Yet oddly enough, 1941 is utter crap.

See, I'd say his best includes Saving Private Ryan, which actually gets to me in a way the vast majority of his films don't. And I've never seen Schindler's List, but isn't it supposed to be really good? My brother swears by it.

But Jaws and Raiders, definitely good flicks, in a completely different vein. I also have a soft spot for Jurassic Park, but that may be because of my age when I first saw it.

Still have little interest in WotW, despite the generally good reviews. I was so meh about Minority Report, which had similarly excellent reviews, that I have no faith in the critics when it comes to Spielberg and Cruise. I'll probably wait until it's on DVD.

And I've never seen Schindler's List, but isn't it supposed to be really good? My brother swears by it.

It's really good, yeah, and it's one of the few movies that's made me cry. Of course, you can just scream "Emotional manipulation!" or whatever, but I don't care.

I love Jurassic Park. I really like Minority Report and Catch Me If I Can and pretty much most Spielberg, really.

I have long found that Spielberg can win me over, and keep me, right up until some climactic moment when he tries too hard and loses me completely. That was true of Schindler's List, Empire of the Sun, A.I., and a lot of others. (He never won me over for Saving Private Ryan.)

Good tactics, crappy strategy, I'd say.

Yet oddly enough, 1941 is utter crap.

But it's fun crap. "Look! A baby wolf!"

Okay, maybe not, but I suspect at least part of the problem with that movie was a young Spielberg being unable to rein in Belushi and Akroyd.

I'll probably wait until it's on DVD.

But disaster flicks are so much better on the big screen!

Now if they would only bring back Sensurround....

But it's fun crap. "Look! A baby wolf!"

Okay, maybe not, but I suspect at least part of the problem with that movie was a young Spielberg being unable to rein in Belushi and Akroyd.

The jitterbug scene was brilliant, but for every good thing in the movie there were 2 or 3 (or more) bad ones.

Now if they would only bring back Sensurround....

Or Smell-O-Vision!

It's a grand display of how well he knows how to work us over, and yet the desperation with which he tries to get to us is repulsive.

So true.

As fas as Schindler's List goes, I remember sitting in the theater digging my nails into my palms, saying to myself "That bastard Spielberg is NOT going to make me cry." It didn't work. Tears streaming. I rationally recognized the emotional manipulation and couldn't stop it. All the Americans I was with (this was in Bucharest) were crying too.

Of course, the Romanians behind us nudged each other and pointed at us and asked, "What's wrong with them? Do you think they are Jewish? " So YemotionalmanipulationMV.

(additional note of irony - the theater had been a synagogue. You know, before.)

See, I'd say his best includes Saving Private Ryan, which actually gets to me in a way the vast majority of his films don't.

I still kind of like SPR too, but it is emotionally manipulative in a really cliche way. Ultimately, I think film is an emotionally manipulative medium, so I don't necessarily think that's an automatic strike against a picture, but SPR was very cliche about it. It was kind of like Spielberg took every war movie ever made and blended them together to try and make an Uber War Movie. As Miracleman once said -- from the moment Hanks' character finally tells everybody he's a school teacher, you know he's a goner.