A new feature here at Killing Time. We’re going to look at directors, actors and actresses and assess the state of their career as it stands. We’ll look back at the last 10 movies the artist has done, give it a grade and then average them out to see where they stand. We’ll also rank their 10 best movies and give it the same treatment to see how an artist is doing now against their very best work. If you have ideas for other kinds of artists to grade, let me know. This is a bit of an experimental try for me so I’m totally open to tweaking suggestions. (A quick side-note: if an artist is also a regular on a TV show we’ll grade the seasons as individuals if they fall within the last 10 projects).
I have a difficult relationship with Steven Spielberg. Is he one of the greatest directors of all-time. Yes. Do I feel he should have stopped making movies about ten to fifteen years ago? Absolutely. Spielberg suffers from an inability to end his movies when they need to end and he’s lost his guts. The Spielberg that had the T-Rex eat the lawyer off the toilet is gone. He’s been replaced by the Spielberg who photoshopped walkie talkies into the hands of the cops chasing E.T. and Elliot because it was “too scary”.
His contributions to film are undeniable. In my opinion, Raiders of the Lost Ark is the best action-adventure movie of all-time. It’s flawless. Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List are two of the most important and best motion pictures ever made. I so wanted last year’s Lincoln to be of that caliber, but the truth is that Daniel Day-Lewis carried that film and saved Spielberg from an embarrassingly childish opening that would have been laughable in a third grade play, rabbit trails that took the focus off the 13th Amendment (which is the POINT of the film) and a perfect ending missed. That shot of Lincoln walking down the hall on the way to the theater? Fade to black. That’s it. That’s all you needed and something of that ilk happens every time. He’s great, he’s legendary and he frustrates me more than any director still working. Let’s look at KT ratings for the latest ten Spielberg-helmed projects:
SPIELBERG’S LATEST TEN:
1. Lincoln (2012)……………………………………8.50
2. War Horse (2011)…………………………….5.50
3. The Adventures of Tin Tin (2011)…6.25
4. Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)..6.75
5. Munich (2005)*………………………………..2.50
6. War of the Worlds (2005)……………..5.75
7. The Terminal (2004)……………………….8.00
8. Catch Me If You Can (2002)………….9.50
9. Minority Report (2002)…………………9.00
10. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)..4.25
STEVEN SPIELBERG’S CURRENT WORKING AVERAGE: 6.60
* On Munich, I don’t think I’ve ever been more offended by a movie’s ending than Munich’s. It’s inexplicable, obscene and four years after 9/11 in such bad taste that I don’t even know-to this day-why more people didn’t pitch a fit over its ham-handed opportunism.
SPIELBERG’S GREATEST TEN:
1. Shindler’s List (1993)……………………..10.0
2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)…………..10.0
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)……..10.0
4. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)…10.0
5. Jurassic Park (1993)……………………….10.0
6. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)……..9.75
7. Jaws (1975)……………………………………….9.50
8. The Color Purple (1985)…………………9.50
9. Catch Me If You Can (2002)…………..9.50
10. Amistad (1997)………………………………9.25
STEVEN SPIELBERG’S BEST WORK AVERAGE: 9.75
I personally don’t like Jaws or The Color Purple very much (yes yes, whatever, boo hiss to you), but I can’t knock the craft of the film making or their importance in the history of cinema. The top four you can arrange pretty much any way you’d like. I think Jurassic Park is just below Raiders in terms of summer blockbuster perfection and when you’re talking about movies of this caliber (especially the top of the list) you can make an argument for ranking them any way you’d like.
Spielberg was attached to direct Bradley Cooper in American Sniper, but has dropped that project and is not officially signed to anything at the moment. His last ten shows wild swings in quality and is, arguably, the worst period of his career. His best work is on par with any director’s in the history of the medium. I hope he has one more great film left in him. I’d love to see that. I just don’t trust him anymore to deliver.
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