I love Spielberg and his sheer volume of work and number of greats among them put him in God Tier… but everybody has an off day.
Of the ones I’ve seen The Terminal was easily the worst. Sickly sweet and crammed with patronising political messaging.
I haven’t seen 1941, which I gather is a failed comedy, and many people say Lincoln is boring. I suspect I’ll prefer them to Terminal but what do you think?
Any other stinkers in the Spielberg catalogue?
Always was kind of meh.
shareI saw 1940 first run as a 14 year old way back during Christmas break in 1979. It wasn't a good movie at all, none of the jokes or setups were very funny but then it was kind of funny to watch a movie that tries so hard but fails in every way. But I will say Spielberg's effort was appreciated, he knew he made a bomb and just laughed it off.
However, decades later I rented The Terminal on DVD. It had some decent moments in the first hour and then it completely dropped off the cliff. All I can remember is Tom Hanks setting up a dinner with some lady and that Stanley Tucci character being nothing but annoying. I never finished the movie, just couldn't stand watching anymore of that dreck. YEARS(and I mean many YEARS!) later I found out the ending was where Tom Hanks went to some stupid jazz club and I just shook my head and so The Terminal is by far Spielberg's worst movie EVER!
but then Indy 4 came along.
Hah! Yep. Terminal is interminably dull and does indeed get worse as it goes along. I watched the dinner scene agape that Spielberg expects us to believe that Catherine Zeta Jones - a woman so attractive she leaves supermodels in the dust - would date an illegal immigrant who can’t shower and is living in the bowels of the airport.
The political messaging was the worst though, with every non-white character being a saint who kindly helps Hanks’ illegal, and every white character as evil and sadistic. Even Zeta Jones’ character turns out to be a fickle skank.
As bad as Indy IV is, at least it has some redeeming moments in the first half, and even the crap bits have some energy. It falls well short of the standard for Indy but as some pointless fluff it’s… alright. The Terminal is agony start to finish.
The Terminal is definitely one of those movies where you begin to wonder what happened to the movies. Other dishonorable mentions are The Electric Horseman, The Island, Dukes of Hazzard, King Kong(05), A.I., The Hobbit movies, and those Twilight movies, which double as hate crimes.
shareCorrect although I think A.I. is underrated and I like most of Kong ‘05 despite the bloatedness.
share1941 hardly deserves to be considered one of Spielberg's worst. It had a huge budget of the then-astronomical sum of around $30 million. The screenplay was written by Bob Gale and Bob Zemeckis, who went on to great success in the 80's. The two Bobs along with Hollywood's Hemingway John Milius threw in every gag they could think of. Despite its reputation as being a flop, it did garner $90 million at the box office--but that's a disappojntment when you're coming off Jaws and Close Encounters. The movie was accused of gigantism. Indeed, it's big, and its humor doesn't always succeed, but it's an extraordinary spectacle with the early Spielberg's characteristic visionary flair for framing every shot perfectly.
My candidates for Spielberg's worst: Spielberg's "Kick the Can" segment in Twilight Zone: the Movie, Always (a talented cast wasted), The Terminal, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Ready Player One.
Bro, I like "Kick the Can". It's whimsical and it has Scatman Crothers. Why the hate?
shareI like Scatman too, but those kids come across as irritating little moppets. I didn't like the schmaltz. If you go back and read reviews from the era, Spielberg's segment is usually regarded as the worst.
shareI agree the shmaltz is laid on thick like a lot of Spieilberg's output around that time. I can't argue with the people's observations at that time, but I'd think the first segment would be considered the worst, even if you didn't know the behind-the-scenes story.
shareYeah, the Landis segment is all over the place. It also has nothing insightful to say about racism. Vic Morrow had been a longtime, accomplished character actor. It's sad that his last acting project is so bad even though it certainly wasn't his fault. It is, of course, incomplete. I usually prefer to skip over the segment when watching the film. Landis did, however, also direct the great prologue with Dan Akyroyd and Albert Brooks which is a nice funny/scary intro to the imperfect film.
shareare you kidding I enjoyed Ready Player One one of the most memorable theatre experiences I look back at 2018 & 2019 Movies kindly since the Pandemic also RPO is better than Free Guy
shareI haven't seen all of his films, something I plan to do at some point, but the worst so far has to be Always. I'm not looking forward to watching that again.
shareIt's funny about that movie. On Jaws, Richard Dreyfuss and Spielberg bonded over their mutual love for A Guy Named Joe and recited their favorite lines or shots from it. Spielberg put an homage to that film in Poltergeist. And yet when he got a chance to make it he came up with something so turgid and dull.
shareOut of the ones I’ve seen I’m going with Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.
shareMadness. Last Crusade is one of the most entertaining films ever made, it’s my favourite Indy film.
shareLol it’s literally one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I might actually prefer Meet the Spartans over Last Crusade
Edit: I recently saw Jaws The Revenge for the first time and hands down it offended me less than Last Crusade.
So many people seem to love that one, probably from its likable repartee between Sean Connery and Harrison Ford, but I thought it was too derivative of Raiders. A lot of people have trashed on Temple of Doom over the years, but that remains my favorite of all the franchise.
shareTemple of Doom really is a fun movie and it’s certainly better than that POS Last Crusade. My only real complaint about Temple is some of the editing mistakes but that’s a minor nitpick. And I thought the dynamic between Ford and Connery was pure cringe, they had zero chemistry which is odd because I know they both can act.
shareFortunately your view is one of an extreme minority who are simply incapable of appreciating good filmmaking and are dismissed as borderline mentally ill, while Last Crusade remains a wildly successful modern classic.
shareGood filmmaking ? Hahahahaha thanks for the laugh
Also appealing to popularity is a logical fallacy.
Also I think you're mentally ill for liking this trash movie.
🤣
shareConcession noted.
shareConcession accepted.
shareYour concession remains noted and your logical fallacies are rejected.
shareWatching you imagine ‘concessions’ and reject imagined logical fallacies is genuinely entertaining, especially in light of your mental illness which prevents you from appreciating objectively excellent movies like Last Crusade.
Please, continue…
Your concession remains noted and your logical fallacies are rejected.
share