Steven Spielberg - Genius or Overrated?

He's made so many great films it's boggling (is that a word?). The deep deep love for his craft is what enables him to be so prolific / great at it. He's made some clunkers tho. "Always" is one of the worst films, as is "Hook", and "A.I." was pretty bad. But considering all the good and great films he has made, he is damn-near a genius. And his mom is a sweety. She must have something to do with all his talent.
 
Genius. Possibly one of the most UNDERrrated directors due to his commercial success. He's able to manipulate viewers' emotions like no one else.
 
NBCshooter said:
Genius. Possibly one of the most UNDERrrated directors due to his commercial success. He's able to manipulate viewers' emotions like no one else.
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Agree on that one. If a director becomes to commercial, people tend to think less of him as a director.

But whats nice about speilberg is that he still directs groundbreaking movies. He has evolved.
 
I especially like the story of how he sneaks into an empty office and acted like it was his. Staight off a tour bus and into Hollywood history. I didn't really care for his Marcus Welby MD episodes though(LMAO). Night Gallery was a little better but the Columbo episodes got him back on track.

Seriously one of the greatest of all time.
 
Bigmagic said:
I especially like the story of how he sneaks into an empty office and acted like it was his. Staight off a tour bus and into Hollywood history. I didn't really care for his Marcus Welby MD episodes though(LMAO). Night Gallery was a little better but the Columbo episodes got him back on track.
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Classic story. It was as if it had been meant to be. Spielberg would always wear his best suit...the security guard mistook the young director for the son of studio head Lew Wassermann. I mean, you can't write better material than that.

One little piece of "movie guy" trivia...
The actor starring in one of Spielberg's first television assignments (The Psychiatrists to be exact) was Clu Galager...father of the Project Greenlight 3 director John (and co-star of the lost in release limbo Feast.)
 
CallaghanFilms said:
Classic story. It was as if it had been meant to be. Spielberg would always wear his best suit...the security guard mistook the young director for the son of studio head Lew Wassermann. I mean, you can't write better material than that.

One little piece of "movie guy" trivia...
The actor starring in one of Spielberg's first television assignments (The Psychiatrists to be exact) was Clu Galager...father of the Project Greenlight 3 director John (and co-star of the lost in release limbo Feast.)
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Jan. 6th "Feast" comes out. They got a little extra money and went back and shot a few more scenes and such. Just in case you didn't know....
 
NBCshooter said:
Genius. Possibly one of the most UNDERrrated directors due to his commercial success. He's able to manipulate viewers' emotions like no one else.
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Exactly and I think that pisses a lot of his peers off!!!!

He is a freaking genius.

-R
 
As a whole, overrated. No genius would ever make:

1941
Hook
AI
The Terminal

or produce/exec. produce:

Casper
Deep Impact
The Flintstones
The Goonies [and wrote]


I love his earlier works like Indy, Close Encounters, and Jaws... but that was a long time ago. He seems to be more of a film businessman than an artist these days. Most of his movies have the "for the masses" appeal which means they usually have no edge or spark. Like the old saying goes:

"Try and please everyone, you'll end up pleasing no one..."

Just keep the kid stuff in the kid movies, and leave the more edgy stuff for the adults.

... by the way, are you listening George Lucas?
 
KingVidiot said:
As a whole, overrated. No genius would ever make:
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Hey come on now.
You can't knock em all out of the park.
Even Babe Ruth struck out (a hell of a lot I might add).

Looking at his filmography he has 48 different projects listed as Director.
You named 4 that weren't all that great.

God I pray to have those same numbers at the end of my career.
:)
 
The Picture on your left is a collaboration between 4 great filmmaking personalitys.

George Lucas - Story
Steven Spielberg - Direction
John Williams - Music
Harrison Ford - Acting
 
I couldn't agree more. In fact, I'm glad to see that you included John Williams on the list. Spielberg has been incredibly lucky in that he's been able to collaborate with some of the most talented people in the biz. One could argue that Magic Johnson wouldn't have been Magic without James Worthy finishing the break, or that Phil Jackson wouldn't be a star coach without talent like Jordan, Pippin, Kobe and Shaq. I guess my point is that talent attracts talent.

Besides, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is my favorite movie, it's the movie that made me fall in love with movies in the first place, and it marks the first time I ever noticed the "Director" credit in a film. (I was 6 when the movie was released.)

Because of Spielberg, I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to making a living at making movies. I'm not sure whether to thank him or hate him...I suppose I'll get back to you when I'm on my death bed.

(Sheesh....got a little dramatic there for a moment.)
 
Luis Caffesse said:
Keep that up and you'll make some engaging movies.
:)
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Ah, but I was bordering on melodrama! If I keep that up, I'll be making after-school specials in no time. (Drugs Are Bad, Jinny Eat Something, Whatever!)
 
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