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Eric Atreides

THE STEVEN SPIELBERG COUNTDOWN | List complete! How did your fave do????

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13 minutes ago, SLAM! said:

War Horse and Always being low 😭 

 

Maybe I really should have voted...

Like I said...

On 12/7/2020 at 11:35 AM, Eric Karga said:

 

 

-If you are going to complain about something, and you didn't submit a list, just know that it's on you. Much like with government elections, you can't complain about something if you didn't participate in the first place.

 

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#24

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

61 pts, 24 lists
"I barely recognize this country anymore. The government's got us seeing Communists in our soup."

Kingdomofthecrystalskull.jpg

 

 

Top 10 placements: 2

Top 15 placements: 2

Box Office: 317.1M DOM, 790.6M WW

Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

Metacritic: 65

Awards: 1 Grammy Award, 1 Golden Raspberry, 1 Critics Choice nomination, 453rd on Empire's 2008 Top 500 Greatest Films of All Time

 

Critic Review: "Merely grand old-school fun - a rollicking class reunion that stands as the second best entry in the venerable series." - Ty Burr, The Boston Globe

BOT User Review: "I like the movie. Yes it's corny and hokey but it's also a lot of fun. A-" - @DAR

 

Its Legacy: Became the highest-grossing Indiana Jones film of all time unadjusted. Showed that Lucasfilm fanboys are extremely annoying. Gave Cate Blanchett a paycheck.

 

Commentary: Several decades in the making, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was one of the most-talked about films of 2008, serving as the glorious return of an iconic franchise with all the creative teams returning. All the while, adding in Soviets and aliens to the mix. It just so happened that despite largely positive reviews from critics, it garnered poor reactions from fans, because every Lucasfilm project from 1999 onwards is destined to be polarizing. And while I obviously won’t give specifics, you could probably guess this is pretty far away from all the other Indiana Jones titles for somewhat understandable reasons. But hey, it still made that money and it still has its fans for a reason. It’s still a fun, campy serial that has the hallmarks that made people love Indiana Jones in the first place, even if it isn't as tight or as memorable as before. Let’s hope James Mangold has the know-how to give us another exciting and entertaining adventure when that fifth movie finally comes out.

 

 

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#23 

Duel

62 pts, 22 lists

"Come on you miserable fat-head, get that fat-ass truck outta my way!"

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Top 5 placements: 2

Top 10 placements: 1

Top 15 placements: 4

Box Office: N/A

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Metacritic: N/A

Awards: 1 Emmy win and nomination, 1 Golden Globe nomination

 

Critic Review:

BOT User Review: "I actually feel this is his best film. At least, it's the purest incarnation of Spielberg you can find. Obviously many of his other films are fantastic, but this is a near-perfectly crafted thriller." - @Avatree

 

Its Legacy: The TV movie that got Spielberg famous. Earned a cult following from film buffs, Spielberg fans, and truckers. Referenced throughout games, movies, TV, etc. Gave Dennis Weaver a paycheck.

 

Commentary: It’s the one that started it all. With little money but a lot to prove, Spielberg took what was a basic premise of a man versus a machine and gave it as much flair and style he could. This resulted in a TV movie that did so well in both reviews and ratings it turned heads at Universal. Spielberg knew he had something good here when it comes to the story, and he put everything he could into making the most entertaining and engaging genre piece he could. And thus, we would see some of the greatest films of all time, the birth of the blockbuster, and a complete reinvention of the entire studio system. For better or for worse.

 

 

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#22

The Lost World: Jurassic Park

66 pts, 22 lists

The_Lost_World_%E2%80%93_Jurassic_Park_p

 

Top 15 placements: 6

Box Office: 229.1M DOM, 618.6M WW

Rotten Tomatoes: 53%

Metacritic: 59

Awards: 1 Oscar nomination, 1 Grammy nomination, 1 MTV Movie Award nomination, 3 Golden Raspberry nomination

 

Critic Review: "For the first half-hour, the movie is pretty crummy. Even Spielberg appears bored with the script's lame setup, its quick evocation of the first movie and its wan establishment of human villains and heroes. Like any 50-year-old adolescent, he can't wait for the dinosaurs. And when he gets to them, the movie ceases to bear any relationship to conceits of narrative and becomes a sheer adrenalin spike to the brain stem." - Stephen Hunter, The Washington Post

BOT User Review: "Love this film, from the music to the action to the dinosaurs, a perfect summer blockbuster." - @CaptainJackSparrow

 

Its Legacy: Earned the biggest domestic opening weekend in history. Solidified Jurassic Park as one of Universal’s biggest moneymakers via theme park rides/sequels/toys. Gave Julianne Moore a paycheck.

 

Commentary: You know the phrase, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all”? Well...

 

I kid, I kid. I generally try to avoid putting personal opinion on these things, especially negative, and go more for a general consensus. This is a countdown celebrating the man, not berating him. So in that sense, gotta be professional. While Lost World isn’t quite as celebrated as Jurassic Park, even Spielberg himself has expressed his disappointment, it certainly has its place in the JP canon. Ian Malcolm is allowed to take center stage here, and the dino carnage is taken to the streets, which is neat. It also has Julianne Moore and that one scene where a gymnast knocks out a raptor through some flips. So that’s cool.

 

The Lost World would of course become a box office sensation, earning the biggest opening weekend in history and spawning several sequels/revamps, which...can’t say something nice, say nothing at all.

 

 

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#21

The Color Purple

68 pts, 18 lists

"I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it."

The_Color_Purple_poster.jpg

 

 

Top 3 placements: 1

Top 10 placements: 4

Top 15 placements: 3

Box Office: 98.5M DOM, 142M WW

Rotten Tomatoes: 81%

Metacritic: 78

Awards: 1 DGA win, 1 Golden Globe win and 4 nominations, 3 National Board of Review Wins, 11 Academy Award nominations,

 

Critic Review: "To miss this film is to cheat yourself and your family of a memorable moviegoing experience." - Gene Siskel, The Chicago Tribune

BOT User Review: N/A

 

Its Legacy: Transition piece from escapist blockbusters to serious drama. Kickstarted both Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey’s careers. Appeared in Roger Ebert’s The Great Movies. Part of fierce debates on white filmmakers tackling Black stories. Gave Danny Glover a paycheck.

 

Commentary: The Color Purple is perhaps the biggest risk in Steven Spielberg’s career. Creating your own identity in the film industry is tough, but moving away from that identity is even more so. This film was a total departure from Spielberg’s previous works of fun, escapist summer tentpoles. Therefore, a lot could go wrong here. Spielberg might not have had the talent and know-how to pull this story off. This radical departure could have alienated his fanbase. General audiences might have thought the idea of the Jaws guy doing a movie about the struggles of Black women in the 20th century was too ridiculous.

 

But through it all, it worked. It has garnered criticism for being too sentimental and the characters being too stereotypical. Criticism has also been made over Spielberg softening the original book as well as whether or not this story should have been told by a white filmmaker in the first place. But either way, The Color Purple became a success story. It earned positive reviews, 11 Oscar nominations, grossed $142 million worldwide, and made the original novel bigger than ever. It even spawned a Broadway musical adaptation produced by Mrs. Winfrey herself. And while it was on the lower end for most lists, it did appear in the top 10s of several posters. It even got a bronze medal in one list, which says quite a lot.

 

 

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#20

War of the Worlds

78 pts, 18 lists

"Is it the terrorists?"

220px-War_of_the_Worlds_2005_poster.jpg

 

 

Top 10 placements: 3

Top 15 placements: 5

Box Office: 234.3M DOM, 603.9M WW

Rotten Tomatoes: 75%

Metacritic: 73

Awards: 3 Academy Award nominations, three Empire Award nomination, 1 MTV Movie Award nomination

 

Critic Review: "Working in the spirit of his predecessors but with the kind of uncanny special effects they could barely dream of, Spielberg has come up with an impressive production that is disturbing in the way only provocative science fiction can be." - Kenneth Turan, The Los Angeles Times

BOT User Review: "Love this movie! Got a great atmosphere and Cruise is really good in it." - @CoolioD1

 

Its Legacy: Became the highest-grossing Tom Cruise movie of all time. Also destroyed Tom Cruise’s career for a while. Was parodied in Scary Movie 4. Gave that guy from Dragonball Evolution a paycheck.

 

Commentary: War of the Worlds didn’t just serve as a loose adaptation of the famed HG Wells novel. Rather, this was Spielberg’s attempt to contextualize his emotions and conflicting feelings after the tragedy that was the September 11 attacks. The feeling of confusion, isolation, fear, and anger after becoming invaded is all focused on here. It’s very much a timely movie, though also timeless as the ideas of invasion and terrorism are still relevant and poignant. The film shrouded itself in secrecy to the point where even the cast were unaware about some of the story elements and the design of the aliens. And sure enough, this paid off tremendously, becoming one of Spielberg’s biggest box office hits and is still appreciated as a fun sci-fi horror title and as an interesting time capsule of the mid-2000s.

 

 

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#19

The Post

82 pts, 24 lists

"Do you know what my husband said about the news? He called it the first rough draft of history."

The_Post_(film).png

 

 

Top 5 placements: 1

Top 10 placements: 4

Top 15 placements: 4

Box Office: 88

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Metacritic: 83

Awards: 3 National Board of Review wins, 2 Academy Award nominations, 6 Golden Globe nominations, 8 Critics Choice nominations

 

Critic Review: "Despite its few flaws, The Post is an enthralling film: brisk, funny, suspenseful, inspiring." - Fred Kaplan, Slate

BOT User Review: "Very gripping and very much relevant today with Trump and his ongoing war on the press happening. It's also top-tier Spielberg, showing off his undeniable ability of telling compelling stories through a polished lens. And of course, the cast featuring no shortage of talent is strong across the board, with Meryl Streep (giving easily her best performance since Julie & Julia IMO) and Tom Hanks delivering the kind of top-notch work we expect nothing less of from them at this point. This would actually make very worthy double feature with Spotlight." - @filmlover

 

Its Legacy: Was the first collaboration between Spielberg, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks. Emphasized the importance of the media at a time when they were struggling against Trump. Underplayed the value of The New York Times. Served as the unofficial prequel to All the President’s Men. Gave Bradley Whitford a paycheck.

 

Commentary: We now come to one of the more timely pieces in the Spielberg canon. Releasing one year after the inauguration of one Donald J. Trump, this was a film that Spielberg knew he had to make right away, in order to make the people aware about the importance of the press and news media, as well as the hidden corruption found under our noses.

 

Filming this while also taking care of post during Ready Player One, Spielberg’s film paid off tremendously. Not only did it serve as a tribute to great minds like Ben Bradlee and Katharine Graham, it also saw strong box office returns and two Academy Award nominations. And with it ranking considerably high on several lists, it’s clear The Post still has and will have appreciation for its timeliness and values even after our orange nightmare is over. Though of course, always remember to stay vigilant and support your local news media.

 

 

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#18

The Adventures of Tintin

82 pts, 25 lists

"There's something you need to know about failure, Tintin. You can never let it defeat you."

The_Adventures_of_Tintin_-_Secret_of_the

 

 

Top 10 placements: 3

Top 15 placements: 5

Box Office: 77.6M DOM, 374M WW

Rotten Tomatoes: 74%

Metacritic: 68

Awards: 1 Academy Award nomination, 1 Golden Globe nomination, 2 Annie Award wins and 2 nominations, 2 BAFTA nominations

 

Critic Review: "With the best use of motion capture yet, Spielberg has translated the story of the youthful Tintin, his spirited pooch Snowy and the eccentric Captain Haddock into a first class action adventure that serves as the perfect cross between "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Spielberg's own "Indiana Jones" series." - Pete Hammond, Boxoffice Magazine

BOT User Review: "The movie is an all out entertainer. The colors are vivid and the screens just shines unlike the dark 3D movies. The script is crisp, action fun and the movie moves at lightning speed. Don't Miss it." - @jb007

 

Its Legacy: Became the first non-Pixar title to win the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. Was the highest-grossing animated film in India. Introduced the classic Herge comics to filthy American audiences. A major collaboration between two legends, Speilberg and Peter Jackson, alongside Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright as screenwriters. Gave Simon Pegg and Nick Frost paychecks.

 

Commentary: Remember that brief period in the 2000s when Robert Zemeckis tried to make motion capture animated movies a thing? This was the only one that was actually good and Zemeckis wasn’t even attached to it. That must have hurt. This also was produced by Nickelodeon Movies, where along with Rango, meant Nick produced two better animated movies that year than what Pixar did. 2011 really was a wild time to be alive.

 

Anyways, after being in the works for decades, Spielberg always wanted to make a Tintin movie, believing it to have solid potential as a kid-friendly Indiana Jones. And sure enough, this animated title finally came to fruition nearly 30 years later.

 

With a whole new set of tools to mess around with, this animated feature was a non-stop thrill ride, boasting incredible 3D technology and immense respect to the original source material. And with it being a solid hit across the world, it served as a solid introduction to many on the timeless character. And while the planned sequel directed by Peter Jackson probably won’t happen anytime soon, we at least still got this fun family adventure to enjoy.

 

 

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#17

Munich

84 pts, 24 lists

"There is no peace at the end of this."

Munich_1_Poster.jpg

 

Top 10 placements: 4

Top 15 placements: 9

Box Office: 47.4M DOM, 131M WW

Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

Metacritic: 74

Awards: 5 Academy Award nominations, 2 Golden Globe nominations, 1 Critics Choice nomination

 

Critic Review: "A superbly taut and well-made thriller that jumps from Geneva to Rome, from Paris to Beirut, from Athens to Brooklyn, each lethal assignment staged with a mastery Hitchcock might envy." - David Ansen, Newsweek

BOT User Review: "the most uncharacteristic Spierlbeg film, and I loved it." - @Goffe

 

Its Legacy: Named the 16th Best Film of the 21st Century by The New York Times in 2017. Earned controversy for its depiction of its Israeli assassins. One of the lowest-grossing titles for Spielberg. Gave Daniel Craig a paycheck.

 

Commentary: Alongside Schindler, Munich is one of the darkest and saddest tales Spielberg ever directed. Depicting the 1972 Munich massacre and the aftermath that came with it, this looks at the idea of revenge under the guise of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What does revenge truly accomplish? Why should there be an endless cycle of conflict and mayhem? Who is really at fault during all this? There are so many questions and very few answers, as the lead character Avner, played by Eric Bana, struggles to understand his duties and contemplates what is the right thing to do. Spielberg taps into his own Jewish identity and creates a harrowing and disturbing tale.

 

It’s a dour film to say the least, but also serves as an intense, nail biting affair, helped also by John Williams’ haunting score. And while one of the more controversial films in the man’s filmography, its solid rankings on so many lists solidifies itself as a popular one.

 

Oh and free Palestine.

 

 

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#16

Ready Player One

86 pts, 27 lists

"People come to the Oasis for all the things they can do, but they stay for all the things they can be."

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Top 5 placements: 2

Top 10 placements: 3

Top 15 placements: 5

Box Office: 137.7M DOM, 582.9M WW

Rotten Tomatoes: 72%

Metacritic: 64

Awards: 1 Academy Award nomination, 1 BAFTA nomination, 4 Teen Choice Award nominations

 

Critic Review: "Ready Player One was a substantive film and a far more depressing/disturbing/self-aware one than negative reviews indicated. Maybe the best example of major movie subverting a best-selling novel since American Psycho." - Matt Zoller Seitz

BOT User Review: "That Shining scene. Jesus Christ I orgasmed in that part." - @baumer

 

Its Legacy: Became the highest-grossing Spielberg film of the 2010s. Boasts and celebrates notable pop culture events, figures, and films. Is part of a very long, very tiring, very annoying discourse. Gave Ben Mendelsohn a paycheck.

 

Commentary: Just gonna get this out of the way. I get there are a lot of weirdos here who like to act as if Ready Player One is the reason everything in the world is wrong. Well we’re not gonna do any of this mindless and irritating discourse here. We’re celebrating Spielberg, not complaining about him. And just remember what I said right here:

 

On 12/7/2020 at 11:35 AM, Eric Karga said:

-"This movie I hate ranked higher than a movie I like? I lost all respect for this list!" Yes, believe it or not, the general consensus of the forums will not automatically fit your tastes and sensibilities. Please try to be respectful and courteous during the duration of this countdown, both to myself and to fellow BOT members. You don't have to agree with this, but you can act like a gentleman.

Okay? Okay. Now then. Much has been said about Ready Player One, with it becoming one of the most polarizing modern Spielberg titles. Some say it’s a fun, nostalgic romp with spectacle and flair. Others believe it to be a mindless barrage of pop culture references only made to appeal to geeks. Many even go into a nuanced position, arguing the film is a commentary about the endless pop culture spewing life has become, whether that was intentional by Spielberg or not.

 

And that very much applies to the rankings here. Some people placed it at the bottom of their list, while others were far more favorable, placing it high up on their lists. We actually had two users put it in their top 5. Regardless on how you feel about it, there’s certainly passion for this movie, whether good or bad. And I think that makes it a fitting midpoint for this countdown.

 

 

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And we're done for tonight. I got plans for my last  batches to be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Stevie's birthday. I'm thrilled that we're halfway there and I'm excited to talk about the ones y'all really gave some love to. Until then, just remember to not be annoying over your unfaves doing well.

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