I think Spielberg is the worst director of all time. His emotions are forced, his morality is fraudulent. He's pro-war, so of course that's a hard sell even with government funding. He makes sadistic base level propaganda.
Lots of people think he's too sentimental, or has daddy issues. But I think he's completely untalented even from a technical perspective. Look at Saving Private Ryan which probably won him the most technical accolades. He stole everything from his own protege, Michael Bay and Armageddon. Shaky cam, overexposed lighting, and grainy washed out color is a very crude way of proving to us that something is "serious" anyway, that's why it's in all Spielberg movies now. But what's worse is it led to an entire generation of movies ruined. A lot of people don't know this but Spielberg produces Michael Bay (and JarJar Abrams). Michael Bay is a subject of mockery. What does Spielberg see in him? He sees himself, and so do I. Spielberg should not be revered. We should be able to recognize the same cheap style, disregard for writing, for acting, the autistic preference for objects over people. But even that's no good. Try to imagine the worlds of AI or Minority Report. What do they look like? I draw a blank. There are no worlds, no atmosphere. Just a series of discret and disconnected set pieces, clumsily bumbling from one to another.
You can tell a lot about an director from their worst movies. When something they tried to do didn't work, it stands out. In a good movie you don't always notice what made it good, because you were immersed and feeling it emotionally. The bad movies expose themselves to analysis. Why don't people like Sugarland Express, or 1941? Maybe because it's too obvious that Spielberg's idea of humor is having a character scream loudly with their mouth hanging open. It's a very awkward mugging for the camera sort of look. Someone who doesn't understand how to connect with humans would do this, someone socially awkward. What I saw in Sugarland Express, I now see in all Spielberg movies. There's no difference once you're aware.
Supposedly Spielberg makes movies for kids (kids love movies schools use to teach lessons). But like I mentioned about forced emotions, Spielberg doesn't trust his audience. He doesn't give much credit to kids and underestimates their ability to understand. Kids hate being patronized. At least I did. I never liked Spielberg movies. I always had an instant negative vicseral reaction.
As I got older it only got worse. Here's the scary part. Imagine a love scene in a Spielberg movie.
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