Steven Spielberg

[Ian_Lee]

I used to be a big fan of Steven Spielberg.

Starting from the '70s, Spielberg has directed so many movies of different genre like "Jaws", "Encounter of the 3rd kind", "E.T.", "Indiana Jones Trio", "Jurassic Park"........etc that he is loved by almost every movie-goer ranging from 8-yr old kid to 80-yr old great grandmom.

Even his least successful movies like "1941" (black comedy about Japanese submarine surfacing on the coast of California) and "Empire of the Sun" (childhood memory about Shanghai) were very refreshing.

However, in the new millenium, the movies that Spielberg directed have always fallen short of expectation no matter in the eyes of movie critics or in term of Box Office.

Except "The Terminal" which is still quite popular (frankly speaking I can't stand the movie's theme that every foreigner wants to sneak into US no matter what), the others like "Artificial Intelligence", "Minority Report", "Munich", "War of the Worlds",....have made me disappointed time after time.

Now the name Spielberg starts to turn me off. What do you think?

[bhchao]

I was a big fan of E.T., Jaws, and the Indiana Jones trilogy while as a kid. In fact, I watched each of the Indiana Jones films more than once, my favorite being Raiders of the Lost Ark.

And I particularly liked Empire of the Sun even though it was not a first-class caliber movie. One of my favorite scenes in the film was the depiction of KMT soldiers fighting the Japanese in Shanghai while the little boy expressed his bewilderment of what is going on.

I share the same sentiment that Spielberg is becoming less interesting as time wears on; and have not even bothered watching Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, and War of the Worlds. Two words explain why I did not bother watching the latter two: Tom Cruise.

Munich seemed too dark and depressing. I might consider watching one final Spielberg film, a fourth Indiana Jones starring a 65-year old Harrison Ford

[bhchao]

Saving Private Ryan was very good. I remember watching it in the theater on opening day, and was awestruck by the battle scenes, particularly the opening scene of the Allied beach landing at Normandy.

A good tribute by Spielberg to the men who liberated the European continent in WWII.

[Ian_Lee]

Bhchao:

In Saving Private Ryan, the battle scenes are too real. For me, the most awestruck is the scene that German soldier struggling to strike the dagger into the heart of that American GI. Anybody knows what that German soldier mumbled about during the struggle? I recall he was saying something like "life...."

[carlo]

Have you guys watched 'Duel'? Spielberg has been so prolific, of course he can't get it right every time, but the nice thing is that he keeps experimenting to an extent (at least for someone who's the biggest name in Hollywood).