Spielberg: The Magic Is Long Gone
by John NolteThere were two Hollywood-related moments that gladdened the heart over this past weekend. The first, obviously, was the glorious sight of the Oscar telecast end credits, the second was Kim Master’s “Slate” story reporting that Steven Spielberg’s long gestating passion project – an Abe Lincoln biopic, is all but dead. Steven Spielberg not making a film was good news. How things have changed in thirty years.
Anyone my age, anyone who was around ten years-old when “Jaws” hit theatres, remembers when the name “Spielberg” meant something magical. From childhood straight through to my mid-twenties, Spielberg was what the joy of movies was all about. Not only did he direct four of the greatest films in the history of American cinema: “Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “E.T.,” but as a producer his name was attached to such crowd pleasers as “Used Cars,” “Poltergeist,” “Gremlins,” “The Goonies,” “Innerspace,” “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” and the “Back to the Future” trilogy.
To say the least, this was quite a run and then in 1993 he achieved something no other filmmaker of his generation ever came close to. He brought to the screen both the ultimate popcorn thrill-ride with “Jurassic Park” and a full-blown masterpiece with “Schindler’s List.”
At this point Spielberg had nowhere to go but down, and down he went. Whether or not he’s lost a bit of his filmmaking mojo is for another debate. The issue here is one of moral maturity.
My disenchantment with Spielberg began about 90-minutes into “Saving Private Ryan,” a film that treats the American soldier with respect, but refused to acknowledge the country that produced that soldier. It’s Tom Sizemore’s sympathetic character who speaks the film’s theme out loud:
“But another part of me thinks that if by some miracle we stay and actually make it out of here. Some day we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole God awful shitty mess….”
That “God awful shitty mess” is WWII and no one – not the characters, not the film itself — argues that maybe another “decent thing we were able to pull out” was saving the world at a terrible cost to both ourselves and our allies.
Then there’s “Munich,” a film so morally illiterate in its examination of Israel’s right to protect itself, you would never believe the same individual created “Schindler’s List.”
And finally, let’s not forget Spielberg’s willingness to help China put a fairytale Olympic facade on a country with one of the worst human rights records in modern history. It was only a very public shaming started by Mia Farrow that put an end to that nonsense. The Commie bad guys in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Worst Sequel Without The Word ‘Boogaloo’ in the Title” were make believe. He should be so offended by real ones.
We should be pleased Spielberg may not get to make his Lincoln biopic because his moral blindness makes it impossible to understand an individual as complex and historic as Abraham Lincoln, a man willing to go so far as to destroy America in order to save it. The essence of Lincoln was that he was driven by the knowledge that without America the world was doomed, and so he would preserve it at any cost. If you can’t grasp that, you can’t grasp Lincoln, and Useful Idiots for Communist countries are immediately suspect. That “Munich” screenwriter Tony Kushner, who has made some outrageously negative statements about Israel, is credited with having written the “Lincoln” script is beyond comprehension.
Who would have ever guessed that a man — second only to Walt Disney — once associated with the purest joys of escapism and the pinnacle of pure filmmaking, is now associated with the very worst of modern day Hollywood. No one can take the magic out of your name. You can only give it away.
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188 Comments
“But another part of me thinks that if by some miracle we stay and actually make it out of here. Some day we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole God awful shitty mess….”
See, this is what happens when you lock your writers up for so long they just start free associating on paper.
Wow! He was truly a genius. What happened?
I'd like to see Eastwood take on a Lincoln bio – I think he could do a fine job. And he's about the only current director I'd say that about.
What do you suppose motivated this moral malignancy? His projects were indeed a joy to behold at one time.
Yeah it is ironic a liberal Democrat believes he knows how to do justice to the Republican Party's founder.
Like you, I greatly respect the man who directed Jaws and Close Encounters, brought Indiana Jones onto the screen, produced Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit etc. and adore his work, but I'm both anxiously curious and extremely terrified on who Lincoln can adapt. Especially if it'll try to compare link today's leader with Lincoln and all the unbearable diatribe.
Oh well. At least Liam Neeson is in it.
Chris Nolan. He made a pretty good film this year about how one man is willing to be hated by the people he's trying to save.
Yeah it is ironic a liberal Democrat believes he knows how to do justice to the Republican Party's founder.
Like you, I greatly respect the man who directed Jaws and Close Encounters, brought Indiana Jones onto the screen, produced Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit etc. and adore those works, but I'm both anxiously curious and extremely terrified on how Lincoln will adapt. Especially if it'll try to compare/link today's current leader with Lincoln and all that unbearable diatribe.
Oh well. At least Liam Neeson is in it.
*Edited for grammar errors*
Mr. Spielberg had a hand in "Band of Brothers", which I feel is an enormously important work. I worry, though, that this year's "The Pacific" might be colored by the post 9/11 lefty worldview. Let's hope not.
Yes! It is true. But I think it has been apparent that this man has always been morally corrupt. He is a greedy man who has used media to build an artificial idea of an idealized person that is quite removed from the corrupt person that he truly is. I am glad to see some holes poked in the pomposity of this clearly arrogant individual!
Hey, at least he's got to have enough dough left from his golden years to be able to pay all the taxes the Obamunist demands. It's up to Spielberg and Oprah now.
I think Spielberg movies have points when they should end, but they keep going, and going, and going… WAIT A MINUTE… can you imagine the merchandising that could go into an Energizer Bunny movie!!!! $$$
SIZEMORE: “But another part of me thinks that if by some miracle we stay and actually make it out of here. Some day we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole God awful shitty mess….”
No one in the war talked like this. It's a lazy reliance on a convention established by Vietnam dramas.
When he says "we", he means humankind. See, it wasn't the Germans who committed the atrocities and ignited a global war. It was HUMANKIND. Of which we are apart, which means we — Americans — are not above taking some ownership for the whole "awful shitty mess".
Thank you, Spielburg. We'll continue to cast blame where it's due, while you encourage the enemies of civilization.
He seems to think he needs Bollywood or Disney partnerships and funding. All he needs is a subject and a camera. Is he afraid he can't just tell a story?
I don't need all the special effects and bells and whistles to be entertained. I think my favorite was "Duel".
Shortly after the release of Schindler's List there was a big, near-violent antisemitic rally in Oakland, California. CNN showed the full panoply of antisemitic signs and "Hitler didn't do enough" commentary by the African-American students behind the demonstration. A few hours later, CNN re-appeared with a sanitized version of the demonstrations, complete with Steven Spielberg talking about how it was a misunderstanding, and that he must have failed to get the right message across. Huh? It was as if he was saying "I'm sorry my Jewishness offends you, I'll try to do better in the future." I've never trusted him since.
Thumbs down for double posts, sorry but you suck at life big time.
Yeah that Eastwood is a nice fellow. Fun times.
If slightly different version of my comments are appearing, it's because I'm getting a "This comment is currently in moderation" message. Usually, as in this post, the comment eventually disappears entirely. I don't think I've done anything to be blocked, so I'm guessing it's another glitch in the new and growing blog. It seems to happen about every other comment. Anybody else had this problem?
Everyone makes Lincoln out to be such a hero and Emancipator…
From from Lincoln's second debate with Stephen Douglas, on August 27, 1858:
"I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races- that I am not , nor have ever been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which prevents them from living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race"
People- stop deifying Lincoln~
I haven't seen Munich but friends who did were disgusted. Apparently Spielberg had one of the Israeli commandos displaying remorse for what he had done. This is quite disgusting coming from the man who directed Schindler's List. Spielberg knows the Israeli commandos had absolutely no remorse for ridding the world of the paleostinian vermin that murdered their olympians; they were proud of what they did as was Israel, as were most civilized people around the world. I'm sure the bedwetting leftist quislings wept when the filthy primitive 7th century Mohammedan throat cutters got what they deserved.
Lincoln. Meh.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
My guess is that it's a combination of success and marinating in the liberal Hollywood culture for many years. It takes a strong sense of self to withstand that combo.
The fact that Showtime's The United States of Tara was Speilberg's brain child is proof enough that the idea well has run dry. Seriously Stephen? A dramady about a house wife with "wacky" multiple personalities? That's what you're peddling these days?
Eastwood made Flags of Our Fathers which seemed to say "What was the point of WWII?". I like him, but a lot of his recent films except the last two, were very nihilistic and kind of pointless. The last two weren't exactly upbeat either.
The first 2/3 of Munich are great. Then the last third gets bogged down with hand wring moral relativism BS. Daniel Craig is great as a gung ho mossad agent. Eric Bana is great too. But he's the lead guy who decides he can't take it anymore and quits. Spielberg claims in his intro it is not an anti-Israel movie, but it does seem to have the same logic as the anti-war Bush haters, that all war is bad and unjustified. Stupid.
I'm not commenting on either yours or J.J.Smith's comments. Except to say that the duplicate post may be related to the query I posted, below. I wrote a comment. Got a "your comment is being moderated" message. That one disappeared entirely. So I wrote another version of the same comment. Got the same message. Only this time it actually posted. No rhyme, no reason. So try to be a little understanding towards double-posters until Big Hollywood gets this glitch fixed. They're probably not doing it intentionally.
Motley Crue does still rock.
He just wants to remain relevant.
Yep.
boston,
You suck at life big time??? How the h#ll old are you? So he double posted, so what? This is a slightly screwy system, where posts do double post, or disappear for seemingly no reason.
JJ,
Sign up for the intense debate feature at the bottom of the page, it makes it easier, and then you can edit.
Not Speilberg news, but have ya'll heard about the movie "Fair game"?
Sean Penn as Joe Wilson & Naomi Watts as Valerie Plame?
Washington (ANI): Oscar winner Sean Penn is in talks to star in Fair Game based on the real life of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Naomi Watts has been roped in to play the lead while Penn is in negotiations to star as Ambassador Joseph Wilson. [...]
http://tinyurl.com/dylfbv
**
Richard Armitage? Uh… never heard of him.
All true quotations. And almost ALL of which Lincoln and then Lincoln's followers in the Republican Party would either break, dance around or outright recant between Emancipation and Reconstruction.
In other news: President Obama is "against" gay marriage. He said so. Show of hands as to who thinks he'd be signing an ammendment to that end?
Lawhawk,
Yeah, about half of my posts seem to go to moderation, even though they do not contain anything off-color or epithets. In fact, I just mentioned that the blog had issues, upthread. I had forgotten about Spielberg doing the CNN deal, thank you for reminding. And I agree, why would we have any faith in his good intentions, after that display?
Err.. just to be clear (stupid tone-of-voice-negating-internet) I would regard BOTH instances of futzing the truth as the right thing to do, naturally.
You do understand that just by posting that one portion of Lincoln's speech, it doesn't mean anything, right? It says nothing about him, en toto.
Thinking back on Spielberg's "Munich"… can anyone explain to me HOW a Jew can be an Israel hating Jew? How can he be in love with Palestinians and hate his own? I mean it seems to me that if you are a Jew you are a Jew above all else. It is not only a religious affiliation (not to minimize that), but it is who you are. Your essence. Please. It confounds me. I am not saying he should hate Palestinians, but what the hell?
The problem with Spielberg is that he desperately, terribly craves acceptance and approval of the "In Crowd" of DC politicos and Media taste-makers. So he will adopt any fashion, viewpoint, moral equivalency, to win their approval. This is true of most of Hollywood.
John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, John Ford, and Humprhey Bogar, men with disparate politics and ideas, certainly did not give a damn about what people thought of them outside of seeing their movies.
Clint Eastwood? He trashed the Marines at Iwo, cast the Japanese there as noble warriors (there is a scene in one film where Japanese soldiers tenderly care for a wounded Marine, in real life they tortured and beheaded them). He is just like Spielberg.
Lincoln? A great man, one of the greatest Presidents, but a man with 19th Century views on Blacks, slavery, and many other things. By degrees, he came round to deciding to free all the slaves.
He was of course the opposite of Obama, saying exactly what he meant. While he is known as the Great Emancipator, his views on Blacks would shock modern audiences, as would most men and women's views of the 19th Century, even Black figures such as Frederick Douglass himself. It's a mistake to assume people thought or believed in the same things centuries ago as they do today.
But three do.
This is great.
Wait till Hollywood gets a load of the current regime (the hope bunch).
So far they have told China that human rights won't get in the way of business. Then they told Israel to pound sand, and leave Palestine alone, oh and hey, here is 800 millin to buy more rockets to launch at Israel.
I think a lot of his stuff is hokey. Some of it is brilliant. I loved Empire of the Sun for instance. But the latest Indiana Jones movie was a mess.
I hope Andrew and his IT guys are monitoring this.
Gee, I'll take Spielberg over Nolte any day. Oh by the way, who is John Nolte? Probably the same type of critic who voted "Shakespeare In Love" over "Saving Private Ryan" as the best picture of the year. Spare us your elitest nonsense.
Schindler’s List had one nice opportunity to acknowledge America, and it failed to do so. In one of the last scenes, they show Amon Goth (the dispicable Nazi officer played by Ralph Fiennes) being hung at the concentration camp, apparently by Soviet soldiers. In reality, as the war ended Goth fled to Germany and was captured by the UNITED STATES ARMY. The film could have had a ten-second scene where Goth came face to face with a seasoned squad of US soldiers – that could have been one of the highlights of the movie. He was extradited to Poland and executed by the Poles. Spielberg chose to imply that the Soviets captured Goth. Gee, do you think that was accidental?
Too right, Nolte. I would have kicked the tv screen when I played "Munich" but it was my tv and somehow I just didn't see Spielberg paying the damned bill for a new one. Ditto with that nihilism of 'Saving Private Ryan'. And that screenplay of the 'Crystal Skull' was so moronic, an 8th grader with a crayon could have scribbled a better plot. Lord, Spielberg has lost it. He's gone from making films to making sermons. And the faith he's preaching isn't something a moralistic human could possibly believe in.
Uh – who are you? Listen, sweetie, if you want to whack your rattle over someone's head, crawl your elitist little knees over to the HuffPo. They simply adore your 'type'.
This revisionist nonsense over "Private Ryan" — that "We wuz robbed!" mentality — is a bore. Harvey Weinstein may have been & will forever be a bulldozing promoter of his films, but "Shakespeare in Love" was a terrific story, well-acted by all, and wonderfully written. There was a notion at the time that "the writers" finally had their way with a Best Picture choice, and I think that may have been true.
The first 30 minutes of "Ryan" were profound and shocking and memorable — the rest was a marvelously filmed redux of 1940s war movies (same "diverse" company of men) with a 1960s mentality. Ex.: Would Spencer Tracy/Errol Flynn/Greg Peck et al. ever have revealed their civilian occupation to their men, as Hanks finally did?
Nice, nice post, John.
Have you actually seen Duel?
He was bothered by the truck because it kept trying to run him off the road, for no apparent reason. And it was re-released because it was a really good film. Speilberg's first, if I remember right.
Sorry. Gwyneth Paltrow, aka Fishsticks is a terrible actress. She didn't deserve the Oscar, especially over someone like Judi Dench.
Thanks John, nice column.
I think it's clear that Spielberg lacks the directoral skill to handle a project like Lincoln. His recent forays into "character rich" stories (like AI, Amistad, Munich, the Terminal) have been so superficial that I truly doubt he's capable of creating whole characters in his movies anymore. There is no way he could present a realistic picture of Lincoln, a complex man to be sure. I'm afraid the film would feel more like a history channel docu-drama or, God-forbid, an action movie like Indiana Jones/Crystal Skull (why did he animate that one? I just don't get it?).
Moreover, his ever increasing tendency to interpret all of his movies through his oddly defeatist, far left political filter, makes me doubt he could give an honest presentation. In fact, I can see him at the press conference now trying to explain why Lincoln sounds so much like Obama by claiming that he had to modernize Lincoln and that he looked to Lincoln's essence.
Finally, I don't want to see a civil war film where all the soldiers are running around holding large radio handsets instead of guns.
I think you put your finger on something with King. King had some great early books, but hasn't had a creative thought in years. It's like he sits at home these days watching horror movies and then says, "I can do that using my standard characters and cliches." I suspect that most people who "create" for a living eventually just run out of fresh ideas. I think Spielberg hit that point years ago. Add in that he's decided that every film now needs to have political meaning and you have a receipe for poor filmage.
Excellent point.
Do any of Spielberg's "uplifting" or "heroic" movies paint America or any American institutions as heroic or noble or special?
Thanks Vince. I would agree that it shoulda been Dench over Hunt.
Paltrow played a young woman, playing a young man, playing a young woman. I thought she was terrific. The fact that I wouldn't choose her as a FaceBook buddy has nothing to do with her engaging performance. (neither, um, does the fact that I'm not on FaceBook)
I also loved Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth that year. It was a tough call and I would've been fine with either choice.
Heh, the character in the film must be in touch with all the Americans who say they are American and then go and rip apart everything that this country stands for.
Unfortunately, it seems to require an early-morning sneak attack on American soil for the peacenik half of the country to get on board with doing what needs to be done.
I have liked Steven Spielberg over the years. Yes he is to the left but he doesn't hit you over the head with it like some of those yahoos. I thought Schindler's List was a Masterpiece – and Private Ryan should have had more recognition than it got. From the GI's point of view war is just a daily fight for survival and looking after your buddies. That's the angle he showed.
But I agree in the last few years….
Maybe after 35 years he is just getting tired.
The U.S. food drop near the end of Empire of the Sun is about the only such incident I can think of in a Spielberg film.
I remind you that, before it was PC-sanitized, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial had American government officials pointing guns at kids. And I suspect he chose to edit that scene not because it cast the CIA (or FBI or whoever the hell they were supposed to be) in a bad light, but because kids were being threatened. Granted, it was in bad taste and he may have been in the right to fix it (though I personally don't agree), but it was in bad taste for more than one reason.
He should just adapt more Phil Dick stories like Minority Report. He can even be like the Matrix boys and rip off Dick's stories and not give him attribution if that's what makes him happy.
The problem, as I see it, is that Mr. Speilberg thinks he can re-write history. Most of us enjoy his product and it is excellent in its' presentation…No question about that…but I fully believe his brand of indocrtination is insidious…..he lures the viewer in with much 'glitz' and when he has them in his thrall he feeds inaccurate info at just the right time…he is brilliant…BUT I THINK WE ARE ON TO HIM…
CAUTION needs to be taken as my mom says…sort of like watching the THREE STOOGES…it is not real.
Thebutlerdidit • 50p
You do understand that just by posting that one portion of Lincoln's speech, it doesn't mean anything, right? It says nothing about him, en toto.
I think that in quoting Mr. Lincoln, the poster was trying to show that Mr. Speilberg would have to include this sort of rhetoric in his movie….I believe the opposite would happen..as Mr. Speilberg might be trying to remake Mr. Lincoln into an Obama type figure…..
Anyway…that is how I interpreted that post.
My take on Mr. Lincoln is that he was a racist by today's standards and did not see the races as equal….Mr. Speilberg wants to rewite history I fully believe.
It's self indulgence. Some successful artists get to a point where they don't know when they're making wrong choices, and no one is going to tell them when they're wrong. It's the reason why Stephen King doesn't believe he needs an editor, or Motley Crue thinks they can still rock.
I also think Spielberg is at a point where he feels above the "commonness" of absolute moral standards. To him, that's dehumanizing and reserved for ordinary folk. When that happens, you start losing the antagonism of a clashing conflict, and sapping conflict results in a lack of creative passion.
To this day, I'll never understand why Dennis Weaver was bothered by that truck. And why it was re-released as a feature film.
hah what could be more elitist than bashing Spielberg!
hey genius watch the kingdom of the crystal skull again. its actually an elaborate validation of intelligent design hidden behind a seemingly entertaining if mindless family adventure flick.-oh but you were too mad at spielberg for giving mosad agents a soul… that you cant enjoy spielberg films is punishment enough for your lack of understanding
AI, Munich, The Terminal, Minority Report, are all profoundly designed works of art. What do you do for fun read instruction manuals? All this talk of Speilberg being a leftist, yet my gut tells me you truly enjoyed The Reader (if/when you see it) a dangerous piece of leftist propaganda. This goes for the lot of you, your anti-Speilberg remarks are quite funny as true leftists like Godard and the inteligencia of Europe HATE Speilberg (but i suppose this all stems from the same place both left and right are plain playa hating.) Grow up people Speilberg did.
I'm not a peacenik, but it's not true that we only got involved in WWII after we were attacked.
In the Pacific, in mid-1941 the US formed a clandestine group (1st American Volunteer Corps) known as the Flying Tigers under General Claire Chennault to aid the Chinese air effort against the Japanese invasion, and FDR embargoed US oil imports to Japan, which the Japanese were heavily dependent on . . . . . in the European War, FDR created the "Lend-Lease" act to circumvent American law designed to prevent the US from providing aid to Germany's opponent and draw the US into the war.
With hindsight it would have been better if the US had entered the war sooner; but it's historically untrue to claim that the US only got involved in WW II after we were attacked. To some extent, FDR was engaging in policis designed to assure eventual American involvement in WW II regardless of Congress' intent.
Spielberg showed some inspiration in Minority Report. The whole "eye-change" scene had a remarkable Sir Alfred vibe to it. Outside of that, I find it hard to find anything worthy of mention. He did invent the whole "shaky-cam, sureal-realistic battle vibe" with Private Ryan – which has since been copped ad nauseum by his lessors like Greengrass.
It's puzzling how Lucas, Spielberg and DePalma managed to fall so hard. John Ford didn't lose his fastball. I guess it's just hunger. They lose that inner kid, the one who grew up in the Valley or in the middle class Jewish family, making home war movies in the backyard with friends and the reel-to-reel. The one who made movies in their head, not on their Mac.
I think it was the author of this post who noted Spielberg's own words, when he spoke before some collection of Hollywood celeb at one of the multitudinous award crocks, and stated that they were who he was making movies for. That's probably all the explanation we need.
IMHO it's not just Spielberg – back in the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s and early 1990s, there used to be 2-5 Hollywood movies every year that I really enjoyed seeing: The Sting, The Sound of Music, The Graduate, The Godfather, American Graffiti, Rocky, Star Wars, Forrest Gump, E.T, Jaws, The Exorcist, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Mary Poppins, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Butch Cassidy, Beverly Hills Cop, Back to the Future, Ghost, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, etc. Great stories, wonderful fun and entertainment from start to finish.
What do we get these days: Milk, Che, W, Frost/Nixon, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, and the like.
Makes me wonder if the great directors and producers of Hollywood think that they have to make politically correct message movies to impress their friends and win awards?
Me, I see enough reality in my life every day – I'm not going to pay high theater prices for unappreciated morality lectures – whatever happened to fun, engaging movies for entertainment? More Gladiators and less Milks, please.
This is a great idea. People forget that Lincoln was a "tough guy", a championship-level wrestler in the days when wrestling was real and opponents were not movie stars. John was wrong about Lincoln believing he had to save America to save the world. He was saving the Union because that was his Constitutional obligation and he believed in the rule of law. He was the consummate lawyer. I hope that someone with influence over Eastwood will take this idea to him. We especially need a Lincoln movie about his gifts and challenges as Commander in Chief. Eastwood working from a script written with Trial by Fire (James McPherson) as the basis for the script–a sure winner in every sense of the world. Frank Langella at 6'4" would be the perfect Lincoln.
Robert Rodat who wrote Saving Private Ryan also wrote The Patriot which is unabashedly American, and proud, no matter how hard Roland Emmerich tried to cover that up. It seems to me that the line John quoted was a line that got some work done on it. Now its not to say many veterans didn't think that way. WW2 was a God awful mess. But the lack of mention of the country, of the fact that the guys they were fighting were not merely German troops but Waffen SS is not good story telling. You see a German soldier in camo back then you can see the Deaths Head on his cover.
Spielberg began taking himself too seriously. He began thinking he really didn't have to work that hard. Maybe his own imagination got dulled? After Schindler's List its like he had a personality transplant. We miss Steven. I don't know who this other guy is. So very glad he won't get Lincoln made.
You're thinking West Side Story, when you're a jet, you're a jet all the way. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
"Band of Brothers" succeeded and is greatness itself because the original Band of Brothers were involved in the writing and filming and wouldn't let anything but truth be filmed. Left to their own devices you know that Hanks and Spielberg would have produced just another version of "Saving Private Ryan".
As a contrarian regarding Abraham Lincoln, I see him as a tall, skinny, melancholy guy who probably had Marfan's syndrome who invaded a sovereign nation (the Confederacy) and caused the death of more Americans than perhaps any other president. Slavery was and is abhorrent, however, Lincoln's freeing them was arbitrary. Slaves were NOT freed in the Border States which were technically neutral or sided with the North. That suggests Lincoln didn't give a rip about the blacks in chains, he just didn't want to be the president who lost half the country. There's an urban legion which I don't know is true or not (I tend to disbelieve it but with historians being nothing but propagandists, who knows) that Lincoln was a Racist who believed blacks and whites did not belong together and planned, before his assassination, to send them back to Africa. (Any non brainwashed historians out there who can honestly speak to this subject?)
And Britain and the Yankees can stop being so high and mighty about slavery. Who the hell do they think we think sold America the slaves? Britain and Spain fought a war (The Treaty of Asciento ended it) over which country had the right to SELL SLAVES to the Americas. So far as the Yankees, they had the boats. The filled the hold with rum which they took to Africa, bought slaves, brought them to the South, bought cotton and returned home having made a profit on every leg of the trip. Some say the Civil War started not over slavery but over the Yankees enacting legislation that put a huge tariff on Southern Cotton thereby forcing the South to sell the cotton to the North at a reduced price. The South bolted. When it looked like Britain (who wanted the cotton) was going to jump in on the South's side, good old Abe hastily freed the slaves IN THE SOUTH because of Britain's anti-slavery policy.
More damning to Spielberg is that slavery is still practiced in other parts of the world, most especially in Muslim nations, and there is nary a word about it from the celebrated retards infesting Hollywood. That said, "Lincoln" is a perfect vehicle for Spielberg.
The problem is that evil (and sin) don't just sit dormant in the human "heart". Without acknowledgment and repentance, evil GROWS. Eventually, it grows so big that moral "relativism" changes into moral inversion. Black becomes white. Wrong becomes right. Sin becomes virtue.
If I had to guess? Spielberg probably thinks goldfish and pirannahs can live in the same fishbowl. It's always easier to think it so, until you have to share the fishbowl with the pirannahs.
Israel can't afford to be goldfish. Bottom line.
I was a teen when ET came out, and I absolutely hated that movie. Hated it. Still do. Close Encounters, ditto, Munich, ditto, Terminal, ditto, Jurassic Park, ditto. The Color Purple, ditto. I enjoyed the Indiana Jones movies, hated the last one, loved Jaws, and really liked Minority Report.
I did enjoy the South Park episode with Speilberg, however.
Oh, forgot, loved/cried through Schindler's list, and wanted to slit my wrist during Saving Private Ryan.
Hollywood had better get their proverbial heads out of there a$$es and begin to entertain again with a semi-original thought, Speilberg being a prime example. I believe that no Hollywood producer/director should touch the subject of Lincoln. If you treat the story honestly it could disrupt some real American mythology, and these idiots would try to draw comparisons to Barry, that would make it a comedy. As a consumer of movies, “Hollywood,” some simple advice, entertain, entertain, entertain.
As far as I'm concerned the most deplorable part of Schindler's List was the scene in which the Jews herded into the showers were initially terrified at being gassed instead (the tried and true M.O. of the Nazi vermin), but instead broke into relieved laughter when the showers then dispensed water instead of Zyklon B.
It was so shocking to see this corruption of historical fact that it ruined the entire film for me.
As for Munich- his attempt to portray both the Israeli counter terrorist assassins and the murdering Palestinian scum in a similar light was morally despicable and revolting, and soured me forever on a man whom I once regarded as a genius and an icon (for "Raiders", "E.T', "Private Ryan", etc.).
No longer.
Perhaps, but I was using his own words, and the tone of his posts to make my decison that he was just here to be a flamer, not a serious poster. As far as Lincoln, and racism, who knows. He did, as someone else put it so well, live in a different time, with a different outlook. I am sure I am not the person to ask, however. Racism is the most boring, overblown topic on planet Earth. People see racism in the bottom of their cereal bowls these days. It is ridiculous. Yawn.
Sad but true article.
That's a very good point. Much like the argument in "Private Ryan" that there was stuff that could have been done with motivations, things people wanted to fight for, etc. that weren't done.
It could be the money. Changes folks sometimes.
Why are you crapping on Breaking 2? That movie rules!
At least he is not planning the expected hagiographic biopic of his bestest pal, Fidel – yet.
I always found ET's stuff fine in a plot sense. One can be distrustful of government while loving one's country (My problem with the Obama followers is they said that about Bush but now refuse to acknowledge it about their own guy Barack the overhyped)
And as a kid I never had a problem with that stuff as part of the movie, it suprised me when he edited the guns out. Of course federal agents carry guns, and of course they'd be worried about an alien. At that point they don't know if E.T. is "E.T." or if he's the Alien from "War of the Worlds." So of course they're worried. I figured that all out when I was 9 years old watching the movie.
I think people in Hollywood don't build creativity, they attack it through a certain atmosphereof making everything "standard" and bland. Spielberg has done a lot of great stuff. Maybe his writers that he picks have been too exposed to Hollywood and he needs to go more into making his scripts his own. His directing has always been excellent.
I am curious if you guys realize that Clint's next film is about Nelson Mandela?
This may not be a real popular response (there goes my +43 "reputation score") but I suspect that this is what you get when you subtract out the religious underpinning from a Judaic conscience.
Guilt without the redemptive moderation of being God's Chosen.
I just got a "moderation" message for using three asterisks in a row to replace a common-usage vulgarism. Are we really wanting to be that sanitary here?
"and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which prevents them from living together on terms of social and political equality…"
Wow; Lincoln saw the NBA coming, fourscore years before its founding. What a visionary.
Holy cow…two hours of watching Naomi Watts push papers behind a desk at Langley?
I guess the drama will center around what she decides to wear for "casual Friday"…
Sheldon
". . . and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Sounds like saving America in order to save the world to me.
Please don't tell us "That was just a speech and id not refelct Lincoln's real thinking."
Saving Private Ryan…just another propaganda machine aimed at buffooning the Germans for a whole new generation of brain dead movie goers. I just loved the scene when the Waffen SS soldier starts sniveling and denouncing Hitler within 2 seconds of being captured – utterly laughable! My grandfather interrogated SS Men at Weisbaden Castle during the war, and his FIRST HAND accounts were much different to say the least. Speilberg soiled himself trying to attach himself to the memory of the Greatest Generation…I bet Janine Garafalo is a BIG fan though.
When was it that conservatives became such huge fans of the Confederacy? During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, yes , Lincoln suggested sending the slaves back to Africa. That's not an urban LEGEND (not legion, you fool).
"It's self indulgence. Some successful artists get to a point where they don't know when they're making wrong choices, and no one is going to tell them when they're wrong."
Thank you for this insight. If you replace the word artists with any of the following, politicians, large corp CEO, bureaucrat (at almost any level) and you revel an underlying cause to many of our current problems.
Spielberg's decline into Lefty Groupthink reached the point of no return when he hooked up with Tony Kushner.
However, he gave me my two favorite modern films – "Close Encounters" and "ET" and for that I will be forever grateful to him.
LIBERALISM and Political Correctness has RUINED America and what it once stood for….I am moving to a place where people are classy, educated and respectful of others. All thats left here in Hollywood, is illegal aliens, and ignorant liberal retards who think voting in a guy born in kenya is going to save the world. liberal media is a brainwashing machine that affect weak minded individuals. I'm out of here.!!!!
Duel was a great little film, I first saw it around the time it was released, and searched for a copy for years. I found one and re-watched it recently. I stilled liked it, but for different reasons. It really is a period piece, and now that I work in the trucking industry, I am a big fan of the old dual stick tractors. and I owned a few of those cars that Dennis Weaver drove in the movie, so the whole thing is a really trip down memory lane for me.
Magic? I suppose if you define that as the triumph of technique. Anyway I always thought "Always" was his best film, if only because it included George Custer's calvary theme "Garry Owen" as a musical leitmotif.
You are so right. I have a glitch that keeps me from thumb's upping you, but you have a thumbs up in my head.
I think that Spielberg's new project should be an heroic biopic of himself . Struggling to get out of the truth about aliens to an unbelieving nation of Terri Garrs. The missed opportunities to change the course of human events when sharks threatened slavers on the high seas. The creative juices muddied by the egos of overacting, undertalented stars who can't exist on twenty million a year. The lost chosen child in the jungles of Ovitza finding the keys to the dreamworks. OPM ! DNC ! Watching his wife explode the heads of evil attorneys, but they're his attorneys !! AARGGHHHH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That would be Indy Thalberg and the Temple of Gross Points.
After this latest election cycle, I believe George Lucas is on the same path as Spielberg. This proves to me that many brilliant people with talent and fame succumb to the power involved. In the end, they are emotionally and personally worse off the average person who never experienced fame.
An additional note – whenever famous, Hollywood people start going over-the-top with their poitical viewpoints, it seems that there is a pattern of their moral, mental, and talent downfall. Their extreme political convictions act as their religion. It is at this point that they do not care what their fans think any longer.
Good point. Without the critical insight you both mention, it's far too easy to overlook your own flaws. Indeed, most people are not sufficiently self aware to really examine their actions fairly. That's one of the reasons kings used to have court jesters. They could say things in "humor" that political advisors never would.
I'm with you there. He seems to be in a pretty dark place in his recent films.
accusing someone of being elitist by posting a comment bashing Spielberg
If you enjoyed Crystal Skull, that pretty much invalidates EVERYTHING you've got to say. Wow! What's next, a tirade on the merits of Lost in Space of Ishtar?
If you enjoyed Crystal Skull, that pretty much invalidates EVERYTHING you've got to say. Wow! What's next, a tirade on the merits or Lost in Space of Ishtar?
If you enjoyed Crystal Skull, that pretty much invalidates EVERYTHING you've got to say. Wow! What's next, a tirade on the merits of Ishtar?
"profound"? LOL!!! Please, go back to your comic books, let the adults talk.
I'm still upset at the movie, I tried developing a community center into a mall once and that movie inspired a group of dancing gangbangers to stop me. Curses!!!
I'm curious if you understand we don't care what you think?
If you look at both WWI and WWII, both Wilson and FDR did everything they could to keep the US out the shooting as long as possible. It could be argued, especially in the case of WWII when applied to Europe, that our refusal to get involved in the shooting only prolonged the war. However, once both presidents committed to the war efforts, they did so whole-heartedly with at-home efforts that would make modern lefties scream if any president dared try such things today.
If you look at both WWI and WWII, both Wilson and FDR did everything they could to keep the US out of the shooting as long as possible. It could be argued, especially in the case of WWII when applied to Europe, that our refusal to get involved in the shooting only prolonged the war. However, once both presidents committed to the war efforts, they did so whole-heartedly with at-home efforts that would make modern lefties scream if any president dared try such things today.
Lucas went insane when his post-Star Wars movies failed. He's been out to destroy the Star Wars legacy ever since. Probably wouldn't mind killing us all of either, if he could get away with it.
I liked Breakin' 2.
Vince, we didn't declare war until the Japanese attacked. We had been "involved" in the north Atlantic theater prior that. Do a search for Lend Lease program. That was just an involvement by the government. Quite a few Americans were involved by violating federal law to travel to England to fly combat aircraft for the RAF.
We also had a US Navy river gunboat (USS Panay) bombed and sunk by the Japanese during their invasion of China in 1937. To the sailors killed and wounded, they were certainly "involved."
I'm just saying if you're going to idolize Clint Eastwood as a conservative icon, then it would help to know what films he has coming out. Only in the world of BH is Saving Private Ryan considered "anti-American"
I think Hollywood has so wrapped themselves in hatred on so many levels that they've lost any and all sense of fun and inspiration. It's too bad that it's damaging their industry so badly that they're now counting on DVD sales in Europe to make their money.
Agree. Apart from the "Big Red One", Band of Brothers is the best war movie/series I've ever seen. It's no coincidence that both of them are semi-biographical.
The more more you see private Ryan, the more you learn to hate it. Don't you just love it when the "teacher" Miller tells this young man that he should "earn this"? Earn what? He never left his post. What teacher worth his salt would lay that kind of guilt on the shoulders of a young man.
I wrote "There's an urban legion which I don't know is true or not "
You wrote: "That's not an urban LEGEND (not legion, you fool). "
Pete, a little unsolicited advice. Be careful who you call a fool; insults tend to boomerang. "Legion" was obviously a typo, and any FOOL would know that. Unfortunately people with only a couple of functioning neurons try to make themselves look smart by pointing out silly mistakes and calling the other fellow dumb.
But, you're right. I should have edited more closely.
So, all I can say to you is Pheochromocytoma. I'm sure you, brilliant discoursor that you are, know what that means.
So far as Conservatives being fans of the Confederacy, Conservatives are strong advocates of state's rights, and what stronger right for a state than the right to withdraw from a union that does not meet its needs?
The Dem Party fractured in 1860 with the South (with the exception of VA, TN, KY and MO ) voting Southern Democratic (Breckenridge) and MO, NJ and MD voting Northern Democratic (Douglas). VA, TN and KY voted "Constitutional Union" (Bell) in an effort to save the union (all three later seceded). MO and MD became border states. MD kept its slaves. WVA split off from VA (so much for Lincoln's "keeping the country together " propaganda. The rest of the country voted Republican (Lincoln) and SC took a pot shot at Fort Sumpter.
The Civil War was NOT a Civil War. Two factions were NOT fighting for control of a government. The so called Civil War was to my grandmother "A War of Northern Aggression" and to others (myself included) The Second American Revolution.
No, she said in a small voice. But I do like Emily Watson.
Agree that Blanchett's had the more successful & varied career. That's in part because Paltrow took all that time on the wife/mommy track. I'd like to see her back in films, & I look forward to "Two Lovers". While I disagree with almost everything that comes out of her mouth politically, I am drawn to her as an actress; partly because I love her mom & see so much of Blythe Danner's steely strength in her.
Interesting that Best Actress/Best Supporting is not the career boost it should be. But that's a column for another time.
[wankette wanders off, stewing over the idea...]
Why should the "magic being gone" be cast in a political, social or moral context when the most relevent point is that films are meant to be entertaining and the saddest conclusion is that his most recent fims are unwatchable.
The usual swill of ignorance that passes for John's politics applied to a project he knows nothing about in the service of the usual petty grievances and a blacklist he keeps under his musty pillow offered up by a failure who wishes failure on others if only to ameliorate the sting of his own.
All tied up in a neat bow for the barking approval of the echo chamber.
Enjoy!
IIRC, think I read that it was isolationist Republicans that blocked FDR from embroiling the US in WWII. In reality, FDR got us in through "lend lease" to the Brits and looking the other way when young men decided to enlist overseas (like in the RAF, and Claire Chennault's boys I think). One could also make a credible argument that FDR goaded the Japanese into attacking us by placing an embargo on Japan procuring oil, metal, scrap iron etc. from us.
As for Gulf War I- huge miscalculation by Bush, he pulled out of Iraq before deposing hussein (and I think contra to his general's wishes) in order to "appease" the Arab world. Massive mistake, as the gesture was interpreted as weakness by psychotic muslim terrorists like sammy laden. "America is a weak horse" ringing any bells here? Believe that history will show this to be GHW Bush's biggest blunder, just edging out his taking a democratic congress's word about not raising taxes .
Moving to present day, the current non-history student in the white house recently repeated Bush's mistake by extending an "open hand" to Iran- which resulted in the subliterate Ayatollah claiming that this represented America's waning power, the failure of the capitalist system, and demanding that the US apologize for 60 years of malfeasance before they speak with us. Yes, you read right- that greasy lunatic over in Iran is now giving the US preconditions before meeting.
Wow, less than a month and barry has reduced us to being punked by a deranged holy man in charge of a theocratic police state. Hope? Change? Try FAIL.
Of course none of that is important, the MSM isn't covering it.
Let's talk about something relevant- did you read the latest on what kind of dog the Obamas are getting? How about Michelle Obama's muscular arms?
Oh, and Speilberg sucks now. Thought he lost it on Goonies, kind of got it back when he started taking orders from Tom Hanks, but now he's just a rich moron.
anarchus, quit stealin' my thoughts.
Dang though, you are impressively learned.
The unity of purpose in WWII existed only because Hitler broke his pact with Stalin. The left was strongly anti-war until that happened. An alternative reading of WWII would have the US entering the war while Germany and the USSR were still making nice. I suspect the NYT's of the journalistic world would have been as anti-war in that one as they have been in this. American military blunders in the Guadalcanal, North African, and Italian campaigns would have provided all the fodder they needed to discredit it.
And the NHL, it would appear.
Yeah well, what did he end up DOING?
Talk is cheap- well it usually is, except when obama talks about the economy and beats down the Dow.
High Plains Drifter, Play Misty For Me, and The Beguiled were pretty dark and they were made in the 70's. Granted, I don't think he directed The Beguiled.
I miss the director who made Duel, Jaws, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Whatever happened to him?
Wouldn't it be interesting to see how the MSM of today would have reported on the WW II war effort?
As noted, the Italian campaign was horribly mismanaged by the Allies' from the start to the finish, and there was the notable problem with the US Naval Ship John Harvey, which was docked in port at Bari carrying a secret load of mustard gas (to be used in retaliation if the Germans used gas first) and blown up by a German air raid with large civilian and Allied loss of life.
Mike,
love that analogy—can I use it?
The next Hollywood film is going to be about how great the Fuhrer was and how we should follow Shariah law…. brought to you by your friends at the Weinstein Company!
Spielberg stained his soul when he visited Fidel Castro in Cuba in 2002. He has made nothing worth seeing since.
The joyless final Indiana Jones movie is a perfect example of a man who has lost every bit of his heart and soul. What a sad man. Stephen King is right there with him, a joyless writer cranking out dead bits of words that have an echo of the great man he once was.
Dean Koontz, on the other hand, becomes more luminous and gorgeous with every book he writes. It isn't age, it's the choices you make.
If there is a movie about Abraham Lincoln to be made it should be by someone that won't use a lefty slant. A person that doesn't want to project his ideals, or put words in his mouth or second guess why him. Absolutly no revisionst history! I would love to see that sort of movie about Lincoln soon, especially because everyone tries to compare him with B.O. Amazing since the first difference is that Lincoln was a republican – go figure? I'm sorry BO you're no Abe Lincoln!!
Actually, it WAS a Civil War. When the South no longer felt that it, and it alone controlled FEDERAL policy towards slavery, they bolted. It was easy to keep abolition at bay as long as there were more Southern states than Northern ones. The Mexican-American War made that moot.
I'm not sure I'd be too proud of dying for the right to buy and sell human beings as property.
And you're basing this on what again?
They should have called if Indiana Jones and the Error Prone Director. Did he pay any attention when he made that movie?
Read the more recent book on Spielberg and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and you will see that Spielberg was largely clueless as was Lucas. That he even took JAWS on as a movie was purely accidental and he didn't even want to make it.
http://www.amazon.com/Close-Encounters-Third-Kind...
Spielberg's original idea for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS was horrible and a series of others writers made it happen, who Spielberg's producers convinced to drop their writing credits. Many other people helped make them what they are, they are not self-made by any means. Spielberg's dad was friends with a producer at Universal and got him an internship. The story about him sneaking on the Universal lot and commandeering a bungalow is bogus.
What Spielberg did have was people who befriended him, people with money and influence. Something the right seems unwilling to do… invest in others.
Let's give some conservative filmmakers a chance. I got a monster movie I wrote and I am trying to make for a just 250K… the toilet paper budget of TITANIC. If CABIN FEVER can jump start a career, then my screenplay will go too given the chance. I have worked in the industry for over 20 years, directed and wrote a feature, know conservative millionaires but can't get anyone to help. Even prior to this current mess. Conservatives will not write the check to help people, to develop anyone and Hollywood libs can smell conservatives a mile away. Heck, I'd be happy to have one of you above-the-line Hollywood writers, director's producer's just give me a little help getting the material to the right people.
Anyone willing to help?
Spielberg is great until he starts to preach. Once he takes the pulpit most folk run for the doors. Apparently, he long ago tired of making entertaining movies.
Wait, are we talking that Tony Kushner? The Angels in America guy? Jeezis, no wonder Spielberg's last couple of "serious" films have sucked.
Agent Orange – are you sure those wealthy conservatives who do not want to back conservative films/scripts are really conservatives? Are they that fearful of being labeled by Hollywood? What a shame. Hang in there and best wishes!
Interesting perspective! You make a person think, AndrewPrice. When I saw Lucas openly supporting Obama, I have to think the guy, like most of Hollywood, is not concerned about how their image is portrayed to some of their fans. I, for one, have decided not to support Lucas through purchases at his online Star Wars store or in traditional stores such as Target or Toys-R-Us. I am through supporting Lucas and most of Hollywood! Looking back, I wish I never bought any of his merchandise.
Spielberg's problem is that he is filled with self-hate (carefully hidden for decades).
His other problem is that he does not know who he is in God; if he did, he would not be filled with self-hate.
Alas, he is a lost soul. I haven't watched any of his films in about 15 years or so.
Hollywood films are by and large propaganda garbage; growing more so every day.
Garbage in, garbage out, as we have seen so clearly displayed in the 2008 elections.
They are a key element in the dumbing down and brainwashing of America, as much so as K-12, higher education, and MSM.
I'll stick to my 80's Crue.
Keep in mind that you're talking to people who have very fond memories of Spielberg, and really want to like him. For that, people will forgive a few things, but Spielberg has now gone to the point of making it impossible.
Riann,
Thanks for your kind message.
I couldn't call my script conservative per se, it is a horror film. It doesn't have gratuitous sex, but It does have drug use, some bad language and gore. If anything is conservative, it is the end message which is destruction comes with destructive behavior. That said, I am very conservative and eventually want to make more truly conservative films. But you have to start somewhere and it has to ultimately work within the system. Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson started out with horror films (Evil Dead and Bad Taste, respectively) and went on to direct very mainstream films (Spiderman and Lord of the Rings, respectively). I would like to do similar using horror as an entrance into the industry. It sickens me to see virtually every filmmaker I like, every actor I like, open their mouth up and spew liberal propaganda. Time to get some folks in there who will stand up for our country. But it's eventually going to take a bankroll to get the job done.
The conservative millionaires and other people with money I reference are not even in Hollywood, so they have no worries about financing a conservative filmmaker and being labeled by Hollywood. They could care less about Hollywood in that regard. But the point is, these rich Conservatives are unwilling to invest in people. They only want to invest in getting money back. Compare that to Liberals who invest millions in the to the long term cause. Conservatives are unwilling to develop people like myself towards the greater cause. I guess that behavior could be called being conservative, being conservative with their money and investments too, but what they have been giving money too has largely been ineffective to furthering their own cause. They are losing their country to the pop culture.
ahh the snarky reply. Speilberg is a joke because you say so. I wonder how many "adults" trash him because he refuses to give them mindless entertainment. I mean I enjoy Stephen Summers movies so that gaps filled for you. To deny Speilberg's greatness -and his current movies have all been hits to one degree or another, but let me guess everybody buys a ticket hoping its 1975 still?- you are missing out sir, AI is profoundly moving science fiction both light and dark its ending is haunting. War of the Worlds looks at a people that have lost their ability to connect and watches the horror-a deeply disturbing view that is worth examining in a horror film. Dear me if you don't find Minority Report to be one of the most thrilling cautionary sci-fi pics put together….The Terminal examines the decline of traditional american values through the eyes of a fictitious immigrant, shaken and stirred into a Capra exquisiteness. That these films have rich themes explored through a cinematic skill that has given Speilberg his worldwide fame is silly. Take off the blinders and give em a re-watch
"I'm not sure I'd be too proud of dying for the right to buy and sell human beings as property. "
Slavery was prevalent in the USA (and every other nation) long before the South bolted. Nor was slavery exclusive to the South. Slavery still is being practiced in Dafur and other places in the Middle East without much comment from the liberal since the perps are Islamist and the vicitims are poor black African animists and/or Christians.
Since the South had no intention of keeping the country whole and governed by the Confederacy, it
better fits a war of rebellion than a civil war. To call the War Between the States a civil war is
tantamount to calling the American Revolution a civil war since both sides were "British" at the outset and America was part of Britain.
I can only hope this project is dead. Spielberg has not earned the right to tell this story. He couldn't get it right in a million years.
I can't remember the last Spielberg movie I saw, it's been so long. We have seen his "Twilight Zone" episodes lately on cable; they are from the 80s. They are nowhere near as good as the originals. Spielberg is done.
FYI — while the AVG (American Volunteer GROUP) was planned in late '40, the unit didn't actually see combat until after Pearl Harbor, having arrived in Burma (for training for deployment in China) in late 1941.
JSMinch: 'Do any of Spielberg's "uplifting" or "heroic" movies paint America or any American institutions as heroic or noble or special?'
Yes. He portrayed America's brave, hard-working shark-catchers in a very favorable light.
When was the last time you saw liberals exercising common sense?
I enjoy "Shakespeare in Love" much more than "Saving Private Ryan." Paltrow is luminous and when they part in the end I feel something for both. The film radiates joy and I love the line, though I can't remember it exactly: "The she is a she!"
No masterpiece, but a fine, original, romantic story.
AGENT ORANGE: Thanks for the thought-provoking reply. I think conservative writers' scripts/films have to contain reality, as your script seems to have, and cannot only appeal to one segment of society (those who are conservative already). Conservatives drink, smoke, swear, etc., and this reality cannot be compared to the unrealistic trash that usually comes out of Hollywood. Maybe a conservative sponsor will read your post(s) and want to see your writings – again, don't give up. Pop-culture needs your influence! As for Vince's reply, he is living in a dream world if he thinks people automatically recognize "common sense." Send a young adult to a liberal college (which are the majority) and many of the students will lose any "common sense" they may have had prior to college! If only "common sense" was politicized, we would all be better off! Besides, "common sense" would mean not spending money you do not have, defending yourself from your enemies, protecting personal liberties, etc. Sounds pretty conservative to me! And by the way, Vince, why are you assuming that a conservative script has to be political?
You know what they say, common sense ain't so common anymore.
AGENT ORANGE: Thanks for the thought-provoking reply. I think conservative writers' scripts/films have to contain reality, as your script seems to have, and cannot only appeal to one segment of society (those who are conservative already). Conservatives drink, smoke, swear, etc., and this reality cannot be compared to the unrealistic trash that usually comes out of Hollywood. Maybe a conservative sponsor will read your post(s) and want to see your writings – again, don't give up. Pop-culture needs your influence! And to Vince S., why do you assume a conservative movie has to be political?
So "lend-lease" and other U.S. policies hostile to the axis powers don't really count as involvement before we were attacked? Haha! Way to over-simplify history. Bloody trolls. Hahahahahaha.
sorry – somehow my messages duplicated – maybe Vince S. will read at least one of them…lol!! The first version is better.
So true. If some people would only recognize piranhas as being piranhas and stop calling them lambs among wolves. Someone opined the other day that if Israel reacted to Hamas "tit for tat" then they would lob missiles aimlessly into civilian neighborhoods in an endless barrage. Can you imagine if Israel announced that their mission was to destroy all Palestinians and push them into the sea?
Moral equivalence is a one way street.
I'm ready for some new, fresh talent. Spielberg had his chance. I think it's time for new directors to make their mark in Hollywood. I remember Jaws, though Spielberg hasn't made a Jaws-like, sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-seat film in ages. Remember that part when the head popped out of the sunken boat? I think I jumped about ten feet into the air and damaged my sister's eardrum in the process.
http://the100mostannoyingthings.blogspot.com/
John, if you've read "You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again" you'll get a good account of what scrambled some Spielberg brains. He doesn't have to work hard any more, either. I don't think he's anywhere near second only to Disney, though. There's a guy named John Ford who was quite a bit better, and a conservative.
I don't think John Ford would have been considered a political conservative in his own heyday. It's just that attitudes have changed (or deteriorated) greatly since the days when wasn't considered uniquely "conservative" to respect the flag, to show United States (and Confederate!) soldiers in a heroic light, and to suggest that Chief Scar's Comanches in "The Searchers" weren't visiting those isolated Texas homesteads to pass out baskets of goodies.
During the 1960s Peter Bogdanovich interviewed Ford and asked him whether the cavalrymen in his "Fort Apache" were correct in obeying the orders of their regiment's colonel (Henry Fonda) even though it was obvious that he was wrong and they perished in a Little Bighorn-like massacre due to his error. Ford said that they were, because he was the colonel, "and what he says, goes." A more "modern" director would have argued that the troopers were saps/dupes/pawns of imperialism for obeying Fonda's commands, if not racist brutes who "deserved" their fate!
There is no reason for two things to be the same as one, especially if it involves third party revolvers. Don't think I don't get what you are saying, but it's just not true.
I don't know….Indy being blasted miles through the air by an A-Bomb, but surviving because he was in a really well-made refrigerator….it could happen, right?
South Park had the definitive comment on Spielberg and George Lucas. Then again, Matt and Trey usually have the definitive comment on our society. Funny that the only legitimate satirists in our culture are a couple of guys using a cartoon about obnoxious children, while all the political jokesters (i.e. Stewart, Colbert, Letterman, etc….) are a bunch of partisan hacks who are afraid to make what might appear to be a negative comment about their sacred calf.
Well that was one of the interesting things about the film: it was never really made clear why the truck driver was acting that way. And I agree, it's not a great film but it is a pretty good one. I really like Dennis Weaver and I also liked that car he was driving, a Dodge Dart or Plymouth Valiant or whatever it was.
Good times.
Oh Tyler please shutup, you are embarassing yourself.
We are going to continue to deify Lincoln and are right to do so.
Spielberg gets too much credit for some of his early work. Jaws was brilliant, but not the movie he wanted to make. The thing most people say about it is that the lack of seeing the shark was a big part of what made the movie so suspenseful, allowing you to identify more with the actors (who were all brilliants). He wanted to show the shark much more than he did, but luckily for him (and his reputation), special effects were pretty shaky back then and it kept breaking down, forcing him to go with his 2nd choice (which is the exact thing everyone says they love).
Better to be lucky than good.
Band of Brothers struck me as the movie people think Private Ryan is. The characters in Band are so much richer and have such depth, compared to the schmalzy cliche's found in Private Ryan.
I fear that Pacific will become Thin Red Line.
Calm down, Darren, I'm just kidding. But seriously what was the reason? Was the trucker a serial murderer who was killing people in each state (that's one theory) and Weaver just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time? It's not a bad film, but not a great film either, as much as I like Weaver and Spielberg. And it might have have been interesting to see it on the big screen, not broken up by commercials when I saw it (almost what, twenty-seven years ago?) on the family Magavox.
GT,
Very interesting commentary. As a Southerner whose ancestors fought in the war, I would say that your view is pretty dead on with what I have always felt. As for Lincoln, Marfan's, huh? Wow, I never would have considered that, but it is thought provoking.
I will say again, I enjoyed the South Park episode about the Indiana Jones and the Crystal Meth, uh, I mean Skull, very much. Normally I don't go in for that type of stuff, but it was somewhat satisfying.
You're probably right, Harley, that's why for 4 pages everyone here has been extolling their love of Speilberg's films. Must be a lot of "petty grievances."
If the market hadn't tanked, and took a few million from me, I would be glad to help out. Right now, I just can't do it. I do know some wealthy Chinese business men, don't have a clue of they would be interested, would you like me to ask them? I, of course, can't promise a thing, but I am willing to throw the idea out there. Good Luck to Ya!
Skip,
I was going to read that recently, but never got around to getting to it, would I enjoy the book?
I did too (but then I've almost always enjoyed South Park).
Thanks Riann, glad to hear I said something interesting! I thought you made a very interesting point too. Would he have been better off is Star Wars had been a marginal success, but never made him ultra famous? I think he probably would have been.
butler –
"You'll Never Eat Lunch…" is a delicious dissection of the delirious dolts who are now the reigning senior icons of Hollywood. I've looked into your mind and found many graphic novels, so I'm sure you'd dig it.
As for John Ford's conservativism, he used to play cards and get drunk all the time with John Wayne and Ben Johnson at Wayne's house; I don't think the Duke was humoring the enemy.
This is what happens when no one says the word "no" to you for a few decades, and you only rub elbows with uneducated billionaries who think an invitation to Davos is validation of intellectual prowess.
"luminous" — exactly right.
I promise, last post straying from the subject! but when you mentioned that line you love, I immediately thought of Anthony Sher as Shakespeare's shrink…who, after listening to Will spout a few analogies along the lines of "My pen has run out of ink.." asks, "Are you lately…disappointed…in the act of love?" Hilarious.
I love Sher — who also a perfect Disreali in "Mrs Brown"…I think of him as my generation's Claude Rains.
A good and true assessment of Spielberg.
I preferred Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan as well, but wished that Kate Winslet had played Viola rather than Gwyneth Paltrow. My favorite line is from Wessex telling his fiance that she may now show her pleasure at their engagement.
Skip,
You are correct! There's a veritable cornucopia of grahic novels in my mind! Lol. I do love those delicious dissections and delirious dolts, ever so much. Right up my bowling alley. Thanks.
Don't forget to add George Lucas in there. If there ever was a man who needs to STOP making movies and let others take over it is Speilbergs long time buddy.
I've only felt that way about one of his movies, "A.I.", which was really a Kubrick picture and Spielberg finished it. I still believe that Kubrick would have ended it with the boy submerged at the bottom of the ocean looking at the "Blue Lady". It was Spielberg that had to have some kind of happy ending and tacked on the aliens.____Personally, I think he lost it when he remastered E.T. and took all the guns out.
They need to cast Richard Drefyuss as Bob Novak so he can bring out his angry, evil conservative character again. One can only hope this will turn into a Heaven's Gate level monstrosity and maybe these films will become fewer.
That decapitated, waterlogged head is a great effect. I personally know the man who made the fake head that popped out of the boat, a great old timer of Hollywood.
Fresh talent, particularly those who fail to attend certain temples, or have certain political affiliations, seem to get very few chances in Hollywood. You always have to dig deep to get to the truth. Yes, sometimes it happens despite that failing, but the truth of Hollywood is that "self made people" are extremely rare. Usually these "talented people" are in actuality untalented people who are bankrolled and guided by family or other friendly connections and they just omit that part of their history to make it sound like they did it all themselves. If these people make a mistake, it doesn't matter as much. I operated a business in Hollywood for many years and was constantly amazed that my competitors could underbid, what in my case was already a low bid. I find out later, that 3 of my competitors had family that was bankrolling them, so succeed or fail, it didn't matter… their bills were always paid and they lived the good life. The more I find out about these self-made people, the more I find that they aren't.
Heck, Academy Award winner Robert Duvall could not get 2 million to make his movie the APOSTLE, yet, at the same time. I knew of fluff actresses who had multi-million dollar production deals, apparently because they were pretty and had breasts. So Hollywood doesn't hedge their bets on the success or talent involved, but a bunch of other B.S. which is why they have had such declining profits over the last 4-5 years. Moreso, rule #1 in Hollywood is to NEVER use your own money to make movies. So while Spielberg, who no doubt is a billionaire could finance LINCOLN himslef, however he doesn't want to gamble with his own money, he wants to spend other peoples. Hmmmmm, where have I heard of other people espousing that idea before????
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