Steven Spielberg - Genius or Overrated?

KingVidiot said:
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?
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i think The Terminal is not so bad... but S.S. has several very boring 'n' uninteresting films.

he is just highly overrated.
 
1.Duel
2.Jaws
3.Close Encounters
4.Raiders
5.E.T.
6.Schindler's List
7.Saving Private Ryan

Any one director having ALL of these films in his body of work is a genius. Period.
 
Close encounters.
Jaws
ET

All get the yes vote, but I truly believe that there should be a law passed that prevents him and tom hanks from ever working together again.

-rook
 
Sure, not ALL of his movies were huge box office hits. What director, or producer, or actor bats 1000 every the time??? none.

The main criteria for judging a filmmaker is their ability to tell a story. Mr. Speilberg is undoubtedly one of the best storytellers ever. Ever. Genius? Absolutely. If by genius you mean to ask if he has crafted his filmmaking skills to an absolute master level? Come on. That is a no-brainer. To put it bluntly: overrated my ass.

Rick
 
he is a good director in a "big" sense. everything he does is big, over the top and beautiful. he's not nearly a genius. when you say "genius" i think thomas edison, albert einstein, or Thoreau "genius." i can only think of three directors that could be considered "genius." well maybe four. it would have the be Majid Majidi, Kubrick, Bergman, and Gallo. everyone else is just great. i forget who directed the apu trilogy, but he would be next in line for a genius award.
 
michael_summers said:
...Majid Majidi, Kubrick, Bergman, and Gallo...
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Now I know this is a bad dream. Or maybe some kind of mass hallucination. Someone wake me up please...this is the equivalent of the falling off a building and seeing yourself die in your sleep.
 
people are very ignorant. i suggest you research the man before judging him by common knowledge, and actually viewing the films for what they were. nothing short of genius.
 
CallaghanFilms said:
Now I know this is a bad dream. Or maybe some kind of mass hallucination. Someone wake me up please...this is the equivalent of the falling off a building and seeing yourself die in your sleep.
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if thats what you feel about certain comtemporary, well-rounded entertainers trying to break the boundries of convention, i guess so.
 
michael_summers said:
people are very ignorant. i suggest you research the man before judging him by common knowledge, and actually viewing the films for what they were. nothing short of genius.
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Right, and the sky is blue. I have seen his films, and I wouldn't even think of considering Gallo a genius. Not even close. Now go and watch all of Spielberg's films. Then you'll recognize Spielberg's genius. :beer:
 
FourStarCinema said:
Right, and the sky is blue. I have seen his films, and I wouldn't even think of considering Gallo a genius. Not even close. Now go and watch all of Spielberg's films. Then you'll recognize Spielberg's genius. :beer:
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have you seen his paintings? his essays? his photographs? interviews? the man is a genius with technique, story, drama, comedy, and conceptual ideas. (the photographs... quite rare i doubt youll find any without paying hundreds of dollars)

there are thousands of gallo bashing thread on the internet and im sick of it, lets not turn this into one. agree to disgaree.

edit: im not bashing spielberg. in fact, my favorite film of his was one everyone seemed to hate, AI. empire of the sun was brilliant also. but i credit him with the begining of the downward spiral of hollywood blockbusters, so i can't give him much praise for the outcome of his films.

it's hard to be a real working independent artist these days without recieving critisicm.
 
michael_summers said:
have you seen his paintings? his essays? his photographs? interviews? the man is a genius with technique, story, drama, comedy, and conceptual ideas. (the photographs... quite rare i doubt youll find any without paying hundreds of dollars)

there are thousands of gallo bashing thread on the internet and im sick of it, lets not turn this into one. agree to disgaree.

edit: im not bashing spielberg. in fact, my favorite film of his was one everyone seemed to hate, AI. empire of the sun was brilliant also. but i credit him with the begining of the downward spiral of hollywood blockbusters, so i can't give him much praise for the outcome of his films.

it's hard to be a real working independent artist these days without recieving critisicm.
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That's cool that you are into his other art, and I'll admit that I was judging him strictly on his movies. I agree that AI is one of Spielberg's best films (which is an opinion that always draws bashing). However, about the whole downward spiral of Hollywood blockbusters, you can thank the studios for their marketing and dumbing-down these films to fit a certain rating or demographic. Jaws may have shown that money could be made in the summer months, but it could have been released anytime and still made lots of cash. And Raiders was a blockbuster, but also very artfully done and well made.
 
well i bashed spielberg badly, more than i needed to for that. he was blamed by many of the failed directors of the 70s, along with lucas. neither of them are to blame, because sooner or later it would happen anyway. they just happened to be people making quality movies at the time.
 
Hey Michael, I'm with you on Gallo. I don't know about the genius part (I don't use that word lightly) but I do like him.

I don't know about the genius part but I think he's great. Now "A.I." -- that I don't get. Why do you like "A.I."? I'm just curious as it did nothing for me.
 
Yeah, i guess you could call me a Gallo fan-boy... but i'm just a sucker for extremely independent, egotistical contemporaries. I admire his attempt at breaking convention, which he has done very well. Who has the guts to shoot a film in entire 35mm reversal stock, then cross process it, and defy all rules of modern cinematography without even knowing if its going to be distributed? thats pretty hardcore. and imagine it, it turned out fantastastic, (that was buffalo '66) I wont comment on the other film because its sure to start a heated debate, but i liked it just as well.

AI was... dazzling. i wish it would have been longer. I loved the performances, the sets, everything felt so surreal but at the same time, not impossible. it was just a beautiful looking film, and it also hit some emotional chords with me. spielberg transitioned from different times and scenes very well, and it never drew attention to itself.
 
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