5 Good Spielberg Films

I may not have particularly enjoyed War of the Worlds, but Spielberg has had his fair share of good movies. More recently he delved into less accessible subject matter. While this may have turned much of his audience off, I found some of these newer films to be among his most enjoyable. And of course, he still has a hefty back-catalogue of remarkable films that continue to inspire filmmakers worldwide. Everyone has the capacity to make something truly astounding. Just to let you know that I have no real bent against this guy’s work, here are five of my personal favorite Spielberg films.

Catch Me If You Can: Spielberg’s definitive capper movie. Based off the real life story of con artist Frank Abagnale Jr., this film tracks the manhunt for Abagnale from two opposing points of view: Abagnale’s own and that of his hell-bent pursuer, Carl Hanratty. With a sharp sense of humor and a clipped pace, “Catch Me If You Can” is not particularly stunning or epic, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s merely an exercise in both tone and pace.

Jaws: Spielberg did manage to deliver a film that was told through the eyes of intriguing and engaging characters. His finest hour at this form of storytelling was Jaws. Known as the film that revolutionized his career, Jaws works on so many levels. But what remains most impressive about it is its strong cast of characters. We’ve got the smarmy marine biologist, the guilt-ridden police chief and a crusty old seaman. These three characters, strongly opposed in background, morality and personality, pushed the film forward towards a remarkable climax. Even if Spielberg could have gotten the mechanical shark to work, it wouldn’t have given this film the same brilliance.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark: George Lucas may have initially conceptualized this story, but the actual direction of the piece owes its significance to Spielberg. Much like a Lucas film, Raiders of the Lost Ark places its focus on the cornball theatrics of pulp comic heroes and adventurous escapes of daring do. The film’s hero Indiana Jones finally gave Spielberg an outlet to discard all his ideas he had in homage of James Bond. What’s more, it gave him his own franchise of films to successfully capitalize off of.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Brilliantly understated in its execution, Close Encounters of the Third Kind succeeded in giving us an alien film that hinged on the miraculous wonder of Spielberg’s very active imagination. Told in part by the frantic performance of Richard Dreyfus, and the oddly detached narrative of the U.S. Military, Close Encounters used a drawling pace to gradually reveal the alien beings to us. To this day it remains timely and tasteful.

Minority Report: Minority Report was a film that was lifted off a story by Philip K. Dick and retold in film noir perspective. Featuring Tom Cruise and Colin Farrell in what may be his only tongue-in-cheek performance; Minority Report toyed with the idea of what it would mean to give up your privacy in return for a guaranteed kind of safety. Although Spielberg may not have pushed this concept as strongly as he could have, the film still features a tight narrative plus several interesting plot devices. Its vision of the future is also delightfully dark; abound with dancing cereal boxes, convicts stored away in tombstone like chambers, and police nightsticks that induce vomiting.

War of the Uninspired

On the day of October 30th, 1938, men, women and children fled their homes in terror because the nation was being attacked by the greatest threat humanity had ever faced: an enthused imagination.

The stimulant? A fictional a radio broadcast.

Spielberg on set

Yes, these people, caught up in a fit of sheer terror, had no intergalactic invaders to blame for their loss of control, just Orson Welles. The legendary auteur (at that time a member of the famous Mercury Theater) caused real pandemonium with his now infamous broadcast of “War of the Worlds” all because of a little acting ability and plenty of imagination. Ingeniously weaving his adaptation of the famous novel through a series of mock news reports, Welles managed to capture a personal level of terror that is often felt by each and every one of us whenever malevolence strikes.
Now, Steven Spielberg has attempted to capture that same feeling with his own adaptation of War of the Worlds, and it’s safe to say that while he may have created an entertaining film, he’s failed in the same arena Welles excelled in.
I honestly don’t think it’s unfair to criticize Spielberg in this regard; he tries several times throughout the film to capture that same sense of human terror, but he never quite succeeds. Instead of giving us 5-star generals and a hard-boiled war president as the film's leads, he builds the story up from the human point of view by introducing us to a shattered family in the form of Ray Ferrier, his daughter Rachel and his son Robbie. But despite this fundamental effort to capture terror where it is most strongly felt, Spielberg can’t help but fall back on his old tricks.
Yes, Spielberg may filter the story through a torn family but he also giddily shows us the aliens as soon as opportunity arises. (These aliens, by the way, are so formulaic in design that I’d just as soon see one walking down the street than be terrified of it.)
Herein Spielberg drops more cash on fancy computer effects for the alien war machines then Welles probably spent on all of his films combined. These alien war machines, or tripods as the film insists we call them, are truly terrifying when shadowed away by smoke and haze. But more often then not, Spielberg ruins the illusion by giving us plenty of crisp snapshots of the blasted things. He tries to be coy, but he just can’t do it. There’s one point in the film where Cruise’s character meets up with a gang of greedy, story-driven reporters who show him footage of the tripods attacking. M. Night Shyamalan tried this “secondary source” technique with great results when he showed us an alien captured by a video camera in Signs. In reality, that shot was probably just a guy in a rubber suit captured by an actual off the shelf video camera. Yet that’s why it was so chilling! Spielberg’s “footage" looks more like an ILM test model for the tripods.
Elsewhere in the film, Tom Cruise busies himself as usual by acting proficiently enough to carry the story along, unhindered by his recent media shenanigans; I honestly had no problems simply letting him fall into his roll. Along with Cruise we have Dakota Fanning, the prodigy child-actress who does a fantastic job of acting terrified (and since that’s really the only emotion she can effectively convey, this story is a perfect showcase of her abilities), Justin Chatwin who pulls off a sufficient performance if nothing else, and Tim Robbins who gives us something mildly besotted considering how little he had to work with. But, for a film that was touted to be built on a foundation of standout characters, there are no real standouts in the entire piece. True, the first half does a fantastic job of giving us the human characters we desperately need...then the second half throws them completely out the window.
The final flaw is a tone that is far too blatantly “dark!!!” to be effectively enjoyable. Instead of letting the atmosphere of the situation set the tone of the film, we’re given graphic moments of people vaporizing into dust or getting their blood sprayed across the land. Sure, it’s dark as heck, but not terribly inspired.
Spielberg should be praised for his visual accomplishments; that goes without question. And the visual effects beheld in the film are crafted most exquisitely. But these kinds of films simply aren’t Spielberg’s territory anymore. He used to own the blockbuster. Now, with a new generation of filmmakers leaving their imprint, it feels like he’s riding on the coattails of younger visionaries. We expect Shyamalan to swipe tricks from Spielberg, not vice versa.

After all the computer generated trickery, high paid actors and media scandals, Welles still owns the legacy for this story, all because he had a little acting prowess, some ingenuity, and of course, plenty of imagination. Let me know when Spielberg gets his back.

Report

Sorry it's been quiet around these parts lately. I haven't felt terribly interested in posting. Kudos to Gabe for all his MP3 posts. I look forward to them every week. They've kept this place alive.
Not much to report...finished a new short screenplay entitled His Big Night (maybe I'll put it up soon)...might have a part in it for Gabe, possibly Mr. Summers and a few others (if they're interested)...dunno yet. It's actually act II of a three act film. Gotta see how the planning stages turn out before I plan on filming it. I'm also gearing up to revise Wildlifeless for the 35mm contest. Unless someone wants to pair up with me to write something for that thing, I'll submit my revised edition.
The shoot for The Straight Man was great by the way. Easily one of our best films. It also has some of Josh's finest cinematography, and I truly feel that the rest of us helping on the film made the whole thing go smoothly. I won't say much about it though because it's under wraps right now. Anyway, keep your eye out for that.

Cya,

-Brock

Letting the pineapple turn

Sunday night after the jam session at Joshua’s house, Marco, Josh and Angie, and myself sat down and watched Wong Kar Wai’s seminal hitman piece “Fallen Angels” (or as it is known in the East, “Duoluo tianshi”). This was the first time I saw the piece and I have to say that I was quite impressed.
According to Josh, this film is a direct follow-up to Kar Wai’s own Chunking Express, and as there are numerous similarities between the two, the connection is palpable. For instance, a main character in this film, He Zhiwu, claims to have lost his voice after eating an expired tin of pineapple. If you’ve seen Chunking Express, you will recall that one of the film’s characters, He Zhiwu, collected and ate tins of expired pineapples. While there is no direct connection between the two characters in either film’s narration, it’s still a curious reference.
Anyhow, I was most impressed by this film because of several reasons:

One of the finer performances.

1. It’s structure. It’s clear that Kar Wai’s films have a unique structure all their own. Most often this is achieved through his improv shooting, which often leads to him piecing a story together (literally) in the editing room. He followed through on this style in Chunking Express, but I have to say that I felt like his attempt here was considerably more effective. The story really had a unique structure and style of editing. Whereas it was unique and workable in Chunking Express, here it was the defining drive behind the film.

2. The spine. This story really had a strong spine that followed through from beginning to end. Although much of it was probably improv, toyed around with and left unsure until the moment of editing, there was an unmistakable sense of direction to this film. It established a strong beginning and delivered with a strong end. And each character had a line of development that they followed throughout the film, sometimes to heartbreaking results. This was well done.

The film's token conflicted hottie.
3. The atmosphere. If this film succeeds especially well in one particular area, it succeeds in creating a suffocating, vivid, strung-out atmosphere. With every scene set entirely at night, this film never lets up for a moment on the enclosed, overwhelming harshness of the city. Everyone is either crammed away in a dingy little apartment, an ice cream truck or a restaurant that barely has enough room to stand up in, let alone sit down. (Most of the time, this seems to be achieved with a telephoto lens, which never lets up on the actors) Someone commented on IMDB that this establishes a proficient commentary on the backlash of modern life, also known as “The Walkman Syndrome”. A key sequence in the film, showing a main character spacing out while a terrible fight breaks out behind her, underscores this theory perfectly.

I enjoyed Chunking Express, but Fallen Angels is a film that I would watch again and again. It may even be a film I wouldn’t mind adding to my own collection.

The Blood That We're Made Of

A little Mates of State for you. This band simply consists of a couple. The lady plays organ and the man plays drums. I love the organ in this song.
Download mp3: Mates of State - Ha Ha.

Ha Ha

I can't tell what kind of life I've led today
All that's known is what's debatable again

Oh, I can't see where you are
Where is the problem?
Squared-off, all bother
We're not to blame

And I can't see the darker wood
Squared-off, all bother
Where is the problem?
We're not to blame

I can't tell what kind of life I've led today
All that's known is what's debatable again

And I imagine I will see you there
You will have long flowers in your hair
I imagine I will see you there

This is the blood that we're made of
So tell it like a chronicle

Who's dancing all around?
Let's give it to me, give it to me now

And I imagine I will see you there
You will have long flowers in your hair
The telegram said: are you gonna call our way home?

I imagine I will see you there
Can't you hear the laughter in the air?
The telegram said: are you gonna call our way home?

And I imagine I will see you there
I know it's stout but it's shallow
I'm not aware
The telegram said: who rejuvenated your eyes, boy?

This is the blood that we're made of
Go tell it like a chronicle

We're dancing all around
Let's give it to me, give it to me now

This is the blood that we're made of
Go tell it like a chronicle