You honestly thought they'd let the shark kill the three principals?
― clemenza, 2. februar 2018 02:31 (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Well, no, but it's still so disappointing when they win. Imagine Jurassic Park if the humans had killed the T Rex :(
― Frederik B, Friday, 2 February 2018 02:00 (six years ago) link
Jaws, it's not even close
― flappy bird, Friday, 2 February 2018 02:05 (six years ago) link
― Frederik B, T
glad to see you're on record writing that a T. Rex is as easy to kill as a shark
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 February 2018 02:07 (six years ago) link
http://horrorcultfilms.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/jaws.jpg
so much winning
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 2 February 2018 02:11 (six years ago) link
In all honesty, you are a pisspoor writer if you can't kill a shark as easily as a dinosaur. It's all imaginary.
― Frederik B, Friday, 2 February 2018 02:13 (six years ago) link
voted Raiders as despite being comprised of so many fun set pieces it maintains such a clean arc, not sure that can be said about any of these others, even Jaws which is great
― Pumpkin Soup and Mandy Patinkin (Hadrian VIII), Friday, 2 February 2018 02:16 (six years ago) link
Raiders is practically perfect, too, but it's just a relentlessly fun adventure. Jaws wrings drama and suspense from an innately ridiculously premise, and I really like the relationship between all the characters. Plus, perhaps tied with Godfather as the best adaptation of the worst book.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 2 February 2018 02:20 (six years ago) link
Spielberg doesn't really cop from too many guys visually except when he wants to, eg Ford (even Lucas was more blatant about it). Nothing "basic" about him, his camera movements in something like The Post is peerless in this age.
I've seen CE3K and Empire again in the last 2 years and dissolve in tears in the last 10 minutes, same with E.T. I also saw Raiders last summer and calling it "perfect" is just nuts. Doom improves on it in every way, per Pauline Kael.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 02:24 (six years ago) link
The 10-year-old me would've voted for Raiders in a heartbeat. The 20-year-old me would've voted for Empire of the Sun. The 40+ me trusts the 10-year-old me more, but probably owes Empire a re-watch.
― o. nate, Friday, 2 February 2018 02:33 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCQqM-kaAG8
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 February 2018 02:34 (six years ago) link
Plus, perhaps tied with Godfather as the best adaptation of the worst book.― Josh in Chicago
I was thinking about that today too, even though I've never read The Godfather. Think I did read Jaws as a teenager, after seeing the film--vaguely recall that Hooper has an affair with Brody's wife in the book, and that Spielberg wisely ditched that.
― clemenza, Friday, 2 February 2018 03:22 (six years ago) link
Hooper also dies! Maybe in the cage, as opposed to swimming to safety.
― omar little, Friday, 2 February 2018 03:29 (six years ago) link
I love Doom, sometimes, but the only way it improves on Raiders is by being even pulpier and sillier, though the intro sequence is superb. If it happens, I'm sort of surprised West Side Story would be his first musical.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 2 February 2018 03:35 (six years ago) link
It ramps up the casual racism, if that's your thing
― Moodles, Friday, 2 February 2018 03:50 (six years ago) link
I also saw Raiders last summer and calling it "perfect" is just nuts. Doom improves on it in every way, per Pauline Kael.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Thursday, February 1, 2018 9:24 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
THIS is just nuts. Kael Schmael. Yawn.
― Acid Hose (Capitaine Jay Vee), Friday, 2 February 2018 04:21 (six years ago) link
Ya'll the JP on this poll isn't the OG, it's the terrible sequel where a gymnast somersaults and kicks over a dinosau
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Friday, 2 February 2018 06:28 (six years ago) link
Lol oops wrong thred
― fuck you, your hat is horrible (Neanderthal), Friday, 2 February 2018 06:29 (six years ago) link
Close Encounters was the first Spielberg movie I ever saw, at the Ziegfeld Theater, and it was one of the more memorable experiences of my life, so that is what I'm going with
― Dan S, Friday, 2 February 2018 06:57 (six years ago) link
Just bought close encounters on dvd for $3, haven't seen it since I was about 10: looking forward to rewatching
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Friday, 2 February 2018 09:32 (six years ago) link
i have a lot of good memories/associations with Hook
― Badgers (dog latin), Friday, 2 February 2018 09:47 (six years ago) link
mostly cos, like Brad, my brother watched it every day when he was little and still knows every line. i can't be objective about it either
― Badgers (dog latin), Friday, 2 February 2018 09:49 (six years ago) link
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 12:27 (six years ago) link
I'm mystified that a guy who appreciates good populist art doesn't get Spielberg, especially compared with contemporaries were putting out.
yeah I mean it's just pleasure-center response for me. I was the target market for those movies when they were coming out; I did not enjoy them. I think the last Spielberg movie I saw from beginning-to-end was The Color Purple, which I saw in the theater. A couple years later I caught the first half hour or so of Empire of the Sun playing on a VHS in a facility where I was working I and said to myself, self, you've been checking this guy's stuff out for ten years now and it never really does the trick for you, move along.
― she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 2 February 2018 13:37 (six years ago) link
I thought Empire of the Sun held up really well when I saw it again last year or so. Between that and The Color Purple (and Always?), felt like Spielberg (who was prolly what, 35?) was then trying to prove his worth as an adult director of grown up stuff, which is crazy, since his mastery of material, actors and filmmaking was already pretty unimpeachable.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 2 February 2018 14:00 (six years ago) link
This almost has to be CE3K for me.
― Millennial Whoop, wanna fight about it? (Phil D.), Friday, 2 February 2018 15:42 (six years ago) link
kinda would like to see Dr. Morbius make the case for Spielberg the Genius.
naaah, you don't want me doing that. Even tho I don't think she evaluates him as a genius (nor do I!), you're better off with Molly Haskell:
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300186932/steven-spielberg
Or Eric!
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 16:05 (six years ago) link
No way am I recommending myself over Molly Haskell
― Tarr Yang Preminger Argento Carpenter (Eric H.), Friday, 2 February 2018 16:07 (six years ago) link
One of my favourite bits from that amazing Quincy Jones GQ profile is when he describes seeing Spielberg's E.T. prototype.
"They made that little monster, and he looked too much like a brother. That's why the second one had blue eyes."
― dinnerboat, Friday, 2 February 2018 16:48 (six years ago) link
between close encounters and et
i wrote this before reading any of the comments, but it's interesting how most people who regard close encounters as his best also consider et as a contender too
i was just talking to a friend a few days ago about how i find the indiana jones movies so boring
― infinity (∞), Friday, 2 February 2018 17:38 (six years ago) link
haven't seen sugarland, purple, always, or schindler's. do i need to see any of those before i vote? sounds like more people put sugarland in the top tier than i'd ever realized.
of the ones i've seen it has to be jaws, close encounters, raiders, or ET. that's a VERY tough choice tbh. close encounters really shook me up on recent viewing but i suppose i have to dock it points for some dropped threads and underdeveloped supporting characters versus the flawless, every-beat-is-perfect craft of the other three there. it probably has the least mawkish but still powerful sense of wonder, because mixed effectively with the darker notes of the sublime. neery at night on the road by himself, encountering the thing for the first time... finding that little group of ufo-watchers who are out waiting for Something, it rushing by in the cold night air - wow.
love jurassic park but it really does get sloppy in the last act as i've mused elsewhere. temple of doom has the racism and that can't be handwaved or yawned away, sorry - these are fun action-adventure films, so if it takes on the water of "i can't recommend this to friends" then it's halfway to sunk. last crusade is great fun but can't help but feel a little redundant or flabby next to raiders. hook is awful - the prestige treacley junk haters accuse his good films of being. also the plot doesn't work and neverland consists of four hideous expensive sets. 1941 has entertaining and charming aspects but is mostly an unfunny slog with no memorable characters or jokes. empire of the sun is flawed sure but definitely interesting. duel rules, though i admit i haven't seen it since high school.
― Righteous wax chaperone, rotating Wingdings (Doctor Casino), Friday, 2 February 2018 18:42 (six years ago) link
Raiders has p much the same racial content as ToDoom w/ the non-Nazi supporting characters
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:29 (six years ago) link
disagreed!
― Righteous wax chaperone, rotating Wingdings (Doctor Casino), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:30 (six years ago) link
do you remember Alfred Molina waggling his fingers in the first scene? "Adios, Dr Jones." Can't trust em.
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:32 (six years ago) link
it's extremely racist against the French
― omar little, Friday, 2 February 2018 19:33 (six years ago) link
I love the Indiana Jones movies (well obviously not the fourth), I would probably rank them in the order of release.
I've said it elsewhere but I think there's a particularly haunting undercurrent of dread that builds throughout, leading to the opening of the Ark, that is more effective here than in any other film I've seen. it's in the background of the entire movie and usually plays out with a bit of wind or unsettling pauses. it's exceptionally well done.
also Brody and Sallah are outstanding characters as opposed to buffoons (though Elliott and Rhys-Davies both play buffoons well.)
― omar little, Friday, 2 February 2018 19:39 (six years ago) link
Always is my least favorite Spielberg and that's including Hook. A totally charming cast wasted in a totally superfluous remake. I'd much rather watch the original.
― Millennial Whoop, wanna fight about it? (Phil D.), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:39 (six years ago) link
Sallah is a buffoon by the time we get to Last Crusade; we've long forgotten he's the "finest digger in Egypt" when he's reduced to saying shit like, "in the belly of that steel beast."
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:40 (six years ago) link
yeah i mean those guys in Raiders are great characters vs their revisitation in LC.
― omar little, Friday, 2 February 2018 19:42 (six years ago) link
all that shit about his brother in law's car is good for a smile, but he's playing a cartoon (like Brody is)
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:44 (six years ago) link
my least fave Spielberg is his Twilight Zone segment
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:46 (six years ago) link
Brody in Raiders had a sort of extremely casual confidence and wary nature and was clearly Jones' equal, just more of a university guy as opposed to an adventurer. I liked the knowing looks they'd share during the initial expository scene w/the government agents.
― omar little, Friday, 2 February 2018 19:46 (six years ago) link
Denholm Elliott's name was Brody? why do you ppl remember that?
(i know youve watched RotLA 36x)
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:47 (six years ago) link
cuz he's called Marcus or Marcus Brody in two of the films?
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:49 (six years ago) link
omar little so otm about the "undercurrent of dread" throughout Raiders. it's in the supernatural music queue that comes up when the Top Men are informing Indy of the Biblical reality his mission, the queue pops up again on the ark's reveal, etc. there is a spookiness and a heaviness to the macguffin that works really well as isn't as strong in any of the other films. Temple of Doom feels way more cartoonlike in that aspect.
also i love Sallah's little singing "I am the monarch of the sea..." just before they find the bad dates.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:50 (six years ago) link
xps well yeah, when it comes to Twilight Zone, Miller = Dante >> Spielberg >>>>>> Landis. (Killing a pair of kids moves you way down the list.)
― Millennial Whoop, wanna fight about it? (Phil D.), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:51 (six years ago) link
so i gather, Alfred, and why wd a person use up memory with that?
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:54 (six years ago) link
You mean ears?
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:54 (six years ago) link
It's okay we don't know that the head German in Raiders is called Dietrich; he's only referred to by name once.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:55 (six years ago) link
i prefer 'cartoonlike' to Frank Buck/James Bond with a whip, if such a distinction can be made
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Friday, 2 February 2018 19:55 (six years ago) link
i can't help it, I'm like Marilu Henner over here, I can't forget anything, even the fact that she played Belinda in Noises Off with Denholm Elliott in his final film role.
― omar little, Friday, 2 February 2018 19:55 (six years ago) link