who is kidding guys ??? i missed Nepali Movie today :(

"It’s just plain rude to get up and walk out of something that someone has laboured over.” Is he kidding? I walked out of his all too labored "Close Encounters" decades ago and have rarely ventured back to his oeuvre. There's nothing ruder than an insult to one's intelligence, Mr. Spielberg.

The guy who directed Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and is now releasing a postcard for 13 year old girls ("War Horse") is complaining about good movies not being made. Well no shit

Where are the great movies?

Good question.

Why are most hollywood films aimed a teenagers?

Spielberg is partially to blame for the lack of good films, Jaws, ET and the like were good, but forced Hollywood into copying format for success,  rather than striving for good film.
Pixar make great films, WallE or Up and most of the others can stand proudly amongst that number - ie films made for all the family with people writing on both the adult and the child's level.
Apart from Pixar, the films are out there, they just dont tend to have blockbuster attached to them, so they fade away.

I grew up watching the classic black and white movies, where the director and crew, knew how to use a camera and not clip and snip scenes together later on.  Speilberg has made some great films and like others, not so great.

At least we can watch the classics over and over again and seek out those that know how to make a film like the old masters.

Spielbergs greatest movie by far was The Empire of the Sun .
It was also by far his lowest grossing and barely paid the bills.
Where are the great movies ? They lie buried under a pile of garbage called money.

Movies are 1st and foremost a business and art/culture/morality come in a very distant 2nd place. Once we diid view movies as art or as a morality/high culture  etc but that belongs to a time when maybe 50 movies were made per year compared to the 1000s churned out now. Spielberg cannot possibly make quality when he has 24 movies in the pipeline. !!
Movies have not been high culture for the last 30 years and may never be again.
Which great writer works on 24 seperate novels at the same time ?
Ok besides Harry Potter !
There are glimmers of hope though and from this years batch Robert Redfords The Conspirator was an outstanding study of how to use history as a distant mirror using zero special effects . Most movies Im afraid  ,Spielbergs included and Katzenbergs in particular are crass smash and grab money making special effects stunts .

What a piece of misleading journalism. He never said movies aren't good now, just that he's more enamored with the past ones.

The man directed the films of my youth, for me he is one of the greats.

He directed / produced the two greatest trilogies of all time, Indiana Jones and Back to the Future.

He also directed E.T. and produced and wrote the Goonies.

Add to the mix Jaws, Close Encounters, Gremlins, Jurassic Park and this guy
was pretty much involved in the entire filmography of my formative
years!!!

You forgot '1941'
You know the one you and everyone else always forget to mention when brown
nosing this 'talent'

If shmuckberg loves epics - then why doesn't he put his money where his mouth
is instead of financing yet another vulgar sfx chase thinly disguised as a
movie.

I didn't "forget it". Just like I didn't forget Empire of the Sun or The Colour Purple or even The Money Pit. I'd need an article of my own to list all of the great films he's been involved in

It's not brown nosing, it's just recognition of a great talent.

A talent - only as a producer who can play it safe and pick bland films that appeal to undemanding audiences.

"play it safe and pick bland films"???

Like Schindlers List and The Colour Purple?

Yes - both based on best selling books - both about minorities (so has an inbuilt audience) that cross over into mainstream.

And yes Bland film as both shy away from the real horrors that are in both books and how the lead roles have become

romanticised for hollywood to fit in with their idea of what a film narative should be.

If you have never read either I encourage you to do so esp. Schindlers' Ark.

Basing a film on a book does not make it a safe option. Both Lean and Kubrick made millions from films based on other peoples ideas.

Because The Shining or a Clockwork Orange or Oliver Twist are based on books, does that make them any less good?

Oliver Twist especially is a soft portrayal of what is really a very dark book and The Shining, in my opinion, pales next the the original book but still stands out as a good film in its own right.

I have not read Schindlers Ark, but will (one day).

The point about comparing the two forms will give you an insight into choices made in adapating works for the big screen. What is left out or softened is as telling about the directors intent and artisitic integrity (or lack of) as what is left in or accentuated.

Yes read it one day, you will see how soft the film is by comparrison. 
 

I'd like your top five film directors of all time Auton?

I don't make lists - as they are pointless and always out of date and since I nor anyone else has ever seen every film ever made it would be impossible to make such a definitive statement.

I could tell who my personal favourites are.

Stanley Kubrick
Terry Gilliam
John Huston
Igmar Bergman
Nicholas Roeg
and
Jan Švankmajer

* And I forgot Peter Greenaway

SchindLer's List not Schinder's.  Academic error.  Is there no pride in your work?

I once got into Schindler's Lift.

Tin Tin was awful. It was straight out the Hollywood sausage machine. European culture in one end, trashy formulaic American rubbish out of the other.

Spielberg has been a great director and has made films that will never be forgotten. I just don't understand why he's moaning about Hollywood just after making a film that isn't worth watching, Tin Tin. My wife fell asleep during it.

If you want good films, avoid Hollywood.  A lot of good foreign films are being made.

Avoid films that have "big name" stars in them - most can't act and just rehash the same mannerisms over and over. Films with unknowns are better as they we are watching the character, not the actor.

What a load of rubbish. What does he mean 'my whole career has survived without big movie stars'? How are Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Daniel Craig, Jude Law, Liam Neesan, Ralph Fiennes, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery to name a few, NOT big movie stars?

A tad delusional I think.

Lack of good scripts.. Its harder to write one now when all the charachters can call eachother one mobile phones. Lack of good leading men to replace cruise brando gibson etc.. ryan renyolds ryan gosling??? etc BORING. Di caprio is the only movie star in his 30's left..

I'm watching TV for a good storyline/drama and am going to the movies for explosions, monsters and popcorn. What is the point of watching a drama on the big screen? I just don't see the connection between content and medium. 

I don't expect cinema to be good at storytelling, it's just the wrong medium for this sort of thing. I'm always pleasantly surprised when it happens though. 

I think there are always a mix of good and bad films, whether its the 30's, 50's, 60's, 80's or today.

For every Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia and Planet of the Apes there are very bad films too.

To the Jolly Roger
Band of Brothers is excellent, but that's probably because it was largely the work of Tom Hanks and writer Eric Jendresen. Spielberg only came in, after the episodes were constructed, in an executive role to cast a final eye over the output. :)

Disqus ...arrgh

A would take issue with Mr S over one aspect: the Golden Age of movies was the 1930s to around 1950ish.

Casablanca must be one of the best films ever.

However, that said, I do much agree.

When the film industry has to resort to making films about video games and endless garbage using kiddie's comic book heroes, then it's lost.

And if not that, then makeovers of classics from the past: using the latest media-hyped actors and actresses, lacking real thespian talents.

Perhaps the death knell of film, as an art form, was sounded once computerised special effects became commonplace.

The crucial core of good books, plays, radio and film is making the reader use their imagination.

Also, there is a current dearth of really good, powerful actors; those capable, like Chuck Heston, of crossing from film to serious live theatre.

Similarly there's too few serious scriptwriters and a lack of good novelists: far too many current books are juvenile rubbish, oriented at the great unwashed.

I haven't visited a cinema for 30 years: and don't plan to, either.

Film making has changed since the great success of 'Jaws' the first Blockbuster....Now the main concern is beating the last Guy at the Box Office...Never mind the quality feel the width.

Schmuckberg has never made an 'epic' in his life.

His bland direction, characterisations and his promotion of marketing tie-ins are contributing to the 'lowest common denominator' that has made Hollywood's output so banal and trite for the last 30 years.

So much for your lack of knowledge and obvious lack of taste. Your spelling is of his name is no better either.

Taste ? Pah - the man is  a wannabe David Lean or Stanley Kubrick - has been all his life and has never come anywhere close to either of those directors in cinematic or narative terms.

Where is his Lawrence of Arabia or Spartacus ?
Where is his genre challenging 2001 or Citizen Kane or Goodfellas restaurant scene.

Mr Pretentious Auton,

Give me Spielberg (that's how to spell it, philistine, small p intended) most days.  Apart from Strangelove (courtesy Peter Sellers and george C Scott), what was Kubrick's legacy, apart from wrecking the Cruise - Kidman marriage/partnership with that Eyes Wide Shut pretentious crap?

Ah another phillistine with a penis complex

Give me Back to the Future over Spartacus anyday !!

Philistine.

Thankfully you edited your brown nosing original post.

I didn't edit it, i just moved it!

I may be a Philistine but you ask anybody between the ages of 25 and 35 to name their favourite films and they will all include Spielberg classics, I'm sure of it.

It's what we grew up with.

Yes and millions read say they buy the Sun everyday that does't mean it it is a quality paper.

An excellent point. But what makes you think that you are right and the millions are wrong?

All film is subjective, what one person finds incredible, another finds boring.

I didn't say I was.
 I just pointed out the flaw in your own reasoning.

The flaw translates into your own arguments. You attack me as a Philistine and a brown nose for favouring the films of Spielberg over Kubrick or Lean. However, just because you like them, doesn't make them good.

You are not in a position to declare which director is better, all you, or me, can say is that we prefer one over the other.

 I could point you to the numerous books written on the greats of Cinema and the classic and epic films of Hollywood and you would not find Schmuckberg among them.

Quote from David Lean :

"Spielberg is an extraordinary chap, the first time you saw duel you knew he was a director[...]. I Think he's especially talented"

Robert Aldridge described Spielberg as "clearly the most brilliant" when comparing him to Coppola and Lucas.

There is no end of praise from critics, directors and actors about Spielberg and his awards shelf does him no harm either.

Quote mining is fallacious.

As is claiming anonymous authority and appeals to popular belief.

People are going to suck up to him because his films make money and they all want a piece of the action.

Its all Emporers new clothes - no once dares say anything bad about the king except the one who can see through the Facade.

What you appear to be saying is that the information you can point me towards, your books "written on the greats of cinema", is valid but anybody who speaks in favour of him is simply in awe of his celebrity, sucking up to the man who makes money.

His films make money because they are popular, nothing wrong with that, he has a talent for knowing what people want. This fact doesn't make the films any less good.

Your fatuous insults towards me don't make your points any more valid and as to claiming anonymous authority, I claim none, I'm just a bloke who's watched a lot of films.

You will not diminish my respect for Spielberg, I will always consider him as a great director/producer and I look forward greatly to Lincoln and War Horse, out soon !!

The fallacious BS just keeps piling up underneath you.
 

It's a pity you had to resort to mindless comments which have no relevance to the arguments you are trying to put forward. It simply shows that you have run out of things to say.

Not at all - It has become painfully obvious that your pseudo religious devotion to schmuckberg impedes your ability to view things objectively and without the blinkers of your childhood memories.

I think I can take comfort in my position by the story the next day that asked the question if Schmuckberg was a hypocrite for what he said.