cast is full of world-class actors, both comedic and otherwise (what other movie features Dan Aykroyd, Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee, Warren Oates and John Belushi?), doing the most acting they\u2019ve ever done, with a scatterbrained, Mad Magazine approach to the humor (it opens with a recreation of the opening of \u201cJaws,\u201d only this time with a German submarine instead of a shark) that borders on the operatic and giant aerial action sequences supervised, as always, by Industrial Light and Magic. It\u2019s a lot of movie.
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Watching it again today makes you appreciate (or not) just how tonally out of sync it was not just with movies of today but with movies period. The screenplay, written by \u201cBack to the Future\u201d masterminds Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis (with help from, of all people, John Milius), is zippy and fun. But it\u2019s not to everyone\u2019s tastes. The director\u2019s cut is the preferred version but tacks on another 30 minutes of nonstop insanity. It\u2019s for real heads only.
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14. \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d (2022)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
Spielberg\u2019s latest is the movie he\u2019d been waiting 40 years to make, a deeply personal, autobiographical journey that is, outwardly, about how his love of movies was cultivated and refined but is really about an even more perilous quest to understand who he is (as an artist, as a person) and where he came from. \u201cThe Fabelmans\u201d is full of world-class filmmaking, obviously, and Spielberg was right to bring in Tony Kushner to be his co-screenwriter to give the story dramatic form and to shape its contours. The first half-hour or so is a little wobbly but the movie really hits its stride when the teenage version of Spielberg (played by the amazing Gabriel LaBelle) takes center stage. With this version of the character, the movie finds its center \u2013 watch as he discovers his mother\u2019s infidelity, falls in love in high school and becomes the \u201cmovie kid\u201d of his class and eventually has a fateful interaction with John Ford (played by David Lynch).
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What\u2019s fun, too, is in Spielberg\u2019s retelling of his own story he has littered it with references and touchstones to his other work (not that it only succeeds if you have an encyclopedic knowledge of his filmography, but it does help). Considering Spielberg has already shifted to a much more openly commercial project (a remake of sorts of the Steve McQueen thriller \u201cBullitt\u201d), he might have been wounded by the commercial indifference that met \u201cThe Fabelmans.\u201d Or maybe, after exorcizing those demons, he just wants to have a little fun.
The second of Spielberg\u2019s two team-ups with the world\u2019s biggest movie star Tom Cruise is the lesser film, but only slightly. \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d takes the original H.G. Wells story and recontextualizes it for a post-9/11 audience (something he would be working through in his other 2005 classic \u201cMunich\u201d); instead of coming from space, the Martians emerge from the ground, vaporizing civilians into the same greyish muck that we saw everywhere after the towers fell. Cruise, in a finely calibrated and oddly underrated performance, plays a bad dad in suburban New England who has to deal with the end of the world alongside the stress of having custody of his children (does it ever end?) Spielberg said that part of his inspiration to do \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d was that he\u2019d done enough cuddly alien stories; he was ready to make a scary alien story. And that he did.
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This movie is absolutely terrifying, with Spielberg finding horror as much in the alien visitors (particularly in a creepy scene where we see them out of their tripods and stalking around a destroyed house) as in the ways that humanity breaks down following their arrival. (Although this one could have benefitted from an R-rating.) Full of unforgettable set pieces (the tripods\u2019 attack on a ferry being one of the best), occasional throwbacks to Paramount\u2019s 1953 film by George Pal (he just couldn\u2019t help it!) and some of ILM\u2019s most chilling visual effects, \u201cWar of the Worlds\u201d is another miraculous Spielberg blockbuster and proof that, as Carly Simon once sang, nobody does it better.
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12. \u201cMinority Report\u201d (2002)
\n\n\n\n20th Century Fox\n\n\n\n
In some ways \u201cMinority Report\u201d felt like Spielberg accepting a call-to-arms. Could he still make the kind of big, brainy extravaganzas that he used to make in his youth? And could he do it while servicing one of the biggest movie stars on the planet? The answer to all questions, with \u201cMinority Report,\u201d was an unequivocal yes. The opening sequence, where Cruise\u2019s cop character tries to reconstruct the events of a murder that hasn\u2019t happened yet in an attempt to stop the crime before its begun, is visually sophisticated and technologically savvy. It also feels brash and new, like something you\u2019d see in a David Fincher movie. The film\u2019s plot, based on a Phillip K. Dick story and with a screenplay credited to Jon Cohen and Scott Frank, is fairly complicated, concerning a future where murder is outlawed because some freaky mutants can see it happening first. Cruise has to kidnap one of the mutants to clear his name and find out who is framing him, so he goes on a Hitchcockian wrong man odyssey across a gleaming, futuristic cityscape. (Colin Farrell is the Department of Justice goon who is skeptical of the program an then tasked with bringing Cruise in.)
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More darkly comic and outright gruesome than some of Spielberg\u2019s other, more mainstream fare (see: that whole section with Peter Stormare), \u201cMinority Report\u201d is a rollicking, thought-provoking thriller that would have been even more prickly had Spielberg stuck with the original ending: a text card that read that the following year, there were a huge number of murders in Washington D.C. Was Cruise\u2019s quest worth it? An even more provocative reading has come up in recent years that most of the third act (after Cruise is captured and put in Tim Blake Nelson\u2019s creepy techno catacomb) is actually just Cruise dreaming after being imprisoned for the rest of his life. In a way, this kind of big-idea sci-fi filmmaking would set the stage for the emergence of someone like Christopher Nolan.
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11. \u201cDuel\u201d (1971)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuel\u201d began life as an \u201cABC Movie of the Week,\u201d building on the success Spielberg had directing episodes of \u201cColumbo\u201d and \u201cNight Gallery.\u201d But the movie was so good that an expanded version, running 16 minutes longer than the TV version, was released theatrically in international markets. That\u2019s why it\u2019s on this list! (Also the theatrical cut is basically the only one you can see anymore.) The premise of \u201cDuel\u201d is simple and ruthlessly efficient, based on a short story and subsequent screenplay by the legendary Richard Matheson. Basically Dennis Weaver is a salesman driving on a business trip when he is stalked by a menacing, smoke-belching big rig truck. The driver of the eighteen-wheeler is never seen, which causes tension both inside the car and outside (there\u2019s a great moment when Weaver is stopped for a meal and trying to figure out which of the men inside the diner is the driver of the truck). Relentless and terrifying, Spielberg\u2019s talent is apparent from the very beginning, with an elaborate POV sequence that showed his route from the driveway to the highway. And it just gets better from there. It was Spielberg\u2019s work on \u201cDuel\u201d that got him the gig to make \u201cJaws\u201d \u2013 he felt that the truck and the shark were both engines of unseen malevolence. And he was right.
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10. \u201cMunich\u201d (2005)
\n\n\n\nUniversal/DreamWorks\n\n\n\n
Arguably the most important movie of the last 20 years of Spielberg\u2019s career, mostly because it established the director\u2019s fruitful relationship with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Tony Kushner. But \u201cMunich\u201d is also incredibly important because it showed that Spielberg was capable of really adult filmmaking \u2013 it\u2019s awash in bloody violence, explicit nudity and thorny thematic subject matter (which continues to its very final shot, which lingers over the twin towers of the World Trade Center). It\u2019s one of his rawest, most uncompromising movies. What makes \u201cMunich\u201d even more impressive is that it could have been much simpler, but Spielberg chose to make it an altogether messier, more provocative movie.
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Based on George Jonas\u2019 1984 book \u201cVengeance\u201d about Operation Wrath of God, an Israeli secret operation meant to strike back at the terrorists responsible for the 1974 Munich Olympics massacre by Palestinian organization Black September. (Some of the movie\u2019s most incredibly staged sequences are when Spielberg re-creates the hostage situation, sometimes intercutting the action with actual news footage of the event.) A more straightforward movie could have been made from the actual operation and Spielberg does have fun with the men-on-a-mission mechanics of the narrative (among them men: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciar\u00e1n Hinds and Mathieu Kassovitz), but Spielberg and Kushner are constantly throwing in complications \u2013 practical (as when a bomb doesn\u2019t properly detonate), spiritual and philosophical \u2013 to the point that what began as a righteous mission becomes muddier and muddier. This is exemplified by a divisive sex scene when Bana is making love to his wife but still haunted by the tragedy of the Olympics massacre and all the evil that followed. For one of the few times in his career, Spielberg wasn\u2019t trying to seduce the audience with wonder and spectacle; this time he was trying to shake that audience.
\u201cSaving Private Ryan\u201d has been lauded by some as the greatest World War II ever made, a claim that stretches credibility even compared to that other World War II movie of 1998, Terrence Malick\u2019s lyrical and haunting \u201cThe Thin Red Line.\u201d And, under close scrutiny, Spielberg\u2019s Oscar-winning drama doesn\u2019t totally hold up \u2013 the modern-day bookends are borrowed from \u201cSchindler\u2019s List\u201d and, honestly, aren\u2019t as effective; the movie is stuffed full of war movie cliches; and the 169-minute long runtime feels unnecessarily lengthy and oftentimes downright baggy, especially in its second act. But the raw power of the opening sequence, set on Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion, is so staggering that the rest of the movie could have been Tom Hanks playing cards and it still would have probably cracked Spielberg\u2019s top 10. That sequence is one of the most visceral ever committed to film and the fact that the film, even with that scene, still managed to only be rated-R is a testament to Spielberg\u2019s standing in the business and the seriousness with which he approached the subject matter.
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There are moments that almost reach the heights of that sequence, in particular the climax (which feels underrated but is understandably in the shadow of the opening) and there are some finely calibrated performances (particularly Hanks) that give shape and form to some of the movie\u2019s more overtly saccharine tendencies. It\u2019s the kind of big, open-hearted, old-fashioned epic that only Steven Spielberg could pull off. His earnestness is a feature, not a bug.
Originally conceived by Stanley Kubrick, who began working on an adaptation of Brian Aldiss\u2019 story \u201cSupertoys Last All Summer Long\u201d in the early 1970s, Spielberg took over the project after Kubrick died, tragically, in 1999. The resulting film is an odd mixture of the two filmmakers\u2019 sensibilities and an insane exercise in processing trauma and grief (Spielberg\u2019s own), in the form of a $100 million sci-fi spectacle. Occasionally the two worldviews, of Spielberg the sentimentalist and Kubrick the cynic, clash loudly but for the most part, they weave in and out of each other, creating a movie that is probably more interesting if only one of them had worked on it. Haley Joel Osment plays an android boy looking for his place in the world after his human family abandons him; he meets up with Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a sex-bot who is framed for murder and together with his gruff teddy bear, go on an unbelievable odyssey to the end of the world.
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Melancholy and mournful, it was unlike what anyone was expecting \u2013 this isn\u2019t the cuddly story of interspecies friendship like \u201cE.T.\u201d nor is it as harsh and unforgiving as something like \u201cA Clockwork Orange.\u201d \u201cA.I.\u201d is very much its own thing \u2013 odd, gorgeously rendered (thanks to a killer collaboration, once again, by Stan Winston and Industrial Light & Magic) and ahead of its time. The movie\u2019s ending, where sentient androids from the far-flung future visit Osment\u2019s character, was initially viewed as too cheery and optimistic. Spielberg claimed it was always a part of Kubrick\u2019s vision. The truth, like the rest of \u201cA.I.,\u201d probably rests somewhere in the middle.
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7. \u201cCatch Me If You Can\u201d (2002)
\n\n\n\nDreamWorks\n\n\n\n
\u201cCatch Me If You Can\u201d had been a high-profile project in development at Spielberg\u2019s DreamWorks. When a number of triple-A filmmakers came and went (including Cameron Crowe, Gore Verbinski and David Fincher), Spielberg took the \u201cwell, I\u2019ll do it myself\u201d approach and signed on to direct. And it\u2019s hard to think of anybody giving the movie the same mixture of dazzling capers and deep emotion, proving that he could still tap into those raw-nerve emotions of being a child of divorce all of these years later. Leonard DiCaprio plays a real-life rascal who conned his way through much of his adult life, impersonating airplane pilots and doctors, whose path of destruction was probably a lot less charming than DiCaprio and Spielberg portray.
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Tom Hanks is the dogged lawman on his trail, and while all of DiCaprio\u2019s various grifts are dramatized vibrantly, with Spielberg\u2019s swirling camera and John Williams\u2019 jazzy score, the real movie lies in the connection between DiCaprio and Hanks, two broken characters who somehow find wholeness in each other. There\u2019s a deep sadness at the core of the otherwise lively and fun \u201cCatch Me If You Can\u201d which makes it infinitely more profound than it would have been. While the movie was a box office success, it only secured two Oscar nominations \u2013 for Williams and Christopher Walken for Best Supporting Actor. It should have been nominated for much more (including Best Picture) and continues to resonate today. A delight.
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6. \u201cE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial\u201d (1982)
\n\n\n\nUniversal Pictures\n\n\n\n
One of the most popular films of all time, it\u2019s also one of the most artistically accomplished. \u201cE.T.\u201d is a tender coming-of-age story about a young boy (Henry Thomas) who befriends a small space alien who has been abandoned near his quaint suburban home. The young boy, like Spielberg, is a child of divorce and you can feel the authenticity of the boy\u2019s story, even as the more overtly science-fiction shenanigans (flying bicycles, overbearing government authorities and the like) star to takeover. It\u2019s that level of emotional realism and the connection between the boy and the alien (engineered by Carlo Rambaldi, re-teaming with Spielberg after \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u201d), more than any visual effect, that made \u201cE.T.\u201d soar. (Although, it\u2019s true, John Williams\u2019 peerless score does embellish and amplify what is already there.) It\u2019s telling that the movie is so perfect, in fact, that after Spielberg released an anniversary edition with some new scenes and enhanced visual effects (including a computer-animated E.T. hopping through the forest, supplied by the original effects company Industrial Light & Magic) that Spielberg openly denounced the new version and reinstated the classic \u201cE.T.\u201d You can\u2019t mess with a classic.
Who knew Spielberg had it in him? The same year that he unleashed the popcorn juggernaut \u201cJurassic Park,\u201d he also opened \u201cSchindler\u2019s List,\u201d a haunting tale of the Holocaust based on Thomas Keneally\u2019s historical novel \u201cSchindler\u2019s Ark.\u201d Captured in stark black-and-white by Janusz Kaminski (this is their first \u2013 and so far best \u2013 collaboration), the movie almost looks like a documentary. And it feels that way too. Liam Neeson plays Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist and member of the Nazi party who found a way to save 1,200 Jews from extermination during World War II. The movie\u2019s images are haunting but the sentiment is too \u2013 both of extreme sorrow and sadness but also desperation. Couldn\u2019t he have done more?
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Spielberg\u2019s account of the period is unflinching and harrowing but he still manages to deploy flourishes that only he could have achieved \u2013 the little girl\u2019s red coat that allows you to identify her later in the pile of bodies; the flickering of candles as metaphor for hope (both achieved by Industrial Light & Magic, the same company that brought the dinosaurs of \u201cJurassic Park\u201d to life). \u201cSchindler\u2019s List\u201d was the movie that finally won Spielberg his Best Director Academy Award, along with another statue for Best Picture and several more (including one for Steve Zaillian\u2019s note-perfect script). It\u2019s a tough movie to frequently revisit but when you do it\u2019s hard not to get swept up again.
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4. \u201cJurassic Park\u201d (1993)
\n\n\n\nUniversal Pictures\n\n\n\n
Sure, it was a technological breakthrough and proof that computer-generated imagery would revolutionize the way we watch and make movies, but at its heart \u201cJurassic Park\u201d is first and foremost a triumph of imaginative entertainment. Based on the bestselling novel by Michael Crichton (who wrote an early draft of the screenplay), \u201cJurassic Park\u201d concerns a group of scientists and engineers (and two little kids) who are tasked with beta-testing a theme park full of genetically engineered dinosaurs. Of course, the dinosaurs get loose and all hell breaks loose. When the movie was being optioned, every studio had their own director ready to go (Tim Burton and James Cameron were among those vying for it), but it\u2019s hard to imagine anybody but Spielberg tackling the material. Not only does the film feature Spielberg\u2019s patented mixture of terror and awe, sometimes in the same sequence (like the breathlessly staged T. rex attack), but at its heart are a pair of kids whose parents\u2019 impending divorce leaves them with something more to prove.
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While the endless sequels and spinoffs have watered down the franchise, the primal power of the original \u201cJurassic Park\u201d remains. Watching that movie in the theater was an exhilarating experience and you could feel the earth shifting as you watched it; there had never been anything like it before and the advances made within would disrupt everything. Even now, people are still trying to repeat the aw-shucks thrill of \u201cJurassic Park.\u201d And they still haven\u2019t come anywhere near it.
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3. \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark\u201d (1981)
\n\n\n\nParamount Pictures/Lucasfilm\n\n\n\n
The story goes that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were sitting on a beach right after \u201cStar Wars\u201d had opened. Lucas didn\u2019t want to know about the box office. He just wanted to get away with his friend. While on the sand Spielberg expressed sadness that he wasn\u2019t going to get to make a James Bond movie. Lucas told him that he had an idea that was even better than 007. The result was \u201cRaiders of the Lost Ark.\u201d Styled after old-fashioned serials of the late 1930s and early 1940s in which the hero would get into a series of hair-raising cliffhangers, \u201cRaiders\u201d finds Lucas\u2019 old pal Harrison Ford stepping into the role of Indiana Jones, a professor by day and treasure hunter by night, who is tasked by the American government to retrieve an artifact before it falls into the hands of the Nazis. It\u2019s such an ingenious premise it\u2019s hard to believe nobody thought of it before, and it was brought to life beautifully by Lawrence Kasdan\u2019s screenplay (based on an original proposal by Phillip Kaufman), which saw Jones traveling from the heart of the jungle to the arid desert of the Middle East on a hunt for the Ark of the Covenant.
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Perhaps the single greatest action-adventure film of all time, full of set pieces and sequences that boggle the mind and leave your jaw on the floor, it was Spielberg that understood that Jones couldn\u2019t just be a lantern-jawed superhero. His Indiana Jones has a messy \u2013 in a way that would never fly today \u2013 relationship with his girl Marion (an adorable Karen Allen) and he screws up as much as he succeeds. It\u2019s this fallibility that makes it even easier to root for him as he tumbles, bumbles and whips his way to saving the world from an occult evil. What a ride.
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2. \u201cJaws\u201d (1975)
\n\n\n\nUniversal\n\n\n\n
Can you believe that \u201cJaws\u201d was only Spielberg\u2019s second theatrical feature as a director? This might have been unwise, at least from a practical standpoint, as the production of \u201cJaws\u201d was notoriously behind-schedule and ran into costly overruns due (largely to the decision to shoot on the open ocean) and technological set-backs (obscuring the shark for most of the movie was for necessity as much as it was for artistry). It was supposed to take 55 days to shoot and wound up taking 159 with a script was never finished and always in flux (Carl Gottlieb, who wrote the essential chronicle of the making of the film \u201cThe Jaws Log,\u201d was responsible for most of the final draft). And all of that hardship and adversity resulted in one of the best, most entertaining movies ever. Helpfully establishing the idea of a \u201csummer movie,\u201d Spielberg\u2019s creature feature is smart, scary and full of heart. He cast the movie perfectly, with Roy Scheider as the big city cop who\u2019s afraid of water Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as the nerdy shark specialist Hooper and Robert Shaw as the hardened fisherman Quint. Each performer had their own style of acting and each performance very much has its own tempo, but together they created a symphony.
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Spielberg wisely reshaped Peter Benchley\u2019s original novel, jettisoning silly subplots about Hooper having an affair with Brody\u2019s wife (Lorraine Gary) and mobsters, and adding unforgettable flourishes like Quint\u2019s history with sharks (largely written, depending on who you believe, by John Milius) and the moment where Brody is making eye contact with his young son. These are the moments that stick with you and the kind of scenes that only Spielberg would have added. Already a master of tone, Spielberg shifts from the more straightforward horror of the first half of the movie to a high-seas adventure in the second half, never missing a beat and never making something that feels disconnected. (John Williams\u2019 score helps bridge that gap too, with the theme for the shark endlessly replicated and parodied in the years since.) \u201cJaws\u201d is an incredible technical feat but it\u2019s also a triumph of raw emotion. How else could he scare an entire generation from ever going into the ocean?
1. \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u201d (1977)
\n\n\n\nColumbia Pictures\n\n\n\n
It feels like we take \u201cClose Encounter of the Third Kind\u2019s\u201d genius for granted. Or maybe it\u2019s that it\u2019s been overshadowed by more openly crowd-pleasing wonders like \u201cE.T.\u201d or \u201cJurassic Park.\u201d But that doesn\u2019t take anything away from the film, which still feels like Spielberg\u2019s most visually gorgeous, most psychologically complex and most structurally adventurous blockbuster. The movie\u2019s storyline runs on parallel tracks \u2013 one follows blue collar everyman Roy (Richard Dreyfuss), who becomes obsessed with the aerial phenomenon he sees in the sky, at the cost of his career and family; the other traces the efforts of a nebbish UFO researcher (played by Francois Truffaut) to investigate the same otherworldly visitations. Their storylines finally collide at Devil\u2019s Tower, a geographic formation where the alien visitors are set to make contact with humankind. If that sounds like a lot, it is, particularly in the early sequences which oscillate between humdrum suburban strife and Truffaut\u2019s globetrotting investigation. But once the two paths start to converge, the movie really starts to hum; Dreyfuss\u2019 character falls in with a young single mother whose child has been abducted and the government mounts a coverup to conceal the upcoming interface. (There\u2019s a wonderful moment when Dreyfuss and Melinda Dillon are driving towards the site that the government is cleared. He assures her that it\u2019s all a ruse. Then they pause for a beat and put on gas masks.)
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In the years since \u201cClose Encounters of the Third Kind\u2019s\u201d release, Spielberg has both engaged with it (creating two additional cuts of the film, one of which was released theatrically in 1980) and distanced himself from it (proclaiming that, if he\u2019d made the film today, he wouldn\u2019t have let Roy board the mothership). He should never shy away from those elements of the movie; they give it its flinty grace. And the visual effects from the film, realized by Douglas Trumbull, are among the most powerful of his entire career, with the notes that greet the alien mothership are some of the most iconic in science fiction. It\u2019s a shorthand for great, wide-eyed sci-fi. And for a connection to something beyond ourselves.
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+ "page_last_modified": ""
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+ {
+ "page_name": "Steven Spielberg Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best - Thrillist",
+ "page_url": "https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/best-steven-spielberg-movies",
+ "page_snippet": "Even on the rare occasion that his movies struggle at the box office, as his musical adaptation West Side Story recently did in late 2021, there's still a sense that he'll bounce back. He always does! Over nearly five decades, the filmmaker has defined American studio filmmaking, while racking ...There's never a bad time to be a Steven Spielberg fan. Even on the rare occasion that his movies struggle at the box office, as his musical adaptation West Side Story recently did in late 2021, there's still a sense that he'll bounce back. He always does! Over nearly five decades, the filmmaker has defined American studio filmmaking, while racking up billions of box-office dollars and two Academy Awards for Best Director along the way. Here's where 'Jaws,' 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'E.T.' and all of Steven Spielberg's other movies stack up. Now that he's got another Oscar nomination for Best Director, we're looking back on each of his films. But as a Spielberg movie? This tick-tock docudrama, which re-teams the director with Hanks while adding a game Meryl Streep to the mix for the first time, isn't exactly front-page material. The story itself is rousing\u2014The Washington Post's publisher Katharine Graham (Streep) must decide whether to publish revelations from the Pentagon Papers and potentially face the legal wrath of President Richard Nixon\u2014and the cast is filled with familiar faces like Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, and Carrie Coon playing dedicated journalists fighting for the facts.",
+ "page_result": "Steven Spielberg Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best - Thrillist
There's never a bad time to be a Steven Spielberg fan. Even on the rare occasion that his movies struggle at the box office, as his musical adaptation West Side Story recently did in late 2021, there's still a sense that he'll bounce back. He always does! Over nearly five decades, the filmmaker has defined American studio filmmaking, while racking up billions of box-office dollars and two Academy Awards for Best Director along the way.
But how do his big-budget crowd-pleasers stack up against his award-winners? Has he lost some of his luster as he's gotten older, or has he aged with grace? Does he still make you want to phone home? To find out, we ranked all of Spielberg's theatrically released feature films (sorry, early Spielberg TV movie Duel and his contribution to the anthology Twilight Zone: The Movie). So, cue up those John Williams strings, grab your inner child, and keep some tissues on standby as we work our way through Spielberg's 32 films. Or as Samuel L. Jackson would say, hold on to your butts.
Paramount Pictures
32. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
The action-adventure revival rolled into fans' lives like an 8-ton boulder booby trap. There are spurts of Spielberg-patented, high-flying fun\u2014the opening shootout in Area 51 and a chase across Professor Jones' university campus summon the angular thrills of Raiders of the Lost Ark\u2014but computer graphics, a sci-fi plot, and Harrison Ford's dwindling stamina ravage Crystal Skull. If you weren't keen on Shia LaBeouf's Mutt Williams when he was standing around with Indy, you certainly weren't going to like him swinging from vines like a greaser Tarzan. We'll treasure Cate Blanchett's flamboyant Irina Spalko and move along. \u2014Matt Patches
TriStar Pictures
31. Hook (1991)
Bad millennials have a weakness for Hook: They love Rufio, Dustin Hoffman's titular bad guy, the elaborate sets, the cool costumes, and the scene where David Crosby gets hit in the nuts with a wood plank. Don't trust them. Hook's central conceit\u2014Peter Pan as overworked yuppie\u2014would make for a decent sketch, but all the daddy issues, sexual tension with Tinker Bell, and imaginary food fights in Neverland can't save the film's 141-minute running time. It's like watching a video of someone else ride Splash Mountain for hours. Put this movie in the boo box. \u2014Dan Jackson
Universal Pictures
30. 1941 (1979)
1941 is more fun to think about than to actually watch. Post-Close Encounters Spielberg helming a madcap WWII satire penned by Back to the Future masterminds Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale sounds like a dream pitch\u2014or at least a bizarre disaster. Sadly, it's neither. In telling the story of mass hysteria in LA after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Spielberg attempts to fuse his love of old studio musicals with the irreverent spirit of early SNL and SCTV\u2014John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and John Candy all have roles\u2014but the jokes crash and burn. Spielberg isn't humorless\u2014most of the movies on this list have brilliant comic moments\u2014but at this point in his career, he didn't have the panache to nail such tonally tricky material. \u2014DJ
DreamWorks Pictures
29. The Terminal (2004)
Spielberg sees Tom Hanks as the last vestige of Golden Age Hollywood charm. You can tell from missteps like The Terminal, where the director tucks wacky romantic comedy into geopolitical tragedy. Tom Hanks plays Viktor Navorski, a New York tourist stuck at JFK airport after his (fictional) home country of Krakozhia collapses. Navorski sleeps on gate chairs, bathes in bathrooms, dines on ketchup packets, and befriends airport employees. The escapade is never as whimsical as Spielberg believes it to be, Hanks' Eastern European-out-of-water shtick becoming increasingly grating with every passing takeoff. But my God, the airport set! There's something to treasure in every Spielberg movie. \u2014MP
Universal Pictures/United Artists
28. Always (1989)
This remake of the 1943 romantic drama A Guy Named Joe is Spielberg at his most sentimental. Not an easy bar to surpass. After his bomber plane explodes mid-operation, the spirit of aerial firefighter Pete (Richard Dreyfuss) returns to our plane of existence, to mentor a young ace who's falling hard for Pete's one true love (Holly Hunter). Always strings together exhilarating forest firefighting, spry comedic work from Dreyfuss and co-star John Goodman, and Audrey Hepburn's final performance as Pete's otherworldly guide, but its gooey center keeps it from coalescing. Hunter's no-bullshit heart redeems every flaw in this movie. \u2014MP
Warner Bros. Pictures
27. Ready Player One (2018)
Like the Ernest Cline novel it's based on, Spielberg's slick Ready Player One places a premium on name-checking and visually referencing pop-culture ephemera (primarily from the '80s) in service of character development. The logic likely goes that, while many people can tell you that, say, Williams Electronics released both Joust and Robotron: 2084 in the year 1982, only a truly worthy hero can tell you off the top of his head that the latter arcade classic was designed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, and that, by the way, Jarvis and DeMar also created two other Williams Electronic gems, Defender and Stargate. The idea, I guess, is that we'll root more for someone if they can turn this trivia sludge into gold in a story set in a dystopian future where literally everything depends on knowing the most obscure and random minutiae from your childhood. But it collectively adds up to being more than just implausible; it's tiring. Spielberg, who himself was a huge fan of arcade video games back in the day (he wrote the forward to Martin Amis' long-out-of-print 1982 book Invasion of the Space Invaders), at least dazzles with special effects and Ben Mendelsohn shines as yet another seething baddie, but, like the book, it's hard to care much who wins the game in the end. \u2014DJ
Universal Pictures
26. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
There was no outdoing his original dinosaur thriller, so Spielberg pivoted in every way. Jeff Goldblum would take center stage, the T. rex would make it to familiar shores (San Diego), and a one-off would evolve into an \"action franchise.\" If only the action had the amber glow of Spielberg's first dino-filled vistas. While the opening scene, a girl chomped to bits by Compys, is a nasty bit of work, and a stampede sequence is heart-racing from start to finish, The Lost World indulges in all the wrong ways, the type of \"why not?\" entertainment excuse that got everyone killed in the first movie. \u2014MP
Warner Bros.
25. Empire of the Sun (1987)
Famed playwright Tom Stoppard adapted J. G. Ballard's memoir, chronicling his childhood years spent in a Japanese concentration camp, and Spielberg deftly orchestrated the large-scale drama, from upscale British life in Shanghai, to the horrors of invasion, to the mundanity of life inside the camp. A young Christian Bale is a revelation as Jim, who keeps his head above water after soldiers separate him from his parents. The only spark missing is passion\u2014Empire of the Sun never makes a comment or challenges an idea. It's a movie obsessed with images: coffins floating down river, the flash of the atomic bomb, and the American P-51 Mustang, aka the \"Cadillac of the skies!\" Thankfully, in Spielberg's hands, the surface-level can still entrance. \u2014MP
DreamWorks Pictures
24. Amistad (1997)
In its haunting Middle Passage sequence, which chronicles the rebellion aboard the slave ship Amistad as it crosses from Cuba to the US, this historical drama achieves a terrifying and visceral quality that might convince you it's a great film. Unfortunately, after that, there's courtroom drama to wade through, complete with lengthy speeches, top hats, and, most offensive of all, horrible Matthew McConaughey sideburns. By shifting the focus away from Djimon Hounsou's scene-stealing mutiny leader, Spielberg undermines the potency and radical power of the story he's telling, turning this tale of survival into a well-intentioned but not especially compelling history lesson. \u2014DJ
Walt Disney Studios
23. The BFG (2016)
In adapting Roald Dahl's whimsical, limber children's book, Spielberg and screenwriter Melissa Mathison stay faithful to the source material down to the last drop of green fizzy drink. The tale of an orphan kidnapped by a large-eared giant (the skillfully motion-captured Mark Rylance) has a dreamlike quality that allows Spielberg to stage some of his trippiest, borderline psychedelic imagery, along with some really elaborate CGI-assisted fart jokes. Judging from the box office, audiences stayed away from the movie like it's a rotting snozzcumber, but they're missing out on a low-key treat. \u2014DJ
20th Century Fox
22. The Post (2017)
When viewed through the lens of contemporary politics, it's easy to celebrate The Post as an inspiring, nostalgia-soaked newspaper tale for the \"Fake News\" era. But as a Spielberg movie? This tick-tock docudrama, which re-teams the director with Hanks while adding a game Meryl Streep to the mix for the first time, isn't exactly front-page material. The story itself is rousing\u2014The Washington Post's publisher Katharine Graham (Streep) must decide whether to publish revelations from the Pentagon Papers and potentially face the legal wrath of President Richard Nixon\u2014and the cast is filled with familiar faces like Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, and Carrie Coon playing dedicated journalists fighting for the facts. But given the talent involved, it's hard to shake the sense that the movie is both too slight and too eager to please. Compared to thoughtful, emotionally complex takes on American history like Bridge of Spies or Lincoln, it only spills ink. Never blood. \u2014DJ
Walt Disney Studios
21. War Horse (2011)
It's easy to mock War Horse. The title and the premise\u2014a brave horse perseveres through WWI to reunite with the teenage boy he loves\u2014sound like a Spielberg parody cooked up in the '90s by The Ben Stiller Show. But the movie is an elegant, often majestic example of old-fashioned Hollywood hokum done right, especially in its many wordless sequences that examine the horrors of trench warfare through the weary eyes of a horse. Spielberg's reverence for the painter-like imagery of old masters like John Ford has never been more palpable, heartfelt, and intoxicating. It's almost enough to make you forget you're an adult watching a movie called War Horse. \u2014DJ
Paramount Pictures
20. The Adventures of Tintin (2011)
Now, this is peak theme-park Spielberg. Working from a witty script co-written by Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, Spielberg adapts the elegant, playful imagery of Herg\u00e9's beloved Tintin comics into a kinetic, eye-popping animated thrill ride. There's a pirate ship, lost treasure, a fighter plane, and even a cute dog\u2014and if you don't like any of that, something new will fly into your face a minute later! In 3D! It's Raiders of the Lost Ark for the Angry Birds era. Exhausting, sure, but worth the ride. \u2014DJ
Universal Pictures
19. The Sugarland Express (1974)
This Goldie Hawn action-comedy is best viewed as a thought experiment: What if Spielberg didn't become Mr. Blockbuster? We never really found out because Jaws capsized Hollywood, turning Spielberg into the wunderkind of a new special effects-driven era. But The Sugarland Express, a plucky counter-culture road movie, finds him working in the character-driven mode of fellow '70s auteurs like Martin Scorsese, Bob Rafelson, Terrence Malick, and Robert Altman. As a debut from a 28-year-old TV director, it's impressive, but watching it today, it's not so good that you find yourself yearning for the road not taken. For some directors, bigger actually is better. \u2014DJ
DreamWorks Pictures
18. Bridge of Spies (2015)
Anyone who knocks this prisoner-swap story as one of Spielberg's \"boring\" movies should be ashamed! Ashamed! Balancing the chill of Cold War-era paranoia with the paced warmth of a Frank Capra picture, Bridge of Spies again asks Tom Hanks to throw back to a different kind of leading-man role, where words got you everywhere and patriotism meant sticking up for your fellow American. With little shared screentime, Hanks and Oscar winner Mark Rylance build a relationship that resonates through every turn in this accomplished drama. Just don't expect Spielberg to cater to your attention span. \u2014MP
Paramount Pictures
17. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Instead of sequelizing Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg backtracked to 1935 for the second installment of the Indiana Jones franchise and doubled down on the silliness. Indy's adversary, Mola Ram, the high priest of an ancient Hindu cult that loves human sacrifice, opened the door for mysticism and Disneyland ride set-pieces. You can practically hear Spielberg giggling off-screen as he stages musical numbers, feeds chilled monkey brains to future wife Kate Capshaw, and dots each Harrison Ford punch with a Short Round observation. A kid's dream come true. \u2014MP
Warner Bros.
16. The Color Purple (1985)
For all his technical wizardry, Spielberg has always been a gifted director of actors. In The Color Purple, an often clumsy but spirited adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer-winning novel, he knows when to get out of the way and let Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, and, in her first film role, Oprah Winfrey, take control of the frame. Their faces tell the story. While the film's lavish visual approach can threaten to overpower its narrative of abuse, the performances keep the film grounded and allow the movie to endure despite its flaws. \u2014DJ
Paramount Pictures
15. War of the Worlds (2005)
The fears and fallout of 9/11 ooze from the pores of Spielberg's alien-invasion movie. Crane operator Ray (Tom Cruise) is mostly helpless when tripod war machines burst out from the streets; he might be the rare \"good dad\" in the Spielberg filmography, but all he can do to save his family is hold tight and run. War of the Worlds is a visceral, chrome-filled nightmare, the language of popcorn entertainment weaponized for social commentary. You can tell Spielberg's uncomfortable dealing with the darkness. The anxiety translates to genuine shock after genuine shock. \u2014MP
As soon as the Jets pop on screen, emerging from the rubble that will soon become Lincoln Center, West Side Story springs to life. Spielberg's first musical is a confirmation of something many of his admirers have long believed: Spielberg would make a great musical. His sweeping camera movements, elegant blocking techniques, and precise editing methods make him a perfect fit for the type of show-stopping numbers you find in the 1957 musical, given a shrewd update here by frequent Spielberg collaborator Tony Kushner. The doomed romance between Maria (Rachel Zegler) and Tony (Ansel Elgort) is familiar, hitting all the swoon-worthy beats early on and the tragic notes in the second half, but the style here is bracing, a reminder that few filmmakers are capable of operating at this level of technical precision and emotional intensity. \u2014 DJ
DreamWorks Pictures
13. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Two filmmakers cannot seem more diametrically opposed than Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick: one is warm and sentimental; the other is cold and clinical. Yet, perhaps because of those differences, this sci-fi fable about an android (a chilling Haley Joel Osment) on a Pinocchio-like quest for humanity, developed by Kubrick for years before his death, is a haunting and fascinating work of cinematic alchemy. It's a Spielberg adventure with moments of Kubrickian horror, and a Kubrickian art film with Spielbergian heart. Gold star for this robot boy. \u2014DJ
Universal Pictures
12. Munich (2005)
Modern blockbusters are filled with tough-guy musings about the moral weight of vengeance\u2014just watch any random 10 minutes from a Zack Snyder film\u2014but they rarely grapple with the outcome of violence in a self-reflective, genuine way. Munich, the story of a secret team of Israeli assassins led by Eric Bana, is a different type of thriller. With the help of a complex, profound script by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, Spielberg delivers the white-knuckle tension of a spy film without letting his characters off the ethical hook. Instead of rah-rah patriotism, you get a queasy ethical conundrum awash in ambiguity, history drawn with the bloody tip of a knife. \u2014DJ
Paramount Pictures
11. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
\"We named the dog Indiana.\" With those five words, Sean Connery, playing the role of Professor Henry Jones, Sr., manages to both humanize and de-mythologize one of American culture's most endearing pulp heroes. It turns out Indiana Jones got his name from a dog and has a cranky dad. Did we really need all this information? Probably not. But Last Crusade is an eternally rewatchable sequel with more than enough exciting set pieces, one-liners, and caustic Grail Knights to justify watching Spielberg and Harrison Ford's fedora-wearing hero work through their daddy issues on screen. Plus, it gave us \"No ticket,\" a great non-sequitur and an all-time top-10 action-movie zinger. \u2014DJ
DreamWorks Pictures
10. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Spielberg's WWII movie solidified itself as an American classic 15 minutes into its runtime, after a grave, pungent staging of the invasion of Normandy Beach. The rest of the film lives up to the sequence, with Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, and an unimaginable list of big-name actors playing out a universal band of brothers. When a life is worth saving, backstory matters, and Spielberg's direction does as much to enrich the lives of his men as it does to enact the terrors of war. A triumph that would be a full-blown masterpiece if it weren't for those weepy bookends with older Private Ryan. \u2014MP
20th Century Fox
9. Minority Report (2002)
On the surface, Minority Report is yet another sci-fi film from a master of the genre, but look closer and you'll find something else: a canny neo-noir about a detective on the run. This mind-bending whodunit finds the famous director and the even-more-famous star bringing out the best in each other\u2014Cruise underplays Spielberg's sentimental impulses, and Spielberg turns Cruise into a crew cut-rocking blunt object\u2014and nearly every other element, from the costumes to the effects to the music, is perfectly executed. Well, except for the mawkish last few minutes, which force this movie into the \"great movie, bad ending\" category, a specialty of late-period Spielberg. \u2014DJ
Universal Pictures
8. Schindler's List (1993)
For years, the word on Spielberg was that he couldn't handle \"adult\" material. With Schindler's List, released the same year as the crowd-pleasing Jurassic Park, he silenced many of his critics, stunned audiences, and won countless awards for delving deep into the horrors of the Holocaust. Viewed within the context of his career, it's certainly a turning point, but the film itself is hardly a reinvention or rejection of the sensibilities that made him a household name. Instead, Spielberg used the tools he'd honed over the years\u2014a Hitchcockian feel for tension, a keen understanding of actors, and an eye for bold images\u2014to tell the story of Oskar Schindler, an opportunist-turned-hero. The movie works so well because it's still a \"Spielberg\" film, not in spite of that fact. \u2014DJ
DreamWorks Pictures
7. Lincoln (2012)
Without the nostalgic glow, Spielberg's rowdy, rousing act of political theater stands out as a treasure waiting to be appreciated. Daniel Day-Lewis won an Oscar for portraying our thunderous 16th president, who pulled every string necessary to end the Civil War and abolish slavery in one fell swoop. Spielberg finds comedy and tragedy in the saga, which resonates with a particularly damning pitch in our current stagnant moment. With gorgeous period accoutrements and the sharpest casting of the decade, Lincoln captures the past, speaks to the present, and hopefully inspires the future. \u2014MP
DreamWorks Pictures
6. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Spielberg film performances rarely earn the praise they deserve, as the majesty of the package overshadows its parts. Not only does the director keep the true story of con artist Frank Abagnale light on its toes with retro-cool style (amplified by John Williams' catchy score), Catch Me If You Can boasts Leonardo DiCaprio's best work ever. We see him slip into the role of doctor, lawyer, and pilot, then slip back again to his norm\u2014tortured and infantile. Catch Me If You Can is Spielberg as the actor's director, and he moves in complete unison with his strapping lead. \u2014MP
Universal Pictures
5. Jurassic Park (1993)
The movie you've watched 1,000 times on TNT holds up. The way Jurassic Park pushes in from the grandiose to the personal arcs\u2014Dr. Grant's relationship hang-ups, the two kids' coming-of-age stories, John Hammond's dream blowing up in his face\u2014is a science on par with genetic resurrection. Spielberg maintains Michael Crichton's knack for navigating the heady in wholly digestible ways while making good on his ensemble's gasps\u2014the brachiosaurus. By the time Jurassic Park becomes a Jaws successor, where velociraptors fighting a T. rex doesn't feel like excessive payoff, it's already melted us away with awe. Everything you could possibly want out of a modern blockbuster. \u2014MP
Universal Pictures
4. Jaws (1975)
\"Da-dum\u2026 da-dum\u2026 da-dum da-dum da-dum!\" You know the music. You know the \"bigger boat\" line. Maybe you even remember that dolly zoom shot of Roy Scheider sitting on the beach with his family when the screams of terror ring out and everyone runs like hell. But no matter how much pop culture chomps on the remains of this classic, there's no stripping this understated, fundamentally humanist monster picture of its primal power. Even in the age of Sharknado and The Shallows, Jaws is still scary, funny, and essential viewing. These are waters you'll want to get back into. \u2014DJ
Universal Pictures
3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
People like to talk about \"wonder\" when they talk about Spielberg. But in his best films, like E.T., that sense of wonder is always rooted in the drab confines of reality. This story of a boy and his alien friend lets Spielberg explore all of his pet themes at once\u2014the void left by absent fathers, the mundane horror of suburbia, the need to accept outsiders\u2014but the movie endures because the details surrounding the iconic moonlit bike ride are so specific: the Coors E.T. drinks, the Speak & Spell he uses, and the Reese's Pieces he loves. Like modern life, the world of E.T. is one defined by brands, consumer goods, and the need to escape. If only we all had another planet to phone home to. \u2014DJ
Paramount Pictures
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
With a bullwhip, a leather jacket, and an \"only Harrison Ford can pull this off\" fedora, Spielberg invented the modern Hollywood action film by doing what he does best: looking backwards. As obsessed as his movie-brat pal and collaborator George Lucas with the action movie serials of their youth, the director mined James Bond, Humphrey Bogart, Westerns, and his hatred of Nazis to create an adventure classic. To watch Raiders of the Lost Ark now is to marvel at the ingenuity of specific sequences (the boulder! the truck scene! the face-melting!) and simply groove to the self-deprecating comic tone (snakes! Karen Allen! that swordsman Indy shoots!). The past has never felt so alive. \u2014DJ
Columbia Pictures
1. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
This balletic sci-fi epic is one of two movies Steven Spielberg wrote for himself (the other being A.I., which he took over from Stanley Kubrick, half counts). And you can tell; his personal obsessions pile up in Close Encounters, which follows scientists preparing for first contact, a mother searching for her abducted son, and a man (Richard Dreyfuss) who sacrifices his family for a taste of the unknown world. The special effects are lush and the drama is heartbreaking, a movie grand enough to wrestle with life's eternal questions. Spielberg preys on our curiosity, mysteries big (30-year-old planes appearing in the desert!) and small (mashed potato mountain!) drawing us in like mini Devil's Peaks. A confluence of music, picture, and performance, Close Encounters is the kind of movie that fans a fire of the imagination. This isn't the limit of what movies can do\u2014it's the beginning. \u2014MP
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+ "page_name": "Every Steven Spielberg Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best",
+ "page_url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/steven-spielberg-movies-ranked-from-worst-to-best",
+ "page_snippet": "Steven Spielberg is one of the most successful directors in the history of movies. We have ranked all his movies.The movie that started it all. Spielberg made this as a TV movie for ABC. It was distributed theatrically in Europe, and it quickly made a name for Spielberg who, up to that point, had only directed episodic television. There are so many problems with this movie, from forcing in the Mutt Williams character (Shia LaBeouf) to its wacky ending. A rare misstep from the greatest filmmaker of all time. \u00b7 Spielberg is an executive producer on director James Mangold's upcoming sequel that will see the return of the soon-to-be 80-year-old Ford in the titular role. Spielberg's adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's classic is magical and imaginative but doesn't pack that special punch he's given us with these kinds of movies in the past. However, the movie features a remarkable musical score from longtime collaborator John Williams. ... Haley Joel Osment in \"A.I. Artificial Intelligence.\" Warner Bros. Pictures \u00b7 Stanley Kubrick originally intended to direct this project, but Spielberg took it over after Kubrick died in 1999. The schmaltz is strong with this one, but the movie owns it, and fans of Spielberg's obsession with aviation from movies like \"1941,\" and \"Empire of the Sun\" will find this essential. \u00b7 (L-R) William Atherton, Goldie Hawn, and Michael Sacks in \"The Sugarland Express.\" Universal \u00b7 Spielberg's first theatrical feature is a must-see harbinger of the scope and scale that would define the director's prolific career.",
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\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Jason Guerrasio and\n \n \n Graham Flanagan
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\n Updated\n
\n \n 2022-11-23T12:07:06Z\n
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\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Steven Spielberg prepping a shot for "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark."\n \n \n \n Lucasfilm\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
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Steven Spielberg has created some of the greatest movies of all time.
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Here are all 34 of his feature-length movies, from worst to best.
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We've updated the list to include his most recent movie, \"The Fabelmans.\"
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\n \n 34. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008)\n
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Earning its rightful place at the bottom of this list is the fourth entry in Spielberg's \"Indiana Jones\" franchise. There are so many problems with this movie, from forcing in the Mutt Williams character (Shia LaBeouf) to its wacky ending. A rare misstep from the greatest filmmaker of all time.
Spielberg is an executive producer on director James Mangold's upcoming sequel that will see the return of the soon-to-be 80-year-old Ford in the titular role. Hopefully, it will be a strong rebound for the ageless franchise from a new director known for strong work in \"Logan\" and \"Ford v. Ferrari.\" The fifth \"Indiana Jones\" installment is set for release in 2023.
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\n \n 33. "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Spielberg didn't have the magic when it made a sequel to "Jurassic Park."\n \n \n \n Universal Pictures\n \n \n \n \n \n \n
Spielberg rushed to deliver a sequel to his 1993 record-breaking box-office smash \"Jurassic Park\" based on the book by Michael Crichton. In the process, he failed to produce a worthy successor to the groundbreaking original.
He also created a scene in which a little girl uses gymnastics to fight a dinosaur, which may be the most cringe-worthy thing he's ever done. In a podcast interview with Alec Baldwin, the movie's screenwriter David Koepp said the gag was an original idea from Spielberg. According to Koepp, although he feigned \"forgetting\" to write the scene, Spielberg insisted on making it happen.
This slapstick comedy about a panic that ensues in Los Angeles after the attack on Pearl Harbor is one of the biggest flops of Spielberg's career. After coming off back-to-back colossal hits with \"Jaws\" and \"Close Encounters of the Third Kind,\" Spielberg likely felt untouchable, and had arguably earned the right to make whatever film he wanted. Despite an all-star cast including John Belushi at the height of his fame and some truly impressive visual effects sequences (which were nominated for an Academy Award), the movie's attempts at humor rarely connect, and the result feels like a mess.
It's clear from a fascinating making-of documentary featuring interviews with Spielberg, composer John Williams, writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and filmmaker John Milius, that the movie came from a place of passion for the style and subject matter despite its inability to click with audiences in its initial run.
Spielberg's adaptation of the Roald Dahl children's classic is magical and imaginative but doesn't pack that special punch he's given us with these kinds of movies in the past. However, the movie features a remarkable musical score from longtime collaborator John Williams.
Stanley Kubrick originally intended to direct this project, but Spielberg took it over after Kubrick died in 1999.
While it possesses many solid attributes, such as another superb John Williams score, the marriage of Spielberg's sensibilities with those of Kubrick results in an uneven mess that hasn't really improved with repeat viewings.
However, the film's opening act containing everything that happens before David ventures out into the world features some very strong work from the cast, Spielberg, Williams, Kaminski, and production designer Rick Carter.
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\n \n 29. "The Adventures of Tintin" (2011)\n
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Spielberg's only fully-animated feature didn't connect with American audiences, but it was a big hit overseas, where people are more familiar with the titular comic-strip hero.
The chase sequence involving an elaborate single-take stands out as one of Spielberg's most ambitious action set pieces. While the movie is a feat of technical artistry and family-friendly storytelling, it doesn't seem to have left the impact on the cultural zeitgeist that other Spielberg films have. We'll have to wait and see if that changes in the future.
Spielberg's 2018 sci-fi adventure based on the novel of the same name is one of his most entertaining movies in over a decade. In many ways, it's a celebration of the wonderful characters he's helped bring to the big screen over his career (from the T-Rex in \"Jurassic Park\" to the DeLorean in \"Back to the Future,\" a movie he produced).
At its core, it's a story that he's told his whole career \u2014 someone seeking acceptance.
This movie is much-maligned, even by the most loyal of Spielberg enthusiasts. Though it has wildly impressive production design that brings Neverland to life, the concept of melding the classic Peter Pan story with a middle-aged yuppie going through a midlife crisis doesn't perfectly mesh. However, the good far outweighs the bad, especially when it comes to Hoffman's bravura, nearly unrecognizable performance as the titular villain.
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\n \n 26. "Always" (1989)\n
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Often written off as overly sentimental, this remake of the 1943 Spencer Tracy movie \"A Guy Named Joe\" deserves a lot more credit.
Richard Dreyfuss delivers two exceptional monologues to Holly Hunter's character (who can't see or hear him because he's a ghost) that, in retrospect, should have earned him some Oscar consideration. The schmaltz is strong with this one, but the movie owns it, and fans of Spielberg's obsession with aviation from movies like \"1941,\" and \"Empire of the Sun\" will find this essential.
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\n \n 25. "The Sugarland Express" (1974)\n
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Spielberg's first theatrical feature is a must-see harbinger of the scope and scale that would define the director's prolific career. Released a year before \"Jaws,\" it features some incredible car chases and a strong performance by a young Goldie Hawn.
This is one of the most underrated entries of Spielberg's \"late\" period. It's a moving story about a foreigner (played by Tom Hanks) stripped of his basic freedoms in George W. Bush's post-9/11 America.
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\n \n 23. "The Color Purple" (1985)\n
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A decade after \"Jaws\" and all the popular blockbusters that followed, Spielberg wanted to make a serious film about the plight of Black people in early 20th century America. Based on the Pulitzer Award-winning novel by Alice Walker, it found success with critics and at the box office, but Spielberg was criticized for helming a movie about the Black experience, and for telling the story through a lens referred to as \"over-sentimental.\" Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, it didn't win a single statue.
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\n \n 22. "War of the Worlds" (2005)\n
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Another post-9/11 meditation from Spielberg, this time delivered in a much more crowd-pleasing fashion. Our one gripe with this movie is the casting of Tom Cruise as a down-on-his-luck everyman. What if it had been Tom Hanks instead? Regardless, Spielberg succeeds in creating some truly terrifying moments that force the viewer to think, \"what would I do in a situation like this, and would I be able to keep my family safe?\"
Despite the talky legal proceedings taking up most of the movie's final hour, that doesn't take away from the fact that the slave revolt that opens the movie is one of the most intense and powerful scenes Spielberg has ever created. Although the movie didn't have the cultural impact of \"Schindler's List,\" the power of the movie's depiction of the brutality of slavery and captivity has not diminished after almost 25 years. The harrowing scene portraying African people being captured by slave traders in their homeland is also one of the most underrated scenes ever filmed.
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\n \n 20. "West Side Story" (2021)\n
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Many (including us) questioned the Beard's decision to remake such a beloved classic and cinematic icon. However, after experiencing the movie's epic scope, design, and emotion on the big screen, it's clear that Spielberg's heart was in the right place and you can't begrudge his desire to stage the production using all of the world-class resources that he has at his fingertips. Elaborate dance numbers like \"America,\" and \"Cool\" already rank as some of Spielberg's most inspired set-pieces.
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\n \n 19. "The Post" (2017)\n
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Released at the height of Donald Trump's scandal-ridden presidency, the timing couldn't have been better. This dramatic procedural about the Nixon-era Washington Post releasing the Pentagon Papers features top-notch performances by Hanks and Streep, along with a cast of dozens of actors working at the top of their game.
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\n \n 18. "Lincoln" (2012)\n
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Amazingly, Spielberg found a way to make the minutiae of 19th-century backroom political dealings extremely entertaining. It also marks the first time that an actor won an Oscar for a performance in a Spielberg movie. Like \"The Post,\" this movie features a cavalcade of world-class actors shining in dozens of speaking roles.
Daniel Day-Lewis took home the Academy Award for his performance as Abraham Lincoln. Three years later, Mark Rylance would become the second when he picked up an Oscar for \"Bridge of Spies.\"
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\n \n 17. "Minority Report" (2002)\n
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This sci-fi noir doesn't get enough credit for its cutting-edge visual effects that still hold up after almost two decades.
We're still completely baffled by how audiences largely ignored this delightful, family-friendly epic. Excellence is on display here and you should definitely seek it out. And watch out for a great supporting performance by Tom Hiddleston.
\"Munich\" joins \"The Terminal\" and \"War of the Worlds\" to round out Spielberg's unofficial post-9/11 trilogy.
This Christmas 2005 release definitely underperformed at the box office, perhaps because audiences didn't want to spend their holidays watching a movie with so many gruesome deaths. But it's one of the director's most unique and thrilling efforts.
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\n \n 14. "Bridge of Spies" (2015)\n
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This political drama inspired by true events didn't do very well at the box office, only bringing in around $77 million in the United States. That's a shame because it shows Spielberg at his very best, in a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime collaboration with the Coen Brothers, who co-wrote the movie's screenplay.
Mark Rylance deservedly won the best-supporting actor Oscar in this underrated gem that includes a performance by Tom Hanks that should have been more praised.
The movie that started it all. Spielberg made this as a TV movie for ABC. It was distributed theatrically in Europe, and it quickly made a name for Spielberg who, up to that point, had only directed episodic television.
Right out of the gate, Spielberg established himself as a master of action and suspense.
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\n \n 12. "Catch Me If You Can" (2002)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Leonardo DiCaprio in "Catch Me If You Can."\n \n \n \n DreamWorks\n \n \n \n \n \n \n
After a string of very serious projects like \"Amistad,\" \"Saving Private Ryan,\" \"A.I.,\" and \"Minority Report,\" Spielberg finally gave us a fun one.
Teaming Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in a true-life cat-and-mouse story between a slick forger (DiCaprio) and FBI agent (Hanks) turned out to be perfection. And John Williams, again, tops it with the perfect score.
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\n \n 11. "The Fabelmans" (2022)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (L-R) Paul Dano, Mateo Zoryna Francis-Deford, and Michelle Williams in "The Fabelmans."\n \n \n \n Universal\n \n \n \n \n \n \n
A year after making \"West Side Story,\" Spielberg went and did something completely different. In fact, a first for him in his entire career. He went and made a personal movie.
There are only a few times the director brought a personal touch to one of his stories, and even in those instances he's holding back. \"The Fabelmans\" is different.
Taking a screenwriting credit, the first time he's done that since \"A.I,\" Spielberg dives deep into his past to tell the story of Sammy, a kid who is obsessed with making movies and at the same time dealing with his parent's marriage falling apart.
It's the most personal movie Spielberg has ever made to this point and it's a powerful one.
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\n \n 10. "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."\n \n \n \n Paramount\n \n \n \n \n \n \n
This is a Spielberg movie that has grown in acceptance over the decades. It's just as wild and fun to watch now as it was when it opened 36 years ago.
Fun fact: This movie was responsible for the decision to invent the PG-13 rating.
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\n \n 9. "Empire of the Sun" (1987)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Christian Bale in "Empire of the Sun."\n \n \n \n Warner Bros.\n \n \n \n \n \n \n
This World War II epic doesn't get mentioned enough when the great war movies are celebrated, but it should. The scene in which the POW camp is liberated by an American fighter squadron is one of Spielberg's best sequences.
His action choreography, combined with John Williams' score and Christian Bale's frighteningly intense acting, result in a truly transcendent movie moment.
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\n \n 8. "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n (L-R) Sean Connery and Harrison Ford in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."\n \n \n \n \n Paramount Studios\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
This is the last good \"Indiana Jones\" movie. And it is really good. Harrison Ford and Sean Connery have incredible comedic chemistry. It could have been the perfect ending to a perfect trilogy.
It's hard to describe what it was like seeing this during its initial theatrical release in packed theaters recently tricked out with booming \"DTS\" sound systems. Along with its airtight storytelling and character arcs, the movie featured computer generated imagery (CGI) that would forever change the way movies are made. Surprisingly, the visual effects work still holds up nearly 30 years later. However the most memorable scene (the first T-rex encounter) relies mostly on practical effects to create one of the greatest sequences of Spielberg's storied career.
Perhaps \"Empire of the Sun\" doesn't get more credit because Spielberg also made this one. Many war movies had been made before it, but this transcended all of them in terms of how it portrayed combat.
The opening scene showing the landing at Omaha Beach remains one of the greatest standalone sequences in movie history. The movie deservedly won multiple Academy Awards including Best Cinematography and Best Director, but inexplicably lost the Best Picture award to \"Shakespeare In Love\" thanks to the relentlessly savvy campaigning of that film's producer: Harvey Weinstein.
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\n \n 5. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was just another game-changer from Spielberg.\n \n \n \n Columbia Pictures\n \n \n \n \n \n \n
Now we're getting to the point where any of the remaining movies could easily fall into the top spot.
After the success of \"Jaws\" in 1975, Spielberg earned the power to make whatever movie he wanted, and this is what he gave us. With the moving story, dazzling special effects, and awe-inspiring score by John Williams, this is one of the greatest science-fiction movies of all time. Those interested in this movie's production should seek out co-star Bob Balaban's \"Close Encounters of the Third Kind Diary,\" which is easy to find on the secondary market. For further reading, check out producer Julia Phillips' memoir \"You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again,\" though her account (which isn't kind to Spielberg) should be taken with a grain of salt due to her admittedly heavy drug-use.
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\n \n 4. "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Harrison Ford in "Raiders of the Lost Ark."\n \n \n \n Paramount\n \n \n \n \n \n \n
After a critical and financial stumble with \"1941,\" Spielberg quickly returned to form with this blockbuster that redefined the action-adventure genre. Based on a concept by \"Star Wars\" creator George Lucas, this classic gets better with every viewing.
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\n \n 3. "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" (1982)\n
\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Spielberg became the biggest director in the world after the success of "E.T."\n \n \n \n Universal Pictures\n \n \n \n \n \n \n
After reinventing the blockbuster with thrilling action-adventure masterpieces like \"Jaws\" and \"Raiders,\" Spielberg returned to the more quiet, seemingly-mundane setting of American suburbia that he previously visited in \"Close Encounters.\" The result was this magical and imaginative sci-fi classic that unseated \"Star Wars\" as the highest-grossing movie of all time. It remained in the top spot until just over a decade later, when Spielberg's \"Jurassic Park\" stomped into theaters.
It changed the movie business forever. Studios quickly shifted their focus toward summer blockbusters. And with that Spielberg was able to go on and make the rest of the groundbreaking movies that are on this list.
Want to go a step further? Without the success of \"Jaws,\" no studio would have taken a chance on George Lucas with \"Star Wars.\"
To this day, few if any motion pictures have matched the cultural impact and raw emotional power of Spielberg's 1993 Best Picture winner, which grossed more than $322 million at the worldwide box office. The director's bold use of black-and-white cinematography was instantly iconic, marking the beginning of his collaboration with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, who has worked as the director of photography on every Spielberg movie since.
This movie brought a needed level of awareness about the Holocaust to a new generation, preceding the establishment by Spielberg of the USC Shoah Foundation, which preserves audio and visual accounts from the survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides. There had never been a movie like it before, and there hasn't been since.
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTY1NjAzNzE1MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTk0ODc0._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,1,140,207_.jpg\")
![\"Harrison](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMWE4MWNiMGItZTlkYS00N2YyLWI3ODQtYmIzZDA1ZjQzY2E3XkEyXkFqcGdeQWFsZWxvZw@@._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,0,500,281_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTM0NDUyMWMtMmJjZS00OGNmLWI5OWMtNjEzYWYzY2Y0ZmZhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM2NDM2MQ@@._V1_QL75_UY140_CR35,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYmE3ZWU3ZDEtYzFjOC00OGM2LWFjZDUtZmM2MmE5NzQwZjg1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTkxNjUyNQ@@._V1_QL75_UY140_CR35,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjg2ZTE2ZjQtMWUzMS00ZjU4LWFmYTYtMjVhOGQ2YWI4N2VhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjk3NTUyOTc@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDJiZDlkZTAtMTVjYy00ZTkzLTlmMDEtYWQwMmVhN2QwOWZhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjk3NTUyOTc@._V1_QL75_UY140_CR34,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjgxOWRiMGQtMDdhZi00YjdmLWJkMmEtOGI4MTYzMGEwYjNhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc2NTEzMw@@._V1_QL75_UY140_CR38,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDI3YTViZTItNTE5Ny00MjA2LTlkMDItYTYyOGNhNmZjOTYzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc2NTEzMw@@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTg2MTJiOWUtN2ZkYi00MThmLWE2Y2ItNzY3NjQ5YzE4MDI2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc2NTEzMw@@._V1_QL75_UY140_CR37,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ3NmY3OTgtNTcwZC00MzNiLTkwZjQtNGQ3OTk1YTZhYzU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc2NTEzMw@@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"George](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODE1MzI3MDUtOWRlNC00MWI2LTllNzMtMThlMDdlMmVkZTJkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODY0NzcxNw@@._V1_QL75_UY140_CR55,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYmUzMTYwNzctZTVkYy00ODU1LWFlNTktMDQ5MTU5M2ZhZDJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTYzMDM0NTU@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"George](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMGE3OGNmYTktYmJjNi00ZGQ1LWE2NzMtNzE5YzRiMjJhZTZlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEwODg2MDY@._V1_QL75_UY140_CR23,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDk4MjU5MzgyNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjEyOTA0NDM@._V1_QL75_UY140_CR15,0,140,140_.jpg\")
![\"Schindler's](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDE4OTMxMTctNmRhYy00NWE2LTg3YzItYTk3M2UwOTU5Njg4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU0OTQ0OTY@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Henry](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ2ODFlMDAtNzdhOC00ZDYzLWE3YTMtNDU4ZGFmZmJmYTczXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,3,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Tom](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjhkMDM4MWItZTVjOC00ZDRhLThmYTAtM2I5NzBmNmNlMzI1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDYyMDk5MTU@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Harrison](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTU2ODkyY2MtMjU1NC00NjE1LWEzYjgtMWQ3MzRhMTE0NDc0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjM4MzQ4OTQ@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"The](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTZiNGEzMzItM2NlMi00OTRiLTkwZWUtNmEwOTRiY2JkNzYyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTM0NTU5Mg@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Branden](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzgwNTI2YjAtMDM5Zi00MTAzLThkMmUtNTEyYWY1ODA2ZDdjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzQ2MDI5NjU@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Tiny](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTZlZWFmNWUtY2Q0Ni00YzcyLThlOTItMjMzNjBhZDVkMTA3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODA4OTIyMzY@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Pablo](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTZkNjllMzYtY2ZiNi00YTdkLTg0OTEtZTgzOGY5Njc3NmNiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMTg2ODkz._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Taraji](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjBkNGE0NGYtYmU5Ny00NjRiLTk5MmYtMWU4NzYxMDE4YWY4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTUzMTg2ODkz._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Life](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDdlNDU1NjYtODZjYS00ODAzLWIzM2UtMGFlOTRmMGVjNmQ0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTU1MjI3MDcy._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Bradley](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGI2MzQ1NzQtMmVkOC00ZGI0LWI3YjQtN2FjMzQ1NmRhNzFhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODE5NzE3OTE@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Gremlins:](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTQ0NzhmM2YtOTM4NS00MDQ4LWFlMzEtNmRlYWFmMjVjMDAzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODA4OTIyMzY@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Ron](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTNiNDA4NmMtNTExNi00YmViLWJkMDAtMDAxNmRjY2I2NDVjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM2NDM2MQ@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Antonio](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BY2M0ZGEwMGQtNzMxOC00OTU2LWExZmUtMTA5N2RhMDZlY2JiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODE5NzE3OTE@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Animaniacs](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjUzMjg2NDctNWE5NS00ZGIyLTlhMmYtZGI4M2RkOTM3YjI4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODA4OTIyMzY@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Jurassic](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjYyZjNiODgtNTQxNC00MWQyLTljMTAtYzI2NzZkNWNlYmU1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjg1NDcxNDE@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGM1MzczNmQtMjBmYS00NTRhLWI0MzctNTFkZDc4OGUyODdjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjMxOTE0ODA@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,4,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Jeff](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTBjMjA4NmYtN2RjMi00YWZlLTliYTktOTIwMmNkYjYxYmE1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODE5NzE3OTE@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR1,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Rachel](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTBiNDQxN2ItZTVmZi00YzAzLThlMmQtYmQ5MmM3MzczYWFiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODIyOTEyMzY@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Medal](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjNiZTc1MGMtNzE1MS00ODdjLWJlM2MtYTk4N2Y3ZmYzMDc2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI0MzA4NTgw._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Poltergeist](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjI2NDM1Nzc3Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjcyOTIxNTE@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"The](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BN2NjZmM4NmUtNDliZi00ZTZkLWE5NTUtZmY1ZGQxOTMxODI3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEwNDU1MzEy._V1_QL75_UY133_CR7,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Chris](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzViMGI1Y2ItMmNkYS00ODFhLWIwYzgtODY0ZjcwMzE5YjI1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODA5Mjc0NTQ@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR20,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Medal](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGUwMWZiMzctMWRhNy00YTNiLWIzNzAtMzM0NWE0MTYwMjg3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MTM5NjI2._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Medal](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYWNkY2EzYjAtYzA4Yi00NGY3LWI1NWEtZDgxMzM1ZWMzYWFjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MTM5NjI2._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Medal](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzAwYzBlNDMtNDE1MC00NWY5LTg4MGYtNWRkNjI1MGQ1Y2Q0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MTM5NjI2._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Medal](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTM3OWUyMWEtMzM2MC00YmI3LTljM2UtMjQzYjRiYmI0NzYxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MTM5NjI2._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Medal](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTRkMDI2NDItZTQzOC00MjRlLWE3YzEtOTQ2NDVhNmMxOGE4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MTM5NjI2._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Haley](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNWU2NzEyMDYtM2MyOS00OGM3LWFkNzAtMzRiNzE2ZjU5ZTljXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU0OTQ0OTY@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Medal](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjY4YmRlZTctOWIxMC00MDhhLTliNGItZWIyMWRhNjhkY2VhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTI1Mzg0ODA5._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Medal](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGEzOWUyNjQtMjIyYS00OTA3LWI5MWMtNDNjZDk5N2Q2YzFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MTM5NjI2._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,1,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"David](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGRjYjkwMmYtNTg2Ny00ZGE4LWE4YzktMGM2Y2E0YWEzYmJhL2ltYWdlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTc4NTAzNTc@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR44,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Someone's](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjU4ZTM0OWQtMjNkYi00MzJkLWE3ODYtNThmZDJhNjdiMTM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzUwMTgwMw@@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR21,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Marcus](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZDYxMWUzYjUtN2QwYi00YTY0LWJlMDQtOGY4YjI0OThlOWM4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTMyODM3MTg@._V1_QL75_UY133_CR1,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Steven](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BY2JiYTNmZTctYTQ1OC00YjU4LWEwMjYtZjkwY2Y5MDI0OTU3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTI4MzE4MDU@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Tom](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjQyMjEwOTIwNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTkzNTMxNDM@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Mark](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjAzOTUzNTY3Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjYwNzE5ODE@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Tom](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjIxOTI0MjU5NV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNzM4OTk4NTE@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Daniel](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQzNzczMDUyNV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNjM2ODEzOA@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
![\"Jeremy](\"https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjExNzkxOTYyNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODA0MjU4Ng@@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg\")
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